Happy February 29th, everybody!

My thoughts on unreasonable expectations in the classical music industry and about "selling out".

My Post-Tonal Analysis professor (who is a composer) went off on a rant about how nobody wants to play new music and how composers don't make a lot of money, particularly in comparison to conductors, and how most composers teach as well as write because of this. I have this to say in response.

The reason that it is possible for people who are not very very famous to make a living off of playing, or conducting, is that they will play(/conduct) anything. Classical, pops concerts, church gigs, pit orchestras. These people are also frequently required to teach, and even more teach regardless of requirement for extra money. This is the way of life. The number of people who live off of only playing pieces that fit into their personal aesthetic is absolutely tiny. Even if you only play in the sort of group (chamber, orchestra, pit, etc) that is your top choice, I guarantee that most musicians have to play quite a few pieces that they don't want to, or at least wouldn't otherwise choose.

So, go ahead and separate "post-classical" conductors from those who (albeit implicitly stated) sell out by doing films/ads/video games. But you have to make the comparison fair.

I understand that with composing the whole point is to create pieces that are music in the vein of your personal aesthetic. And perhaps the world is less kind to Artists of the composer variety than of the performer or conductor variety; the latter two can sort of play on the classical-musicians-as-rock-star-equivalents idea that's hung over in many ways from the 19th century. But honestly? Unless you're a true genius, there's little room for Artists of any sort if you want to get paid for it.

(My opinions about orchestras playing new music are separate and not relevant to this discussion, but I will say that there's a lot more to take into account than "oh, the poor composers who are rejected by everyone".)

I have two musical "rants" generated by my classes, but I'll post those separately.

No more grad school news, alas. However, in a week I will be completely done with auditions, which is a rather nice thought, and I have actually been officially accepted by Mason now.


The Waynesboro concerts went pretty well, and with the two combined there were about 150 people in attendance, so good for them. I did have a lot of fun playing first oboe in the dress, and got a few very nice compliments from the director and clarinet soloist. It turned out that the soloist plays in the Marine Band, along with the conductor, and he played the Mozart concerto beautifully.


I've been doing a lot of work recently on the second movement of the Poulenc Sonata, and I'm becoming frustrated. Tonguing is a big weakness of mine, which I am trying very hard to improve. My method in Poulenc was to start at a quite reduced speed, and work the speed up one click at a time. I've gotten it up to 148, and I cannot go any faster. At 148, I hit all of the notes and all of the tonguing, and at 149 I start having flubs and getting flustered. So, any suggestions on how to work on tonguing speed?


A fellow Charlottesville-based oboist sent me some cool reed-making information, so I thought I'd pass it on.

Yes, Rachel, every time I get into a reed-scraping frenzy (which is mostly of late), I am reminded that I was going to write down for you a “standard approach” to tuning as you go … attributed to Valarie Anderson, Jeanne, Inc. I happened by when she was working with some students in her shop at JMOC 2005, and here’s what she said…

1. Test low B slurred to middle B.
If the upper is flat, clip the tip

2. Test low C to middle C.
If upper is sharp, thin the corners of the tip at the plateau
… Go back and test B to B

3. Test low D to middle D.
If upper is sharp, remove cane from back
… Go back to B to B test, then C to C, until all three are okay

4. Test mid-staff G by blowing easily with a loose embouchure.
If it doesn’t sound okay (???), refine the inception of tip off the heart

For advanced players,

a. Test B-flat above the staff against a harmonic B-flat (E-flat with side octave)

b. Test A above the staff against harmonic A (D with side octave)

If either of the above is not satisfactory, there must be something else to do, but it must be embedded in my notes further on.

Now I am so inspired that I may just go and write up the rest of these notes, as well.

If she sends me any further information, I'll post that here as well. She also sent me a website full of oboe-related things: http://www.fredonia.edu/som/hamilton/index.html.


World Beat Music is a piece for what appears to be drums and electric guitar, whose sheet music creates a map of the world. The sheet music can be found here, and a recording here.

Also, here is a gallery of instruments (string and keyboard) created out of various everyday items by Ken Butler.

edit: And, for the easily amused, here is a creative interpretation of the words to "O Fortuna," done vaguely in the style of the llama song. (Vaguely not work safe and certainly strange.)

Can't win them all...

Last week I got into grad school at GMU, this week I got rejected from Temple. I'm not surprised, obviously, and as you may recall I wasn't thrilled with the school, but I can't help being a little disappointed anyways. Oh well.


