What’s Wrong With This Picture?

30. November 2008 · 2 comments · Categories: Grumble, Ramble

Just on the news:

A survey of students:

  • 64% say they’ve cheated
  • 36% say they’ve plagiarized
  • 30% say they stole
  • but a whopping 93% say they are satisfied with their own ethics

    … and I’ll just bet you that some of that 7% who aren’t satisfied are probably the most honest of the bunch and just have very strict standards for themselves.

    I am SO thankful that I teach oboe and not something else. It’s very difficult to cheat on an oboe lesson. Even if a student lies and said he or she practiced I can often tell when that student hasn’t. (I have sneaky little ways to check this, too … it’s not just based on a student’s performance.)

    I really have no tolerance for dishonesty. It really ticks me off. 🙁

    • Billing

    30. November 2008 · Comments Off on Billing · Categories: Links, Ramble

    To rewind the story, the incident occurred after Rozhdestvensky discovered that his name had been omitted altogether from a list of “Distinguished Conductors” in the BSO’s season brochure. He was also upset that the week’s cello soloist, Lynn Harrell, had been featured in a large photo and given top billing on a concert poster, while his name appeared only in the concert details.

    I blogged about this earlier, as readers know. You can read the above quote and more here (Note: Link no longer working.), where the writer ponders the incident and more.

    After the first blog entry I had told the story to my son. Then it got me thinking (Whew! Me? Thinking?!) … I know that actors have contracts that state how they are billed. I wonder if conductor’s agents do the same thing? Does anyone know? I know that billing can be a huge deal for actors. I worked for a musical theatre company quite some time ago, and I remember them working over how they would create their posters, making sure to follow all the actors’ requirements, along with the requirements of the rental company from which the music was rented (composers and lyricists get their billing too, if I recall correctly). I wonder if musicians have the same issues. I do see that in the altered poster, pictured in the article I’ve linked to above, gives that replacement conductor top billing. Hmm.

    Read Online

    30. November 2008 · Comments Off on Read Online · Categories: Read Online

    Oboe:
    The oboe is a double reed instrument which means it has two small pieces of wood that you blow on together. It is often used in moves to emulate pity and horror. It can produce a merry and bright sound too. In fact it is the instrument that the orchestra uses to tune up

    English Horn:
    It is French not English and a low oboe not a horn so why the name? The horn part comes from the fact the people said it sounds like a distant hunting horn. The English part was all a misunderstanding. They meant to call it angled horn (cor Angle) because of it’s distinctive curve but it sounded too much like the french word for English (cor Anglais)and the name stuck.

    I’ve heard several stories about how the English horn got its name. I honestly don’t worry about it. Thanks to my husband I call it the anguished horn anyway. 😉

    BQOD

    30. November 2008 · Comments Off on BQOD · Categories: BQOD

    Anyway, both symphonies were quite good. The funniest part came during the second movement of Symphonie Fantastique, when the oboe player had to go offstage to achieve the appropriately eerie tone. During the third movement the oboe player returned, and to reach his seat had to move the English Horn player’s music stand, and the English Horn player shot the oboe player a look that plainly said “if I were not waiting intently for the conductor’s cue I would kill you where you stand!”