The tone and sound that the oboe creates is quite possibly the biggest reason why many people will choose the instrument. Another attraction to the instrument could be that it is not overly difficult to learn how to play. The basics of playing this woodwind instrument are not too different from how other woodwind instruments are played. It is also an instrument that is not as expensive as other instruments that can run up a high bill and many schools will have room in their band for young people who want to learn the oboe, as the music is easy to acquire as
well.
It is also easily found in pawn shops or used music stores for people who are just starting out and are not sure that they are going to have a life dedicated to learning and playing the instrument. Learning the sheet music is fairly basic and simple, though it can take some time to gain control of the air they blow into the instrument. Learning how to use the keys properly can also take some practice and time, but in the end it is rewarding for most musicians who decide to take up the instrument. Few who wish to choose a woodwind instrument will not have the possibility of playing the oboe cross their mind.

Thoughts? ;-)

26. April 2010 · Comments Off · Categories: Opera

It treats the orchestra as if it were a character unto itself, commenting on the action or just sounding delicate and lovely, with influences of Asia and Debussy. The orchestra performed deftly on Saturday; the woodwinds, showcased by Puccini in his final act, were superb.

Operas aren’t about the orchestra, to be sure, but it’s always nice when we get a mention, and I’ll happily take this one!

But yes, Richard Scheinin does compliment the singers as well. RTWT

Mr. Scheinin is generally quite positive in his review. The start of the second act gets a negative mention but we in the orchestra can’t hear the chorus at all so if we aren’t together I’m not sure what to do other than continue following the maestro and hope things gel. (My husband did agree that there was a problem with the start of the act.) Sometimes I wonder if we see the beats slightly differently than the singers; you know how it goes sometimes … the “beat” can be at the top of the motion or the bottom. It might be a good idea to discuss this with singers sometime.

I am loving this opera. It’s certainly not a tough or stressful one for me, but does have some nice little solos that fit my style fairly well. The music is lovely. I’m so glad we are finally doing this opera!

We have no videos of the opera up (rats!), but here are the exciting scene changes:

Between Act 1 & 2:

Between Act 2 & 3:

So now I know why we have 20 minute intermissions! :-)

25. April 2010 · Comments Off · Categories: Sunday Evening Music

Tomás Luis Victoria: Super flumina Babylonis

25. April 2010 · Comments Off · Categories: Sunday Morning Music

Gibbons: O Clap Your Hands

24. April 2010 · Comments Off · Categories: News

“It was like a flash right in my eyes. I saw in my head Squidward with his clarinet lodged in his throat and then SpongeBob does the Heimlich maneuver and the clarinet comes flying out of his mouth,” she said.

“I had no clue what I was doing until it was done.”

Allyson said when she realized she couldn’t breathe “it was the scariest moment of my life. I was thinking ‘I’m going to die. What will my parents think?’ ”

RTWT

What I think is so funny is the “What will my parents think?” line. Ah yes ….

(I read it first at The Buzzing Reed.)

PS Never swallow a clarinet. Advice you can use. (The girl was actually choking on a piece of gum.)

24. April 2010 · Comments Off · Categories: Losses

Friends and admirers are passing around online the news that longtime Los Angeles music critic Alan Rich died yesterday. He would have been about 85 (born 1924, per the Wikipedia page about him, which has been updated with his passing.)

RTWT

I occasionally visited his blog, So I’ve Heard.

24. April 2010 · Comments Off · Categories: Read Online

Will Classical music give me the boot?

Have you ever flipped through a classical music program? Seriously, it makes Sears Portrait studio look like a high budget shoot instead of $9.99. Some of the subjects actually look like they are in pain & other subjects have a black background with their heads detached from their bodies – i keep looking for the “In Loving Memory Of” below the floating head (i can send you a link if you don’t believe me).

Read here, where you see some fun photos, too.

Hey, if she could get a good picture of me that would really have me impressed. (I’m not at all photogenic. Trust me.)

