Today went well, and I was pleased with my playing. How’s THAT for positive? Not your typical pattylist of “all the things I didn’t like about what I did.”
Yes. Even I can occasionally be optimistic. ;-)
The head and the heart are two very different things.
Intellectually I know certain things. But man my heart sure says differently.
I’m just sayin’.
I’ve had my fair share of parents who wanted to participate in lessons. I’ve learned to be very clear, “Students and the teacher may talk. Parents may not.” I’ve had to say it more than once. But I rarely have to repeat it to the same parent. But once parents have sat in the studio for a few lessons I also let them now they then must move to the living room. I leave my studio door open, and they can easily hear me and their child so they needn’t worry that I’ll be abusive. They are welcome to drop by on occasion, but the studio is, primarily, for the student and me.
I wonder if I would have lost Lang Lang as a student if I had told his father my rule. I find this article a tad frightening!
And then there’s this:
But as stage parents go, Lang Guoren isn’t the worst. During lessons, Graffman said, “he sat in the corner very quietly, and at no point interfered. There were a few nice occasions when I’d make suggestions and you could see the father smiling.”
“The problem wasn’t his attitude but the tone he set for other parents. It became more competitive,” said Curtis’ dean, Robert Fitzpatrick, recently. “We’ve made it clear, we’ve posted signs, that parents are welcome in our building but not upstairs in the studios or in rehearsals unless specifically invited by a faculty member. … They want to protect their own children, but they also spy on others to compare talents.”
Yikes! And did he really tell his son to kill himself? Ouch. It’s only music, folks.
And now … I think it’s time to see if my stomach can actually handle some food. Going to a concert without eating isn’t a good idea. So far I’ve not thought I could deal with food, but I think maybe I can deal now. We’ll see!
I hope I’m not getting sick. I hope I’m only feeling crummy because I should never go to after concert receptions and then get to bed so long after my bedtime.
I suppose I’ll find out soon enough, eh? Meanwhile I guess I’d better try to go back to sleep because I don’t feel terribly good. :-(
I’m home from the symphony concert. Actually I’ve been home for a bit. But I did stay for the reception, so I was home an hour later than my usual time.
The concert went fine. At least in my little world. I didn’t like a few things I did, but the one bigger solo I had (in the Ellington) was enjoyable and I think I did a good job.
Every time I go to a reception I’m reminded of why I shouldn’t go to receptions; I’m not a social sort, and I find them very difficult, and I think I make a pretty big fool of myself. I don’t know how to talk to people I don’t know unless they approach me first. If they do that, I’m fine. But I’m not like a friend of mine who is quite at ease with going up to an audience member and yakking. And I’m not comfortable attempting to eat and stand at the same time — yeah, I’m a klutz — so this time I just skewered a couple of marshmallows (yes, really … marshmallows!) and held them in the chocolate fountain and ate those. Then I had some champagne. And didn’t have any more food because holding a glass of champagne, talking, and holding a plate of food is just an extreme challenge for this silly person. So I leave a bit hungry. When I get home I tend to go over two things: any playing I did that didn’t make me happy (two places in this concert) and anything I said at the reception that was foolish (too numerous to count).
So I should play concerts and go straight home. Really.
Now if I could just read this blog entry before the next concert that has a reception. Maybe I’d take my own advice. You know?
One more concert tomorrow. It’s always so different than doing opera, where the run goes on and on. We do these SSV concerts two or three times, and everything fits in seven days or less (this concert is in five). Time flies for symphony.
Hmmm. I’m not nearly as depressed as this blog entry comes across. Honest and true! :-)
Jessica Duchen brought my attention to the video below. I’m so glad I know about her blog! Do check it out, and make sure you get to the end. (These guys can sing too!)
There’s something so incredible about a string quartet. I’m envious; while woodwind quintet can be fun just for kicks, we can’t get the blend four strings get. After all, we might be wind instruments, but we are all quite unique in timbre. And these guys are so darn good. Sometimes I watch and listen to things like this and wonder about my miniscule abilities. Yes, I’m insecure that way.
The real excitement for those under-30 is the new Opera for a New Age ticket pricing. Starting Saturday September 27th, anyone under 30 can purchase these special fall season tickets for only $20.
Okay … I know the real reason is that they are trying to get younger people into the hall. But this irks me. And the fact that I use the word “irk” says I’m older than 30.
Whatever.
It just feels like ageism to this older person.
However, you can WIN your own pair of tickets from blogTO right now! We have a pair of tickets to the October 14th performance of War and Peace (7pm) at the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts for one lucky reader.
The above quotes are from the Toronto Blog.
(This may not be true. I’ll have to listen to it when they put it online. But I’ve started a “Spoken Quote of the Day due to this. If I’m wrong I promise you I’ll correct myself!)
You literally grew up under his wing.
Said by Scott Simon to Marin Alsop (on Weekend Edition) regarding Leonard Bernstein
Did I really just hear that, or am I dreaming it?
I know, he’s not a musician … but he was an artist and deserves a mention. And there was just something about him that made if feel as if he would live forever. (Of course I realize that’s impossible, I’m not saying I truly believed it.) So reading the news this morning just kind of caught me off guard.
Birmingham has the best orchestra in the world and it was they who got me into music in the first place when I was a youngster. There was a quiet part of the day at school when they put on a gramophone record, as they called them then, and played some classics by the Symphony Orchestra. That must have stayed with me.
-John Lodge (of the Moody Blues)
(I played a Moody Blues concert a few years back. The audience was so old! Of course, in reality, they were my age. But still they looked so OLD. Which reminded me of my own age. Wouldn’t ya know?)
Okay … maybe not the picture. But see if you can figure it out!
“Oboist playing in the street” … so it says.
Two BQODs in one day? Yep. Because I’m probably not going to be able to blog much today — my eyes need a computer break. Still.
I’m often asked the question “what do I listen to besides Classical music?” Sometimes, people offer me to relax with such-and-such Classical music work. When I explain them that it might stress me out, they seem a bit taken aback.
Sometimes I include a link to BQODs, sometimes not. (I mostly don’t when I think the blogger might get into trouble for what I’ve found!) For this one, you can visit the blog of a pianist, Pierre-Arnaud Dablemont.
it is true that what might relax a non-musician might not relax us.
I played the bassoon for 6 years. I started out playing the clarinet…but in 7th grade my band instructor suggested that I play the bassoon because I had big hands.
That is NOT something you want someone telling you in 7th grade. Plus it’s not the coolest instrument in the world…in 7th grade. It’s large and awkward.
So I’m home from rehearsal. I could read my music, and my headache, while mildly still there, didn’t bother me in any horrible way. Whew.
But the best news was that I just might like a reed.
Of course that could change by tomorrow.
I just blogged about this at my other blog. So I’m just cutting and pasting. Then I’m going to sleep and hope this clears up.
Today
I blogged a bit at the oboe site, but I can no longer blog. Sigh.
My eyes can’t focus on anything. I wonder if this is just a part of the migraine. I hope so. I’d hate to have my vision go bonkers. I can’t exactly be an oboist with no vision.
