Student Oboe Player's Guide (& Parents too) to Intermediate Oboes 

Thanks Cindy! Clarinets are thankfully a little less complex in mechanical options, but we are planning on some other videos in the future. This was our first go at it and learned a lot to improve next time. -Dave Kessler

Yes, we recommend using the same technique & oils for wood clarinets as well.

Laura, the phrases like "student, intermediate, professional" can mean actually many things to people. Unfortunately, the music industry adopts these terms sometimes more for marketing reasons. So "student" model can simply mean an instrument that is designed for ANY level of student musician - so even a high school/college player is considered a student themselves. Of the oboes shown in this video, the first oboe played was a student Yamaha from our rental fleet. This oboe is considered "student" in the terms that it is basic. There are no advanced mechanisms and it's bore is designed for ease of play. It is "student" in the marketing concept because it is trying to be made at as low of a price as possible. We then move in to oboes that would largely be considered "intermediate" because they either have more advanced mechanisms, better materials, upgraded bore for improved tone. These oboes included the Buffet 4052, Yamaha Duet+ 441M, Kessler Custom (composite & hybrid) & Howarth S40C. The marketing of the industry will call these all intermediate, but they are still made for student musicians - but that could be a student in 8th grade or a student in college! Finally, the video ends with the Howarth S50C and Dani's personal Loree oboe. The Loree is established as a "professional" model as they are the most widely used models among professional players. The Howarth S50C is described as "Professional" by Howarth. Now when you look at the S40C and the S50C on paper, there are not many true specification upgrades to the S50C, so why is it "professional"? This is because the S50C is the first model in the Howarth lineup where the Bore of the instrument is designed for professional musicians whereas the S40C is designed for student musicians (up to the College level player). So to answer (finally, right?) your question, technically all of the instruments in this video minus the Howarth S50C and the Loree are really best described as "student" models since they are designed for some level of student musician. However, they could also (less the first student Yamaha in the video) be considered "intermediate" models by the industry definition. Hope that helps! Dave Kessler