I feel like I am going through a particularly busy time at the moment trying to juggle work and lessons and life and rehearsals with two orchestras. I am hoping this is only for a short time as it is getting rather wearing.
I had a lesson last week which went well - we looked at the Luft Study no 11. This had two weeks of practice due to half term so was in a reasonable state. Now looking at Study No 12 which is actually completely different to all the others so far. It is Adagio but has a large number of trills. I think I'd rather go back to lots of semi quavers but I know that I need to pratice trills so it is definitely doing me good. I am now working on the last piece from Richardson's French Suite and the Mozart is coming on quite nicely. I need to get my trills sorted out in that one too! Telemann's Fantastia no 2 is also progressing. I have another two weeks to practice again as teacher can't do this week's lesson. So a few more days to make progress.
Last night we had sectional rehearsals for the Rite of Spring which seemed to go well. We looked at the very beginning and the start and end of the second part. I have a lot of rests at the beginning so I did have at least 30 minutes of counting rather than playing to start off with, which wasn't so great but part and parcel of rehearsals. When I did get to play it was meant to be flutter tongued chromatics. I haven't worked out how to do this yet. I can roll my R's quite happily and flutter tongueing on the flute is reasonably straight forward. But doing that with a double reed is quite a different matter. I was trying to work out how I actually roll my R's to understand why it is difficult - I think I create a focussed high speed air flow and then allow the tongue to bounce off the stream of air pressure. A little like doing a drum roll on a snare. Trying to do that with a reed is so difficult because it is impossible to get that amount of air down it, and the reed then gets in the way of the toungue so that it doesn't rebound in the same way. I need to do some more experiments but I think the embouchure needs to be different and less reed needs to be in the mouth. Whether that will still then be in tune is a different matter. for this piece i don't think it will matter. The oboe is lost within the flutes and clarinets who are also doing the chromatic sections so I should be able to fake it a bit.
Tuesday 28 February 2012
Friday 24 February 2012
"Non-lesson" practice piling up!
I've suddenly realised that I have an awful lot of orchestral pieces to practice - in addition to normal lesson work and that maybe I need to be a bit more organised about it. So I spent last night doing a review to see where I am up to with everything and which pieces need some personal practice, in the hope that it will then seem more manageable. This is what I came up with:
Regular Orchestra (concert 17th March, 4 orchestral rehearsals to go)
Borodin- Steppes of Central Asia - no issues
Tchaikowsky - Sleeping Beauty - think I've sorted the scalic runs now so should be fine.
Glinka - Russlan and Ludmilla - again, although fast, the notes are fairly straightforward.
Borodin - Petit Suite - small sections in the final movement that I need to look at - I need to process all the double sharps!
Mussorgsky - Night on Bare Mountain - most of this is OK but I think I need to go through a couple of times on my own to tidy up bits.
Overall pretty good shape with a little bit of tidying up to do.
Teacher's orchestra (concert 21 April, 7 orchestral rehearsals to go)
Stravinsky - Rite of Spring - lots of issues!
Actually part 1 is in pretty good shape. I need to keep working on part 2, mainly slow work with metronome to try and get the rhythm right and then keep speeding up. Quite a long way to go on this with a good number of rehearsals so hopefully it will come together.
Regular Orchestra (concert 19 May)
We will start work on this after the March concert - have no idea what the programme will be yet!
Playday "Superorchestra" - (concert 16 June, rehearsals on the day only!)
Gershwin - American in Paris
Stravinsky - Firebird (extract)
Walton - Crown Imperial
I need to keep plugging away at these, a little every day. I will get some recordings of them to help, in the absence of rehearsals. The Walton seems reasonably straight forward apart from the speed! So I am just clicking up the metronome bit by bit.
Firebird is more straight fowrard than Rite of Spring and we are only doing an extract. I've worked through about a quarter of it so far.
Gershwin I've not really look yet, it looks rhythmically complicated and it is quite long so I need to get stuck into this.
I'd liked to have at least played my way through all of these by the end of March so then it will just be a case of getting the speed up and working on the trickiest bits.
Conclusion
It's kind of in hand - I need a bit of a push this week for March concert and can then focus on Rite of Spring while still doing 5 minutes a day on the stuff for June. And yes it does feel more manageable now.
Regular Orchestra (concert 17th March, 4 orchestral rehearsals to go)
Borodin- Steppes of Central Asia - no issues
Tchaikowsky - Sleeping Beauty - think I've sorted the scalic runs now so should be fine.
