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!

Gracias a la vida para el oboe - Obrigado música Caraíbas!

It turns out the fatigue spell mentioned in the last blog post was nothing more than the onset of a normal every day cold.... not even a bad one! I took 2 days off from work mostly so I would not give it to anyone else - also couldn't play oboe for most of the week, but no harm done!

Sizzling music for hot times!

Brazilian Oboe & Guitar!

This past weekend was the hottest March weekend in memory of everyone I know who has lived in Eastern Canada in the past 75 years. The thermometer showed 26*C and the very rapidly melting snow shot the humidity up to near 90%... very uncomfortable!

So to celebrate the quick arrival of Spring in Ottawa and to honour the very many Portuguese and Spanish friends, here is a little something from a sizzling Minus One collection! My apologies if the performance style is reflects my love for Canadian Winters: I can only hope to grow the warm heart of Spanish and Portuguese speaking people!

I'm amazed at how many Faccebook Friendship requests and Twitter Followers I have gotten from Central and South-America, Spain and Portugal. The Portuguese and Spanish cultures are different, but from my French & English-Canadian musical perspective, they both share and offer together a wonderful set of styles including Samba, Tango, Rumba, Bossa-Nova and so on. Collectively, these are usually known as "Latino" or "Caribbean" and they are a real treat to play and hear: full of the enjoyment of life. I used to play these styles a lot in the Army Bands for concerts and Mess-Dinners: they were a favourite of the audience because they are so lively and promote good feelings when dozens of military officers (of very different personalities and career objectives!) would get together for drinks, supper and presentations.

I am also very much impressed by the musical activity, amateur and professional in the Caribbean and South America. Classical culture seems to be strongly promoted in high-school and as a part of everyday life. Of course, I only see what is available through Facebook and You-Tube and I have no idea how these are funded or managed, but I have to wonder if they might be doing much better than us over here!... then again, I am very likely not aware of everything we are doing here either!

GRACIAS - OBRIGADO!

Nino Rota Duet for 2 oboes (1/3)

 20 000 visits to the blog!

Last week marked well over twenty thousand visits to this blog, from 78 countries – in less than a year!
I am really thrilled at this, and I still find it extraordinary to see Google searches that point specifically to my posts!
Thank you so much to all visitors!

 

Nino Rota: much more than movie music!

Tre pezzi per due oboi (1/3) : Vecchia Romanza

A few months ago, Michele sent me sheets for a rare duet for 2 oboes by Nino Rota. I say “rare” because I had never heard of Rota writing chamber music, but perhaps Italians play this all the time? At any rate, I take it as an honour to perform these and play both oboe parts using the multi-track recording system on my recording device.

This is a set of 3 duets written specifically for 2 oboes, and I actually wanted to wait to record all three at the same time, but I have to celebrate 20000 visits! The duets are not difficult BUT the first oboe requires good control of the altissimo register (3rd octave key) and the 2nd and 3rd movements are really tricky in term of rhythmic ensemble. I need more time to get it right. This is not the first time I am pleasantly surprised with Rota, but I’ll mention that with the next recording. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy!

Facebook International Oboe Groups – Michele Mancaniello

The groups on Facebook that join oboists and bassoonists from all over the world are simply fantastic. Apart from sharing videos, news, performance information, and many, many questions, the international exposure really expands our horizons.

A few participants have distinguished themselves as particularly generous with their expertise,  and resources. One such notable participant is Michele Mancaniello, a professor of music in Montemilone, Italy. Whenever anyone in the world is looking for music sheets of known or obscure pieces, Michele is quick to reply in the wonderful group Oboe in the World. Michele studied music and composition with Nino Rota before completing his formal training as a composer and oboist in Italy. Michele has amassed a considerable library of solo pieces and study repertoire for oboe and is fully eager to share (as permitted by law) with anyone who asks, anywhere in the world. He very humble and friendly: he is Italian, but I would like to see more people like him in Canada too!

