oboeinsight

I am playing The King & I this week. It’s a short run, which these days is somewhat typical in our area. It is NOT typical that we actually have five strings, a harp, four woodwinds, four brass (if I counted correctly!), percussion and only one keyboard player. I’m loving the larger group!

But here is how this works, and why one has to be on her toes:
We have our first rehearsal Tuesday morning, from 10:00 until 2:00 (although we actually were released 20 minutes early).

Oh … and we have our last rehearsal Tuesday morning, from 10:00 until 2:00.

Yep. One rehearsal.

Then a sound check happens from 5:30 to 6:30.

Opening that same day at 7:30.

We are able to get our music ahead of time, as they send out practice parts. We can watch a video of the conductor doing a show if we have the time (that isn’t usually the case since many of us are doing something else prior to moving to this. I had opera and lots of students).

So one has to be quite attentive at that first performance. Sometimes I can’t quite remember how we begin … does he give 1-2 first? Does he just give a prep upbeat? Fortunately this conductor is quite clear, and much of the time a player has written in the part about the prep, although a few times that pencilled in bit isn’t what the conductor does.

We also have to deal with new parts when we arrived Tuesday morning and boy was mine a mess! The parts are loose … no books, but separate parts for each number. There is so much music that our stands then to start to fall down so we have to use gaffer’s tape to keep that from happening. (I always have a few extra pieces on the bottom of my tray that attaches to the stand, in case I can’t get to the tape quickly enough.) I suspect the reason they don’t put books together is that changes take place as the run begins, and there are times a number has several versions for key changes (different singers, different keys).

But oh my part! Names of notes written above notes. Fingerings that I question. Circled items that are difficult to see because the circling is so dark. (And in the musical theater world “circling” sometimes means don’t play … something I learned once when a conductor kept saying to someone “circle it!” and the player insisted she did … which to her meant pay attention and play that correctly!) I bring a good eraser for the things I know might throw me. I do appreciate many of the marks, but I wonder why several people feel the need to rewrite the same instructions!

In any case, opening night went fine. Wednesday night was fine although I did a few things I didn’t like and water in the keys was an issue.

But pacing, pacing, pacing. Yesterday I only had three students and one show, so it was an easier day and I spent it cleaning and relaxing. (And yes, I find cleaning to BE relaxing!) Today is another three student day, and I’m not even sure I’ll do much cleaning. At my age much of survival is about that pacing! To think that I used to do shows in San Francisco: eight shows per week, six miserable drives per week. I don’t know how I stayed sane!)

And now … time to listen to some beautiful music to get ear worms out of my head. I love the musical, and I think it’s still so relevant, but ear worms are not my friends. I will NOT be whistling a happy tune at all today.

Oops, start up that ear worm, shall I?

And so it is over. For the most part I was okay with my playing, but it was just the most surreal time ever. After packing up all my stuff the flute player (hi MH!) gave me a hug and I finally lost it. For two weeks I had held it together, aside from tears between the sound check and the first performance. But the minute I was done the tears came. As I told my friend, “Now I have to face the reality of my mom’s death.” And so I do.

But, that being written, I did say I would write a bit about some of the things I found in my book. So here goes. Do you know why my students would be handed an eraser if I saw this?:

How about this one?:

Any thoughts?

If you don’t know why these are no-nos with my kids, you haven’t had lessons with me! I don’t allow “naming” or “renaming” of notes. Period. I argue that having the name above means your brain has to go through more steps that it should. We see a note, we play it, but if you write the name above you have to see the note, see the name, and then play it. We don’t have that sort of time, nor should we need to do this! At the same time, I confess that low notes still cause my silly little brain to do a “huh?” moment. Really, even after all these years. How silly is that?! A low B# bugs me, but I force myself to deal.

I was surprised (no photos of these) by the “BB” marks I saw, too. That stands for “Big Breath”. There was no point in this musical where I needed to take any sort of big breath. Not even once. Hmm.

Finally, there was this chromatic passage that had names of notes above. I erased them, but you can see them there still, I think. Really? It’s just a chromatic!

I didn’t erase much from the books, even while I didn’t agree with all the marks and it was sure full of marks. Choice of fingering for F is something we can be pretty opinionated about, and how to mark varies. Some people put the letter F above a forked F. That drives me nuts, as it looks like one is just naming the note. I put a little symbol that looks like a down bow with a shorter slash through the middle, while some use a pitchfork like symbol. I use an L for left F, while someone who played the book uses an S. Sometimes I changed that, but for the most part it just wasn’t necessary. I like to note what instrument(s) are necessary for each number so, for instance, you might see ob/EH/ob by the name of the tune which means start on oboe, go to English horn and then back to oboe. This allows me to know which reeds to have ready. If I have a long bit of resting where I need to count the measures of rest I sometimes give myself “markers”. If you see a circle with a number in it it means something happens in that measure that I easily will hear. Sometimes I add the instrument … cl for clarinet, fl for flute, for instance. It’s just a handy way to make sure I know I’m counting correctly. Of course after a few performances counting isn’t really necessary, but I’m an obsessive counter so I count no matter what! Heck, I’m just obsessive about everything, I suppose!

And a side note: I really enjoyed the conductors for this job. Both Daniel Bowling and D. Scott Ferguson were wonderful, never cringed if something went wrong, and were incredibly clear. This isn’t always the way it goes with tour shows, and it was just a joy to work with them. I’d gladly work for them any day. (But I think for now I’ll enjoy some time off!) I hadn’t told them about my mom — it’s not something you bother conductors with — so their kindness had nothing to do with my situation. They were just great guys!

This final photo, though, is the BEST ever … because here are the players that have signed the book. I love it when oboists do that! The flute book had signatures as well. Funny that not one clarinetist put his or her name in. Hmm. What does that mean?

So now I get things back together in the house before the next big job begins.