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Doublereed Archive - Posting 000072.txt from 2004/06
From: herb fawcett <herbgosia@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [DR-L] Are military comments off topic?
Date: Thu, 10 Jun 2004 15:19:23 -0400
There is a water based "lacquer" which I have used. It is white, but dries
transparent and is then no longer soluble in water. I think I got mine as a
sample from Tony Romano, but not sure. Bernie Garfield was using melted
beeswax to seal his wrappings, but the ones he sent me were problematic. He
was concerned with the solvents in glue etc. I often use "hot glue" to seal
the but of my reeds. It is certainly more secure than rubber bands, ugly as
heck, but you can write on it with a felt pen for ID of reeds. After a
little practice, it gets a little prettier, and I think it comes in a few
colors. I get mine in a craft store, and I use the "mini" gun with low temp
glue.
Thanks for the considered words.
Herb
> From: Kat Sleeper <katsleeper@-----.net>
> Reply-To: doublereed@-----.org
> Date: Thu, 10 Jun 2004 14:46:16 -0400
> To: doublereed@-----.org
> Subject: Re: [DR-L] Are military comments off topic?
>
> On Thursday, June 10, 2004, at 10:54 AM, Jonathan Dlouhy wrote:
>
>> "Shoemaker, stick to thy last."
>
>
> --and the poor shoemaker is the first to bite the dust when "things"
> happen in the world around him...
>
> I think expressing disinterest in discussing anything political or
> outside of the nuts and bolts of the double reed profession is one
> thing...no problem, understood...delete away. But to say none of us
> should because it has nothing to do with playing the bassoon or oboe or
> being a musician is simply denial and not fair. No one is being forced
> to read anything and some people appreciate the discourse.
>
> I went to China in 1993 as an ACULSPEC (American Cultural Specialist)
> sponsored by the American Embassy (a political body...who paid for our
> hotel, salary, expenses, driver, airfare, etc.) It was a wonderful,
> life-altering experience--musically, socially, emotionally
> and....politically. When I performed in a concert series entitled
> "East meets West" during that month in Beijing, there had been a "boat
> boarding incident" that occurred the day before our second concert. I
> knew nothing of this. That night, I commented on how nicely the ushers
> were dressed. When I came out to play Liu Qi's and Thom Sleeper's
> pieces (hence the title of the concert) I noticed the two seats in the
> middle of the third row were empty--they were the ones reserved for the
> President of China and the American Ambassador. They were the only
> empty seats in the house. I found out later about the incident and no
> one had told me because they didn't want to scare or upset me. The
> ushers were members of the military. They were armed. I was one of
> four Americans in the building. Two of those were the Cultural Attache
> to China and his wife. He filled me in on the details and what it
> could have meant to me, personally, later. What went on regarding the
> logistics of our musical tour and what it all took to make it happen
> was fascinating, interesting and very, very relevant.
>
> While there I met a man who had been sent to the country for
> rehabilitation for owning a recording of Shostakovitch's 5th symphony.
> He had once aspired to be a conductor. He now works for IBM China.
> Most of the older members of the orchestra were war orphans who had
> been sent by the government to the conservatories because they needed a
> place to put them. They performed in buildings which were not heated
> at certain times of the year because of governmental decree (even
> though they really needed to be--just for personal comfort, let alone
> instrument preservation) and had to depend on the good graces of the
> fellow musicians who were in charge of housing.
>
> I met a man from Croatia who was once trying to have a horn lesson in
> the basement of his music building while bombs were going off and guns
> were being fired in the street above him. A man I know from Yugoslavia
> was handed a gun at age 17 and told to go kill Croatians. He didn't
> want to go kill Croatians. He escaped via a cruise ship and now has
> political asylum here. Instead of a being what he wanted to be, he is,
> for the moment anyway, a janitor for the church who helped him.
>
> I know a Latvian violinist whose brother had a great career as a
> trombonist, until he displeased someone politically and his adam's
> apple was broken and he can no longer play.
>
> I went out to dinner with a member of the Berlin Philharmonic. We
> discussed music, of course, but also food, entertainment, the
> rainforest, current events and yes--politics. A flutist friend from
> Germany is no longer performing in traditional venues, but instead is
> using his music to try to bring attention to war torn areas.
>
> I am not just a musician to these people--I am also a symbol of a place
> where people are perceived as free to pursue their lives and their
> music. I am asked so many questions I cannot answer. They all know so
> much about what is going on in the world and what it means to so many
> daily lives--yes--even musical ones. (And I am not even going into my
> personal experience with our different administrations and what they
> have meant to my income and job opportunities.)
>
> These people also had many different ideas of what an American is like.
> That, I cannot answer, either with words or by example. I have found
> over the years that I have as much or more in common with all the
> musicians I have met all over the world, as with all the Americans I
> have met--and yet...I feel like an American--I just don't know exactly
> why.
>
> I was pretty moved by Sameer's post. An oboist with vibrato questions
> in a country full of American soldiers he doesn't want to have there.
> All I can offer in addition to my sadness at the mental image of his
> family drive is this: I, a mother of two and bassoonist by profession
> who had the good fortune to be born in the USA, do not want those
> soldiers to be there, either. I, personally, want a world where the
> shoemaker and the oboist can pay attention to their respective crafts
> and arts and the world goes on peacefully around them, letting them be.
> I want those of us who want this as well to figure out what we can do
> to help make that happen. The ones who are waging war are NOT going to
> make that happen.
>
> I have a small hunch that one of the first steps is to greatly reduce
> our individual consumption of oil and natural resources. Since I have
> to drive all over the place to perform, I've just bought a car that
> gets twice the gas mileage of my old one.
>
> I also like the idea of organic cane. And if anyone knows of a glue
> that works as well as DUCO cement (man that stuff is nasty) that isn't
> full of horrible chemicals, please tell. Sometimes I just wrap mine
> with rubber bands (at least you can use them over!) and leave it at
> that.
>
> --Kat Sleeper
>
>
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