Sounds of Cedar Creek featuring “The Ken Krause Woodwind Quientet”

Hmmm. “Quietet” would be nicer, I think. (That would be a very quiet WWQ, right?)

Okay, sorry. It’s early and that’s the best I can do. I have my latté in hand so things should be looking up. I hope.

What will truly be informative is getting to the oboe and seeing what the reeds have to tell me. Some people use fortune tellers, tarot cards, horoscopes — you get the idea — to see what their day, month or year will be like. We double reed players have it easier.

Good reed=good day. Bad reed=horror.

Yep. It’s that simple.

In Other News
I recently encountered an oboe I’d never heard of. My initial look-see was “well, it plays and it looks like an oboe, although the body looks rough and the keywork quesionable.” (It did look like the maker was copying a Loree to the best of his or her ability.) But of course you know where this is going. It is incredibly out of tune. It goes out of adjustment easily. The sound isn’t great. It is not a good oboe.

This is a reminder; don’t buy an oboe without consulting your teacher! If the price looks too good to be true, odds are there’s a reason. If you’ve never heard of the brand, it’s probably just best to skip it. Really, really, really.