I just read this on Answers dot com (whatever that is … I’m guessing some sort of spammy page so no link here):
How often should you clean an English horn?
Answer:
About 3 hours every day and 5 times a week
What are the differences between an oboe and a clarinet?
The oboe is a completely unique instrument and is in the woodwind family of musical instruments.
I read that first line and cracked up. So the clarinet is not a completely unique instrument and isn’t in the woodwind family? Hmmm?
It goes on …
It is classified as a double reed instrument, and is a descendent of the shawm. The shawm was an instrument which was popular prior to the appearance of the first baroque oboe, which was called a ‘haut bois’ or ‘high wood’ instrument.
Oboes are made of wood and, as such, produce a much stronger sound than that produced by brass wind instruments, the sound being produced by the musician blowing air through a thin double reed which is located at the upper end of the instrument.
The sound which is produced from an oboe is softer than a clarinet. The sound emanating from a clarinet is more in the high register range and, if it was to be compared with any instrument, may well easily be compared to a trumpet.
The article is longer, but I’ll leave you with that.
I hope you feel smarter now.
I have heard this news before, but it’s still fascinating to read about, and this time you can hear a patient attempt to say happy birthday and then sing it.
During the therapy sessions, patients are taught to put their words to simple melodies.
Professor Schlaug said that after a single session, a stroke patients who was are not able to form any intelligible words learned to say the phrase “I am thirsty” by combining each syllable with the note of a melody.
The patients are also encouraged to tap out each syllable with their hands. Professor Schlaug said that this seemed to act as an “internal pace-maker” which made the therapy even more effective.
“Music might be an alternative medium to engage parts of the brain that are otherwise not engaged,” he said.
Do RTWT
Anthony Freud, general director of Lyric Opera of Chicago, today announced details of its new world premiere. Bel Canto, by the gifted young Peruvian composer Jimmy López, with a libretto by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Nilo Cruz, is based on the best-selling novel by Ann Patchett. To premiere in Lyric’s 2015-16 season, the new opera, commissioned as part of Lyric’s Renée Fleming Initiative, will be conducted by Lyric music director Sir Andrew Davis and directed by Stephen Wadsworth.
Both the 2001 book and the new opera are inspired by the Lima Crisis of 1996-97, when members of a revolutionary movement in Peru held hostages at the Japanese ambassador’s house for 126 days (Dec. 17, 1996-April 22, 1997). Central to the story is the fictional famed American soprano Roxanne Coss, who will be portrayed by Australian-born American soprano Danielle de Niese. Like the novel, the opera will explore the tensions and unexpected alliances that develop when a group of culturally disparate strangers – the terrorists and their hostages – are confined in close quarters for months.
I read the book when it was popular (and I had a Costco membership so I bought it for very little) and enjoyed it. It’ll be interesting to hear the opera eventually … if it succeeds past its opening, of course.
Who knew? Now I know something else I might be able to pursue, should work grow even scarcer. Whew!
“I just like how [elk calling] sounds and how it is different from other animals,” said Kenny.
There are several elk calls and different instruments are used to produce the sounds.
“I use a squeeze box to make a calf call, a mouth pod to do a cow, and a reed to do the bull,” said Kenny. “The bull is the hardest because you can mess up on it more.”
What makes Kenny a national competitor after only three years? His father thinks his son’s musical ability may be the key to his success.
“He plays the trumpet, and he also took on the oboe,” he said. “That was where he was able to start to manipulate the calf call because the oboe is a double reed instrument.”
I read it here.
The reed can call a bull.
Somehow that seems rather appropriate.
… but by whom? I didn’t see the source for the “It is thought” sentence. Hmm. Flute in particular? I wonder about this writer’s sources for that and other reasons. I’m not saying he or she is wrong, but I’m skeptical.
hink of your favorite song. Most likely, it is your favorite because it makes you feel alive, happy, relaxed, or it reminds you of a special event in your life. Although it differs for every individual based both on genre and the environment, music affects you mentally, physically and emotionally. According to research found on buzzle.com and emedexpert.com, here are a few ways how it does that.
Helps fight sadness or depression
Serotonin is a chemical widely distributed throughout the body that constricts blood vessels at injury sites and that also may have an effect on the body’s emotional state. The less serotonin the body has, the less happy the person will feel. Soothing music, such as slow classical numbers or warm piano tones, helps release serotonin in the brain, therefore warding off signs of depression.
Improves memory and concentration
Research proves that when two musical notes are separated by a short silence, the brain cells in charge of developing a quick and clear memory are triggered. It is thought that flute music in particular is recommended as a memory and concentration-sharpening tool. Download a few classical tunes to turn on while you’re studying. This genre of music will help your brain retain and recall the information you are trying to store.
I read it here, in a college newspaper.
For thirty-five years I’ve maintained that the classic works of the American Musical Theater are fit to be in the repertoire of opera houses. In many ways they ARE our opera. Many were composed for “legit,” unamplified voices, with sizable choruses, orchestras and dancers.
Ah, the arguments I’ve heard about this, along with “what makes it an opera?” arguments.
Me? I wish we could do some Sondheim here in Opera San José, being the Sondheim fan that I am, and yes, I’d love to do the other musicals Mr. Gockley mentions as well. (Gee, the last — and only! — time I’m played Showboat was about thirty-five years ago. I remember it specifically because I was only subbing two shows for someone and on my way to the first show someone ran a red light in front of me, my car was totalled and my oboe unplayable.) I’ve always thought a summer series of some of the American musical theater classics would be so darn cool. Okay, selfishly, this would also mean I finally get some summer work, since I’m mostly unemployed all summer long and it gets rather difficult both financially and emotionally! When I’m not playing at all I start to wonder if I’m really a musician.
