Coffee!

16. August 2008 · Comments Off on Coffee! · Categories: Ramble

Most musicians I know love coffee. I have my latté every morning, made with our own espresso machine. I usually have a second one in the afternoon. And when I have work, it’s likely I’ll want something right before a rehearsal.

I just read of a new coffee shop right near the California Theatre. Or so it appears. Very nice. The article also mentioned that Christopher Bengochea, recently of Opera San José, sang at the opening (which is why I was alerted to the article).

So yay for what looks to be a good coffee shop. (And yay for Mr. Bengochea too. I’ll be seeing and hearing him next week, as you can read here. Fun!)

And yes, sometimes I have to be careful about the coffee. It can really get to my nerves on occasion. But I can usually sense that and know when to skip it. I’m smart that way. Sometimes.

The Poor French Horn Player

16. August 2008 · 5 comments · Categories: Ramble

Orchestral instruments don’t come more treacherous than the French horn, either for the musicians who play it, or, when the going gets rough, for the listeners who find themselves within earshot. Sometimes you wonder how the instrument found its way from the hunting lodge to the orchestra.

Well, okay, maybe the horn is tough. But have you ever tried to make an oboe reed?

I read the full article here.

MQOD

16. August 2008 · Comments Off on MQOD · Categories: Quotes

It is forbidden today to write beautiful music. Why? I wonder why.

-Kalevi Aho

Stanley or Craftsman?

16. August 2008 · Comments Off on Stanley or Craftsman? · Categories: Links

You know how some oboists can be … so convinced you should only play a Loree Royal or some such thing. I wonder if saw players are the same way.

Mr. Weiss, who spent three decades as principal oboist for the Los Angeles Philharmonic, plays a Stanley “handyman.”

Lucky guy doesn’t have to worry at all about reeds with a saw.

I read it here, and was so surprised to know this festival is nearby. I used to spend a week or two of my summer near the area, in fact.

“The thing is, when the electricity finally goes out once and for all, saw is what everybody is going to be listening to,” quips Thomas Spearance, a sawyer from Fort Bragg, Calif.

Well, you can hear oboes when the power goes out too. But why “once and for all” … are we eventually going to have to electricity. Forever? (And what’s with the abbreviation of California? I thought we only did the two letter abbreviation these days.)

BQOD

16. August 2008 · Comments Off on BQOD · Categories: BQOD

I waited a long time for Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique, to hear those massive church bells struck. Each was played a couple of dozen times. That was it. I hoped that the percussionists did not get paid as much as the violinists. I’ll have to find out if they do.

I read it here, and you can too. I don’t know if the blogger is a musician or not.

Read this for some other opinions. I will remain silent on the issue. 🙂