Practice has not been good this week
I have been full of cold. Playing oboe with a cold is not fun, it is uncomfortable and excessively tiring. I managed about 40 minutes on Thursday, none on Friday and 10 minutes yesterday.
On Saturday I went to a playday. I went to this event last year and blogged about it here . This year's event was at Leeds College of Music and I had persuaded a number of friends from orchestra to come. Some of them had also persuaded other friends and family to come. I wasn't really well enough to go but I had promised lifts to 3 people and felt obliged. So I went. It was probably a mistake.
The people I took had a fantastic time and really enjoyed it. I was very relieved that the oboe parts seemed much more straightforward than previous years and was glad I wasn't the only oboist there. It was hard work and I was very glad to get home! I'm sure if I had been well that I would have enjoyed it but in retrospect I should have spent the day in bed and let my friends take the train.
I am meant to have a lesson tonight and am still wondering whether I should cancel it. If I hadn't cancelled one a couple of weeks ago due to the snow I probably would but I don't really want to miss another one. I do feel a bit better so I will probably manage 30 minutes - and I have probably practised just enough to make it worth while. I will see how I feel after lunch.
Hopefully this week will be better!
Showing posts with label playday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label playday. Show all posts
Monday, 4 February 2013
Sunday, 4 November 2012
A reminder of Summer
Monday, 18 June 2012
The point of it all...
After all the stress of Friday, I am glad to say that Saturday turned out to be a wonderful day.
It was an early start - we left the house at 7:30am, which is quite painful for a Saturday and the doors opened at 9am. After registration and general introduction, we were straight into the sectional rehearsals - done with just the amateur participants. I was rather alarmed to find that I was the only one on first oboe so it was definitely straight in at the deepend. It wasn't too scary in the end though as the general atmosphere was very encouraging and supportive, everyone was finding the music hard. The 90 minutes rehearsal flew by and is was soon lunch time.
After lunch it was full orchestral rehearsal for nearly 3 hours (with a tea break fortunately). The professional players joined us for this which made it a bit less scary - they covered the hardest bits, made sure we came in at the right time, but also took a little bit of back seat when it came to the solos to let the participants have a go. It was really great to hear the whole piece come together and the sound was amazing.
Just time for a cup of tea and a piece of cake before the final performance. The concert was great fun, the sound was fab and, despite my misgivings about the difficulty of the music, we pulled it off. I think the professionals were definitely covering a lot of the Stravinsky bits but I still managed the (very short) exposed oboe bits in the Beceuse. The Gershwin was definitley my highlight though - a really, really fun piece to play that I don't think I would ever have had the opportunity to play!
So overall, a fantastic day which I enjoyed more than I ever expected to. I managed to play more of the music than I thought I would and both my reed and lip lasted to the end despite about 5-6 hours playing. I really enjoyed joining with other people and playing beautiful music in a fabulous concert hall. This really is the point of all the lessons and practice after all.
We played:
Walton - Crown Imperial (a good warm up opener)
Gershwin - An American in Paris (some amazing solos from the brass and clarinets, great fun!)
Stravinsky - Firebird extract, Infernal Dance to the end (challenging but we pulled it off)
It was an early start - we left the house at 7:30am, which is quite painful for a Saturday and the doors opened at 9am. After registration and general introduction, we were straight into the sectional rehearsals - done with just the amateur participants. I was rather alarmed to find that I was the only one on first oboe so it was definitely straight in at the deepend. It wasn't too scary in the end though as the general atmosphere was very encouraging and supportive, everyone was finding the music hard. The 90 minutes rehearsal flew by and is was soon lunch time.
After lunch it was full orchestral rehearsal for nearly 3 hours (with a tea break fortunately). The professional players joined us for this which made it a bit less scary - they covered the hardest bits, made sure we came in at the right time, but also took a little bit of back seat when it came to the solos to let the participants have a go. It was really great to hear the whole piece come together and the sound was amazing.
Just time for a cup of tea and a piece of cake before the final performance. The concert was great fun, the sound was fab and, despite my misgivings about the difficulty of the music, we pulled it off. I think the professionals were definitely covering a lot of the Stravinsky bits but I still managed the (very short) exposed oboe bits in the Beceuse. The Gershwin was definitley my highlight though - a really, really fun piece to play that I don't think I would ever have had the opportunity to play!
So overall, a fantastic day which I enjoyed more than I ever expected to. I managed to play more of the music than I thought I would and both my reed and lip lasted to the end despite about 5-6 hours playing. I really enjoyed joining with other people and playing beautiful music in a fabulous concert hall. This really is the point of all the lessons and practice after all.
We played:
Walton - Crown Imperial (a good warm up opener)
Gershwin - An American in Paris (some amazing solos from the brass and clarinets, great fun!)
Stravinsky - Firebird extract, Infernal Dance to the end (challenging but we pulled it off)
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.
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