The oboe is made in three pieces,—the head-piece, bottom and bell-joints. The player first screws the joints of his instrument together so that the finger-holes are in a straight line, and then he puts the reed in the head-piece. The first, second and third fingers of each hand are used to cover the holes. The whole instrument rests on the thumb of the right hand. The little fingers and the thumb of the left hand are used for the keys. The fingers are always placed over the finger-holes ready to close them when necessary. The fundamental scale is obtained by opening and shutting the holes pierced laterally in the pipe and these are governed by a mechanism called “speaker keys.” The scale of the oboe begins on the middle C and is chromatic. The instrument, being conical, “over-blows” an octave. It runs up to the extreme treble G. But although it is a soprano, it is a “middle compass” instrument. Music for it is written from F on the first space of the Treble Clef to D in octave above. The fingering resembles that of the flute; but, owing to the reed in his mouth, the player can only use single tonguing. The player puts the reed between his lips, taking care that his teeth do not touch the mouthpiece. Then he places his tongue against the open part of the reed, presses the reed with his lips, draws his tongue gently backwards and blows a stream of air into the oboe, managing his breath as if for singing. Sometimes he pronounces the syllable _doo_ and sometimes that of _too_, according to the effect he wants to get. The double reed in the player’s mouth is the sound-producer. The air-column inside the pipe acts as a resonating medium, strengthening the vibrations of the reed by vibrations of its own. As the player is obliged to take his lips from the mouthpiece to exhale, he cannot perform long sustained passages without pauses. While the oboe does not require as much breath for blowing as some instruments do, the difficulty is to _exhale_ and refill the lungs so as to go on with the rest of the work. The notes are produced by holes, some open, others closed by keys raised by means of levers. The oboe, like the flute, is an octave instrument, that is to say it “over-blows” the octave. The oboe possesses notes sufficient for an octave, or more, with chromatic intervals. The next octaves are obtained by means of cross-fingering and from the octave keys which do not give out an independent note of their own but determine a node in the column of air and so raise the pitch of any other note an octave. The oboe is a “non-transposing instrument” and sounds the note written. “It is possible to play on this instrument chromatic scales and _arpeggio_ passages; _legato_ and _staccato_; leaps; cantabile passages; sustained notes; _diminuendo_ and _crescendo_; grace notes and shakes.”