And the recital was…

Not bad! I’m actually surprised it went better than I expected! And it’s not often any serious musician can say that.

The Hindemith went about as well as I could have hoped. One note didn’t speak in one of the slow sections of the 2nd movement.

The Telemann went okay. There were some weird stuff that happened, but I played worse on the previous two performances, so I’m glad I played the best on this performance.

The Tomasi was tough. I let the the last movement get away from me, (too fast,) but it could have been a lot worse. I kept waiting for absolute silence for the first notes of that piece, but people kept shuffling their program notes and stuff, and it really rattled my concentration as I grew increasingly impatient. I put a lot of energy into it and on the recording it came through.

The Saint Saens I thought I played the worse, but I heard multiple sources (including my flutist, or is it flautist?) say that it was the best of the recital. In both the middle section of the 2nd movement and the 3rd movement, my accompanist took off like a bat out of you know where, and I couldn’t control the tempo from there on out. That piece is so transparent that any little mistake blares in contrast to the rest of the piece.

Finally the Hanson, which I dedicated to my first oboe teacher did NOT go so well. It’s a very syncopated, tricky piece, and I got off twice, but we got back on quickly enough that it didn’t sound terribly out of place. Several other people, including my mother (who does not like 20th century music) said it was their favorite piece.

Overall, I’m pleased with how the recital came across. Maybe tomorrow when a bit more sober (10 shots of tequila certainly does you over!) I’ll feel differently, but that was my initial reaction.

Finally, I want to thank Peter Hurd for coming all the way from Bellingham (6 hours), Wesley Turner who is my best friend since 3rd grade and was my best man in my wedding for coming down from Seattle (4 hours) and for being my responsible designated driver, and finally, a woman named Christina who has been reading my blog for some time and drove down from Portland (2 hours) just to hear my recital and hear me! I felt incredibly honored that she would make such a pilgrimage, despite never having heard me play or having ever met me previously. I hope I made the trip worth while and that you enjoyed the performance. She was curious about trying this “C series oboe” that I’ve been blogging about, so I let her play it alongside the DM bore (both bought from Peter Hurd) and she agreed with me that the C series is a much freer, more flexible instrument. It was good to hear her input, and I gave her my reed that I played the Saint Saens on. She said she was surprised at how responsive it was; whether this was a good thing or a bad thing I’m not sure of, but she got a good sense of my reed style (and Mr. Weber’s). However, I did not get her contact info, so if you’re out there reading Christina, please send me your info! I’d love to keep in touch with you!

I think I’m going to use my school email to upload the sound files. If anyone wants to hear recordings of the pieces I played on my recital, let me know and I’ll figure out a way to get them to you. Just listening to the Hindemith, I’m surprised at the tone quality (not quite as full as I expected), but at least I finished the recital with some tank in the gas.

I’ll write more tomorrow when I’m more sober. Thanks for reading.

Reeds, Recital, C series, John Ferillo, David Weber, IDRS convention…

Where to begin…

Recital Preparation

I practiced for a good while tonight. My recital is on Tuesday, and I would say I’m 90% there, while the other 10% is still up in the air. My professor told me that I HAVE to play the 3rd movement of the Saint-Saens at 144, while I only feel solid at about 136. Maybe if I bring more energy to the piece, it’ll feel faster. My Hindemith is pretty solid. That one funny place in the second movement where the interplay between the oboe and piano is finally really solid (oboe comes in with running 16th notes, High Bb-F-G-F-High Bb-Ab-Gb-F-Eb-Db-Db-Cb-Bb) and the corresponding equivalent place later in the movement is also solid. My professor hammered me with setting up the passage with “rhythmic breaths” which really helped.

Other pieces include the Telemann d-minor quartet of which we’ve already played on two previous recitals, as well as 3 movements from Tomasi’s Evocations (Peruvienne, Nigerienne, and Eccossaise). The final piece on my recital in memoriam of my first oboe teacher, Beth Slottee, will be the Hanson Pastorale.

Reeds

I’ve been making reeds like a mad-man for a week now and have been stockpiling. Looking at my collection, I have 2 perfect reeds, 1 near-perfect, 1 85% perfect reed, and 3 pretty good reeds that I’d all feel comfortable playing the recital on in case something went nutso. So basically I have my reed situation all sorted out. Now the one tricky thing is according to Yahoo Weather it will go from this 90 degree weather (hot, sunny, slightly humid) to rainy on my recital day so I’m really not sure what’s going to happen, but I’m praying. Hard.

