Lone Oboe

2012-01-27T12:30:00.000-08:00

I've been rewatching some Doctor Who, as it is excellent reedmaking material, and I've been having some reed issues and been spending too much time at my reed desk. Such a great show. This meme (is that the right term) appeared on my facebook feed, and I love it.

Oboe Repair Fun!

2012-01-11T11:13:00.001-08:00

John Peterson, oboe repairman extraordinaire at RDG woodwinds in Los Angeles, has created a series of videos for oboists looking to make their own basic adjustments on their oboes.

2012-01-06T23:07:00.000-08:00

"At the College of Saint Mary Magdalen in New Hampshire, he commented on John F. Kennedy's famous 1960 separation-of-church-and-state speech delivered to the Greater Houston Ministerial Association.
'I had an opportunity to read the speech and I almost threw up,' Santorum told the small crowd, 'In my opinion, it was the beginning of the secular movement of politicians to separate their faith from the public square. And he threw faith under the bus in that speech.'" (http://www.npr.org/blogs/itsallpolitics/2012/01/06/144767581/rick-santorum-the-underdog-with-a-loud-bark).

Really, Mr. Santorum? I would like to officially excommunicate you from membership in Italian/Irish Catholic community. You have betrayed us.

2011-12-16T22:10:00.000-08:00

I've been playing Amahl and the Night Visitors. It's really such a charming, sweet opera. And in some ways, surprisingly relevant. Alas, our version cuts the best oboe stuff, but I'm still enjoying it. I am posting the version with Teresa Stratas that I remember watching as a child.

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Gabby

2011-11-17T22:40:00.001-08:00

I am proud to share a first name with this courageous woman.

2011-10-26T11:06:00.001-07:00

If your bus company gets in trouble for having women sit at the back of the bus, but you still want to keep genders separated for religious reasons, why not just have women on the left and men on the right? Or vice versa. That way neither gender feels 2nd-class. Just saying.

2011-10-23T11:54:00.001-07:00

Fabio Luisi on Sunday
Loved this NYTimes article. Adorable.

2011-10-07T00:37:00.000-07:00

In honor of Steve Jobs, a picture of my first Apple product: my dad's computer that I loved to play games on as a little girl! It didn't do anything until you put in a disk . . . but it was great fun!

September 11, 2001

2011-09-11T01:13:00.000-07:00

I am writing this entry to help myself process both that day and the years since. I realize my experience was in no way as traumatizing as those who experienced it first-hand, but I think most would agree that the events of that day have affected all of us.

When I was in high school, it seemed like the world was moving forward. President Clinton may have done some stupid things in his personal life, but the budget was balanced, we were not at war, there had even been a peace agreement for Palestine and Israel. The troubles in Ireland seemed to be mostly over. Although the world possessed nuclear weapons, it seemed extremely unlikely that they would ever be used. In reading some of my favorite children's literature from earlier decades, such as A Wrinkle In Time, it seemed quaint to me that they were so worried about a nuclear holocaust. Granted, I was a naive high school student, but things were looking pretty rosy. In short, it was a time of relative peace and prosperity, at least for America.

In 2000, George Bush was elected, and it seemed things were a little fishy with that, but hey, things were fishy in Chicago when dead people helped elect President Kennedy (being half Irish-Catholic, I recognize a particular importance to his election), so I guess things were just evening out. Besides, it didn't even seem like the President really made much difference in my life.

On September 11, 2001, at 8am Central Time, I was in Houston, finishing packing up my belongings to go to college. I had the radio on as I was packing. There was a breaking news report on NPR that a plane had hit the World Trade Center in New York City. My first thoughts, along with many other people's, were, this must be some sort of terrible accident! Terrorists hijacked airplanes, bombed airplanes, but to use an airplane AS a bomb, that wouldn't have occurred to me. Nevertheless, I called out the news to my parents, who were taking care of some last-minute trip plans downstairs. We continued to go about our work, but with an ear on the news.

Not too long after came the news that a second plane had hit the second tower. Now it became clear that this was no accident. We stopped working, we went down and sat in front of the TV. There were the two towers, burning and smoking. There were the fire engines and police cars, rushing to the site. The papers floating eerily down. There were the little people, running from the building, some of them jumping. I remember thinking, "That's not an actual PERSON, is it?" as I saw the tiny figures leaping from the building. But I soon realized they WERE people. And I remember thinking that given the choice, I'd pick death by fall over death by fire, as well.

The newscasters described the events, bringing new details about a plane in Pennsylvania and another at the Pentagon. There were images of the crashed planes and the scarred Pentagon building. They kept speaking, but it was clear that they were just as confused as we were. They were simply describing what we were seeing, not explaining it. It was unexplainable.

My family sat watching, unable to take our eyes off the television. Then the unthinkable happened. The first tower collapsed in front of our eyes. Simply crumbled to dust. Then the second tower, crumbled to dust. Right then. In front of our eyes. I couldn't process it. At all. "They evacuated everyone already, right?" The newscasters didn't answer, they were just as shocked as we were. My parents didn't answer, they couldn't. "They evacuated, right?" I kept repeating, to no one in particular.

New York City now had a huge cloud of debris hanging over it, and dust began to cover everything.

Ashes to ashes, dust to dust.

But we had to keep going, we had to be in Chicago the day after tomorrow . . . I don't remember how we managed to wrench ourselves away from the TV, but we did, and we packed the car, and we started driving east and north. We listened to NPR news coverage the whole way. People put out their flags. We made and received calls from friends and relatives in the Northeast, just checking to see if everyone was OK. No one really knew what was going on or what the extent of the attacks were. We stopped somewhere in the middle of nowhere, Louisiana, where they were convinced the terrorists would attack because of the large oil reserves located there. We spent the night in a random motel, I can't even remember in what state.

A couple of days later, we drove up Lakeshore Drive in Chicago toward Northwestern. I was awestruck by the beauty of Chicago, and happy to be moving there. Northwestern was busy with freshmen moving in in time for new student week, though a good deal of us were delayed in arriving. My dorm, the International Studies Residential College, had a high percentage of students from abroad, delayed by the chaos 9-11 caused air travel. It was comforting, somehow, to see The Rock, traditionally guarded by different student groups and painted for various causes, painted as an American flag with the words "9-11-01, United We Stand."

