Showing posts with label Rants. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Rants. Show all posts
Monday, February 11, 2008
No bassoon, please
I don't play the bassoon. I know there are many woodwind specialists and doublers out there who play both oboe and bassoon, but I am an oboist. The two instruments are completely different. I don't know how to put a bassoon together. I don't know any fingerings. I know squat about their reeds. Yes, we are both double reed instruments. But if you pull a bassoonist and an oboist out of band to have them work on their music together (say, with a specialist), they are most likely going to have completely different parts to work on. This is frustrating as a so-called specialist. Of course I can talk about musical issues. I am quite happy to listen to the student play the Mozart Bassoon Concerto, but it is a disservice to the student to not offer a bassoon specialist. Their band teacher plays bassoon. That's wonderful. At least they'll have that resource at a time outside of sectionals, for which I'm hired. But when you put the oboes and bassoons together, they are not going to get the same level of instruction (including the oboes, as my attention is split and my expertise is not being utilized) as the other sections. And the band teacher's response to "I don't play the bassoon"?..."Just have fun!" Sigh.
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
Feeling sorry for myself
Here I go again. In a nutshell (because I don't feel like being eloquent--am I ever eloquent?)...
I hate reeds. Dave and I were practicing (him in his office at school, me in my office at home), and he came home to me napping in bed. Granted, I had already been practicing for 1.5 hours. The conversation went like this:
Dave: Hi--are you ok?
Me: I hate reeds so much, I needed a nap.
(End of conversation.)
It's getting harder and harder for me to make reeds. It's not supposed to be like this. I have my doctorate for crying out loud. (And I do cry out loud, often.) Part of it is the lack of time I spend on reeds. Just like practicing, we get rusty if we don't keep at it. I don't play full-time. I only have one oboe student (and I often feel I'm doing him a disservice by teaching him at all), and even when the symphony season is going on (it doesn't start up again until September 10), I don't play on every concert. I think I figured out a big part of it yesterday though. I just cannot sharpen my knives. I have a Japanese water stone (used to use with my Ando knife, advocated by Peter Cooper, but I ruined the knife twice by sharpening it incorrectly...a difficult thing to do with a bevelled knife), an Indian oil stone (no oil for me), ceramic sticks, some other medium-coarse water stone from Jende (I actually quite like this one, but I still can't sharpen my knives), a leather strop, and a diamond stone-combo. I pretty much have what I'd need to regrind my knives and start from scratch. I do not have the skills to do this.
It is very depressing to practice when you have crappy reeds. I've been gleefully practicing oboe recently (I only have two more tricky runs in the Paganini to work up to tempo!), and I credit that to having some decent reeds (thank you, Cooper). I told David Hempel at Eble (this is new to you, Cooper) about his reeds, and he'll try the ones Cooper sent me. I'm going to hold onto one of them (my favourite--the one with the Chud-E staple--I think), but David will try the rest and see if he wants to carry some in his store. It's hard to find decent student, and even "pro" reeds that work "out of the box". And of course the reedmaker has to be reliable. I'm getting off topic.
Crappy reeds.
English horn practicing is another matter. It is not joyful at all for me right now. I have the Saint Saens Organ Symphony coming up in September, and I need reeds (note the plural--we musicians never can rely on ONE reed to get us through a set...although I've done it before in a pinch...shh, don't tell anyone) that are very responsive, especially in the low register, have a beautiful tone, and can sing out in a hall. I'm not thrilled with my English horn either. I actually love the tone of my Bulgheroni (how many of you have heard of that brand?), especially in the upper register. It's just such a polite instrument. I tried Marigaux, Lorees, Rigoutats, Howarths and others at last year's conference, and I loved the Marigaux. It seemed like a nice middle ground between the power I needed and the sweetness I loved in my current horn. Of course, I do not have several thousand dollars lying around. I almost sold my Bulgheroni this summer, but the darn oboe teacher of this high school student told her she should get a "bigger name". Grr. Bulgheronis really are great! And way better than what this girl would have needed. Not to mention the fact that it's very hard to find a good used English horn out there. (Even new ones are hard to come by; you can't just walk into a store and say I'll take that one!) Off topic again. Sorry. Not eloquent. Hmmm...I'm no longer in a nutshell, am I?
