Recordings & Videos

18. February 2009 · 2 comments · Categories: Quotes, Ramble

Most orchestras and opera companies have pretty strict rules about how recordings and videos are handled. Trouble is, most of these things were set up long before things like YouTube existed. Earlier this month I had posted a few Opera San Jose videos, happily seeing and hearing some singers I enjoy. Shortly after, though, I realized that not only was what I was sharing illegal, but I could get the person who posted them in trouble, so I quickly removed them.

Well, they’ve been removed from YouTube now. And I’m sorry to see them go, even while knowing that had to be removed or opera would be hit with quite a bill.

Believe it or not, I can’t get recordings of my own solos in SSV either. It’s just against contract rules. We do record our performances, and some get posted at the site, but we aren’t allowed to received even snippets of our own playing.

I think that’s sad.

I think that times have changed. I think that contracts should be rewritten. I think that singers should be allotted a certain number of minutes of video to post. I don’t believe it would harm us if they were given that. I think I should be allowed to have at least a small portion of my own playing so that I can submit it to UCSC when I’m up for my review. No one is going to make any sort of money on these things. The opera clips would give OSJ a bit of free publicity actually, and the recordings of my own playing only help me keep my job.

I wonder if any readers out there have clauses in their contracts that allow for this now. Times, they are a’changin’. Just like our white tie and tails, we don’t seem to be able to change with this sort of thing either.

Could it be we actually want to nail the classical music coffin shut? I did, after all, just read this:

The days of classical music seem to have died long ago. Besides the occasional exceptional film soundtrack (i.e. The Fountain, Lord of the Rings), the glory days of men like Beethoven and Mozart have followed the dinosaurs into extinction. People were correct to say that we’ll never see anyone with the genius of Leonardo Da Vinci, but the same can be said of Mozart and Beethoven.

But First …

18. February 2009 · 5 comments · Categories: Videos

When I have to practice I always manage to find things I simply must do before I start. Vacuuming is a typical thing. Cleaning the kitchen or bathroom, too. Then I tend to go through all of my reeds to pull out the dead ones and see if any misbehaving reeds have opted for a change of heart. Eventually I get to the practicing thing … well, sometimes anyway.

Thanks to Miss Mussel I just ran across this video. It’s rather long … not quite youtube video short & sometimes sweet length (it was done in 1979, after all, when attention spans were a wee bit longer):

Once I do finally get started, practicing is just fine. But it’s the beforehand time that’s a real pain.

I Can’t See Clearly Now

18. February 2009 · 3 comments · Categories: Ramble

My eyes have had it. I desperately need new computer/music glasses. Argh! I can look at a computer for about 15 minutes and then my eyes go all buggy.

When I bought my new distance glasses last year — and yes the prescription had changed, just as it always does (grumble grumble sigh) — the doctor said my reading glasses could be changed as well, but that I could get away without doing so. And of course that’s what I chose, since I have horrible vision and glasses are quite expensive for me.

Of course many readers may suggest that this vision issue is a GOOD thing; perhaps I’ll get a life. Step away from the computer. Walk outside, even. Maybe I’ll make a reed. Or scour the house. I could practice, too.

But … well … I want to use the computer when I want to use the computer!

I suppose the solution would be to make an appointment, get a new prescription, and pay megabucks for new glasses.

It’s that megabucks part that is bothersome.

Meanwhile I guess I’ll pace my computer use. I’m not good at pacing.

MQOD

18. February 2009 · Comments Off · Categories: Quotes

What I have missed in San Francisco, quite profoundly, is the chance, through repetition, to delve ever deeper into works. If you do, say, a Tristan or a Peter Grimes, you do it for six or seven shows, then it will disappear from the repertoire for up to nine years, just when you’ve got to the point where you want to do it again next season.

-Donald Runnicles

I read it here.

BQOD

18. February 2009 · Comments Off · Categories: BQOD

When I was 10, I read an article about how classical music makes ones IQ go up. Being a snobbish little boy I threw myself into my parent’s Mozart collection which amounted to about 10CDs. All the while, I constantly chanted this mantra to myself: “this will make me smarter, this will make me smarter” add infinitum. Like a musical moron I would vigorously nod my head up and down with the rhythm of the symphony or when the music became grand and exciting I’d wave my hands around frantically as if I were conducting an invisible symphony. Can you imagine what I must’ve looked like? In fact, I would look into the mirror sometimes and practice my I-am-deeply-in-musical-thought look and try to seem very profound, I mostly ended up looking constipated. Thank God something good came of this egoism! As I became more and more familiar with the pieces, I found that I actually enjoyed listening to them for their own sake. I didn’t really even know why yet, I just liked listening.