Glinka - Russlan and Ludmilla - again, although fast, the notes are fairly straightforward.
Borodin - Petit Suite - small sections in the final movement that I need to look at - I need to process all the double sharps!
Mussorgsky - Night on Bare Mountain - most of this is OK but I think I need to go through a couple of times on my own to tidy up bits.
Overall pretty good shape with a little bit of tidying up to do.
Teacher's orchestra (concert 21 April, 7 orchestral rehearsals to go)
Stravinsky - Rite of Spring - lots of issues!
Actually part 1 is in pretty good shape. I need to keep working on part 2, mainly slow work with metronome to try and get the rhythm right and then keep speeding up. Quite a long way to go on this with a good number of rehearsals so hopefully it will come together.
Regular Orchestra (concert 19 May)
We will start work on this after the March concert - have no idea what the programme will be yet!
Playday "Superorchestra" - (concert 16 June, rehearsals on the day only!)
Gershwin - American in Paris
Stravinsky - Firebird (extract)
Walton - Crown Imperial
I need to keep plugging away at these, a little every day. I will get some recordings of them to help, in the absence of rehearsals. The Walton seems reasonably straight forward apart from the speed! So I am just clicking up the metronome bit by bit.
Firebird is more straight fowrard than Rite of Spring and we are only doing an extract. I've worked through about a quarter of it so far.
Gershwin I've not really look yet, it looks rhythmically complicated and it is quite long so I need to get stuck into this.
I'd liked to have at least played my way through all of these by the end of March so then it will just be a case of getting the speed up and working on the trickiest bits.
Conclusion
It's kind of in hand - I need a bit of a push this week for March concert and can then focus on Rite of Spring while still doing 5 minutes a day on the stuff for June. And yes it does feel more manageable now.
Tuesday 21 February 2012
Remember this is meant to be fun
I think this week has helped me to remember to just go with the flow a bit more regarding practice. This is meant to be fun! I can get too caught up in making everything structured and sticking to the same routine every day. Sometimes that just doesn't work and it all becomes a bit of a chore. Sometimes it is good to do something different, sometimes it is good to take a day off. Take this weekend for example:
On Friday I got home to find some orchestral music on my door mat. They are practice parts for a "play day" event I'm booked on with a professional orchestra in June. It is an opportunity for amateurs to play along with the professional orchestra - with rehearsals in the day and a concert in the early evening. The places are very limited and I needed to be quick to book before it sold out. I was quite excited to see the music, so it was nice to be able to just dive in and have a play through. I did do some "normal" practice too but it was nice to put the routine aside for a while and just play what I wanted to play!
On Saturday I had a migraine and spent the afternoon asleep. By the time I felt human again, I could maybe have practiced...but there were more pressing jobs to do (like making sure I coudl play the hymns for church on Sunday morning). I took a day off and chose not to feel guilty about it.
Sunday afternoon I had the house to myself and had a very productive practice session. The study is coming along and I was able to increase the speed and plan in my breathing better. The Mozart is improving - there are a couple of bars with tricky rhythms and I spent some time getting them right. I played through a lot of the Rite of Spring - trying to get the tricky rhythms right with a metronome. And I worked on some of the play day pieces. I ended up doing a longer session than planned without even realising it. The time seemed to fly by.
Yesterday I had a long and tiring day at work, I feel like I am going down with a cold. Practice happened but it felt like a bit of slog. I got a few useful things done, but by the end I was more clock watching and my embouchure was tired. I may have been recovering from overdoing it the day before as well. I decided to stop earlier than planned.
The upshot of all that is, between a day off, a longer session, a shorter session, a normal session - it all eventually balanced out to be roughly the same amount of weekly practice that I normally do. I do appreciate having structure and discipline in my practising and I think it is important. But I need to stop that becoming a strait jacket and be more flexible at times and trust that in the long term it will all balance out. This is meant to be fun!
On Friday I got home to find some orchestral music on my door mat. They are practice parts for a "play day" event I'm booked on with a professional orchestra in June. It is an opportunity for amateurs to play along with the professional orchestra - with rehearsals in the day and a concert in the early evening. The places are very limited and I needed to be quick to book before it sold out. I was quite excited to see the music, so it was nice to be able to just dive in and have a play through. I did do some "normal" practice too but it was nice to put the routine aside for a while and just play what I wanted to play!
