<p>For my money, the oboe. Double reed = tough.</p>
<p>LOL - I was going to say oboe, but I see you already said it. I'll just have to say I agree.</p>
<p>Speaking of playing the oboe well, this woman is absolutely amazing: <a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRb8KKyenSY%5B/url%5D">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PRb8KKyenSY</a></p>
<p>The bassoon is another double reed intstrument. The thing is you can always improve your ability on an instrument thus making it impossible to determine the "hardest" instrument. There are instruments that have a higher learning curve and take more time to sound good on but different instruments require different sets of skills and it takes an immesne amount of skill to play an instrument at a professional level.</p>
<p>Recorder. .</p>
<p>imo Clarinet.</p>
<p>There are a lot of "decent" players but you need to have god given talent to be great.</p>
<ol>
<li>oboe</li>
<li>french horn</li>
<li>bassoon </li>
</ol>
<p>my best friend is the best oboe player in the state (:D), and i used to play bassoon. My school is amazing with double-reeds. it's had the last 4 best bassoon players in the state (and would have had the 5th, except he moved to Arkansas, and is now the best player, regardless of instrument, in the state, as a freshman!!!).</p>
<p>If the quality of my HS band was any indication, trumpets must be the hardest to learn... because all of our trumpets are terrible =P</p>
<p>I agree... oboes/double-reeds in general are the hardest to play well. Our oboe player during my freshman and sophomore years was the best in the state. She made playing it seem effortless. So, when my two best friends started playing this year to fill her spot... it was quite a rude awakening.</p>
<p>I play the clarinet. I consider myself to be, as llpitch said, "decent," but the one thing preventing me from becoming... er, better than "decent" is something beyond my control. My fingers are so short that I have to stretch to reach the left finger C/B keys. It's very frustrating =P</p>
<p>the kazoo, hands down.</p>
<p>bagpipes!</p>
<p>i really have no clue</p>
<p>I would say:</p>
<ol>
<li>double reed instruments</li>
<li>tuba</li>
<li>trumpet</li>
</ol>
<p>In my school, the some of the tuba and trumpet players have bad tone.</p>
<p>I went to one of the best band programs in the nation last year (It was ranked #3 in the nation by the Grammys in '03). Every year we had about 15 All-State players (I lived in California).</p>
<p>Every year there would be about 1 or 2 freshmen coming in that would be placed right in the top band because they had some god given talent. Usually this happened in the Clarinet/Oboe sections. </p>
<p>So my top 3 hardest musical instruments to play at a high level would be:</p>
<ol>
<li>Clarinet</li>
<li>Oboe</li>
<li>Piccolo</li>
</ol>
<p>And lol @ saying French Horn is hard. One of my best friends went from Sax to French Horn last year and got placed in the second highest band (remember this is at a really great band HS). He said it was probably easier than Sax.</p>
<p>Then again, all this is my opinion.</p>
<p>Haha, I'm going to second the Bagpipes vote. It has a reed, and I've heard you need lungs of steel to even squeak out a note. Although I know this is true for a lot of wind instruments...</p>
<p>Well, at least we're all agreed that it would be a wind instrument!</p>
<p>Your fingers.</p>
<p>Have you seen those people who can lace their fingers, then blow through their hands and make different notes based on which fingers they're holding up? I saw one in Washington DC once. It was positively amazing.</p>
<p>Maybe your friend is just musical. This girl in my band switched from flute (she would have been principal) to french horn... and is TERRIBLE. Annoyingly, though, she's convinced that she's God's Gift To French Horn Players Everywhere. One day in band, she decided to play flute just to "see what the principal's solo was like" (which is obnoxious in itself, but- oh no! There's more!!!) The french horns sounded the same as they always do (terrible), and the assistant band director told them to work on a section. God's Gift raised her hand and said, "Well, most days -I'll- be playing with them, so..." as if her playing is marvelous/ she can actually play the parts! In reality, she's the worst in the section and has become a joke in band. (Sorry for the slightly off-topic rant. I REALLY dislike that girl and needed to get that out =P)</p>
<p>I'm surprised no one has mentioned violin. That's where my vote goes. I've been performing music for a while now and there are some times when I listen to a buddy of mine play violin and a couple of notes I hear make me want to cringe and plug my ears because it's slightly off tune. The fact is, if your finger is off by more than a couple of millimeters, the note sounds... less than optimal.</p>
<p>According to the Guinness Book of World Records? Oboe and French Horn. Don't ask how they came up with that, but they did.</p>
<p>Personally, I think the hardest instrument to play WELL is definitely either the horn or the oboe. As a horn player and a former trumpet and sax player, there are so many more things that make the horn hard to play well. For example, the fact that it's possible to play an entire F scale without the use of the primary three valves is a testament to the ridiculous partials on the thing. Playing a note with the right fingering is no guarantee of the right pitch coming out. The embouchure is also ridiculously critical. I don't think I've ever been able to easily maintain intonation for an extended period of time, due to fatigue, etc. Even the position of your hand on the bell changes the tone. Add the above together, and it's possible to not only struggle with intonation but also with hitting the right pitch. Fortunately, most concert band material one will play in high school is written by people who don't know how to write for the horn, and are thus ridiculously easy and don't take full advantage of the horn's capability. The stupid doubling of the saxes thing in high school material is an example of this. I understand that some schools don't have horns, or that their horn players just can't play the material, but please...doubling the saxes? laziness to the extreme. That all said, a strong musical background, very strong knowledge of interval relationships, and the use of a piano keyboard while sight-reading will help make the instrument easier to play. </p>
<p>As for the oboe, part of its difficulty comes from its piercing quality of sound. The reason it makes such a distinct sound is due to the compression of air. Subsequently, that compression results in more air responsibilities from the performer. Couple that with a double reed and you've got a recipe for disaster. Also, flute fingerings ported over to a clarinet-like instrument makes dexterity an issue. Therefore, the main difficulty from the oboe is mostly rooted in the composer's hand. Many composers, like they do to the horn, just double the oboe onto flute or clarinet parts, with the occasional solo. Oboes have a hard time with flute parts due to dexterity issues, and clarinet parts due to breathing. If you look at symphonic orchestra scores, the oboe player is given liberal rests and the parts are more sustained that is common in high school concert band music. Lots of time the oboe player also plays the english horn, the Eb clarinet, etc, thus reducing the demand on the oboe part.</p>
<p>Just my two cents =]</p>
<p>My vote is with the sitar.</p>
<p>Yeah, oboe, basoon and french horn are pretty tough. But piano is really difficult to play up to competition level. I mean, sure, lotsa people play decently, and for fun, but you have to play it for years before getting the 'finger feel' for it.</p>
<p>Perhaps the most awkward instrument to play is the harp. Not necessarily difficult to play, but difficult to transport. I always feel bad for the energy that the harpist uses to load it in and out of her car and wheel it around on a dolly.</p>