Which instrument for ds (8) - cello, flute, clarinet or oboe?

Quite a few seem to have oboe lessons at ds's school. Ds's teacher has offered to source a good secondhand oboe for me, which is great as I've no clue what to look for or where. I may have to get ds to do his practising at school until he can play something tuneful .

what are oboe lips like?

I played the oboe from 11-14 and was in the school orchestra. It was hard, and I always wanted a clarinet instead, but my music teacher insisted that I had the right lips for the oboe and wouldn't let me change .

I remember always feeling light headed after practice sessions because I was only small and it took a lot of effort to get a tune out of the bloody thing it.

Agree about double bassists being in demand in general. However, I've noticed over the years that these things go in waves locally. The availability of a good teacher in an area can make a less common instrument suddenly popular. After a few years there are some very good young players on the scene.
Here the cello used to be a rarity. When my DD began secondary school the cello section was padded out with staff players. A new teacher had come to the area the year before. Now there are cellos a-plenty but still no double bassists.
Mind you, tomorrow morning DD is going to attempt to squeeze all her worldy goods, including a cello, into a small car to go back to uni and I'm glad she decided on cello rather than double bass all those years ago.

If you want a 'rarer' instrument, play the viola or double bass - you still need many more of them in orchestras so are much more likely to be able to play in the long term (ie into adulthood)

It is definitely an advantage to play a rarer instrument - though it also means that good specialist teachers are scarcer. Most school orchestras/bands seem to resort to 'floboes'.

One advantage of a string instrument, certainly in this area, is that the county makes available small instruments for young beginners. You don't have to buy an instrument until you reach grade 4 or are big enough for a full-sized one.

The main advantages of the oboe - it is more portable than cello

• it is in C so no need to transpose music (Clarinet is in B flat)
• it is a "rarer" instrument, dd plays in a wind band and they are short of oboes!

they are expensive, aren't they? I don't know why that is though.

Child's instrument is more valuable than the car. Says it all. OP watch out!

The coach didn't come for County Youth Orchestra one Saturday - and I phoned my dad to give me (and the two lads) a lift home (3.5miles home for me, no public transport available). Unfortunately he turned up in my mother's car - an old-style mini (attractive mustard yellow colour too). The two lads (one about 6') got into the back of the car with an oboe and somehow got a cello in there too, and my 6'4" father drove with his knees up around the steering wheel with me with the viola partially obscuring his visibility to the left. So cars with a cello don't need to be that big. In fact, we've managed two adults plus DS in his first stage seat and DH's double bass in a Polo.

[Harps are awful to transport!!!]

'tis indeed true about the cars. Ours houses 3 children, 2 trombones, 1 cello (still 3/4 thank god) a baritone sax, alto sax and a tuba. And stands. We are always last.

My DS plays Clarinet (started at 7) was told about the teeth thing but he was OK

It is great that he could try them. I hope he enjoys the oboe. A friend of mine plays to a very high standard at the national orchestra here (we're overseas) and when he plays it sounds lovely but of course at that level probably everything does!

DD, now 20 and at uni, plays flute and cello. She's much, much better on flute but gets more opportunities to play cello in orchestras. Flute players are very thick on the ground indeed while cellists are head-hunted.
But an orchestra would snap up a good oboe player and, as someone said, a clarinetist gets more opportunities to play jazz.

The cello is less easily transportable - watch the parental cars at orchestra drop off and you'll see that the cellists heave their instruments out of large hatchbacks while the woodwinds step lightly out of micras! (Until they're in the sixth form, then it's amazing how many kids and instruments can squeeze into a small car.)

Same when the school orchestra comes back from a tour. It takes ages to unload the big instruments from the coach. The flute players are heading home while the cellos are still being pulled out. But a flute is very easy to mislay.

A cello is a bit hard to live with when the beginner can't tune it and there's no one else in the house who can so it does need a bit more persistence at the start than the woodwind instruments.

A cello does take up a lot of room, especially in a student flat. Of the two instruments over the years the cello has demanded more maintenance. It isn't popular on a train and DD has one shoulder lower than the other from carrying hers. She loves it and wouldn't part with it for anything but the flute is an extension of her body.

Both continue to give immense pleasure!

My DS (9) plays the harp (lever not pedal), his teacher hasn't taught another boy and loves teaching him! Although expensive the best thing is that it sounds beautiful from the very early days. Luckily he is also tall so managed to go straight to a full size, though dreading the day he might want to move/try a pedal harp.

Good luck with the ear plugs.

Harp = ££££££!!!!! You'll need a small one to start, then a bigger one, then a full size one. And a new mortgage

The harp is lovely, but a pain practically! One of my friends played it and her parents had to buy a new car to fit it in

At the same time as he is 'trialling' you could talk to mums/dads of older kids in the school who've had lessons for some time and see if you can find out about group sizes / the number of those who drop out etc and what parents wished they'd known when they were at the stage you are at now...

For example at your Primary the visiting woodwind teachers could be of a remakably high standard and the string ones nice but not as encouraging or vice versa.

Having a teacher who makes it fun and for whom he wants to do his best IMO is just as important as the instrument. If there is one teacher who consistently has the majority of his/her older children playing in all the secondary ensembles and county orchestra then I'd be pointing my child there...

if he would like to play the electric guitar and hated the cornet, I am not sure if flute, oboe, clarinet, cello would suit him. Of the three, possibly cello best. You'll have to let him try I suppose and see how he gets on with them. I would be inclined to let him learn what he wants to learn, so if it is what he wants, I would let him learn guitar I think. I realise your school is not offering it but perhaps elsewhere?

Is he enjoying piano? If so, what kind of music does he enjoy playing most?

i played the cello when I was young. I liked playing it but I walked to school and very quickly got fed up off carrying it to school all thr time for lessons and orchestra practice etc. It's true that you do get lots of opportunities to play in groups, but you only ever get a boring baseline to play in those groups never a melody. (until you get a lot better I suppose).

Difficult to say. Probably cello for the exact reasons that others have said- opportunities to play in groups are generally wider .

Both DDs are clarinettists and though very good for age don't get into the top ensembles are school or county as there are lots of kids the same- you tend yo only get a year in the " best" groups before you leave school (and yes we've been in wind bands/concert bands as well as orchestras , there just are a lot of clarinettists!)

Cellos are big and bulky but in a soft case aren't heavy.

Not oboe please- they must be so frustrating for small kids- high wind pressure to generate and, having heard a lot of oboes at schools, take a long time to sound really nice.

My DD is an Oboe player as she couldn't get a note out of a flute (tried for ages). IMO the Oboe has a beautiful sound and she has learnt it quickly so I really think it is a case of trying all of them and seeing what suits.
Beware - oboe is expensive - the instrument is expensive and the reeds break fairly frequently when you are a beginner.