On Saturday I had a migraine and spent the afternoon asleep. By the time I felt human again, I could maybe have practiced...but there were more pressing jobs to do (like making sure I coudl play the hymns for church on Sunday morning). I took a day off and chose not to feel guilty about it.
Sunday afternoon I had the house to myself and had a very productive practice session. The study is coming along and I was able to increase the speed and plan in my breathing better. The Mozart is improving - there are a couple of bars with tricky rhythms and I spent some time getting them right. I played through a lot of the Rite of Spring - trying to get the tricky rhythms right with a metronome. And I worked on some of the play day pieces. I ended up doing a longer session than planned without even realising it. The time seemed to fly by.
Yesterday I had a long and tiring day at work, I feel like I am going down with a cold. Practice happened but it felt like a bit of slog. I got a few useful things done, but by the end I was more clock watching and my embouchure was tired. I may have been recovering from overdoing it the day before as well. I decided to stop earlier than planned.
The upshot of all that is, between a day off, a longer session, a shorter session, a normal session - it all eventually balanced out to be roughly the same amount of weekly practice that I normally do. I do appreciate having structure and discipline in my practising and I think it is important. But I need to stop that becoming a strait jacket and be more flexible at times and trust that in the long term it will all balance out. This is meant to be fun!
Friday 17 February 2012
Rite of Spring - first rehearsal
I made it to the Rite of Spring rehearsal on Monday. I am glad to say that I managed to find the rehearsal venue this time, last time I ended up spending half an hour driving around the village before giving up and going home. I am also glad to say that it doesn't now seem as impossible as it did when I first listened to it, thought that doesn't mean it isn't very difficult! We covered a fair chunk of the piece - started midway through part 1 and went to about half way through part 2. I was sight reading most of it, and I couldn't get all the notes but most of the time I knew where we were and which notes I should be attempting. I managed a few bits where I was the only oboe playing - which was a bit scary. Most importantly I know which bits need pratice and how to approach practising them. So a very positive evening. There maybe some sectionals in a couple of weeks which, I'm sure, will be very helpful.
Teacher did forget to bring my Telemann back though so that will have to wait till next week.
Teacher did forget to bring my Telemann back though so that will have to wait till next week.
Sunday 12 February 2012
Mozart difficulties
Practice has been going well so far this week - mainly focussing on Luft Study and the Mozart. My teacher currently has my Telemann - she is writing in some articulation and I'll get it back tomorrow at orchestra rehearsal. Scales and technical exercises are ongoing. I am trying to push my long notes to be slightly longer to gain more control over my dynamics and improve my stamina.
Luft No 10 is beginning to come together note wise, there are a few sections that just don't go as I expect - so I have spent some time today trying to get the right notes into my head to help my fingers go to the right place. There is a section in the middle where there are near chromatic runs up and down the octave. It would be easy if it was really chromatic, but there is a sneaky tone in the middle, and each one seems to be slightly different. There are also come large interval sections with leaps of more than 2 octaves which are interesting to say the least.
The Mozart piece has also been proving quite challenging. I am not sure if it is a good thing to know a piece before learning how to play it - it has certainly made it easier to learn the notes, but it also makes it more tempting to dive straight in and try and try to play it up to speed too soon. Either way, the difference between the music in my head and that coming out of my instrument seems very large at the moment. Mozart is deceptively hard to play well on any instrument- it requires lightness, a sense of effortlessness and absolute precision in articulation and dynamic control. I'm sure it will do me good in the end.
I've also been listening to Rite of Spring on You Tube. The only thing I can say is "oh my word..." It will be interesting to see how it goes, I'm hoping that - like the Mahler - it will be easier to follow with a conductor.
Luft No 10 is beginning to come together note wise, there are a few sections that just don't go as I expect - so I have spent some time today trying to get the right notes into my head to help my fingers go to the right place. There is a section in the middle where there are near chromatic runs up and down the octave. It would be easy if it was really chromatic, but there is a sneaky tone in the middle, and each one seems to be slightly different. There are also come large interval sections with leaps of more than 2 octaves which are interesting to say the least.
The Mozart piece has also been proving quite challenging. I am not sure if it is a good thing to know a piece before learning how to play it - it has certainly made it easier to learn the notes, but it also makes it more tempting to dive straight in and try and try to play it up to speed too soon. Either way, the difference between the music in my head and that coming out of my instrument seems very large at the moment. Mozart is deceptively hard to play well on any instrument- it requires lightness, a sense of effortlessness and absolute precision in articulation and dynamic control. I'm sure it will do me good in the end.
