Why do we play? – IDRS 2014 & FIFA!, art. 2 – Pouquoi jouns-nous?

People seem eager for a post about my impressions on the different instruments. I want to take my time to write it well because I think it’s important to: Be true to my preferences and dislikes. Be fair to and honest about all instrument makers. Account for the fact that different people have different goals and different needs.		Les gens semblent avoir hâte à mes impressions sur les insttruments. Je vais prendre le temps de bien songer parce qu’il est important de: Honorer ce que j’aime et ce que je fuis. Sonner l’heure juste concernant chaque fabricant. Rendre compte que les différents goûts de chacun sont bien justifiés.
Years ago, if I disagreed with something, I used to criticize it, comparing with what I did prefer and essentially be demeaning. I now find that this attitude is very easy when a person has been exposed to a small sample of styles and performers. I have found that becoming exposed to and discussing with many more highly competent artists changes perception and develops an appreciation for widely differing aesthetics throughout the world. Thanks to the internet, I have been exposed to many, many more musicians of all levels and performance styles as well as musical giants who each explain why something is done in a particular way and what any given aesthetic is aiming for. Thanks to the IDRS conferences, I had the opportunity to try a wide variety of instruments and hear many great performers in person: this provides a depth of experience, feeling and understanding that CDs and internet video recordings, useful and valuable as they are, utterly fail to convey. I still have my preferences and no one can tell me to like something I don’t: I require demonstration and experience to change my mind, but I am now capable of changing my mind without losing integrity in my convictions.	Flash Mob Washington Square IDRS 2014   Bravo Ensemble Decarissimo, Panama!	Il y a des années, lorsque de quoi contrevenait mes attentes, je critiquais férocement. Aujourd’hui, je trouve qu’il est facile de médire lorsqu’on ne connaît un échantillon limité de styles et d’interprètes. Je trouve qu’être exposé à (et discuter avec) une variété croissante d’artistes compétents change la perception et développe une appréciation pour l’évantail d’esthéquites dans le monde. Grâce à l’internet, j’ai fait connaissance à un grand nombre de musiciens de tous les niveaux et de styles d’interprétation ainsi que des géants de la musique qui expliquent chacun pourquoi quelque-chose est fait d’une manière particulière et ce que vise précisément une esthétique donnée. Aux conférences IDRS, j’ai eu l’occasion d’essayer une grande variété d’instruments et rencontrer de nombreux hautboïstes formidables en personne: ceci procure une profondeur d’expérience et une compréhension que les CD et vidéos internet, utiles et précieux qu’ils soient, échouent complètement à transmettre. Mes préférences restent fermes et que personne ne médise le fait. Me changer d’avis prendrait la démonstration et l’expérience, mais je suis capable d’ouverture d’esprit sans perdre l’intégrité de mes convictions.
Keeping the faith! I wanted to get this recording done before IDRS 2014. I did get it done and put it on You-Tube and Facebook, but I didn’t have time to do the blog post on it. One reason I wanted to hurry-up to do the recording (it would have benefited of more practice…) was that I thought I might be selling Ol’ Faithful to buy something new in NYC, so I wanted to be sure it had a crowning glory! This is another part of the Suite for Flute and Jazz Trio by Claude Bolling – I just can’t resist these tunes, so much fun to play! – and definitely the most difficult piece I have recorded so far. It does a whole lot of altissimo, going all the way up to Bb, which is doable enough for professionals (or advanced students), but rather tiring for me. At the IDRS exhibits, I have tried other instruments that make this very easy, actually. Since my return for the conference, the altissimo has remained easy. I think this is a combination of the season now turning to an early autumn (perfect for the best reed behaviour) and possibly having played so much more in NYC than I usually do at home just developed the breathing and embouchure…. Now up to me to keep them in shape!		Envoyons d’l’avant, nos gens! Je voulais produire cette vidéo et le mettre sur You-Tube avant IDRS 2014, mais je n’ai pas eu le temps d’en faire un article blogue. Une raison de me dépêcher (un peu plus de répétition n’aurait pas nui) est que je considérais vendre ma Vieille Branche à New-York, alors je voulais lui accorder une dernière gloire. C’est un autre morceau de la suite pour flûte et trio Jazz de Claude Bolling – je suis tout simplement incapable de résister le plaisir de les jouer! – et  définitivement la pièce la plus difficile que j’ai enregistrée jusqu’à date. Plein de sur-aigü, je monte jusqu’au si-bémol, ce qui est assez faisable pour les professionnels (ou étudiants avancés), mais un peu épuisant à mes babines! À vrai dire, aux expositions IDRS, j’ai essayé plein d’autres instruments qui reproduisaient le passage assez facilement. Depuis mon retour, le sur-aigü reste assez facile. Je crois que c’est dû à la conjonction du changement hâtif de saison (le début de l’automne est le meilleur temps pour les anches) et qu’avoir tant joué à New-York a renforcé mon souffle et mon embouchure….. à moi de les garder en forme!
AUSGEZEICHNET DEUTSCHLAND (way to go Germany) for FIFA in Brazil! This brings me to the question again: why do we play? The oboe is renowned for being especially difficult, but the question can be asked of any musician. I have no professional aspirations right now, no notion that I could get paid for playing, in fact no clue if I’ll even play on stage this year… so why bother practicing difficult repertoire and go nuts making reeds? Why not just spend that money enjoying great performances by amazing artists all over the world, or simpler yet, build a monster collection of CD’s? And most important: why did I mention FIFA in the section title?		AUSGEZEICHNET DEUTSCHLAND (bravo Allemagne) pour FIFA au Brazil! Ce qui me fait poser la question à nouveau: pourquoi jouons-nous? Le hautbois est reconnu pour sa difficulté, mais la question peut être posée à n’importe-quel musicien. Je n’ai actuellement pas d’aspirations professionnelles; aucune idée si je vais même me produire en scène cette année… alors pourquoi me donner la peine de travailler le répertoire difficile et m’embêter à faire des anches? Pourquoi ne pas juste dépenser le même argent à aller voir en personne les meilleurs musiciens du monde. Encore mieux, me monter une collection du tonnerre de CD? Et la question la plus importante: c’est quoi le rapport avec FIFA?

