Hello, my name is Cooper, and I’ve been an Idol watcher for two years now…
Tuesday February 26 2008
Yes, I’ll admit it. I like watching American Idol.
I think there’s a lot to learn from the critique of the judges, and whether he’s mean or not, Simon is very often quite accurate in his assessments.
Normally I try not to deviate from oboe talk, but—
HOT… darn! THAT… DAVID… ARCHULETA… KID… IS A MONSTER…!!!
Besides being ridiculously naturally talented, there’s two things that strikes me. During the L.A. week, he said how much he loved the song Heaven and dreamed of singing it. Last night, when he sang John Lennon’s Imagine, when Randy asked why he sang the verse that he did, he said “Because I like the message of it.” It got me thinking; Do us as musicians put messages to our music?
While rehearsing the Reinecke trio this morning, on the last movement, the horn professor Lydia Van Dreel said, “This piece is just like a little girl with pigtails prancing through the flower fields, and here’s where the parents (the horn and oboe) come in and tell her to do something she doesn’t want to do.” It made perfect sense, and helped me play it better.
Previously, Patty left some words for me to think about while playing the Brahms Violin concerto. Unfortunately, they just make me laugh rather than playing better, but at least they remind me not to take any music, whether Brahms or Mozart, too seriously.
Hello, my name is Cooper, and I’ve been an Idol watcher for two years now…
Tuesday February 26 2008
Yes, I’ll admit it. I like watching American Idol.
I think there’s a lot to learn from the critique of the judges, and whether he’s mean or not, Simon is very often quite accurate in his assessments.
Normally I try not to deviate from oboe talk, but—
HOT… darn! THAT… DAVID… ARCHULETA… KID… IS A MONSTER…!!!
Besides being ridiculously naturally talented, there’s two things that strikes me. During the L.A. week, he said how much he loved the song Heaven and dreamed of singing it. Last night, when he sang John Lennon’s Imagine, when Randy asked why he sang the verse that he did, he said “Because I like the message of it.” It got me thinking; Do us as musicians put messages to our music?
While rehearsing the Reinecke trio this morning, on the last movement, the horn professor Lydia Van Dreel said, “This piece is just like a little girl with pigtails prancing through the flower fields, and here’s where the parents (the horn and oboe) come in and tell her to do something she doesn’t want to do.” It made perfect sense, and helped me play it better.
Previously, Patty left some words for me to think about while playing the Brahms Violin concerto. Unfortunately, they just make me laugh rather than playing better, but at least they remind me not to take any music, whether Brahms or Mozart, too seriously.
Hello, my name is Cooper, and I’ve been an Idol watcher for two years now…
Tuesday February 26 2008
Yes, I’ll admit it. I like watching American Idol.
I think there’s a lot to learn from the critique of the judges, and whether he’s mean or not, Simon is very often quite accurate in his assessments.
Normally I try not to deviate from oboe talk, but—
HOT… darn! THAT… DAVID… ARCHULETA… KID… IS A MONSTER…!!!
Besides being ridiculously naturally talented, there’s two things that strikes me. During the L.A. week, he said how much he loved the song Heaven and dreamed of singing it. Last night, when he sang John Lennon’s Imagine, when Randy asked why he sang the verse that he did, he said “Because I like the message of it.” It got me thinking; Do us as musicians put messages to our music?
While rehearsing the Reinecke trio this morning, on the last movement, the horn professor Lydia Van Dreel said, “This piece is just like a little girl with pigtails prancing through the flower fields, and here’s where the parents (the horn and oboe) come in and tell her to do something she doesn’t want to do.” It made perfect sense, and helped me play it better.
Previously, Patty left some words for me to think about while playing the Brahms Violin concerto. Unfortunately, they just make me laugh rather than playing better, but at least they remind me not to take any music, whether Brahms or Mozart, too seriously.
Masterclass
Tuesday February 26 2008
We did a Masterclass with Martin Hebert yesterday. He’s such a nice guy, beautiful player, and a good clinician. We had a great time, and I survived La Scala and Brahms Violin concerto. I was grateful that my professor turned La Scala into a tonguing/double tonguing discussion which he helped show all of us how to double tongue and work it up. I’ll be working on it for the next couple of weeks! Woohoo!
Read the RestMiracle cane…
Wednesday February 13 2008
So last July I bought a bunch of cane on ebay and I’ve only recently begun experimenting with some of it. Hidden in the midst of the 6 pounds of Vandoren and 4 pounds of oboeworks cane and a dozen other kinds was a little package containing a quarter pound of Glotin cut perfectly down to size so it didn’t need to be guillotined. As I split it I realized this .25 had one of the highest ratios of good pieces to crooked pieces, and I left it for 5 months.
Yesterday for the first time I gouged some up, and made three reeds. Three of the finest reeds I’ve made recently. The cane gouged so smoothly I virtually saw no holes in the curls, or miscellaneous bumps. The blanks scraped smoothly and I now have 3 very warm sounding but sturdy reeds, with lots of sound.
The last time I used Glotin was probably 15 years ago when I ordered some gouged shaped and folded from Forrests. That wasn’t very good, but this stuff is amazing. If it ever comes back on the market, I’m jumping all over it.
Read the Rest
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