D5 Oboe Fingering
How to play D5 on the oboe: Left hand 1 (half-hole)-2-3 · right hand 1-2-3.
Filled keys and holes in the diagram are the ones you press or cover, and a half-filled first hole is the half-hole. The two keys at the top are the octave keys — the first worked by the left thumb on the back of the instrument, the second by the side of the left index finger — and the clusters at the bottom are the pinky keys, five for the left pinky and three for the right.
Hear D5 and try the fingering
Pick an instrument and a note and the diagram updates instantly — filled keys are the ones you press. The same finder sits on every note page, pre-set to that note.
The D5 fingering, step by step
- Half-hole the first hole: keep your left index finger on its plate and roll it downwards just far enough to uncover the small vent in the middle of the plate. Roll the finger — never lift it off the plate.
- Cover hole 2 with your left middle finger.
- Cover hole 3 with your left ring finger.
- Cover hole 1 with your right index finger.
- Cover hole 2 with your right middle finger.
- Cover hole 3 with your right ring finger.
In short: left hand 1 (half-hole)-2-3 · right hand 1-2-3.
About D5 on the oboe
These three notes are the oboe’s bridge into the second octave. Instead of an octave key, the left index finger rolls to open the small vent in its key plate — the half-hole — while the rest of the fingering stays the low note’s. The technique is a roll, never a lift, and it is the first genuinely oboe-specific skill a new player meets.
D5 is the note beginners most often try to play with the octave key — it does not use one. It is a half-hole note: the low D fingering with the left index finger rolled to open its vent. If your D5 is stuffy or drops an octave, the vent is usually not open far enough, or the finger has lifted instead of rolled.
D5 is note 17 of the 32 in the full oboe fingering chart, sitting between C♯5 below it and E♭5 above it.
Like every fingering on this site, it was checked against the Woodwind Fingering Guide's basic oboe charts and the NoteAtlas oboe chart before publishing.
Practising D5
Practise the roll on its own: finger D5 and rock the left index finger until the note settles, without the fingertip ever leaving the plate. Slur C♯5–D5–E♭5 slowly until the movement is one gesture, not three.
Questions about D5
What is the fingering for D5 on oboe?
Left hand 1 (half-hole)-2-3 · right hand 1-2-3. D5 is a half-hole notes note on the oboe. The full step-by-step is on this page, and you can hear the note with the Fingering Finder.
What does D5 sound like on an oboe?
Exactly D5 — the oboe is a non-transposing instrument in C, so written D5 sounds as concert D5. When your band director asks for a concert D5, this is the note you finger.
Is there an alternate fingering for D5?
For D5, the fingering above is the one to learn. It is the basic fingering both reference charts give for this note, and the one teachers expect to see.
Think this fingering is wrong? Report it — every report is checked against the source charts.