Son has bought new oboe reeds. Sounds much louder than before. Not sure that’s entirely a good thing.
It was a really good show though I have to confess I kept thinking throughout “does Bob (Redford) like classical music? Will he like this? I sort of figured he would cause he’s black Irish so issues of life and death and such resonate.
-Jane Fonda
I wish I lived nearer New York sometimes. I’d love to see the play Jane Fonda is in that is about a musicologist and Beethoven and who knows what else. And now I learn that Jane Fonda has a blog. How cool is that? With pictures too. (Well sure, she can put up pictures of herself. She’s so darn beautiful. Me? I guess I should put more pictures of … um … oboe reeds … something … but not me!)
I also read this:
Jane Fonda has just opened on Broadway, to rave reviews, in the play 33 Variations, and I have tickets for tomorrow night, which kind of amazes me. I’ve always been a Jane fan, and even met her back in 1972, but a play about Beethoven where his music is reputedly the “real star”? Is that any place for a guy who was executive editor at the legendary Crawdaddy from 1971 to 1979, when my generation’s main exposure to Ludvig Van was via Stanley Kubrick’s Clockwork Orange?
You can read the whole article that includes the above quote here. Fun read.
Meanwhile … we just finished our dress of Barber Adagio for Strings, Schubert Symphony No. 9 (“The Great”) and some other guy … hold on while I check the symphony site … Guilmant. Anyone ever heard of him? I can’t say I’m thrilled by his organ concerto, but what do I know? Not a lot, I’m sure. But the other two works are certainly well worth the price of admission. And you do get to see a very gaudy organ … and hear the instrument too. So there you go.
Now it’s really time to hit the hay. I have students and a concert tomorrow. And I’m rather weary these days.
I had never heard of the superstition regarding Tchaikovsky’s Sixth. But there’s a lot I don’t know … as all of YOU already know.
Tchaikovsky’s sudden death in the autumn of 1893 startled the world. There were rumors that he committed suicide. It was believed that he died of cholera.
Whatever the cause of his death, it occurred shortly after he had conducted an orchestra in the premiere of his Sixth Symphony. Among those in the audience on the night of his premiere were his nephew and a talented young musician, Ossip Gabrilowitsch. Three days after the concert the nephew committed suicide and the series of sinister coincidences associated with the Pathetique began.
From then on whenever it was played someone in the audience or one of the musicians met a sudden, unexpected end. It wasn’t long before many musicians came to dread the Sixth Symphony and a number refused to play or listen to it.
You can read the entire thing here.
So am I the only one in the world who didn’t know this? (And no, it won’t cause me to skip playing Tchaik. 6 if it’s on the schedule.)
During a Music for Poets class that I took years ago, when our teacher played for us Beethoven’s 7th Symphony he explained to us that in the 2nd movement, in the 85th measure, the tympani–after going boom -rest- boom -rest- , goes -rest- boom–which from what I gathered was supposed to be an indication of Beethoven’s ingenuity and sense of humor. With that handy bit of info, I can now participate in any conversation about music–something that I have done on average about once every ten years since then.
When I was young, my father sometimes suspected I was wearing lipstick and school and wiping it off before I got home (no makeup was allowed when we were younger) because my lips were so red. I never did wear makeup without his knowing (I did roll up my skirts, though). I just had extremely chapped lips. Playing oboe can aggravate them, although I’ve not had the horrible issue I had when I was younger.
But today? Today my lips are a total mess. If you saw me from a little bit of a distance I might appear to be one of those old ladies who doesn’t look in a mirror when applying lipstick, so it smeared in the corners.
Sigh.
When I’m playing stiffer reeds this can happen. When I’m making reeds and doing a lot of testing it might happen too. But right now there’s really not been that extreme amount of reed making, and I haven’t felt as if my reeds are all that stiff (I am breaking some in, but still). I guess it’s just the dry weather. I dunno. But it sure doesn’t feel good to play. (I typed “It don’t feel good to play” first. Hmmm. Maybe I’m losing my language skills.)
So to all our folks out there: Any great cures for chapped lips? Do tell. Please.
another asian, violin playing, only-child pointed out my fascination w/ oboe & french horn reflects my tendency towards difficult tasks.
I can’t really argue with these, so check ‘em out. (I wouldn’t write “resist playing on plastic reeds” but, rather, “if you play plastic reeds, you are not an oboist.” Yeah. That works for me. ;-)
(Oh … but feel free to prove me wrong!)
