[ SECRET POST #2380 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #2380 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 02 pages, 035 secrets from Secret Submission Post #340.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

Re: Is 30 too old to take up a musical instrument?

[tei]

Nope! It's old enough, however, that you'll probably notice a discrepancy in the rate of improvement between you and younger students, just because your peak years for building physical dexterity are over. However, you have the advantage of a more critical ear and analytical mind than younger students, so things even out.

Find a professional oboist to buy reeds from instead of getting them at a band supply store and you'll save yourself a lot of pain and suffering.

Re: Is 30 too old to take up a musical instrument?

[(Anonymous)]

Find a professional oboist to buy reeds from instead of getting them at a band supply store and you'll save yourself a lot of pain and suffering.

...why?

Re: Is 30 too old to take up a musical instrument?

[(Anonymous)]

Not the person you replied to but; I've played clarinet and finding a suitable reed type was utterly awful. General music store employees might not have the knowledge of how your reed 'should' sound, whereas a seasoned player would have a much better chance of landing you with the right one.

Re: Is 30 too old to take up a musical instrument?

[pantasma]

And store bought double reeds suck more than store bought single reeds. And are way more expensive for one than a box of singles.

Re: Is 30 too old to take up a musical instrument?

[tei]

Okay, this is something you need to know if you're going to play the oboe.

A large part of what double reed instruments (oboes and bassoons) and to a smaller extent single-reed instruments (clarinets and saxophones) are capable of doing is contained in the reed. Most professional oboists spend as much time or more making reeds as practicing, because often a problem in sound, articulation or tuning that seems insurmountable in the practice room is actually just a flaw in the reed.

Commercial reeds tend to be very, very bad just because there isn't a big enough market of discerning people buying them for it to be worth it to put effort into making them well. Band-supply companies tend to be run by multi-instrumentalists who probably don't have oboe as a primary instrument and thus never learned how to make a good reed. Any oboist who plays more than a few years is definitely going to be encouraged by their teacher to start making their own reeds-- after a certain point, you just can't progress at all on a double-reed instrument without having knowledge of how reeds work. Oboe reeds are much more finnicky and short-lived than bassoon reeds (I'm a bassoonist) and high-level oboists usually spend a few hours a day working on reeds, each of which is good for only about 8 hours of playing. The reputation that oboes have as quacky, ugly instruments is based on people hearing beginning oboists playing on commercial reeds that simply won't ever work to make anything approaching a nice sound.

If oboe is only ever going to be a small-scale hobby, you can get away with buying them from a good reedmaker (your teacher, or if that's too expensive an older student at a conservatory or university music school.) But before you pick up an instrument, you should definitely reserarch what's involved in actually playing it. Oboe is known to be one of the more difficult instruments, and oboe players some of the more harried an miserable people, in the orchestra just because their reeds make life so difficult for them. Oboes also tend to have a lot of keywork problems and respond worse to changes in temperature than other instruments-- they crack if exposed to cold, get water stuck in the tone holes all the time (which makes a gurgling sound on certain notes) and the characteristics of a reed change depending on many external factors (temperature, humidity, altitude, method of storage, etc.)

Honestly it's not one of the instruments that lends itself more readily to hobby playing. Clarinet or flute will be cheaper to buy and maintain and will probably makle you happier in terms of the progress you're able to make on it. String instruments are even better for that and more popular as instruments to learn later in life; brass instruments require a lot of building of muscle in the face that requires regular practice and maintenance that a lot of adults don't have time for if they're just playing for fun.

Sooo I amend my original encouragement to: definitely pick up an instrument, but know what you're getting into before you do!

Re: Is 30 too old to take up a musical instrument?

[(Anonymous)]

Well taking that into consideration, and after some googling of options in my area, I guess I won't be doing this. Thanks... I'll consider other instruments, but I was always partial to the sound of the oboe. I guess I should just buy a CD and save myself the heartache.

Re: Is 30 too old to take up a musical instrument?

[tei]

I do encourage you to try other instruments! And if you're dead set on the oboe, maybe email a professional oboist in your area and ask if there's a source of reeds you can order online that they recommend? Some people do set up shop online selling reeds to ship, and some of them might be good. Sorry I can't give any specific resources as I only know them for bassoon...

Most music stores offer the option to rent an instrument for a month, too, so you could always do that and see how it goes.

[(Anonymous)]

Well, way to discourage OP from trying something new that they might have loved. Want a puppy to kick while you're at it?

[tei]

I'm not telling OP not to try a new hobby. I'm letting them know the kind of financial and time investment that is involved in the one they've chosen, for them to make a more informed decision about what level of commitment they want to make to their hobby. There is a difference, and I'm sorry you can't see it because that must really impact your planning skills.

[(Anonymous)]

What I do see is that OP asked a simple yes-or-no question, you responded with a lengthy dissertation about what kinds of complications and expenses they could expect to encounter years into the endeavor IF they decided to get really serious about it, and OP promptly decided not to try at all. If someone said they wanted to learn to cook, would you warn them that a full professional chef's kitchen costs a mint and Gordon Ramsay is a cranky-ass bastard to work for, or would you recommend a good cookbook?

Also, my planning skills are just fine, thanks.

[tei]

Thats actually not what happened. My original response to the yes-or-no question was "go for it" and a piece of advice as to where to buy equipment. OP then asked why, which I answered with information about the oboe that yes, is going to be relevant to them as a beginner. I never implied that OP was going to get really serious about the oboe and have to spend hours a day making reeds; I was suggesting getting them from a teacher or older student on the assumption that they weren't going to ever do that, but still wanted to have a good experience learing the instrument.