hi! ive played flute for awhile and i find some intrest in the oboe.
do you think it would mess anything up for my flute playing?

i really like flute and i want to do flute in college and stuff, would oboe be a bad thing for me?

If you really want to double, tenor sax would be the best way to go as it wouldn't cause any problems for your
flute embouchure. I don't think oboe, with its reallly tight embouchure would be a good idea. Then again, if you
try it and you like it, there are better opportunities for music scholarships on less common instruments like the oboe
as there'd be much less competition.

Something else to keep in mind: With flute, we don't have to worry about stuff like reeds. Those oboe reeds, even when you start
making your own, get expensive over time. And making reeds takes up the time you could be using to practice your flute.

Hope that helps!

Hi
I have played flute for about 7 years now and last year started to play the bassoon, which with it being double reed has a similar embrouchure to the oboe. A year on and I have found that playing the bassoon has not disadvantaged my flute playing in any way - in fact playing another instrument has accelerated my rate of progress and skill on the flute.
If you want to play the oboe I would go for it!!!!
Hope this helps

In Bach and Mozart's day AFAIK, it was usual for flautists to double on the oboe (or oboeists on the flute if you prefer) so it must be a reasonable thing to do. I bet it would enhance your marketability as well if you could do that.

In Bach's time, did 'flute' actually means 'recorder'?

No wonder Mozart hates flute. LOL

few years back I loved the sweet oboe sound, so I started doubling on oboe. My teacher was a local oboe professor, he told me, "you have to decide now either to play oboe only or to play flute only, not only because the time you have to put in, also because oboe embouchure could destroy your flute embouchure!", then I gave up the oboe and sold my oboe.

As a student, our embouchure is not secured yet, and flute embouchure needs relatively loose and relaxed embouchure. If we tighten our lips now, you can never get it loose again. I didn't say this, Pahud of Berlin Phil said that to us: "once your embouchure is tight, you can never get it loose again, and you will sound ugly and unprofessional for the rest of your life!". Then I immediately found a good flute professor and started to loosen my embouchure for 3 whole years!

Of course, if you set out to become a medium player or teacher, and versatile on many instruments and easier to get jobs, then double as many instruments as you can.

Flute is now the 3rd most played instrument in the world (after piano and violin), competition is so great. Oboe players are still relatively few, Bassoon even less, and oboe is very expensive, reeds costs also, also you have to spend lots of time making reeds instead of practicing.

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or double on oboe after 10 years of flute playing after your flute embouchure is truly secured.

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I know many professional flutists actually double on saxophone after graduate to have greater marketability, some renowned flute professors even play sax and jazz as hobby, but never heard of them doubling on oboe here in my country.

Actually Pyrioni, your generalizations about period instruments are quite incorrect. While the Baroque flute (flauto traverso) and the recorder (flauto dolce) were in use in the Baroque period, the recorder had fallen out of fashion by the Classical period. The Baroque period ended in 1750, which is the year J.S. Bach died. Mozart wasn't even born until 1756. The flute Mozart was familiar with was the Classical flute, which is most definitely not a recorder.

It is also possible to play the recorder beautifully, and it isn't limited to the cheap plastic pipes everyone squeaks on in elementary school. I play renaissance recorders in my university's Collegium Musicum, and they really can sound beautiful when they're played by musicians and not by small children. So, don't knock a perfectly respectable instrument just because you haven't heard it played properly. Look up the Flanders Recorder Quartet or Aldo Abreu on youtube for examples of virtuosic recorder playing.

As to the original poster's question, you can pick up oboe if you really want to, but the embouchure is different, the air stream is different, the fingerings are awkward, reeds are obnoxious, intonation is very difficult, and they are quite expensive. If you really have your heart set on learning oboe, by all means go ahead, but be aware that it's a very different instrument from the flute and it can can cause problems.

TBFlute: Some one said "in Bach and Mozart's day, it was usual for flautists to double on the oboe"

then I said "in Bach's time, 'flute' was usually referred to 'recorder'" - that means, it is possible to play both recorder and oboe without any trouble!

Then I said "no wonder Mozart hated flute" - I of course know after Baroque period 'flute' was referred as 'transverse flute', what I meant was, if tranverse flute players had to double on the oboe, then their tone must be tight and thin and ugly, no wonder Mozart hated flute so much as mentioned in his letters to his father.

Touche! I did have the the flauto traverso in mind when I wrote that, but I suspect that recorders would be included as well.

Then I said "no wonder Mozart hated flute" - I of course know after Baroque period 'flute' was referred as 'transverse flute', what I meant was, if tranverse flute players had to double on the oboe, then their tone must be tight and thin and ugly, no wonder Mozart hated flute so much as mentioned in his letters to his father.

