The attraction of the virtuoso for the public is very like that of the circus for the crowd. There is always the hope that something dangerous may happen.
-Claude Debussy
I hope I’m not breaking any rules here. When Mr. Gockley told the audience to turn off their cell phones in the Opera House he then implied that we in the ballpark could do whatever we wanted. Sooo … I recorded that (good protection eh?) You’ll hear my “Whoo!” when he talks about the Giants and you’ll hear a little comment about the double reeds, too. 🙂
This blog entry will be removed if San Francisco Opera tells me I’ve broken rules. (You know me; I like to follow rules!)
David Gockley:
Here’s a lovely oboe solo by Mingia Liu, with a bit of soprano accompaniment 😉 …
wow, even the instrument that the oboe derived from couldn’t stay in tune with itself
Jennifer Peterson has put up a blog entry about the event that Dan and I were a bit involved in. Do read it — it will explain it all and you can see a number of links to various places (including here … thanks, Jennifer!) What fond memories I have of Così fan tutte: Some Assembly Required … and of course I wonder … will there be something new to assemble next August?!
I don’t have any real “days off” — nowadays I consider a “free” day to be one where I only have one rehearsal or a couple of lessons to teach.
So true. A full day off is rare for us. we might not work a 9 to 5 job, but We R Music, or so it feels. (Today I woke up with the opening of the second movement of the Brahms Violin Concerto singing in my head … does the oboe never stop?!) Of course a lot of us (me!) whine a bunch, but we do the job mostly because we love it. (If I say that enough today perhaps I’ll start to believe it again; I’m in a “is it time to retire?” mode for some reason.)
Read the entire blog entry that I quoted above to know what this little blog conversation is about.
Or maybe don’t. I’ll just continue to talk/write to myself in that case.
Many musicians (myself included) complain about decibel levels. Many of us have suffered hearing loss or other woes. But now that earplugs are required one group is not happy.
Britain’s Ministry of Defence has ordered its bandsmen to wear earplugs to conform with health and safety laws.
All military musicians will now be required to “plug up” before playing their noisy instruments to protect their hearing.
The charity RNID said it fully backed the move.
But some bandsmen are concerned it could impair their performance, making them play out of tune or out of time.
I think it’s mostly that we, like most people, don’t like being told that we have to do something. But I could be wrong, of course. I do wonder how many of the members were already using earplugs.
I still struggle using mine. When they are in I hear my tongue clacking away, and I lose all sense of involvement in the orchestra, as I feel very removed from everything. I guess the only solution that would make us all more happy would be to stop blasting away quite so much.
Except maybe then the brass and percussion wouldn’t be happy? Dunno!
I must admit…the baroque oboe is weird sounding…
oboe: went from dying duck to wounded duck 🙂 thats what i call progress!!!
I’ve been in a funk lately. It happens. I’m used to it at this point. Sometimes I opt to work myself out of it, but sometimes I opt instead to wallow for a while. If I’m feeling low, why not feel it deeply, eh? So when I read about the saddest music in the world I knew it was for me.
There are six works provided there. If number 6 doesn’t hit you in the gut — of course the knowing about the death of the singer adds to the pain — I can’t like you any more. Sorry.
Want a real winner of a ring tone? Check out the Met’s Ring ring tones!
And they are Frrrreeeee!