I just read the following in a news article. The words were spoken by a youth symphony member, demonstrating her bassoon to children:
Of all the woodwind instruments, she said it is the only one that has a double reed.
“I can play songs with just my reed. It sounds like a bug,” she said before playing “Happy Birthday.” “It doesn’t play a lot of different music, only baroque, which means it sounds sad.”
Oh dear.
Paul Rissmann took ten movements from Prokofiev’s ballet music based on Shakespeare’s greatest love story, and after a while was interviewing the Conductor on his views on the movement called Romeo and Juliet. That finished Rachael Clegg, the evening’s Guest Principal Oboist had come forward to play a bit from the Dance movement.
When I first read this I wondered why the movement “finished” Ms. Clegg. Then I realized a comma would have set things right and she would have been unfinished after all. ;-)
I also read this in the article:
The Orchestra’s Leader, Maya Iwabuchi, gave a very firm and unexpected ‘no’ to something she was asked, and shortly afterwards the Conductor was reminiscing about the piece.
… and “clapping their thighs”? Really now.
All that being quoted (all in good fun, mind you), it sounds like something that would be fun for a kiddie concert. Or maybe a “Meet the Classics” sort of thing. I doubt our regular audience would want something like this, but it does have its place.
I sure wonder what he asked her.
Even something like a run in a stocking really can throw off one’s game, although I’m guessing Toni Rapier just has a very good sense of humor.
Then again …?
My mother was a piano teacher. My father taught French and Latin. He was a good audience. She started my sister and me on piano. Then my sister became a violinist and I became cellist. I started playing in the fifth grade and studied in Philadelphia under (famous cellist) Orlando Cole. I graduated from Eastman School of Music in Rochester, N.Y., where I met my husband, Wayne Rapier.
During his studies at Eastman, he became first oboist with the Indianapolis Symphony at age 19. Then he got first oboe in the Kansas City Philharmonic. At that time, I auditioned for it, but I had a run in my stocking, so I didn’t play as well as I could have and didn’t get in.
I went on to the University of Southern California where I was in the First Trojan String Quartet. But I only lasted three months. I was so in love with Wayne, I flew back to Kansas City, married Wayne and joined that orchestra (no run in the stocking this time!).
Read more: I AM PHIL: Phil cellists are mother-daughter team – Wareham, MA – Wicked Local Wareham www.wickedlocal.com/wareham/topstories/x248712386/I-AM-PHIL-Phil-cellists-are-mother-daughter-team#ixzz1mqod36Ra
If you’ve read this blog for a while you know how much I hate it when I find articles about classical music being used to keep kids from hanging out in a location. So when I read this you can imagine it had me smiling!
…several found there Wednesday said it would be “cool” to have classical music sounding over Half Block.
“If they want to deter people from coming here, they should pipe in the Sequim radio station,” said Jackie Cary, a Sequim High School senior who has come to visit friends at Half Block for five years.
She was one of the young people who voiced approval for classical music at the site that each school day draws between 20 and 30 youths.
“It gets pretty quiet around here, and the old people might like it and hang around here, too,” said Cary, adding that her mother was among the previous generation to hang out at Half Block on West Cedar.
Wow … I had no idea it had struck “at least one member of every major American metropolitan orchestra”. I’m curious who else has been hit by this.
I read it here.
I have never understood what people meant by saying “the music was so witty” but Così has given me an idea. Take the overture: it begins with lordly violins that correspond to the men’s pompous certainty about their women’s faithfulness; then come the sinuous feminine notes of the English horn. The two call and respond to one another in a way that anticipates the back and forth of the love plot. As the overture ends the music slows and we hear five notes match the five syllables of the title: Co-sì fan tu-te, the warning words that Don Alfonso sings to the same tune in the last scene. Whenever the theme was played, I imagined the old man wagging his finger wearily.
Hmm. Perhaps the writer means French horn?! I’ve played the opera a number of times. I can assure you there is no English horn in it!
I read it here.
… one of the instructors told a story about her son who plays the oboe. One day he was complaining to his music teacher that playing the oboe was so hard, and whyyyyyyyyyyyy, why was it so hard? And the teacher replied, “If it wasn’t hard, the wrong kind of people would be playing it.” And it just made me chuckle. Apparently the oboe has a Natural Selection process.
… and yet another reed player has been struck with it.
Not that it only chooses reed players. A friend who played trombone was taken from us last year, dying of the same cancer this oboist has. But I do wonder about our reeds, and whether what the cane grows in is safe, as I’ve known so many reed players who have had cancer.
A new documentary and CD chronicles one University of Kentucky faculty member’s battle with an incurable disease. Diagnosed in 2008 with multiple myeloma, oboist Nancy Clauter is taking others on her journey through cancer treatment and her fight to continue to play.
An oboist for more than 45 years, Clauter earned a bachelor’s degree in music from Arizona State University and a master’s degree in music from University of Arizona.
Clauter joined UK’s faculty in 1997, where she quickly began focusing her research on arranging and performance. Active in the local music scene, she also performs as principal oboe for the Lexington Philharmonic Orchestra. Currently, Clauter is an associate professor of oboe at the School of Music in the UK College of Fine Arts.
Clauter’s journey with cancer began in 2008, when she visited an urgent care center with symptoms she believed to be the flu. Less than a day later, she found herself in the hospital undergoing a battery of blood tests and facing a dire diagnosis: multiple myeloma, a rare, blood-related cancer with no cure.
