I got to the theatre on the early side, thinking I’d warm up. Now when I write warm up I don’t mean warming up my body, as I’m sure you know. But getting into the pit I checked my handy dandy thermometer.
It was 63 degrees. Yikes!
I won’t even get my oboe out of its [...]
Does anyone remember the time when you would sit at home with your sound system, put on a recording and just listen? Listen, as if there were something deep or important buried in the music?
I read this over at Campell Vertesi’s blog right here.
I’m not opposed to the iPod, and I don’t believe that [...]
There’s another Sondheim musical where the actors/singers are also instrumentalists. This time someone even plays the oboe.
Hmm.
We all know you shouldn’t have lipstick on to play oboe. So gee … I wonder … is she going without? I kinda doubt it.
This is funny: the blurb says: “Elizabeth Stanley plays April, Oboe, Tuba and Alto [...]
There’s something I really enjoy about my drive over the hill to UCSC. As long as the traffic isn’t bad (and it rarely is, since I’m driving counter-commute) I appreciate the scenic drive, my private time, and some music I might not necessarily listen to if I stayed at home.
Today I began with Leonard Cohen. [...]
The Movie. This is funny.
Finally To Tower
Too bad I didn’t see the movie at Tower Records today. But then I didn’t see much of anything there! I did pick up two Quartetto Gelato CDs … oboe, violin, cello and … drum roll accordian! Fun listening, and there’s some mighty fine oboe playing goin’ on, [...]
I’ve written before about not knowing when it would be okay to correct a reviewer’s mistake(s). I’ve still not come to any conclusion. Part of me did want to ask the reviewer I linked to the other day, who enjoyed Sunday’s opera peformance, if he’d heard the rather major blunder, but I’ve decided I don’t [...]
There’s an article about being an arts sort of person and having a family. Which makes me think …
Now of course I’m no famous musician. Heck, I’m not even half-famous (whatever that is; I just wanted to type “half-famous”). I’m just a part-time musician who manages to perform a fairly good amount.
I also teach, [...]
I just ran across a facebook site that made me laugh. Really. You can only see the page if you belong to facebook, but I’ll share the front page blurb with you:
Name: Musicians against oboists who talk about reeds all the time!
Description: Do you ever try to have a nice conversation with an oboist and [...]
As I pondered earlier (see the paragraph after the bold Sluggish), I wondered how the audience reacted to Sunday’s opera performance. I thought it was sluggish. There was even one rather major mistake made by a singer. Nothing felt right to me.
Hah!
This is our best review yet.
So again, so much depends upon a red wheelbarrow* [...]
I always enjoy a good Denk blog. Sometimes he writes so poetically I’m ashamed to have even attempted poetry. Sometimes he’s very humorous. But this one is priceless! Especially for those of us in the Bay Area. I wish I could have attended the concert but you know how it goes … we performers are [...]
… please?!
I subscribe to emusic.com, and at the moment I just don’t know what to download. Is that silly or what? There are tons of recordings I can choose from. I’m just running on empty right now. So all you folks with free time (hah!), why don’t you check out emusic.com and tell me [...]
Whiteboard Music
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Not worth linking to, but go ahead and read this:
Many of you are painfully aware that I am a music composer. Since I hate most musicians, I call my works “noise concertos”.
Musicians have never liked me. I violate all their prissy little rules, I upset their theories, I delight in taboo knob-twiddling. “Don’t touch that [...]
EVELYN GLENNIE, one of Scotland’s most prominent musicians, has issued an urgent call for all music industry figures to rethink how classical concerts are performed to stop audiences dwindling away.
In an open letter to music professionals, the solo percussionist, profoundly deaf since aged 12, raises “huge concerns” about the experience that orchestras are offering 21st [...]
See … here’s the thing. I think some people are allowed to be absolutely fantastic, unbelievably incredible, out of this world oboists. Really. (I don’t count myself in this realm; I’m good, but I’m not at the top.) And others are allowed to be beatifully drop-dead gorgeous people.
But I think to be both is [...]
My love-hate affair with the classics gave me a valuable lesson about life in general. I learned that if you want someone to like something, the only thing you can do is bring them together, once or twice, and then back off. If you try to force them together again and again, or try to [...]
I wanna be a TV announcer—or maybe radio—now that I know that’s where I belong. Forget oboe reeds!
What American accent do you have?
Your Result: The Midland
“You have a Midland accent” is just another way of saying “you don’t have an accent.” You probably are from the Midland (Pennsylvania, southern Ohio, southern Indiana, southern Illinois, [...]
… feels like a lazy day. True, the kids and I braved the roads and attempted to shop. UGH. This is something we never do on the day after T-Day, as I hate crowds and, more recently, hate shopping. But Brandon is here only until tomorrow morning so what choice did we have? The drive [...]
Here is a nice story about donating instruments. Right here in my own back yard.
Okay … not literally in my back yard. That would be a problem. (Anyone who has seen our horrendous yard will know why!)
But really … if you have an instrument that is just sitting around getting no use at [...]
He liked it.
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Do some people never think at all? It’s hard to imagine someone doing playing a video game with the sound turned up at a concert, but even more difficult to imagine doing it at a recital being given by the very rude concert goer’s own teacher. Amazing.
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Okay … nothing to do with music at ALL. But it’s just too funny and I have to put it here because I have more readers here that at the Pattyo:
A bra that doubles as a shopping bag. It’s wild! It’s wonderful! It’s eco-friendly!
Oh yes. So necessary.
Too bad it can’t triple as an oboe, [...]
Oooh! I didn’t notice this blog entry by James Reel. He’s responding to something I wrote earlier about listening.
(I think this post will be disjointed, so do forgive! We are busy with food preparation and I’m kind of popping in and out of blogworld right now.)
But James is right; there’s a lot of music that [...]
I’m thankful for all the readers — and reeders too — who actually read this ramble of mine! I appreciate your taking the time to visit this little site, and I love hearing from you either via email or through the discussion area here.
I’m also thankful for good reeds. Shoot, I’m even thankful for [...]
Not entirely positive.
Not exactly great.
He liked it.
… and then there’s the review of San Francisco’s Barber of Seville. It appears Barber is a toughie to do. Pacing and all that jazz …..
