Richard Woodhams Masterclass continued…
Thursday July 31 2008
So the masterclass ended with about 20 minutes left to spare, and I managed to get in a few questions that I had been pondering about for quite some time.
I prefaced the first question by stating, “Every year you hear a hundred fantastic young oboists with perfect technique and—” to which he cut me off right there by shooting back. “No. Really. I really don’t.” while shaking his head in disbelief. The group had a momentary chuckle about his well-timed answer. I continued to ask my question of what he looks for in a student when he chooses a student to attend Curtis. Mr. Woodhams seemed to ponder this question, and wasn’t sure how to answer it, but he did say several things that eluded to an answer. He mentioned that he looked for a student who had something to say musically, rather than playing everything on the page. (I couldn’t help thinking he was looking for Simon Cowell’s “It” factor, but I shook this thought off.) He continued to explain that all of us have innate musical ability but some simply have more. So I guess he’s looking for musicality.
The last thing he said was that he just looked for “a good person”. Hm— a good person who can play their pants off I suppose.
The second question I got to ask (since nobody else seemed to jump in with a question) was how he had changed his sound/setup during the move from the Academy of Music to the Kimmel Center. He mentioned that he didn’t realize how oboe-friendly the Academy was until he had moved out. The Academy was infamously (yes Patty INFAMOUS…!) known for being acoustically dead, but the oboe sound would carry out in a pure and clean sound. When he moved to the Kimmel Center, he mentioned the piccolo sound seemed like it would come from the left of him when the piccolo player would be to the right. He also mentioned that he STILL… hadn’t figured out a setup for the Kimmel Center that he felt comfortable with.
One other question I remember was that someone asked what his reed setup was like, to which he sarcastically replied, “Um— Donax Cane, 47 millimeter Stevens 2 pro staple, nylon thread—” at which the group laughed again. He did mention that he used a Mack Pfeiffer tip, and felt that anything narrower would do the oboe a disservice and one would “lose something from the oboe sound”. I’m still pondering what this “something” might be, but it was worth noting.
cjwrightoboe
Aug 1, 2008
No no Patty. You’ll always be famous to me. :D
john towle
Aug 2, 2008
Cooper,
I was at that master class. It was interesting to me to find out that he likes the Stevens #2 Pro silver tubes. Same ones I have been using for about the last three or so years. Elaine Douvas told me last month at her Carmel Valley (CA) master class that this is what she uses. Gee, do you suppose we might be on to something here? ((-;
Best,
john
patty
Aug 6, 2008
Thanks, Cooper! I’m famous. To one person. But it’s you, and that’s a good thing. Woo hoo!
lvilepnqmei
Sep 26, 2009
8JU3Mu yuzgdekyptks, rcglroyrbssi, [link=http://rvleixoiuzaz.com/]rvleixoiuzaz[/link], http://kfzghsoyjlni.com/
Aug 1, 2008
Hah ... very good, Cooper! I’m guessing my posts have made me infamous in your mind.
——-