E5 Oboe Fingering
How to play E5 on the oboe: First octave key · left hand 1-2-3 · right hand 1-2.
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 E5 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 E5 fingering, step by step
- Press the first octave key with your left thumb — the thumb key on the back of the top joint. On a semi-automatic oboe this key serves E5 to G♯5, and the mechanism looks after the changeover higher up.
- Cover hole 1 with your left index finger.
- 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.
In short: first octave key · left hand 1-2-3 · right hand 1-2.
About E5 on the oboe
From E5 to G♯5 the thumb’s octave key does the venting, and the fingerings below it are the first octave’s with the key added. On semi-automatic and automatic oboes a mechanism manages this key’s changeover with the second octave key, but the thumb still has to be in the right place at the right time.
E5 is where the first octave key takes over from the half-hole. The fingering is E4’s, plus the thumb key — and on a semi-automatic oboe this is the key the mechanism manages for you through this whole stretch of the register, from E5 to G♯5.
E5 is note 19 of the 32 in the full oboe fingering chart, sitting between E♭5 below it and F5 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 E5
Keep the left thumb resting on the octave key through this whole register, even on the notes that do not use it — a thumb that has to travel is a thumb that arrives late, and late thumbs are where squeaks between E5 and G♯5 come from.
Questions about E5
What is the fingering for E5 on oboe?
First octave key · left hand 1-2-3 · right hand 1-2. E5 is a first octave key 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 E5 sound like on an oboe?
Exactly E5 — the oboe is a non-transposing instrument in C, so written E5 sounds as concert E5. When your band director asks for a concert E5, this is the note you finger.
Is there an alternate fingering for E5?
For E5, 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.