oboeinsight

So today was our second rehearsal and our first sitzprobe. I always love these first rehearsals with the singers, although not as much as I used to; in the old, less nice theatre, we could actually see the singers. And that was fun.

This year we have a whole lot of new singers. At first I had no idea who any were, but one of our musicians asked if they wouldn’t come to the front of the pit rather than stand on stage when being introduced. So they all kindly walked down into the hall and, while facing us, were introduced by the Maestro. So at least we’ve seen them. Once. That’ll be it, I’m sure. (Monitors? Anyone ever think about video and sound monitors? Anyone ever think about us poor little old instrumentalists? Sigh.)

We then nearly made it through the complete opera; there were still a few cuts some folks weren’t quite getting, and of course a few glitches we needed to work out. Yours truly managed to not come in when she should have. (My sins are usually sins of omission rather than commission. I’m smart that way. “If in doubt, leave it out.” You know?) But in any case, I am at an age where, at the first few rehearsals at least, I can usually manage to mock myself when I do stupid things. (Except when I’m a klutz, that is. But do note that the wonderful musician who was so gracious about my clumsiness received two truffles today and I do plan on a lunch or dinner when we can manage it. I like to pay off my debts!) But this time I honestly thought I was counting correctly, so who knows what the heck I did wrong.

Although I’ve always been bad at numbers ….

But … back to the important stuff … the singers sounded absolutely wonderful! I’m pretty darn excited about this new “batch”. (Is it a “batch of singers”? A “stock of singers”? A “crowd”? I dunno. It must be something.)

So, for those of you in the Bay Area, you really ought to come out and hear these young singers. Really.

And I promise to count correctly from here on out.

I hope.

So … heigh ho, heigh ho … and all that jazz. It was great to see my colleagues. NOT great to cause clarinets to tumble. Yes. Me. I am usually tremendously careful in a pit, as is required by union regulations and copyright law if you want to survive pitworld. But today I exercised my horrible clumsiness and I’m still embarrassed. And I owe the clarinet player a dinner or something. (His horns were okay. Whew.)

But one rehearsal down. And it was fun to play with my pals!

I was also hired to play a show for American Musical Theatre San Jose, so that’s pretty nice.

I like work. Both playing and teaching. So I’m happy, although rather weary, camper. :-)

When A Chorus Line came out the first time, folks realized they could hide an orchestra. When I played it the pit was entirely covered so that you couldn’t see us at all. There was a reason, I was told: the musical was to feel as much like a real audition as possible, and of course you don’t have a pit band for an audition. So that made sense.

But then we started being hidden for other shows as well. They realized we didn’t eve have to be in the same room … or building, for that matter! … to play a musical; the instruments used microphones anyway, so why not put us pesky folks elsewhere and play with balances? No light leak. No noises from the pit animals. No prob.

This led to a concern, as you might imagine, as it could easily take us to the Virtual Orchestra or even tape. (And yes, tape has been done.) But I think audiences have appreciated seeing the orchestra and we have gradually come back in for most shows. Audience members always come to the pit prior to the show, during intermission, and after. They are always appreciative and we love yakking with them.

But now, with the new Sondheim Sweeney Todd, something new has been brought in; have the stage folk play the instruments. No more pit, and lots of money saved. And isn’t also something new, unusual, and witty (Patti Lupone playing tuba?!) fun to see? (Hearing might be another story, but I’ve not seen the production so what can I say?) But I thought, “Not to worry … not every show can do this sort of thing.”

Reading this however, I see that another Sondheim show is going to do the same thing, though. Sigh. Company will have the stage folk doing the instruments. I wonder if they’ll have an oboist (there is oboe in the score) or if, as with Sweeney, they’ll just dump the oboe (along with other instruments).

Time will tell.
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This DVD might be worth the price. (What is the price?!) I think I’d like to view it. (Would our local library carry such a thing? I wonder.)
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“…nobody goes to a concert to listen to a computer.”

Well, now maybe some will disagree with that. But there you go. The guy who is all about the Vienna Symphonic Library is being quoted here.

Several folks have written about the VSL, and some have offered up listening tests. And yes, it seems that musicians—perhaps other listeners as well?— can tell the diff. Does the general public care? I do worry about the future of musical theatre orchestras (we’ve heard about the Virtual Orchestra for a while, and I went to a show where they used it and it sounded abominable but I was fairly sure the audience couldn’t care less—they were on their feet at the end, no matter) but I think your opera and symphony concert goes do want to see us live folks.

Call me an optimist.

For once.

I continue to work on my list of double reed players in European Orchestras. This is pretty fun to do, actually, but it does take a lot of time. Check it out and see what I’ve got up so far!
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A former oboist turned computer guy turned apprentice at a mental hospital turned goat farm worker has a book out. About a former musician turned computer guy turned apprentice at a goat farm and organic gardening center, and aide at a mental hospital. Hmmm. From oboist to a mental hospital? Okay … I won’t write what I want to write. I’m holding back. I really am.

In any case, being as the author did the same things his character does, I suspect he knew what he was writing about. And I think I might want to read this book.

The author’s name is Terry Row (anyone know of him?) and it sounds as if he played quite a bit in a number of places before going the computer route. And then he worked in both San Francisco and San Jose (as well as other locations). The title of the book is Summer Capricorn. And I want it.

Article here.
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This article suggests that Jim Broadbent may be in the Tim Burton Sweeney Todd movie, and that he might be Judge Turpin. Of course it also says Johnny Depp will be Sweeney. So who knows?

