It’s a TOP TEN! (Should I be embarrassed that I don’t know any of the other titles? Hmmm.) But hoorah for Alex Ross. He’s on the top ten list. I guess it’s a good one to be reading, eh? I can tell you I’m loving the book.
So read it! Really.
You can listen to [...]
I appears that Nordstrom is not going to continue with their live pianist thing. (Dan said something about dead pianists … I don’t think Nordstrom is going there, either.) Geez. The world will never be the same.
Oh. Wait. I can’t afford most of what Nordstrom has to offer. I’m rarely there.
But really, the [...]
Guitars are cool. They just are. It’s relatively easy to learn enough to play a Ramones song, and it’s easier to look cool holding one in the bathroom mirror than it is holding an oboe.
-Kurt Gottschalk
I’ve had my fair share of disagreements with colleagues. Some musicians—just like the rest of the world!—are difficult people. And we are all, it seems, quite sensitive. Go figure.
Would I ever talk about who I struggle with, and who I wouldn’t mind seeing go far, far away? Of course not! We are one big, [...]
… at least according to this article.
Or maybe he’s not really, since it was an “IF/THEN” kind of thing … IF he is the master, then this other guy is his apprentice. Hmmm.
I’ve never heard of Tony Ward, but now I’m quite curious about his oboes. Anyone know about him? (Ben, are you out [...]
I absolutely love “No Word From Tom” and “Quietly Night” from The Rakes Progress. Well … truth be told … I love the entire opera. But Anne Truelove’s opening numbers are just wonderful, and I’m yearning to play this opera again after hearing it last night at San Francisco Opera.
Today I’m just doing some [...]
BACH - BWV 1060
I - Allegro
II - Largo
III - Allegro
And yes, she has that bunchy chin I don’t want my students to have. But the thing is, her reeds are not, I’m certain, like our longer scrape reeds. So don’t be saying you can have that bunchy chin! And don’t be saying she shouldn’t, either. [...]
Okay, okay, “Für Elise” is a “yes” when it comes to classical music. But according to Microsoft “It’s a Small World” is classical as well. Go figure.
Found here.
How kind of them to use Beethoven or “that other piece that will never leave your head” as a warning, eh?
Danger! Danger! Classical music is playing!
Huh? Who says THAT? Not I!
So if anyone out there is getting married, Stuart Weitzman Oboe Bridal Shoes can be found and you know you want them.
Funny thing, though … as Kelsey pointed out, they don’t look at all like oboes.
Jason Heath has blogged about a new brass player’s website called Brass Tax.
The new blogger has a blog entry about all those folks who say, “I played [name your instrument]” kind of thing, and how one responds to that statement. I’ve gotten that too, at church, in the pit (from folks who hang over [...]
The fire alarm went off in the music building about fifteen minutes ago. The pain of the alarm was excruciating. It was the sort of piercing sound that would get everyone out of the buildings incredibly fast. Unfortunately I also believe it could damage our hearing. And then we got outside and the screeching was [...]
I think it is pretty darn cool that you can go here and listen to music samples to go along with Alex Ross’s book, The Rest Is Noise: Listening to the Twentieth Century. Nice, yes?
I have started the book. I’m a slow reader. This will take a while. But so far I am quite impressed; [...]
I am not Catholic, so I don’t have to listen to the pope. Just so you know.
Right now, though, I’m listening to Manon Lescaut with Freni, Pavarotti and Croft. Did Puccini listen to the pope? I’m guessing not, but what do I know?
Woodhams had other passions. She loved art, architecture and music. She and her husband started the California Youth Symphony in 1952. Richard Woodhams grew up to be a renowned oboist.
“I suppose playing classical music is a kind of historic preservation,” he said. (RTWT)
The quote above is about oboist Richard Woodhams’ mother. She was [...]
I don’t really keep up with the Heather Mills/Paul McCartney divorce and all that goes with it, although of course you can hardly miss the news blurbs. But I don’t know them. I don’t feel in any way connected to them even though McCartney is now a “classical” composer. Until now:
The 39-year-old former model - [...]
For some unknown reason I have The Brady Bunch theme song in my head and it won’t go away.
I just thought I’d share. ;-)
The personal became the corporate, and the corporal transcended its usual bounds. I felt immense uplift after that concert. I know I am not alone, and I think I know why.
That’s the end of the blogpost. So read the rest. I always enjoy the way James Roe writes. I wish I could also hear him [...]
I just read this. I think I would have given up sooner.
It is possible to modernise holy music, but it should not happen outside the traditional path of Gregorian chants or sacred polyphonic choral music.
-Pope Benedict XVI (RTWT)
Review #3.
The BSO’s Principal Oboe player, John Ferrillo Jr., was paid an annual salary of $232,420 by the BSO in 2005 …. (RTWT)
So, well, I’m sure that’s what I’d make too. IF ..
1) I were principal in a symphony (I’m second)
2) If I were in Boston Symphony … or something of that sort
3) If I were [...]
Wishing all those US folks a very happy thanksgiving. So much to be thankful for!
… for a few days, anyway. I just played Werther. And it’s time to start thinking Thanksgiving! I’m already hungry. My stomach, in fact, was suggesting hunger even during the opera tonight.
And speaking of the opera, I’m really enjoying the music, and I love playing my part. There are little “moments” … just tiny things [...]
Another review of Werther is here. The reviewer came to Sunday’s matinee. He is quite positive in his review.
(I’ll write tomorrow—if I find the time—about The Rake’s Progress, which I attended tonight. But in case I don’t write … I’ll at least say I really enjoyed it. I sure wish OSJ would put that [...]
Someone landed here when doing a search on “plastic reeds”.
And the answer is NO.
Or maybe the answer is NO NO NO NO NO.
Or just a simple NEVER.
Don’t go there. It’s not worth it. They are junk. Really.
And now I’m off to the dress rehearsal of The Rake’s Progress. (With dinner first … [...]
