Driving With Others

03. August 2008 · Comments Off on Driving With Others · Categories: Ramble

I’m normally the sort who likes to be alone. I’m sitting here on my couch right now, alone. I will paint our bedroom alone. I do a lot of things on my own. (And I’m happily married, just so you know!)

Driving to Merola was not done alone. I rarely carpool, since my usual jobs are about 7 minutes away. But San Francisco is another story … it’s an hour away or so. So I carpooled.

This was one of the best gigs when it comes to carpool folks. I was with two other women and, at least for me, it was just a gas to be with them. So thanks B and L! (I don’t give full names because some people prefer not to see their names on my silly little blog.) It was a BLAST! 🙂

Goodbye to Don G

03. August 2008 · 1 comment · Categories: Merola, Ramble

I’m home … we are finished with Don G. Today felt so much better. It was cooler in the hall, so I wasn’t dying from the heat, and I felt that the intonation was much better.

I loved hearing these young and talented singers. This group of Merola Folk were wonderful. Maybe someday we’ll see and hear some of them singing with the Big Guys. Time will tell. Here are some names I’ll be watching out for:

  • Adam Cioffari (Masetto)
  • Rena Harms (Donna Elvira)
  • Joélle Harvey (Zerlina)
  • Austin Kness (Don Giovanni)
  • David Lomelí (Don Ottavio)
  • Amanda Mejeski (Donna Anna)
  • Carols Monzón (Leperello)
  • Ben Wager (Commendatore)
  • … and, of course, SF Mike as the human table!

    Now to dinner, whatever that might be!

Rainn Wilson On Fresh Air

03. August 2008 · Comments Off on Rainn Wilson On Fresh Air · Categories: Other People's Words

(Why do I always want to spell “Air” like “Aire”? Hmmm.)

TERRY GROSS: I happen to know you play bassoon.

RAINN WILSON: Yeah, I do.

TERRY GROSS: Which is great, it’s a great instrument, a lot of people don’t even know what it sounds like.

RAINN WILSON: Sounds a little like this [makes bassoon sound]….I think.

TERRY GROSS: It’s a hard instrument to play.

RAINN WILSON: It’s very hard, it’s a double reed. It’s also a ‘girl repellent.’

TERRY GROSS: [laughs uproariously]

RAINN WILSON: So all you aspiring bassoonists out there, thrown down the bassoon and pick up the electric guitar.

Audition News

03. August 2008 · Comments Off on Audition News · Categories: Audition Results

Scott Hostetler has won the audition for the orchestra’s English horn chair and will continue to play oboe with the orchestra as well. His new appointment takes effect immediately. … Burl Lane has announced his retirement after 43 years as a member of the bassoon section. He presently serves as the orchestra’s contrabassoonist and saxophonist.

I read it here. I’m assuming this means that the position he held before, listed third in the same orchestra — see the Chicago Symphony oboe roster — will be open now. Dominoes never end.

Some Music Just Makes Me Happy

03. August 2008 · Comments Off on Some Music Just Makes Me Happy · Categories: Links, Videos, Watch

This YouTube video works for me. There’s just something fun about a double reed ensemble.

Pomp & Circumstance, but no Vibrato

03. August 2008 · 2 comments · Categories: Links, Other People's Words

Guess some folks aren’t happy about the interpretation they might hear at the last concert of the Proms. Norrington nixed vibrato.

Norrington refuses to soften his views. ‘Here come the ouches and squirms, the fuss and hubbub,’ he said. ‘I was expecting it, I’m throwing a hand grenade at musicians who simply have to accept they must transform their way of playing if they are to play as composers intended.’ He added: ‘Vibrato can be amazingly destructive to an orchestral expression. It is acoustic central heating.’

I guess I’m somewhere in the middle. I don’t nix vibrato entirely, but I think there are times when it’s not necessary. An entire work with not a stitch of it? Hmmm. Not too sure about that one.

BQOD

03. August 2008 · 2 comments · Categories: BQOD

I cannot sign off without a reactionary gripe: the casual dress of the orchestra. The men wore black trousers and black open-necked shirts. The traditional attire for leading orchestras has always been full evening dress – white tie. Perhaps this is too much to expect of them; nevertheless, they could, at least, wear dinner jackets and black tie. The way they dress down now is too egalitarian.