It was also comforting to share stories with other students, and perhaps the conditions of our arrival allowed our class to bond stronger, and sooner. I remember watching a performance of the Chicago sketch/improv theater group The Neo-Futurists for the new freshman, with a piece I still remember about the 9/11 attacks, featuring drifting paper, reminiscent of the paper that floated down from the towers. That we could all sit in the auditorium and experience it together was a comfort.

It has also been a comfort to me to hear the stories of people that day, firefighters and policemen and priests and everyday civilians, who acted bravely and kindly to their fellows. Being half Irish and half Italian, half from New York and half from Boston, I felt those Irish and Italian FDNY firefighters and NYPD cops were my people, with my roots, and I was proud of them.

We all knew that the world had changed that day. But no one knew exactly how, or to what extent. 9-11 has brought us interminable wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, thousands of dollars spent. It has cost us the lives of thousands of brave soldiers. It has left many people with a hole in their family, and grief over a life unfairly taken from them.

On a more mundane level, it has brought hours in airport security lines, countless confiscated screwdrivers and nailclippers and knitting needles, 3-oz containers of liquids in ziplock bags, barefoot treks through various security machines. It meant that my first flight home from college, my parents couldn't meet me at my gate, but rather in the baggage claim. While at first it brought a surge of support for America, the interminable wars soon meant that trips to Europe made me feel uncomfortable to be an American abroad, no matter what terrible things other countries have done in their pasts. It meant recessions and instability, it meant taking a longer time to put my life together. It meant a change from optimism to pessimism, and a world that seems to continue to spiral downward. It meant an inability to work together to solve the most pressing of issues, throughout the world.

Is it possible to return to better times? In some ways, I envy the children of the Depression, who thought the world was poverty-stricken and hungry, only to find it wasn't half so bad. Instead, my generation thought things were headed forward, only to realize that we had no idea where the world was heading, and wherever it was going, it was limping and reeling. Can we yet come together to fix the earth? It remains to be seen. But I am American, and I don't give up, 9-11 or not.

Pictures from Maine

2011-09-09T23:54:00.000-07:00

Moss in the Forest, Wolfe's Neck

Purple Mushrooms, Birch

Purple Mushrooms, Moss

Seagull on the Shore

Marshall plays oboe!

2011-08-16T20:49:00.000-07:00

I enjoy watching the summertime TV show In Plain Sight, and I was tickled when the most recent episode revealed that one of the main characters used to play oboe! Honestly, the writers did a good job--if I had to guess what the character of Marshall Marshall Mann would play, it would definitely be oboe. He totally has a dorky, slightly OCD oboe personality.

musical practicalities

2011-08-12T09:51:00.000-07:00

Another thing that's been bothering me lately: things I wish I'd learned in music school. Basic, practical matters about how to live life as a musician. For example: taxes. Taxes for a freelancer are so confusing. There are so many different income sources, many for just a couple hundred dollars, and then there's what you can deduct and what you can't, and what category to put your deductions in, etc etc. Northwestern offered little seminars on these things, but I always said, I'll wait until I'm in grad school til I think about those things. Which is fine, because I probably would have forgot anything useful I'd learned by the time I actually had to pay taxes 3 years later. But I guess I was assuming that USC would have similar offerings, which of course they don't, because their music school is a bureaucratic mess that seems to be slowly disintegrating while all the money continues to flow into the ethically-challenged football team. Oh and into Colburn. So anyway, I never learned that stuff.

Nor did I learn that in Los Angeles, if you own your own business (and yes, being a freelance musician is considered owning your own business in terms of taxes), you have to apply for small business license from the city. Now, if you apply for it and you make less than $100,000/yr, you don't actually have to pay taxes as long as you show the city what you make. If, however, you don't do anything, you owe back-taxes on the pittance you made, despite the fact that if you had done your paperwork on time, you would owe nothing. Cool, huh? And a complete waste of hours trying to figure this stuff out. Not only that, but you must divide your earnings into teaching and performing. More fun.

Finally, I was in my car the other day and Marketplace was on NPR. It was the part of the show where they take questions from listeners about their financial situations. One of them was from a guy who was 28 and had worked a job for a few years where he had started a retirement fund, and was now going back to school. He wondered what to do about his retirement fund. At the same age, I thought, $&#*, I don't have a retirement fund! I don't know anything about retirement funds! Because my income doesn't come from any one source, I have no plan in which my company matches what I save or some sort of investment package. I don't how much I should be saving per month now, or what's normal for people, or what then end goal is. I know the musician's union offers something, but the number of union gigs I get in inconsequential, so I doubt the union would be much help. So for now, I'm probably just going to save what I can and hope for the best. The present economic situation isn't exactly helping my peace of mind, either!

So anyway, go Northwestern for actually making an effort to help people with these things, and boo USC for not doing so. But really, I think it would be great if there was some sort of "Musicians' Econ" class offered at music schools that was mandatory to graduate. Because it really would make life easier.

musician etiquette

2011-08-11T23:50:00.000-07:00

A while back I was having a discussion with some fellow LA freelance musicians on musician etiquette. I wanted to blog about it but haven't had the creative energy lately, until now. Here is a list I created for my middle school students about what kind of behavior is expected of a professional musician (and therefore what they should aspire to). Essentially, the list boils down to 3 things: 1 don't be a jerk, 2 use common sense, 3 be responsible.

Musician Etiquette

1.) Always be on time. In a professional situation, you will not be hired again if you are late!
2.) Always come prepared. Your colleagues will not appreciate it if they have worked hard to prepare the music, but you have not, and you keep the group back. This behavior would also cause you to not be hired again!
3.) Always make sure you’ve brought everything you need: instrument, music, pencil, reeds, whatever you need to play.
4.) Resist the urge to play the hardest, fastest, loudest music for your instrument when warming up. Real musicians warm up with scales and long tones, and the surest way to seem amateur and unprofessional is to play unnecessarily difficult music when warming up. Real musicians find this both juvenile and annoying.
5.) Never talk down to or denigrate your fellow musicians. This is unthinkably rude and a sure way to make sure you will never get hired again. Do NOT point out a colleague’s mistakes or correct them in any way. They most likely know their mistake, and if not, let the conductor correct them.
6.) Try not to talk in rehearsal unless necessary. Never talk loudly. Raise your hand if you have a question for the conductor that will pertain to the whole group. If it will not affect anyone but you, talk to the conductor after rehearsal to avoid wasting the ensemble’s time.
7.) Do not do other things, like read or play with your phone, during rehearsal. It’s rude and will cause you to miss entrances and musical directions.
8.) Always arrive early to performances.
9.) At performances, always wear appropriate clothing: nothing that will get you noticed for what you are wearing. People are there to hear you play.*
10.) At auditions, do not try to “psych out” your competition. Keep to yourself, warm up in a way that will serve you well, ignore those around you who are also auditioning, and remember that you want to win by playing your best.