Well, the answer to the question about playing music is the same as the answer to these ones: why do children love to play football (or “soccer” as we say in Canada and USA)? Why do Canadian adults continue to spend late nights playing hockey at the community rink even if it will make them sleepy the next day and miserable at work? Why is baseball still the great American passtime (is this still the case?) when we have no hope of becoming a pro or why do we go play golf and tennis when we have no hope of entering a tournament series? Like Christoph Hartmann, I personally love cycling even if I have no hope of ever doing Tour de France! Well the answers are the same in all cases: WE ENJOY IT! Isn’t that what life is all about, enjoying ourselves and the activities we can experience? Of course, the news and corporate-consumerism would want us to value only is to accumulate wealth in order to build the wherewithal to purchase everything we might desire. Consequently, we are motivated to spend as much time and effort possible pursuing professional careers. But where is benefit of wealth if we sacrifice our passions and the enjoyment of living? Similarly, world charity corporations have produced very wealthy executive administrators who will tell us that our pursuit of wealth is to help the poor of the world (while the bulk of donations go to politics and executive benefits). I’ll leave this point of discussion to each person’s own experience and reflection. Yes, I do contribute to charity: local and well trusted organizations with visible effects on real people and wildlife in need. I just think that self-determination and the enjoyment of being alive are the main goals we should all be living for. So why do we play music? Because that is what makes us alive! Modern day life wants us to “live for our work” – this is fine if our work is a true passion (some business people really do thrive on it) – but for my part, the correct balance between the necessities of life in society and self-fulfillment is the very definition of “working for a living”.

Et bien la réponse à la question de jouer de la musique est la même réponse aux suivantes: pourquoi les enfants aiment-ils jouer au foot (ou bien “soccer”, comme on dit par ici)? Pourquoi les adultes Canadiens passent des nuits tardives à jouer dans des ligues communautaires même si ça veut dire un lendemain à dormir debout au boulot? Si nous n’avons aucune chance de devenir athlète de carrière, pourquoi jouer au golf ou au tennis? Comme Christoph Hartmann, je rafole du vélo, même si j’ôse même pas rêver au tour de France! Encore une fois, la réponse est la même dans tous les cas: PARCE QUE ÇA NOUS AMUSE! N’est-ce pas le but-même de vivre; se plaire aux expériences de la vie? Bien sûr, les nouvelles et le commercialisme nous encourage à ne valoir que l’accumulation richesse afin de se procurer tous les biens matériels que nous pourrions convoiter. Par conséquent, nous sommes motivés à consacrer tout notre temps et tous nos efforts à nos carrières professionnelles. Mais à quoi bon la richesse si celà exige le sacrifice de nos passions et la perte de la joie de vivre? De même, les charités-corporatives ont produit de très riches administrateurs qui prétendent que notre poursuite de la richesse peut servir à porter secours aux démunis (alors que la masse des dons charitables rempli les poches des politiciens et administrateurs exécutifs). Je laisse ça à la réflexion sur l’expérience de chacun. Oui, je fais des dons aux organismes charitables, organismes locaux où je peux voir moi-même le bénéfice apporté aux personnes et vie sauvage en crise. Je crois, par contre, que la poursuite de son propre chemin dans la vie et la jouissance dans le fait de vivre sont les buts ultimes de vivre. Alors pourquoi jouons-nous la musique? Parce que c’est ce qui nous fais sentir vivants! La vie moderne veut que notre gange-pain soit notre passion alors qu’il me semble que nous ganons notre pain pour le plaisir bien de manger, non?

