oboeinsight

Being a freelancer is a challenge, and, for the most part, I don’t deal with that a whole lot. I have tenured positions in three groups, for which I am quite thankful. But, alas, there was a job I was hoping for. Today I found out someone else was hired.

Since I’ve worked for the contractor before I of course go through all the typical worries. Did I annoy the contractor? Did I not play well enough last time? Will I ever be hired again or is this the end for me?

Fun life, eh?

But, like I said, I have other jobs, and I’m extremely grateful for them. They are great to have, and I can’t complain. Some of my fellow oboists are freelance only folk. Now that is a rough life.

So life goes on.

But I wanted to whine just moment. And now I’m done. :-)
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No one has really asked me why I maintain this oboe site, although I sometimes ask myself that question. Some have suggested it is an ego thing. Some suggest it’s self-indulgent. I don’t know about those possibilities (although I’m willing to admit that I can be a very egotistical and self-indulgent), so I’m going to “write out loud” here and see if I come to any conclusions.

I certainly don’t do it for money; I haven’t earned a penny from this. I wouldn’t mind making an income via this site, but I’m not sure how I would ever make that work. (And I keep checking my PO Box and so far no one is even sending me oboe reeds!)

I don’t do it for fame. There is no fame with an oboe blog. Heck, there’s no fame in oboe playing. I realize that most readers here will be able to name at least one “famous” oboe player, but go out to your local shopping mall and ask the folks there to name one. I’m guessing most folks will respond, “What’s an oboe?”

I don’t do it for glory. I’m not sure what “glory” is, and I’m not sure I’d want it anyway. I figure glory is for God. My job is to give it to him.

I do it because I enjoy filling people in on this wacky world of oboe playing and a musician’s life—even a small time musician like me. I figure there might be some folks out there who like to hear what’s going on when we get up on that stage or crawl into the pit and do our thing. I hope it actually gets some people more interested in what we do, and I certainly want everyone to realize what a wonderful thing playing music is, even while it can be extremely stressful at times.

I do it because I like to research things, and I figure I need to do something with the research I do. I don’t write books. I’m not in journals. I’m not in school, but I still love to learn and find out about music issues. So I post things here. That works for me.

I love bungling my way around the internet. I love finding other double reed players. I like how the world … and especially the double reed world … has become smaller.

I like to find out who is playing and/or teaching where. I like finding out what auditions are coming up, but since I don’t do the audition thing these days I figure I’ll put the information up here, hoping others can make use of what I post.

I do it because it’s fun, too. I just find it fun to blog and find quotes and maybe some readers will get a kick out of the quotes or my silly bloggy stuff.

And of course it’s a wonderful way to avoid working on reeds. ;-)

No one has mentioned that the oboe plays high A several times in Dr. Atomic.

Until now.
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Sigh. Another site that has white type on black background. I know, I know, I can hit certain keys and reverse everything, and I’ll do so for that site since I think I’ll enjoy it. But why is it that my eyes hurt like crazy when I read white on black type while others clearly prefer it? Am I the only one with this problem?

I’ve been very busy working on pages linked on my Double Reed Musicians page. You can now see a rather extensive (although guaranteed to always need updating) page of University, College and Conservatory Instructors. In addition, I’m working on a page of double reeders personal pages. In time I’ll also have a page of chamber music groups that include double reed players. (I’m surprised at the number of bassoon quartets I’ve already located!) I’m hoping readers will continue to send me helpful emails with more information; it’s been wonderful hearing from other players and I appreciate all the help!

But now … now it’s time to watch the World Series. Go White Sox! (But what the heck was going on with that hideous arrangement we had to listen to of the Star Spangled Thing, sung by Josh Groban? Ugh.)
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