ProneOboe

Somehow.  All this time and effort and preparation, and I never managed to make an official recital announcement here on this blog.  Guys!  I'm giving a recital tonight!   I hope people come! Music That SHOULD Have Been Written For the Oboe!  7:30 CST in the Duesenberg Recital Hall at Valparaiso University.  Fabulous pianist Paul Hamilton and I can't wait to present this fun program, including the Mendelssohn Violin Concerto and the Bach E Major Partita. We'll be repeating it three more times - Friday, 3/7, at 7:30 EST at Goshen College’s Rieth Recital Hall Saturday, 3/8, at 3pm CST at the First Presbyterian Church in Michigan City, IN Sunday, 3/9, at 4pm EDT at the Howard Performing Arts Center at Andrews University More information, and links, and details, are HERE.

I used to have regular access to opera.  When I was a kid, we saw broadcasts on PBS.  I remember attending live performances in my home town.  When we were starting out freelancing we played several small opera festivals in the summers, and some of our orchestras were able to put together semi-staged productions within our seasons.  But for regional orchestras and small towns now the opera opportunities have gotten pretty sparse.  Universities can sometimes put productions together, and the big opera companies are still doing their thing, but I can't count on any regular pit playing in my life anymore.  An opera is a huge thing.  There are a lot of moving parts, and my bits - the orchestra bits - are among the smallest.  Sets, costumes, staging, direction, supertitles, star singers, choruses, conductors - I’m surprised anyone still does this!  It’s incredibly expensive and time-consuming to do a real production, and the market for it is small.  EXTREMELY enthusiastic, but small. 

The oboe is different every day.  I know this, and most of the time in my normal life I just live with it.  I work through it.  I accept the fact and move on.  If the reed du jour is not giving me what I need, I adjust it, or I select a different one.  If the instrument is out of whack I fix it.  If I have to blow harder or open up more to accommodate what the tiny, temperamental reed requires, I just do it.  I was noticing the other day in Zoe’s cello lessons that she hears the same instructions every week.  Get your feet flat on the floor.  Grip the bow loosely.  Use a heavy arm on the fingerboard.  Obviously, if she would just practice and focus and quit being so FOUR she would develop faster and begin to learn new skills, but that is for a different post .  The point is that she has a few tasks that she knows she has to do, and they work every time. I have great students right now.  Terrific students.  But young students.  Today, a young man came in and played the most dreadful