oboeinsight

I would like to wish you all a very

WARM AND WONDERFUL CHRISTMAS!

Christmas blessings to you all.

I have heard no Tchaikovsky at all today. How nice! I did think of my colleagues at about 1:35, when the ballet was probably about to begin. And I did keep my phone on just in case my sub didn’t show up; that happened to me once … I can’t remember if I told the story before or not, and if I find I haven’t perhaps I’ll sometime blog about it, but I promise I won’t name the person who caused the distress! But anyway, I always worry when I have a sub coming in. I finally had a reason to worry a few years back.

Anyway, today was a nice day. We did some family shopping, and I feel fairly relaxed. It doesn’t, however, feel like Christmas; it’s too darn warm!
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ZERO!!!

And if you don’t know what I’m talking about … you lose! ;-)

That’s right … TWO more shows to go for me. (While those who are willing to work on December 24 will have one more.) Time has really sped by this year.

I still have my cold … lucky me … but it isn’t so bad that I can’t play. So that’s good.

Playing Nutcracker isn’t all bad. I fear I might give readers the impression that I hate it. I honestly don’t. What I don’t like is that we do it so much, and every year. But it has some great English horn solos, and they never get boring. At least not to me. I hope, too, that they never sound boring! I take the ballet seriously, just as I take nearly everything I play seriously; if I don’t, I get careless, and I can’t stand it when that happens. It really bothers me when people simply phone in their parts. While we may think something is old and even a bit annoying, people are paying good money to come hear and see this thing, and I like to know I did my best. (Although I’ll still complain a good amount—just ask my husband!)

Since I’m playing a combined part these days (the ballet has cut back on players) it keeps things even more interesting … especially since no one ever put a book together for this particular Nutcracker. (This isn’t “pure” Nutcracker—the choreographer adds the Polonaise from Eugene Onegen as well as portions of Cappriccio Italien to the work, and he changes the order of a lot of the music. I prefer it pure, but whatever.) Believe it or not, I play from two books and two stands! It’s a bit of a challenge for a newbie, but I’ve done this ballet since … hmm … perhaps 1979 or so, and I’ve done this specific ballet production since it came to San Jose from Cleveland. (The Ballet San Jose Silicon Valley used to be a part of Cleveland Ballet … they came here and would then call themselves the San Jose Cleveland Ballet. Eventually Cleveland folded, and thus the new name. And much smaller troupe.) So I’m no newbie. Not even close.

Going back through my Nutcracker history, I am wondering just how many shows I’ve actually done! When I began, prior to Cleveland’s arrival, I played a production at Flint Center (at De Anza College) for a dance company (I think it was a school) from San Francisco. That production claimed to be based on the original choreography, and had two intermissions (the party scene and snow scene were broken into an act each). Then there was also San Jose Dance Theatre for which I played. Much of the time I did both since they didn’t overlap. There were a few years where I played San Jose Cleveland Ballet (on English horn), San Jose Dance Theater (on a double book of English horn and oboe 2 – NOT, mind you, anything like the doubling book for my current gig) and the Flint Center job (on principal oboe). That’s a LOT of Nuts! What I liked was that I played different parts for each one; it kept things from getting dull. Of course it also sent my heart to the floor on occasion—I’d forget which book I was on and when, for instance, an EH solo came up and I was no longer playing EH I’d panic, thinking I was forgetting to come in! I doubt I’ve ever done as many as I’m assuming the San Francisco Ballet folks do each year, but I think I had around 50 one season. So these 14 services are nothing. Nothing, I tell you!

Still, I allow myself to complain a bit. Because it’s Christmas. And I get tired. And … I’m an oboe player, darn it! We are good at complaining! (I say “Run with what you do well!” and I do well at complaining.)

But ahhhh … Nutcracker memories! Pit playing, Nutcracker or otherwise, has its exciting moments. Nuts are just especially exciting. We get a lot of fog in the pit on occasion; when the stage crew goes wild with dry ice we get the joy of losing the conductor in the fog. (And in some ways I DO mean joy! Tee hee. Oh how witty I can be, eh?) The temperature variations can cause water woes for us oboists; we get water in our octave keys when we are blowing hot air through cold instruments and this is awfully frustrating. We’ve had one Russian tumbler nearly land on a cellist. We’ve had mechanical mice fall into the pit. A player told me his English horn cracked during a Nut once, due to the cold temperature. In our current production the poor bassoonists have to hold a note until a door on stage is shut, and sometimes the dancer shuts the door painfully slowly. Oh oh oh … and then there was the time my lips were so dry and chapped and the English horn reed stuck to them when I finished up playing an English horn line and then the reed proceeded to fall off my lips and down my blouse. Getting stuck. Somewhere. I had to wiggle around and search for it while colleagues looked on and laughed. Yes. That was funny.

Anyway, I’m really on a ramble road today … but rambling can be fun sometimes, and I never know where it might take me. Or you. But this ridiculous chatter has been brought to you courtesy of 12 Nutcrackers.

