Skip to main content

Honest Physicality

The most interesting comment I received after my Moveable Feast performance last night was not at all one that I expected.  My sister said that her favorite thing to watch was the physicality of my breathing.  I would calmly play long phrases, either taking small inhales and exhales or circular breathing, and then when I had a longer rest I would really breath hard. At those times, she said, it became obvious how difficult and aerobic the act of playing actually was, and it was all the more impressive when I would then grab a quick inhale and jump right back into playing long, controlled phrases.

I was a little embarrassed.  I always strive to hide this side of things.  The oboe playing should appear effortless, so as not to distract from the music-making.   I don’t want the audience to know how hard I’m working, or to see me get all hot and bothered.   I consciously try not to gasp or show visible strain.  But it’s also the case that I respect the physicality of other instrumentalists and athletes tremendously.

I’m fascinated by how much a string player has to lean and use the full weight of his body to produce an intense sound.  I love watching a pianist sink her arm into the keys, all the way to the shoulder.  I can’t get enough of watching ballet dancers and figure skaters for the shifts in weight and balance that tell me that secretly they are working incredibly hard to be so buoyant, effortless, and beautiful.  When from the orchestra pit I can see the Sugar Plum Fairy panting as she sinks into her deep final curtsey and graciously acknowledges the audience’s applause, I have even more respect for what she has just done, and by extension I love the human body all the more.  It is amazing what we can do, and amazing to see what serious training can produce in someone.

So I’m not squirming any more about my sister’s remark. There’s no real shame in having a human body that requires oxygen.  I will always continue to strive for an appearance of ease, but if you can see through the cracks, I won’t feel bad. 


One more performance of A Moveable Feast!  Tomorrow afternoon in South Bend.  Details HERE.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

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 ...
2 comments
Read more

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...
7 comments
Read more

Cleaning Your Reeds

Updated: I've posted a video of my plaque cleaning technique HERE ! Oboe reeds are made from organic material, and over time it is inevitable that they will age and change. The first few days of change are usually quite welcome, as you break the reed in by playing and the opening gradually settles down to something you can be comfortable with and the response becomes more and more predictable.  You might even hit a plateau where it appears to be perfectly consistent and reliable for several days! But after that, the reed seems to be on a constant gradually accelerating downslope, until it eventually collapses into a sharp, non-responsive, mushy mess. We can rejuvenate the reed during this time by cleaning it, and can often extend its life as well! There are three good ways to do this. First, least invasively, you can just run some fresh water through and over the reed AFTER you play each time.  Go ahead and rinse that reed in the sink, shake it as dry as possible, a...
6 comments
Read more