Saturday morning introspective
I have absolutely no idea what to write about this morning. I mean, there are lots of things I suppose I could delve into. It's not like the world has suddenly either come to a screeching halt, or miraculously come to its collective senses.
Maybe it's time for some "musician humor"? You know...jokes that only a musician will get.
Like: "What is the definition of a minor 2nd?"
Answer: "Two 6th-grade oboists playing in unison."
Follow-up question: "How do you get them to actually play in unison?"
Answer: "Take the oboe away from one of them."
One of the funniest things I ever saw was at a music contest. Two little beginning oboe players were going to play a duet. Of course, before you start playing, you need to tune your instruments so that you are in tune with each other, and with the piano (if you have accompaniment). Fortunately, there wasn't a piano accompaniment, or we might have been there all day. So these two little kids start "quacking" at each other with their instruments. "Quack". Then the other one. "Quack". Then the first one. "Quack". Then the other one. "Quack".
Now keep in mind...when tuning an instrument, if you're trying to match pitch, it's usually necessary for one or the other to make an adjustment to their instrument. In the case of an oboe, there's not a lot of "adjustment" available. Trumpets? We have tuning slides. The main slide can alter the pitch by at least a half-step or more. But oboes? About the only thing you have is the reed-stem itself. This will allow you to alter the pitch some, but you need to either push it in further (to raise the pitch) or pull it out a bit (to lower the pitch). Well, neither of these two kids did anything. "Quack". No change. Then the other one. "Quack". No change.
Apparently they missed the part of the lesson where you were supposed to modify your instrument in order to modify the pitch. So instead, we spent about 5 minutes with these two youngsters quacking at each other. Then they proceeded to play their duet. I thought for a few seconds they were playing the Charles Ives arrangement of America The Beautiful.
I have no idea if those two kept up their efforts to become good players on one of the toughest instruments in the band/orchestra (in my opinion). I've tried to play oboe. A little. Took me about 30 seconds to realize it takes a LOT more disciplined control of the air column and embouchure than I have. To me, it was tougher than playing flute, and I almost passed out playing flute. Head rush. Hyperventilation.
Quick aside...do you know what you do when you have a marching band with 20 flutes? Teach some of them to play tuba. Requires about the same amount of air. And when you are outside, those high frequencies (flutes) carry better, but the low frequencies (tuba, trombone), get lost, so to maintain the sound pyramid, you need more of them.
I've been playing "something" since I was about 5 years old. I can't remember the name of my first piano teacher, but she was this elderly lady, and she only took beginning students, and she would only take them for 1 year. After that, they had to find another teacher. My second piano teacher was one of the nuns at what was then Mount Saint Claire College. Sister Natalie was the one responsible for really getting me rolling as a musician. At age 10, I was a pretty accomplished pianist. But as I got into my teenage years, I let my skills slack. I had other focuses. I still took lessons, I still practiced, but it wasn't until I got to college that I made some real leaps in my playing. Chou-Ling Lin was my piano instructor at Drake. She really pushed me to not "settle". And when I was in college, I was not horribly motivated. At anything. But Miss Lin kept driving me. She instilled a love of Debussy into me. Reverie, Arabesque, Claire de Lune... I got to the point where I actually thought I understood those pieces. And playing them brought me peace. I have no idea what ever happened to my collection of piano music, but over the years, it's managed to disappear. I might have to wander into the local music store and see if there's a collection around. Unfortunately, my skills on classical piano aren't anything like what they were when I graduated college. I'd really have to work at it to get back to where I could play those pieces again. But...we tend to make time for what we think is important, right?
Do you ever stop to think about some of the things we used to do when we were younger, and then for one reason or another, we simply stopped doing them? For some of us, we stop because we find that we are at that crucial point where we need to put more effort into something to continue to improve. For others, we come across something that seems more fun, more exciting, more interesting...more "shiny". For some, it's life changes, moving, jobs, kids, money...but did you ever notice, we always seem to be able to make something work if we really want it to?