A book by its cover / l’Habit fait le moine

On forums and Facebook posts as well as simple ordinary conversation over the past 30 years, there is a belief that a competent oboist will end-up sounding the same on any instrument s/he plays. This makes a certain amount of good sense because there is so much more than the instrument in the sound: reeds, embouchure, air stream (general body physique) and even hall acoustics play a huge role in how the instrument will sound. Moreover, I do believe that spending lots of time with an instrument will attenuate the differences, leaving personal style shine through. But I think people exaggerate when they say the a different instrument makes nearly no difference at all. Also, maybe spending more time with an instrument will allow a musician to aim for a different sound by letting go of old habits, necessary for one instrument, but not another	Ol’ Faithful / Vielle Branche (Lorée) Dr. Jones (Pan-American – Conn)	Des discussions sur les forums et messages Facebook, même des causeries depuis 30 ans laissent croire qu’un hautboïste compétent sonnera pareil sur n’importe-quel instrument. Ceci a un certain bon sens: le timbre est affecté par l’anche, l’embouchure, le souffle (le physique du corps) autant que par l’instrument; même l’acoustique affecte le timbre. De plus, je crois qu’à la longue, on s’habitue à l’instrument et les différences s’atténue, laissant le style individuel du musicien transparaître. Mais je crois que le monde exagère lorsqu’on dit qu’un instrument différent ne fait presqu’aucune différence. De plus, peut-être que passer plus de temps avec un instrument permettra de viser des buts différents en permettant de lâcher prise de mauvais plis qui étaient jadis nécessaires pour un instrument, mais pas un autre.
Meet Dr. Jones and Ol’ Faithful! Ol’ Faithful is that Lorée I’ve been using for my You-Tube recordings up to now. I’ve had it almost all of my oboe playing life and seems to me much better than new Lorées I’ve been trying. While I had it rejuvenated and revoiced by D. Teitelbaum (half of Laubin inc.) in 2010, I got a 1921 Pan-American (Conn) oboe on e-bay, just so I could blow some notes and work my fingers. It is a beginner model, but it’s sound opened my horizons on what is possible and made me realize that my struggles for tuning and dynamics might not be entirely my fault: even though Lorée is a very respectable professional instrument, nothing guarantees that it will actually help performance, especially because a great instrument for one person does not always “mesh” with another.	Computer Speakers, mobile devices or cheap ear buds might not allow you to hear the difference in tone colours. Les haut-parleurs d’ordinateur, téléphones ou tablettes et les casques d’écoute bon-marché ne permettront peut-être pas d’entendre la différence de timbre.	Dr. Jones et ma Vieille Branche! Vieille Branche est le Lorée que j’utilise jusqu’à maintenant pour mes You-Tube. Je l’ai depuis presque le début de ma vie hautboïstique et il me semble bien mieux que les nouveaux Lorées que j’ai pu essayer. Lorsque je l’ai fait remettre à neuf par D. Teitelbaum (la motié de Laubin inc.) en 2010, j’ai acheté sur e-bay un Pan-American (Conn) de 1921, juste pour que je puisse souffler un peu et faire marcher mes doigts. C’est un modèle débutant, mais il m’a ouvert les horizons sur ce qui est possible et que mes épreuves avec la justesse et les nuances ne sont peut-êtres pas de ma faute. Mon Lorée est un instrument professionnel très respectable, mais rien ne garantit que sa qualité m’aidera, étant donné qu’un excellent instrument pour une personne ne l’est pas nécessairement pour une autre.
Recording Wreck! I know at least one instrument vendor who was asked to make recordings for clients who did not want to make the long drive to his store without knowing if it would even be worthwhile. He declined to do so because it is REALLY hard to capture the different tone colours on a recording. In fact, I spent a whole week playing with recording settings on both my microphone and computer software as well as different layouts in the room – the 2 instruments always sounded nearly identical in the recording! Also, trickery does not work: normally a recording is passed through a “low pass filter” to remove the distortion from room reverberation: when I do this, even my best contrast recordings end-up making the two instruments sound the same.	Summer 2010 : rebuilding my oboe mouth and fingers while Ol’ Faithful got overhauled in New-York. (Lunch time at work every day!) Été 2010 : refaire ma gueule et mes doigts pendant que ma Vieille Branche se faisait mettre à neuf à New-York. (Midi à l’ouvrage à tous les jours!)	Enregistrements Enrageantes! Je connais au moins un revendeur d’instruments avec des clients qui demandent des enregistrements pour savoir s’il possède un instrument avec un timbre pour justifier la route. Il refuse de le faire parce que c’est VRAIMENT difficile de capter les différences de timbre en enregistrement. En fait, j’ai passé la semaine entière à jouer avec les ajustements sur mon micro et mon ordinateur en plus de la disposition de ma pièce – les 2 instruments sonnaient toujours presqu’identiques sur l’enregistrement! Tenter de tricher ne marche pas: normalement on passe un filtre “passe-bas” sur l’enregistrement pour éliminer la distortion dûe à l’écho de la pièce. Quand je le fais, même mes enregistrements montrant les contrastes les plus nets finissaient par faire sonner les 2 instruments pareils.
Microphones are NOT ears! Now wait, does this mean that the recording is right and ears are hearing what we want to hear? Uhhh, no. The old notion that a camera sees the truth will be quickly debunked by any professional photographer and the same is true for microphones. The ears are VERY different from any kind of microphone, no matter how sophisticated and humans also hear with the whole body: bones, skin, even fat and muscles react to air vibrations and transmit everything to the hearing centers. Conclusion: I have HUGE respect for recording sound engineers!	Reed used in the recording. Anche utilisée dans l’enregistrement.	Les micros ne sont PAS des oreilles! Minute-moumoutte! Est-ce que l’enregistrement prouve qu’on entend ce qu’on veut? Aaahh non. L’idée qu’une caméra capte la vérité est rapidement démentie par un photographe professionnel; il en est de même pour les micros. Les oreilles sont TRÈS différentes que même les micros les plus sophistiqués et nous entendons aussi avec le corps entier: les os, la peau, même le gras et les muscles réagissent aux vibrations dans l’air et contribuent à ce qu’on apèlle “entendre”. Conclusion: j’ai un ÉNORME respect pour les preneurs de son!
What makes the difference in sound? I don’t actually know. For sure the bells are different and I suspect Dr. Jones is more conical (smaller bore at the top, same at the bell joint, but much more flaring at the bell). But wood thickness also plays a role and God-knows-what-else might affecting the tone colour. Dr. Jones is a very old beginner-model (probably made for marching bands) so it will never play as easily or with the versatility of a pro. model. But it did serve a great purpose, it really opened my horizons at what a different instrument could do for me.		Que fait la différence dans le timbre? Honnêtement, sais pas. Sûrement que les pavillons jouent un rôle et je soupçonne Dr. Jones d’être plus conique (perce plus mince à la tête, pareille à l’articulation du pavillon mais un pavillon beaucoup plus évasé). Mais l’épaisseur du bois joue aussi un grand rôle et Dieu-seul-sait-quoi-d’autre peut affecter le timbre. Dr. Jones est un très vieux modèle à débutant (probablement conçu pour les parades) alors il ne jouera jamais aussi facilement ou avec la polyvalence d’un modèle pro. Mais il a très bien servi à m’ouvrir les horizons à ce que pourrait me valoir un nouvel instrument.

Jazzy Classy

100 thousand visits! ALL RIGHT! Other very successful blogs also mention how people like to read how difficulties and frustrations are shared by everyone… and how perseverance really pays off! I think this post will confirm that pushing on in the enjoyment of music resulted in pretty good progress.	Baroque and Blue	100 mille visites! SENSASS! D’autres blogues bien suivis mentionnent aussi combien le monde aime lire que leurs obstacles sont partagés … et combien ça vaut la peine de persévérer! Je crois que cet article confirmera qu’avoir poussé dans l’amour de la musique aura montré un progrès véritable.
I started practicing this last summer. I wanted to post it for Christmas, because Baroque and Blue is so playful and Irlandaise has the famous Chrismtas tune in it: a very comforting fire-side kind of feeling. It took me this long to get it ready, not just because of hectic work hours – those returned to normal after January – but also because my Tai-Chi is taking a more important role in my life and a few other home things. But in the end, it’s mostly about I wanted to do the best job I possibly could on these ones. Getting the sound right in the recording, mixing the trio MP3, my small-room track and the video take sure is a challenge…	Irlandaise	J’ai commencé à travailler ces pièces l’été dernier. Je voulais les enregistrer pour Noël, parce que Baroque and Blue est si joyeux et Irlandaise est un cantique de Noël si bien connu: sentiment chaleureux auprès du foyer. Ça m’a pris si longtemps les préparer, pas juste parce que le boulot empiète – les heures sont retournées à la normale après janvier – mais aussi parce que le Tai-Chi prend un rôle plus imoprtant dans ma vie et quelques autres histoires. Mais à la fin de l’histoire, je voulais faire de mon mieux dans ces enregistrements. Produire un timbre vraisemblable entre le MP3 du trio jazz, mon enregistrement de petite chambre et la vidéo présente un véritable défi…
Hommage to Jean-Pierre Rampal The original recordings by Jean-Pierre Rampal and the Claude Bolling Trio have been very special to me since my first years as a music student. Now, you’ll understand that having been raised in my teens and young adulthood on musicians with this kind of expressiveness, on many different instruments, I really cannot accept anything less from oboists. I never thought these pieces could sound well on anything other than the flute, but when I got the sheet music, just for laughs, I found them too much fun to resist! They are really challenging for the altissimo register, but that’s just part of the thrill!	Rampal & Bolling : Château de Versailles!	Homage à Jean-Pierre Rampal Les enregistrements originaux par Jean-Piere et le trio Claude Bolling me sont restés très chers depuis mes premières années en musique. Vous comprendrez maintenant qu’avoir été exposé, comme adolescent et jeune adulte, à des musiciens avec tant d’expressivité et sur toutes sortes d’instruments, je ne peux guère accepter moins du hautbois. Je n’ai jamais cru que ces pièces pouvaient bien sonner sur autre chose que la flûte, mais quand j’ai acheté la partition, juste pour rire, je les ai trouvés irrésistibles! Elles sont tout un défi pour le sur-aigü, mais ça fait parti de l’aventure!

