Two Oboe Concertos in ONE NIGHT

Here ye, Here YE!  

All oboists in the region,  I'd like to invite you to a very special concert! 

 On THURS. MARCH 15th at 7:30 PM,  the University of Wisconsin, Eau Claire Symphony Orchestra will be performing a concert featuring the student concerto competition winners.  This year TWO OBOISTS are winners.  Come hear Alexandra Esser beautifully  perform the Mozart Oboe Concerto and Sarah Kubiatowicz beautifully perform the Strauss Oboe Concerto.  So very proud of these students and all of their hard work and great playing!


The concert will be at 7:30 in Gantner Concert Hall in the Haas Fine Arts Center.


Wish them well, mark your calendars and see you there!

Here's picture taken of the happy oboe soloists:

Oboe and the Grammys

Eau Claire's own Bon Iver has won two Grammy awards and the town and university are all a buzz.  I'm so happy for Justin Vernon and Sean Carey,  two UWEC grads who have worked so hard to develop and maintain an artistic vision. It's great to see that the "industry" has recognized their artistry too. However,  keep in mind that these folks were talented BEFORE the awards were given.  I knew Sean throughout his time at UWEC and even taught him several courses in music theory. He didn't suddenly become talented.  It was/is a continued process of hard work, creative thinking, curiosity, and good decisions.  In his time here I'd definitely describe him as outstanding.  That's  makes the award recognition even more meaningful for me-- it's so great to see an outstanding person be recognized for outstanding work.

Students,  this should be a great opportunity to reflect on your goals and what you are doing daily to achieve them. You may or may not have a goal to win a Grammy,  but you CAN dedicate yourself to achieve excellence in your endeavors.

 Keep up the outstanding work; you never know where it might lead you.

Oboe and out,

Christa

ps--Bon Iver:  don't you think you need some heartfelt, soulful oboe tracks for your next project???  I'll be ready for the phone call and an enthusiastic collaborator...  :)

Creativity

I encourage you to read this interesting and timely article on creativity by Michael Michalko:

http://wakeup-world.com/2012/01/23/12-things-you-were-not-taught-in-school-about-creative-thinking/

So much of what we as musicians/oboists/reedmakers do is incredibly detail oriented,  but we can't loose sight of the bigger picture of creating and expressing ART.  To do this effectively,  we must have a high degree of skill, but this can and should be acquired hand-in-hand with creativity every step of the way. The final paragraph of Michalko's article sums up creativity and creative thinking nicely:


Creativity is paradoxical. To create, a person must have knowledge but forget the knowledge, must see unexpected connections in things but not have a mental disorder, must work hard but spend time doing nothing as information incubates, must create many ideas yet most of them are useless, must look at the same thing as everyone else, yet see something different, must desire success but embrace failure, must be persistent but not stubborn, and must listen to experts but know how to disregard them.


Oboe and out,


-Christa

The Penny Game

I use this "game" with students of ALL ages as a way to work through difficult sections.

  Gather 5 pennies and put them on the left side of your music stand.  Play the difficult passage.  If you play it correctly,  then slide a penny across to the right side of the stand.  Play the passage again.  If you play it correctly once more, then slide another penny across to the other side of the stand.  If you make a mistake on any of the passage,  then ALL pennies go back to the left side and you begin again.  Once you can play the previously difficult passage 5 times in a row well,  then try at a faster tempo, etc. This a a great study in patience,  focus,  and most importantly...accuracy.

Or,  if you REALLY want to LEARN a passage thoroughly,  put 10 pennies on the stand. :)

This is great preparation for orchestral excerpts and scales.  Maintain awareness of good body use at all times and you'll really build positive "habits" for a life of great playing.

So, check for spare change in those couches and get practicing!

Oboe and Out,

-CG

Listen Up, Gang!

Listen Up, Gang!

Are you dedicated to preparing yourself to this often arduous yet deeply meaningful and important profession? How much? The kind needed to actually be a successful performer, educator, citizen of the world? For a college student that of course means finishing all your practicing and studying before time with friends, family, and significant others--and certainly before video games and pop-music. But there’s more to it that just practicing your art.  There’s more art music (otherwise known as “classical music,” the wonderous stuff you’re at college to immerse yourself in because you feel “passionate” about it) to learn and listen to than you could EVER experience in your entire lifetime, so are you embracing new sounds or repeatedly listening to the few works you know or have known for years?