*A note about #9: This is particularly for girls. There have been a lot of women in music who've had to put up with a lot of &$*# over the years in order that women today can perform in orchestras and win jobs fairly. To dress in a way that calls attention to something other than our playing, particularly in an orchestral situation, where our male counterparts are wearing suits or tuxes, is disrespectful to the women who fought for our right to perform as equals.

Why would anyone want to play the oboe??

2011-08-09T11:00:00.000-07:00

So, I haven't posted in a while. But this is a good video to start back with.

4, 5, or 6?

2011-05-27T17:46:00.000-07:00

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/28/education/28kindergarten.html

Why is this debate centered on the lower age limit rather than the upper age limit? Insisting that kids actually start kindergarten before they're 6 would solve this problem just as well.

agent orange

2011-04-18T23:41:00.000-07:00

So I just watched Platoon (or most of it, since a few chapters of the DVD didn't work), and I googled Agent Orange since I didn't know much about it. Jesus Christ, that stuff is scary. I can't believe we actually did that. And for what?

2011-04-12T10:05:00.001-07:00

2011-03-18T11:09:00.000-07:00

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

2011-03-17T00:43:00.000-07:00

St. Patrick's Day Movie Recommendations:

Fun/family:
The Secret of Kells -- GORGEOUS animation, lovely story.
The Secret of Roan Inish -- I guess there are a lot of secrets in Ireland? Directed by John Sayles.
Into the West -- one of my all-time favorite movies. I love Jim Sheridan. Gabriel Byrne doesn't hurt either.

Serious:
The Wind That Shakes The Barley -- I cried. A lot. And it made me angry. With Cillian Murphy.
In the Name of the Father -- ditto. But a bit more uplifting than the previous entry. Really great film. Jim Sheridan, Pete Postlethwaite, Emma Thompson, Corin Redgrave, Daniel Day-Lewis.
The Boxer -- also excellent. Also Jim Sheridan and Daniel Day-Lewis, with Emily Watson.
Angela's Ashes -- also with Emily Watson. The book is better, but I liked the movie, too.

Thanks to my Godmother Pauline, who made sure I got my Irish culture in, complete with Frank Patterson, fiddle music, Riverdance (really), and scary stories about the Cliffs of Moher. And of course, my mom.

2011-03-10T23:25:00.000-08:00

There was an earthquake in New Zealand, now in Japan, are we next? These things make me nervous.

Meanwhile a close friend will be moving to Japan. She won a job there, yay! But sad for me here in LA.

Oscar time!

2011-02-27T22:46:00.000-08:00

I am going to weigh in on the Oscars, because, well, what is a blog for but to give the interwebs one's unsolicited opinion?

I'm glad Inception won some, it was visually quite stunning. I am also very happy that Natalie Portman and Colin Firth won, I think they both deserved their wins for their roles and I admire their careers in general. They also seem like nice people, compared to some other Hollywood types, though that's pretty hard to tell. I think Melissa Leo deserved her Oscar but she seems like a weirdo. And Christian Bale also deserved his. It was strange to hear his normal speaking voice, not sure that I've ever heard it before.

I think that Inception should have won over The Social Network for score. Sorry, but I do. In general I think that The Social Network was well-made and an interesting movie, but I just didn't like it that much. Winter's Bone, Black Swan, and True Grit were all good, but I do think The King's Speech deserved its Best Picture win. Still haven't seen 127 Hours.

I wish I had more opportunity to see some of those short films! And I need to get on top of the foreign ones. I hadn't seen any. Anne Hathaway and James Franco were cute as hosts, but I would love Billy Crystal to come back. And James seemed a little stoned . . .

Best song, whatever, nothing seemed all the great to me. Jai Ho was much more fun. Toy Story 3 was good, but it wasn't an Up or a WALL-E.

For the dresses, my favorites included Natalie, Amy Adams, Hailee Steinfeld (who looked adorable in her dress--it was nice to see a young star wearing sometime age-appropriate, instead of going Lindsey Lohan/Miley Cyrus), and two of Anne Hathaway's: the opening white dress and the burgundy one.

the Decemberists - the wanting comes in wavesrepaid - (8 of 17)

2011-02-26T23:55:00.000-08:00

Also really been enjoying the Decemberists The Hazards of Love in the car!

Fabrizio de Andre - Volta la carta

2011-02-26T23:48:00.000-08:00

I was listening to this in the car today. I used to dance to LOVE to dance to it when I was about 4.

2011-02-26T23:18:00.001-08:00

I've seen this posted on facebook a few times and felt a need to share. Because it's awesome.

hiatus over

2011-02-18T11:47:00.001-08:00

Well, I haven't blogged in a while. So here are few unrelated things that I've been thinking about.

My friend from Northwestern, Stephanie, has a new blog about frugal living that I enjoy reading.

I am a now a big fan of Gabrielle Giffords, not just because she shares my first name, but I admit that might have something to do with it. I wish her a speedy recovery.

I played some pretty cool concerts last weekend. One of them was Peter & the Wolf with Jack Black as narrator. His son decided that the story's ending was too sad, and that the duck should have laser eyes. So, now I have laser eyes--pretty sweet!!

The other was Prokofiev's Classical Symphony with Symbiosis, a new group organized by my cellist friend Joo Lee. It was without a conductor and it was FUN!

WildUp had a concert that I unfortunately missed.

I've been teaching more, and enjoying it, but also with more teaching come more issues to solve, and sometimes I've been struggling with them. But not necessarily in a bad way. More in a, this is interesting, how do I fix it, kind of way.