 Romantic dog…

This one is called “Vecchia Romanza”, an “old romance”. As I practice it, the music seems to tell me what it wants…. and I don’t hear much romance there… UNLESS I don’t interpret it as “old tune of romance” but rather “old people feeling romantic”. As I get older too, everything in the tune makes sense: it’s not just about hormones, but they are there – it’s not just about passionate feelings, but they are there – and it’s just as much about the memory of romance as it is about feelings today.

This recording was not intended to be the one for You-Tube: it was a warm-up rehearsal and has notes out of tune and errors in rhythm. But if you listen closely, on the last note you will hear a faint howl: that’s my Chihuahua/Maltese dog Popcorn (on the left in picture below), lying on his side and singing with me! When that happened and I heard it on the recording, I HAD to keep it!

Winter reeds…

In a previous post (click here ), I had given 2 pictures of many reeds and said I would comment on them. The picture above is the one I used for this recording.

Winter is only beginning to show up here: the worst will come in 2 months. But the effects on reeds is already starting to show: it was worse last week, but they are closing and the crow is much too smooth for my own liking. The reed I use here is shaped on an RDG –1 shaper (using my own gouge at ±0.60mm) and bound on a Stevens #3 thin-wall staple (46.5mm). The staple is very similar to Chiarugi 2+ and I find it really opens-up the expressiveness of the shape. I find (my experience – may be different for others) the RDG shapes can play with a really mellow tone, but the upper register gets much clearer: that is, the sound in the registers change a lot regardless of how the reed is scraped.

The ragged tip you see in the picture actually comes from using an old grenadilla plaque (bellied) which is worn-out: when scraping, the cane is not evenly supported and nicks happen that way. It plays really well nonetheless, only slightly resistant, but I don’t want to make it easier and loose the sound colour.

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.

Physical update – exercise: a double-edged dagger

Last week my wife and I took an enrolment in a local gym+pool. An orientation session was a real revelation, but the results have not all been positive. In fact, evenness of note flow while playing is not as easy, my neck nerve is pulling again and I’ve started feeling that scratch around my wrist and back-of-hand again…. not good!

I had asked my physiotherapist if I was ready to start going to the pool and she said it was fine, but gave many restrictions on what I could do: essentially, no straining of the arms …. how do you move in the pool without using arm strength? I started with back crawl (that was too much) and then just walking while using the arms to move away the water…. still too much. And also, using the hot-tub seems to have worsened the neck-strains that cause headaches. I’ve been getting headaches much more frequently, not so painful, just so annoying normal daily activities are difficult.

On the positive side, the trainer explained why I have a “dip” in my lower back which bulges my belly and also what is increasing constriction on the sciatic nerves, which results in weak legs and sciatica. Essentially, having spent too many years doing mostly computer work and math sitting at a desk really wrecked it for me. Good news, this gym has special machines that increase the effectiveness of key stretching movements that would not work half as well at home, on the couch.

Work the nerves, not just the muscles!

The physiotherapist had given me really simple exercises to do from the very beginning. I had also been neglecting these from the very beginning, mostly because they appear so simple and it’s hard to immediately see the benefits. Here is a video that explains the process, what I had to do was only one: lye on my back with arms out to the side and raise/lower them – that’s all!

Now, with the resumption of pain and blips when playing, I think I better understand why she gave me these exercises.

On another positive note, I had been wanting to ask for (and need to pay for) IMS in the legs as well as in the arms because I had been complaining for over 20 years of weak, sore legs, despite my proficiency on a bicycle and alpine skiing.

Luckily, the gym trainer gave me other exercises that just might work better: IMS is for neuropathic problems, my legs might be simply muscular concerns. He showed my how to use foam rollers to essentially roll-out knots in my muscles like a rolling-pin on a pie-crust…… it HUUUURRRRRTS!!! just as bad as IMS! But apparently the pain stops as the muscles get better. Strangely, when my wife does the exercise, she feels no pain at all while I literally sob from it! But the strain in my calves is likely reducing the depth of my sleep, so fixing that is really important.

So, for the next week, I’ll pay more attention to what the physiotherapist said, do her exercises and concentrate on my legs at the gym. Hopefully, musical fluidity will return quickly.

Pre-Gouging and tootH yanking…

I capitalized that H because apparently I forgot it on a Tweet and got some good laughs!

