Confession time
Tuesday May 27 2008
Well, it’s been almost 4 months now, so I figured I’ll ‘fess up.
Barbara the oboe is long gone. I had a crisis of conscience whether to change the name of my blog, but ultimately I decided against it. I just got too frustrated playing on a Royal and feeling restricted, so I switched to a DM bore (one that I mentioned back in November or December or so) from Peter Hurd. That instrument played exceptionally, and had a nice, dark, covered sound to it. I played the Strauss on it for the Concerto Final Rounds.
And finally, when I needed to get it fixed and Peter lent me the C series, I fell in love with that one. I gave the DM bore back to Peter (which if I was completely certain I wanted to play a modern instrument, that would be it) and kept the C series for myself. David Weber says some qualities about CI72 are even better than his own. Adam Shapiro commented that it was a “good instrument” but too bright for him, but I find that it has more flexibility than any instrument I’ve ever played. After trying it, Christina, my surprise visitor from Portland who came down for my recital, commented “—all I could think about on the drive home was how responsive that C series was.” She also commented that she could play bright, and she could play dark, and everywhere in between, which is exactly how I feel about it.
So, where is Barbara might you be asking? I gave it to Hannah Selznick of Hannah’s oboes to sell. She’s had it for about two months now, and she commented to me that the oboe selling business was in a slight slump (she speculated perhaps because people were paying their taxes) but now it is picking back up so we’re hopeful. It’s a great Royal, with a plastic top joint. TOTALLY… FIXED… UP by David Weber. And here’s a final bonus in case one of you readers decide to buy it: I’ll make 3 reeds a month for free to whomever purchases it! I haven’t told Hannah that bonus yet, but I promise I’ll keep my word!
On the upside, I’ve had several people recently tell me how much better they like my reeds nowadays. The C series is a brighter instrument, and is much more sensitive to “chirps” and “buzzes”, so I really do have to refine my reeds much more, so I suppose this makes sense. But I’m glad the switch in instruments is yielding better results for business.
Jun 21, 2008
So Barbara was a Loree Royal with a plastic top joint? And now you have an old C series Loree?
Hmmm, I wonder what my NG series Loree would stack up…....
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