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.