Yesterday I had rehearsal with the Waynesboro Symphony. I was just about late because I had to get gas, and then I forgot that it was in a different (farther away) city, and then I almost got lost. But it turned out all right, because I was set up before tuning. Tomorrow I will get there 20 minutes early. I hadn't had the music before rehearsal, so luckily it's all pretty easy, with the exception of one fairly tricky passage in Shubert's Unfinished Symphony. It's a community orchestra, so some of the sections are a little rough, but everyone seems enthusiastic and musical and like they're having fun, so hey. Who am I to argue with people getting to play in an orchestra? I do have one comment, though, and that is that they're playing enough music for practically two concerts. Two marches, Blue Danube Waltz, Clair de la Lune, Mozart's Clarinet Concerto, and Shubert's Unfinished Symphony. Whew. Now that's a workout. The concerts are this weekend, and there's a dress on Thursday. I get to play first for that, so that should be pretty fun.


My Bax quintet rehearsals continue, and we sound pretty darn good, at least on the third movement. Granted, we've yet to do more than run through the first and second movements, but seeing as we're playing the third at a "lunchbox recital" in, oh, three weeks, it's good that the third is the easy movement to put together. I was struck today by how much easier my part is when put together with the strings; there's a super low, fast, staccato tongued passage which, when played by me alone, neatly showcases every flub and crack, but which, when played with strings, sounds like lovely and clever writing. Also, at least in the first and third movements, breathing becomes much simpler when there are other players.

Speaking of my recital, I'm thinking of putting both my program notes, once they've been edited, and the longer mini-papers from which I'll be taking them, up here. There really is very little information about oboe works on the internet (in fact, I've had this blog come up several times when searching pieces, which really tells you something about how little there is), and I know that when I'm researching a piece, program notes are among the most helpful resources. So if you're curious what I've been working on all semester, you'll get to see it at some point.


This has been a week of Reed Woes (after 6 bad reeds out of 7 from a 10-piece batch of cane...), but I've finally gotten a new one working, one of those that actually plays well the second day you work on it AND which needs no further touch-ups, and tomorrow I'm going to make up those other three pieces. (Actually, that new reed could do with a touch of tweaking, but, well, considering my luck the past few days, I'm afraid to touch it with anything resembling a knife. It's got a fairly long tip with a considerable burr on the end, which is not nearly how I usually make my reeds, but, although its a little flat and temperamental in some hard to pin down way, it seems to be working.) Also, hopefully the school's gouger will be returned, fixed, soon and I will get to start using all of that tube cane that I bought back in the fall.


I read the section on oboe in Berlioz's orchestration treatise, and it was fairly amusing, so I'll share.
"The oboe is principally a melodic instrument; it has a rustic character, full of tenderness, I would say even of shyness. ... The sounds of the oboe are suitable for expressing simplicity, artless grace, gentle happiness, or the grief of a weak soul.
It can also convey a degree of agitation, but one must be careful not to intensify this to cries of passion, to vehement outbursts of anger, threats or heroism: its thin, bitter-sweet tones then become feeble and altogether grotesque. ... One may find...passages with a passionate intent and martial tone that are oddly at variance with the sound of the oboes that play them. The result is not only that the effect misfires, but that there is a jarring discrepancy between the stage and the orchestra, and between the melody and its instrumentation. The most direct, beautiful and noble march theme loses its nobility, directness and beauty if heard on the oboes."
The English horn:
"It is not capable either of voicing passionate laments, and tones of acute grief are more or less beyond its reach. It is a melancholy, dreamy and rather noble voice, with a somewhat subdued and distant tone. This makes it superior to any other instrument when the intention is to move by reviving images and feelings from the past, and when the composer wishes to touch the hidden chords of tender memories."

I am reassured.

Today, I got into grad school!

"Dear Rachel:
I am please to inform you that you have passed your oboe audition for the M.M. degree at George Mason University."

This makes me very, very happy. :-)

It's been a fairly eventful oboe week, all things told. We had our orchestra concert on Saturday and Sunday, and it was a big hit. There were gasps and programs dropped at the start of the Kaschei dance in Firebird, and on Saturday some guy in the audience yelled "Woo!!" I love it when we create really dramatic audience reactions. I mentioned subbing in the Brahms on Friday night, and I did indeed end up playing it in both concerts. It's a fairly intense piece, and I had a ton of fun even if I did spend both concerts counting furiously. Because I was for all intents and purposes sight-reading the concerts, I didn't get a good feel for the performance of the piece in relation to rehearsals, but there were certainly some scary moments. Our pianist was amazing, but at the concerts his tempos were a lot more flexible than they'd been in rehearsal. Still, the concerts were a wild success.

On Tuesday I was supposed to have rehearsal with the Waynesboro Symphony, but it got canceled due to weather, which I was fairly greatful about. It's not that I mind playing for them, but my homework this week has been pretty heavy. Next week, though, I have two rehearsals and two concerts with them.

Yesterday we read Tchaikovsky Symphony 5 in orchestra, which was fairly awesome. I of course have heard the piece quite a few times, but it wasn't until I played it that I realized just how intense it is. Twice I have a page with only a single measure of rests, and I'm playing second oboe! I was pretty exhausted by the end of the piece, although that was in part because my reed blew out around the end of the first movement.

