Oboe dueting, and the Zelenkas

Friday September 28 2007

I’ve rediscovered the joy of playing duets, and can’t wait to get to work on these Zelenkas. On Sunday I’ll rehearse #2 with Tyler Stollberg, an up and coming sophomore here at the University of Oregon who has a tremendous amount of talent. He also is very curious about reedmaking techniques, and enjoys reedmaking almost as much as me (perhaps more!?!? Isn’t THAT… a scary thought!) He’s also helping me with the cane preparation, and we’ve talked a lot of oboe reeds already. I hope we cane become good reedmaking buddies, and “gel together” in our playing. He’s got a lot there, and it’ll be exciting to see how he develops as a player in the future.

Nat wrote on the comments how long the Zelenkas are. OH MY GOSH…. I CAN…’T BELIEVE… how long they are. And they were originally written for oboe too! (#3 is for Violin and oboe). How can this possibly be? What was he thinking? Did oboes back in those days have chops of steel? This past spring when I was visiting Arizona State University, I saw that in back-to-back weeks, Martin Schuring was performing all 6 of them on 2 separate recitals. 3 sonatas each. I can’t even imagine what kind of preparation he must do in order to build up that much endurance. It hurts my mouth even thinking about it.

I have a recording that I’d never even heard of until I found it in the library of Holliger and Bourgue playing with Klaus Thunemann on Bassoon and Christian Jaccottet on Harpsichord. A very very fine recording. I have said it before and I’ll say it again. Holliger is one of the finest Baroque interpreters of our time.

Reader Question

Friday September 28 2007

“is oboe d’ amore more similar to the oboe or English horn?”

Good question, and I’m not sure I know the answer to this. Perhaps someone like Patty Mitchell who is a professional oboist AND… and a professional English Hornist could answer this question better.

But I do know that there are two schools of thought to this. Some people believe that the d’amore should be played closer to an oboe. For example, Steven Lickman, who makes Dallas Bocals believes the d’amore should be played closer to an oboe. I can’t remember where I read (maybe even a personal email) but he suggests not using wire on d’amore reeds, unlike his common practice of putting a wire on an English Horn reed. This point is further reflected in people’s gouging techniques and shaper tips. Some people believe d’amore cane needs an entirely different gouging curve, which should measure somewhere around .65 in the middle and .50-.55 on the sides. I know for Mr. Weber’s d’amore cane, he just uses 11.0 diameter cane with an oboe gouging machine where he thickens it up. I’ve used it and it has worked well for me. RDG… also sells oboe d’amore cane, which measures around .65 in the middle but has VERY… thick sides. In fact, they are so thick that I shaped some pieces up on my Giacobassi tip and made some very fine English Horn reeds on the cane.

RDG… also makes a tip designed by Elaine Douvas for oboe d’amore that is supposed to work well for those who just want to use regular old oboe cane. This further reflects the issue that there seems to be no one solution.

Thomas Stacy, principal English Hornist of the NYP… obviously believes that d’amore should be played closer to d’amore. If you compare his tip dimensions to those of the Douvas tip and the RDG… regular d’amore tip, you will notice a huge difference in the throat and in the flair of the tip. (3.5, 5.5, 6.7, 7.5, 7.6 on the Douvas and 3.5, 5.5, 6.7, 7.5, 7.8 on the RDG… regular tip, compared to 4.5, 5.6, 6.75, 7.55 and 8.1 on the Thomas Stacy tip.) The large throat kind of makes sense considering he talked about “blowing blowing blowing” in his interview which I posted earlier so the larger throat would allow more air flow, and perhaps less back-pressure.

I’ve played the oboe d’amore three or four times now, for a total of close to a year or so, and I’ve played around with all of the above techniques mentioned. I’ve made d’amore reeds on the RDG… 2 shape (which I now make oboe reeds on), my no-name d’amore shaper tip, and really wide d’amore shapes. I’ve used oboe cane, d’amore cane, and really thick d’amore cane, and they all have their strengths and differences.

I think the bottom line is most of us are not d’amore specialists or professional d’amore players. In fact, most of us are not even professional English Horn players, so ultimately, we end up trying to make something that is closer to an oboe reed (partially because we’re afraid of playing a new instrument and gravitate to what feels most comfortable, partially because it’s easiest to play.) But if you have the time, resources, and patience, learning to make d’amore reeds is a worthwhile experience and gives the player more flexibility. But it certainly does take more air and more mouth muscle.

The last note is that I think even many English Horn players debate whether they should play the EH like an oboe, or if it’s an entirely different beast. Obviously Mr. Stacy has come to his own conclusions, which works great for him. I’ve played oboe reeds, and they’re HEAVY…, so in a funny sense, I’d say his oboe reeds feel more like EH reeds to me! Furthermore, Pedro Diaz states on his website states;

The English horn is neither a big oboe nor a little bassoon. It is a one-of-a-kind unique animal. That’s how it earned its place in the orchestra. Any attempt at standardization will lead to no- man’s land (perhaps more accurately, one-man’s land). No two English hornists I know think exactly alike on what they strive for. Yet, most of us face the same challenges. If you play with conviction, imagination (and in tune) your sound or “school” is secondary. When I think about sound concepts, I imagine the violoncello, tenor or alto voice, bassoon, viola and horn (I wish I could sound like a cello on the EH). It is no coincidence really. These are the instruments I play with most of the time in the orchestra. If there is one instrument I don’t think about is the oboe. I only think about the oboe in terms of function: reeds, attacks, hand position, etc. It is essential to know the oboe well, but once you are on the EH chair, you need to “divorce” yourself from your oboe habits (if you are bilingual, you know that you can only master a second language once you start thinking and dreaming in that language). But in the end, being a great oboe player can lead to your becoming an even better English hornist, provided you know “the tricks” and apply them to the EH.

