oboeinsight

I paid for an hour of a radio show online. I can listen to it online. But is there a way to transfer it to iTunes? I’m just curious, as I can’t listen to it all now. I know there are a bunch of Incredibly Smart People out there who would have the answer for this Incredibly Unsmart Girl. (I’m so unsmart I even use the word “unsmart”!)

The URL has mp3 at the end of it. Seems like that should mean I can transfer it somehow. But I only think that because I know nothing. Nothing at all. ;-)

Weather Update
It’s now only 94. Time to celebrate!
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More thinking … more wondering about that email … part of me is less upset. Part of me is frustrated. But most of me wants input from my gentle readers! (In other words, if you are gonna be chopping my head off you might skip writing. I’m not up for it!)

So here’s the full letter … am I just totally over reacting? (Typical of me, you know?)

Greetings,

It seems a very big oversight not to include listings of double reeds players in the most prominent US military bands in the nation. After all, we won very competitive auditions and are as professional group as any and make a much better salary than most of the regional orchestras you have listed. Considering we also tour nationally and internationally, more people around the nation and the world see us perform year in and year out then core audiences of these regional orchestras you have listed. In my humble opinion, it would serve you well to list the premier bands of the Washington, DC area and their rosters. That would include my band “The President’s Own” US Marine Band, “Pershing Own” US Army Band, the USAF Band and the US Navy Band. These are the premier military bands in the nation and neglecting that we are professional organizations as the rest on your list is insulting and a major oversight. Incidentally, our band does have a Chamber Orchestra and most other DC bands have a string contingency so it’s not all band, all the time.

It would be appreciated if you made an update to your site. Here is some information you might need, at least in reference to “The President’s Own”:

www.marineband.usmc.mil/

www.marineband.usmc.mil/who_we_are/members/index.htm#

Thanks for your attention to this this. Best of luck with the website.

Sincerely,

(Name omitted for the time being; I’m still thinking on that one!)

And yes, as you can see the writer didn’t point directly at me, when saying that he probably has a higher salary. But since all of this was addressed at me, and I’m in one of those “regional orchestras” I did, as is typical of me, take it personally.

Again, let me say that omitting band musicians wasn’t some intentional thing … I hadn’t even though of bands. I don’t listen to band music. I don’t perform in bands, and haven’t since my junior year of college. I’m not involved in bands. Bands just aren’t a part of who I am. And let’s face it, this is my blog so most everything here has some connection to me. Sorry, but that’s how sites put together by an individual are often set up. Egotistical? Probably. A waste of time? Maybe (but it seems I do get readers who imply that they enjoy my silly rambling).

I’m probably spending far too much time mulling all of this over. Emails can sure be harmful to one’s health!

But … really … when one receives a message like that, does the sender really think I’ll immediately want to do his bidding?

Kind words go so far. Harsh ones honestly do not.

The instrument looked and sounded “cooler than the oboe or euphonium,” ….

Heh. If you can’t figure it out, you aren’t an oboist*! :-)

Here’s the full paragraph from the article I read, in case you are interested:

So familiar is the sight of the lanky, flat-topped Ahlstrand armed with his ever- present sax, churning out dazzling solos, that his fans may be surprised to learn that his first instrument was piano. One fateful day during elementary school, a music store representative showed up for, as Ahlstrand muses, “the annual wind instrument petting zoo.” Young Paul fell in love with the saxophone. The instrument looked and sounded “cooler than the oboe or euphonium,” and, he wryly adds, “the demonstrator was far less geeky.” By high school Ahlstrand was performing in two professional bands.

Well, okay then. The guy chose saxophone so what the heck do you expect? ;-)

For those of you who don’t know me, please understand that I like to crack lots of jokes and I’m not to be taken seriously sometimes.

Of course you have to figure out if this is one of those times. Or not.

*Note the spelling of oboist. Please. It is often misspelled!
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This is what comes from this silly brain when, at 10:05, it’s still so blasted hot! ;-)
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I’ve always wondered why I spend so many lonely, lonely nights here at home. And just now I read this:

Born in Chicago and raised in Tulsa, Okla., Graae originally wanted to be a professional oboe player but was bitten by the acting bug and switched career focus at a young age. He says he was extremely shy as a kid, calling himself an “oboe nerd.” He recalls, “The first time I thought all the popular kids might accept me was when I played in Sweeney Todd [the melodrama, not the musical] as a sophomore in high school, playing the drunken reverend who gets sliced and sent down the chute. All of a sudden, these crew people were noticing me and inviting me to parties. I thought, ‘This is for me,’ and threw away my oboe forever.”

Ah-hah! And there it is.