I've also been listening to Rite of Spring on You Tube. The only thing I can say is "oh my word..." It will be interesting to see how it goes, I'm hoping that - like the Mahler - it will be easier to follow with a conductor.
Thursday 9 February 2012
Half term already?
Well despite my feelings of not really being fully prepared yesterday, my lesson went rather well.
The Luft study which I thought I hadn't done enough on, seemed to have worked its way into my fingers more than I thought. I think the long practice on Monday, followed by a day off for my brain to sort it all out, was more effective than I expected. Hurray! I still have a couple of little things to look at - enusring ties are held on for full length and bouncing the staccato a bit more. But I also have to look at the next one - which has some rather scarily large intervals to negotiate, good job it is half term next week so I have 2 weeks to work on it.
Telemann Fantasia no 6 - second and third movements. Again, the third movement came together a bit better than in Monday's practice. I still need to think about phrasing and dynamics here. But will also start looking at No 2.
Richardson - Causerie, French Suite. I need to slow this down a bit, and slightly lengthen the tenuto notes, as well as making sure I don't cut short the tied notes (again). Another couple of weeks needed on this to polish the edges.
Reizenstein Concert pieces are finished off as far as lessons are concerned, so it is finally time to start looking at the first movement of the Mozart Oboe Quartet. I bought this music quite a while ago and it has been waiting in the wings for too long. I love this piece so I am quite excited about finally starting to learn how to play it!
I also now have in my possession the oboe 4 part for the Rite of Spring - but only temporarily. I need to take it back to rehearsal on Monday and get the oboe 3 part. The oboe 4 has some Cor Anglais sections so it needs to go another player. However, I should get some value from looking at this part - hopefully it will at least prepare me for the worst of the 3rd part on Monday. I will have a look and a listen over the weekend.
It is half term next week, which means no lesson. It is nice to have a week off lessons sometimes and feel I can plan my practice over more days. It gives me more flexibility to manage my time - I just need to make sure I'm not tempted to take too many days off!
The Luft study which I thought I hadn't done enough on, seemed to have worked its way into my fingers more than I thought. I think the long practice on Monday, followed by a day off for my brain to sort it all out, was more effective than I expected. Hurray! I still have a couple of little things to look at - enusring ties are held on for full length and bouncing the staccato a bit more. But I also have to look at the next one - which has some rather scarily large intervals to negotiate, good job it is half term next week so I have 2 weeks to work on it.
Telemann Fantasia no 6 - second and third movements. Again, the third movement came together a bit better than in Monday's practice. I still need to think about phrasing and dynamics here. But will also start looking at No 2.
Richardson - Causerie, French Suite. I need to slow this down a bit, and slightly lengthen the tenuto notes, as well as making sure I don't cut short the tied notes (again). Another couple of weeks needed on this to polish the edges.
Reizenstein Concert pieces are finished off as far as lessons are concerned, so it is finally time to start looking at the first movement of the Mozart Oboe Quartet. I bought this music quite a while ago and it has been waiting in the wings for too long. I love this piece so I am quite excited about finally starting to learn how to play it!
I also now have in my possession the oboe 4 part for the Rite of Spring - but only temporarily. I need to take it back to rehearsal on Monday and get the oboe 3 part. The oboe 4 has some Cor Anglais sections so it needs to go another player. However, I should get some value from looking at this part - hopefully it will at least prepare me for the worst of the 3rd part on Monday. I will have a look and a listen over the weekend.
It is half term next week, which means no lesson. It is nice to have a week off lessons sometimes and feel I can plan my practice over more days. It gives me more flexibility to manage my time - I just need to make sure I'm not tempted to take too many days off!
Wednesday 8 February 2012
Recovery and catching up
Saturday was a really good day with lots of playing....but it does seem to have completely upset my practice routine. Obviously I couldn't practice on Saturday and Sunday my lips were so sore that playing was not an option. By Monday I thought I would have recovered but my embouchure stamina seemed to have gone completely and even at orchestra yesterday I was struggling. I have my lesson tonight and don't really feel as prepared as I should be.
