I just started playing my oboe and my teacher left the city so I'm currently not taking lessons. I'm at a period of transitioning teachers. I have a quick question about the reed and the different timbres it produces depending on the hardness of the reed. Can someone tell me what each one is best for? Ei, soft - very hard. Also the ease of playability?

Thanks so much for answering. I appreciate your help.

Well, soft reeds are going to be the easiest to play on, and hard reeds are going to be the most difficult reeds to play on. As far as the different tones go, soft reeds are said to sound brighter and hard reeds are said to sound darker. This, however, depends on the person or machine making the reed. I make reeds that are quite soft but still have somewhat of a dark tone. Definitely though, hard reeds last longer. In the end, it all comes down to personal preference.

Softer reeds can be more freer and easy to control but close up quickly and tend to be sharp. More open reeds are better. Harder reeds make you bite. And biting = sharpeness/millions of other reasons =].

Get hand made reeds to solve your problem!