oboeinsight

Four female musicians were filmed playing in three different outfits: a concert dress, jeans, and a nightclubbing dress. They were also all filmed as points of light, wearing a black tracksuit in the dark, so that the only thing to be seen – once the images had been treated – was the movement of some bright white tape attached to their joints.

RTWT. I’m not at all surprised with the outcome. I don’t believe it has to do with sexism and discrimination in that realm. I think it has more to do with how we hear when we also see the performer, be the performer male or female. (And maybe that’s what they were actually saying too … you know me and my skimming techniques!) I would have liked it if they then did this same experiment with male musicians, putting them in jeans, something hip, and a penguin suit.

A row erupted yesterday between the Royal Opera and the blog Intermezzo. A cease and desist notice was issued by George Avory, Head of Legal & Business Affairs at the Royal Opera House, demanding that all photographs taken from inside the auditorium during ROH productions be taken down from the site within 24 hours.

The blogger reluctantly conceded, although only due to the threat of her being barred from future performances. However, she pointed out on her blog that the legal basis for the demands is thin at best.

By yesterday afternoon, the blogosphere had taken up her case. A number of media lawyers have been pondering the copyright implications of the case, although the most significant infringement that anyone has so far suggested is a breach of contract relating to the small print on the back of the ticket.

Most bloggers agree though, that the main repercussion of the incident is the huge amount of bad publicity that the Royal Opera has generated, especially considering the company’s continuing efforts to embrace social media.

I read it here.

This was from a few days back. Somehow I missed the brouhaha. Guess opera had taken up most of my time. But anyway, it’s an interesting thing to think about.

From what I can figure out, the blogger had taken images from the Royal Opera House and placed them on the site. I would never take an image from another site without asking permission first (I would think companies like the ROH would like the publicity, though), and if I received permission I’d then include the permission and link to the site where the image was found. To me that’s just the way things should work. I also don’t place poetry here without permission. Copyright is copyright. So there you go.

I try to keep rules. I’m silly that way. But I especially attempt to keep copyright law, since we musicians are notorious for making others follow that rule with our performances! (Some of this really needs to change, in my little opnion.) But do I break rules? Hmm. Maybe so.

Audiences are clearly told that we aren’t to take photographs in a hall. I abide by the rule when performances are taking place, but before and after I have never thought it was any big deal. That’s why you’ll see photos of the hall, or of bowing singers. You will never see pictures of anything taking place during the performance. To me that’s crossing a line. My iPhone is turned off when I’m performing. My iPhone also goes off when I’m attending a performance. I’m busy listening, so I am not about to distract myself or others by pulling it out, turning it on, and taking a pictures.

Well here it is, the first day for Deceptive Cadence, NPR’s newest music blog (cue the trumpet fanfares and pealing bells!).

We could have called it simply NPR’s Classical Music Blog, but the phrase “classical music” carries so much baggage — dead, old, white, European. It is, in a way, its own worst enemy.

Instead, we came up with a moniker that suggests a more open-ended view of music that is not only still breathing, thank you, but vigorously evolving.

RTWT

I’ll be checking this one out, of course … curious to see what it’ll bring.

A pink oboe case! Pomegranate pink, to be exact. I love it. When I was younger I didn’t care for pink. Now? I love it. Really. Am I a girl or what?!

But …

I’m guessing having a pink case on stage wouldn’t go over terribly well. Guess I’d have to cover the darn thing with the black case cover I use now.

So I guess I’ll save myself the $500 and stick to what I have.

Rats.

Any Steve Reich fans out there? NPR has something called “First Listen” that allows you to listen to releases prior to their being released to the public. Here’s the Steve Reich link. I know it’s not everyone’s cuppa, but maybe some readers/reeders will want to give it a listen, eh?

Do they do this all the time? If so, I didn’t know until now.

Or, of course, D sharp?!

I have a very difficult (impossible actually!) time believing this story.

No, I really don’t think that about any of my readers … but that’s what came to mind when I read an article about the “Cello in a box”. I thought it because of this quote:

“People are usually pleased at the tone quality,” Nussbaum says, “because they expect it to sound horrible, and they find it doesn’t sound horrible, so that’s good.”

So it doesn’t sound horrible and that’s the good news. But does it sound anywhere close to good? Hmmm. From what I’m reading, probably not.

I can’t imagine dealing with something that sounds bad … even while I realize one can practice scales and arpeggios and all, I think the sound would cause me to not play as well. It certainly wouldn’t encourage me to practice. Kind of like having only rotten reeds.

Oh. Wait. That’s the norm for me! Hmmm.