But when they explain the musical and say this:

Although MSN doesn’t mention a particular role, Broadbent would presumably be cast as Judge Turpin in the film version of Sweeney, which spins the macabre tale of a revenge-obsessed demon barber and his assistant, who turns his victims into the worst pies in London.

… I wonder if they know what they are even talking about! The “worst pies in London” (“Only lard and nothing more”) were made prior to the man-filled meat pies (talk about a manwich!).

So who knows?
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Pardon me while I ponder.

I received some spam today (surprise, surprise … or not really … 86 pieces of spam in my folder … grumble). Some spam includes bizarre random lines. Some are from books (I sometimes google them—or goggle, as I typed first—and find out what book is being quoted). And today there was this line:

Apparently musical ability and matter of the alien artifact with a great deal of interest.

So you’ll have to excuse me for a while. I’m certain this means something. Something important. Something that will change my life completely. And cause me to be the Perfect Reedmaker.

Really.

Or not.
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… and no, I didn’t mean good reed!

But I just read an article about a new book and this paragraph telling about the book just made me think, “Hmmm. Maybe I need to read this”:

Yakov is a member of that generation of the Russian intelligentsia which was shaped during Soviet times and faced significant challenges, both economic and philosophical, after the collapse of communism. The son of an opera singer who went blind after identifying too strongly with her character, Iolanta, Yakov plays the oboe in an orchestra until it is disbanded in the 1990s and its rehearsal space gets taken over by a martial-arts club. Yakov then finds a job with a mysterious company that seems to make money out of thin air, and where everything is focused on material gain.

Now of course I’m not at all sure the book is available here and if it is published in English, nor do I know if I’d like it at all, but, well, there’s that oboe player … and he’s the main character.
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I had read news that Johnny Depp was to be singing Sweeney Todd in the movie that Tim Burton will be directing. Jameson, our seventeen year old, thought this preposterous, but I’m a Depp fan to the max, so I was ready to accept it, even while I understood his reaction.

But now he may or may not be in the movie.

It is reported that Stephen Sondheim is insisting on a voice test. He thinks Depp might be too rock-n-roll for his work.

I’m so thankful no composer checks us all out when we play new works in Opera San Jose, Symphony Silicon Valley or San Jose Chamber Orchestra. Whew!

And Mr. Sondheim never asked to hear me play before I played Sweeney Todd or A Little Night Music. I wouldn’t have minded meeting the man, though.
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I’ve written before about the work called Gabriel’s Oboe, from the movie The Mission. The work is named Gabriel’s Oboe because the oboist is a Jesuit named Gabriel; it has nothing to do with the angel Gabriel, in case you were wondering! The movie itself is, to me, painful and beautiful and very troubling. The oboe work is gorgeous and is often used in weddings, although I always wonder if those who use it have seen the movie; the connection to the movie would make it impossible for me to use! (Although I’ve used it at someone else’s wedding, per their request.)

In any case, rambling along … if you want to hear the piece (and see an oboist play it), watch this. I think she sounds lovely.

You might note that the oboist holds her oboe up much higher than I do, and also moves more than I usually do. This is a German orchestra and I’ve heard that they do a lot more moving around (and, in fact, one person on a double reed list said that one of the orchestras there judge people using movement as a factor; they believe you must move a lot to really be making music!). I suspect that that oboe being held higher might have something to do with the different sort of reed they play.

Yes. A different reed. And yes, oboists from different countries can sound different. I love the variety. Some here in the humble good old USA only think US oboists are good and want only the good old American dark sound. I guess I just like variety, and don’t think of the US as the Country That Judges All Things Oboe (or all things anything else, for that matter).

But, rambling back to oboes and reeds … here in the US we use what is often called the American scrape. Sometimes it’s called the long scrape. And the Philadelphia scrape. (Or maybe all of these have slight differences? Hmmm. I didn’t think so, but maybe someone else can tell me if I”m wrong.)

If you look here you’ll see a German reed maker’s reed. Notice the wire? Most players I know wouldn’t use wire on our oboe reeds, but we scrape further down the back, which, I think, makes it unnecessary. (I do use wire on my English horn reeds.)

French reeds look, to me, somewhat similar to the German. I’ve never tried to play on either, though, and I wonder if they feel a lot different.

I’ve also seen Chinese oboe reeds (because a student had purchased a box of them before being told they wouldn’t work for me, so I couldn’t really teach her well with them). I wish I had taken pictures of them. Ah well! I do recall they were a short scrape and used wire. And were VERY hard.

For a good look at some American scrape reeds, this site works well. And notice those chipped edges? Makes me feel good!

Oboe Reed Styles, by David Ledet, is full of oboe reed pictures from all over the place. (I hear that the books is out of print, though. Sorry, folks, you’ll just have to come over for a visit and go through my nice hardback copy!) When you get to the American section you might get the notion that nearly everyone’s reeds look slightly different. And that reeds can look awfully ugly and still play. Yep!

Ah-hah! Looks aren’t all that important after all. I knew it, I knew it! Never mind about dying the gray out of my hair. Whew.

Oh … back to reeds.

Reeds can be so different, and reed makers all have their special little requirements. I can try to play on a lot of my colleagues reeds, but they never feel quite right. That’s probably a good thing, as I’m less likely to turn into a thief! (Oboists might take note, however; I just might abscond with a reed or two if I can get away with it.)

As always, though, anyone at all may send reeds to me. For free. Really. I’m open to that, and will even post a note here about your generosity! (PO BOX 8655, San Jose, CA 95155-8655 … see how easy that would be?!)

Think of the kudos. Think of the fame.

Think of how I wouldn’t have to spend time on reeds.

IF I could even play on your reeds, that is!