C Series

I received the C series back from David Weber this past week, and it is a DREAM to play on. I LOVE the C series, and am negotiating with Peter Hurd (who is driving down from Bellingham just to hear my recital! Bless his sweet heart.) to relieve him of the instrument. David Weber did $1000 worth of work on it, including his $450 bore adjustment, and the instrument is incredible. Some would say it’s bright, I say it’s flexible and resonant. And I proved it today.

I took the C series to orchestra rehearsal (Tchaik 4) and told the 1st flute player (who knows my playing very well, and has been playing with me on the Telemann quartet, as well as various chamber works and Wind Ensemble works) to listen and tell me if she heard anything. She asked “Now is this the good oboe or the bad oboe?” I just shrugged. After the 2.5 hour rehearsal she said, “Well, it sounds like the high notes are easier, you’re playing better in tune, your blending better, and you just don’t seem to struggle as much. It just seems easier. Maybe its DARKER.” I assured her it was definitely not darker, but just more flexible which she fully agreed with me. I can play dark on this instrument. I can play light. I can cover, and I can brighten.

When David Weber sent me the oboe, he generously sent me 3 reeds that he made just for the instrument. 1 was a Weber 1-C, and two were a Weber 1-B. The Weber 1-C was vibrant and more open, and was instantly my favorite, while one of the Weber 1-Bs was “very good”, slightly more closed. The final one was a Weber 1-B and VERY closed, so much that no matter how much I pushed, I couldn’t get more than a Mezzoforte. I called him and discussed it with him and he told me:

“Practice on the closed 1-B and learn how to project not with volume but with color. When you can project with color, then you will have learned how to blow correctly with that C series. Ring your tone like a bell.  Can you vibrate a wine glass by running your finger around its edge?  Practice bring out sound from stone.  Same for making a reed/embouchure structure that will allow you to place that reed anywhere on the embouchure (from center to extreme corners) and the listener will not know the reed has been moved.”

So I did. I practiced with that reed for two days, and somewhere after the 5th and 6th hour of playing, I began catching on. I had already begun to figure some of this out when I first had the C series oboe in my hands, but now I was reminded, and my body instantly responded. I love the instrument, and am definitely planning on playing my recital on it.

John Ferillo

A lot of oboists play on C series instruments, including the great John Ferillo. I heard he has hired Tom Hiniker to make him a new upper joint for his C series, but he still plays on the same old one. I got my hands on a recording of Ferillo playing Tchaik 4 with the BSO and his phrasing on the 2nd mvt solo is incredible! On the repeated F’s, he plays them as written with the crescendo leading through them and then tapering off with the descending notes. But then as he approaches the repeated Eb’s, he crescendos and then suddenly decrescendos through the Eb’s instead of repeating the written dynamics. Not only does he decrescendo the repeated Eb’s, but he changes the color of them, making the Eb’s so warm and fuzzy you wonder. “What!?!?!? What was that!?!?!?!? Where did they go!?!?!?!? How did he do that!?!?!?!?” Truly Magnificent playing.

David Weber

Well, my summer plans are official and I am now certain about my summer plans. I have decided to leave my wife for the summer, pack all of my oboe stuff, and move to Chandler, Arizona for 2.5 months to attend the David Weber Bootcamp™. I will be working in the shop and studying with him. I hope to learn some repair stuff, like tone hole inserts and pins, as well as study oboe with him and do grunt work. In return, he is paying me a minimum stipend to pay my expenses and rent in AZ, as well as teach me lessons. He has told me that he wants to spend at least an hour a day with me on my oboe lesson, and I’ll be coming into his shop every morning before he gets there to practice what he’ll be teaching me (he doesn’t like to get into the shop before 10am, and often works late into the night). My wife (bless her soul) has met David and Vendla on our previous trip last summer, and understands how important my relationship and mentorship with him is, and is fully supportive. So what this also means is that I will be traveling late June for several days to go down to Arizona. Anyone live in the SF Bay area or LA area want to get together for a oboe shindig? Patty?

