Skip to main content

Upcoming Concert- Musicians for Michiana!

I can hardly believe it, but our first Musicians for Michiana concert is happening this very weekend!

I’ve been working on this project for so long that I’d almost forgotten that an ACTUAL CONCERT was going to be the end result - it seemed like all I was ever going to do was worry about money and harass printers - but now that we’ve had rehearsals and I’m planning my program notes I begin to think that it might be real.  And that we might actually be getting to the part I’m good at, which can’t come soon enough for my morale. 

Two years ago at a convention I heard this 2010 Martin Bresnick piece, once, and immediately recognized that I had to play it.  The composer had gone on a pilgrimage to see the tiny Belarus town his parents and grandparents had grown up in, and describes the bucolic setting with nostalgia and love.  The middle section, a lullaby, seems to reference his own childhood, and as such feels very personal. The piece is beautifully written for the instruments, has a great flow and arc to it, and should be an easy one for an audience to love.  I’m thrilled to be presenting “Going Home (Vysoke, My Jerusalem)”  with three great string players at this Sunday’s concert! 

Presenting new music to new audiences is one of my favorite things to do, and I am really looking forward to Sunday’s performance.  Lest you forget, we will be playing at 2:00 at The Music Village, 108 N. Main St in South Bend.  The entire concert supports Unity Gardens, a great local non-profit organization, and we would LOVE to see you there.

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...

Don't Wait For It

 Don’t wait for it. The lowest notes on the oboe are notoriously difficult to play. They don’t want to speak, they MIGHT splatter, they are SLOW to respond, they feel flat. And if your instrument is even slightly out of adjustment, they can be even more resistant - sometimes literally impossible. And some students WAIT for that low note to come before they go on, and THIS disrupts the rhythm, the tempo, the flow of the piece, and the musical line they are trying to create.  It distracts the listeners, it throws the ensemble off.  The pianist has to lurch to catch them, the conductor has to stop and yell.   One missed note, or one note that doesn’t quite speak - THAT doesn’t ruin your communication. But the distraction and disruption for both you and your listener that happens when YOU acknowledge the problem, when YOU make us all wait patiently for the response of a low C - that’s when you lose us. I think every low note has three possibilities within it. 1. It ...