Singin’ Dog Medium Oboe Reed

It sounds wonderful and I haven’t been happier with a store bought reed. I’ve been playing the oboe for 11 years but not very seriously so I never learned to make/edit oboe reeds. It was in tune when I got it a month ago as when I play it now. It came promptly and was in great condition.

For 22 dollars, I expected a much better reed. While it played, the tone was horrendous (dying duck-esque) and the reed was incredibly flat, even after generous soaking and time to break in. Turns out the entire heart had been scraped flat and the tip was slightly over scraped. It could very well have been a dud reed (likely, based on other positive reviews), but I feel that for the price, as well as the fact it is hand made, there should be better quality control. I would purchase an Eastman reed or a Jones for more reliability in the scrape.

UPDATE: I can no longer make my own reeds due to hand/wrist problems. I have now bought several Singin’ Dog oboe reeds and had a couple of students use them as well. The quality still is inconsistent, which frustrated my beginning adult student to no end. For my own use they’re fine because I can still work on reeds enough to modify them. Most often they have played flat and I’ve had to clip the tip a little, and sometimes do just a little scraping on the tip or the heart. Most of mine have played pretty well across the whole range of the oboe. The current two that I have don’t do very well with a high G (4 ledger lines above the staff) and are giving me a little trouble in the low range as well. One young student, a first-year oboist, had been playing on medium soft Emerald and Jones reeds, and when she switched to the medium soft Singin’ Dog reeds she thought they were quite a bit harder. Her mom and I made her continue with them though, because both her tone and pitch improved quite a bit. Overall conclusion: Now that I’ve had more experience with these reeds I still like them and will continue to buy them, but they do have their problems and may or may not be right for a student who does not have a private teacher.

I normally make my own reeds, but I broke my wrist in a way that I could still play but not handle a reed knife. I bought two of these reeds to get me through. Many people think that students need harder reeds as they progress (medium hard is better than medium), but this is not usually true as long as the reed is balanced correctly. When I tried the first reed, the sound was a bit too thin and nasal for my liking, but that got better after I played it for a couple of days, which is not unusual. It turned out to be a nice easy-playing reed with a pretty good sound. I’ve been working on the Mozart oboe quartet, which has several jumps from high notes to low notes, and the reed did them very well, with great response in the low register. The pitch was a bit unstable, but it wasn’t hard to keep it in tune. Overall I was very pleased, so I ordered another one. The second reed crows very low (crowing is when you put the reed in your mouth up to the binding and blow), around a Bb instead of the C that it should have been. The opening is very big, making it harder to play and potentially encouraging a student to bite down to play–a bad habit to get into. The sound isn’t great, and the pitch is very unstable but tends to go flat. This reed would be disappointing and frustrating to an intermediate or advanced student. I would buy these again if I were ever to need them, and I will be recommending them to students–after all, both reeds are very playable, which is more than can be said for most factory-made reeds!

I like how consistent these reeds are. Playable day 1. Great for beginners or those without time to make their own. Pitch is pretty stable and easy to adjust if needed. Plays well in all registers. I love that they come wrapped in different colors so I can keep track of which one is which. I really like the artificial cork staple, needs less cork grease and always sits well.

Reed is pretty flat. Son says he kind of likes the tone because it does kind of sound like a dog. Not recommended for classical. Maybe good for klezmer or jazz.