Oboe was a British radar-based blind bombing system of the Second World War adopted by the RAF in 1942. It used two transmitters based in the UK; one tracked the bomber, guiding it on a course across the target. The other also tracked the bomber and ordered it to drop its bombs at the computed bomb-release point. Since accuracy was of a very high order, bombing became very accurate, and the system was used by the Pathfinder force to drop marker bombs for the rest of a bombing force. Research Oboe
A bassoon is a wooden double-reed wind musical instrument invented in the 16th century by Afranio. It is furnished with holes, which are stopped by the fingers, and by keys, as in flutes, and forms the natural bass to the oboe, clarinet, etc. The bassoon covers three octaves and for convenience of carriage is divided into two parts; whence it is also called a fagot. Research Bassoon
The bombardon is now a large musical instrument of the saxhorn family, the lowest of the saxhorns, in tone resembling the ophicleide. The bombardon was originally, a deep-toned instrument of the oboe or bassoon family and then the term was also applied to a bass reed stop on the organ. Research Bombardon
The harmoniphon was a wind musical instrument with a keyboard, in which the sound, which resembled the oboe, was produced by the vibration of thin metallic plates, acted upon by blowing through a tube. Research Harmoniphon
The harmonium is a musical instrument of relatively modern invention, producing sounds somewhat resembling those of the organ, resulting from the pressure of wind on a series of vibrating metallic reeds. By the action of bellows, to which the feet communicate a more or less rapid movement, the air is made to impinge against thin tongues of metal (here termed reeds), and to set them vibrating. These metal tongues are fitted into a slit in the top of a small box or sonorous cavity, called a wind-box, and are enabled to vibrate by being fixed only at one end. The discovery that the form of the wind-boxes determines the quality of the sound produced by the vibration of these metallic tongues contributed very much to the development of the harmonium, as it enabled the player to imitate the sound of the oboe, flute, etc.
The instrument has a keyboard like that of a piano, and when one of the keys is pressed down a valve is opened, which allows the wind from the bellows to rush through one of the wind-boxes and act on the vibrator. There are several stops, by means of which the performer can direct the stream of wind into the wind-boxes which produce a flute, clarionet, or any other sound. There is also a knee action, which either serves as an expression stop, or brings all the stops of the instrument into play at once, and what is called the percussion action, which consists in the application of a small hammer, which strikes the vibrator as soon as the key is pressed down, and thus aids the action of the wind. The better class of harmoniums usually have two or more extra rows of vibrators, which, acted upon by separate stops, add so many octaves to the compass. Research Harmonium
The oboe is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. It is a double-reed wind instrument with a wood body and narrow conical bore invented by the French musicians Jean Hotteterre and Michel Philidor, who modified the louder shawm (the prevailing double-reed instrument) for indoor use. Their oboe, called hautbois, as was the shawm, had a narrower bore than the shawm' s, a body in three sections instead of one, and a smaller reed grasped near its tip by the player's lips (on a shawm the mouth encloses the entirereed, the lips resting on a wooden disk at the base of the reed) . By 1700 most orchestras included a pair of oboes. Early oboes had seven finger holes and two keys; by the 1700s, four-keyed models were also in use. In the 1800s additional keys were added, reaching fifteen or more, and the bore and sound holes were redesigned.
Oboes of the French school (played in most countries today) have a very narrow bore and a penetrating, focused sound. Those of the German school (also played in Vienna and Vienna-influenced countries) have a wider bore and a more easily blending sound. The range of the modern oboe extends two and one-half octaves upward from the B below middle C. Composers of solo works for the oboe include George Frideric Handel, Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven, Robert Schumann, and Carl Nielsen. Research Oboe
An oboe d'amore is a type of oboe pitched a minor third lower than the oboe itself. It is used chiefly in the performance of baroque music. Research Oboe d'amore
Abbreviations
Research Oboe
