You DO know what today is … don’t you?
Happy April Fools’ Day!
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Of course, being a musician, I myself am rarely at work (or even awake) before noon, . . .
-Stefan Katz (quote found here)
Okay folks, I have news for you: I never sleep until noon. And I never have.
My alarm clock goes off on weekdays, for the time being, at around 6:20. Except on Tuesdays, when I teach at UCSC and I have to wake earlier in order to get ready. Saturday I wake at around 7:45 because I begin teaching at 9:00. Sundays it’s a wee bit later. Granted, next year I doubt I’ll wake up as early during the week, since I won’t be taking Jameson to school, but I still won’t sleep until noon. Not gonna do it.
Then I checked out a bit more of Mr. Katz’s blog. He’s the same age as our older son, Brandon. Brandon sleeps in as much as he’s able. So maybe this is an age thing, not a music thing?
He’s also a tuba player. Maybe it’s a tuba thing? Hmmm.
So do tell … how late do my readers (and reeders) sleep in?
So it was long. And there was an earthquake. And there were more than 900 musicians.
But there is NO mention of an oboist.
I ask you, can it really be considered a concert, then? No sirree. ;-)
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… MAYBE.
I was sent two (free!) reeds from Back Bay Reeds. Thank you so much, Meredeth Rouse! They are quite good. One was a student reed, using the fake cork staple, and the other a professional, using a cork staple. Both played well when I received them. Both were “concert ready” to be honest.
Now this, of course, doesn’t mean every reed she would send would be like these two (perhaps I should order more, just to check that out, and pay for what I get, yes?) but I’ve decided that if anyone sends me reeds that I like I will blog that news. I won’t mention any reeds I can’t stand; I don’t like to post that sort of information publicly. It just seems unkind.
You can see the entire list of oboe reed suppliers I have put together. Have anyone to add? Just say the word!
And, as I said, “If you send them, I will blog … maybe.”
It’s got nothing really to do with race: Black flutists don’t sound black any more than female violinist sound female, so let’s leave that preposterous debate alone.
Oh well. I thought the reason people said I sounded beatiful was because I’m … oh … never mind. And when someone says “Your tone was really fat,” (not that anyone has said that to me) does that mean…?
In any case, aside from my fooling around, the conversation continues regarding minorities in orchestras. The above quote is by today’s blog by Justin Davidson, over at Alex Ross’s site—Davidson is blogging there for the moment—and you might want to check that out.
Other blog entries about this:
and, finally, an article from The American Spectator (not a mag with which I care to be connected, but that article started a lot of responses so there you go)
So where do my responsiblities begin and end (do they end?), as a solitary oboist? As an orchestra member? As a comfortably off, white, fifty year old woman? Hmmm. I’ll have to think on this.
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Some orchestra members came prepared for very specific adventures: Bassist Don Evans, cellist Michael Lipman and librarian Lisa Gedris all brought their golf clubs. Early in the morning, they drove north from Ventura Beach to a course in Ojai, where they played a round together. Cellist Adam Liu accompanied them on the outing — his first experience observing the game of golf in person. He appeared on stage for the concert in the evening with sun and a big smile on his face.
So is the sun on his face or did he just bring the sun with him? I’m confuzzed. ;-)
This is from an article on the PSO’s tour. Included is a photo of the principal oboist, Cynthia De Almeida. I’d love to hear her play Pulcinella Suite!
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… this isn’t supposed to sound like a real orchestra. I’ll have to read more to see if Notion is saying this recording sounds like real musicians, but this page makes me think that they think they sound real.
They don’t.
Maybe I’m not getting it though. I don’t get a lot of things. So I’m sure some reader out there will help me. You all are so nice that way!
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Authorities in Vienna are planning to drive drunks and drug addicts from the city’s main underground station, Karlsplatz, by the judicious use of the music for which the city has become renowned – opera.
I’ve written about this before, and I’m guessing I’ll write about it again. But oh well! It just irks me that we take something that many find wonderful and turn it into punishment. And the assumptions that are made drive me bonkers!
Now, the local council has a new tactic. Loudspeakers will pipe opera and classical music into the station, providing a calming, refined soundtrack and, officials hope, a gentler solution to the problem. “These sorts of people are not fans of such music. We believe they will not hang around,” a council spokesperson said (perhaps a trifle snobbishly).
… a trifle snobbishly? I’ll bet.
RTWT
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No, not the kind that parents set up for their children. (I actually despise the whole “play date” thing … when I was a kid I just walked down the street, knocked on the door and said, “Can Sherri play?” But now I’m sounding OLD, aren’t I?)
