oboeinsight

As many of you know, I’m a fan of Marigaux oboes. I had a Loree years ago, and I never felt that it was “mine” as I feel with a Marigaux.

But Marigaux sure has a couple of bizarre oboes! Their site shows a new oboe that has a top joint ending after the octave keys. Talk about a short joint! The middle joint then begins after the octave keys and ends in the usual place. I’m not sure what this change does, but it would be fun to try it. They have another instrument that is clear. Check out the Marigaux 2001 altuglass on the instruments page. Bizarre! The 2010 has a reshaped bell. They will have a couple of models with gold-plated keys, and they’ve redesigned some keys to make them easier on the hands. Of course I can’t even imagine what these oboes will cost.

Some year (I hope!) I’m going to make it to an IDRS convention so I can actually try these instruments.
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“The slower pieces we choose for the purpose of getting guests quiet and thoughtful. We pick pieces in a major key, not a minor one, so it doesn’t sound like someone died.”

This quote is from an article that is talking about the alternatives to the traditional music many are used to hearing although, to be honest, these days I am always surprised to hear Wagner’s Wedding March and I can’t even remember the last time I heard Mendelssohn’s music from A Midsummer Night’s Dream used for a recessional.

I recently played a wedding and I played a bit of the prelude and then the processional which was Bach’s “Bist du bei mir” and was chosen by the bride’s father. For the prelude I wondered, too, if I could play anything in a minor key without upsetting some listeners. So I played major key selections from Telemann’s Fantasies. Then, needing a bit more filler before the important entrances (which a brass trio played for) I just decided to invent something. It was easier, I thought, than dealing with turning more pages and dealing with clips and all. I kind of like inventing music; I actually don’t get nervous when I’m making it up. It’s just fun.

But back to what I really was pondering just now: does music in a minor key always “sound like someone died”? I really don’t think so, but when I was in a woodwind quintet we used to play weddings and one bride, when listening to our repertoire to choose music, said that the music we were playing sounded too sad and she didn’t want it. Yes, it was minor key music.

So … thoughts? Will you allow me to play music in a minor key for your wedding? I love that music. Maybe during a prelude. (Do people listen anyway? I don’t know that many heard the prelude during the recent wedding.)

I DO love playing weddings, and this was the first I’d done in nearly 20 years.

I was having a nice little conversation via AIM with someone who reads this site. He was saying that the oboe is the most important instrument in the orchestra and I suggested that I didn’t think that way. He reminded me that I have actually said we are.

So now I’m realizing that not all my readers know about my sense of humor, and you can’t hear my delivery of a funny (or not so funny) line. So I guess I should at least include a wink for those of you who don’t know that I’m a tongue-in-cheek sort! Then again, if you don’t get it, you don’t get it. So sorry.

But, just so you all now will know, I have a somewhat twisted sense of humor. I am, after all, an oboist. There’s a lot of pressure in this career. (There’s a lot of pressure on my brain!) I suffer while sitting near the “lesser instruments.” I suffer with conductors. I suffer with oboe reeds. I “suffer in silence” (name the musical that has this line and you get two points).

;-)
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So it’s not just at the opera or symphony … theatre goers can be equally annoying (if not more so). this article will fill you in.

I’ve written before about the CAM (Clueless Audience Member) experiences I’ve had. (See this or this or (yes there are more, but some direct you to other sites) this for example.) But now I’m wondering … are they clueless or do they simply not care. I’m beginning to think it’s the latter.
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Terry Teachout is ill and so now I’m wondering …

Is it possible to catch something over the internet?! Because I think I have what he has.

Heh. Just kidding. Dan (my husband) was ill and I probably caught it from him, unless we both caught it from someone else. (If that’s the case we’d like to hunt that person down. As soon as we are up and running again. Not sure what we’d do, though. Maybe just force the person to listen to a whole lot of Glazunov ballet music or something. But maybe that’s just punishment for ME?) Fortunately I’m not quite as sick as Dan was at his prime of sickness, but I think that’s because I’m a hardy oboe player.

Or something.

So anyway, I do hope, Mr. Teachout, that you recover quickly. (I hope I do too!)

And I’m very happy to announce that my sick iBook is sick no longer; Dan “healed” it with a new hard drive treatment. For those of you who don’t back up for about a month, take my advice; do it now! I lost a whole lotta mail because my last backup was on July 23. Sigh. And if you sent me any important messages between July 23 and August 19 you might want to resend.

… NOT to say I’m anywhere near as talented as this wonderful violist, mind you!