Today, I went and saw the Shoghaken Ensemble give a demonstration of Armenian instruments and music. I didn't get to ask any questions about the duduk, but it was still very cool, and the music was gorgeous.

Oh, and I nearly forgot. Monday evening I played in the best masterclass of my life with Frank Morelli, the bassoon teacher at Yale. I played the first movement of the Poulenc, while I was very happy with my playing, the part that really made the class was that as the bassoon can go up to a E in the top space, Mr. Morelli played about 2/3 of the piece for me, all told. It was mind-blowingly exactly what the piece is supposed to sound like; I've decided that Poulenc wanted to write for bassoon, but, since they can't hit those high Es, you know, he switched it to oboe. However, the richness of sound, and the...restraint and connection and longing, was exactly what I want to do with the piece.

Hello again...

It wasn't until late last night that I realized I hadn't talked about my Temple audition last Monday in here. The audition was better than the one at CCM, but not as good as that at Northwestern. I auditioned in a recital hall, the acoustics of which, while gorgeous, made it very difficult to tell how I actually sounded in the hall, with the four auditioners sitting in the audience. That was a little intimidating. I did my two Ferling etudes, the first page of the Mozart, about half of Poulenc, Bach and Tombeau excerpts. It was hot on stage, or I got nervous and picked a tempo too slowly for my rather long slow etude, so I got out of breath near the beginning and ran out of breath very rapidly the rest of the audition. Also, my reed decided that it couldn't play louder than a mezzo-forte, which was obviously unfortunate for the Poulenc's dynamic range. But I think my tone was very good, and my fingers and tongue were behaving, so I was pleased. If I had been able to actually have dynamic range I would have been very happy indeed with my performance.

I didn't like the school as much as I liked either CCM or Northwestern. It felt very sterile, although that was in part because the building was deserted and in part because they didn't really seem to care about the auditions. There weren't any sort of informational meetings, or even helpful flyers, and the only people there to help were one lady at the desk and one runner. However, I didn't get to go over to what is apparently the main music building, so perhaps I got a skewed view of it all. I also thought that the general impression that Temple is in a bad part of town is exaggerated. I mean, the area wasn't midtown, like, say, Penn, but it was fine.

This morning I had an audition at GMU, which I was quite nervous about. In part that was because I know the teacher (have known her since I was in high school), and I very deeply respect her opinion. It was also in part because GMU is my "safety school," and it would have been very unfortunate for me to screw up that audition. However, I was quite happy with how I played. I didn't get to play very much at all, just the slow etude and about 3/4 of the Paladilhe, and I had a couple finger blurps and at one point my reed got bizarrely spitty, but the auditioners (Lorrie and two others) were quite complimentary in a way that makes me cross my fingers very optimistically. But I in no way want to jinx it, so I'll move on.


On Tuesday I demonstrated oboe and English horn for my Orchestration class, which was quite fun, despite the fact that my presentation was fairly unplanned. (I got back from Temple at about 8:30 at night on Monday.) The professor was helpful about making sure I covered all the necessary things, and I got to show off a tiny bit and rant about all of the misconceptions about the oboe, especially those in our textbook.

I had the first rehearsal of the Bax quintet on Wednesday, and despite the fact that we were all having a lot of trouble counting (it was the first rehearsal, and it's a difficult piece to put together), it was brilliant. There are things that you can do with strings that you just can't with winds, and in my opinion they're pretty much all of the best things, really. My quartet makes me incredibly happy, because I have all of these really great players! And they're playing in my recital and making me sound good! In a beautiful piece! It makes me grin like mad and sometimes make odd squeaking noises.

I've not been having very good reed luck at all lately; all of my cane seems to split easily, or be very spongy or very hard, and so I'm getting a lot of slightly bizarre reeds. However, thus far I've managed to have a reed that was not only playable but which sounded nice for my audition Monday, class Tuesday, rehearsal Wednesday, lesson Thursday, orchestra Wed-Fri, and audition today. So I figure I can't complain too much. And again, I don't want to jinx my luck. (Now, if I could have more than two working reeds at all times, I would truly be happy.)

Speaking of orchestra, we have our concerts this weekend. I'm playing in Firebird, which I love so much that I have to watch my facial expressions. Players should look happy and enthusiastic, but insane grins are a bit much. Last night I showed up at rehearsal to find that the second oboist for the Brahms piano concerto was sick with a fever, so I subbed in. (Sight-reading the whole thing. Take that, Northwestern. Also, I didn't have to sight-read at my audition, but Lorrie said something along the lines of "And she can sight-read like crazy.") I have yet to find out which of us will be playing it at the concert tonight. It's a gorgeous piece, and has a really good second oboe part.

Oh, I nearly forgot. I opened up the paper on Friday and looked at the crossword puzzle and found this:
:-D