IDRS Convention

What this also means is that I will be attending the IDRS convention in order to man the Weber Reeds station! So if anyone is planning on going, please stop by the Weber Reeds station and introduce yourself to me. I’d love to meet some readers, or reed purchasers. I’ll probably even have some of my reeds on display there, so if you are curious at all what my reeds feel like (but have never had the courage to order some), please come with oboe in hand!

Final things:

I’m looking for housing in Chandler, AZ, so if anyone knows someone who’s subletting in the general Phoenix area, please let me know! Also, I’ll be looking for housing in Provo during the conference so if anyone is from the area and has a room to rent for the week, please do tell!

Update:

Practicing a lot. Got in a solid focused 3.5 hours in two sittings today.

My recital is in T-17 days and I need to build up that endurance…

And three days after the recital I have to do the Mozart C minor Serenade. Woah, that’s a mouthful! And what an awkward trill in the last movement in the “trilly” variation, going from Eb to a Ab-Bb trill (starting on the upper note of course).

Making a billion reeds for a billion people. The weather predicts solid nice weather for the next couple of days, which is a nice change considering the weather wouldn’t stay the same for 6 hours for the past week.

And the wife is sick…

Band concert tomorrow. I’m only play oboe on one piece where I’m 1st on the Stravinsky Symphonie for Wind Instruments. Weird counting on that baby.

And that BIG YAWN I just let out probably means it’s time for my bedtime.

Anyone else play chess on Facebook?

My recital is set

Cooper’s Oboe Recital (Non Degree)

When: Tuesday, May 20th, 7pm

Where: Central Presbyterian Church, Main Sanctuary, 15th and Patterson.

What:

• Tomasi - Evocations
• Telemann - d minor Tafelmusik Quartet
• Saint Saens - Sonata for Oboe
• Hanson - Pastorale
• Hindemith - Sonata for Oboe

The purpose of this recital, as my professor explained, is to get some “oboe standards” recorded “in concert” and to push my comfort level out the window. I personally think the Tomasi single-handedly does that, but what’s one or five solo pieces now and then?

It’s one after another…

I haven’t been blogging much because I’ve been too darn busy in rehearsals, concerts, and recitals. They just keep coming as the quarter comes to an end, and I’m just barely staying afloat.

Last weekend my good friend Peter Hurd and his wife came down from Bellingham to pay me a visit. He let me play on his fabled English Horn (which in my opinion is the best English Horn I’ve ever played) on the Wind Ensemble concert which he attended, and then followed that performance up by coming to the Horn recital of which I was playing the Reinecke Trio on. It was very generous of him to attend all of my performances, and I appreciated it very much. I think he got a kick out of hearing his English Horn from the stage, as he said it sounded better than he expected.

This morning I had a 1.5 hour rehearsal on the Dring Trio, and a coaching Sunday and Monday morning before the performance Tuesday. I’m playing the Reinecke one more time in about 2 hours on another recital. Like I said, barely keeping afloat.

My professor surprised me by letting me know that I’m doing a recital next month in April (no ifs, ands or buts) and told me that I’ll be doing the Reinecke Trio, Tomasi Evocations (of which I began looking at this past weekend), Hindesmith Sonata, and the Malcolm Arnold Sonatina. The timing doesn’t scare me, despite having only a month, but what does spook me is this Tomasi. It’s difficult, and the last movement is quite brisk. I don’t have any doubt I could learn it, I just wish I had more than a month.

Concert this Sunday. Recital next Tuesday. Concert next Saturday. Concert Next Sunday. Then finals. Then Spring Break. Sigh… almost there.

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!

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.

It is finished!

The competition is finished! I don’t find out who won for several days, but I can say this, I clearly don’t have any expectations. I didn’t play very well; some things like my tempo and breathing got off, probably from nerves, but some things went pretty decently. I can say that I went “all out” and played as if it were my last.

Last night I spent some good time in Beall Hall and was able to try out the two oboes,  and narrow my reed choices down to two. Tonight I showed up early and was able to confirm my decision; I played Sandra with my orange reed made with a RDG Mack tip and Loree cane. It couldn’t have been a better reed.

Anyways, my professor was pleased which is a big relief, because if she wasn’t I would have heard about it for the rest of the year (i.e. “Remember what happened on the Strauss!?!?!?). Now I can get back on track with my reedmaking and all of my playing commitsments.