First – human (caused) tragedy:

What is happening in Libya right now can cause a lot of anger, for different reasons, directed at completely different “camps”. Regardless of the camp, this can result in anger, fear and pain. I firmly believe that what the general population is told about the motivations is, at best, a load of half-truths. So I beseech everyone, regardless of your political opinions to simply speak for and keep your mind set on a peaceful resolution of the current situation.
I did serve the Canadian Armed Forces: I am Combat Leadership certified. More on that some other time, but I did serve 8 years with pride and honour.
The image to the right is from the War Amps: an organization that raises money to help children with amputated limbs and their families. The image with the downturned rifle is the Canadian Armed Forces’ symbol for mourning dead soldiers (“fallen comrades”). The organization uses this as a logo for their efforts to sensitize people to the horrors of (all) war and to the importance of trying to avoid it and find peaceful solutions to critical situations. Some of you will argue in favour of action to prevent worse trouble: history has yet to show this works at all.

One wisdom tooth gone!

The operation went really well. The “deep sedation” (getting me to sleep) was quick and efficient and the wake-up process went quickly and well. The extraction took an hour, but evidently without problems: today (approx. 48 hours later) no pain, no swelling. 2 weeks to oboe! In the mean-time, prepare reeds for scraping!

Pre-Gouging: the conception of an oboe reed!

I was surprised, during the summer, to read LOTS of questions and discussions about pre-gouging. My wife took some excellent photos and I will use them to explain: many more can be found on her Flickr photostream. In a nutshell, “gouging” cane is giving it the right thickness and inner curve and “pre-gouging” is only about getting a piece of raw can to fit the gouging machine…. that’s all!

To me, the most important criterion for cane selection is flatness: this will greatly determine how “freely” the reed vibrates. Arching inwards will choke the reed and cause leaks close to the binding. Arching outwards will make the blades separate: I got excellent reeds with this, but they are usually difficult on endurance. I don’t care so much about “straightness” (side to side) as this will be cancelled by the shaping.

Most references and stores only mention splitting in 3. For me, the inspection of flatness sometimes shows that it is possible to get 2 flat sides that would ruined by splitting in 3. Fully flat splits are not always possible, so I just aim for the best possible and choose to split in 2 or 3 depending on which will yield closest to flat.

      

The images below show:

1. Split lengths from a canon (tube cane) split in 2, split in 3 and pre-gouged.
2. The split-only cane in the machine: it can work, but risks jamming the machine and messing-up the delicate adjustments.
3. The pre-gouged cane: much easier to gouge.

In terms of quality of cane the important factors are:

1. density and “health” of the grains: hard to tell before scraping – I’ve lately made great reeds with canes of almost all hard/softness
2. flatness of the final cut
3. diameter and thickness of the selection

The thickness of cane will be the subject of another blog post (on gouging). As for the diameter, these pictures show that what looks like a HUGE difference in diameter can be as little as 1mm or 0.5mm. In fact, I consider the arc more important than the diameter because, in an ovoid tube, the diameter can be misleading, especially if you’re using drop-in rulers to measure it.

    

The pre-gouging demonstrations above work equally well with canons split in 2 or 3. I only have difficulty when a canon turns out to have a diameter for English Horn: a bigger pre-gouger (especially for E. H.) is required for that. In many internet guides on reed making, they show chopping the cane before pre-gouging it. I prefer the opposite because:

1. it is easier to chop after the cane is thinned,
2. some split cane lengths can produce 2 pieces for reed making, but the chopping first requires preparation that can ruin it.

For chopping, I removed the guillotine from my beaten-up old gouging machine and made a wood-base for it. The reason is mostly that I could make a fixed-length stopper at the end, making it easier to measure the cut. The base does not need any degree of precision at all (±1.5mm is good enough) and the side bar allows it to take the pushing force from my hand more easily. The guillotine blade needs to be sharpened once in a while, but its nothing precise at all. The gouging is the really sensitive part.

