My daughter is 11, and has won a scholarship to learn the oboe. I have heard it can be quite dangeous for a young child to learn the oboe, but dont quite know why. What do people think? IS there a good age to learn this difficult instrument. She is very keen, and is playing many notes after only 2 lessons, but it sounds like a sick duck. How can she get a nice mellow tone? Should she keep going?

Well if she's having lessons there should be no particular lessons. Then again I don't play oboe. Also you can't really expect the tone to be perfect in two lessong. Give it at least a few months before you make any decisions. .

My daughter started playing Oboe at nearly ten, exactly a year ago. It's not hard to learn the fingering especially if she has played another instrument.

If you hear her teacher play, the Oboe has an incredible sound. Your daughters duck sounds are totally normal, it took a little while for my girl to get the hang of blowing to get a proper sound. Don't worry it's something that should develop with ti,e lessons and experience. A year on and our sound is much less ducky, but it's not yet anything liked that of a really experienced player. You will begin to hear it developing in time.

I've not heard of any dangers associated with it, there are at least two other 11 year olds on lessons with her. I think some young Oboe players are also on these forums.

Alyssia1

11 is an excellent age to start the oboe (provided the hands are big enough and the adult teeth in the front of the mouth are well formed). Sometimes children with asthma find oboe playing quite hard initially but, longer-term, oboe playing is hugely beneficial for such conditions. Only if a child had a serious lung condition (or other medical advice against it) would I caution against playing the instrument.

The oboe is demanding physically to play and that's why historically it's got a reputation for being "dangerous". It's not - in the hands of an experienced and capable teacher any child should be very safe and grow to love this beautiful, but increasingly endangered, instrument. I am delighted to hear your daughter has taken it up. There are quite a few oboists on these forums but very few (relatively) in the outside world, certainly in our schools. If your daughter keeps going she'll not want for playing opportunities in orchestras, chamber ensembles etc (at least assuming you're in the UK).

As to tone - please be very patient!! High quality oboe tone is achieved through hard work and practice, combining good breathing technique, mouth control (we call it "embouchure"), selecting the right reeds, a quality instrument. In the early days of playing few of those are in place and I reckon that whilst most beginners should be making an acceptable sound after 6-9 months of study (some latch on even quicker) it takes far, far longer to produce a really beautiful tone. The "duck" should disappear within 12 months but the "swan" won't sail in for quite a while yet!

Encourage her to keep going, be patient of her frustrations (and yours) and work closely with her teacher. If, by some chance, she is not being taught by an oboe specialist, I would encourage you to find one soon. With the greatest respect to my colleagues who play other woodwind instruments, the oboe has its peculiarities that need sorting by someone who plays the instrument, knows how to manage reeds etc. I would never teach flute/clarinet/bassoon because they are all different too and I don't have the specialist knowledge to teach them.

If you want any more information do "PM" me but, for now, put your questions to her teacher and be reassured that, as far as I can tell having never seen or heard her play, your daughter's likely to be doing just fine!

Good luck to her

I started at 11, have diddy hands but my front teeth were fine.

As oboist says



I sounded like the Queen Mary was about to come into port for a while, but when the swan finally emerged it was worthwhile.

Thanks so much for yor reply. The problem is that we live ina small country town, and hte only oboe teacher available specialises is clarinet. He has been a conductor of an orchestra and taught a few oboeists there, as the orchestra needed an oboe, but it is not his primary instrument. We will keep going for a while with him, and see how she goes. Whya do you think there sre so few people playing the oboe?
Alyssia1

11 is an excellent age to start the oboe (provided the hands are big enough and the adult teeth in the front of the mouth are well formed). Sometimes children with asthma find oboe playing quite hard initially but, longer-term, oboe playing is hugely beneficial for such conditions. Only if a child had a serious lung condition (or other medical advice against it) would I caution against playing the instrument.

The oboe is demanding physically to play and that's why historically it's got a reputation for being "dangerous". It's not - in the hands of an experienced and capable teacher any child should be very safe and grow to love this beautiful, but increasingly endangered, instrument. I am delighted to hear your daughter has taken it up. There are quite a few oboists on these forums but very few (relatively) in the outside world, certainly in our schools. If your daughter keeps going she'll not want for playing opportunities in orchestras, chamber ensembles etc (at least assuming you're in the UK).

As to tone - please be very patient!! High quality oboe tone is achieved through hard work and practice, combining good breathing technique, mouth control (we call it "embouchure"), selecting the right reeds, a quality instrument. In the early days of playing few of those are in place and I reckon that whilst most beginners should be making an acceptable sound after 6-9 months of study (some latch on even quicker) it takes far, far longer to produce a really beautiful tone. The "duck" should disappear within 12 months but the "swan" won't sail in for quite a while yet!

Encourage her to keep going, be patient of her frustrations (and yours) and work closely with her teacher. If, by some chance, she is not being taught by an oboe specialist, I would encourage you to find one soon. With the greatest respect to my colleagues who play other woodwind instruments, the oboe has its peculiarities that need sorting by someone who plays the instrument, knows how to manage reeds etc. I would never teach flute/clarinet/bassoon because they are all different too and I don't have the specialist knowledge to teach them.

If you want any more information do "PM" me but, for now, put your questions to her teacher and be reassured that, as far as I can tell having never seen or heard her play, your daughter's likely to be doing just fine!

Good luck to her
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I remember getting a bottom C out of a friends bass clarinet once. It sounded more like the QEII ready to leave Southampton.

bassoon is even more like a fog horn the low notes really freak my parents out as the think something has gone horribly wrong with the electrics

To answer that, just look at the average price of a student oboe. Then look at clarinets!
Clarinets are so abundant in Ebay, many don't get sold at all.

The oboe is not 'dangerous' itself, but I can understand why the experts worry about young children. Kids have small lungs, are more active than adults and breathe faster. Anything that interferes with their breathing can affect them faster than an adult. The oboe requires a constant pressure and plenty of support from the diaphragm. A young child may try too hard and end up fainting.

Last year, my son (12) fainted for a few seconds during a lesson. Luckily his teacher caught him. Now she makes him sit down for the more demanding pieces - just in case!

Fainting may only last a second. If the child falls, having a trumpet in your hands may, at the worst, result in a nasty bruise. An oboe is pointed at the end!

However, that's the 'worst case' scenario - like getting hit by a meteorite.

Good luck to your daughter. As an oboe player, she'll always be in demand!

Steve

Congratulations on the scholarship - brilliant!

My daughter has been playing since she was 9 years old (a year and a half ago) and is now at grade 4 on the oboe. She hasn't had any problems at all, except for keeping her teacher (she has got through 3 so far, but I don't think it is anything to do with her, or at least I hope it hasn't).

She is now 10 and really enjoys playing. It is quite strenuous, but if you don't know any different then it isn't a problem. Her sound has improved now to the point where it sounds very beautiful. Don't listen to these "duck" people - they have been listening to Peter and the Wolf too much - I don't think we ever had a duck in our house. 11 years old sounds like an excellent age to start learning.

Good luck!

I was 11 when I started to play the oboe (I am 13 now)

I don't think the duck noise ever truly goes away; Our school orchestra has 3 oboes, me and two sixth formers, one of whom is grade 8 and we still get told we sound like ducks.

I don't think the oboe is particuarly dangerous to play; I am astmatic and have never had a problem. I did hear a story from my oboe teacher about a boy of about 15 who played the trumpet fainting during his first oboe lesson, but I don't think that is a common occurance.