<P> The modern standard oboe is most commonly made from grenadilla, also known as African blackwood, though some manufacturers also make oboes out of other members of the genus Dalbergia, which includes cocobolo, rosewood, and violetwood (also known as kingwood). Ebony (genus Diospyros) has also been used . Student model oboes are often made from plastic resin, to avoid instrument cracking to which wood instruments are prone, but also to make the instrument more economical . The oboe has an extremely narrow conical bore . It is played with a double reed consisting of two thin blades of cane tied together on a small - diameter metal tube (staple) which is inserted into the reed socket at the top of the instrument . The commonly accepted range for the oboe extends from B ♭ to about G, over two and a half octaves, though its common tessitura lies from C to E ♭ . Some student oboes only extend down to B (the key for B ♭ is not present). However this variant is becoming less common . </P> <P> A modern oboe with the "full conservatoire" ("conservatory" in the US) or Gillet key system has 45 pieces of keywork, with the possible additions of a third octave key and alternate (left little finger) F - or C - key . The keys are usually made of nickel silver, and are silver - or occasionally gold - plated . Besides the full conservatoire system, oboes are also made using the British thumbplate system . Most have "semi-automatic" octave keys, in which the second - octave action closes the first, and some have a fully automatic octave key system, as used on saxophones . Some full - conservatory oboes have finger holes covered with rings rather than plates ("open - holed"), and most of the professional models have at least the right - hand third key open - holed . Professional oboes used in the UK and Iceland frequently feature conservatoire system combined with a thumb plate . Releasing the thumb plate has the same effect as pressing down the right - hand index - finger key . This produces alternate options which eliminate the necessity for most of the common cross-intervals (intervals where two or more keys need to be released and pressed down simultaneously), but cross intervals are much more difficult to execute in such a way that the sound remains clear and continuous throughout the frequency change (a quality also called legato and often called - for in the oboe repertoire). </P> <P> The standard oboe has several siblings of various sizes and playing ranges . The most widely known and used today is the cor anglais, or English horn, the tenor (or alto) member of the family . A transposing instrument; it is pitched in F, a perfect fifth lower than the oboe . The oboe d'amore, the alto (or mezzo - soprano) member of the family, is pitched in A, a minor third lower than the oboe . J.S. Bach made extensive use of both the oboe d'amore as well as the taille and oboe da caccia, Baroque antecedents of the cor anglais . Even less common is the bass oboe (also called baritone oboe), which sounds one octave lower than the oboe . Delius and Holst both scored for the instrument . Similar to the bass oboe is the more powerful heckelphone, which has a wider bore and larger tone than the baritone oboe . Only 165 heckelphones have ever been made . Not surprisingly, competent heckelphone players are difficult to find due to the extreme rarity of this particular instrument . The least common of all are the musette (also called oboe musette or piccolo oboe), the sopranino member of the family (it is usually pitched in E ♭ or F above the oboe), and the contrabass oboe (typically pitched in C, two octaves deeper than the standard oboe). </P> <P> Folk versions of the oboe, sometimes equipped with extensive keywork, are found throughout Europe . These include the musette (France) and the piston oboe and bombarde (Brittany), the piffero and ciaramella (Italy), and the xirimia (also spelled chirimia) (Spain). Many of these are played in tandem with local forms of bagpipe, particularly with the Italian zampogna or Breton biniou . Similar oboe - like instruments, most believed to derive from Middle Eastern models, are also found throughout Asia as well as in North Africa . </P>

Is the oboe d'amore higher or lower in pitch than the orchestral oboe