Wind fingerings help please!

[pugsandseals]

How different are the fingerings on descant recorder, treble recorder & oboe?

DD has just got a distinction in her Grade 2 descant and her teacher is desperate for her to give the oboe a proper go (DD less keen at the mo) which DD has agreed to do. But DD would also love to get going on the treble. Would this cause too much confusion for her? I'm thinking this must be her teachers main objection but would like to get it confirmed as I am a bit worried that recorder is seen as a 2nd class instrument when it comes to entrance into senior school. Her teacher could be more worried about DD getting hooked too much on the recorder for this reason?

DD is 9 by the way.

[danceswithyarn]

Descant and treble are a 5th out from each other; so c becomes f etc. Otherwise identical. I'd reccommend "From descant to treble" if she's already a competent descant player.

Not sure about oboe, but treble is fairly similar to clarinet, and descant to the initial range of flute (which then gets a bit treble-like as you progress).

[pugsandseals]

Thanks dance
-A difficult one as I don't want to upset her teacher, yet want her to do what is right for her! Need an oboist to come along don't I

[danceswithyarn]

Recorder can be seen as a poor relation, which is an unfortunate but expected result of them being small and cheap enough for every reception DC in the country to have a go before they really understand music. I love treble, although can take or leave descant these days. You never used to be able to go above grade 5 on the descant (not sure if that's changed) I played to 18+ though.

I did also play violin (gr3) flute(gr7) and clarinet(purely to piss off DB) too though

I'd go for treble and then maybe have a go at flute or oboe or whatever at secondary. She'll get a lot of musicality from treble, especially if the teacher has an ensemble.

[pugsandseals]

x-post!
Natasha Ooh I see, is she worried that she might defect to clarinet do you think?

[BrigitBigKnickers]

The lower register of the clarinet is the same as the treble but the middle register is the same as the descant.

The saxophone is the same as the descant fingering (more or less.)

[bizzieb33]

My dd2 learns the oboe, it is loud & the reeds are about £10 each which seem to last 1 week!!

She is 8 & it is her 1st instrument, her choice, she went on wikipedia & chose the loudest woodwind!!

I hope the reeds last longer as they get harder, she has med/soft at the moment as has only been learning since sept.

[kitkat1967]

my dd plays recorder and oboe (and now piano!).
She is 11 - she started on recorder 3 years ago and oboe 2 yrs ago - they do seem like a very good combination and her teacher (now the same teacher for both recorder & oboe) says that it is a good combination for a music degree (BTW this is not something she wants to do).
She is now gr 4 recorder and gr 4 oboe so pretty quick progress I guess. Because she loves the piano she is not going to move to treble after her gr 5 recorder and will have a break from regular recorder lessons but still play in ensembles etc. to keep it up.
This combination has the bonus that you can play the same music on both if you want to!!
And other posters are correct about oboe reeds - but it does get better - she used to need to replace them once a month but it is much less often now. Mind you having to have 2 or 3 'performance' ready at any one time is a pain!! And don't even look at the price of a mid-range Oboe .

But she loves the Oboe - was the only one at her junior school to have ever played it in their orchestra so she always felt special - also the orchestra tunes to the oboe which is fun for her!!

[kitkat1967]

forgot to say that DD's teacher has loads of pupils doing recorder and oboe and a lot of the older ones play both descant and treble as well as their oboe and seem to manage fine!

[ProPerformer]

Basic fingerings are pretty much the same for all wind instruments until you get to using the keys. Oboes also depend on the 'key system' used for that particular instrument. Oboe is a great instrument as the music doesn't need to be transposed like for saxes, though the reeds are very expensive! Flute is a good first choice as quiet and doesn't need reeds or transposing.

I am a 'gigging musician' (semi-pro, ie get paid but not my day job) and play Flute, alto-flute, piccolo, tenor sax, alto sax, soprano sax, clarinet, oboe, recorders (all) and sing!

[Bramshott]

Oboe is a shortage instrument which may be why your DDs teach is keen for her to start it. As a competent recorder player already, it might be that she would get on very well.

Oboe is also an orchestral instrument so if she sticks with it as she gets older, it will probably give her more playing opportunities than recorder (and also more than a more popular instrument like the clarinet).

[merryberry]

I can play the oboe and bassoon, tell her how amazing they sound if she hasn't heard them. Double reeded instruments rock. She will be VERY popular if she gets competent. Not cheap instrument(s) though. Easy enough to play I think, switch from recorder to eitehr of these is tougher around learning reed control I think, but rewarding.

BTW, my fave thread title in a while. I expected something lentil-weavery to do with catching wind spirits or some such:)

[pugsandseals]

Last nights practise seemed to be a succession of notes that kept jumping between the note & the octave above almost like a trill! Very impressive but I'm not sure that's meant to happen!

[ProPerformer]

It will happen like that for a while so don't worry. Like merryberry said, when she gets good it will make her very popular for orchestras and windbands.

[RaspberryLemonPavlova]

DD plays descant recorder, treble recorder and sax. Once she got going on treble she has had no problem between the three.

[thetasigmamum]

Actually, descant fingering is almost identical to flute until the 3rd octave. Treble fingering is pretty close to clarinet in the first octave, then there are the wierd clarinet only keys, then at D an octave (+1) above middle C, the fingering on a clarinet becomes similar to a descant recorder or a flute, until about B in that octave when it goes wierd again. DS is doing grade 3 clarinet this term and it drives me mad when he is going through his scales, since it's the 'wierd' notes he always gets wrong and where those special clarinetty keys are concerned, I can't get my head round them! Even though I have a crib on my iPhone.

[thetasigmamum]

danceswithyarn Recorder exams above grade 5 require the candidate to play both descant and treble (trinity board - not sure about ABRSM). In my day grades 6-8 were treble only. These days some of the most challenging repertoire is on the descant although there is fab repertoire for all the recorders from soppo down to...well, down to contra, I suppose. Certainly down to 'normal' bass. Recorder is definitely no longer seen as the poor relation but as a virtuoso instrument in its own right, and it can be studied at all the major conservatoires. The standard is incredibly high, though.

[thetasigmamum]

Most decent recorder players will play soppo, descant, treble, tenor and bass as a minimum. The National Youth Recorder Orchestra - which does playing days around the country as well as spring and summer residential courses - has great bass and contra bass recorders which the young people can borrow to play while on the courses (they cost a fortune, very few young people will have the opportunity to own one, I'd guess). It's very easy to switch between the different fingerings, much easier than learning the bass clef (for me anyway!).