Hmmm.. I'd be curious as to whether or not Pyrioni has read these letters (Source your info my good man) or is he simply passing on anecdotes that are misleading flutist as to the intent of one quoted passage.

Hey, Bilbo, challenge again? I like challenges

I first knew it from a flute book written by an American, mentioned the letters about this, I buried that book in store room, and I am practicing my flute and have no time to look for it now. So I google it and found this:

http://www.weta.org/fm/features/cdpick/Mozart+Flute+Quartets

"During this visit to Mannheim, in a letter to his father dated 14 February 1778, Mozart made his famous remark that has long been seen as evidence that he hated the flute. In his letter regarding the commission of the Dutch flutist he said, “…you know that I become quite powerless whenever I am obliged to write for an instrument which I cannot bear.” "

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We can also see how Mozart was laggard in composing K313; K314 was copied from oboe concerto written a year ago, K315 not even finished, nothing composed for flute from his childhood (he hated trumpet also since childhood). And in Mozart flute and harp concerto, it was written that flute part was a simpleton, but the harp part was too complicated for Duke's daughter to play and even challenging for professional harpists, then we can see he really did like the flute much.

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I mean he really didn't like the flute much.

I played oboe for one year and bassoon for two years during my junior high years (have played flute for more than 40 years). I did notice that immediately after playing the bassoon, that my flute tone was impacted in that it was less focused. Didn't notice that with the oboe though.

p.s. still have my reed knife, but must say that making reeds was a pain. Flute players have it pretty easy with a COA once a year and an overhaul every 3-5 years.

Hi Pyrioni,

what I meant was, if tranverse flute players had to double on the oboe, then their tone must be tight and thin and ugly,

Very good response. [The spelling is "Transverse"] My concern about this above statement is that it may lead others down a misleading path. At the time of Mozart and somewhat earlier, the flute was a rather popular instrument. It was also a quite different instrument than today's flute. Although relatively easy to play, the tone and intonation by a host of amateurs (Some were also financially able to commission music) were more than likely insufferable to a well-developed musician such as Mozart. I've not seen any indication that many of the better flutists doubled on Oboe or vice versa, nor does doubling on oboe produce a thin tone if properly trained techniques are used.

So anyway, let's quote the whole paragraph for full meaning:
http://www.weta.org/fm/features/cdpick/Mozart+Flute+Quartets
"During this visit to Mannheim, in a letter to his father dated 14 February 1778, Mozart made his famous remark that has long been seen as evidence that he hated the flute. In his letter regarding the commission of the Dutch flutist he said, “…you know that I become quite powerless whenever I am obliged to write for an instrument which I cannot bear.” Some scholars say that this had more to do with the lack of standardization of both the tuning of flutes and of the instruments themselves than with personal dislike. Either way, Mozart wrote some of his most charming chamber music in his flute quartets."

Personally, the flute quartets of Mozart are some of the best pieces for flute from the period. Have you heard Debost's recording of them yet?

http://www.flutehistory.com/Resources/Documents/MozartTromlitzFlute.php3

Respectfully,
~bilbo
N.E. Ohio

teacher Bilbo, it was a joke, ok, you win

bye...

Hmm...didn't mean to offend a friend.

But the thing that I tried to bring out was that Mozart probably didn't care so much about the flute (which was in the throws of transition) as he did hate the way it was being played by many flutists. I dare say that he may have changed his opinion if he'd heard a rendition of his music by a modern flutist such as Pahud.

At any rate I'd recommend two things for you (or for any advancing flutist virtuoso)
1) if they ever have a chance to play the Querflöte, Treversiere, or even a good recorder, that they don't hesitate to try it. The understanding that comes from this is valuable to our musicality.
and also please
2)Listen to the Mozart Flute Quartets.
No. 1 in D major (K 285)
No. 2 in G major (K 285a)
No. 3 in C major (K 285b)
No. 4 in A major (K 298)

and while listening...wonder why they were written by a guy who maybe hated the flute :-)

http://www.amazon.com/Mozart-Flute-Quartets-Wolfgang-Amadeus/dp/B00001SVLP

OK, I'll listen to those recordings

"I dare say that MOZART may have changed his opinion if he'd heard a rendition of his music by a modern flutist such as Pahud."

Yes, Pahud is awesome, Pahud said he started flute at 5 years old, because they wanted to play Mozart flute concertos, and he played mostly Mozart until 30 years old (then changed to other composers), wow, 25 years of Mozart, he's brilliant.