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 Posted: Thu Feb 19, 2009 10:30 am
I've been playing the clarinet for, oh gosh, maybe seven years now? Anyway, it's the only instrument I know how to play. I feel like it's time to transition to another instrument, just for experience with other types of instruments. I've thought about it for a while now. Brass? Strings? I've decided I'd like to try a double reed instrument. Either bassoon, oboe, or english horn. I'd love some consult from other double reed players.
Any tips I should know about playing these instruments? Would it be a difficult transition from the clarinet? Which, in your opinion, would be the best instrument to play out of these three options? Any sort of help is appreciated.
Thank you.
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Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2009 3:44 pm
I play saxophone and oboe, I started the oboe about six months ago. My advice is to start out with a softer reed- probably medium soft. I think the hardest part for me is the embouchure- from what I've noticed, it has to be really good, or else you sound horrible. Try to keep a tighter hold around the reed- it feels really small in your mouth at first, too. As a clarinet player, since your instrument has open-holed keys, it should be easier for you to play the oboe, too. I had some trouble keeping my fingers at the right angle, since some of the oboe keys have smaller holes in the middle of them.
I'm not sure which you should go with, since I know nothing about the bassoon...but if you want to learn English Horn, I've heard from everyone that it's easier to play oboe first. I'm hoping to try out English Horn sometime.
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Posted: Sat Feb 28, 2009 6:22 am
A lot of clarinet fingerings are similar to bassoon, so that might be the easiest way to go. Also, the embouchure is completely different. You have to use the muscles around your mouth that are sort of like parentheses. All you want to do is create a seal with your mouth so that the air doesn't escape, not biting allowed! As before said start out on a nice, soft reed. If you're going for bassoon (and you have to buy reeds...although they're terrible and it's so much better to find someone to make them for you...) I would go with Lescher soft or medium-soft.
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Posted: Wed Jul 07, 2010 3:50 am
I went from bass clarinet to bassoon. it was hard because of the reeds and the music( the different clefs). but other than that i did really good on going back and forth.
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Posted: Sat Jul 10, 2010 3:53 am
I went from clarinet to bassoon. The main thing I found was that double reeds are a LOT more finicky than single. I never did learn how to make my own reeds, and of the reeds I bought, I could get maybe a third of them to produce sound (not sure if that's the reed's fault or mine, but hey).
Other than the transition was easier than I thought it'd be. The main problem was the low notes. I was used to playing high, but it took a while to find a balance for low notes between not sounding at all and squeaking.
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Posted: Thu Jul 15, 2010 3:33 pm
I've played clarinet for 6 years and tried oboe but decided to switch to bassoon, so this is all from experience.
In general, people usually play oboe and then occasionally play English horn if there's a part for it. I think the fingerings are the same for oboe and English horn. It was much easier for me to just pick up the oboe and play it well than the bassoon probably since the oboe has a similar build to the clarinet. It was no problem for me to cover the oboe holes from my clarinet experience, and this is the more logical choice. Oboes also have similar fingerings for the different octaves and use octave keys.
I chose bassoon because I preferred the sound and just how different it was to the clarinet. However, the fingerings were harder mainly because the added weight put a lot more pressure on my wrist and fingers. They also kinda change each octave, although clarinets do too. The placement of the keys is also different; there's like a ton of buttons for your thumbs. Not to mention that the reeds are also 2-5x more expensive. It's a harder transition but if you don't like an oboe's sound then go for this.
When I was considering the next instrument to learn, a suggestion I heard that was pretty cool was the soprano saxophone. The thing about saxophones is all their fingerings are similar so if you learned one you could easily switch to like 3 other versions of it.
Hope this was helpful! (If you have any questions I can still say more LOL)
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Posted: Mon Oct 04, 2010 6:42 pm
I tried oboe a couple of years ago and found it hard. I'm a skilled clarinet player, and the transition is just... Confusing. The only instrument I've played besides clarinet that I really liked was bass clarinet. It's the same fingerings (not a double reed; sorry if I'm stating the obvious here) but has a richer, stronger sound. Plus, the attitudes of bass clarinet players are soooo much better, in my opinion.
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