oboeinsight

My sites won’t work without power at our home. And our power was out for a very long time today. Crummy.

But I’m baaaaccckkk! ;-)

(For now; if we get the same wind tomorrow that we had today who knows what will happen.)
—–

Drew McManus writes today about musicians as adjunct faculty members. (Thanks, Drew, for the kind mention at your blog!) He included a link to Jason Heath’s blog entry about this problem. Jason actually quit two jobs because of the problems.

It’s true; we are often paid per student. (I’m pleased to say I am in a slightly different situation.) We also aren’t given office space. Nor do many of the full timers know who the heck we are. We breeze in. We teach. We breeze out.

So why do it?

Well, we need income, for one thing. But the income from teaching at a university is often lower than what we earn for teaching privately. It’s more about being able to put these positions on our resumes, I think.

Me? I like teaching college students. It’s the only way, for the most part, that I would get the opportunity to teach college students. While some instructors are hoping for a full time position eventually, I don’t have a masters or doctorate, so this position is as far as I can get. (I was hired because of my years—over thirty now—as a professional musician.) I’m okay with that. I don’t want full time.

But it can be frustrating. I “taught” at one college years ago … and had one student for one year only. The rest of the time I was just on their list. At one point, after not teaching for several years, I received a call telling me I had to perform in a faculty recital. They weren’t planning on paying me for the recital … after all, I was “faculty”. I quit.

Now? I’ll stick with my two universities. I enjoy the students. But it is an odd job, to be sure. (And I am required to do a recital every other year at one of the schools. But I have some guarantees there, so it is worth the time and effort. Sort of.)

The thing I dislike most about teaching these students? Grading. Sigh. I’m not an “automatic A” teacher, and feel that students should take lessons seriously. Some haven’t agreed with that.

In Other News
Jason Heath also blogged about a Nutcracker disaster. You have to read the first comment as well as Jason’s blog entry, as it talks about “my” Nutcracker! And yes, that really happened … and no, I’m not the anonymous person who wrote to him. (Hmmm. Sure wonder who else is reading his blog.) When the problem occurred, the folks around me were nearly in tears from laughing so hard. It was so bizarre sounding and nearly twilight zone-ish. Nuts can be tedious, but on occasion we wake up for the unusual and bizarre!

I guess I’ll have to share some Nut stories someday, eh?

On Pennsylvania Station’s main mezzanine, travelers are accompanied by string quartets and flute piccolos piped in over loudspeakers.

Okay … I know what a piccolo is, and I know what a flute is. But what the heck is a “flute piccolo”?

So this article tells of the different music folks are treated with at Transit Hubs, depending upon where they are.

There’s much I don’t care for about Muzak, including the fact that in reality it’s not meant to be listened to. It’s merely wallpaper.

And then there’s this

“The beauty of the Brandenburg Concertos is that you don’t necessarily have to invest yourself in them all the way,” Mr. Preston said. “It greatly enhances the atmosphere without distracting you very much.”

Okay. Whatever.

But could it also be dangerous?

“The classical music makes Pennsylvania Station feel like a nicer, safer place than it might actually be,” ….

Are we merely feeling safer because of the polite music that is being played? Then again, maybe we are:

Studies also show that rates of robbery, vandalism, and assaults on transit employees were all lowered significantly in London subway stations where classical music was played.

Well. Okay then. :-)

… no pit musicians?

The company’s premiere of Tannhäuser will star German tenor Peter Seiffert, while a new production of Weill’s Rise and Fall of the City of Magagonny draws from the musical theater world to feature Tony Award Winners Patti LuPone and Audra McDonald making their company debuts. John Doyle, who directed Broadway’s current, critically acclaimed production of Sweeny Todd, imported from London’s West End, will direct the production.

(Yes, they spelled Sweeney that way.)

But what I was wondering after reading that … was “Will Doyle have the opera singers play the instruments or will they have an orchestra in the pit? ;-)
—–

I’ve read a number of negative reactions to Tan Dun’s new opera, The First Emporer, which recently had its premiere at the Met. You can read comments by An Unamplified Voice, Maury Dannato, Jonathan over at Wellsung, with reviews by Tommasini and Hoelterhoff. Ouch.

But I have to admit that this reviewer’s comment, “Where were the memorable melodies to take home?”, doesn’t do it for me. And then there was this (frightening … at least to me) paragraph:

There were Pucciniesque moments of passionate tunes. Some even made allusions to the Italian composer’s last masterpiece “Turandot,” which was set in China. But a little repetition of melody a la Andrew Lloyd Webber, rather than of the striking of a big Chinese bell, might better jog the listener’s memory.

Do I have reason to be troubled by that, or am I over reacting? Thoughts?

“You were pretty good.” (Said to the woodwinds.) “You were great!” (Said to the strings. By the same child.)

And again, by the same child: “I fell asleep in the second half.” (My response? “I almost did too!” I guess I should be more careful—audience members don’t know my incredible sense of humor.)

“The oboe is the best instrument in the whole world.”

Oh. Wait. I was the one who said that last thing. Heh.