Yes. I am a nut. Totally cracked up. :-)
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I spell my first name with a y. A good number of people don’t realize that, and of course it’s easy to make that “i” mistake. But even some of my family members don’t realize this fact that has been so for 49 years, one month, and three days. But now I have made it public; I spell my name “Patty” not “Patti”. And if I had it to do over again I’d be “Patricia” because “Patty” sounds so darn whiney. But it’s too late for me to change now. Don’tcha think?

Now you know. This is news you can use.

And “Mitchell” is with two l’s (is that apostrophe necessary? I only use it because it’s easier to read that way) not one. I can’t tell you how many times I’m asked that question, and yet I’ve never seen Mitchell spelled with one l.

What this has to do with music is fairly small, but some of my oboe students are still spelling my name incorrectly on checks. Maybe this will help …?
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My Nutcracker poem has been posted at the Beyond magazine blog! How about that?!

But now I wonder; should I put it up here as well, or should I just suggest you click on the link above? Such a dilemma.

In Other News
I’m wondering now if I don’t have allergies, but instead have a cold that came on sneezingly strong. I’m not feeling all that well today. Playing two Nuts (and two more tomorrow) may prove to be a challenge. It’s difficult to play when one’s ears are plugged, and I find it absolutely no fun to play with a sore throat, which I feel coming on at the moment. Maybe it’s like dancing on blistered feet? Well, maybe not quite that bad, but still …. After my morning raisin bran (I have raisin bran every morning, Terry. ) I think it’s hot tea for me. And maybe some sympathy if I can find it here anywhere.

I’ve often gotten sick after I’ve finished with a run of something. My body seemed to know just when it was allowed to break down. Maybe getting sick during is what being 49 means? I wonder.

First of all …

FOUR!

And two days. Nice! The kids are awfully cute, leaning over and oohing and ahhing at the instruments. Some like to tell us what they play. Some like to show that they know the names of the instruments, while others are asking what they are.

But I’m sure glad to get today’s second show over. During intermission I suddenly had a horrendous allergy attack. I couldn’t stop sneezing. My eyes itched horribly. And I felt like I couldn’t hear quite right.

It is extremely difficult to play oboe or English horn and sneeze at the same time. That is a fact.

Um. No. That’s wrong. I lied.

It is impossible to play oboe or English horn and sneeze at the same time!

I was feeling so darn good about how things were feeling too. The reeds were happy. I wasn’t fatigued. It was nice … for the first half. Ah well. That’s show biz. (Or whatever you call this thing I do.)

No one has ever tagged me before, so I’m just giddy with excitement! Thanks, Brian, for the invite … and Drew too! Woo hoo. (You like me, you really like me. Or something.)

So here goes …
Four jobs you’ve had in your life:
Winchell’s Donuts employee, Books Incorporated salesclerk and bookkeeper, Music librarian, Musician (There are more, but I guess I have to stop, eh?)

Four movies you could watch over and over:
Babette’s Feast, Branagh’s Henry V, Adam’s Rib, The Mission (but I hate this question because I’ll change my answer daily!)

Four places you’ve lived:
Pasadena, CA; three addresses in San Jose, CA (well, if I can cheat it’s been four … but that’s IT … only five residences in my life, if you can believe that.) UPDATE … how could I have forgotten the 3 months of dorm experience and 3 other months of a dive of an apartment … oops! Again, in San Jose, though. But since that’s far over the limit of four I suppose I should have said Pasadena and all else in San Jose.

Four TV shows you love to watch:
Arrested Development; Law & Order; CSI; Monk (Yes, I’m sorry … I have bad taste in TV I suppose.)

Four places you’ve been on vacation:
Scotland & England (high school orchestra trip); Sierra Nevada (backpacking in my younger days — up to Mt. Whitney, in fact); Seattle, WA; New York, NY (and oh how I want to return!)

Four websites you visit daily:
Arts Journal; About Last Night; Kelsey’s site; Adaptistration (This question doesn’t really work for me, though … I visit MANY more sites every single day. Honest.)

Four of your favorite foods:
huevos rancheros; flautas; chicken cacciatore; split pea soup (with a bit of sherry and a dash of sour cream)

Four places you’d rather be:
New York; Scotland; Italy (my dream … sigh); Greece

Thanks, Drew and Brian!

Sarah … wanna give it a go? (I’d also ask Terminal Degree, but I figure you want to remain anonymous and this might give away too much information, yes?)
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I have SIX performances of Nutcracker left. (There are actually seven remaining, but I’m skipping the final, December 24, show.) Six performances … in only THREE days. That’s right—we have three doubles in a row. This is fairly brutal. I don’t believe I’ve ever done three doubles in a row before, although I know when I was doing Boheme we had recording sessions on days with shows so it probably added up to something even more difficult and exhausting. Still, the next three days will be quite the challenge.

And the really sad news is I have no more Tchaikovsky (Chaikovsky, Tschaikovsky, Tchaikowsky … take your pick, I don’t really care!) quotes to share. I’ll keep looking around though … and if any of you have some, you can certainly let me know!
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