Reeds. Hate them. English horn reeds=worse. I only have ridiculously old reeds in my case. I was starting to make progress with one of my new ones, and I tore off the tip. Grrr!!! That's when I needed the nap. It just takes me so long to make reeds, especially EH reeds with so much more cane. And having the dull knives (which I'd just prefer not use at all, being the responsible oboe student of many years that I am, having been told never to use a dull knife as it would TEAR OFF YOUR TIPS!) does not help. I laugh when people* tell me it takes about 20 minutes to make a student reed and 40 for a pro...hahahahaha. When non-oboe people ask me how long it takes me, I respond with "20 years or so." Realistically, I'll work on a reed for an hour before leaving it for the day, still unfinished.
(*you know who you are)
So I broke down and ordered two English horn reeds from Cheryl at Cascade Reeds. Those are great reeds. (When she actually has time to make them...) Of course, I'll still keep plugging away at these little beasts in my box. Scrape, scrape, scrape. Our work is never done. Maybe some day I'll feel good about my English horn playing again. Not today, that's for sure.
I hate reeds. Dave and I were practicing (him in his office at school, me in my office at home), and he came home to me napping in bed. Granted, I had already been practicing for 1.5 hours. The conversation went like this:
Dave: Hi--are you ok?
Me: I hate reeds so much, I needed a nap.
(End of conversation.)
It's getting harder and harder for me to make reeds. It's not supposed to be like this. I have my doctorate for crying out loud. (And I do cry out loud, often.) Part of it is the lack of time I spend on reeds. Just like practicing, we get rusty if we don't keep at it. I don't play full-time. I only have one oboe student (and I often feel I'm doing him a disservice by teaching him at all), and even when the symphony season is going on (it doesn't start up again until September 10), I don't play on every concert. I think I figured out a big part of it yesterday though. I just cannot sharpen my knives. I have a Japanese water stone (used to use with my Ando knife, advocated by Peter Cooper, but I ruined the knife twice by sharpening it incorrectly...a difficult thing to do with a bevelled knife), an Indian oil stone (no oil for me), ceramic sticks, some other medium-coarse water stone from Jende (I actually quite like this one, but I still can't sharpen my knives), a leather strop, and a diamond stone-combo. I pretty much have what I'd need to regrind my knives and start from scratch. I do not have the skills to do this.
It is very depressing to practice when you have crappy reeds. I've been gleefully practicing oboe recently (I only have two more tricky runs in the Paganini to work up to tempo!), and I credit that to having some decent reeds (thank you, Cooper). I told David Hempel at Eble (this is new to you, Cooper) about his reeds, and he'll try the ones Cooper sent me. I'm going to hold onto one of them (my favourite--the one with the Chud-E staple--I think), but David will try the rest and see if he wants to carry some in his store. It's hard to find decent student, and even "pro" reeds that work "out of the box". And of course the reedmaker has to be reliable. I'm getting off topic.
Crappy reeds.
English horn practicing is another matter. It is not joyful at all for me right now. I have the Saint Saens Organ Symphony coming up in September, and I need reeds (note the plural--we musicians never can rely on ONE reed to get us through a set...although I've done it before in a pinch...shh, don't tell anyone) that are very responsive, especially in the low register, have a beautiful tone, and can sing out in a hall. I'm not thrilled with my English horn either. I actually love the tone of my Bulgheroni (how many of you have heard of that brand?), especially in the upper register. It's just such a polite instrument. I tried Marigaux, Lorees, Rigoutats, Howarths and others at last year's conference, and I loved the Marigaux. It seemed like a nice middle ground between the power I needed and the sweetness I loved in my current horn. Of course, I do not have several thousand dollars lying around. I almost sold my Bulgheroni this summer, but the darn oboe teacher of this high school student told her she should get a "bigger name". Grr. Bulgheronis really are great! And way better than what this girl would have needed. Not to mention the fact that it's very hard to find a good used English horn out there. (Even new ones are hard to come by; you can't just walk into a store and say I'll take that one!) Off topic again. Sorry. Not eloquent. Hmmm...I'm no longer in a nutshell, am I?