The thing that I cringe at, when looking at the page I’ve linked to above is the bassoon and oboe sitting on the chairs. Maybe another suggestion would be “put your instrument away when you aren’t playing.” But I live in earthquake country, so maybe I think differently about this.
I don’t care for R K’s Scheherazade either. I know, I know, we aren’t supposed to say stuff like that. But I didn’t say it. I wrote it So there you go!
You can get some insight into what we play in the work, and the oboist/English hornist, Karen Birch Blundell, also talks about the challenge of playing both instruments in one work. (Whenever we’ve done it in the past we’ve used three players. I don’t know what the next performance of this will bring for me, since we do things differently these days.)
I hadn’t seen her videos before, so this is a fun new discovery for me. What a great idea … I’m not sure I have the nerve to put any up, though. I know how brutal YouTube commentees can be. Yikes!
The following video is a “meet the oboist and oboe” video:
(Psst. I’m playing an oboe I’ve had since 1988. I don’t really go with the “blown out” theory, but I know I’m in the minority on that one.)
The only classical composer listed was Beethoven. And he’s at the top (for smartness … don’t worry!). But were there no other classical composers? Hmmm.
But anyway, check it out if you want. Or don’t. I won’t know the diff.
Of course the way this is done when compiling results from Facebook has some problems, as I’m sure the person who put it together knows. For instance, some people are busy trying to impress others and won’t put up their true “favorites”, as they might be embarrassing.
Gee, would I do that? Naw. But I didn’t list anything at all, since I can’t figure out what my “favorite music” is. You can see that if you visit my Facebook page, but I’m not sure you can see that if you haven’t “friended” me. And I don’t “friend” — yeah, they verbed that ‐ because I don’t like to impose and I fear rejection. I also wish they had “acquaintance” rather than “friend” there. I’m weird that way.
Ramble ramble … killing 30 minutes until I can go make my latté.
Done.
seriously? oboe and bassoon = absolute fave (besides piana). let’s skip knowing each other an’ just get married
… I think:
… the oboe experience might help you.
Kerr, who majored in oboe performance and economics at the University of Michigan, called the job “occasionally a close second” to the most stressful situation she has ever had: playing in an orchestra with “really demanding conductors.”
“I spent many, many years of my life preparing for performances and thinking about all the different things that could happen — if my reed was going to be bad, or if there was too much humidity in the room,” Kerr said.
“On-the-record experience, especially live on-the-record experience, is just like that. So I just drew upon my music training to help me.”
After campaign season wound down, Kerr hoped to work for a freshman lawmaker focused on financial or energy policy. She found just that in Himes, an investment banker who beat former Rep. Christopher Shays (R) in November and won a seat on the House Finance Committee.
Though this is her first Washington job, she spent two and a half years as an aide to new Rep. Mark Schauer (D-Mich.) when he was in the Michigan Senate, and also campaigned for Rep. Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (D-S.D.) in 2004.
One thing she has left behind is her oboe.
“This is what I tell everybody: The world doesn’t need another great oboist,” she said. “The world needs people with money and power who support the arts.”
RTWT
As performers we can’t even allow for the possibility that the pieces to be played that evening might not be fresh. We walk to the piano as if to a liturgy: the music is there – all that remains is for us to be ‘there’ too. Of course, we can be physically or mentally tired, or even ill, and this can affect the quality of the performance, but it shouldn’t really affect the intention of the performance. I’ve heard 17 year-olds sound jaded with a piece they’ve just learned, and 70 year-olds bursting with fresh ideas about music they’ve played their whole lives.
-Stephen Hough
I read it here.
I also really enjoyed the “train comment”, when he was making a comment later, on the same entry. Do read the comments, too!
Not only does an orchestral musician have to keep things “fresh”, but we also have to sell some music that we simply don’t care for. I don’t know if soloists, like Mr. Hough, have to do that. Would he play something he doesn’t like at all? I wonder. But really, I am hopeful that an audience member would never catch on to my disdain for a work that I’m playing. And yes, sometimes I do really hate a work that we have to play. Okay … hate is too strong … so perhaps “it isn’t my cup of tea,” would sound kinder and gentler. But no matter what, I have to give a work my complete attention and sell it to the listener.
I can always whine later. ;-)
for reasons unknown to me, I am voluntarily listening to an oboe concerto
(Some things do just remain a mystery!)
There’s someone in our apartment building that plays the oboe and always practices around this time and I can hear. He/she is really good, and it always makes me happy to hear oboe music coming from the open window!
