Merry Bassoon Xmas

From my daughter's Christmas card for me. Yeah, I guess that is what I look like.

Reviewing the Milde scale studies

My teacher once mentioned someone who, preparing for a job audition, made the practice of playing every one of the scale studies, every day. Then he (or she? I don't know whose story this is) played through all 50 of the Milde concert studies. Seems like a lot of work, to me, but, so the story goes, the player won the audition. Yesterday, with some holiday time and energy and no desperate need to be practicing anything in particular, I decided to try it out. I started with Number 1, C scales, and played slow enough to try and be clean. I stopped to review bits that were no longer under my fingers, then continued. I was surprised at how much I remembered of each one. I could remember the discussions of each phrasing choice, even though I hadn't looked at some of these in years. And playing through many of them, back to back, certainly gave me a unified outlook on the Milde style. The whole thing took a long time. Much longer than I expected, really, hours and hours, long enough to attract comments from my family. I can only assume that the person who was doing all of Milde every day knew them better than me, and could get through them quicker.

Buried in bassoon reeds

What an odd video. I don't think I've ever seen that many reeds together in one place before. The whole thing makes me think of Rule 34.

Nice multi-bassoon arrangement

The piece is Celine Dion's All by Myself. Great work on the arrangement, the playing, and the video. Parts are available, says the creator.

The trials of being a high-profile symphony musician

Here's an article about the chatter facing the principle horn player for the CSO. Horn is a famously difficult instrument, and this player is having a difficult time, to read the reviews. Sports analogies seem appropriate. I'm reminded of legendary hockey goalie Jacque Plante who, in response to someone's complaint about their work stress, replied "How would you like a job where, every time you make a mistake, a red light goes on and 18,000 people boo?" We're used to top athletes making mistakes, and we're used to top athletes being forced into retirement by the demands of the game. I think it's actually kind of cool to see this kind of news coverage, orchestral performance as athletic event, with all the inherent drama that that entails. I just wish it was enlivened by some replays, so that those of us who weren't in the audience could see what happened.

I went to a wind quintet concert on the weekend, and chatted a bit with the horn player afterward. He'd studied with one of the CSO horn players, and had spent a couple weeks living at her house when he was between residences. A really interesting experience, because he got to hear precisely how a top player practices in the privacy of her own home. He was impressed by how perfect she was. Not one wrong note, not one split attack, from the first note of the day to the last. Lots of slow playing, to be sure, working out and learning the music. _The Perfect Wrong Note_, which I've read, got mentioned as describing the philosophy. I can't do this, or at least that's what I tell myself, but every time I try I feel like things get better.

Vivaldi Largo

Today's attempt at the Largo from Vivaldi's Sonata for Cello #3, A minor, RV 43. It's a representative take, despite the ill-thought through ornaments I added in the repeat, and a few muffed notes. All comments appreciated. I plan to play this at a student recital in about a week.