Q: Is a clarinet bigger than a oboe?
A: the clarinet is much bigger then a oboe
One wonders why it matters, really. But I do wonder what they were measuring … what does “bigger” mean? Certainly we are “skinnier” and we have a narrower (and wonderfully conical) bore. But tip of reed to bell … I’m not sure if the clarinet is longer or not, and I’ve never bothered to compare the two that way, but “much bigger” doesn’t really sound right to me.
I only know we’re better.
;-)
Kidding. Maybe.
Sub Contrabass Recorder
Contrabass French Horn
Subcontrabassflute
And doesn’t he do that to just about everyone? I mean, really now … you hear The Well-Tempered Clavier and odds are, you’ll be break dancing in no time.
You can see more here. (But don’t blame me if you start doing toprock, downrock, power moves and freezes/suicides.)
For the project, Flying Steps teamed up with German director Christoph Hagel, who is no stranger to giving classical music a modern makeover having previously staged Mozart operas in a power station and in a metro station.
“My job was to explain the music, to make the dancers understand how artful and refined Bach composed his music. But I stayed out of the choreography,” he said.
The result was a new experience, and Hagel says he was amazed by how well breakdance lends itself to Bach, better than classical ballet, for example. He also thinks traditionalists could learn a thing or two from the group.
“Flying Steps have such an unpretentious way of listening to and interpreting music … I am amazed by their energy and directness — it’s not something I know from the high-minded world of high culture,” Hagel said.
“We want to show that Bach is high-energy music and that hip-hop can be great art.”
blehhh oboe practise really takes it out of you.
One of my favorite things about teaching music is that there is no cheating. It simply isn’t possible. No one else can practice for you, or learn rhythms for you, or learn to read music for you, or learn how to produce a fabulous sound for you.
I really enjoyed this post by Tenly. It’s so true!
I am so thankful I don’t have to worry about cheating in my job. Students have been known to lie, mind you. Some say “Yes, I practiced!” and then can’t even figure out what page to turn to. A student will turn back and forth, looking quizzically at the music, puzzling over what to play. That’s usually a pretty good clue that no practicing took place. After our typical warm up and scales routine I’ll tell a student to get out whatever lesson book we are using. Sometimes a student has the gall to say, “What page?” I usually respond, “I don’t know … you tell me!” I once had a student play an entire page of music before realizing that wasn’t the assigned music and “wasn’t what I practiced.”
I really get frustrated with lying. I would rather — although of course I’m dismayed by this — hear a student say honestly, “I didn’t practice.” At least that’s honest.
Another funny thing I’ve encountered — it happens nearly all the time, actually: I have a students play an A-440 long tone, without letting them see the tuner. After they finish, I will turn the tuner to sound and let them hear a true A-440. I then ask, “Where were you?” So far, not one has ever said, “I think I nailed it!” … and some really do nail it! (Some of my students have excellent pitch.)
So while students aren’t comfortable being honest about not practicing, they also aren’t comfortable saying “Hey, that was spot on!” Go figure. ;-)
I have, thankfully. Finished and filed. Just the way I like it. Except that I didn’t file them as soon as I could have. Silly me!
But if you are a musician (or other type of artist), and you’re struggling, artstaxinfo.com is a helpful site.
I was much more organized this year. What a difference from previous years. I think, too, it helped having our little “sitting room” in which to do the work. Somehow having that room — it’s clean and cozy — just made everything more pleasant. If one can ever say doing taxes can be pleasant.
There can be power—even a sort of doomed heroic power—in keeping one’s mouth shut. The night in 1993 that pianist Oscar Peterson suffered a stroke, no doubt he should have been raced to a hospital. But he went on with the show and said nothing about the stroke—not to the audience; not even to his fellow musicians. Drummer Jeff Hamilton was surprised to see Peterson limp to the stage late. More surprised still when O.P. sat down at the bench and, cheating with his considerable bulk, blocked the audience’s view as he used his right hand to rest his limp left hand on the keyboard. Peterson charged into the first song of the evening, tearing up the piano with his right hand while his left remained motionless. Mr. Hamilton turned to bassist Ray Brown and said, “What do we do?” Brown replied, “Play, man, play!” Few in the audience realized anything was wrong.