Due to the missed days of practice, I tried to spend Monday's practice session really focussing on the Luft study. I spent a long time on this one - which is in Ab major. This is my least favourite key as the fingering is rather awkward on the oboe, so this study has been good for practising fluency of left hand Eb fingering and use of the side Ab key. It did make my head spin a little trying to sort out which fingers to use. Hopefully I'll get another stab at it, I would like another couple of weeks to consolidate. I have had some play throughs of the third movement of the Telemann Fantasia but have not done as much on this as I'd have liked. My embouchure gave up on Monday before I could really get stuck in.
Orchestra last night was a night of two halves. We spent the first half working on Sleeping Beauty. This could definitely do with some sectional rehearsal because in places it frankly sounds pretty dreadful at the moment. There are a number of places with repeated staccato semiquavers from the wind (clarinet, bassoon, oboe, cor anglais) which need to be precise and give support to the tune. These are difficult to play well at the right volume - and we don't play them well, or together, or in time with the rest of the orchestra and they are generally too loud. Hopefully we can get it sorted before we have to perform it. Having said that, the last movement is sounding really rather nice now.
The second half was spent looking at Night on Bare Mountain. This is probably, on paper at least, even more difficult -but somehow it seems easier to play. The fact that it is so loud and fast and almost aggressive makes it possible to just launch yourself at it and see what happens. Getting each note in place isn't as important as the overall gist and the attitude. It seems to work. This is really good fun to play and feels like it is coming together.
Due to the missed days of practice, I tried to spend Monday's practice session really focussing on the Luft study. I spent a long time on this one - which is in Ab major. This is my least favourite key as the fingering is rather awkward on the oboe, so this study has been good for practising fluency of left hand Eb fingering and use of the side Ab key. It did make my head spin a little trying to sort out which fingers to use. Hopefully I'll get another stab at it, I would like another couple of weeks to consolidate. I have had some play throughs of the third movement of the Telemann Fantasia but have not done as much on this as I'd have liked. My embouchure gave up on Monday before I could really get stuck in.
Orchestra last night was a night of two halves. We spent the first half working on Sleeping Beauty. This could definitely do with some sectional rehearsal because in places it frankly sounds pretty dreadful at the moment. There are a number of places with repeated staccato semiquavers from the wind (clarinet, bassoon, oboe, cor anglais) which need to be precise and give support to the tune. These are difficult to play well at the right volume - and we don't play them well, or together, or in time with the rest of the orchestra and they are generally too loud. Hopefully we can get it sorted before we have to perform it. Having said that, the last movement is sounding really rather nice now.
The second half was spent looking at Night on Bare Mountain. This is probably, on paper at least, even more difficult -but somehow it seems easier to play. The fact that it is so loud and fast and almost aggressive makes it possible to just launch yourself at it and see what happens. Getting each note in place isn't as important as the overall gist and the attitude. It seems to work. This is really good fun to play and feels like it is coming together.
Sunday 5 February 2012
Extreme sightreading
Yesterday I had a fantastic time at the Woodwind Playday. The day was held in the RNCM, a venue I love and which has many memories for me (it was the first place I ever heard a live orchestra and also the place I took my Grade 8 piano!). The day is organised by the East London Clarinet Choir, so rather predictably there were A LOT of clarinets and saxophones. There were only 2 flautists and 2 other oboists.
The day was split into 6 sessions of 45 minutes - each lead by a different conductor and based around a different piece of music.
Session 1:
Leader: Shea Lolin
Music: The Montagues and Capulets - Prokofiev
This was a great choice to kick the day off. A really low, dramatic (not too fast) tune to get us all warmed up, and a tune we all knew to ease us into the extreme sight reading to follow!
Session 2:
Leader: Keiron Anderson
Music: Praeludium and Riffilicious by Keiron Anderson
This was probably the hardest session of the day. The two pieces were very different to each other, and both were rhythmically complicated. I moved over to support the second flute as they were one to a part and struggling a little bit. The Riffilicious piece looked more complicated on the page then it actually sounded - the natural consequence of having to write down very syncopated rhythms. It felt like we nearly got somewhere with both these pieces but ran out of time and without being able to run them at the end of the session which was a bit unsatisfying. It would probably have been better to focus on just one.
Session 3
Leader: Paul Harris
Music: Train Music by Paul Harris
This piece was originally written for wind quintet so worked very well with the wind orchestra. Again, it was quite complicated rhythmically going from 10/8 to 8/8 to 5/8 to 6/8 to 3/4 to 5/8 and back through them all again in varying order. Paul spent quite a while working on the rhythm with us, clapping 5/8 and putting notes on the off beats so that the impossible became almost doable by the end of the session. The main part of the piece was actually really good fun to play but sadly we didn't have time to do a full, final run through at the end of the session.