2012 LiberTangHautbois 2013

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO EVERYONE IN ALL THE WORLD! Regardless of your thoughts on the matter, 2012 highlighted stress and mortal fear around the word. Well, the end of the world did not happen in this phase of consciousness, so I may 2013 bring renewed hope and relentless perseverance to make our world a blessing with a respect for the true rights and fair distribution of wherewithal to all people and all living things!

BONNE ET HEUREUSE ANNÉE À TOUS PARTOUT DANS LE MONDE! Nonobstant vos croyances à ce sujet, 2012 a mis en évidence une crainte profonde dans l’âme des humains. La fin du monde n’est pas survenue, alors je souhaite que 2013 apporte un renouveau d’espoir, béni de respect pour les droits véritables et la distribution juste des biens et des moyens à toutes les communautés et tout être vivant, partout dans le monde!

Recall: blog to motivate myself and others! For new visitors here, this blog started because stories by other people practicing was a real inspiration to me: these stories including starting the oboe late in life or continuing to practice despite difficult physical obstacles, far worse than mine in many cases. So this is the diary of my passion for the oboe and the discoveries I make to get over some physical pains that tend to get in the way of my plans.

Rappel : un blogue d’encouragement mutuel! Ce blogue a été mis sur pied parce que les histoires, partagées par d’autres, m’ont grandement encouragé à persévérer en musique amatrice. Ces histoires provenaient de gens commençant le hautbois à un âge avancé et/ou face à des obstacles physiques bien pires que les miens. Ceci est donc un journal de ma passion pour le hautbois et les découvertes qui m’aident à surmonter les maux qui voudraient heurter mes buts.

Libertango: Piazzolla and style! I should make a whole blog post on this alone... The reed I used is pictured above. The original arrangement was intended to highlight flute style. I studied You-Tubes of Astor Piazzola playing this himself – including a great video with Piazzola and Yo-Yo Ma! I tried to combine Piazzola’s amazing energy with a showcase for the oboe’s potential.

Freedom, Dance, Hautbois!

Libertango : Piazzola et genre! Il faudrait un article sur ceci tout seul... Ci-dessus, l’image de l’anche utilisée pour cet enregistrement. L’arrangement original met en vedette les attributs de la flûte. J’ai étudié les vidéos de Piazzola qui joue lui-même: dans un cas avec Yo-Yo Ma! J’ai donc essayé de rapprocher l’énergie vivante de Piazzola tout en mettant en vedette le potentiel du hautbois.

A Balanced Lifestyle At New-Year 2012, I said I needed to spend less time on Social Networking activities and more time building a solid professional life. Although Facebook is difficult to ignore, I did spend much less time blogging and I have neglected the BBoard quite harshly! But I have devoted myself to my job and, hopefully, built a good and solid reputation in my professional entourage. But where in 2010 I took good care of the dogs and home while just started my profession, 2011 saw a quick advance in physical fitness and musical work with heavy involvement in Facebook resulting in wonderful musical friendships with professional and amateur oboists, manufacturers and important resellers from all over the world. 2012 focussed mostly on my profession, a good and important thing, and finding Tai-Chi to replace the gym. All three years saw me focusing on one aspect to the neglect of others. But a fulfilling life requires a balance of profession, home care, physical fitness and hobby. I wish to continue to build a solid and good professional life while at the same time finding the way to continue building strong health, preparing more recordings, fixing-up little issues with the house and go exercising the dogs more. To everyone visiting this, I wish you all a wonderful 2013 with the same balance for a fulfilling life!

Une vie équilibrée Au nouvel-an 2012, j’ai exprimé le besoin d’accorder moins de temps au réseautage social et plus à me construire une vie professionnelle solide. Bien que Facebook soit difficile à ignorer, j’ai donné beaucoup moins de temps au blogue et j’ai négligé le BBoard. Le temps était consacré à mon emploi pour me bâtir une bonne réputation solide dans mon entourage professionnel. Mais alors que 2010 m’a vu m’occupper de mes chiens et la maison tout en commençant ma profession, 2011 a vu ma condition physique et vie musicale progresser rapidement avec une participation forte chez Facebook, qui m’a ouvert l’amitié de hautboïstes professionnels et amateurs ainsi que de fabrcands et marchands importants de partout dans le monde. 2012 c’est concentré surtout sur ma vie professionnelle, une bonne chose, et a trouvé le Tai-Chi pour remplacer le gymnase. Ces trois années m’ont vu accentuer un aspect de la vie au détriment d’autres. Une vie épanouie exige un équilibre de profession, domicile, activité sportive et loisirs. Je souhaite donc de continuer à me bâtir une bonne et solide vie professionnelle tout en trouvant le moyen d’incorporer le conditionnement de ma forme et santé, de continuer mes enregistrements, mieux voir aux petits nécessaires de la maison et mieux exercer les chiens. À tout le monde qui visite ce blogue, je souhaite un 2013 formidable avec la même équilibre pour une vie épanouie!

Endurance at 30 minutes à l’endurance.

