Hello, my name is Cooper, and I’ve been an Idol watcher for two years now…

Yes, I’ll admit it. I like watching American Idol.

I think there’s a lot to learn from the critique of the judges, and whether he’s mean or not, Simon is very often quite accurate in his assessments.

Normally I try not to deviate from oboe talk, but…

HOT darn! THAT DAVID ARCHULETA KID IS A MONSTER!!!

Besides being ridiculously naturally talented, there’s two things that strikes me. During the L.A. week, he said how much he loved the song Heaven and dreamed of singing it. Last night, when he sang John Lennon’s Imagine, when Randy asked why he sang the verse that he did, he said “Because I like the message of it.” It got me thinking; Do us as musicians put messages to our music?

While rehearsing the Reinecke trio this morning, on the last movement, the horn professor Lydia Van Dreel said, “This piece is just like a little girl with pigtails prancing through the flower fields, and here’s where the parents (the horn and oboe) come in and tell her to do something she doesn’t want to do.” It made perfect sense, and helped me play it better.

Previously, Patty left some words for me to think about while playing the Brahms Violin concerto. Unfortunately, they just make me laugh rather than playing better, but at least they remind me not to take any music, whether Brahms or Mozart, too seriously.

Masterclass

We did a Masterclass with Martin Hebert yesterday. He’s such a nice guy, beautiful player, and a good clinician. We had a great time, and I survived La Scala and Brahms Violin concerto. I was grateful that my professor turned La Scala into a tonguing/double tonguing discussion which he helped show all of us how to double tongue and work it up. I’ll be working on it for the next couple of weeks! Woohoo!

Miracle cane…

So last July I bought a bunch of cane on ebay and I’ve only recently begun experimenting with some of it. Hidden in the midst of the 6 pounds of Vandoren and 4 pounds of oboeworks cane and a dozen other kinds was a little package containing a quarter pound of Glotin cut perfectly down to size so it didn’t need to be guillotined. As I split it I realized this .25 had one of the highest ratios of good pieces to crooked pieces, and I left it for 5 months.

Yesterday for the first time I gouged some up, and made three reeds. Three of the finest reeds I’ve made recently. The cane gouged so smoothly I virtually saw no holes in the curls, or miscellaneous bumps. The blanks scraped smoothly and I now have 3 very warm sounding but sturdy reeds, with lots of sound.

The last time I used Glotin was probably 15 years ago when I ordered some gouged shaped and folded from Forrests. That wasn’t very good, but this stuff is amazing. If it ever comes back on the market, I’m jumping all over it.

CD Fairy

So in my previous post I wrote that my professor has assigned me excerpts BWV 56, La Scala di Seta, Brahms Violin Concerto, and Tchaik 4.

Well, today at the School of Music, I received a package from someone in Bothell, Washington containing CDs which included Mark Lifschey and Mack Harrell performing BWV 56 and 82, and the Chicago Symphony with Reiner (and Ray Still) playing Rossini Overtures! Thank you CD Fairy!

The Mark Lifschey CD is actually a very, very special recording. I don’t think you can get it anymore, and I’m not sure where this person got this recording. I thought it was available on vinyl only. When I was in High School, my instructor played the recording for me and told me that his ideal oboe sound was Mark Lifschey. We worked on 56 at the time, and I still remember the style and articulation he taught me today.

Well, I took it into my lesson two weeks ago, and my professor said, “Where did you learn that? Have you ever listened to a recording of it?” To which I said “I heard a recording of it with Lifschey a long time ago.” She wasn’t pleased with the style, and told me it was “100% Schubert”. Well, it’s funny that after 12 years or so, the recording has found its way back to me, and listening to it again, I guess I remember why I play it in a “Schubertesque” manner. I suppose she likes a more up-tempo form, similar to that of Albrecht Mayer on this recording. In any case, I will always treasure this long, lost recording and keep it dear to my heart.

UPDATE: Wow! Ray Still makes not 1 but TWO finger flubs on La Scala (1:43, and 1:48)! There’s hope for me yet!

Upcoming stuff.

It’s just one thing after another. And I barely have any solid practice time.

It’s hard to practice consistently and disciplined when you belong to several different performance groups and you have to juggle 3 chamber music groups, Wind Ensemble, Symphony, and reedmaking every day. By the time I get done with my big ensemble rehearsal, my mouth is always so fatigued that I don’t want to practice any more so I come home, eat dinner, make a couple of reeds, and by which time it’s 9:30 or 10:00. Tonight I left early, 8:30 to get some solid practice time in and I went 1.5 hours straight. Felt good to get some solid work in.

February 26th our studio will have a masterclass with Martin Hebert, the principal oboist of the Oregon Symphony. He’s a very nice guy, and has a great sound, very Mackish. I’m looking forward to playing for him again, but my teacher gave me a pretty steep assignment to prepare; Bach Cantata 56, Tchaik 4, Brahms Violin Concerto, and La Scala Di Seta.

First of all La Scala Di Seta scares me. It’s the single biggest reason why I tell myself “You can never be a pro oboist.” I haven’t learned to double tongue (although I did work on it for 2 months straight with no success), and my single tongue on best days is 16th notes at about 126. Yeah. I know. It’s slow. Last week our wind section repertoire class read Don Juan and I hated all of those flute players who triple tongue the opening repeated eighth notes. Even my stand partner can double tongue. I just sat there looking awkward. But La Scala Di Seta is rough and no matter how much I practice it, it always hits a ceiling. Currently, my teacher has me practicing it with a metronome so that the downbeat begins with the 2 eighth-note pick ups, rather than on the high B eighth-note. I practice it this way, but it’s still not getting beyond 120 at the moment. I’d take Tombeau any day over La Scala.

What is it about Brahms Violin Concerto 2nd movement that scares the pee out of me? Oh… it must be those perfect intervals. Brahms Violin Concerto always requires the most stable reed that shows up once every 2 or so years, and anything less always sounds so awkward. I’m working on it with a tuner. I think I just need to set the tuner on an F and play the first several bars to the F. I always feel so naked.

Anyways, I’ve been playing the Dring Trio, the Reinecke Trio, and Telemann Tafelmusic d minor quartet. I’m also playing in some student composer’s Sinfonietta which is harder than stuffing. 1/4, 3/8, 6/8, 5/8, 1/8, you name an awkward time signature, he’ll throw a bar of it in there. At least he doesn’t take after Grainger and write 1.25/4 bars and crap like that.

Yes, Strauss is long gone and buried, but there’s been plenty of other “exciting” stuff to fill the void.