But there’s an article in the Mercury News, by Richard Scheinin, on Geraldine Walther, the principal violist of the San Francisco Symphony from 1976 until … well, until about now. She’s moving on. To the Takács Quartet. I can’t even imagine what an exciting move this is for her! So click on the article link! (See how nice I am? I give you TWO links to the article in case you missed the first! Two links … for the price of none.) But one of my favorite paragraphs (the “I Know This Feeling” paragraph) says:

But, she adds, “Fear has always been my greatest motivator — fear of making a fool out of myself. Performers — we have all sorts of anxiety dreams: standing up in front of an orchestra and realizing that you have a trombone in your hands, the wrong instrument. Or sitting at a piano — I hardly play the piano — and having to perform the Grieg piano concerto.”

So that paragraph just made me smile.
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I would like to start scheduling UCSC and SCU students’ lessons, but I need your help! Please email me with your Fall schedules so that we can get moving on this.

In other news, and not so very good news at that, I managed to fry the iBook’s hard drive. This means that ALL email that had come in yesterday and before is inaccessible to me until I can afford to have the computer repaired, and even then I will have lost some mail completely. So to ALL who have emailed me this past month, your messages are lost to me now. If you want to resend any messages feel free.

I’m especially concerned about any students who have emailed me recently, and any potential students as well. (This includes potential university students.)

I’ve never had this happen before. I am not a happy camper, but I guess after all these years of using a computer I was “due”. Trouble is, I wasn’t backing up every week, which is tremenously foolish of me. :-(

You might all take a moment now to back up your computers!
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… it was fun to see that I was included in a newspaper’s small list of music blogs.

Kind of makes me feel … I dunno … like maybe people read this thing!

In Other News
it looks like I may have already sold my BAM double case; I have an interested party and we’ll be figuring things out when she returns from a trip. Nice. (She should love the case … it’s really wonderful if you only need a case for the oboe and English horn and don’t need the versatility of the Wiseman.)

Yesterday I received the extra oboe insert. The velvet is purple, while the velvet of the other inserts is a grayish color. I kind of like the difference … makes for a pretty case, actually. I suppose if I’d told Forrests what I already had they’d have matched it … maybe. You never know about Forrests (they won’t work on my instruments because they aren’t instruments they think are worthy. Sigh.)!
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Now that my husband, Dan, has been given his birthday present, I can say that I’ll be going to see and hear John Adam’s Dr. Atomic in October! (Yeah, I gave Dan a gift that gifted me as well. Um. Well. It’s still a gift, right?) I’m really looking forward to this, and pretty darn embarrassed to admit that I’ve never attended a San Francisco Opera performance before. (I played some performances with them, many years ago, but paying to hear one is something I’ve not done.)
I think I might listen to what’s available before going, just so I can hear the work better … sometimes it helps to have the music in my ears already, you know? If there were a libretto I’d read that as well, but I suspect that won’t be out.

I was sorry to hear that Lorraine Hunt Lieberson wouldn’t be singing the opera after all, but when doctors say you shouldn’t sing in order to recover from a back injury, I guess you have to follow their instructions. Oh well. I’m still very excited about the opera!

Before this opera, though, I get to have my own little time in the opera pit. We begin rehearsals for Opera San Jose’s The Crucible soon. Yay! Not only am I getting back to my favorite thing, opera, but I’m going to learn something new, as I’ve never done this work before!
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This article is well worth the read.

It reminds me, too, that I have this book by Daniel Barenboim, Edward Said, and I’ve yet to even open it up. I really need to read it.
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I’m finally updating some pages at this site. One that I have been working on both yesterday and today is the roster for double reed players in American Symphony Orchestras. I think I’m finally finished, although there are still some question marks; I’m sure I’m missing both orchestras and correct names there.

It’s been interesting to go back and check out the websites of all these orchestras. While I verified the lists, I also noticed how darn ugly some sites are. For arts organizations some folks sure have no eye! I also was frustrated because some are very awkwardly put together … not user friendly at all. And I found it absolutely horrifying to find a few that didn’t even bother to list the orchestra members’ names, while always making sure there was a page noting all their board members and office staff. (Sigh)

Another interesting and disturbing thing was to see the number of names I deleted without replacing that person with a new player! I’m guessing that some orchestras are turning the three player sections (2 oboes and an English hornist, for instance) into two player sections. It’s sad to see this happening.

I’m sure I still have errors on the page. I will gladly accept any emails correcting me, or adding to my orchestra list.

Now I’ll have to get to the other pages listed on my Double Reed Musicians page.

But for now these tired hands need a rest.
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