Session 4
Leader: Chris Swann
Music: Rikudim - 4 Israeli Folkdances, traditional/ Jan Van der Roost
We actually only did 2 of the dances, but that was plenty and this time we did do a final take run through at the end. It must be so hard to pick music for these events, with a mixed group of players at different levels, only 45 minutes per session - so I am sure it is more by luck than anything else that this piece was pitched at exactly the right level for me. It made me think "oh crumbs" when I first looked at it, but by the end of 40 minutes I felt like I had most of it in place and was ready for a final run through. These pieces were great fun to play, and I think we really pulled it off at the end.
Session 5
Leader: James Rae
Music: Gallowgate by James Rae
This was a really great session too, definitely good to have the easier pieces towards the end when we are beginning to flag. This was a lovely piece that rolled along very merrily and was a lot of fun to play. It was written for concert band and had a great marching band feel to it.
Session 6
Leader: Shea Lolin
Music: Menuet Gothique, Leon Boellmann
A nice easy piece to finish off, and a chance to think more about balance, phrasing, dynamics and articulation. I thought the final run through sounded rather nice. My brain was rather frazzled by this point so I don't think I could have coped with anything more complicated.
Certainly a very enjoyable day, though a very tiring one - and my lips were absolutely red raw by the end of it. Aside from the music itself, the value of the day is the advice and comments from the conductors - they took time to talk about balancing the ensemble, starting the first note, phrasing, articulation, approaching complicated rhythms, tuning, breathing, dynamics. Those little pearls of wisdom and experience really make the day. Personally for me, it also reminds me how far I have come. I first did this play day 2 years ago, 6 months after my return to the oboe and I struggled with everything and I did a lot of miming. It feels good to notice how much my playing and my confidence in sight reading has improved over the last 2 years. Roll on next year, I'm sure it will be even better.
The day was split into 6 sessions of 45 minutes - each lead by a different conductor and based around a different piece of music.
Session 1:
Leader: Shea Lolin
Music: The Montagues and Capulets - Prokofiev
This was a great choice to kick the day off. A really low, dramatic (not too fast) tune to get us all warmed up, and a tune we all knew to ease us into the extreme sight reading to follow!
Session 2:
Leader: Keiron Anderson
Music: Praeludium and Riffilicious by Keiron Anderson
This was probably the hardest session of the day. The two pieces were very different to each other, and both were rhythmically complicated. I moved over to support the second flute as they were one to a part and struggling a little bit. The Riffilicious piece looked more complicated on the page then it actually sounded - the natural consequence of having to write down very syncopated rhythms. It felt like we nearly got somewhere with both these pieces but ran out of time and without being able to run them at the end of the session which was a bit unsatisfying. It would probably have been better to focus on just one.
Session 3
Leader: Paul Harris
Music: Train Music by Paul Harris
This piece was originally written for wind quintet so worked very well with the wind orchestra. Again, it was quite complicated rhythmically going from 10/8 to 8/8 to 5/8 to 6/8 to 3/4 to 5/8 and back through them all again in varying order. Paul spent quite a while working on the rhythm with us, clapping 5/8 and putting notes on the off beats so that the impossible became almost doable by the end of the session. The main part of the piece was actually really good fun to play but sadly we didn't have time to do a full, final run through at the end of the session.
Session 4
Leader: Chris Swann
Music: Rikudim - 4 Israeli Folkdances, traditional/ Jan Van der Roost
We actually only did 2 of the dances, but that was plenty and this time we did do a final take run through at the end. It must be so hard to pick music for these events, with a mixed group of players at different levels, only 45 minutes per session - so I am sure it is more by luck than anything else that this piece was pitched at exactly the right level for me. It made me think "oh crumbs" when I first looked at it, but by the end of 40 minutes I felt like I had most of it in place and was ready for a final run through. These pieces were great fun to play, and I think we really pulled it off at the end.
Session 5
Leader: James Rae
Music: Gallowgate by James Rae
This was a really great session too, definitely good to have the easier pieces towards the end when we are beginning to flag. This was a lovely piece that rolled along very merrily and was a lot of fun to play. It was written for concert band and had a great marching band feel to it.