This “Play! date” is about a video game concert. “Symphony Silicon Valley” will be doing this again. I think I’ll be playing, but I haven’t seen the instrumentation list yet. But the show will be on May 26 at the San Jose Center for the Performing Arts, and is taking place during the Fanime convention.
I saw some fanime folk last year when I was doing something at the California Theatre and they were across the street at the convention center. At first I didn’t know what was going on—I just saw a ton of people all dressed up in the most elaborate costumes ever. I’m guessing this convention may be similar. I should bring a camera …?!
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“There are a lot of musicians who come here thinking that the most important thing is their art, and that other concerns—like making money—don’t matter.” Around the beginning of fourth year, though, “People start to get a little scared. They start thinking, ‘what am I gonna do next?’”
I think a lot of music schools and music departments in universities have done their students a disservice. I know I wasn’t told what to do with my degree once I had it. (I was fortunate; I won my audition while in college, but that was a long time ago. That doesn’t really happen much anymore, and there are more musicians and fewer orchestras these days.) No one taught us about business matters. No one said, “So what are your plans once you leave here?”
How much of the responsibility is on the instructors? How much on the students (or parents)? I honestly don’t know. But I do know we shouldn’t give our students the notion that they’ll manage to land that perfect symphony job. There aren’t any guarantees.
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No longer tired, Henry comes away from the wall where he’s been leaning, and walks into the middle of the dark auditorium, toward the great engine of sound. He lets it engulf him. There are these rare moments when musicians together touch something sweeter than they’ve ever found before in rehearsals or performance, beyond the merely collaborative or technically proficient, when their expression becomes as easy and graceful as friendship or love. This is when they give us a glimpse of what we might be, of our best selves, and of an impossible world in which you give everything you have to others, but lose nothing of yourself. Out in the real world there exist detailed plans, visionary projects for peaceable realms, all conflicts resolved, happiness for everyone, for ever—mirages for which people are prepared to die and kill. Christ’s kingdom on earth, the workers’ paradise, the ideal Islamic state. But only in music, and only on rare occasions, does the curtain actually lift on this dream of community, and it’s tantalisingly conjured, before fading away with the last notes.
-Ian McEwan, Saturday
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and from the same article:
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Terri Gross: What kept you going to high school and college, in spite of the success that you were having?
Booker T.: Well, I had not yet met my own standards, I wasn’t yet writing the music I was hearing in my mind; I had a classical background and a curiosity for all of the European greats that had written so much wonderful classical music and I needed to know how to arrange for the orchestra. I needed to know how to conduct … I just had to continue my education in order to imrpove myself as a musician.
T.G.: You know, having heard you play I never would have guessed that you were into classical music and I might not have known that you were as studious and serious sounding as you are.
BT: … I spent many hours listening to the old masters: everything from Bach, to Stravinsky, to Chopin; learning that music and learning how it was put together — and studying.
T.G.: You played a lot of different instruments when you were young … you played ukelele, oboe, saxophone, trombone, piano, organ, clarinet. Did having a working knowledge with all those instruments help you as a musician ….
BT: Yeah, I think it did … starting with oboe, which is a C instrument. I played that when I was in fourth grade because I was too young to play in the band and they wouldn’t let me in but no one else would play the oboe so I took that up and that’s how I got in the band in fourth grade ….
Heard here (Thanks, Pam, for telling me about this!) So oboe … Booker T. and oboe. Who’da thunk it?! :-) And he mentioned Silbelius. Cool.
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My headache did finally leave, I have a new “do” (as in haircut) … well … it looks the same, I suppose. But it’s lighter (as in thinned out a bit … have a lot of hair) and I think it means I’ve lost weight. Or something.
But anyway, I’m home now, and it’s off to bed. I hope to sleep. Last night I woke up nearly every hour. Until it was time to wake up in the morning. Insomnia is not a pleasant thing. (But is it called insomnia when you fall asleep but wake up each hour?)
Lack of sleep makes me grumpy. Just so you know.
But the music … well … I actually was so moved at the beginning when the chorus was singing a cappella, that I began to cry. Was it my lack of sleep? The beauty of the music? The fact that I got to the rehearsal early to check out reeds and found out that the choir had taken over the stage? (Do choral directors not realize we have to warm up, check out reeds … make noise, otherwise known as music?) The death of my father?
Oh. Probably all of the above.
But I ramble about things that really aren’t all that important when it comes to oboe. Go figure.
More important things to appear here soon. I promise.
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