Youngsters could soon play a part in a musical revolution by taking up an instrument experts feared was heading for extinction.
The oboe has been listed as one of five classical instruments on a national “endangered species” list because too few people play it and orchestras have struggled to recruit members in their woodwind sections.
Now a Sussex firm is leading an attempt to redress the balance by getting children to start playing it again.
advertisementT W Howarth in Worthing, which supplies woodwind instruments to several London orchestras, has designed and built the first child-friendly version of the instrument.
Their mini-oboe is considered a breakthrough in the music industry.
I want one! I want one! (Can you tell I’m jumping up and down and raising my hand and saying, “Pick me, pick me!”
You can read the whole article here, including a comment by a Bay Area local, Bennie Cottone. (I agree with him; I’m a bit shocked that oboists are a rarity in the UK; we sure have plenty here!)
