does it mean im a bad oboe player when i blow a low note and my bunnies freak out
In any case, an improved synthetic reed and a better supply of natural reeds would do much to alleviate the anxieties of woodwind players. “By the time the 21st century rolls around,” says Casadonte, “hopefully woodwind players won’t still be sitting around coffee tables complaining about reeds all day.”
Sadly, the 21st century has rolled around, and improved synthetic reeds, for oboe at least, have not appeared. (I’ve heard that some clarinetists swear by them now … lucky folk!)
I read the above quote here. Check out the article. It really is rather interesting, even while it doesn’t make my reed issues any better.
Whew! I may continue to whine!
Digging out my oboe for a solo. Yikes bikes this should be interesting.
It’s not that people don’t like classical music. It’s that they don’t have the chance to understand and to experience it. Going to a concert can sometimes be very difficult. It can be a long journey. There’s the ticket prices. But when the music goes to the community – not the community coming to the concert – they say, ‘Wow! I didn’t know that this music was so amazing!’
“We have to go and show these people what classical music is. We say sometimes that classical music has a small audience, but it’s because people don’t have the chance to be closer to it. Of course, we also have to play in concert halls. This is our dream when you are a musician – to play in a good, comfortable hall with a wonderful acoustic. But it’s also important to bring these new audiences to concerts.
And later there’s this:
For Dudamel, the key is to approach everything as if for the first time. “You become a musician because you like music … but in time, when you have your job and you start to work every week, music becomes a routine. My job is to avoid this routine. The challenge is not so much to change the sound. The challenge is to connect and to create something special,” he says.
“Sometimes I say to orchestras, ‘Look, people are coming to concerts to listen but also to see what is happening on the stage.’ Because it’s so easy to enjoy music with a CD in your house. You can stop whenever you want. If you want to talk to somebody with your mobile or to drink a little glass of wine or a scotch.
“A concert, it’s like a ritual. But the ritual has sometimes become tired. And that is why, even for me sometimes, when I go to a concert, I think, ‘Oh my God, here we need something more!’ The musicians have to give something more. They don’t have to jump, they don’t have to scream, but they do have to communicate their feelings.”
Yes. Indeed!
And I’ll end with this:
“I was thinking just now of rehearsing the Alpine Symphony. That is a symphony with a huge orchestration, and it’s not true that less and less is more. I remember [Sir John] Barbirolli speaking about Jacqueline du Pré – a huge artist giving everything in every note – and he said, ‘If you don’t exaggerate when you are young, what will you have when you are old?’ “
But do go read the entire article!
It’s Hilary Hahn playing Jennifer Higdon … oh and a bit ‘o Tchaikovsky too.
Here’s the press kit video for the recording:
Just because it’s fun … although after watching a few times my hands kind of hurt a bit …
Quartetto Gelato concert last night in Haliburton was fantastic – great music, high energy, even acrobatics. You don’t often see an oboe player doing the splits while playing a classic piece.
I’d heard Jackie Evancho, and even blogged about here, but the very young Oliver Richman was new to me nor had I heard of Mark Vincent … but this article is an excellent and thought provoking one. Do check it out!
Where will these kiddos be ten years from now? Guess we won’t know until then, eh?
As to their performances … well … you can watch ‘em via the link and decide for yourself what you think about ‘em now.
Like it or not, change is the ever accelerating constant that guides our lives today, and like the famous line in Alice in Wonderland, we must run as fast as we can to stay in the game – and if we want to get anywhere, we must run twice as fast as that. Nimbleness, flexibility, responsiveness, creative opportunism: all will be valued as never before.
-Ben Cameron
EITHER I’M dreaming, or Sunday’s performance of David Carlson’s Anna Karenina was the best thing that ever happened at Opera San José.
Well well well … that’s a good way to start!
I read it here. I can’t find the name of the author … am I blind?
Well, we are getting more reviews for Anna Karenina than for anything else we’ve ever done. I guess that’s good news. Sadly, I’ve been told that one review in particular caused tickets sales to plummet. (Hey folks, remember you are only reading one person’s opinion with each review; these aren’t The Truth. Really now!)
But here’s another. It’s a bit of a puzzlement to me, but I’m slow that way ….
Oboe recital! I think it’s considered rude to live-tweet a concert, so…toodles!
(Glad the tweeter knew that!)
“Sleep Concerts have been a great success in Japan, where sleep deprived workers will happily pay £50.00 for the privilege of nodding off to a live music performance; so that they can get some much needed shut eye. This idea has inspired us to create our own UK version of the concert, which will provide exhausted Britons the opportunity to relax, take a nap and feel revitalised; resulting in improved physical, mental and emotional health.”
With the sole aim of the ‘Sleep Concert’ being to help the audience nod off, Travelodge surveyed 6,000 Britons across the UK to establish the repertoire for the performance. As a result Travelodge is working with quartet String Mania to devise a range of snooze inducing music which will include; works by Mozart, Bach, alongside renditions of crooner Michael Buble, Coldplay and Snow Patrol’s chart-topping hits, amongst others.
Somehow I don’t think Bach & Mozart would be thrilled with this one ….
Milipitas Posts’s Mort Levine sure gives us a positive review!
And here’s a “behind the scenes” video (found here:
Yep, this is our production … :-)