45 thousand blog visits from 90 countries! I consider this to be an Olympian feat in itself! I can only thank everyone for your interest! GO CANADA AT LONDON 2012! I’m not usually a sports fan, but I like the idea of the Olympic games. Moreover, they focus on many sports we do not usually see as part of prime-time TV athletics! The goals of the Olympian athlete is summarised in the words “faster, farter, stronger”. That makes this post very well suited to the beginning of the games. Most of last year, I complained that endurance was low. I wasn’t sure if practicing 30 minutes a day would be enough to build enough endurance to play in concert, let alone a full solo recital. Well, I’m ecstatic to say that, with time, it is!

Really demanding repertoire on endurance!

45 mille visites au blogue venant de 90 pays! Je considère ceci un exploit olympien en soi! Je ne peux qu’exprimer ma joie à vous tous pour votre intérêt! VAS-Y CANADA À LONDRES 2012! Je ne suis pas un amateur de sports, mais quand il s’agit des Olympiades, mon fusil change d’épaule! Surtout qu’on y voit des sports habituellement absents de la télé. Les mots qui décrivent l’horizon olimpique sont “plus vite, plus loin, plus fort”. Cet article coïncide donc très bien avec le début des jeux de 2012! Durant l’année passée, je me suis plaint d’une faible endurance. Je doutais que 30 minutes par jour soit assez pour bâtir l’endurance nécessaire à un concert, sans espérer un récital solo. Mais en voici la preuve!

This video presents 4 impressionist tunes (OK, perhaps not by definition, but the style is right). One year ago, I could not have hoped to attempt recording Vocalise, let alone all 4 of these. And that’s not all, to put the video together, I had to record about a dozen takes of the entire suite (video and audio)! I did this in one day with no trouble at all! I’ll reserve a critique of this video for the next post. Now that the video is complete, I believe this is the most difficult repertoire I have ever played – ever! The rhythms are easy, the notes are mostly very comfortable, but the gentle articulation, sustained over entire pieces, was really the most difficult thing I have ever had to practice.	Cette vidéo présente 4 pièces impressionnistes (enfin, pas par définition, mais le style y va). Il y a un an, je n’aurais pas pu considérer enregistrer vocalise, encore moins tous les 4. Mais encore mieux, pour assembler la vidéo, j’ai dû faire plus d’une douzaine de prises entières, une après l'autre (vidéo et audio)! J’ai fait tout ceci dans un seul jour sans aucun ennui! J’en ferai la critique au prochain article. Maintenant que la vidéo est faite, je crois que c’est le répertoire le plus difficile que je n’ai jamais joué! Les rythmes sont faciles, les notes très confortables, mais l’articulation si douce, soutenue le long des pièces entières fut vraiment le travail le plus rigoureux de mon expérience!
Bad weather, bad oboe, bad me? I would like to blame the flaws in sound on the weather or an instrument with unstable tuning in this recording, but the truth is, I just don’t know. For sure, my reeds last week didn’t really crow, they quacked! They would crow after a few minutes of playing…. but still not the ideal raven (not even a blue-jay!): this is definitely weather! But I cannot know if another instrument with legendary reputation or new amazing technology would really make my tuning and sound more stable. The only way to determine this would be to try other instruments in bad weather conditions with quacking reeds! Either way, a competent musician is supposed to compensate and play well regardless. The question is then, with my 30 minutes a day and with this instrument, am I progressing adequately?	Ennuis de météo, d’instrument ou de moi? J’aimerais bien accuser l’instrument ou la météo pour les défaillances de justesse dans cette vidéo, mais en toute honnêteté, je ne sais pas c’en est le cas. Sans aucun doute, la semaine dernière, le cri de mes anches faisaient plus un canard qu’un corbeau… au moins si c’était un geai-bleu! Ceci est absolument et sans conteste la météo! Mais je ne peut pas savoir si un autre instrument avec réputation légendaire ou technologie de pointe pourrait faciliter la stabilité et le timbre. La seule façon de le déterminer serait d’essayer de tels instruments quand la météo fait de mes anches des appeaux de canard! De toute manière, un musicien compétent doit compenser et bien jouer. La question demeure, à 30 minutes par jour sur cet instrument, mon progrès est-il adéquat?
Lessons Learned: This production consisted of capturing video through a web-cam connected to my lap-top and sound separately on my recording device. This caused as many problems as possibilities. I was very lucky to meet a real expert in home-recording () who will help me in the weeks to comes with the next recording. Solutions will require more experimentation, other blog posts, but in the meantime, a list for thought: My microphone & room layout is all wrong! This required more noise reduction after the recording. Put together, the sound is not natural. Synchronizing audio and video is really difficult and long! Extra “takes” make it even harder, because note lengths are never the same!	Leçons apprises: Cette production consiste de vidéo capté par web-cam et la prise de son sur une enregistreuse externe, rassemblé et corrigé par la suite par logiciel. Je suis chanceux d’avoir rencontré un expert en enregistrement à domicile () qui m’aidera avec mon prochain enregistrement. Les solutions demandront plus d’expérimentation, mais entretemps, à considérer: L’emplacement du micro vis-à-vis la salle était complètement dingue! Ceci a exigé plus de réduction de bruit par logiciel. Tout considéré, le son n’est pas naturel. Synchroniser vidéo et audio s’est montré plus difficile et long qu’à l’habitude! Les prises répétées ont rendu la tâche plus ardue parce que la fin des notes n’ont jamais la même longueur!

5-minute reed : experiment successful !

I was going to write about the master class for adults at the University of Ottawa Oboe Event, but then I made this experimental reed that deserves blogging! Actually, at the end of the master class, prof. Hamann (Chip), mentioned group lessons where everyone is expected to make a good reed in 15 minutes, so it still fits the bill. My account of the master class next time.

Experimenting with shapes and lengths

Following my blog and/or the BBoard, people know I like to experiment with shapes and stuff in the hopes of making an easier reed that sounds more “baroque-esque”. Well try this one on for size. But 1st, repeat: this is an experimental reed, so yes there are flaws with it, but there are also some really cool things about it.

