Skip to main content

Ending the Slump

This must happen to everyone.  It can’t just be me. 

Throughout January I was getting worse and worse.  And I blamed the reeds, the snow, the busyness, the baby.  But it was just that I was struggling with the oboe.  I practiced every day, but I always felt like I was trying to get back to where I started rather than trying to improve.  Not coincidentally, my reeds got worse and worse.  I had nothing new, and my old ones were aging rapidly.  I gave a recital I wasn’t that proud of, and then bombed an audition that I had really been excited about. 

We started rehearsals last Monday for the Tchaik 4 concert in Northwest Indiana, and I felt lousy.  Killed off two reeds in the first rehearsal, two in the second.  I had only one reed in my whole case that would play all the way through the solo - and it’s not that hard a solo by any stretch.  By the third night, when we played the Schumann Concerto for the first time, I was getting really worried.  Maybe not worried, exactly - angry would describe it better.

Every day I was making extra time for the oboe, and for reeds, at the expense of family time and me time.   I was practicing instead of exercising, and scraping at my desk instead of playing with my awesome daughter and my husband whom I love.  I have been a professional oboist for more than 15 years.  This kind of slump should have stopped happening by now!

To clarify, this was not a reed slump, per se.  It’s easy for an oboist to blame the reeds, because they are so obviously the x factor every day.  Every time I pick up the oboe it feels different, because those little pieces of damp wood that form the interface between me and the instrument change constantly. But I’m used to coping with the normal variations the reeds can dish out.  And used to having to replace them as they wear out, or as the seasons change.  When I have my act together they are not a limitation.  But it’s easy to say, “Oh, what a lousy reed” when I mean, “Boy, I really stink today.” 

And then… it stopped happening.  Between one quintet gig and the next one, 45 minutes later, my slump ended.  I stopped fighting the oboe and started enjoying it.  Music became easy and fun again. 

Some of the reeds in my case woke up to their potential.  I made a few more that worked effortlessly right off the knife.  The Tchaik 4 concert went well.  I’ve pushed the Easy button.  I’m back. 

Do I know what caused the slump?  No.  Do I know what pulled me out?  Also no.  Does this  periodic struggle happen to everyone?  I must admit that I hope so. 

Comments

  1. This is happening to me right now. Im hoping it ends today because i have a concert tomorrow where I have to play the solos in the Bacchanale, Nabucco, and the english horn solo in the Ravel piano concerto. and I have to admit I'm a little scared but I might have finished two good reeds today.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Eek- that's a big program. Good luck - the slumps always end eventually!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Knife Sharpening

I've gotten a lot of questions on this topic, and the most recent querent prompted me to make a video to demonstrate.  You can find that  HERE . Knife sharpening seems to strike terror into many hearts.  And it's little wonder.  Many famous oboists have gone on record as saying that a sharp knife is the most important aspect of reed making. People have entire systems of stones and strops and rods set up to sharpen their knives. And it is important, of course it is - but I don't believe that you need your knife to be razor-like, or objectively the sharpest blade of any in your home.  The reed knife has one job - scraping cane off in precision ways - and it has to be sharp enough for that, and sharpened optimally for that purpose.  More than that is overly fussy for my taste. This is not to say that I allow my knife to be dull.  A dull knife forces you to put too much pressure on the reed and can cause cracking. Obviously it can lead to terribly inc...

Zoe's Musical Beginnings

I've mentioned before that I started out on the piano by figuring out melodies.  Connecting notes and trying to learn how they worked.  I'm fascinated to observe that Zoe's initial approach to the instrument is totally different from mine. She sits at our new piano and plays random notes, and tells us what to feel.  If she is playing slowly then the music is sad, and we should cry. When we are "crying" she either gets up and hugs us so we feel better (so awesome!) or bangs faster, to indicate that the music is now happy and we should dance.  Her other piano game is accompanying herself - she plays "chords" in alternating hands while she "sings" the ABC song or Camptown Races or Sesame Street.  She makes us sing along.  She loves it when we clap at the end.  When I was little I wanted to know how music worked. Although I make my living as a performer now, I learned about the interpersonal aspects of music later.  Her immediate interest is in ...

Exciting Upcoming Concerts

The South Bend Symphony has a great concert this weekend that I've been really excited about. If you are in town you should definitely try to attend, as it features Prokofiev's thrilling Symphony no. 5 AND our marvelous concertmistress, Zofia Glashauser, playing the Tchaikovsky Violin Concerto. However, I will not be there. This Friday and Saturday I am playing Strauss's Ein Heldenleben with the Milwaukee Symphony , and loving every single minute. This orchestra sounds spectacular, and here's why. They rehearse. They have plenty of time to really listen to each other and get things right. This morning, our service was a wind sectional, which blew my mind. Almost 2 full hours with only the winds and brass, just on this one 40-minute piece. The conductor worked with us on every detail. Intonation, articulation, ensemble, balance, style. And still we have another full orchestra rehearsal tomorrow as well as the dress. I haven't sat in a winds-only rehearsal...