oboeinsight

Of course many of you have heard the sounds on the YouTube link below before, but I’m guessing they are new to some; I know some of my students still struggle with the “modern” sounds of the Hindemith! Many of us who studied oboe in a university setting at least attempted the Berio Sequenza if nothing else. (Yes, I did perform it in college; I look at the work now and wonder how the heck I did it!) If other readers want to hear some of the new techniques you can hear and see Marieke Schut with her oboe and English horn, playing a work by Jonathan Harvey (a composer I’m unfamiliar with, I confess). The video is in Dutch, but the oboe and English horn sounds are in the music language—well, a very contemporary music language—so you can certainly understand that part.

Sort of.

Some of you might wrinkle your noses, but check it out to see (and hear).

… and if anyone wants to translate for me …?

In Other News
The pattyo has been moved to WordPress!. There’s definitely work to be done (finding all of my pages, for one), but we are on the way with that blog, and this one should be next. At least checking that one out will give you an idea of how this one will go … I think.
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I’ve always enjoyed Imani Winds. I have several of their CDs, and if they get back to the Bay Area you can bet I’ll do my best to attend. Now you can hear an NPR segment about them. I especially love the “When Jeffrey Got His Groove Back” portion; this is something I’d love to see and hear. (I suspect, though, that I’d have to go to an elementary school to catch them doing this one.) Clearly the oboist, Toyin Spellman-Diaz, is multi-talented. Oboe AND singing. Sigh.

Curses! Humbled. Again.
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… is on at this very moment on our local PBS station. Wonderful stuff! And I believe I just saw (and heard) Anne-Caroline Bird. (ACB, that is you, right? You, with the lovely voice? I was checking your site, but there are no pictures of you in costume … but it sure looks like you!) Beautiful, beautiful, beautiful! So many moments where I get the chills because of the beauty. You all know how that is, I hope … I do hope you’ve all experienced that.

In Other News
Dan has begun the huge task of switching over some sites to a new hosting service. (If I’m saying this correctly … I’m truly a computer idiot.) This one is due for that work. When it begins, no one will be able to see this for a time. Please know I will return. I hope readers will stick with me! 🙂

Here’s one explanation:

The concertmaster then asks the principal oboist to play the note A, and the orchestra tunes up to that note. It is always the oboist who plays the tuning note, and it is always A. This is because the pitch of A is the note that is determined by international conventions √ it is 440 vibrations per second, though (and I shouldn≠t be telling you this) most orchestras play at around 442 or even 444. Scandalous though that might seem, in flagrant violation of international law, notes sound a bit warmer and richer if they are slightly on the high side, so the pitch tends to creep up. Oboists spend their lives trying to stop this from happening, but what can you do? It is always the oboe that plays the A since the oboe gives a very accurate pitch, and is less able to wobble around than most instruments. It≠s another of those things that is always done the same way, so it is reliable, and quite undistracting.

I’ve also heard that we give the A because we are the least flexible (hah!) when it comes to pitch so everyone has to stick to whatever that particular oboist wants, that our timbre is easiest to tune to, that we cut through easier, and of course the real reason is because we are far superior to anyone else. 😉

Just so you know.

(I read the paragraph I pasted above at the Vermont Symphony Orchestra blog, and here’s a direct link.)
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