Trivia
The keys recoil via springs!
Other than the oboe, instruments that have keys include the saxophone, the clarinet, and the flute. All these instruments are designed so that, after a key is pressed by a finger, they naturally return to their original positions. Springs are what are responsible for this. The photograph shows the spring in the bell portion, but, obviously, there are springs all over the instrument. The keys are attached to pipes that pass through holes. The pipes have straight metal cores running through them and are designed so that they rotate along the axes of these cores when the keys are pressed.
The thin wires attached to the key posts are the springs.
A bell and the parts of a key.
Musical Instrument Guide:Oboe Contents
Structure
How to Play
How the Instrument is Made
Choosing an Instrument
Trivia
- Why does the oboe lead the orchestra in tuning?
- Do the reeds have a front and a back?
- The keys recoil via springs!
- This is how the oboe and the cor anglais differ
- The charumera was the oboe's cousin
- You can reduce time spent breathing using circular-breathing techniques?
- The Wiener oboe that survived an existential crisis
- Oboe masterpieces: concertos
- Oboe masterpieces: chamber music
- What is the alto oboe?
- The heckelphone, which resembles the oboe
- The oboe is the bassoon's cousin