I have no one to ask because all my teachers play flute or clarinet, i can`t play a low B flat, the one below the staff, because i have a beginner oboe and i am missing a key. Not only that, i have to convert a sheet of flute music an octave lower while trying to play aa note i can`t play. Please help.
Oboe Fanatic1994

You can try to clamp your knees around the bell to cover the vent holes, effectively giving you a B flat. That takes some coordination however, and doesn`t work at all if you are standing while playing. A better suggestion may be to examine the chord structure by looking at the key signature (and the piano part, if available) and play a different note altogether. Maybe a low D (a third above) or an E flat (a fourth above), depending upon what else is going on there.

nina, i tried clamping my knees, are there any keys i need to press while doing it, when i tried, it didn`t work. Thanks.

That would help, I suppose

Finger the low B natural when attempting the knee trick.

I also had a friend who would cover the vent holes on her plastic Linton with black electrical tape. You can`t do this if you need to play a B natural at all though. You only get the B flat.

thanks, i`ll try it