 If we just stick to the historic “greats”---how much Bach, Beethoven and Mozart do you know?  If you search a list of the 100 “greatest” pieces (I use the “greatest” designation veeeeery loosely), how many sound familiar?? How many could you identify? How many do you know well enough to hum significant parts of? How many pieces do you know for your own instrument? How many can you play? Perform? Hum from memory? If you’re really passionate about this music life, dig in and dig the music. Life is short; there’s lots of music. Go get it!

Some Top 100 lists/links are below to give you a start.  I can't say I agree with all of the choices,  but familiarize yourself with these pieces and let's discuss! :)  :)

 200 Pieces listed here:

http://www.digitaldreamdoor.com/pages/best-classic-wks.html

100 Great pieces from the 20th Century:

http://www.limelightmagazine.com.au/Article/282134,abc-classic-fms-20th-century-top-100-revealed.aspx/2

Here's a link to the most "famous" 100,  not necessarily the "best"

http://www.kickassclassical.com/classical-music-popular-famous-best-top-100-list.html

Have you checked out Spotify? Wow!  What a grrreat and FREE way to listen to a WORLD of music!! 

Oboe and out,

-CG

Double Reed Day at UW-Madison Coming Up

Oboist Marc Fink and bassoonist Marc Vallon, faculty members at UW-Madison will be hosting their 2012 Double Reed Day on Jan 14th from 1-8pm. I encourage anyone in the region to go!  Richard Killmer, amazing pedagogue from the Eastman School of Music will be leading a masterclass. Don't miss this opportunity to learn from these extraordinary teachers!

http://www.music.wisc.edu/media/DoubleReedDay2012.pdf

Hope to see you there!

Oboe and out,

-CG

Performing and Doing Your Best

Here's a link you might find interesting:


Joshua Bell on Messing Up His First Violin Competition

Sometimes it's healthy to know that even very fine musicians make mistakes like the rest of us.  What is more important is how we deal with those mistakes.  Bravo to Bell for telling his story!

At some points in my life I've felt nervous when performing simply because I was afraid to make mistakes in front of an audience. The simple act of one mistake could derail me mentally for the rest of the piece and compound errors. After lots of performing and even more thinking about this,  I realized I was putting fear of mistakes above the joy/responsibility to communicate great music. I  think I'd now be most nervous if  I didn't have anything to SAY with my music.  This has completely changed how I practice and study scores.  Once I KNOW I have something to express,  then I'm focused on that and try my best to share my music with an audience and ENJOY,  truely ENJOY performing.

Some questions I use to help me learn a piece come from Frances Clark's Tests of Interpretation.  Elaine Douvas, the wonderful oboist/pedagogue from Juilliard and The Met Opera Orchestra gave me these when I studied with her.  My students regularly get grilled on these questions too---in their weekly lesson sheets I ask if they'd answered each of the questions. Some students see this as a useless routine,  getting in the way of learning the notes,  but just learning the notes isn't the point of our studies AT ALL!  Studying the structure, meaning, and expressive elements of a piece are the keys to understanding a work and being able to communicate it to an audience.


Here are some important questions to ask yourself concerning musical expression, adapted from Elaine Douvas and Frances Clark’s Tests of Interpretation.

1. Overall, what is the character of this piece? What do I want to express?
2. Where is the highpoint of the entire piece?
3. Do I sufficiently prepare for it and give it the suspense and effect that it requires?
4. Where is the highpoint of each phrase?
5. If I can’t feel the highpoint of the phrase, do I sing suitable words to it in an effort to capture its message?

6.   Does everything that I do sound authoritative?

7. Do I begin each phrase clearly, cleanly, and expressively?
8. Do I let each phrase end sufficiently before beginning another?

9.  Is the long rhythmic pulse of the piece set at the beginning and held steadily throughout?
10.  Do I avoid making overly exaggerated ritards?
11. Do I revitalize the tempo immediately after a ritard?
12. If playing the accompaniment, does it give true, basic vitality to the composition?
13. Do I give full value to all the final beats in the measure or do I hurry into the next measure, thereby impairing the pulse?

14. Is there a tremendous difference between my fortissimos and pianissimos with infinite gradations between the extremes?
15. Do my crescendos start softly enough and my acccelerandos deliberately enough?
16. Do all of my notes have a singing quality? Especially in the upper notes?
17. Do I give repeated notes and sequences careful treatment?
18. Is there something of interest going on at all times? If I stop playing the melody, do I make something of the accompaniment?

I hope these questions help you too!

Oboe and out,

-CG