oboeinsight

… as you’ve never heard it before.

Now I’ll have to confess, when I hear this I get some very strange lyrics in my head. As a kid we sang this to it:

Comet, it makes your mouth so clean
Comet, it tastes like gasoline
Comet, it makes you vomit
So go get Comet, and vomit, today!

(Anyone else remember the old comet commercial that used part of the Colonel Bogey March?)

There’s something very cool sounding when you get four bassoons together, don’t you think?

It says “Three Guys and a Lady” … and I see four guys. I’m so troubled by this … ;-)

Once more, a bassoonist is having fun. Figures. But I just know we oboists can have fun too. I won’t stop believin’ it. Really.

Anyone heard of a contraforte? I’m guessing so … I seem to be the last to know about things like this. Heck, I’m the last to know I should own and English horn with a low A♯ … go figure!

Anyway, check this out … read all about it!

Here’s a snippet to get you interested:

A few years ago, when the National Symphony Orchestra was rehearsing at the Kennedy Center for a performance of Stravinsky’s “Petrushka,” a funny thing happened to the orchestra’s contrabassoonist, Lewis Lipnick. He was playing a solo passage on his instrument, which is known for its erratic, sometimes flatulent sound. It must have sounded particularly gassy that day. Someone in the trumpet section threw a roll of toilet paper at him.

Leonard Slatkin, who was conducting at the time, stopped the orchestra and looked at him thoughtfully. “Well, you know, Lew,” Lipnick remembers him saying, “it wasn’t undeserved.”

And here is a contraforte:

On an electric bassoon! (Once again, a bassoonist is doing something fun. We oboists need to do something fun, don’t you think?)

And of course we all know they are the most intellectual musicians in an orchestra … um … right? ;-)

In keeping with their appearance, bassoonists are among the most intellectual members of the modern symphony orchestra. The bassoon’s origins are shrouded in mystery, and they are often used to comical effect in music from Haydn to Hitchcock. Bassoonists always know what’s going on in an orchestra, and they are often fond of gourmet mushrooms.

… well, now I know what to buy my bassoonist friends when I need to get them a gift. Mushrooms!

And then there’s this:

Those of us interested in theater read the articles in the paper and the program notes to find out about director Achim Freyer’s take on the Ring. Those of us who can see the stage watched to take in the production and the acting, and of course that helps us to know better what to do musically. It’s very strange that in an endeavor supposedly melding different art forms, the orchestra usually knows very little about the dramatic approach. And I would guess that the lighting people know very little about our concerns.

On the other hand, James Conlon, like many conductors, does speak to the orchestra about the characters and the story, and he connects them to the music we’re rehearsing. He might pause to tell us part of the story in order to explain why he wants a certain expressive character or a certain sound in a passage.

… hmmm. I’ve never had a conductor talk to us about the characters. I would love it if they would!

Do read the whole thing!

Bassoons!