oboeinsight

After taking my little reed making lesson from Cooper, I have thought I really should go over my tutorial and make a few changes. But … well … I’m too lazy for that. So never mind. ;-) But I did run across this flickr account that includes a whole lot of reed making photos, beginning [...]

For the first time, Dan and I have season tickets to San Francisco Opera. I bought a very small season of four operas, all taking place in October and November. We’ll be going to Wagner’s Tannhäuser, the new Philip Glass opera, Appomattox, La Rondine (a Puccini opera with which I’m completely unfamiliar) and The Rake’s [...]

Last night Anthony Quartuccio, the conductor of Lucia, took care of my book. Whew. It is finally nearly correct. (It’s Kalmus, so completely correct isn’t something I’ll ever write!) Still, it shouldn’t have been Tony’s responsibility; we need a librarian! Lucia di Lammermoor isn’t much of an oboe opera, as anyone who has heard it [...]

Bizarre article. I hope that if we ever sell this place and buy another we don’t get a lovely little article about it at some site, with an arrow pointing directly at our new place. (I’m guessing this is some sort of realtor site?) Nothing is private anymore though. Right? I especially wouldn’t want my [...]

So if Dan (my husband) ever writes a piece of music that includes oboe, at least I know he can demand I get to play the gig. Or at least Vaclav Havel feels that his play should include his wife as a lead. I dunno. Does a composer, writer, or other kind of “creator” get [...]

If you watch and hear this do you thinking “classical music”? I don’t. And yet the title says “Classical Music and Home Improvement”. But then you read further and it also says “On weekends, grand piano players perform between the escalators at the 2-year-old St. Paul Menards – not a typical feature at home improvement [...]

Would you? I honestly don’t know the answer to this. But then I can’t imagine Iran would allow a US orchestra to play so i doubt I’ll have to face this problem.

We oboists worry about reeds. A lot. But I had never thought about guitarists, and the problem with fingernails. Sure, I know strings can break. But nails? Just hadn’t ever entered my mind. I wonder if people with weak nails that have permanent splits running down them simply can’t play guitar. (Yeah, I’m talking about [...]

I was right when I fretted over the Lucia music. There were so many mistakes we wasted far too much time on incorrect markings. Sigh. I hate wasting time. I really wish OSJ would consider hiring a real music librarian. Someone who knows that when you purchase Kalmus parts there’s a LOT of correcting to [...]

How to Listen to Classical Music Critically Hmmmm. How to Begin to Play the Oboe Double Hmmmm.