I want a tiger oboe. I do. I’ll happily say that. Or write it. Whatever.

I have started students as young as eight. The problem, in my little often erroneous, opinion, isn’t the complicated keywork, but the spread of the fingers and the embouchure we have to form. Hands need to be a bit larger than a six year old’s, and muscles a bit more formed. I could be wrong … I’m quite willing to admit that. But in any case, read the following and tell me you don’t want a tiger oboe too!

Did you ever think of playing oboe when you were a child? Probably not; in fact, it’s pretty much impossible for a child to play a standard oboe, with its complicated mechanics and steep lung requirements. My sister is an oboist in Kristiansand symfoniorkester, and on a crusade to recruit new oboists – because orchestras of the world struggle to find them. Marion’s found tiger oboes, oboes specially designed so children as young as six can play them, and she’s just starting up the first ever kids’ oboe class at the Kristiansand kulturskole. Being a performer and story-teller at heart, Marion has decided the black and yellow striped kids’ oboes are clearly relatives of tigers – and so she’s written a story about how the oboe got its stripes, and has even struck a deal with the zoo where the young oboists get to play music for the tigers and visit the zoo regularly.

I read it here.

I did google tiger oboe and came up with the link above, but nothing more. I guess I can’t buy one. 🙁