Skip to main content

Upcoming Concert - GLEE!

Tomorrow night’s concert in Northwest Indiana, “South Shore Glee” is just what it sounds like - a bunch of high school choirs (and our own Symphony Chorus) singing familiar songs.  And you know I am a sucker for a show tune, but even I am kind of dragging myself through these rehearsals.  The medleys are brutally dull for the orchestra - we’re just a backup band - and there’s not even one moment I can find to cherish in my own part.  Nothing to look forward to showing off.  It’s all just kind of medium playing, not hard enough or exposed enough to get excited about.

BUT.  This concert is not about the oboe, and it shouldn’t be, and sometimes my job is just my job.  I don’t have to be on the edge of my seat, excited and nervous and loving every piece on every program.  I understand why we are doing this concert - the audience will like it, the parents of the kids will come, they will see the symphony, we are making connections in the community, etc.  I know that our conductor will do an amazing job with the pacing and energy of the show, and that we will laugh and cry at all the appropriate times and go home happy.  I am sure that it will bring in some good ticket sales and we need that.

AND.  In rehearsal last night, I loved watching the kids perform.  These are high school students - so much older than Zoe as to be practically a different species - but somehow now that I am a mother I am especially touched by earnest, genuine effort in kids.  They did a wonderful job - they knew their difficult arrangements cold and worked hard, and even in our atrocious little basement rehearsal room they sang their hearts out.  They are the next generation, and they are inspiring. 

There’s nothing to enjoy in my oboe part, but this concert will in fact be great.  Details HERE.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Blog has MOVED

 Have you been waiting ... and waiting ... and WAITING for a new Prone Oboe post?  Don't wait here anymore!  The blog has moved to https://jennetingle.com/prone-oboe/  and will not be updated here on Blogger anymore.  Please come and check me out there!  I love you all - stay safe out there!  Jennet

How Do You WISH You Could Describe Your Reeds?

In Reed Club last Monday, we took a moment before we started scraping to set some intentions.  We each said one word - an adjective to describe what we WANTED our reeds to be.  An aspirational adjective. Efficient was a word that came up, and Consistent . Dark and Mysterious . Mellow . Predictable .  Trustworthy .  Honest .  BIGGER . Reed affirmations actually felt helpful - both in the moment and in the results we found as we worked.  I don't know why that surprises me - I set intentions at the beginning of the year, at the beginning of the month, at the beginning of a run, in the morning before I work.  I love a good affirmation.  I love WORDS.  But I'd sort of forgotten about the possibility of applying one to the mundane work of reed-making.   You don't have to know exactly how to GET to that result.  But having clarity in your mind about what that result is?  Helps you to stop going down unhelpful rabbit holes...

Choose the YES

Special moments come at the least expected times. This video , the one I circulate periodically whenever Facebook reminds me of it, was literally just a gig. I didn’t know Sullivan when he reached out to me to play because he needed the video for some application or other.  I didn’t even ask what it was for.  I only had a day or two to prepare the music and I was annoyed that it was so hard and annoyed at myself for accepting the gig and annoyed as I drove up to the church he had booked which proved to be basically unheated. I love what I do, but some gigs ARE an annoyance.  Holiday pops runouts leap to mind here. Endless drives through the snow for ungratifyingly formulaic performances of insipid music.  My annoyance level going in to this was about the same. But it turned out to be marvelous fun!  Once I got going, the challenge turned out to be the BEST kind of challenge, the thing that is difficult but totally attainable if you bring your A game and yo...