Reeds. Hate them. English horn reeds=worse. I only have ridiculously old reeds in my case. I was starting to make progress with one of my new ones, and I tore off the tip. Grrr!!! That's when I needed the nap. It just takes me so long to make reeds, especially EH reeds with so much more cane. And having the dull knives (which I'd just prefer not use at all, being the responsible oboe student of many years that I am, having been told never to use a dull knife as it would TEAR OFF YOUR TIPS!) does not help. I laugh when people* tell me it takes about 20 minutes to make a student reed and 40 for a pro...hahahahaha. When non-oboe people ask me how long it takes me, I respond with "20 years or so." Realistically, I'll work on a reed for an hour before leaving it for the day, still unfinished.
(*you know who you are)
So I broke down and ordered two English horn reeds from Cheryl at Cascade Reeds. Those are great reeds. (When she actually has time to make them...) Of course, I'll still keep plugging away at these little beasts in my box. Scrape, scrape, scrape. Our work is never done. Maybe some day I'll feel good about my English horn playing again. Not today, that's for sure.
Tuesday, May 01, 2007
Grr...grumble, grumble
What started out as a good day...
...early morning rehearsal
...bad reeds
...frustrating afternoon
...three late students
...bad day.
More tomorrow.
...early morning rehearsal
...bad reeds
...frustrating afternoon
...three late students
...bad day.
More tomorrow.
Friday, January 05, 2007
Grumpy Day
Certain orchestras should replace their personnel managers. The lack of professionalism of some orchestras just shocks me. Excuse me for the vague details; I don't really enjoy bad-mouthing. I was 'hired' (loosely put, as apparently I wasn't afterall) to play an extra part in an expanded symphony (you can guess a composer) several months ago. It's happening this month. I was told by the principal oboist (who was the one to ask me a while back) in December that they're "not sure if they'll be able to afford the extra players after all" and that this person had passed my contact info along to the personnel manager. I'm waiting. No word from the p.m. and no music for this concert. I contact principal oboist today, who, professionally, unlike the orchestra, calls me right back. The orchestra's going through financial difficulties (what orchestra isn't?!), and so they're not doing any expanded winds or brass. OK, I'm understanding of financial difficulties, whatever. I'm furious that this p.m. completely dropped all responsibility onto the principal oboist, both to hire extra players and to subsequently de-hire them. Plus, why program a major work like this if you're not going to follow the orchestration? Like I told the oboist today, I can see why some orchestras might not follow the doubling of Brahms' symphonies, but individual parts being cut? 4 instead of 8 horns? Ridiculous. I also realize that decision wasn't the p.m's to make, but come on! Have the decency to pick up a phone.
Maybe this incident explains my grumpiness at the grocery store. Our HyVee grocery store in Indianola is maddening sometimes. No goat cheese--you have to drive to Des Moines. Very poor selection of fresh herbs. Bad produce (not always, but of course today). I was so grumpy that when I'd unloaded my cart and the cashier and bagger started bagging things into plastic without asking me if I'd prefer paper, I waited for a couple of bags to be packed until I said, "actually, I'd like paper bags, please." Confession: I only did that because they didn't ask me. I usually get plastic.
It took me 2+ hours to de-cat-fur our main floor today. Currently, the cats are happily snoozing on two corners of the same couch, which I'd just used 8 sheets of a lint roller to clean. I'm sure they appreciated it.
I think I need a vacation.
Maybe this incident explains my grumpiness at the grocery store. Our HyVee grocery store in Indianola is maddening sometimes. No goat cheese--you have to drive to Des Moines. Very poor selection of fresh herbs. Bad produce (not always, but of course today). I was so grumpy that when I'd unloaded my cart and the cashier and bagger started bagging things into plastic without asking me if I'd prefer paper, I waited for a couple of bags to be packed until I said, "actually, I'd like paper bags, please." Confession: I only did that because they didn't ask me. I usually get plastic.
It took me 2+ hours to de-cat-fur our main floor today. Currently, the cats are happily snoozing on two corners of the same couch, which I'd just used 8 sheets of a lint roller to clean. I'm sure they appreciated it.
I think I need a vacation.
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