Some improvements

 Well, I’m a bit behind on my posting, but it is delightful to know that I have two tiny sections of my office tidied up. They are not “done”, but they are in better shape for the big change coming up! 

     

The biggest change is the floor in front of the bookcase,
although an amazing amount of stuff got put away.

I didn't clean inside the drawers (much)
but what a huge difference it makes to have a clear surface!

Really this time for sure

 The great office muck out

Total mess  but not for long!

panoramic view 

view from the door and back of room toward door

     

Reed desk and computer desk

bookcase 1 and 2

storage rack and other little bookcase

I will post before and after pix of every scene. It is my plan to take out the file cabinet and the chair and organize the storage way differently. 

More reed management

 

So this endless topic reached a point where I had no staples, and I was about to order a bunch more when I thought, seriously, what am I doing with the hundreds of “graveyard“ reeds? They make me feel better, but I never go to that box and get reeds. 

In the last year, I have gone from a 20 Reed box to a 10 Reed box, With the intention that I would have six Oboe reeds for English horn reeds. So far, I haven’t been able to bring myself to only have six “good” reeds. Ironically, most of the 10 reeds I do have in that box are not reeds I would play without adjustment. 

So I cut and cleaned about 30 dead reeds, and my new goal will be to have six playable reeds in my case, any one of them being one I would play in a rehearsal. This may sound like such an obvious thing, but it is not the way my oboe life has been run I guess ever! Hoping for a more organized reed future. 

Being a semi-vocational Oboist

I have been working with the Oboe Path for a couple years now, and one of the focuses is on avocational musicians. As opposed to people who consider

playing their only job. I guess I feel like I fit in the cracks between, I usually do get paid for playing, but it certainly would not be enough to support myself without additional funding from my engineer partner! 

It is interesting to consider what playing the Oboe means to me and whether it matters more if I get paid. On one hand, of course I want to get paid. I put a lot of time and effort into preparing and having the right equipment and techniques for any given performance. But I also play in some groups where our performances are given freely, as well as my chosen church home. 

It’s a slippery slope and of course I don’t want to de-value what I’m doing by giving it away, society in this day and age already has such contempt for compensating artists. It was so clear a couple years ago at the beginning of the pandemic that the arts is what people turn to to keep their themselves, but the administration in our current government does not seem to value humans on any level. 

Today I was fortunate to be asked to play for symphony day where all the fifth graders get bussed to our beautiful hall and they get to hear a little concert. I got to play Scheherazade m4 four times, and demo the English horn with the tune from Golden (Kpop Demon Hunters). Such a huge response from the kids, it was really moving, and I hope some of them are inspired to make their own art in someway. 

Reed mgt

So much for blogging more frequently! I have had a lot of thoughts about playing, but writing them down has been beyond me. 

Reed management - I had a really panicky couple of days in the middle of the last show, because I felt like none of my oboe reeds were functioning! This flew in the face of my perception that I had gotten a better handle on making reeds that work for me. After some frantic Reed making things settled down- But I want to have a more structured approach so I don’t end up in that position again.

Right now I’m thinking I need six great reads that will just play in my main box. You could argue that all the reason the main Box should always play, but that has not been the case. 

Then I should have a box of reeds that are blanks, And maybe a separate box for day 1/day 2 reeds- right now, they are in two different boxes But maybe I need to make that process more streamlined. 

Then I also have a box of past their prime reeds that still might be usable. Actually, I have a couple boxes of those - one is called the Reed graveyard. But honestly, there are way too many reads that I probably need to just recycle.

Break from the Path and Phrygian scales

I have finished another session of the Oboe Path, and I am going to take a break for the rest of the summer. This group has been so helpful to me and I do feel like I have made huge strides in the last year. It is so fun to play things and realize how easy it is to articulate quietly, or play so in tune with the trumpet player, or adjust my reed for what I need to do for me in the moment. But I think taking a little time away will be like summer vacation in a way I can focus on different things and come back all ready to go with new goals in mind.

One of the goals is to be more mindful of writing down my insights in this blog. There are so many things I want to talk about and leave a post so I remember what I was thinking- but the months just flyby and I seem to rarely write anything down. Today I will just mention that I played all the phrygian scales- first the major then dropping the second and the sixth. They definitely feel really weird and I think it was helpful to go through all 12 steps. I am playing a show this summer with lots of “Egyptian” sounding licks, and I finally figured out they are just Phrygian scales! I think these will also be great to do long tones just to get it in my ear.

Drawstring

When you play the Oboe, a common trope is to describe the embouchure like a drawstring on one of those bags. Not a perfect example, but it allows you to think about pulling the corners in and not biting. 

Today I was watching a YouTube featuring Peter Cooper, And he in passing mentioned something about pushing down on your lower lip, can raise the pitch. This was not the main point of his video, but I was like, what?! Really? 

So I tried it and indeed he is so correct, but it also is very helpful for “grounding” the note and giving more stability to articulating. At least this was my experience. 

PC had mentioned bringing the oboe down like a seesaw, as that could lower the pitch. Also true, but I think I have been holding the reed and far too static a position. Moving things around while I was practicing my long tones was really interesting.