24. April 2010 · Comments Off · Categories: Oboe, Videos

Okay, this was a sweet way to start the day:

Good job, kids! Keep it up! :-)

24. April 2010 · Comments Off · Categories: Opera, Videos

“News, news, news, news, news …”?

Vancouver Opera’s 11-year general director, Jim Wright, may do handsprings when Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro opens at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre tonight. But his fingers will remain crossed regarding the much newer Nixon In China. Wright said San Francisco Opera general director David Gockley is “seriously considering” staging VO’s recent production of the 1987 work. That imminent decision could entail our regional outfit’s first sale to a major opera company.

Read here. I believe that SF Opera doing Nixon in China in the summer of 2012 is a done deal (?), so I’m assuming this is just about a new staging of it, which would nix Peter Sellars’ version.

But what do I know?

But if that’s the case … will we not see this?:

24. April 2010 · 2 comments · Categories: News

… along with some clothing and shoes that don’t grab anyone’s attention:

A Cacophony of Musical Playthings in the Desert

There are complete skins of animals, dried, tied and knotted, their orifices fitted with hollow canes and reeds. Other hides are stretched taut over enormous gourds. Strings, spun from intestines, are pulled and pegged into the ends of long necks. Antlers, bones and horns are cut, carved and drilled. Elephant, goat, antelope, lizard, gazelle — the skins of all are used.

Music is noble, ethereal, seductive, thrilling, but spend time gazing at some of the 12,000 instruments that the new Musical Instrument Museum has collected in time for its Saturday opening — about 3,000 are on display in a new 190,000-square-foot building on 20 acres in northern Phoenix — and you are overwhelmed by something else. These instruments from around the world are haunted by the animal world and its natural setting.

I read about the music museum here.

It’s in Arizona.

24. April 2010 · Comments Off · Categories: Merola, Opera

I was so happy to read that Rebecca Davis is a Merola Artist this coming summer. She is an Opera San José artist in residence, and I’ve certainly enjoyed hearing her sing. If I don’t play Merola this year I would love to get there to hear her without an oboe in my hands.

We’ve had a few OSJ singers go to Merola. Names that immediately come to mind are Mel Ulrich and Kirk Eichelberger. It’s really exciting to see these young singers take these steps up the opera ladder!

23. April 2010 · Comments Off · Categories: Read Online

Alphbeat singer Anders SG has revealed that he is heavily influenced by classical music.

The ‘Hole In My Heart’ singer said that he is particularly inspired by Baroque composer Johann Sebastian Bach, and wants to incorporate some organ music into his new material.

“These past six months I’ve been getting into classical music and been going out and seeing lots of classical concerts. I don’t know if you can call them gigs as such,” he told the Daily Record.

“In the past 20 years, pop songs have taken influences from classical music and it’s been sampled a lot as well.

“Music is really fascinating and it’s fun sometimes to work with something a bit different.

He continued: “I don’t think I’d release a classical album under a pseudonym but it’d be cool to use these things in my own environment. Maybe the next album will have some classical samples.”

Read here.

I hadn’t heard of him before, but I’m an oboe player, so there you go.

Go here to hear “Hole in my Heart”. (Embedding disabled by request.)

23. April 2010 · Comments Off · Categories: Fun, Videos

Lang Lang plays an encore:

First seen here.

I wonder if Apple gave him one for free … ? They should! (They can give me one for free too. I’m okay with that.)

23. April 2010 · Comments Off · Categories: Oboe, Videos

I enjoy videos that actually are live, showing the instrumentalists, but since this concerto is never heard, I thought I’d put this up even without the live video …

Second Oboe Concerto by Gordon Jacob
Oboist-Jonathan Tobutt
Conductor-Eno Koco
Leeds University School of Music Philharmonia Orchestra
Recording Engineer – Kerry Anne Kubisa
This concerto has never been recorded and this performance is believed to be the first since 1970

First Movement:

Second Movement:

Third Movement:

I’ve never heard this work before. It’s a fun listen!

23. April 2010 · Comments Off · Categories: TQOD

Watching a very large, rotund man play the oboe. My brain can’t compute the image. What’s next, a thin guy on the tuba?