There's something special about the sound of the oboe. It's the most vocal and exotic of the woodwinds, with its double reed giving a peculiarly nasal tone and that muessin-like crack at the beginning of a note. And there's a whole range of oboe sounds too, with widely varying regional twangs and even individual accents - oboists make their own reeds, and hence determine their own sound. It's a complex process.
Different countries scrape different shapes, leading to different sounds.
Then the oboist can actually get around to playing the instrument - but again there are different styles. But, as with the English language, the regional accents are being mixed out into a smooth mid-Atlantic sound, as the music becomes more internationally based. The loss of diversity is mourned by some oboists, but perhaps it's just the consequence of a shrinking world. Go to the next part of the article.