I`m in 5th grade, and just started playing the oboe
this summer, after playing clarinet last year in
4th grade. I have been taking some private lessons,
and I also get "private" lessons with my teacher
at school, since I`m the only oboist this year.

My problem is that my hands are pretty small, and
I have a lot of trouble reaching the pinky keys.
At first it didn`t matter, but now that I`m trying
to add more notes, it`s really frustrating. I
can`t play an E-flat at all!

Does anybody have any advice? Thank you!!

I have an advice why don`t you play an alternate key.They tell you in the fingering charts.You could as your teacher about it. Best of Luck with the oboe.

The good news for you is that the oboe is, by far, the woodwind with the closest-spaced keys. My oboe prof swears that the best technique he`s ever seen was on a young Korean girl with extremely small hands!

For high E-flat where you`re covering the A and B keys on the upper joint, that`s just plain hard for everybody. For the middle and lower octave e-flats, that shouldnt` be so rough. Try relaxing your fingers--the more you arch them and tense them up, the harder it is to move them around. Let your hand be as much as possible in its natural position (a little curled, but not stiff and U-shaped curves).

hmmm You might just want to exercise your pinky so you can reach. Try sitting at your desk during class and tapping your pinky and 4th finger together at the same time (This will also help you in the future when you play because it will get you used to putting both fingers down at the same time and keeping them curved!). This exercise will help you stretch your pinky and work the muscles thus improving your stretch ability to reach the E flat key. Hope this helps!

CHRIS

P.S. If you have any questions feel free to e-mail me at Shoko2@hotmail.com