| What's That Huge Oboe? The Oboe Family! |
| The Oboe click to see an oboe The main instrument in the family. It has a double reed and is a mandatory instrument in orchestras and concert bands. It is often associated with a duck when young people play it. It was developed during the Baroque period and evolved over time to what it is today. It is in the key of C and has a practical range of one ledger line below the treble clef Bb and three ledger lines above the staff F. |
| The Oboe D'Amore click here to see an oboe d'amore In the key of A. It isn't used that much anymore. It was popular in the Classical time period but after, it wasn't used much anymore. It has a small onion dome bell and sounds very similar to the oboe. I thought it was an oboe when I listened to cds when I was younger. It takes a more mature ear to pick out the difference in sound. The reed is a little larger than an oboes and sticks into a small bocal. |
| The English Horn click here to see an English Horn In the key of F. It is played in orchestras and more advanced bands. A lot of second and third chair oboists in orchestras are expected to have one to play on moments notice. They have a larger reed than the oboe that sticks into a bocal half the size of a bassoon's. The bell has the shape of an onion. It has a very nasal sound to it. The sound is easily confused with the high bassoon in Igor Stravinsky's "The Rite of Spring". |
| The Bass Oboe click here to see a bass oboe In the key of C one octave lower than the oboe. It is almost extinct. It used to be a popular instrument in the orchestras way back when but the bassoon wiped it out. (the bassoon is an evil instrument!) It has a giant onion bell and a huge bocal. The reed must be huge too. It is still made by Loree, Strasser-Marigaux, and Rigautat. |
| The Musette This is a very uncommon oboe. It's higher than the oboe, keyed in F. The "Manufacture Roland Dupin" still makes them. It is also known as the piccolo oboe and has parts in some oboe ensembles. |
| The Heckelphone click here to see a heckelphone This instrument is a giant oboe but is not known to many as an oboe. Richard Strauss and Max von Schillings wrote music for it in orchestras in the early 1900s. It has the same fingerings as the oboe and is keyed in C an octave below the oboe. The bore is twice as wide as a Bass Oboe and is very similar to it. The bell can be vented and is a square shape. The reed is similar to a small bassoon reed. The "Heckel" company still makes these instruments. |