Archive for September 21, 2007

UofO auditions

September 21, 2007 at 8:24 pm · Filed under My Oboe Playing, University of Oregon School of Music

So I recently took my school placement tests and placement audition. I will be co-principaling the top school orchestra with another grad student who’s major is theory but she also plays the oboe. My professor is a firm believer in rotation, and I am too so I am happy with this arrangement. There are at least 4 groups (2 orchs, 2 wind ensembles) which need to have enough oboes, and currently there’s only about 7 or 8 of us. You do the math. So I think some of us are going to have to do double coverage.

The big piece this quarter is Beethoven 5. The big piece the final quarter is Tchaik 4! Not 5! Big Big solo! Woohoo! So we’ll see which one of us gets it.

I played the Bach Partita I’ve been milking this entire summer (recital in July, Northwest Oboe Conference, and now auditions) and did okay, despite a less-than-stellar reed. But I think the thing that really sealed my fate was I was requested to sightread the final page of the Berlioz Symphony Fantastique with some fast 6/8 stuff with lots of annoying trills.

And it was fast.

And he asked for it fast.

And I went…

HONK……

SPLAT…….

Blah Blah Blah. Needless to say, it didn’t go too well.

Symphonie Fantastique is one of those pieces in the major rep that I’ve heard half a dozen times, and every time I hear it I say to myself, “What the heck? What is this crap?” It’s just one of those pieces that rubs me the wrong way. I hope I don’t get assigned to it this first concert (I find out Sunday).

Oh and by the way, by the sheer grace of God, I passed my Grad theory exam, Grad aural skills exam, and the Grad musicology exam. Incredible! (My wife looked at me funny when I told her and she responded, “Did you even study? I didn’t see you!”)

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If you try and fail…

September 21, 2007 at 8:12 pm · Filed under Oboe Reeds

… keep plugging away. For a week I’ve been ridiculously busy with the University of Oregon orientation. I’m a New Graduate Student Music School Graduate Teaching Fellow (GTF).

There’s meetings for:

  • New Grad Students
  • New Music Grad Students
  • Grad GTFs
  • New Music Grad GTFs
  • New Grad GTFs
  • New Music Grad GTFs

I’ve had auditions, placement tests, and meetings. And, I’ve been trying to readjust all of my gouging machines since the last time I blogged an entry. All of my reed orders, cane orders, etc. have been on hold.

Why? Because I’ve been slaving away at my desk making reeds.

So why haven’t any reeds gone out this week? Because my gouge has been messed up since the beginning of the seasonal change.

But faith has been restored, and all is well again in the land of Oboereedworld™. This is good, because now that the gouges have been restored to their proper settings, my reeds are flying out like the breeze!

For my clients who are waiting around wondering where their reeds are, here’s the order of waiting:

  1. Client in DE: 3 reeds (ready and going out this weekend)
  2. Client at NASA: 4 reeds (ready to go out this weekend)
  3. Client in LA: 20 pieces of cane, will be shipped out early next week
  4. Client in AZ: 10 reeds, should go out next week
  5. Client in OH: 3 reeds, should go out next week
  6. Clients in Newfoundland, Decatur IL, etc. need to be officially firmed up.

The great news is I’m finally cranking out some great reeds! A good time to try them out if you’ve been reading my blog for a while, and wondering what they really are like.

One last note. Order reeds now and you’ll still get the lower price of $15/pro reed. Starting Oct. 1st, all reeds go up in price!

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