I was begging my band director to let me learn oboe for concert season next year and he told me no becuase it will mess up my embrochure. Is this true becuase I really want to play it but not it if I can't keep playing flute.

I'm sure there are exceptions, but in my case it effected my embouchure. The oboe desentitized my lips, sort of like a mild numbness.

I agree that the numbness is temporary.

My experience is that single reed instruments are easier on the embouchure than the double reed oboe.

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BTW: My flute teacher's husband was an oboist. When I took my flute lessons at her home, I could hear her husband crowing oboe reeds and practicing. I wished at the time that I could switch from flute to oboe. Fifteen years later, about five years after stopping flute lessons, I started taking oboe lessons from my flute teachers husband.

it seems to depend on the discipline of the doubler, I have taught a number of doublers who play flute quite well, they practice the long tones and technique exercices that I prescribe...so Micron is correct, you can't just pick up another instrument and not expect it to feel strange...if I pick up my kids trumpet and try to play it, I can play flute a few minutes later..

Starting oboe won't kill your embouchure, it will just put it into a coma.

What will probably happen is that you'll practice the oboe more than your flute and you'll really not get that good on oboe so soon, but your flute playing will plummet with neglect. So you won't play anything really well for a while.

Oboe playing doesn't really numb the lips, the vibrating of the reed is really inside the mouth. If playing oboe for a long period of time you can tire your lips and start to bite which puts an indentation that doesn't wear away too soon so it can get in the way of flute playing or you can play around it (or it could possibly go numb with severe biting, don't bite).

You may get to a point that to have high quality oboe playing or high quality flute playing you have to make sacrifices or practice a hell of a lot. The sad part is that the flute has to be that sacrifice. You can neglect the flute and have some tone/intonation issues, but if you neglect the oboe you will experience PAIN/suffocation/tone/intonation issues.

There aren't many flutists that double on oboe, they become oboists that double on flute.

Interestingly there is a saying that oboists make poor flute players. Though I think that it's people who fail at flute that find hope in the oboe.

If you really want to play oboe go rent one and find a good source of reeds (check out reedreviews.net). I would recommend finding a private teacher to help you pick out a working rental an get you started correctly. If you can play the oboe well your teacher will love it. They probably have bad oboe experiences... it can really sound HORRID when you don't practice. It's better to not have an oboist, than to have one that doesn't practice! Really!

The oboe can be fun or it can be hell. Depends on which way the wind blows. <g>

why not try one oboe lesson and then see if it has impacted your embrochure and if it hasn't just make sure you pay enough attention to your flute playing.