Meanwhile, I recently got a hold of one of Julie Ann Giacobassi‘s reeds (thanks Patty!) which looks oddly like an oboe reed. I mean, REALLY… looks like an oboe reed. It’s shorter, smaller, and thinner. And she just recently retired from playing professionally. So what’s the solution? Who knows!?

The wheels on the oboe reed machine are moving…

Friday September 28 2007

Well, reeds are in full swing of things. I’ve recruited some help to help me split/sort/pregouge pieces of cane. What a big help! I don’t let ANYONE… touch my gouging machines because they’re so finicky, and plus you can tell a lot about a piece by how it gouges up, so I prefer to do that step myself. I’m also very picky about shaping and believe you can tell a lot about a piece of cane and it’s gouge by how it folds over my finger, so I prefer to do that step by myself to make sure each piece is shaped absolutely correct. I also find that many players aren’t careful while shaping, and don’t get a perfectly shaped piece, or they hack into the shape too much, taking off sides and leaving a leaky piece of cane (which nobody can do anything with).

Pretty soon, I’ll also recruit someone to help me with tying blanks. The problem is I haven’t met someone who can tie as consistent and quickly as me, so I get impatient waiting for them (it usually takes me 2.5 minutes to tie, so about 25 reeds an hour).

So in my reed case now I have 17 blanks just waiting for my scraping. Today I had the day off (no class, except for orchestra which was rehearsing the Schumann Cello concerto which I’m not playing) so I sat and made 10 reeds in about 4 hours. Very productive. Unfortunately, I’m still behind on my orders by about 17 reeds. I’m hoping to get all 27 reeds in the mail by Monday.

Read the Rest

Woo! First week… DONE!

Friday September 28 2007

It’s been a busy first week, but I’m happy with what’s happened and everything that is going to happen.

Well, I couldn’t hack it, so I dropped out of counterpoint. Call me a wuss, call me a slacker, I just call myself too busy. But I did register for a “Wind Rep” class with Bob Ponto, the head guy of the U of Oregon Wind Ensembles. He’s a very nice guy, and very friendly as well as a terrific musician. I actually had the pleasure of playing under him a bit when I was in high school at South Eugene High School and he would guest conduct every so often. The “small group” (there’s four students, and him) class is a lot of fun. We sit around for an hour, listen to music of wind ensembles of various sizes, dating from Bach to music written in the 21st century. Occasionally we have to write reports on composers, but that’s it. Pretty easy. I joked with him that I felt like I needed a 6 pack and a bag of Doritos, to which he exclaimed, “Just bring enough for the five of us!”

I’m also enjoying my History of Opera class, which is a strict musicology class. I’ve always loved musicology, and enjoy reading the documents and analyzing the music that is required. Marian Smith is a very nice professor, and seems to be a very positive influence upon the class. I have a feeling it will be one of those classes where “the more you put in, the more you get out” which is great, because I expect to “put in” a great amount. This week’s opera: Monteverdi’s “L’Orfeo” (By the way, why do you think professors often put pictures of themselves up from the 70s for their bios on University websites?)

Well, I’m certainly going to have my hands for with performing here. This quarter I’ll be playing only EH in the Wind Ensemble, along with :

Orch:

• 1st×Symphonie Fantastique
• 1st×Funeral March of a Marionnette
• 1st×Danse Macabre
• 2nd×Rainbow Body (Theofanidis)
• 2nd×Beethoven 5
• 2nd×Cantata Academia (Britten)

Chamber Music:

• 1st on Zelenka Sonata II
• 1st on Zelenka Sonata V
• Ligeti’s 6 Bagatelles

I’m playing so much, that it’s hard to come up with the endurance to practice, not to mention prepare for my lessons for which I’m supposed to be working on this quarter:

• Mozart Concerto
• Le Tombeau de Couperin
• La Scala di Seta

I was also asked to play in the TA woodwind quintet, but for some reason I turned it down. Call me lazy.
Did I mention this is for the Quarter? As in 10 weeks.

My head hurts.

Tough First Day

Monday September 24 2007

I had a tough one today. Counterpoint is going to be a lot of work, but I like the professor. He’s a nice guy. It’s something that I really am not real excited about, but I know I need to learn it, and I know I will eventually be able to build off of it the rest of my musical career. So I just need to bite the bullet and go for it.

I also had my first oboe lesson today. We did a lot of scales, and talked about rhythm a lot. Bottom line is I need to be rhythmic in everything I do. I mean absolutely perfectly rhythmic. Even in my “reed testing toot toot warmup” as my professor put it. We set goals for the upcoming quarter: Le Tombeau, La Scala, and Mozart Concerto. No problem. Piece of cake. Right? Oh, and did I mention, a recital in November? And WW Quintet. And Orch. And Wind Ensemble. And Lord knows what else.

First orchestra rehearsal today. The good news is I had fun. The bad news I had too much fun. The conductor said several times, “A little less 1st oboe.” Well, at least he can hear me. I think this is going to be really good for me. I need to get better at balancing with a woodwind section (I haven’t had to worry about it much for a long time.) I got my butt kicked on Symphonie Fantastique. The whole piece just is very conjunct while playing it, and 1st oboe has lots of 3rd octave work (high Ebs to F#s, maybe G?) The final movement has a nice nasty little trill part that definitely isn’t sightreading friendly, as was proven in my placement audition. OUCH…!

Tomorrow is a new day. History of Opera, oboe studio, and Wind Ensemble. Oh boy. Can’t wait.

My mouth really hurts tonight.