Session 6
Leader: Shea Lolin
Music: Menuet Gothique, Leon Boellmann
A nice easy piece to finish off, and a chance to think more about balance, phrasing, dynamics and articulation. I thought the final run through sounded rather nice. My brain was rather frazzled by this point so I don't think I could have coped with anything more complicated.
Certainly a very enjoyable day, though a very tiring one - and my lips were absolutely red raw by the end of it. Aside from the music itself, the value of the day is the advice and comments from the conductors - they took time to talk about balancing the ensemble, starting the first note, phrasing, articulation, approaching complicated rhythms, tuning, breathing, dynamics. Those little pearls of wisdom and experience really make the day. Personally for me, it also reminds me how far I have come. I first did this play day 2 years ago, 6 months after my return to the oboe and I struggled with everything and I did a lot of miming. It feels good to notice how much my playing and my confidence in sight reading has improved over the last 2 years. Roll on next year, I'm sure it will be even better.
Friday 3 February 2012
keeping on keeping on
Sometimes it's just about keeping going. This has been one of those weeks. Lesson on Wednesday was OK. My reed was apparently giving its swan song at orchestra as it sounded terrible the next day. So I now have a nice new reed. Luft study was OK, it was a fairly straight forward one though - now moving on to Study no 9. We worked on the Reizenstein Scherzino, this has kind of grown on me, and it was nice to add some final polishing touches. We also went through the Telemann Fantasia.
Practice so far has focussed on the next study - which is much more difficult than last weeks, a real finger twister. I'm also learning the final movement of the Telemann and improving the second movement.
It's been a tiring week all round though, it has felt like a bit of a slog at times....but tomorrow I am going to the RNCM for a woodwind play day. It will be a day of extreme sightreading and should be a lot of fun - provided my lips hold out.
Practice so far has focussed on the next study - which is much more difficult than last weeks, a real finger twister. I'm also learning the final movement of the Telemann and improving the second movement.
It's been a tiring week all round though, it has felt like a bit of a slog at times....but tomorrow I am going to the RNCM for a woodwind play day. It will be a day of extreme sightreading and should be a lot of fun - provided my lips hold out.
Wednesday 1 February 2012
Glinka and Borodin
It seems to have been a very busy week, and although I have found time to practice, I haven't found time to write about practicing. It has been ticking along in the background though.
I really enjoyed orchestra practice last night. I usually enjoy it but it did feel like a particularly good rehearsal to me, mainly becuase my reed was working particularly well which always makes everything a little better. We also worked on some really nice pieces of music:
Glinka - Ruslan and Ludmilla. This is quite a fun piece to play, we certainly don't play it at the speed that a professional orchestra would it does roll along quite nicely. It also has a very recognisable tune that sticks in your head for days afterwards. There are som very woodwind sections with parts interlinking - but overall it isn't really too complicated.
Borodin - Petit Suite. we've been working on bits of this over the last few weeks but this was the first time we had a full play through all of the movements that we will be doing. There are 7 movements but we will only be doing 5 in the concert. This was originally written as piano duet but was later orchestrated by someone else. The piano origins show themselves most in the Mazurka, I think, which isn't terribly interesting as an orchestral piece. The rest of movements are rather nice though. There are some tricky corners in this that I need to look at in my practice. The scherzo at the end has some rather fiendish chromatic sections with sharps and double sharps all over the place. I probably mentioned them last time. I still need to practice them.
Next week Night on Bare mountain.
I really enjoyed orchestra practice last night. I usually enjoy it but it did feel like a particularly good rehearsal to me, mainly becuase my reed was working particularly well which always makes everything a little better. We also worked on some really nice pieces of music:
Glinka - Ruslan and Ludmilla. This is quite a fun piece to play, we certainly don't play it at the speed that a professional orchestra would it does roll along quite nicely. It also has a very recognisable tune that sticks in your head for days afterwards. There are som very woodwind sections with parts interlinking - but overall it isn't really too complicated.
Borodin - Petit Suite. we've been working on bits of this over the last few weeks but this was the first time we had a full play through all of the movements that we will be doing. There are 7 movements but we will only be doing 5 in the concert. This was originally written as piano duet but was later orchestrated by someone else. The piano origins show themselves most in the Mazurka, I think, which isn't terribly interesting as an orchestral piece. The rest of movements are rather nice though. There are some tricky corners in this that I need to look at in my practice. The scherzo at the end has some rather fiendish chromatic sections with sharps and double sharps all over the place. I probably mentioned them last time. I still need to practice them.
Next week Night on Bare mountain.
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