Bad stuff, good stuff

The picture above shows (and the video below sounds) the reed and another blank just like it. Because this is an experimental reed, I’m not worried about these 3 flaws:

1. it plays really flat (about 30 cents flat, so I guess A=435?)
2. it is unstable in the usual 1st octave-key notes
3. there is some buzz remaining in the sound

The buzz can be explained by the fact I spent only 5 minutes scraping it… more like 3, actually. The flatness and the instability can be explained by the measurements: it is 73.5mm in total length on a 45mm staple. This means it is very long cane compared to the norm, so stability might be better ensured with thicker cane than what I used (the usual 0.60mm). The shaper is also actually for oboe d’amore (Kunibert Michel 750), so really wide tip and really big belly. Finally, it is tied on Chiarugi #7 (really big … those of you who use Lorée staples would freak!).

Reed test–5 minute scrape.

But for the good part, if I can get the buzz out, this is starting to sound like my ideal. I’m curious to try this reed in a Marigaux: many people have stated that pretty much any reed will play with great stability. The dynamic range is great, it was really easy to scrape and the response is also great (with a rather thick tip). I’ll need to confirm if it still plays this well tomorrow, but here is what it sounds like: 3 minutes of scraping a freshly chopped blank!

Nino Rota Duet for 2 oboes (2/3) … but 3rd recorded

3rd duet for 2 oboes by Nino Rota

Here it is, the triptych is now complete!

This one is called “il Mulino”: the mill (wind-mill, grain-mill, saw-mill, river-mill) and it is easy to imagine the squeaky machinery rolling and turning! The cool thing about this one is the 1st oboe part being mostly in the altissimo register, usually between:

I have found that practicing this high actually improved my sound in the middle and lower registers.

 

Thank you Michele Mancaniello for re-introducing me to this fantastic composer and also for providing me with this very special music. The 3 duets were very enjoyable to play, funny to listen to but also really difficult to record the 2 parts together.

Reeds and Recording:

One thing I learned this year is that the entire process of recording influences the sound as much as (or more than) the reed! I’ll do a blog post about that and my thoughts on this recording next week.

What is “Allegro”?

This is a 12/8 movement marked allegro. The metronomes often indicate Allegro = [120, 160], but what is to be used as the beat? I think it’s important to put things in context, these words do not always denote speed (tempo) but often character:

• Moderato : moderate speed
• Allegro : happy
• Vivace : lively
• Presto : swift

… of course, these words can be interpreted differently, but in comparison to each other, this makes sense.

I played the 3rd duet at , but I don’t think anyone would say it’s too slow for an Allegro. It could be considered too fast, but slower just didn’t seem right… it was also much more difficult to play the rhythm and togetherness cleanly at slower speeds…. apparently, Franz Liszt once said he didn’t know his own etudes well enough to play them slowly!!!!

Physical Update: ouch

Just before the holidays, my physiotherapist scolded me for not doing my nerve flossing exercises. I told her it was because I never feel anything when I do them……. uuuhhhhh, now I feel a lot (ouch) when I do them!

The point of those exercises is to ensure mobility of the nerves to prevent irritation. Well, a few months of too much social networking (internet stuff) in front of the TV in the morning and evening has left its mark. Especially after having shovelled the snow last night, my shoulders are now rather bothersome, feeling as if I have strings inside my arms, neck and back that pull whenever I move.

…… ah well, back on the floor to do those simple exercises!!!!!!!

Also, if you do muscle strengthening exercises, the trainer I often see at my gym explained that the really easy exercises given by physiotherapists strengthen a set of small muscles. If you do the same exercises with heavier weights or stronger rubber bands, the bigger muscles will take over and the whole point of the workout is lost.

Tribute Recording of Gratitude!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING (Canada) !

Thanksgiving is a great holiday in terms of faith. It reminds us to reflect on the fact that, though many things are wrong in the world and need correcting, in virtually every circumstance there are always aspects that lend really good helping hands in life that provide hope for the potential of fulfilment. In my opinion, people who complain “How can an all powerful God allow such horror in the world” are guilty of reading only what they want from the Bible and other religions… they fail to realize that the troubles in this world come from people much more than God, and that people are also the biggest hope and potential for beauty and grace! Maybe that’s the actual purpose of our existence in this world…

The origins of the holiday are contended (see Wikipedia), but 2 things remain clear:

1. The name suggests gratitude,
2. it is celebrated at the end of harvest time.

#2 explains why we celebrate it in Canada a month and a half before the U.S.A. Being “The true North, strong and free”, our harvest ends much sooner than down south… does it ever actually end in Florida or Texas?

In terms of home, there are many things I am grateful for, that will remain at home. In terms of the oboe, the focus of this blog, there are 3 things for which I am really grateful this year:

1. physical therapists and fitness professionals,
2. social media on the Internet,
3. a good job and God’s blessing for apparent job security!

These have been really instrumental in motivating me to practice diligently and strive for the sound, technique and musical expression I know I am capable of. Right now, I cannot play as many hours in a day as I would like, but what I can play, the only obstacle remaining seems to be concentration: as long as I keep diligent with physio. exercises, I can re-train my technique to play as fast as I need. My mind keeps interrupting my fingers, but my fingers are capable again!

Facebook, You-Tube, Twitter, the Blog and the BBoard

I cannot overstate my appreciation for Mark Charette (at the BBoard – visit here) and the creators of Facebook groups (in order of when I joined them), Ivan Di Bello (visit here), Sergio Manu + Ambrogio Gentili (visit here)  and Frédéric Moisand + Shi Li (visit here) for starting amazing communities where we can all share opinions, tips and tricks and examples of our favourite performances: I dedicate this recording to you! (I hope I do you justice!)

Thank you BBoard and Facebook people!

Such interaction, sharing and exposure to the greatest musicians was not available when I was a student. It really increases our panoramic perspective of how a piece of music can sound like and what can be done with our fantastic instrument! What a wonderful thing to live!

Thanksgiving Recording

In keeping with my observation of the last couple of posts, I did this recording without really feeling ready for it. But apart from lacking maturity, the single worst thing was a wandering mind: the more comfortable I get playing, the more my mind wanders and the worse I mess-up. This is nothing new: I also experienced it in the best of my days. But somehow, playing with others in concert sort of removed most of the problems. Playing with a recording of myself – with nothing at all when recording the 1st part – the mind is free to wander! In a concert, exam or audition, I would be told to have trouble with technique, but in fact, the faults in rhythms and fingerings here is due to concentration problems (and fatigue…).

Playing with myself (OBOE!!!)

Playing the 2 parts of the duet myself.

Here is one movement of the Telemann Flute Duet in A major (without continuo). I’ll do artistic reflections in the next  post.

