… we started talking about the different reeds we’d seen (and I think my teacher has tried making reeds in all sorts of styles before settling on his hybrid… still learning, he says)… I don’t know whether it’s a fair conclusion but we also thought the different styles thing is a myth and that the different reeds reflected that…. with the possible exception of the US. Actually, that isn’t quite fair as I can think of a couple of US oboists I really admire and one of them sounds really different – but generally a lot of American oboists do sound rather samey to my ears. Technically very good and a nice clear sound but a bit samey.