ProneOboe

I've been thinking about speaking about music. Whenever I can I like to talk to the audience during performances, to give them a path into the works I'm performing.  I'm working on the script for my Musicians for Michiana show next weekend, and am always looking for connections that I can make to really make the music resonate.  I find it very frustrating to be in the orchestra and observe missed opportunities for that type of connection. Communication is important. I had a great haircut a few months back. When I raved about it, my stylist told me that she thought of her job as being more about  communication than craft, and explained that many people - like me - didn't really have words to express exactly what they wanted their hair to be. I gave her vague images and emotional language about my hair, and she crystallized those into a concrete hair proposal and executed it. When I said, inarticulately, that I liked what she'd done and wanted more, she underst...

If I had a New Year's resolution this month, it was to take better care of myself.  Which has an awful lot of component parts, not every one of which relates to the oboe... I'm making no progress on getting to bed earlier - that's just not changeable for me at this time. But less booze, more stretching is going pretty well.  Daily exercise and daily journaling are at about 80%, which is still a big improvement over last fall.  My new archery hobby is nourishing my need to learn, practice, and improve in a highly satisfying way. But one thing that isn't coming back together for me yet is this blog.  My posting schedule, if there ever was one, has dwindled down to once or twice a month, and I don't exactly want to add more stress to my life by committing to something I can't follow through on.  But I miss it.  I miss feeling inspired to write and having the blog always in the back of my mind as I go through my life.  Lately it feels more like guilt...

I am loving our archery lessons.  Target shooting completely appeals to my improvement-oriented nature, and since I am not running much at all it's a treat to get off my reed desk and use my physical body. Steve and I bought bows for each other this holiday season, and this week was the first time that we went out to the lanes to practice together, without our instructors present. As I was shooting I found myself discovering insight after insight. Every one was something I'd already been told - but then I'd been told lots of things. When a teacher is present, he can't help but teach. In our lessons I've been told over and over to bring my front shoulder down. Bring my hips back. No, not that far back. Close one eye. Raise my front hand one inch. No, less than that. This is all great advice, but having someone correct every shot didn't give me room to feel it for myself.  In one hour of diagnosing and fixing my own problems, I made a lot of progress.  I ended...