I am just starting oboe and have very little idea what I am doing. I have a british finger plate system oboe, and have managed to learn some fingerings. However, I picked up my oboe today and when I blow into it, I can only get one note out and it doesn't sound like an oboe at all. No matter what fingers I put down, one note.

I don't know what this could mean as this just started to happen.

What can I do? What could the problem be?

Are the bridge keys (the things that connect the top joint and the bottom joint to the left of the keys) lined up? (Don't worry as much about the similar looking thing to the right of the keys. It's just for a trill fingering). If you have a low Bb, make sure the bell and it's bridge are lined up correctly with the middle joint, too. Are any springs loose? (Look for keys that don't go back up when they're released.) Is your reed working? Try a different reed. If you've lined up the bridge keys, checked for loose springs, and made sure it's not the reed, and the oboe still has problems, bring to a professional oboist or an instrument repairer (preferably one who specializes in oboe, some of the others can be pretty useless. try asking a professional oboist for recommendations.)

Are you blowing hard enough? Is your reed to closed? Have you dropped your oboe? Is on of the keys stuck open/closed?

My advice would be either take it to an oboe teacher or to a professional oboe repair person.