What looks like a clarinet but is not?

May 28, 2009 10:41 AM

What musical instrument looks like a clarinet but has a tiny thin reed?

Just trying to write a caption for a picture. Forgot to ask the musician what the heck it was he was playing. Looks just like a clarinet (black body with silver keys), but instead of a saxophone-sized flat reed, he's blowing into a cigarette shaped reed. The instrument is straight, and about the same size or perhaps a bit longer than the standard clarinets we had in high-school band.

Tried some googling without much luck. Help me Hive-Mind!

posted by Brodiggitty to media & arts (8 comments total)

Oboe
posted by greekphilosophy at 10:42 AM on May 28

Yep, oboe.
posted by Burhanistan at 10:43 AM on May 28

OBOE
posted by Hammond Rye at 10:43 AM on May 28

Wow, that was easy. I probably should have know that. Thanks!
posted by Brodiggitty at 10:44 AM on May 28

I'm going to buck the trend and claim that it's an English Horn. :)
posted by plinth at 11:02 AM on May 28

See also: English Horn.

It's a double-reed, incidentally.
posted by Sys Rq at 11:04 AM on May 28

English horn and oboe both have double reeds, so it could be either. However, an english horn has a small curved metal tube that the reed goes on. The oboe has a reed that goes straight into the horn. So that might be a way to tell the difference.
posted by snoelle at 11:25 AM on May 28

Also, the English horn often has a potbellied bell, whereas the oboe's is straighter. Thusly.
posted by Emperor SnooKloze at 5:06 PM on May 28