I recently gave a class at Central Michigan University Reed Camp in which I was presenting on the baroque oboe and the Howarth Redgate oboe. At first I was not quite sure how to reconcile these two very different instruments. Then I finally decided to highlight the similarities between the two instruments and how they are just different stages in the evolution of the oboe. And, for me, the really interesting aspects of how similar they truly are in terms of playing and experimenting. Here are some on the topics I highlighted.

Fingerings:  As I move forward with working out new fingerings for modern music, I often find myself going back to the basics and building fingerings with the baroque oboe or recorder in mind. This connection to the past and willingness to pull from older ideas that we may have abandoned due to one reason or another has made it much easier for me to increase the number of fingering options, like the short fingering for C# (first finger in the right hand alone) due to intonation issues on the older instruments. But now that fingering works rather well on the Redgate. This only increases the options to make particularly tricky passages easier by allowing for more opportunities and therefor less time trying to practice/drill tricky fingerings. Now this does not solve all fingering issues but it does increase my chances. These older fingerings, in my experience, work remarkably well on the modern instrument as the major issues with intonation have been addressed.

Reeds: Starting to learn baroque oboe reeds seemed incredibly daunting at the beginning. However when you keep in mind that our modern oboe reeds evolved from the oboe reeds of the past there must be similarities. Also, when you are looking to make baroque oboe reeds or reeds for contemporary music that the need for flexibility and experimentation are essential. You have to be open to changing how you have always done them to discover what else you could do if you had different needs in mind from you reed. In the end, or rather the beginning) I researched and read every article, book, blog, etc, I could find on the construction of baroque oboe reeds to figure out how to get started. Basically, read read read. And then experiment without being afraid to destroy cane, just like you did when you first starting making your regular reeds.

Instrument construction: This one was fun for me because it truly felt like I was giving a lecture in a biology class on evolution. The change from baroque oboe to the Redgate is pretty vast, however, the fundamentals are all still there and there are positive unintended consequences from looking at it this way. I tried to highlight the  connection between the construction of adding keys to the instrument to the music (aka key signatures) being played at the time to the expansion of both of those simultaneously. While this is fairly obvious to understand it did make me stop and think about how as contemporary music moves away from traditional key signatures, not all contemporary music but some, what will music look like moving forward? Will we abandon key signatures all together and only use accidentals? Will key signatures turn into some ancient esoteric thing, like Renaissance musical notation?! (FYI that is not a dig at Renaissance notation as I think it actually really beautiful).

This is not everything I covered in the class but if you want to know more let me know. And I would be happy to come give this class to anyone who is interested!