If you can’t get to the link I provided here about the “mud oboe”, ACD explains what might be the problem for you. (It works fine for me.)
The writer at All I Know (a blog I’m only now (re)discovering … I had run across it some time ago) blogs about high ticket prices to a recent concert in Berkeley. The ticket price wasn’t low, that’s true, but I was surprised by the complaint. I suppose that’s because I love to go to Giants games and if we go as a family we spend much, much more than we would for a concert. I did put out some big bucks for Dr. Atomic but I expected to. Concerts are so expensive to put on. Operas are even more costly.
I’m sure that the writer doesn’t expect musicians to play for free. I’m not griping about what he wrote. And I’m guessing we all wish there was more funding so tickets could be lower. I can’t live on what I make, that’s for sure. And I can’t get a “real” job because 1) I have no other talents that I know of and 2) I know of no employer that would be as flexible as they would need to be so that I could make, for instance, my 11:30 rehearsal tomorrow morning, or the 2:00 one last week.
Maybe I’m just not facing the truth. I dunno. I do know that I’ve met a lot of people who are surprised and sometimes even angry to learn that I earn money for playing. Some have suggested we should play for free and “get a job”. I’ve seen bloggers suggest this, in fact. Some that say this are musicians themselves.
That’s life in musictown.
And now it’s nearly time to leave for opera (just as, sigh, the Giants are about to begin a game. I’m absolutely exhausted, having been up since 5 AM. Lots of driving today (taking our youngest to SFO so the poor guy can go to (insert jealous rage) Hawaii), three students, and now 3 1/2 hours of Mozart.
That’s also life in musictown! 🙂
When they have to play long sections without taking a breath, their skin turns from red to purple, their veins and eyes start to pop out, and their facial muscles look very strained. I think I’d pass out if I had to perform such a feat.
-Hilary Hahn, recommending that audience members watch the oboists and clarinetists when at an orchestra concert. (Read more here.)
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