Maybe that's today's question...what have you given up, or stopped doing that you would really like to pick up, or do again, or get back to? And what's really stopping you from doing that?
My introspective two cents worth today.
Maybe it's time for some "musician humor"? You know...jokes that only a musician will get.
Like: "What is the definition of a minor 2nd?"
Answer: "Two 6th-grade oboists playing in unison."
Follow-up question: "How do you get them to actually play in unison?"
Answer: "Take the oboe away from one of them."
One of the funniest things I ever saw was at a music contest. Two little beginning oboe players were going to play a duet. Of course, before you start playing, you need to tune your instruments so that you are in tune with each other, and with the piano (if you have accompaniment). Fortunately, there wasn't a piano accompaniment, or we might have been there all day. So these two little kids start "quacking" at each other with their instruments. "Quack". Then the other one. "Quack". Then the first one. "Quack". Then the other one. "Quack".
Now keep in mind...when tuning an instrument, if you're trying to match pitch, it's usually necessary for one or the other to make an adjustment to their instrument. In the case of an oboe, there's not a lot of "adjustment" available. Trumpets? We have tuning slides. The main slide can alter the pitch by at least a half-step or more. But oboes? About the only thing you have is the reed-stem itself. This will allow you to alter the pitch some, but you need to either push it in further (to raise the pitch) or pull it out a bit (to lower the pitch). Well, neither of these two kids did anything. "Quack". No change. Then the other one. "Quack". No change.
Apparently they missed the part of the lesson where you were supposed to modify your instrument in order to modify the pitch. So instead, we spent about 5 minutes with these two youngsters quacking at each other. Then they proceeded to play their duet. I thought for a few seconds they were playing the Charles Ives arrangement of America The Beautiful.
I have no idea if those two kept up their efforts to become good players on one of the toughest instruments in the band/orchestra (in my opinion). I've tried to play oboe. A little. Took me about 30 seconds to realize it takes a LOT more disciplined control of the air column and embouchure than I have. To me, it was tougher than playing flute, and I almost passed out playing flute. Head rush. Hyperventilation.
Quick aside...do you know what you do when you have a marching band with 20 flutes? Teach some of them to play tuba. Requires about the same amount of air. And when you are outside, those high frequencies (flutes) carry better, but the low frequencies (tuba, trombone), get lost, so to maintain the sound pyramid, you need more of them.
I've been playing "something" since I was about 5 years old. I can't remember the name of my first piano teacher, but she was this elderly lady, and she only took beginning students, and she would only take them for 1 year. After that, they had to find another teacher. My second piano teacher was one of the nuns at what was then Mount Saint Claire College. Sister Natalie was the one responsible for really getting me rolling as a musician. At age 10, I was a pretty accomplished pianist. But as I got into my teenage years, I let my skills slack. I had other focuses. I still took lessons, I still practiced, but it wasn't until I got to college that I made some real leaps in my playing. Chou-Ling Lin was my piano instructor at Drake. She really pushed me to not "settle". And when I was in college, I was not horribly motivated. At anything. But Miss Lin kept driving me. She instilled a love of Debussy into me. Reverie, Arabesque, Claire de Lune... I got to the point where I actually thought I understood those pieces. And playing them brought me peace. I have no idea what ever happened to my collection of piano music, but over the years, it's managed to disappear. I might have to wander into the local music store and see if there's a collection around. Unfortunately, my skills on classical piano aren't anything like what they were when I graduated college. I'd really have to work at it to get back to where I could play those pieces again. But...we tend to make time for what we think is important, right?
Do you ever stop to think about some of the things we used to do when we were younger, and then for one reason or another, we simply stopped doing them? For some of us, we stop because we find that we are at that crucial point where we need to put more effort into something to continue to improve. For others, we come across something that seems more fun, more exciting, more interesting...more "shiny". For some, it's life changes, moving, jobs, kids, money...but did you ever notice, we always seem to be able to make something work if we really want it to?
Maybe that's today's question...what have you given up, or stopped doing that you would really like to pick up, or do again, or get back to? And what's really stopping you from doing that?
My introspective two cents worth today.
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