Things I Allow

17. February 2009 · 5 comments · Categories: Opera, Ramble

There are things I let stress me out. I know that’s simply … well … shocking!

Tonight I got to the pit and got set up. It was 65 degrees in there when I sat down. I know that for many of you that is just fine, but I’m a wimpy California girl, so I wasn’t thrilled. Stress #1.

I pulled out my reeds and dipped them in water and let them wake up. Ugh. My reeds were totally different from the last time we performed (Sunday). Since I didn’t play yesterday, and I don’t use my performance reeds with my students, I only found this out when I got into the pit. And yes, that’s not a good idea. But there you go. I knew I could deal. Stress #2.

Shortly after that, two people I know came down to say “hi”. Uh-oh. Stress #3. I know it’s silly, but one of them is a former musician so I knew that would be a stress issue. Add to that the fact that another person had already mentioned that he’d be at the performance as well. Stress #4.

And then, just to make me full stressed, a conductor I work with (and have since 1975) appeared. In the front row. So there’s Stress #5.

Now of course everyone deals with stress. And yes, I am used to it. But I just wasn’t in the mood. And while I made no mistakes I just wasn’t happy with anything I did. I kept thinking, “I wonder what Mr. Conductor is thinking of what I just played. Coulda been better. Rats.”

I’m just that crazy. And I know some of you will kindly write and tell me how to fix myself. But maybe … just maybe … I am embracing my craziness. Maybe I’ll run with it, in fact. Maybe it’ll be what makes me famous.

Or not.

Oh, and the temperature is quite fickle now. It warmed up to 68 when we began the overture. The curtain rose and it dropped two degrees. Then, during the second half, it actually reached 70. Who’da thunk it?

Like I said earlier, layers. I’m gonna bring layers from here on out. :-)

In other news, I joined the Twitter crowd, even though I can’t for the life of me figure out why it’s any different than the status updates in Facebook. We’ll see what I decide to do there … I might not stick around. For now, though, I’m Pattyoboe.

And now it’s off to bed. With no after opera snack, because I’m finding that if I eat this late I’ll not sleep well at all. (Darn!)

BQOD

17. February 2009 · Comments Off · Categories: BQOD

Current music: IGOR STRAVINSKY/RITES OF SPRING

i love classical music so much!!!! i wish i could just
BE a piece of music

…you know?

this stuff never ceases to make me crazy. in a great way.

Why, Oh Why?

17. February 2009 · 4 comments · Categories: Grumble, Links, Opera, Ramble

Okay … little rant here … I just don’t understand why bloggers don’t realize the world can read what they write. I just popped in on an anonymous oboe player’s blog, and he writes about his friend shoplifting a $150 wallet from a Century 21 store (never heard of ‘em). How admirable. I suppose he thinks that no one will figure out who he is. I took one look at the blog and figured it out immediately. It was pretty darn easy. Not that I’ll do anything about the stealing. I’m just bugged that someone would blog gleefully about this. (Not sure I’d want him on my sub list, to be honest. Oh. But who cares about honesty, eh?)

I know, I know. I sound like a very old grumpy person. Sigh.

In Other News…
Tonight is another Così performance with Opera San José. I’m going to be smart and dress in layers. Lots and lots of layers. We only have three performances left, tonight, Friday and Sunday, so if you are interested in attending you’d better hop to it! And tonight’s cast is on their final performance.

Season News?
I still have heard nothing about the Symphony Silicon Valley 2009-2010 season. I do hope we hear soon. I’m anxious to see the programs. Maybe opera companies announce seasons earlier than symphonies. At least around here. In any case, both SSV and San Francisco Symphony haven’t put up new about next season yet, while Opera San José and San Francisco Opera have. I’m an impatient person and I hope I don’t have to wait much longer for an announcement from SSV.

Why Lockers in Music Buildings Worry Me

17. February 2009 · Comments Off · Categories: Stolen Instrument

What easier place to look for valuable instruments, right?

