I have played on three different oboes and none has had a Bb key. I was wondering how unusual that was, it seems to me as if i`m doomed never to have an oboe with Bb!

Most student model oboes omitt the low Bb key. If you are just starting off on oboe its perfectly fine, if your not however a more advanced keywork oboe may be needed for you. Even though it is hardly used in my experience, you are not going to die if your oboe does not come with a low Bb key, although its a nice key to have, along with a Left hand F key (best key ever thought of for the oboe!!!). And if you really want to get techincal, if u do find an oboe with a low Bb key, then you may worry that it doesnt have a low Bb resonance key....OMG!!!! From mine and my teachers opinion its just another thing the oboe companies put on oboes to make them more expensive, just like the third octave key before it became popular over the past 30 years. Because a diffence in pitch and stability of the note is hardly noticed, and the fact that the notes that use these keys are not played that often. its what I call bragger keys, people just have to have them on their oboe because it makes them look "better". When in all actuality its the player that makes the difference, you could probably play a song on a student model fox, and a Loree Royale and not notice the diffence if you were asked which one sounded better on a particular song.

hey don`t feel bad I haven`t either. I have had the same as you and not once have I had the key. I dont think that it is really that big of a deal at first but eventually you are gonna need one. Good luck with your key troubles.

Well in some cases your will need to have an oboe with a Bb key. At my school if you`re to start oboe your oboe has to have a Bb key, even if your beginner because the book that they use, uses a Bb key. So can also depend if you need it for a starter off book!!! But in some cases this is not needed as pointed out.

Cya

Musio4Fun

i`m an european player
i don`t think it depends on that but i have never ever seen an oboe without this key:-)
i`m a bit puzzled you discuss this topic...

Well, I guess i can just fake it without one for now. The thing that really gets me is when I went to rent my oboe from my director he gave me this huge case, im talking bigger than my clarinet case. And he said it was a nice oboe. I agree it is a fine oboe, even without a Bb key but then like two weeks later my friend who is less experienced than me got his own oboe from my director and its better than mine. It has a Bb key and the case is nice and small almost identical to my old case. That made me angry, shouldn`t the most experienced player get dibs on the nicer equipment? I think part of my problem is my director is a clarinet player and doesn`t know as much as he could about oboe...