You’ll get a fairly good close up of a non-American scrape reed. Is this a German scrape, maybe?
Rodrigo Nagamori:
Anyone want to fill me in on what he’s saying? And does it say where he plays?
How to Make Oboe Reeds Flat
Yep. That’s the title of this ehow article.
Perhaps the writer is talking about lowering the pitch … but making them flat means you are making them below pitch. To me anyway.
Not that I know everything!
I’d just prefer the title “How to make your reeds pitch perfect!” … along with “How to make your reeds stunning!” and especially “How to make your reeds last forever!”
(Do read the article. It’s … um … interesting.)
The women wear fabulous shoes (so noted by a colleague of mine when we attended their recital at Le Petite Trianon). They are all incredibly good looking. The group plays fabulously together. Some of them also compose. They’ve been nominated for a grammy. They are an incredibly successful woodwind quintet (a rare thing, to be sure).
And now they have a blog, too!
I simply can’t compete!
In reading the entry about the play Fences (starring Denzel Washington), I read this: “Right after the show, I could hardly talk about it because I thought I just might break down in tears!”
I know just how that feels. I think my sweet man does too. Sometimes when we are trying to talk about a concert we just heard it’s difficult to talk; tears just well up and we are sort of speechless.
Maybe that’s why I like blogging. You haven’t a clue if I’m crying or not!
Today I taught the final lesson at UCSC for the year.
To those current and incoming UCSC students … do check in with me or check my UCSC page when you are nearing the start of fall quarter. I’ll have information there about meeting up for your audition for lessons. I do hope to continue teaching on Tuesday mornings. Odds are I’ll hear auditioning students on Tuesday, September 21, but I’ll know for sure when we are much closer to the start of school. Feel free to contact me at pmitchel [at] ucsc [dot] com with any questions.
Thanks, and safe and happy summer to you all!
the oboe is worse than the basoon
(Psst … but bad spelling is worse than anything.)
You can read a little review from SFCV.
But wait folks … there’s more!!! (Yes, I’m thinking of a career in infomercials. Just think; no reeds!)
The Mozart Youth Camerata, with Maestro George Cleve conducting, now has some videos posted at YouTube. To save you time — and because I’m just this darn nice — I’m posting two below. (Please send cash and/or checks to my PO Box for this service. Or just send reeds. Or chocolate.) If you want to hear the other two simply click on the link above.
Symphony in A major, k.201:
AND … my pal, Mark Brandenburg, playing the second movement of the Clarinet Concerto:
I find it quite encouraging to see and hear these young players (along with some not-quite-so-young ones, who can provide valuable insights into music and performance). (And, if only I’d been there, I could have set a great example on how to eat chocolate, complain about reeds, and whine … hmmm … maybe it’s good I wasn’t there, eh?)
Check ’em out the next time they are performing!
Striking a different note in the world of music, a Keralite has entered Limca Book of National Records for developing the smallest musical instrument, through which he could produce scores played on saxophone or the ‘nadaswaram’ (double reed wind instrument).
The Limca certificate which G Jayaprakash, designer of the instrument, received last week, said “he has developed the smallest musical instrument called ‘Sushiri’….and developed the art of playing it and has given public performances.”With 4.5 cm length, 1.5 cm width and 1 mm thickness, “Sushiri” resembles the shape of a miniature mouth-organ.
Capable of playing all seven musical notes with it, the gadget produces music similar that of instruments like saxophone, clarinet, shehnai and nadaswaram, Jayaprakash told PTI.
“It is the outcome of my 15-years of rigorous research. Actually I did not mean to develop such a small instrument. My aim was just to mould a different one. But, in course of time,I realized that the clarity of music would increase with the decrease of size and weight,” he said.
Sadly, I didn’t see any picture accompanying the article.
