Why is the OBOE and FRENCH HORN the hardest instrument to play?

Question

I play the oboe and know about the reed plasure and the frenchhorn only has like four keys...but why are they

Answer 1

French horn is hard to play becuase you have to make your embouchure (the mouth postition) really small and use alot of really fast air to get the noise out. They have a super small mouthpiece. I dont know much about Oboe though, sorry. i suppose it is because it has a hard embouchure as well.

Answer 2

I don't know that any instrument, in the end, is really "hardest" to play. Certainly, the emboucher for the oboe is difficult, and in the beginning, it's tough to get a decent sound out of it. It's nigh impossible to march with one for the reason that it's so difficult to maintain the proper emboucher with a double-reed while walking.

Still, once you've developed proper technique, the real difficulty comes in learning MUSIC. There are peices of music that can be played quite easily by a good oboe player that would be nearly impossible with a keyless instrument, such as a recorder or keyless flute. Add the trill keys, and you've gone another step entirely.

I think that the basics of an instrument may be more or less difficult than others, but once you've reached a certain level of competence with that instrument, the rest is musicianship.

That said, beginning oboe players are great with duck calls. :-)

Answer 3

I don't play either of these instruments but I am a musician. From what I understand the French horn has a small mouthpiece and it is more cone-shaped than the other brass instruments making it more difficult to play (plus they have to transpose their music a lot) and I think all of the double reed instruments are hard!!!

Answer 4

The oboe is hard to play because in the first place, it's hard to get a note out of it, and when you can, it's hard to control the note's pitch, hard to tune it (hence orchestras tuning to the oboe's A), and hard to make it sound sweet and get a nice tone out of it. The French Horn is difficult to play, as the shape your hand makes in the bell end needs to be changed with different notes and tones, and making it sound nice, and clear is difficult. These are both temperamental instruments, and challenging to play well.

Answer 5

I play french horn. But it is hard because I have to get my lips just right or I will be playing a totally different note. Also, I have a joke on me saying that I sound like a dying cow. It is hard to get up on the high notes because I don't have much room

Answer 6

this is simply why:

a. they are the hardest to play in tune with
b. they are the hardest to produce sound with (let alone a good sound) (oboe, double reed= difficult making reeds, playing them,etc......french horn, brass alone is difficult because you create the note, in a way, and it require one of the firmest embochures of all the instruments, tight)
c. because of A and B, they are hardest to control playing wise

Answer 7

it is extremely hard to make multiple noises on a small mouthpiece. i used to play french horn, and the mouth piece is tiny. the notes you have to create are hard because you have to push your stomach in and really belt it out to make the tiniest noise.

Answer 8

because its a double reed instrument, and because you have to be able to control your breathing and you have to have hard as rock chops (lips)