Wednesday, September 26, 2007

on stage w/o rant

Yay, soooo much better today! The crew actually took out part of the floor so we had more "pit exposure", which turned out to be a GREAT idea. I was afraid we would be too loud, but I guess it didn't make that much difference in how much our sound came out to the audience, and we could actually HEAR the singers! And they are GREAT!!!! I'm very excited now. Biggest problem is the low ppp spots, I'm pretty sure these were originally EH parts. Has anyone out there done Madama Butterfly with the full parts (we have the reduced score)? I know it is for 2 ob and EH, and no one who could orchestrate worth a bean would write so much for the oboe so low and really soft, it sounds like a foghorn! I have a pretty good reed, but there is one place were it is just so tender and soft I am asking the clarinet to play 2 measures. I feel SLIGHTLY bad, but mostly relieved. There is plenty of other stuff to play.

Even though we got out about the same time tonight (10:30) I feel much perkier - probably because it went so much better. Tomorrow we have orchestra (Brahms Double, Haydn 101, blah) and then opera dress and opening Saturday! Of course closing is Sunday, so not much of a run, but at least it only destroys one weekend this way. Maybe next weekend I'll go to my college homecoming and play tuba in the alumni band (yes, I really played the tuba in marching band!).

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Actually there are a few spots with low oboe, Jill. What spots are you talking about?

If you want to check the score you can go here: http://www.dlib.indiana.edu/variations/scores/bhr3491/index.html

I have a great oboe for low notes so as long as the reed is okay I'm not too bad with them any more. But oh do I remember the days of struggles ... and of course I still have them since I'm not the best reed maker!

Anonymous said...

Oops ... just looked at that score and it's a piano reduction. Sorry! I have the full part, though, if you'd like to know if it's in there ....

Anonymous said...

Oh man ... I remember THAT part! Yes, that's EH. And should be. It's rotten on oboe. You have my sympathy. :-)

(I played it three times with the reduced orchestration, so I've had to suffer that section enough. I'm so glad that when we moved into our larger hall we no longer used Puccini's reduced book!)