4 Comments

1. 
   KJC

   January 29, 2014 at 8:43 am

   Fun to hear and watch. He sure liked his forked F!!
2. 
   Patty

   January 30, 2014 at 1:51 pm

   If he’s playing on a student model oboe he might not have had a choice much of the time. If he learned like I did he didn’t even learn any other F at first. Yep … sad, but true, I learned forked F (WITH the E-flat key) as my first F. Stupid old books I had (I began on my own). That was one bad habit that was difficult to get over!
3. 
   KJC

   February 1, 2014 at 8:53 pm

   I had a Bundy plastic oboe to start when I was 10 that had no Left/alt F or low B Flat. I graduated to an older series Loree in high school (which I sold- in college–many years ago because I was poor and so stupid!). Anyway, because I started on an oboe without a left/alternate F key at 10 years old, I sort of still have the forked f tendency ingrained in me. I just took up the oboe again 18 months ago after a very, very long hiatus (basically only playing one summer since high school and taking lessons that summer). I’m working through Ferling etudes with my oboe teacher now, and I still have some trouble naturally going to the left F or playing fast passages fluidly with it. Like Ferling #10. It’s getting better though. The low forked F sounds particularly bad on my oboe too–so I really need to always use the Left F if possible. My teacher stresses that it is important not to use the forked F unless it is a fast passage. I guess I’m just sensitive to seeing the forked F being used because of this.
4. 
   Patty

   February 1, 2014 at 10:30 pm

   I really push students to use left F as well, due to MY learning the wrong fingering! It’s such a difficult habit to break. Good for you for working on this! I wish you all the best in your oboe adventures! 🙂