I think this went pretty well. I had never played this piece at all before and have been practicing less than 30 minutes a day for about a month because work has been rather demanding. I think the sound quality is much better than before:

1. the microphone position in the room really helped quite a lot
2. I think the season is helping me play with a better sound and develop more discriminating ears
3. I think Facebook discussions have developed more demanding ears, requiring me to breathe better in order to achieve that sound I seek.

I am amazed at how much the Oboe BBoard, Facebook and You-Tube have helped me develop musically and artistically. This was simply impossible back in the days I was a music student and beginning pro, unless you were wealthy and could travel often overseas. This is truly an exciting time to be a budding musician!

Nerves while recording

Recording this required 2 runs at it:

1. The first time, before lunch, I had to do many, many takes because I was always making silly mistakes that I just could not hide in any way. So I just stopped with one merely half-decent take.
2. The second time, after a lunch break in front of the TV, I felt more relaxed and did everything just right on the first try! I fact, oboe 1 and oboe 2, I did two (relatively) fine full recordings without stopping or repeating anything. Though the recordings still have flaws, I decided to stop here while I was happy with the work.

Conclusion:

I stopped the first run completely discouraged and feeling ridiculous. This is NOT a difficult piece and when practicing, it always goes fine. Yes, it does need to mature: the 1 month I have gained its acquaintance is not enough to really feel its flow, but I have still been playing it with feeling from the very first reading. Different takes should be to change a phrasing, not because of mistakes.

During the second run, I was motivated and just enjoyed the energy of the piece while playing. Maybe I was hungry before and needed some energy and a break. But I think the mental aspect was the worst of it. I think I need to do more recordings, more often, and not care if they sound well or not. The exercise of recording and showing on You-Tube might act as a surrogate for live performance, challenging stage fright and allowing me to focus more on the musicality.

Microphone Geometry

I followed the advice of Craig Matovitch on microphone placement and put my recording device on a cheap tripod which I put on my desk. This way, the desk table is not blocking out half the sound waves! I found the experiment very much worth while: it really helps create a more living sound, even in my stuffy study/studio.

The following observations pertain to recording the oboe at home. If you record voice or another instrument, or if you have a sound engineer working in a studio or concert hall, all these observations might be completely useless.

1-2 microphones & different ranges of sound capture:

There is a lot to know about microphones (basics of it here)… too much for the home-recording amateur! Still, a few simple considerations can spare a lot of wasted time and frustrated efforts:

1. How many microphones on your recording device?
2. What is the area coverage (capture angle) of the microphone (or set of microphones)?

Good quality recording devices are practical because they contain the microphone, recording and playback capabilities all in one gadget: no computer, no cables, nothing cumbersome to carry. The better ones have 2 microphones for stereo sound capturing (better approximate what we hear with 2 ears).  There are different types of microphone and there is a full vocabulary to describe them. In a nutshell, and in common language, we can think of 3 considerations:

1. close and far range sensitivity,
2. wide area coverage or focussed point sound capture,
3. different ranges of frequency sensitivities.

The frequency sensitivities can be understood as follows: some microphones are better suited to percussion, others to tubas, others to piccolos and others for voice. In fact, the best web-cams for tele-conferencing focus on clear spoken voice, but they are terrible for recording the oboe!

For range and coverage, this table should explain well enough; click on the image for more explanations.

Angle for true oboe sound and the atmosphere of a lively hall.

The last consideration for home-recording is how to capture the truest sound of the oboe and get a lively atmosphere. For this, I can only say that pointing one microphone directly to the oboe will get the right sound and the other microphone will pick-up room reverberation for the atmosphere. It is difficult to say whether it is best to point the other microphone points forward, up, down or backwards, the results will change according to the room layout, proximity to walls and so on. A few minutes of sound sampling is a worthwhile experiment. I have also found that the microphone below or behind the instrument adds a lot of buzz to the recording. Otherwise, the following images should be clear enough.

Reed Season! – New Repertoire.

Physical update first:

Because my physiotherapist is on vacation, I’m actually skipping a month of treatments. Increased activity at the gym is a mixed blessing: I do feel generally more awake, but I do get extra sore the morning after. Every fitness and therapy person I speak to agree that it’s a matter of doing too much too fast. Right now, I can’t do much in the pool and too much time in the hot tub appears to seize my neck muscles resulting in passing headaches and pinched nerves.

Oboe-wise: my fingers are feeling great! I don’t get the fatigue and the soreness in the fingers themselves anymore (“Mashala”, as they say: “God made it so!”). These past few days, however, I’ve been getting those twinges in the forearm and shoulder that remind me of tendonitis. They are not tendonitis, I’m sure, but either a pinched nerve in the neck or a few tight muscles. I know this for sure because my fingers are playing just as smoothly as they have in these past few months, which is more than ever in my best days.

Reed Season:

I’m starting to think that there is something special about the end-of-summer / beginning-of-autumn season for reeds. In the past couple of weeks, my reeds have been much easier to make than usual and showing clearly if they are good or bad; that is, a bad reed shows it has no hope so I can break it without regret and the good ones clearly show what they need to become their best. My reeds have also been sounding generally better than usual…. that is, they can sound bright or dark, but there is no doubt as to their character.

I have recently made excellent reeds on rainy days, so the notion of sunny days are necessary to making good reeds is now demolished. However, this is pretty much the opposite season to February, which typically gives the worst sounding and behaving reeds. So I think the notion of seasons and climate is well evidenced.

New Repertoire: copy-cat or comparison?

I received a shipment of Music Minus One (MMO) material last week. I got some really good baroque repertoire for oboe, recorder and flute (that will all be played on the oboe) and discovered a baroque composer I did not know before: Veracini. I also got some straight-forward jazz and Brazilian repertoire for flute. These will be interesting because they really use the high register of the flute. I will need to practice note in the following range:

Telemann, Son. G-Dur mvt.1

Included in that shipment is a collection of Telemann duets for flute with no continuo. The MMO CD has a flutist playing flute 2, but the sheet music has both parts. I thought it might be nice to record some of these with the flute on CD and with myself playing both parts. By Murphy’s law, someone had done this and posted it on the BBoard! That someone is Craig Matovich, whom I respect quite a lot as an oboist and as a person: we disagree on some aspects of reed making and tooling, play very differently, but we share many ideals including:

1. 