OK, that's all for now. Hopefully I will be a little better about keeping this blog updated in the near future.

let's just move on (and keep up the education work)

2010-11-21T11:49:00.001-08:00

Everyone keeps talking about how to make classical music "relevant," especially to young people. At the same time, the classical music world is flooded with so many young musicians hoping to make a living as musician. Presumably, these young people love classical music. So what's the problem? I don't see one. The whole world is constantly changing, not just the tiny fraction of it that involves classical music. Deal with it and move on, stop grumbling, just go with the flow! Things will either sort themselves out, or we'll have to move on. Also, I think if we just perform music that we love and in ways that excite us, people will enjoy it. We should stop pandering to what we think other people would like, it just seems artificial to me. There have always been fewer people who like "high" art than "pop" art, that's just in the nature of the two beasts, yet "high" art (in all forms, visual, theater, film, music, etc.) has managed to survive, and I think it always will. It's part of human nature. So let's just stop freaking out. Also, I would just like to say that I like BOTH high art and low art, a lot. Fellini is fantastic, but so is Star Wars. I love Mahler, but I also enjoy Lady GaGa.

On a somewhat related note, I visited YOLA@HOLA yesterday, and introduced their 4th-grade wind instrument students to the oboe. The kids already play flute, clarinet, trumpet, trombone, euphonium, and horn. They are hoping to start a few kids on oboe and bassoon in the future. The children were a great audience, they behaved well, were enthusiastic, and asked great questions. I even played the English horn for them. (Harry Potter was a big hit on oboe, they requested it on English horn, as well!!) The kids learn solfege, recorder, and how to read music, sing in choir, and they also learn about composers and music history. They compose their own works from early on (one adorable 4th-grader titled his first (4-measure) composition "Kevin's Symphony No. 1"). They also have a class for parents, so that parents can learn some of what their children are learning, and get an idea of what goes on when their children are at YOLA@HOLA. They also have a class of 1st-graders who are learning violin and viola. They seem to have a really good thing going on, with good teachers. So anyway, I think these kinds of projects, though very difficult to execute quite so well as they are doing at YOLA@HOLA, are excellent and a big part of the future of classical music. Plus they provide a great service to their communities, especially since music has been eliminated from so many schools' curricula these days. I hope to help our program between Crossroads and St. Anne's School blossom into something like that.

unpleasant surprises

2010-10-30T21:33:00.000-07:00

So I was just fooling around on my computer, waiting for the cupcakes in the oven to finish baking. I had on a recording of Carmina Burana with Hans Graf and the Houston Symphony, circa 2001, and was feeling nostalgic for my high school music days in Houston. My sophomore year of high school, I was in the children's chorus of Houston Grand Opera's production of Mefistofele, and I started to wonder if any of those kids were on facebook. I could only remember a couple of full names. There was one friend that I especially hit it off with, Rachel. I was pretty sure I had her name right, but I couldn't find her on facebook, so I decided to google her. What came up: her obituary. She died five years ago at age 21 in a bike accident. That really caught me off guard, and I just needed to share it somewhere to deal with that a little. She was really smart, as well as a fine singer. I thought she must be doing something great by now. What a terrible surprise.

picture books

2010-10-08T10:24:00.000-07:00

Wow, this story really annoys me:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/08/us/08picture.html

My dad insisted that I NOT learn to read until I started kindergarten (childhood is for being a child), so that's what I did. I started out behind some of the kids whose parents had been teaching them to read, but that did not last long. I loved reading from the beginning, maybe because I never felt forced to do it. I certainly do no think that I have suffered educationally or linguistically as a result of learning to read a little bit later than some.

On top of that, picture books are excellent ways to get kids to enjoy reading. Most people enjoy mastering something that they have to make an effort for, but if they have to struggle too much, they stop enjoying it. Picture books are perfect for kids in this way: they have to make an effort to read, but the pictures help them along, and they feel more accomplished for having figured it out themselves. Chapter books are just be boring and frustrating if they're beyond a child's level, and I would think that would turn them OFF to reading, instead of helping them to enjoy it.

And how many wonderful children's picture books are out there? My life wouldn't have been the same without The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Alexander's Terrible, Horrible, Very Bad, No Good Day, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, Dr. Seuss, the Pinkerton books (about the Great Dane), Alphonse the Loch Ness monster, anything by Tomie DePaola (my all-time favorite: Prince Pazzo), so many excellent books that I remember clearly and fondly to this day! I will always love The Snowman, which fueled my creativity when making my own snowmen, and I also enjoyed the beautiful movie they made of it(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PeVaj4zkWy0). In fact, I remember attending a Hartford Symphony performance of it, with the orchestra playing the music to accompany the movie. Or what about the beautiful Father Twilight, or Miss Rumphius? I could go on forever. Anyway, I just had to balance the universe and pay tribute to the wonderful world of picture books, which are apparently not being treated with their due respect these days!

2010-09-22T00:02:00.001-07:00

Things have been busy, trying to get the new school year off the ground. I had jury duty for the first time yesterday. A fascinating experience, and actually much less painful than expected.

A lot of people have been sharing this link, and I think it's a good one, so I am, too.

OH, and one more.

2010-09-21T23:59:00.001-07:00

2010-09-10T01:36:00.000-07:00

i ♥ kurt vonnegut

2010-08-19T09:06:00.000-07:00

I want to go here!

summertime pictures

2010-08-14T17:04:00.000-07:00

Some pictures of my summer:

dusk in Santa Barbara

Sunset in Santa Barbara

orange moon over Lake Michigan, Evanston

baby bunny munching on someone's lawn, Evanston

moon & Baha'i temple, Wilmette

Baha'i Temple at dusk, Wilmette

Chicago from the Lakefill, Evanston

crazy shoes in San Francisco

which had to be compared to these crazy shoes in NYC:

2010-08-13T09:39:00.000-07:00

Timecrowave

2010-07-29T14:52:00.001-07:00

This SNL skit made me laugh, mainly because it's just silly. Especially the very end.

Single Ladies: for 2 oboes (simplified)

2010-06-28T18:54:00.000-07:00

backwards reed

2010-06-19T14:51:00.000-07:00

Last night I had a nightmare about reeds. I dreamt I made a reed that had a heart that was thinner than the tip and windows. I think I need a vacation.

2010-06-15T09:30:00.000-07:00

Mmm, I just love the sound of lawnmower and violin in the morning. really.

makes me so angry

2010-06-08T00:36:00.000-07:00

Louisiana Oil Spill.

