I love this auditioning process. It’s so relaxing. It’s like sliding down a cheese grater, head first, on my stomach. :/
-Jolene Masone (who happens to be a bassoon blogger)
If i never hear another oboe or clarinet in my life i will be the happiest girl on earth
THEY say music is the food of love…and five local couples would no doubt avidly agree.
For ten music-mad performers and supporters of a Solihull band have all tied the knot over the past year.
The loved-up couples form part of the family of award-winning orchestra and popular local institution AD Concert Band.
Flute player Sue Pritchard and hubbie Mark, who plays clarinet, started off the tradition by taking the plunge in October 2008.
Oboe player Lee Butler followed suit and wed band supporter James in April this year.
Bethan Harris, who plays bassoon, married oboe player David in May – the same month that alto saxophone player Lisa Smith wed her beloved Ben.
Then clarinet player Dawn Collins tied the knot with band supporter Kevin in October.
So … feelin’ like you’re missing out? Join a band. I guess. ;-)
Marion Harrington is a clarinet blogger. I really appreciated her blog post about netiquette. Check it out!
I believe passionately in keeping information free within the public domain but equally, a little bit of respect would be appreciated.
-Marion Harrington
Yep! :-)
If you are using someone’s words, credit them. If you found a link or video via another person’s blog, credit them. It’s just the right — and kind — thing to do.
… and find some strings who would play with me. I really love the tune “Gabriel’s Oboe”. But what oboe player wouldn’t … right?
Update
Looks as if this might be available via sheet music plus. I see the arranger’s name on this particular arrangement of Gabriel’s Oboe for Oboe & Strings … the only issue is the bass. I wonder if they just left that out?
The ensemble work was tough: when looking at an orchestra part, you have no idea what the rest of the ensemble is doing, plus you have to count through all the gaps in the score. If you’re a sole instrument, there’s no one around you to help you with the next entry.
Some people — those who haven’t played an instrument — think we have everyone’s part on our sheet music. Not so. We sometimes have a few cues of other parts, but not always. I forget that not everyone understands that. I guess I should take a photo of my part sometime so you can see what I’m looking at.
I read the above quote here. It ends with this:
One of the criticisms levelled against critics is that it’s too easy to yell from the sidelines. In many ways, this is justified. In a city like Toronto, home to hundreds of fabulous instrumentalists and singers, quality is something you take for granted. Once you do that, it’s easy to forget the hours and hours of practice, preparation and organization behind every smooth show.
When I officially became the music critic, I vowed that I had to spend more time actually playing music, as well, for the sole purpose of reminding me, sometimes painfully, that I can’t take anything for granted. Because those people on stage certainly don’t.
I love that. Thank you, Mr. Terauds! :-)
So I’m done with Opera San José and Cenerentola. This wasn’t the easiest of runs for me, even while the music itself was not as difficult as most operas. I’m not sure what was up; I was just exhausted the entire month.
There were a few solos that weren’t exactly my faves. Today, as I finished up each one, I waved a little goodbye. Try looking down in a pit at a final performance of something. You might catch a musician waving goodbye to some licks! :-)
And now I’m on to Respighi and Trittico Botticelliano. There’s a good bit of oboe in the work, and I have to get some reeds going. I hope.
Spring:
Adoration of the Magi:
The Birth of Venus:
Orlando Gibbons: Hosanna to the Son of David
Miss Mussel reminds me that today is the first day of Advent. I am not going to church (I wouldn’t make it through opera today if I did) but the church I attend doesn’t observe Advent at all, so I won’t be missing the hymns.
But, again thanks to Miss Mussel, please enjoy “Lo, He Comes With Clouds Descending” … and if you go to her blog you’ll get to hear several renditions, so check it out.
Alejandro Consolacion: Alleluia
Last week, I sat for 20 minutes in a near-empty room in the Abrons Art Center. It was a cold, grey day in New York and many in the small audience looked unhappy. At the back of the theatre there was a musician playing the oboe but he couldn’t seem to get a tune going. The event, which seemed to not want to start, was a performance by French artist Dominique Gonzalez-Foerster and composer Ari Benjamin Meyers called “K62”, part of Performa 09, New York’s biennial festival of performing arts. I sat there, waiting, thinking that performance art, which had been so sprightly in the 1970s, must be preparing to retire by now. I wished I had brought a book.
Eventually, a woman dressed in black informed us that there had been a mistake – we had been sent to the wrong venue. Our new location, the main theatre in the Abrons Art Center, was fuller but the stage was still near-empty, and even after half an hour things weren’t hotting up. The only real activity in the theatre came from four anxious female organisers speaking loudly into walkie-talkies. They seemed to be trying to locate a portion of the audience who were lost. “Jenny to security,” one of the women said. “Do we have any Ks?” “No sign yet,” a tinny voice replied.
I’m not even sure what to make of the article, really … I mean, I’m thinking that getting put in the wrong location was part of the “performance art.” But what do I know (aside from the fact that I don’t get performance art).
The soloist was so self-centered that when she played with an oboe solo it sounded as if she thought she had the lead.
I read it here.
I guess that could be why the soloist (on piano) covered the oboe. Or perhaps she was asked to bring out her (solo) part. I just thought that was a bit odd to write in a review. Who knows if she’s self-centered, you know? (And calling it “the lead” … um … well, that just sounds funny to me. But I’m funny, so whatever.)
Or maybe I just like to defend people who get bad reviews.
“Oboist playing smurf” …? It’s not workin’ for me. I see no reed there. Or maybe he swallows the reed?
My son started playing the oboe at 7 and a half; a year later, he is starting to enjoy it regularly! Music teaches the virtues of work.
