I really love Albrecht Meyer’s playing, and this is lovely, but the video that goes with this just doesn’t work for me. Maybe I’m alone in this, though! (Sadly you only get a snippet of the Fauré.)
Read Online
I don’t really understand some sites; they are clearly not blogs. They aren’t full of advertisements, so it’s not about making money (I guess). But they have tons of articles — sometimes completely non-related — about a variety of things. I frequently find them due to their articles on oboe. Sometimes those articles contain such interesting information:
- In comparison with different modern woodwind musical instrument, this instrument has a lucid and piercing voice. It’s described as stately and majestical by an instruction book entitle The Sprightly Companion. The timbre comes from the conical bore which is in contrast to the cylindrical bore of clarinets and flutes. This makes the oboe audible amongst different instruments in ensembles.
- This stately instrument has a pitch that is in live performance C but orchestras normally use a live performance A pitch. The League of American Orchestras state that this makes the oboe’s pitch secure and the piercing sound makes it suitable for tuning.
- Historically, oboes are made of granadilla or African Blackwood and have three sections – prime joint, backside joint, and bell section. The left hand controls the ten holes on the highest joint while the proper hand is used for the additionally 10 holes on the underside joint. Covered with keys are {two} holes in the bell section.
- Based mostly on analysis, the oboe, clarinet, and flute are considered as devices which can be on the feminine side. In contrast to that, it has been noticed although not confirmed that boys want the sound of the bassoon, oboe, and English horn than of others’. Some oboists have remarked that these stereotypical views of the oboe might pilot to inconsistency in instrumentation within the future.
So … anyone know what these sorts of sites are about? I’m just curious!
And I hope you enjoyed learning these things about an oboe! ;-)
TQOD
No. 1 song this date 1965? I Got You Babe best oboe rock tune the other side of Abba.
I Love It When Friends Get Kudos!
The San Jose Chamber Orchestra called on two of the South Bay’s superfine talents over the weekend: composer Michael Touchi and mezzo-soprano Layna Chianakas. The occasion was the start of the orchestra’s 20th season. The vehicle was Touchi’s “Kahea (The Call),” a new setting of traditional Hawaiian religious texts — which must be some kind of a first in classical music.
Congratulations to both Mike and Layna, and of course BDT and the San Jose Chamber Orchestra! What a fine review! Wish I had been feeling well enough to attend a concert.
FBQD
Skylar want to play the oboe in the 6th grade band. Found out that lessons will be $60/week and she needs 2 reeds/month bc the only last for 2 weeks and they cost $15-30 each!! Wish I had a friend who plays the oboe! Maybe I will just encourage her to play percussion… I could afford a pair of drumsticks
Dad Might Be Right!
Cute!
Rather than watching this here, click on the video. It’ll then take you to YouTube page and make the poster’s numbers go up. C’mon … let’s make sure Dad is right!
The First Authentic Klingon Opera
As I’m working on a rather new opera, Anna Karenina, there are others coming out as well …
… there have been far too many inauthentic ones, you know?
(Hmm. Do Klingons have a clue about oboe?)
TQOD
Band is total slack time for me cause i don’t have an oboe. How sad. I want my oboe back. :)
Back To Reality
I’ve posted tons during the summer, as I’m sure you’ve noticed. I’m guessing some people wonder if I do anything but sit at my computer.
Wellllll … truth be told, I was spending far too much time with the laptop. I’ll admit it. I’ve been told I’m an addict. But hey, I could quit any time if I needed to. Really.
Or not.
But now it’s back to reality with me. Students are all back, opera has begun, and UCSC is just around the corner. So while I will, of course, post more than I should, I won’t be posting quite so much.
Maybe.
But Can He Make An Oboe Reed?
A robotic trumpet by Toyota … ahhhh … no wonder they were having issues with their cars! They were busy with this guy.
It is pretty darn amazing. Not that I think robots will be replacing us any time soon (aside from playing TAPS in the military, I guess, eh?). But still …
FBQD
when it comes to music it’s impossible to a) play a sad song on a banjo b) play a happy song on an oboe c) not move when you listen to CHAKA KHAN!
Heigh ho, heigh ho … to opera I will go!
Our first rehearsal is today. I’m anxious … and a bit nervous, as this is an entirely new opera to all of us (to most everyone, really, since it’s only been done a couple of times). There’s a lengthy article in the Merc. You might want to check it out!
Carlson was interested, though the work took time. In 2000, he visited St. Petersburg and heard a men’s chorus performing the Czar’s Hymn, used by Tchaikovsky in the 1812 Overture. Carlson employs it as a “fate motif” in “Anna.” He also heard the bells of Kazan Cathedral: “It’s next door to the train station where Anna was supposed to have killed herself,” he says, “and I thought, ‘Wow, I’m putting that in.’ I specified three tubular bells with the ends sawn off to create quarter tones to simulate the sounds of the cathedral.”
Carlson describes the opera as entirely tonal (though without key signatures) and “pretty” — while drawing on modern compositional techniques, including serialism. Some people can’t hear a melody anywhere in it, he jokes, while others find it so emotional and melodic that it’s “anachronistic.”
TQOD
I’m gonna have a little job soon.. teach oboe!! XD
Does This Bug You?
Together with the flute, oboe, English horn, clarinet, and contrabassoon, it covers the position of the bass and tenor instrument of the orchestra.
Maybe it’s just me, but the way I’m reading this it seems as if all the instruments are covering “the position of the bass and tenor instrument of the orchestra”. But I have been known to read this incorrectly, so there’s that ….
And if they are including English horn and contrabassoon, why aren’t they including piccolo and bass clarinet (and other clarinets, for that matter!).
I read it online. I’ll leave out a link; don’t want to be embarrassing anyone.
FBQD
just discovered that the character Dr. Miranda Bailey from Grey’s Anatomy played oboe in high school! And Patrick Dempsey’s character, Dr. Derek Shepherd, played sax!