there’s a really rockin’ oboe part in Fiona Apple’s “Extraordinary Machine.”
… and nothin’ else … ;-)
Great fun!
The composer of our marching show told me I sound good on my oboe solo :D Yay!
(I do hope she isn’t marching with the thing.)
When Robin McKee knew she was going to appear on television, her first thought was about nail polish.
McKee, a Tulsa native, has been a member of the San Francisco Symphony for 26 years and now is the orchestra’s associate principal flute. And for the past several years, she has decorated her fingernails with a particularly vibrant shade of blue polish.
I have yet to watch the “Keeping Score” I was sent from San Francisco Symphony. I really need to … it’s Symphonie Fantastique, after all, and I should listen to Russ Deluna on English horn. But I just haven’t gotten around to it when I’m home, and my MacBook will no longer play DVDs or CDs. :-(
(And nope. I don’t do the nail polish thing. Well, not on my fingernails in any case. Sometimes I use it to mark the side of the reed I want facing me (yes, with some reeds there’s a huge difference). But I don’t do the fingernail thing. I used to try, but they were never perfect so I’d remove the stuff just as quickly as it went on. And besides, my nails are not exactly lovely.)
… for those who worry about the UCSC drive. Yes, the drive was unpleasant. No, I didn’t see any of the reported accidents, so they must have happened after I had passed those locations. :-)
I have a few students who have been working on this, so perhaps one or two will check this out. (I only know of one student who actually reads this blog, though. Hmm.)
There is something quote refreshing about the fact that a staging as characterful as Jonathan Miller’s 27-year-old “New York Mafia” Rigoletto is the nearest thing to a warhorse that ENO has in its repertoire.
I love myself some refreshing quotes now and then.
I read it here, but I’m betting it gets fixed somewhat quickly.
I require that my students use hard copies of music rather than copies. I’m mean that way. The only time I don’t require that is when a work is no longer under copyright and you can find it online. Legally.
When it’s a contemporary work I absolutely demand that the player has a purchased part. Like I said, I’m mean that way. ;-)
I just purchased (finally) “Four Figment Fragments” by Nick Sibicky. I had seen (and heard) the work on YouTube quite some time ago, and one of the oboists who played, Jennifer Bernard, then sent me the information about how to contact Nick. I had neglected to contact him until now. Well … the duo has been ordered and I’m looking forward to playing it. (It might be a good piece for one of my student’s UCSC recital, in fact.) Here … have another listen:
Support Your Living Composers! :-)
What I have to do as a musician is do everything that is not on the music.
Oh please watch … and listen …
Music really is our daily medicine … I say music but actually I mean sound …
For those of you unfamiliar with Evelyn Glennie, she is deaf. She is a musician. And I’m simply blown away by her playing, and by her thinking as well.
… oh! And she makes jewelery too. I know a number of musicians who make jewelery. (I actually did this at one point.) I think we just love creativity and can’t stop!
This past week was very insightful for me. Anyone who reads this blog all the time knows I suffered from some hearing loss last spring. The loss is only with the left ear, and isn’t complete, but it’s what the doctor called “significant”. Since that loss I hadn’t played English horn. So when I played on stage for the first time this past week I learned something; the hearing loss affects my English horn hearing more than my oboe hearing. I was nearly in tears. It all seemed so different to me. I even thought, “Is it time to hang it all up?” But no … I am not at all ready to do that. I had to learn (and thank you “patti with an i” for this!) to trust my body — to trust what I already know — and to believe that I could still play the horn. The next rehearsal felt better. (Encouragement from my colleagues helped immensely.) And the concerts felt very good.
The way Evelyn Glennie plays is just amazing to me. I hope you enjoy the video! There were moments that made me cry.
Pulled the oboe out today. Played for about a half hour. My playing is rusty.
There’s a software program that apparently picks hits. So if you have a tune, give it a go and see if you’ll go platinum.
Or just scoff. Like I do. It’s easier to scoff that write a song, after all. But I also happen to think that there’s more to music than an algorithm. Call me silly. (Shall I plug the last movement of Ravel’s Mother Goose Suite in? Well, yeah, it’s not really a song … and I’m just being snobby. Like usual.)
If you go here you may, for $90, find out if you have a hit on your hands.
Or you can just ask me. I won’t charge a penny. But of course I am an oboist/English hornist, not a pop expert. Still, don’t you like my price better?
I’m sad.
All week I was waiting for Sunday evening, knowing that no matter how I played, it would be over and I’d no longer be stressing out. I was counting days, and later hours. And now it’s all over and of course I’m very sad … because it’s all over.
How crazy is this profession I’m in?
All I have now is the memory of playing, since we aren’t allowed to have copies of the recordings. How sad is that? I never ever hear myself, it seems … or maybe not hearing myself is a good thing? Naw. Not gonna go to the negative place. Not tonight! :-)
I am going to stay positive for the time being. I thought yesterday I played well. I think I may have played “weller” today.
Now how about THAT? Is this really me writing? Hmmm. Odd.
Don’t worry … I’ll get back to NormalNegativity™ tomorrow! ;-)
Ooh, except it might rain. And rain makes me very, very happy!
Mozart: Hostias from the Requiem Mass in D minor
