Going back to wordpress….
Thursday July 30 2009
Well, I just spent 30 minutes deleting advertisements for anything from car insurance to all sorts of prescription drugs that I’ve never heard of. The downside of my current website is it doesn’t have filtering for people’s comments, and so anyone and their cousin can leave messages. So I’m starting a new blog at cooperwrightreeds.wordpress.com. So come visit me over there!
Welcome to the heat…
Friday July 24 2009
Well, we drove just over 1300 miles to relocate to our new home in Chandler, Arizona. We moved in exactly one week ago, and the Qwest internet guy came and hooked up our connection, so I’m back to Internet-land. How did we survive without it!?!?!? (I went nuts without it, but that’s another story.)
Currently I’m catching up on my reed orders, and should have all my orders ready to go out by Monday. My wife is currently working at Weber Reeds, owned by David and Vendla Weber helping them get orders off, do paperwork, and general management. It’s odd having my wife come home talking about shaper tips and mandrels and cane types and what not. No, in fact it’s just plain-out BIZARRE…. She’s entered my odd little world, and I’m not sure how I feel about it!
In any case, it’s great to be in Arizona, and have the fortune to see the Webers and speak to David daily on reed ideas, gouge concepts, repair techniques, and what not. I feel like a very fortune person, and look forward to this upcoming year
I’m starting to go back to the Ferlings. Somehow in my training, I managed to get by without doing them all, and I thought now would be a good time to get caught up doing them.
I’m looking for students now. I love teaching, but I’m sure getting students will be tough. There’s a lot of good players out here!
Packin’ up…
Saturday July 11 2009
Well, we are just about packed, and ready to head toward Arizona this Tuesday! It’s been a good two years of homecoming to come back here in Eugene, but education awaits and I’m looking forward to living in Arizona near Mr. Weber, Martin, and 4,999,998 other people.
Brava!
Sunday May 10 2009
Today I drove up to Portland to hear a girl I know play her senior high school recital.
Jessica Woolf won the Oregon state high school championship this past year on the Strauss Concerto, and studies with Martin Hebert.
Today she played:
1. Marcello Concerto (in C minor)
2. 1st Rhapsodie from Deux Rhapsodies by Loeffler
3. Saint Saens Sonata
Intermission
4. Poulenc Trio
5. Ravel Pavane for a Dead Princess (transcribed for EH/Piano)
6. Gabriel’s Oboe
It was quite the marathon, and I was quite impressed by her technique, tone and stamina! My god that girl has chops of steel! I must say it was probably the best high school recital I’ve ever been to. Certainly the best high school OBOE… recital I’ve ever been to.
Brava Jessica!
3rd time is a charm
Saturday May 09 2009
So my new website has one major problem.
I’ve tried to write a blog entry twice and it’s automatically logged me out before I could finish my blog entry, and then when I hit the back button, it erased my entire blog entry. Twice. So here I go, Third time’s a charm.
I know I’ve been a bad little blogger here, but I’m hoping to get back into the swing of things. This past quarter (starting end of March/beginning of April) was extremely stressful, intense, and dramatic, but it looks like things are coming to a close.
At the end of March, I had my recital jury. This is a jury where I have to play most of my recital to prove whether I’m prepared or not. I did just fine, however there was a miscommunication with my pianist so she didn’t come for the Poulenc. It was a “he said she said” situation, which never really got sorted out, but the bottom line was that she didn’t show up, and the committee held me responsible. I played fine, but because of this detail they were ready to flunk my jury, call off my recital for the quarter, and force me to stick around until the Fall to finish my degree. Which didn’t sound enjoyable. Finally, after a week and a half of deliberation, they decided to pass me, and I was cleared to play my April 27th recital.
The April 27th recital was not without a bit of drama as well. Somehow, my intermission got left off, and my teacher told me I needed to just suck it up, go out there and play the recital. So I played the Poulenc Sonata, Tomasi Evocations, Marcello Concerto (in c minor) and Mozart Quartet without an intermission. And I made it somehow without falling off the reed. It was indeed a long recital for me, but I’m proud of the accomplishment, and it certainly was a test of my mental and physical stamina.
Yesterday was my final step; the oral examination. This was again with the same three committee members (my oboe professor, Prof. Wayne Bennett who is the clarinet prof and conductor of the orchestra, and Prof. Bob Ponto who is the conductor of the Wind Ensemble) and they drilled me with difficult questions. The first question was Dr. Kolb put a very modern piece for solo oboe in front of me, and told me I had 24 hours to learn. How would I go about learning it? I listed off a bunch of steps and things, but apparently what she was looking for was for me to put the metronome the kitchen table and set it to 60bpm, and sing through it five times. And honestly, I just don’t sing through my parts often enough, so of course I didn’t get that.
The next question was, “What is the role of the 1st oboe in the symphony orchestra?” This question is so open ended, and while I listed off a million answers that were right, and I did indeed say the 1st oboe needs to lead the wind section, they were looking for me to specify exactly how the leading happens. The first oboe lead the wind section because they’re always audible, and should set the standard in pitch, style (and articulation), rhythm, and be visually leading as well.
The third question was to list 10 common excerpts found on an audition list and their movements, and what was hard about them. I listed Le Tombeau, La Scala, Brahms Violin Concerto, Mendelssohn 3, Beethoven 3, Don Juan, Bach BWV… 82, Brahms 1, Tchaik 4, and Bartok Concerto for orchestra.
My final question was the story behind why the Marcello Concerto in C minor is usually attributed to Benedetto Marcello rather than Alessandro. Actually, my professor seemed to have another story other than the one I had researched, but I managed to get my way through it, and passed the test!
So I guess I will be a Master of Music now!