The above images show: (left) cutting a little bit off the end to keep the flatter part in the middle; (center) sometimes, 2 pieces of reed cane can be obtained from the same split length; (right) again, what counts most of all is correctly centering the cut to keep the flattest part.
Other than the above, I pretty well keep all cane, soft or hard, twisted or straight. The reason is that I have it, might as well use it. If it does not work out to be a good reed, well I only lost a few hours of my time. But throwing away the potential for a fantastic reed is a horrible thing!

First Video: Musical Offering to #BachChat

45 Countries have visited my blog for a total of over 3 500 visits!  

The bottom of this page has the list: please let me know if I missed yours!

The Twitter event #BachChat is on Monday, but I'm getting a wisdom tooth pulled out on Friday: I won't be able to play for at least 2 weeks after that. I will spend my "practice time", during those 2 weeks, gouging cane, shaping cane and tying reeds.... I'll get to try out that new Cane Guide gadget.

So I had to hurry-up and get my video together on the weekend and today. This is the 3d movement from Bach's Sonata for Flute in E minor BWV 1034.

First “public appearance” in about 15 years!

I call it "le corps humain" (the human body) because it was the theme song and background music for a documentary series (named "Le Corps humain") by Université de Montréal in the 1980's.

 

RECALL:
I have only been practicing an average of 30 minutes a day for about 9 months now, after a near total absence of 10 years (average 30 minutes a month).... my apologies for trashing this beautiful piece!

My endurance has somewhat improved since the 1st video: two months ago, I would not have been able to perform this piece at all (practice, yes – perform, no), let alone do several takes for the video! In the take used for this video I'm already tired, so the tuning went off at times, otherwise I think my tuning has actually improved compared to 15 years ago. This might be due to the revoicing done on my oboe and better reeds.

Explanation of oboe reed crowing.

The reed I used in the video was very good, not amazing, but very good: satisfactory concert reed. There were questions on the Oboe BBoard about crowing, so here’s a demonstration using the reed I used in the video.

This time, I did a little bit of a warm-up (maybe 5 minutes worth) before the first take. More warm-up would have been good: I noticed my reed got easier, better sounding and simply played better after the 3rd take.

I did the MIDI accompaniment and managed to get rubato and dynamics in the most essential places. The computer played out the speakers and the recording captured that with me on oboe as if it were a live performance. It’s really hard to synchronize a cadenza and start the return of the melody with a machine that does not hear you!

Getting the right settings for microphone gain (sensitivity) was difficult: 5% on the microphone, mic volume of 30% and no more than 30% gain inside the Windows driver, otherwise, crackling noise was just deafening. I don’t know if these settings change the sound, perhaps more gain on the mic and less in the computer would be better?…. need to experiment. For sure, it would have been MUCH easier if I had done multi-track recording like in my 2nd recording. I think the video capture software that came with the webcam is not suited for the complex sounds in music: I did not have these troubles on the device directly or when using Audacity.

Which to choose: better sound? Video really annoying!

Making a video is HARD!

What did not help my endurance at all are the computer problems during the recording! How many times did I start over just because it failed to start recording or because the accompaniment went berzerk? If you get the impression my computerized accompaniment sometimes “yawns” and stretches a beat or two: it’s true! Some of the takes I had to reject had much worse breaks in the video than this.

 

Maybe I need to get more memory and/or deactivate the Internet and a bunch of other things, because at every few takes, the MIDI playback would slow down terribly for a few beats and then pick up again.... was Windows 7 running updates in the background? Also, because I recorded directly to the computer rather than in the recording device, the computer seems to have added pops every once in a while..... maybe I need a MacIntosh? I still have to try Linux (Ubuntu Studio). I could not use Windows Movie Maker at all because of the pops!

 

IMS #6:

last week (#7 tomorrow), went well, but this was a rough week. The weather heated up a lot and this caused my arms and shoulders to get painful again... not as bad as a month ago, but stiff and sore. Towards the end of the video, there are two arpeggios including is that infamous dominant 7th on D. They are not "clean" because of strain in the shoulder: a few weeks ago, I had no trouble with these at all.

 

Thanks again to everyone

I get visits almost every day from every country on the list. I guess this means there is something interesting here! I really enjoy your (rare) comments and e-mails: don’t be shy to criticize, that’s useful too! One thing is for sure, your visits really encourage me. I hope this can also encourage you and motivate you in your endeavours too!

