All instruments have their tricky ‘corners’, areas of the instrument where technique is tested to the full. With oboe fingering, and, indeed, on many other instruments too, any busy playing which involves the little finger and ring finger on either hand is one of these areas. These two fingers share a single tendon and always want to work together. Of course, when playing there are occasions when they can’t! So, let’s look at the problems associated with each hand in turn.

THE LEFT HAND: The left hand little finger works the G# key. This involves finger changes where the little finger sometimes has to work in conjunction with the ring finger and sometimes alone. This means that the two fingers sometimes have to work as one single digit and sometimes as two separate digits. This left little finger also has three other keys to contend with, the long D#/Eb and the two bottom notes of the oboe, B & Bb. These three keys, sometimes called the Feather Keys (because of their similarity to the Prince of Wales feathers) require more of a stretch than the G#. Young hands often find these a bit difficult to use at first. (On some oboes there is the additional long C#/Db key which is also worked with the left little finger, but this is not an issue that young oboists are likely to encounter)

THE RIGHT HAND: The right hand little finger works the C# & D# keys as well as the bottom C key. These tend to be less of a problem than the left hand keys but can be a little testing for small hands. Changing from C# to bottom C is awkward as it involves zipping the finger from one key to the other; – especially tricky when slurring. This manoeuvre can be achieved either by sliding or by ‘rocking’ the finger from one key to the other. (This is a bit difficult to explain. You need an experienced oboist to show you how to negotiate this bit of oboe fingering!)

So what advice can I offer to help overcome the problems which these particular oboe fingerings pose? Well, first of all, it is vital to keep the little fingers above the key work at all times and never tuck them away underneath. This is an issue which often arises when the young oboist has previously played recorder. The left little finger is the one finger which has no hole to cover on a recorder so many young players, as the finger is never used, have a tendency to tuck it underneath to help support the instrument; – they shouldn’t actually do this, but, unfortunately, many do!

Good oboe fingering requires the fingers to hover over the keys ready for when they are needed; – this applies to all the fingers including the little fingers. Indeed, it could be said that it is more important for the little fingers than any others, as a good little finger position will tend to spread the hand nicely and bring all the other fingers into their correct positions.

One other thing which will further enable a good use of the little fingers is having a good posture, standing with a straight back, with the head up and the oboe held at an angle of at least 60 degrees. Holding the oboe at too low an angle will impinge on oboe fingering significantly and make reaching for the little finger keys more difficult.