2010-06-07T17:34:00.000-07:00

I still don't like earthquakes.

Elephant Superhero

2010-05-29T10:12:00.000-07:00

This just really tickled my funny bone.

2010-05-27T09:44:00.000-07:00

This about sums up all my LOST questions, too:
http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1936291

Suzuki

2010-05-25T09:59:00.000-07:00

studio musicians

2010-05-24T23:17:00.000-07:00

Having just watched the final episode of LOST yesterday, I thought Alex Ross's blog posts about one of my favorite film composers today (Alias, Up), Michael Giacchino, deserved a link or two (wish I could read the whole article). I guess Patty liked it, too. Which brings to mind an interesting discussion we had a while back. There are a few sites and even a movie about studio musicians. I also really enjoyed watching Jimmy Kimmel Live last night--they even had a harpist join the band (I think maybe the one who played the score to LOST?).

2010-05-14T15:48:00.000-07:00

I just had to fight the urge to correct a facebook friend's status. She said she was now happy to be an alumnus. I really wanted to tell her that she would actually be an alumna. But I didn't. Gabrielle = total dork.

Orchestras: Ladies' Day

2010-05-14T01:54:00.000-07:00

Orchestras: Ladies' Day

This article was going around facebook today--very fascinating, makes me so grateful to the women who went before me. Also a little pissed off at a certain older conductor.

2010-05-11T21:08:00.001-07:00

I actually kinda like those Swiffer ads featuring the anthropomorphized cleaning tools.

Wating Room at a Horn Audition

2010-04-14T21:37:00.000-07:00

pro

2010-04-06T13:27:00.001-07:00

Avocados.

more cons.

2010-04-05T17:36:00.000-07:00

EARTHQUAKES

I was in Cerritos, about 30 miles southeast of where I live, rehearsing for an Easter gig when it struck yesterday. I felt like I was drunk or dizzy, and it lasted a while. Did not make me happy. Makes me more anxious to leave this place. Some people are like, whatever it's just a quake. Me, I'm like whoaaaaa this is not cool the earth is not supposed to move beneath your feet. The other day one also woke me up out of bed at 4 am and the first thing I thought was OH NO IT'S GONNA BE THE BIG ONE but of course it wasn't. I went to Target the next day and put together an emergency kit anyway.

Also, can I just say that I put at least 120 miles on my car this weekend?

pros & cons

2010-04-01T00:43:00.000-07:00

Good things about LA:
THE BEACH
the weather
good food

Bad things about LA:
CROWDED
everything is far apart
hard to meet new people and keep up with friends

What am I doing with my life? I really don't know.

east/west

2010-03-20T13:33:00.000-07:00

It's a beautiful spring day in LA! I am sitting on my little balcony, flanked by my newly seeded pots (zinnia, sunflower, basil, love-in-the-mist). Now that the round of winter of auditions is over, I'm coming out of my hermit's cave and trying to reconnect with people. I saw Alice in Wonderland last night--I did enjoy it, but I couldn't help thinking that, given the talent involved, it could have been better. 3-D was better this time round for me than it was for Avatar, which bothered my contacts. I think I still prefer regular 2-D, to be honest.

I've been exploring the IMSLP, scouring for good public domain music. There's A LOT! I am particularly intrigued by a certain nonet by Martinu. I still need to do my taxes. Ugh. My room has been cleaned, but the rest of the apartment could use a cleaning. I still have to figure out summer plans. And I'm still not sure what I'll be doing next year.

NYC was great, but I'm not sure it's a place I'd like to live. It was great to reconnect with some old friends, though, and to see the Met and MOMA and the Statue of Liberty and such as a 26-yr old, not 13-yr-old. Wish I'd caught some concerts, though. I like New Yorkers. Very direct and abrupt, but I find that refreshing. And whoever said they weren't nice lied. When I was traipsing around the subways and trains with my huge suitcase, not one but FOUR different people helped me with stairs, of their own volition. They also have great accents. There were also funny little things I remembered from being a kid in the Northeast: the random granite outcroppings that so often have graffiti on them, jaywalking, and the fact that we used to drive over the Throg's Neck Bridge, which for a very long time I thought was the Frog's Neck Bridge, and was disappointed to discover the correct name.

Meanwhile, I should actually get something done. But I am enjoying not feeling as if I have to be doing something productive at all times or else.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

2010-03-17T11:26:00.001-07:00

In honor of St. Patrick's Day, a few pictures from my recent trip to New York City. I imagine it must have been so awe-inspiring for (half of) my great-grandparents to arrive in America from Ireland and see:

Isn't she beautiful?

2010-03-05T00:23:00.000-08:00

Torchwood can be depressing sometimes--no, make that a lot.

2010-02-27T23:21:00.000-08:00

What a moving story.

13.1 miles, 2 hours and 18 minutes!!

2010-02-07T18:44:00.000-08:00

I ran the Surf City Half Marathon in Huntington Beach today! And I ran it faster than I thought I would! (2:18:07!) It was a great experience, though I will be taking some time off from running for a little. Also, I'm so happy for New Orleans that the Saints won! I don't really watch football, but there were some great plays tonight!

2010-02-05T11:48:00.000-08:00

allegro non troppo 3

2010-02-04T10:42:00.001-08:00

I was informed that I neglected to post the last part of Bolero. So here it is!

lots of music

2010-02-04T10:24:00.000-08:00

Whew, today is the first free day I've had in quite some time, so I slept in and am slowly enjoying some coffee. Still have lots of errands to do, though. And practicing, of course. This weekend was nuts: on Sunday, I played Act II of Tristan & Isolde with Debut at 4 pm, and Daphnis & Chloe and Bolero with AYS at 7pm. Principal on Tristan, English horn on Daphnis & Bolero. It actually went pretty well--Daphnis was a lot of fun once I stopped freaking out about all the notes and just played. I wonder why it is a clarinet excerpt but not an oboe one. We have the same material.

This weekend I am playing John Adams' Chamber Symphony (eek! so hard! makes Daphnis seem like cake), 3 songs by Radiohead, and Bach Brandenburg #3 arranged for this really cool new group, WildUp. Also on the program (but sadly, no oboe): Stravinsky's Dumbarton Oaks and Hein's Orlando, He Dead. It's great music and I am so impressed by my colleagues who are playing with me, they are all great musicians. It's at a really cool venue (you can sit and have a drink while you listen to us), and it should be a great show! Not your typical "classical" event. I hope lots of people come!

