Author: ohsuzan
Date: 2005-11-07 04:06
. . . Makes Me Stronger.
Just got back from the performance that I had been dreading for the past month -- the Wind Symphony with the Tuner Mafia in charge.
Well, except for the conductor's wife, they all put the tuners away tonight.
And, lo and behold, a whole raft of French horn players showed up, and a good percussionist and a timpanist and a couple more trumpets. No problem with the oboe dominating *anything*, tonight.
But I have to say, the up side of this whole experience is that I have learned to play REALLY REALLY REALLY quietly, and in tune at the same time.
While waiting to go on tonight, I was reading an article by Martin Schuring about the fundamentals of oboe playing, and something he wrote about embouchure just clicked for me. I was trying to play SO VERY softly, and I was really closing down the reed, making attacks totally problematic.
After reading this article, I tried something different -- instead of closing it down, I just did the "whistle" thing, and really brought in the sides of my mouth hard, but left the center quite relaxed.
Voila! I could suddenly play pianississimo, and I could still articulate, and the intonation didn't distort.
I hit all five of my solos (I think it was five -- maybe it was six) dead on, except the last (in "Porgy and Bess"). I started fine, but about three bars into it, something very weird happened -- never has happened to me before, ever, not even in practice -- when I dropped the octave from mid-F to low-F, I just got a funny non-tone -- like there was a leaky pad, or something. It didn't throw me, thank goodness, and I was able to finish the line. But it sure wasn't perfect, and I've played it so nicely every other time (when it didn't count).
After each piece in which there was a solo, the conductor had the soloists stand for acknowledgement. Cool -- except he brought me up for a piece in which I DIDN'T have a solo. He said, "C'mon, Susan, stand up! You had a nice solo!"
I looked at his wife (who, for better or worse, sits next to me) and said, "Huh?". She just shrugged, so I stood up. Is it possible I played a solo line without knowing it? (Things do go by rather quickly. . .)
So, tonight I got credit for things I DIDN'T do. Which is funny ha-ha, but definitely nicer than getting harassed for other peoples' pitch problems.
I feel SO much better now.
Susan
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