oboeinsight

… from the pattyo (“this one” refers to the pattyo, of course):

I had run my oboe blog through the Typealyzer earlier. Now I ran this one:

ESFP – The Performers

The entertaining and friendly type. They are especially attuned to pleasure and beauty and like to fill their surroundings with soft fabrics, bright colors and sweet smells. They live in the present moment and don´t like to plan ahead – they are always in risk of exhausting themselves.

The enjoy work that makes them able to help other people in a concrete and visible way. They tend to avoid conflicts and rarely initiate confrontation – qualities that can make it hard for them in management positions.

So at my oboe site I get this:

ISFP – The Artists

The gentle and compassionate type. They are especially attuned their inner values and what other people need. They are not friends of many words and tend to take the worries of the world on their shoulders. They tend to follow the path of least resistance and have to look out not to be taken advantage of.

They often prefer working quietly, behind the scene as a part of a team. They tend to value their friends and family above what they do for a living.

Kinda interesting in a “doesn’t really matter but still…” way.

Today is the final performance of Opera San José’s Elixir of Love. It has received fabulous reviews and small audiences. This wasn’t a difficult run, for which I’m quite thankful. The difference between this and Eugene Onegin is, for me at least, huge. I never did completely relax on Onegin. I never completely stressed over Elixir. I’m fine with the latter!

Next up is a week of no playing work. I can certainly use the week off, although it’s not really “off” … I have a house to clean, and we will have Thanksgiving dinner here so I need to prepare for that. I’ll also be going to San Francisco Opera’s production of Elixir. I’m looking forward to that, although I wish it could have been on on a different date; we are going the night before Thanksgiving. Ack! No time to relax, it appears.

The following week is a Symphony Silicon Valley set. We’re playing Suppé’s overture to Pique Dame (no comment), Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto (no oboes) and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4 (no sweat … I hope!).

And finally … drum roll … I move into the Center for Performing Arts barn to play Nutcracker. (They have two clips you can listen to at the ballet site. Hmmm. That isn’t us; the tempi are much faster than what we get to play.) Stay tuned for my silly poem and countdown time. ;-)

Italian tenor Marcello Giordani has pulled off the rare feat of singing two major roles in a single day at New York’s Metropolitan Opera.

Giordani performed the title role in Berlioz’s “La Damnation de Faust” during a matinee Saturday.

A few hours later he sang the leading tenor role of Benjamin Franklin Pinkerton in “Madama Butterfly.” He replaced a sick colleague.

Most singers perform only two or three times a week. The Met says only a handful have tackled two leading roles in a day for the renowned company.

General manager Peter Gelb calls Giordani the “Iron Man of tenors.”

Found here … but if you click the link you’ll only see exactly what’s above.

So if I play a couple of operas in a day could I become the “Iron Woman of Oboists” please?

Okay … not quite the same, I know. And yeah, other musicians do double services, no problem. Still, I just want to be an “iron something” … and no, I’m not talking about that other iron. The one only my husband uses because I don’t buy anything that requires ironing.

I’m just home from a UCSC performance. The orchestra did a couple of new works, and then the choirs joined them for Carmina Burana. When I was in high school I loved that work. Later, when I finally played it, I saw the “other side” of the work. I think it’s fun listening, but not fun playing. I wonder what singers think of it. But in any case, they all did a fabulous job on this concert. Bravi tutti to everyone involved, and of course especially to Daniela, Karl, Jordan, Miranda, Max, Sylvia and Kevin … because I work with all of them, so I was especially thrilled to see and hear them.

I’m home from opera. And the performance was just fine.

But during intermission I became less than fine. It was pretty sudden; I started to get nauseous. A little dizzy as well. And I’m still nauseous.

This better pass. I do not have time to be sick. No time at all!

I’m tired.

Fridays are a bit crazy. I drive to UCSC to teach, and the day becomes rather long. I left home today at 7:00, stopped for coffee and a bagel, and got to my room at 8:30. I was in that room from 8:30 AM until 3:00 PM. I did not leave the room. Not once. I have a 30 minute break once my lessons begin at 9:00, but other than that break I’m teaching. I think perhaps it’s not the best and wisest schedule to have.

Now I’m home, and I have an opera to play tonight. I am a bit weary and can’t imagine making dinner. Maybe Dan and Jameson can go out to eat. I’d be quite content with raisin bran. :-)

This is how my blog was analyzed:

ISFP – The Artists

The gentle and compassionate type. They are especially attuned their inner values and what other people need. They are not friends of many words and tend to take the worries of the world on their shoulders. They tend to follow the path of least resistance and have to look out not to be taken advantage of.

They often prefer working quietly, behind the scene as a part of a team. They tend to value their friends and family above what they do for a living.

Try it yourself! Does it “fit”?

I had a recording session yesterday. I don’t do these very often, and I do find them stressful, because of course if I make a mistake it is right there for all to hear, and we have to re-record whatever it is I was playing.

This session was just me. Alone. I first played English horn. I had headphones on, so I could hear the singer and some instruments (Geesh, now I can’t remember if it was guitars only, or something else. How ridiculous is that?), and it all worked pretty well. For a while. With four sharps, left D# (of course!) and playing in the high range. (Later they moved sections down an octave to see if they liked that better and I think that’s what they’ve opted to go with. I did think the lower range sounded more lush for the part.) But … suddenly, going from G# to B was an issue. A key was sticking. Hmmm. It was second key, left hand (do you all call that the B key, as this guy does? I guess it’s called that because that’s the first key open when you play B?), and I thought maybe I just needed to clean the pad. That didn’t help. At all. Finally, after taking the EH up to a repair person who thought he might be able to fix it (he couldn’t), I realized that it was only when coming from the G# key that the key stuck. But if I used the right hand G# key, the key didn’t stick. Figure that one out for me, please. So back to the studio we went, and finished up with EH.

Then we added some oboe tracks. First up an octave. Then down. Then a bit of both, with a few other simple changes thrown in. Now I was hearing the singer, some other instruments, and my English horn via the headphones.

After that I went into the studio to hear what they did with me. Well … I sounded pretty good! I usually hate hearing myself, but this was great. Good microphones, good placement, and ah, that reverb. One can really sound good that way! After hearing it they (including the composer) decided more English horn could be put in in a few more places, so back to recording I went.

Of course now I have to figure out why a key sticks when I use the regular G# and not when I use the right G#. Anyone have an answer for that? Very odd!

But really, it was a great time, even with my nerves. The studio is walking distance from my house, too (not that I walked, since I had a bit to carry). I wouldn’t mind getting to do more work there!