Oh yeah. And I'm also running a half marathon on Sunday. Gulp.

people's history

2010-01-27T22:54:00.000-08:00

Howard Zinn has passed away. He was going to speak at the school I teach at next week. I was going to try to go. Oh well. Rest in peace.

allegro non troppo 2

2010-01-23T13:11:00.003-08:00

Bolero, part 2

allegro non troppo 1

2010-01-23T13:11:00.001-08:00

Bolero, first half

Bolero, neurological disorders

2010-01-23T13:02:00.001-08:00

I am playing Bolero next weekend, so I thought I might post something about it. Like that Ravel suffered from some sort of degenerative neurological problem, and that people have been trying to link that to Bolero. I was trying to find the article I heard about a while ago, but I can't seem to. Here is the best I could find on NPR: possibility of Alzheimers, or perhaps another disorder. But the one I remember was not about Alzheimers, but rather, some sort of disease that made you repeat patterns. They were talking about some artists and quilt-makers having the disorder, as well. Anyway, the videos are more from one of my favorite movies, Allegro non troppo, and I quite like them. Hope you do too.

2010-01-15T00:37:00.000-08:00

Of interest lately:

A strongman.

A good interview.

Planet Earth. (seriously amazing to watch)

The Road (great book! Now I want to see the movie).

I would also like to see Heath Ledger's last movie.

Cooking good food.

Trying to stay on top of things.

in the year seven-hundred and fifty-two from the foundation of the city of rome

2009-12-24T21:46:00.000-08:00

My favorite part of the Christmas Midnight Mass (which obviously I'm not at right now): the Solemn Proclamation of the Birth of Christ.

In the twenty-fourth day of the month of December;
In the year five-thousand one-hundred and ninety-nine from the creation of the world, when in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth;
In the year two-thousand nine-hundred and fifty-seven from the flood;
In the year two-thousand and fifty-one from the birth of Abraham;
In the year one-thousand five-hundred and ten from the going forth of the people of Israel out of Egypt under Moses;
In the year one-thousand and thirty-two from the anointing of David as king;
In the sixty-fifth week according to the prophecy of Daniel;
In the one-hundred and ninety-fourth Olympiad;
In the year seven-hundred and fifty-two from the foundation of the city of Rome;
In the forty-second year of the reign of the Emperor Octavian Augustus;
In the sixth age of the world, while the whole earth was at peace —
JESUS CHRIST
eternal God and the Son of the eternal Father, willing to consecrate the world by His gracious coming, having been conceived of the Holy Ghost, and the nine months of His conception being now accomplished, (all kneel) was born in Bethlehem of Judah of the Virgin Mary, made man. The birthday of our Lord Jesus Christ, according to the flesh.

TURN LEFT

2009-12-07T11:41:00.000-08:00

This cartoon made me crack up this morning.

All-State Rant

2009-11-30T16:23:00.001-08:00

First of all, I would like to acknowledge that I attended both middle and high school in Texas, a state with obsessively good band programs. However, I am pretty sure that Texas is not the only state that has All-State Band, Orchestra, and Choir; that has AUDITIONS for them; and that these auditions are free for students. I could be wrong that they are free, but I don't remember having to pay for them. Therefore I find it RIDICULOUS that a state as large as California doesn't hold auditions, but rather has your band director make a recording to send in of you, and you have to pay a $45 (!) application fee. I know CA is having a budget crisis right now, but this procedure appears to be standard, regardless of the budget. Kids should be given an audition experience, and for many students, making a CD and paying a $45 fee are really difficult. I am completely dismayed at this system. And so much more appreciative of Texas's labyrinthine system of region, area, and district auditions to place in an All-State ensemble, plus the region band and orchestra opportunities before that. California, once you fix your budget, you need to get on this problem. Oh, and if anyone knows of some good, less expensive opportunities for middle school band kids to audition for and place in an ensemble, please let me know!

yum

2009-11-26T12:17:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving!!!! I am cooking sweet potato muffins and green beans, and then heading over to hang with friends. Eat well today!!

Soundtrack to cooking: Respighi, Ancient Airs & Dances, Boston Symphony/Ozawa; O Brother Where Art Thou?; Beethoven & Triebensee Trios.

Thanks for good music, good food, and kind friends!

General Montcalm

2009-11-24T18:27:00.000-08:00

I would just like to point out that the fabulous production of Janacek's "From the House of the Dead" that so many people have been raving about was directed by Patrice Chereau, everyone's favorite French general in The Last of the Mohicans. Just because I think that's awesome.

it's diaphanous, not diaphamous

2009-11-23T00:05:00.000-08:00

I know what "gossamer" and "diaphanous" mean without having to look them up. Is that really so weird?

2009-11-18T10:04:00.000-08:00

I'm still here! Been busy--recital on Saturday. Went well. I am so proud of my friends who joined me for the Prokofiev Quintet--for three of them it was the first time playing it, and we did it in two days!

I thought I would share this cartoon. I agree. Flying doesn't scare me so much as the airport itself: security rules and lines, making sure your bag is under 50 lbs, separating your liquids, taking off your shoes, taking the laptop out of its bag, making sure you took your screwdriver and all your reedmaking tools out of your oboe bag and checked them, having to pay lots of $$$ for crappy airport food, waiting, having flights delayed, being delayed in lines, etc etc etc are WAY scarier than the actual flying part. I guess I am already getting anxious about holiday travel.

driving music

2009-10-14T22:53:00.000-07:00

It's raining in Los Angeles, which makes the driving HORRIBLE but at the same time is much appreciated by residents of a desert city. I'm listening to Ludovico Einaudi when I drive--he helps me get through it. My roommate listens to Crooked Still, and I am so glad she has introduced me to their music (via True Blood)--it's great!

i'm not in holland anymore, am i?

2009-09-29T10:35:00.000-07:00

I just liked this Doonesbury. Because I am from New England and I like tulips and I talk to my plants, too.

dvorak slavonic dance no 7

2009-09-19T11:26:00.001-07:00

Also fun.