I suppose I should try my hand (or my vocal cords*) at singing, eh? Then I just might party hearty!

Or … perhaps not. After all 1) I’m not a singer and 2) I’m really not into parties.

Whew. (For both you and me!)

*A common and, from what I recently read, now somewhat approved misspelling is “vocal chords” … but I’m not going there. So sorry.
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Did you know that if you have a carpet that you are trying to clean, and you use a variety of cleaning agents, and you are vigorous in your cleaning, and you scrub and scrub, and you manage to actually get some spots out that you thought would never leave …

… that you also might ruin the carpet?! Did you know that you might cause that circle of gunk that was once a mod podged spot to stretch and no longer stay flush to the floor?

Did you? Huh? Huh?

I sure didn’t!

So oh well. The majority of the carpet looks pretty darn good in the studio. There’s just these few spots that didn’t come out, and one rather largish section that is now stretched and buckling and … well … a basket I use to hold magazines has a special little place to rest now.

Still, I continue to be happy that I didn’t immediately replace this old carpet; what I had chosen would have been too close to the color of the walls and would definitely have made the room far too dark and far too boring. So I’m looking on the bright side. In more ways than one.
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This morning I became even more regal than I already was; I went to the dentist to get crowned once again. This makes three crowns in this little mouth ‘o mine. I suspect this means that folks will bow (or curtsey if that’s their thing) before me and bring me stuff (food, wine, a tiara …?).

Hmmm. I’m still waiting.

As I was killing time before being led to that chair of pain and torture (yes, I have a problem with the dentist!) I picked up San Jose Magazine. This mag seems to be geared toward people with a whole lot more money than I have, and doesn’t have much for me to read. There are lots of ads, though. You know … ads for Bentleys and Rolexes, Luxury homes and jewelry … things I don’t usually never buy. And there are lots of pictures of doctors, lawyers and realtors and people like that. (Do people subscribe to this, or is it handed out to offices of these various professions? I wonder.)

Anyway, there’s a section on the top 100 most powerful people in Silicon Valley. In the arts I see some familiar names (Yay, for Irene Dalis!), and of course I recognize some of the political folks as well. I normally would skip over the whole article. Well, okay, I’d normally not read this magazine at all; I’m more of a book person. But when you are stuck in a dentist’s chair and you didn’t bring your book you read things you wouldn’t normally read. Or at least I do. So I went ahead and read about the power arts folks (listed first!) and then moved on to the rest ‘o the people. Know what I noticed? A lot of folks said that they wished they could sing or play a musical instrument when asked “What talent do you wish you had?”. These are, mostly, folks with available money for private lessons. So I think they should all take up oboe.

See … I know this person who has a newly put together oboe studio ….
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It’s supposed to be another blistering hot day. Sigh. Such is life, yes?

It’s also a “spare the air day” which means I won’t be going anywhere unless I take public transportation. I suspect I’ll just stay home and start cleaning out a room. (This is the kind of week where I wish we had air conditioning. But one week doesn’t make it worth the cost, right?

Practicing is far too miserable when the temp is so high. At least for me. Reed making? Not on your life! The worst time for me to make reeds is when I’m already frustrated with something. And I find hot weather frustrating.

But … I watched the Tour de France race today and that was fun. They are working much harder than I. They don’t have air conditioning while they race. So who am I to complain?

Oh wait. I’m an oboe player. I’m a musician. I’m supposed to complain.

It’s my job.

(Too bad no one pays me to complain. Any takers out there?)
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I can’t quite get over having this room for teaching! Sarah had asked if my students are practicing more. Hmmm. I can’t, of course, really say for sure … but I can certainly say they are sounding pretty darn good! I can also say that it’s much less stressful to have no family members going back and forth while I’m trying to pay attention to teaching. In addition, we don’t have an interfering answering machine right around the corner … it used to click on and we’d have to try to play while someone was leaving a message. (Yeah, yeah, yeah, I could have turned the sound down somehow … I just never figured out how to do it. I’m slow.) While I do have a phone in here, I have it set to no ring, so I ignore it when I’m teaching. (If it’s an emergency I assume I’ll get a call on my cell; I will answer that.)

And I think I’m a better teacher in this new room. It’s sort of like getting a new reed, I guess—whether anyone else notices (often they don’t) I just feel better about it!

Meanwhile … well … um … GO GIANTS!!

Something about music and baseball—I just feel there’s some sort of similarity I connect to. Could it be the salary? I’m guessing so. ;-)

Anyone else have any ideas? Do share!
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… better than nothing? I’m not sure!

Sarah (from A Glass of Chianti) had asked about what the words were on the picture. I think this is readable, even though it’s a rotten picture! (I’m just proving that I can’t take a good picture.)