Performers seem to be either very nice or very difficult (no names I’m afraid). I know I’m probably one of the more difficult, haha
-Steve Reich
So I had heard that Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg had auditioned for the YouTube Symphony Orchestra but was rejected. Hard to believe? Not really. 😉
Proceeding on the assumption that the reader of this preface is interested in the development of my musical talent, I will try to explain, as concisely as I can, how, in this respect, my personal wheels go round. To begin with, I have only had two music lessons in my life. These were the first steps of what was to have been a full course at the Guildhall School of Music, and they faltered and stopped when I was told by my instructor that I could not use consecutive fifths. He went on to explain that a gentleman called Ebenezer Prout had announced many years ago that consecutive fifths were wrong and must in no circumstances be employed. At that time Ebenezer Prout was merely a name to me (as a matter of fact he still is, and a very funny one at that) and I was unimpressed by his Victorian dicta. I argued back that Debussy and Ravel had used consecutive fifths like mad. My instructor waved aside this triviality with a pudgy hand, and I left his presence forever with the parting shot that what was good enough for Debussy and Ravel was good enough for me. This outburst of rugged individualism deprived me of much valuable knowledge, and I have never deeply regretted it for a moment.
-Noël Coward (Preface, ‘The Noël Coward Song Book’, pp. 12–13)
“I spend probably two hours a day just making reeds,” Young says. “The goal is to make one playable reed a day.”
I often think I should be doing this. I’ve never gotten past the thinking phase.
The quote comes from this article, about oboist Katherine Young of the Florida Orchestra.
oboe reed making is good alternative to actual playing of the instrument.
(I can’t agree, but I would welcome this person into my studio to make me a few!)