Allegre non troppo - Antonio Vivaldi - Concerto in D major in HD

2009-09-19T11:23:00.001-07:00

This one is very cute and oboe-centric. Good combo.

Jean Sibelius Valse Triste from Kuolema for orchestra OP 44

2009-09-19T11:17:00.001-07:00

I am so glad someone has put these clips from one of my favorite movies of all time, Allegro non Troppo, up on YouTube. This one is my favorite and always makes me cry, without fail. I guess I'm sappy like that. I think I will post more if I can find them.

Beverly Sills on The Muppet Show Part 3 "Pigoletto"

2009-09-17T21:02:00.001-07:00

because i'm in an opera mood

(thanks to oboeinsight for posting the video that lead to this one!)

Stephen Colbert and Paul Dinello

2009-09-11T17:42:00.001-07:00

My friend posted this on facebook, and I had to share it.

2009-09-10T10:52:00.001-07:00

west coast adventures

2009-09-06T23:22:00.000-07:00

I have been having West Coast adventures in the past month. I took an audition where I finally thought I played my best, but still didn't advance. Therefore I felt awful. But on the other hand, I now have a better idea of what I have to do to prepare to play my best.

I took a trip up the California coast with my Mom. It was a long trip, lots of driving, but also lots of fun. I forgot my camera so I don't have many pictures, just some that mom took with her film camera and scanned. There are no humans in the picture I've posted to give scale, but redwood trees are truly awe-inspiring. So was the Golden Gate Bridge, which I really enjoyed driving over (once in each direction!). I thought of Patty when I drove through Silicon Valley, and as a Mac user, I was pretty excited to drive through Cupertino :)

We went to two mission along the way: Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo, and I learned that California was essentially started by a Franciscan monk named Junipero Serra, who founded over 20 missions along the California coast, each a fews days apart on foot, from San Diego to San Rafael, and including such familiar towns as San Juan Capistrano, San Francisco, Santa Cruz, and San Jose. I found this totally fascinating. I also liked that the name for the Native Americans in the Los Angeles area was "Gabrielenos" (Tongva originally), after Mission San Gabriel, the mission in the Los Angeles area, I suppose. I am also guessing that the name of Los Angeles has something to with San Gabriel, who was, after all, not only an angel, but an archangel (and one of the only figures to appear in the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim religions, I would also like to add!). Anyway, both Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo were beautiful, and I found San Luis Obispo to be particularly charming. I am sure there were lots of horrible things done to the Native Americans, but the missions seemed like a pretty nice way of living to me.

We drove all the way up to the Avenue of the Giants in Humboldt Redwoods State Park, some 200 miles north of San Francisco (which is about 400 miles north of LA, for reference!). It was some of the scariest driving I have ever done in my life, with very narrow roads that were SUPER twisty and some of them were on cliffs over the ocean. Good thing it doesn't really snow there! Though there was plenty of fog. Avenue of the Giants, however, was amazing and beautiful and if you ever have a chance to go there, DO IT!!! Words cannot express the awe I felt in the presence of these huge, ancient trees, some of whom have been alive for over 400 years. It also takes 400 years for a redwood to decompose fully once it has fallen, and the trees (both living and dead) are home to literally thousands of life forms. And to top it all, they have these adorable little pine cones that are no bigger than a marble. Wow.

Meanwhile, back in Los Angeles, I went to one of my favorite locations, the beach at Point Dume, with some friends today. It's so beautiful, it is really one of LA's saving graces. We had a lot of fun looking in the tide pools for hermit crabs and starfish and such, and finding little shells (I was pretty excited about an adorable little sand dollar I found--sand penny, really, since it was much closer to penny-sized. But the highlight was that we got to see a sick baby seal (or sea lion, which I think actually it was, since I think I saw it had little ears) get rescued by the Marine Mammal Rescue people. He was soooooo cute and it was so sad to see him looking forlorn and listless, just letting the tide carry him along. I hope that he makes a full recovery! I wish I could find out what happened to him.

Now it will be back to teaching, which is a relief (especially since I'm pretty broke), and hopefully back to gigging as well. Not to mention auditions and planning for how on earth I am going to live my life.

drug advert ban?

2009-08-05T08:56:00.000-07:00

Saw an interesting debate on drug advertising, which is something that has always bothered me. You should not ever have to ASK your doctor about a particular drug! If you go to your doctor and report symptoms of something, they should be able to figure out what it is and prescribe you something for it. I would HOPE that they know better than you which drug to prescribe, or be able to refer you to another doctor that does. So what is the point of advertising for drugs??? That money could better be spent elsewhere--like making the drugs themselves a little bit more affordable!!! And don't get me started on drug companies taking doctors out to dinner to sell them stuff . . . and the assorted pens, mousepads, and other gizmos they come up with to sell their products.

uncertain times

2009-07-23T10:19:00.001-07:00

Two NYTimes articles of interest today: one on the NEA and one on laid-off ballet dancers.

Banff Oboe Choir: 2 Canadian Folk Songs, arranged by Katie Mordarski

2009-07-22T16:27:00.000-07:00

"Land of the Silver Birch" and "My Paddle's Keen and Bright"

Afficher le lecteur dewplayer - lecteur Flash pour MP3

back in socal

2009-07-22T15:22:00.000-07:00

Back from Banff--what a gorgeous place. I even saw a grizzly bear crossing a river, but it was from the car as we were driving so I didn't get a picture. I'll post a few of my favorites. Nick Daniel and Steve Taylor were both amazing, and I had a great time. I miss it! I also miss that The Banff Centre provides you with tasty meals and you get your room cleaned--now I am back to grocery shopping and cooking and making my own bed and I'm not sure how much I like it! Anywho, here are a few more photos.

Bow Glacier's water flowing into Bow Lake

waterfall coming from Bow Glacier

another pretty waterfall

violets

mountain and Bow Lake

Bow Lake and Bow Glacier

another pretty river

wall of waterfalls

Columbian Ice Fields Glacier

one of the many warnings to stay off the glacier--which was roped off anyway

View from the top of Sulphur Mountain--1,187mi to LA!!

Bow Valley from Sulphur Mountain

The Banff Center and Banff Springs Hotel from Sulphur Mountain

adorable baby mountain goat!

stream and tree roots

deer!

view from Tunnel Mountain

United Breaks Guitars

2009-07-09T19:28:00.001-07:00

Banff--Hoodoo Hike

2009-06-30T18:23:00.001-07:00

The settings on my camera weren't right, so the picture quality is not as good as I would like, but you get the idea. I love it here.