Security at McGill University in Montreal is being stepped up after seven thefts of musical instruments from lockers in six weeks, officials said.

Most recently, a $40,000 viola was taken from the locker of student Alicia Bisha after someone picked the lock in the university’s Schulich School of Music building, The Gazette newspaper reported.

She told the newspaper the instrument was a high school gift from her concert viola-playing grandmother and she’d accept it back with no questions asked.

She said in case it were to turn up at an online sales portal, the viola has a registration number of JC9525 on the inside.

The other thefts have included an English horn, a saxophone, two stringed instruments and some woodwinds, the Gazette said.

McGill’s dean of music, Don McLean, said security measures have been stepped up but wouldn’t elaborate.

“I feel for the students, they develop a relationship with a specific instrument, a personal attachment and these thefts are a sense of violation,” he told the newspaper.

Read here.

MQOD

17. February 2009 · Comments Off · Categories: Quotes

On a bad day I think ‘Il Trovatore’ is one of the stupidest operas ever written.

-David McVicar

Found here.

And I Complain About Being Cold

16. February 2009 · Comments Off · Categories: Ramble

We are home from the bike race. It began in Sausalito, where weather was not exactly great for cycling. (It’s great for our rain problem, though.) I was wearing silk underwear, a warm turtleneck, a pile vest, a pile jacket, and a rain jacket over that. Along with gloves. I was still cold. We then took off to drive down to 92 and hit another spot, at Tunitas Creek Rd, so we could cheer them on there. The rain pretty much stopped while there, but by the time we returned to the car my hands were numb. From there we drove to Santa Cruz, where there was a quick and cold downpour (with a bit of hail), and then finally saw some blue sky for the end of the race.

Compared to today, a cold pit is nothing, I suppose. Still, a cold pit makes for a cold oboe and cold hands and whiney oboist. Go figure.

I love watching the cyclists do their thing. They really are quite amazing. And I am not even touching my oboe today. So there.

So What Note Is It?

16. February 2009 · 2 comments · Categories: Read Online

Master Oboist H. David Meyers is available in New York. He will play a segment of music from the lost works that includes an unusually high (and difficult) oboe note; in fact it would have been nearly impossible for oboists in Beethoven’s day to accomplish. The puzzle depicts Beethoven looking on earnestly to hear whether the oboist (who is actually H. David) will reach the big note.

Anyone know what the note is?

I read this here.

Another Review

16. February 2009 · Comments Off · Categories: Reviews

Looks like another review has appeared for Così. It’s another complimentary one, written by Michael Vaughn of “San Jose Theater Examiner” (whatever that is … I’ve not heard of it before). Alas, no mention of the orchestra or even the conductor.

No … and Yes

15. February 2009 · 5 comments · Categories: Links, Opera, Ramble

No, the power did not go out in the hall.
Yes, we played.
No, it was not warmer.
Yes, I wasn’t comfortable.

Oh well. Can’t have it all, eh?

I had one very odd moment. My brain simply stopped. Or something stopped. When we get to the one lick I blogged about earlier, I first hold a measure of high B. Then I do the run down. As I’m holding the B, I’m thinking “I can’t move my fingers!” Really. It was as if they were frozen. Fortunately I played the darn thing. Unfortunately I had a glitch. Fortunately the other winds came in by then so I’m hoping the audience didn’t even hear it. (Mike? Care to be honest and tell me if the error was glaring? No pressure if you don’t wanna!)

Now I’m home and the rain continues. This is very good news for our area, as we’ve already been told we will soon be on water rationing. Water rationing is tough when one is already attempting to ration water. Seems like those who have wasted water these past years are rewarded by being allowed more water than us. (I’m assuming it’s like last time we had this; your allotted amount is based on past usage. I think it should be based on the size of your yard and the number of people living in your home. But what do I know?)

Tomorrow I’ll finally get to see some of the Amgen Tour of California! Oboe break time.

MacLunch!

15. February 2009 · Comments Off · Categories: Ramble

I’m listening to the rain hit our skylight. And I’m having my nice pre-opera lunch. Yes, I’m really eating THAT much! I’m a bad, bad girl.

It’s pretty darn cold (for this neck ‘o the woods). This makes me think that the pit might be warmer. That probably doesn’t make sense to you … but that’s what I’m thinkin’.

(And Kelsey, here you see the lovely cup and plate you bought us. Thank you!)

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