The oboe is a double reed musical instrument of the woodwind family. In English prior to 1770, the instrument was called "hautbois", "hoboy", or "French hoboy". The spelling "oboe" was adopted into English ca. 1770 from the Italian oboè, a transliteration in that language's orthography of the 17th-century pronunciation of the French word hautbois, a compound word made of haut ("high, loud") and bois ("wood, woodwind"). A musician who plays the oboe is called an oboist. Careful manipulation of embouchure and air pressure allows the player to express a large range of timbre and dynamics.
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Double reed weblog kept by professional oboist and educator Patricia Emerson Mitchell. Entries discuss repertoire, concerts and job openings in the oboe community.www.oboeinsight.com/Lone Oboe
CSO Bass Blog. fake saturday. Oboe-Junkies. Inside the Classics. Jason Heath's Double Bass Blog ... does not mix well with oboe reeds. latin + dowd = awesome ...loneoboe.blogspot.com/Prairie Oboe Companion
... if people still check this blog, so what better place to ruminate? ... Knitting. Musical Chairs. Scrapbooking. Blog Archive. Visitors of Prairie Oboe Companion ...jilloboe.blogspot.com/Making Oboe Reeds Blog
The Making Oboe Reeds Blog has information on oboe reed making, oboe reeds, and general oboe news. ... Category: Oboe Reed Making Articles Comments (0) ...www.makingoboereeds.com/blog/Oboe — Blogs, Pictures, and more on WordPress
Listening: Luciano Berio, Sequenza VII (Solo Oboe) — 3 comments ... George Friedrich Händel - Sonatas For Oboe And Basso Continuo ... the one with the oboe ...en.wordpress.com/tag/oboe/The oboe is a double reed musical instrument of the woodwind family. In English prior to 1770, the instrument was called "hautbois", "hoboy", or "French hoboy". The spelling "oboe" was adopted into English ca. 1770 from the Italian oboè, a transliteration in that language's orthography of the 17th-century pronunciation of the French word hautbois, a compound word made of haut ("high, loud") and bois ("wood, woodwind"). A musician who plays the oboe is called an oboist. Careful manipulation of embouchure and air pressure allows the player to express a large range of timbre and dynamics.
Sound
In comparison to other modern woodwind instruments, the oboe has a clear and penetrating voice. The Sprightly Companion, an instruction book of 1695, describes the voice as "Majestical and Stately, and not much Inferior to the Trumpet." Similarly, the voice is described in the play Angels in America as sounding like that of a duck if the duck were a songbird. The timbre of the oboe is derived from the oboe's conical bore (as opposed to the generally cylindrical bore of flutes and clarinets). As a result, oboes are readily audible over other instruments in large ensembles.
The oboe is pitched in concert C and has a mezzo-soprano to soprano range. Orchestras frequently tune to a concert A (usually A440) played by the oboe. According to the League of American Orchestras, this is done because the pitch of the oboe is secure and its penetrating sound makes it ideal for tuning purposes. The pitch of the oboe is affected by the way in which the reed is made. Variations in cane and other construction materials, the age of the reed, and differences in scrape and length of reed can affect the pitch of the instrument.
Baroque
The exact date and place of origin of the hautbois are obscure, as are the individuals who were responsible. Circumstantial evidence, such as the statement by Michel de la Barre in his Memoire, points to members of the Philidor (Filidor) and Hotteterre families. The instrument may in fact have had multiple inventors. The hautbois quickly spread throughout Europe, including England, where it was called "hautboy", "hoboy", "hautboit", "howboye", and similar variants of the French name. It was the main melody instrument in early military bands, until it was succeeded by the clarinet.
The baroque oboe was generally made of boxwood and had three keys; a "great" key and two side keys. (The side key was often doubled to facilitate use of either the right or left hand on the bottom holes) In order to produce higher pitches, the player had to "overblow", or increase the air stream to reach the next harmonic. Notable oboe-makers of the period are the German Denner and Eichentopf, and the English Stanesby Sr. and Jr. The range for the baroque oboe comfortably extends from c1 to d3. With the resurgence of interest in early music in the mid 20th century, a few makers began producing copies to specifications from surviving historical instruments.