   Telemann, Son. G-Dur mvt.2
   Pursuing oboe performance for the sheer joy of it to spite any difficulties.
2. Using technology as an ensemble when we can’t get people to play with.
3. Sharing our experience in the hopes it benefits and/or encourages others.
4. Exploring classical, world-folk, jazzy and fusion of musical styles.
5. 

   Telemann, Son. G-Dur mvt.3
   The love of music and life overall and hope for peace, understanding and caring in the world.

I had intended to work on another sonata, but Craig agreed that it might be interesting to compare the same work with our different sounds and styles. I personally think he did a remarkable set of recordings. So while I prepare for mine, here they are his. His knowledge, experience and tooling (hardware and software) are far superior to mine, but still accessible to the amateur home-producer.

Mental obstacles to technique

Reading through these have been very enlightening in terms of how my body reacts to technical passages. I know from my old repertoire that my technical abilities are decent… for example, I have shown in a previous post that I can paly Telemann sonatas well enough. But when I read a new Telemann piece that is of equal technical skill, I fail miserably. I observed that my mistakes mostly come from 2 mental processes:

1. Expecting notes and rhythms that are not actually what is written.
2. Not knowing what to expect and therefore fumbling at every note grouping.

So, improving technique for me, at least in baroque repertoire, is essentially training the mind more than the fingers. I have to see if the same is true with Saint-Saëns, Poulenc and others.

Telemann, Sonata in A minor

The whole world by now should know the tragic shooting and bombing in Oslo, Norway. I remember the shooting at École Polytechnique de Montréal (I had started the Conservatoire), I remember the shootings at Columbine and Virginia Tech.: as terrifying as these were, as much as they stirred society and destroyed our sense of safety in this world, the recent shooting in Oslo was far worse.

This is not expected anywhere in the developed world, but when it hits a country that won “top country” to live in for nearly 10 years (taking over from Canada which held it for nearly 8 years), there is just no describing how that shakes our perception of the world.

There is very little that can be said about such wasteful horror. For sure, the perpetrators’ goals will backfire as the world, and Norwegians in particular, deplore their actions.

Anniversary Recording

Here it is, that “baroque sonata” I mentioned in the past few posts. It took longer than expected because, well, I am an hobbyist! Apart from lacking endurance, work and projects for my wife and I have been more involving than usual, so there was just no way to record more than one movement a day. And, naturally, when one day’s recordings are not satisfactory, an extra day is required! And the last couple of weeks, very hot and very humid (calculated “feels like” of 117° Farenheit or 47° Celcius) means that my best reeds were not as stable as they were 2 months ago… (see previous post)

All this means I wanted to delay the recording again, especially since I have a 3-day weekend to make reeds (and clean-out the garage!), but new reeds are never good for performance anyway and I have a few things to celebrate:

1. well over 11 thousand visits since the blog began last Christmas!
2. a little over 1 year since my oboe was revoiced,
3. a little over 1 year since my oboistic revival began: more seriously practicing an average of 30-45 minutes a day.
4. the 3rd birthday of our first house-dog Popcorn!

So I decided to go ahead. The final recording is probably the best representation of my current abilities after one year of revival. I ended up using the “gold reed” from this previous post.

… a difficult joy!

Telemann, Sonata A-, 1st mvt.

In a previous post and other places, I said that the music of Telemann and Haendel is just as difficult to play as it is beautiful. In the case of Haendel, there is something in the ease of the melodic patterns that just requires every ounce of musical understanding and artistic soul the performer is capable of conjuring.

In the case of Telemann, there is just no end to the possibilities in the music! I’ve been practicing (anew) Telemann’s sonata for oboe in A minor for 2 or 3 months now, and seriously, every time I sit down to one of the movements, I discover something else; either a better way to phrase a lick, or simply a different and equally beautiful way to perform it.

Telemann, Sonata A-, 2nd mvt.

Choosing one style and staying with it becomes difficult - besides, I’m lacking the finger and sound control for some of the styles I would have wanted: they sounded “grotesque” in the literal sense… perhaps these styles require period instruments or maybe I need to experiment with microphone positioning more!

 

Recording & Production:

I did not make a video this time because I wanted to try out a new microphone layout in the dining room for a better sound quality.

Telemann, Sonata A-, 3rd mvt.

It would have been too much hassle to set-up my computer with the web-cam on the main floor near the entrance to capture the video. I think the sound impression of a recital hall is much better, but there is still much to discuss and experiment.

Also, I had mentioned that with the Free Recording software Audacity, all kinds of effects can be done in conjunction with multi-track recording.

In this case, I used it to tweak the piano accompaniment obtained from Music Minus One (MMO): I changed the piano track and then recorded my performance on another track while listening to the modified piano part.

Telemann, Sonata A-, 4th mvt.

I hope to discuss some reflections on the recording next week. For now, some remarks about each movement:

1. In a couple of places, you might hear a “hhussshhh”: that’s the background noise from the piano part getting much louder. The piano player gave a very academic and simplistic performance, one that matches what can be expected of most 1st year university oboe students. In some places, there was a soft p “echo” where I preferred to emphasise the repeat. So I made that piano segment louder… unfortunately, that included the “white noise” from the MMO recording!
   
2. I sped-up the piano part because I just felt it was not lively enough. Listen closely and you will find a few blips, but generally the technique is not so bad. My arms still tenses up when playing as a result of doing too much at the gym too fast. Furthermore, on these recording days, I neglected stretching and such: the resulting strain shows in the technique and the sound control.
   
3. If you think the piano sounds Honky-Tonk, that is because I slowed it down. The accompaniment was too fast for the atmosphere I wanted to portray. The pitfall to this: a kind of inner-echo is produced, making it sound like an old silent-movie piano.
   
4. Starting to play before the recorded piano (even with 4 metronome taps) makes it really hard to play in time with the piano! Predicting when the piano will start playing took a lot of practice, especially at the grand pause before the re-exposition!

At the beginning of movements 2 and 4, it almost sounds like I am playing two oboes at the same time. I have absolutely no explanation for this. It can’t even be explained by copy-pasting things in Audacity: to do so would either have no effect (same track pasted twice) or sound really bad (different tracks overlapping). I can only guess that I had turned my body relatively to the walls in such a way that the echo would be picked-up by the microphone pointing away from me. I will discuss this in the next posting.