Well, I’M impressed!

19. August 2007 · 4 comments · Categories: Ramble

I just heard (and watched) the Gustav Mahler Jugendorchester (Gustav Mahler Youth Orchestra) play Don Juan.

  • Part One
  • Part Two

    Obviously the principal oboist’s embouchure is a wee bit different than I preach to my students (and myself), but I’m guessing the reeds used are German or something similar. Some day I’d love to see what those are like. As one of my students was saying, the short scrape seems as if it would be SO much easier to make. Maybe we should all think of changing.

    Or maybe not.

    But anyway, I’m quite impressed by this orchestra. Even if they make me feel a wee bit … um … old.

    Who? Me? 😉

    • Knowing When

    19. August 2007 · Comments Off on Knowing When · Categories: Ramble

    I hope I know when to turn a job down because I won’t do the work justice or the freaking out will simply be too much.

    I hope I know when to dive in and take up a challenge rather than say no and hide.

    But mostly?

    I hope I know when it’s time to pack it up. Before everyone else is wishing I’d pack it up.

    I think a lot of musicians have that fear. I know some of my pals do. We are afraid that we will have lost the ability to hear that we’ve lost the ability. Some of us have pacts with others. But even then we fear that they are too nice to hurt our feelings.

    I guess it’s just something one has to live with.

    MQOD

    19. August 2007 · Comments Off on MQOD · Categories: Quotes

    It was such a struggle to go to school. School is set up for people who already know something about classical music. I didn’t.

    -Jennifer Higdon (composer, talking about her undergrad college years, when she began studying “classical flute”, read here)

    (I knew very little when I began college. Even knowing the “scale formula” wasn’t something I knew, believe it or not!)