Thank you:
Argentina, Australia, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile, China, Columbia, Cyprus, Egypt, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, India, Ireland, Israel, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Malaysia, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nigeria, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Singapore, Slovenia, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey, U.K., Ukraine, U.S.A.,  Venezuela

Oboes and Technology around the world!

I was just preparing two posts: one on being inspired by masters old and new and one on using computer technology to help playing, be it as a student or as an amateur. But this You-Tube link was made known to me  and I just had to blog about it right away.

Also, clik on the "next" video of his audition (click here). His is the only video I looked at... but I will remedy that shortly for sure!

Apart from his impeccable tuning and even tone, I was struck by his instrument. Take a look at his bell... kind of looks Viennese, or like a Dupin Imperial, but the top joint is as standard as they get! His bio says that he is Canadian, but very multi-national... I have met a lot of these people in Ottawa and Montreal, I kind of like the idea that our country is being defined by people who choose to live here, who adopt our values but who bring their experience and culture from all over the world. We are the Canadian Mosaic where a larger beautiful picture is emerges from the distinct little pieces who conserve their identity: our history is built of our past glories (thank God they are beginning to surface!) and remaining alive in an ever evolving society.

Anyway, this You-Tube orchestra is AT LAST an example of what Internet technology,in fact all computer technology, had been promising for 20 years: to bring people together and share the wealth of culture, thoughts and experience. For so long it seemed that Walkmans, MP3 players, home theatres and video games were isolating us more and more from our surroundings. Well, this is still true in terms of our immediate surroundings (people don't realize your presence on the bus when their ear-phones take all their attention), but at least these blogs and social media are beginning to connect us in a more useful and inspiring way.

But back to his instrument: this makes me realise how very little any one city knows about the makers all around the world. I have mentioned a few makers, outstanding for their innovation, but there are definitely many more well known whose instruments may be just as or more fitting. There are probably many more less well known who deserve to be known too.

But I have to wonder, if so many makers are making so many different excellent instruments, does it really matter which one is chosen in the end? Maybe there are a number of them that form "equivalence classes" in categories that could be defined. Maybe its a little bit like automobiles: they are all improving so much it becomes difficult to say one is better than the other. For example, I was thoroughly convinced I'd buy a Hyundai while saving for the next one to be a Nissan, but I ended up buying a Ford - no compromise at all, I love it and might very well get a bigger Ford next time around!

At any rate, I hope this You-Tube Orchestra proves interesting to all.

Why continue? Youth Oboe Marvel…

Holy Schmoe… just take a look at this (posted on Oboists of the World on Facebook).
(See it on You-Tube)

Child oboe genius makes me want to cry!

Listen, I have never been a fan of child prodigies, but I have played pretty much all instruments and I find this one hard to swallow on an oboe!

OK, ok, ok  the Schumann Adagio and Allegro (2nd video in the list) is lacking in feeling to say the least, BUT SHE’S ELEVEN!!!! How much feeling has she had time to develop in her personal life: she must have slaved away at the oboe for years now.

Oboe & Reeds difficult? HA!

Her young age completely disproves all that crying I’ve been hearing for years about reeds being so hard to get right. If this were true Howarth and Rigoutat would not be making special instruments for children as you as 6! Indeed, take a look at news clips of Howarth’s special work [video] [article].

Just keep playing….

I told my wife, half joking and half discouraged: “All right, why continue to practice after this!” and she replied: “Your blog is not about growing up with the instrument and naturally developing into an amazing player. Your blog is about adults who have never played or who have stopped for so long, to show that it can be done, they can enjoy playing again.”

This reminded me of 2 things:

1. As a student, I was never impressed with acrobatic-styled music: music is about the soul, not the speed.
2. There is soooo much more joy and benefit in playing (even poorly) than there is in listening to MP3s or concerts (even the most amazing).

I certainly cannot put down this amazing young player and I wish her all the happiness of a fulfilling life, musically and in all other respects. But we have to remember why it is we play: because it’s worthwhile to do so; because it fulfills our soul to do so.