The Inside Scoop … & More!

06. March 2009 · 2 comments · Categories: Links, Symphony

I just heard from Louisa Spier, of San Francisco Symphony. She wrote to say they just released some tickets for the concerts tonight and tomorrow. Click here for the link to tickets. GO GO GO. Really. GO. If you don’t like it then … well … I can’t like you. It’s really as simple as that.

Okay, I’ll still like you. But I’ll argue with you. Argerich is amazing and the Ligeti is something else.

Now for the “Inside Scoop” from Louisa:

Also, this morning I learned an interesting tidbit about a member of the chorus who prepared an oboe playing an A in an MP4 file on an ipod, the earbuds of which some choristers had hidden in their ears during the performance of Ligeti’s Requiem. They could turn the volume up as needed for a shot of oboe to keep them on key during the challenging performance. I thought your Oboe Insiders/Insighters might like to know that.

I had wondered how in the WORLD they could pick out pitches in the work. Now I understand. (Some folks have perfect pitch, but the rest of us do need help on occasion!) The notes really do matter in the Ligeti. They matter a lot. Unlike a work I looked at today where, I’m most certain, a player could play a wrong note and no one — including the composer — would know. (Those kinds of works bug me. But I won’t say more for now.)

So anyway, get to the symphony concert. K? 🙂

TQOD

06. March 2009 · Comments Off on TQOD · Categories: TQOD

Yesterday, I taught flute. Today, I taught cello. Next week, I teach oboe. I should probably learn to play them.

You Need An Oboe Teacher

06. March 2009 · 6 comments · Categories: Oboe, Ramble

When I get students who had their first lessons with a non-oboe-playing band director or someone who knows music but doesn’t play oboe I know we are in for a bit of unlearning. So many beginning books are old and missing information about the left F. Some show an oboist’s embouchure and it’s really not correct. And some books show reeds that are the old style, before the long “W” scrape took over our world. (Yes, I know there are different long scrapes too, but I won’t go there right now and, to be honest, I just make reeds that I pray work and I don’t think much about the different styles. Heck, I don’t think much! 😉

If you want to learn oboe, you need an oboe teacher!

If you don’t have an oboe playing oboe teacher how can the teacher play your instrument to see if it’s working properly? How can the teacher do anything with your reeds if they need adjusting? Huh? Huh?

You don’t need someone who plays clarinet which is also a reed instrument so it should be okay. You don’t need someone who reads music and can teach you notes. You don’t need someone who played oboe years ago in high school and probably remembers most everything. Sort of. You need an oboe teacher who plays oboe!

Stay tuned for today’s 8:30 TQOD. And no, I didn’t scream when I read it. Merely sighed and wrote this blog entry.