In this age when artists are urged to blog and tweet and otherwise display all the moving mechanical bits and pieces of works that might otherwise have a certain mystery and magic, performers may want to take Ray Brown’s words to heart. The next time a maestro or any performer is tempted to give the backstage blow-by-blow in real time, it would be wise instead to just play, man, play.
… this article is a good reminder for me — and perhaps other bloggers! — to watch what I write. In my case, it’s not only about my own fears, foibles and goofiness, but also about others. I think I need to keep this in mind: Do No Harm … to myself or others. Period.
I’m not sure what this will mean about my blogging. Sometimes I read fairly preposterous things and I post them here as “BQOD” entries (blogger quote of the day) or TQODs (twitter quotes of the day). I don’t link to the blog or tweet, but am I mocking someone by posting things like that? Perhaps so. But do I need to only post happy things … should I become a Pollyanna and pretend everything is hunky dory?
Thoughts?
Kind of fun to see Emanuel Ax having fun too!
There’s a nice article in SFCV about Opera San José’s La Rondine. The orchestra joins in on the rehearsals beginning this Wednesday. I’m looking forward to learning this opera … one we’ve never done before.
Here’s something some of you might recognize that comes from this opera:
All these people know each other. I’m going to pretend I’m an oboe major. Maybe they’d like me…
Here is some lovely playing from Johanna Cox, Assistant Professor of Music (oboe) at Oklahoma:
Johanna Cox – Oboe from OU School of Music on Vimeo.
More musical saw!
Does playing a brass instrument improve a double reed instrument?
Hmmm. I’m guessing the double reed instrument remains the same, no matter what.
Ya think? ;-)
Asking my teacher how he was producing the sound I was striving so hard to emulate and having him respond, “I don’t KNOW! It should just sound like THIS!” led me to eventually figure out (1) that he didn’t like being asked to overanalyze his technique and (2) that he wanted me to figure things out on my own through trial-and-error and by using my ears.
-Susan Laney Spector
I’ve always enjoyed Susan’s posts … check this one out. She’s also a baseball fan (A Mets fan, to be exact; I’ll let it slide since she DOES live on that end of the country), and she’s an oboist in the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. (Not too shabby, eh?!)
I think I’ve mentioned this before: I had a student come to me a while back who really wanted me to spell out how to play a rather famous solo from a ballet work. She didn’t want me to just help her play it … she wanted to be told exactly what to do. I don’t teach that way. I know that expression comes easily for me, and that it doesn’t work that way for some, but to give her such an exact way of playing didn’t work with the way I teach. She quit after two lessons. I felt a bit bad about it, but maybe she has found a teacher out there who could give her what she wanted. I do hope so!
Composer Jennifer Higdon has won the Pulitzer Prize for music for her Violin Concerto, making her one of the few women to have won the country’s top classical music prize.
I corresponded with Ms. Higdon after I had blogged about her Concerto for Orchestra that SSV performed. She contacted me and was so gracious, kindly dealing with my little comment about how my part went lower than my instrument played, explaining the issue. She even sent me a copy of her wonderful oboe concerto. I’d love to hear that done somewhere in my locale!
(Please note: I wasn’t grumping about the note. I assumed it was an error about the octave or something, and I do hope people know I honestly don’t mean to be harsh here. Recently I’ve been mis-interpreted by several people. Sometimes I wonder if they are reading me with their tone of voice, rather than mine. If I was to be mean and catty, I’d probably do it somewhere that wouldn’t be seen by so many. I’m too darn wimpy to be publicly mean the majority of the time.)
Here are three videos with Hilary Hahn interviewing Jennifer Higdon.
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