Habanera

2009-06-06T23:53:00.001-07:00

move

2009-06-06T23:14:00.000-07:00

Umm, so I haven't blogged in almost a month. Oops. I'm still here, I've just been busy. I took an audition last month, and I think things are progressing, though I still didn't advance. They let me keep playing more excerpts after I made mistakes, which means there must have been something about my playing they liked. They even let me stop and get some water out of my C key, and they heard me play all the excerpts and then asked for the ones I messed up on again, and I played them better. So at least they gave me a good listen. It's so frustrating to go to an audition, play three excerpts (often with no obvious errors) and then hear "Thank you." Also, now I know what it's like to get water in my key during an audition, so next time it happens, hopefully it won't fluster me as much. At any rate, I had fun eating good food with my friend afterwards and catching up during our wait in the airport.

I also moved, not far, just about 5 miles east to a new apartment. I will miss being as close to the ocean and Santa Monica, but I am in a cute area with a roommate who is super nice and in an improved apartment. But it was still a huge pain in the ass, and I was sick for most of the weekend, which didn't improve things (and meant that I was pretty much exhausted the whole time).

I also had my final concert of the year for my little band. I was pretty stressed out about it, because I've had so many kids miss rehearsal this semester for sports and field trips and such, we were not as prepared as we were for the first concert. But I added a final dress rehearsal right before the concert, and that was enough to fix everything (and to give a chance for our added players to get comfortable with the music), and we had pizza in between the rehearsal and the concert. It went pretty well! I was happy with it, and proud of my kids for pulling it off. But also glad for it to be done. I had a good time chilling with the music teachers afterwards :)

Now I am trying to settle into my new apartment, take care of all of the things I let slip in the last few weeks, and prepare for Banff.

violin audition

2009-05-09T20:54:00.000-07:00

My friend Jessica posted a note about auditioning recently on facebook and on violinist.com, and I thought it was very insightful. Here is a link to it.

Trumpet Tips

2009-05-09T09:16:00.001-07:00

A trumpet player friend of mine posted this on facebook. I can relate to the bassoonist! Very amusing.

Camerata Pacifica — Loeffler Rhapsody, "L'Étang"

2009-05-04T20:20:00.001-07:00

That concert I was raving about? They put part of it up on YouTube! (well technically it was a different performance, but same program. still awesome.)

Loeffler & The Soloist

2009-04-29T00:00:00.000-07:00

I meant to mention this earlier, but on Thursday I went to a Camerata Pacifica concert at Colburn featuring Nicholas Daniel. They played several lovely works, but the highlight of the evening for me and my friend Izumi, who plays piano and has accompanied both my masters recitals, was the Loeffler Trio. Izumi's piano teacher, Kevin Fitz-Gerald, played it with Richard O'Neill (formerly principal viola of AYS--we accompanied his Walton Concerto last year) on viola and of course Mr. Daniel. I loved being coached with Izumi on the Poulenc Sonata by Kevin, who always has a twinkle in his eye and can be brutally honest but says it so nicely you don't even notice--an excellent quality in a teacher. Anyway, they are three marvelous musicians, and they played soo well together, and Mr. Daniel actually MADE THE OBOE SOUND LIKE A BAGPIPE, for REAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I want to try that!!! Their performance was thrilling--and that's not an easy feat for the Loeffler, which can, I must admit, be occasionally a tad dull if not played with enough sparkle. After hearing them play, Izumi and I want to play it again! (She played it with me on my last recital). OK, anyway, it was just pretty awesome and I am so excited to study with him at Banff this summer :)

Same evening, at midnight, I saw The Soloist with several of my USC friends who were in it as "The Juilliard Orchestra." They had some good screen time! The movie was OK. There were some disappointing aspects (umm, WHAT were you thinking with the pigeons, Joe Wright?!). I was REALLY annoyed by the character of Graham Claydon, the "principal cellist" of the LA Phil who to me was the stereotype of a classical musician: white, male, geeky/snooty, and he's also portrayed as a religious nut. In a film about how classical music is NOT just for white, male, geeky/snooty types, couldn't they have eliminated this tired stereotype? Just saying. At least Esa-Pekka got his cameo. All in all, it was pretty much just Hollywood.

titan

2009-04-20T00:30:00.001-07:00

I'm still here, just not been in a blogging mood lately. I'm trying to get myself revved up for more auditions, and of course still performing--today was Mahler 1 with Debut. Low b-flat on English horn, mwahahahahaha. In two weeks will be Shostakovich 10 with AYS. My life feels kind of strange right now, like I'm driving a car somewhere on a long trip but I don't know where that destination is or how to get there or how long it will take.

clocks

2009-04-03T18:19:00.000-07:00

I thought this was interesting, especially the discussion it sparked.

summertime . . .

2009-04-02T14:54:00.000-07:00

Road Trip???

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links

2009-03-30T00:51:00.001-07:00

There have been a few interesting links I've come across today. Here they are:
NYTimes article on music for healing
Free downloads from the Concertgebouw, thanks to Alex Ross
Orchestra strife sparks a discussion, via a friend's facebook post

random thougts

2009-03-27T01:10:00.001-07:00

I had an RA in college who was from Fargo, ND. He insisted that people from Fargo do not sound the way they do in the movie. I heard an NPR interview of a resident of Fargo talking about sandbagging there to prevent flooding. He sounded exactly like the people in the movie. He even ended the interview with "You betcha!" So, Jeff, I'm sorry, but I have to disagree.

I love driving down the PCH at sunset. I love driving the PCH at night and listening to Ludovico Einaudi. I love driving in LA at night when there is no traffic. It's beautiful in its own way.

yay!

2009-03-26T16:45:00.001-07:00

I got a new oboe today!!!!

spring plantings

2009-03-24T12:05:00.000-07:00

my seedlings! strawberry, tomato, clover, love-in-the-mist (what an awesome name for a flower)

ouch

2009-03-21T10:13:00.000-07:00

I seem to have picked a really excellent time to begin a music career, according to this article. Not that it would a better time for any other career, I suppose. Except maybe a physician. By the way, congrats to all those who matched yesterday!!