Ups and Downs: Tabuteau on Brahms 3

Tabuteau demonstrates on the oboe three different ways of playing the solo in the first movement of Brahms' 3rd symphony. Below is the entire audio clip from "Marcel Tabuteau: How do you expect to play the oboe if you can't peel a mushroom?"

Audio:

Version 1

1st C# up, 2nd C# down 

Audio:

Version 2

G# up, C# down

Audio:

Version 3

Audio:

Final Thoughts

I've listened to this recording more times than I care to admit and I haven't come up with the third version; Tabuteau describes only two of the three different versions. Any help identifying the third version and what he's demonstrating would be appreciated.

1st C#	2nd C#	Tabuteau's Version
Up	Up	?
Up	Down	1
Down	Up	?
Down	Down	2

I love that classical station but they play too much Bach

1. Classical Guitar
What is with classical guitar? 

2. A piece by a composer and conductor AND ensemble I've never heard of.
On the other hand, entering a live performance with no expectations or preconceptions is thrilling! Imagine entering a venue where you don't get a program and don't look up the performers but simply listen to the music and judge it on its own merits then and there.

3. Mendelssohn Violin Concerto

4. Handel
I'll say it...Handel is an overrated composer. 

 5. When I hear three melodic notes played identically or when a fragment is repeated without any variation.

Have you ever heard someone say "I love that classical station but they play too much Bach"? I rest my case.

The Clarinetist's Checklist

I've been catching some bad habits lately: excessive body movement, slouching, and a collapsing embouchure. A framework I use is not to fix bad habits but to continually remind myself of and to reinforce good habits (1).

The following checklist will be mentally run through before I play the first note of whatever I'm playing.

Checklist

1. Feel the 'sit bones' (2)
2. Sit up straight with my head on top of a the spinal column 
3. Form my embouchure (3)
4. Breath well (4)
5. Insert clarinet, feeling the lip pressure all around the mouthpiece

References:
(1) - Arnold Jacob
(2) - See Embouchure Building
(3) - See Embouchure Building
(4) - Maria Callas at her masterclasses at Julliard often said "Take the time to breath well." There are, of course, hundreds of ways thinking about and accomplishing this -- again, I refer to Embouchure Building and Arnold Jacobs for guidance.

Don't let anyone get bored

Glenn Dicterow, the concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic, is in residence at the Music Academy of the West for 3 weeks this year. In his first week, he gave a masterclass and in the second he performed the Debussy Violin Sonata. 

I took away the following idea from the masterclass: the audience has a short attention span, they want to check their email, play a game on their phone, or leaf through the program and it's your job as a performer to not let that happen. He said, "Don't let anyone get bored with anything you play." 

His performance of the Debussy Sonata tonight embodied the belief that it's the job of the artist to hold the audience's attention. Many performers want to paint with a thousand colors (I have at my disposal a couple dozen) but he actually does! Some people make a reputation with a beautiful tone, others with virtuosic technique, but what makes Mr. Dicterow so great is his creativity in finding a color for every nuance in every phrase.

John de Lancie

"If you are intellectualizing, and the goal is perfection, the result cannot help but to be inspiring."
- John de Lancie

June 8, 2013

heavy and pear shaped
beauty in eye of beholder
sound of clarinet

Thursday, May 30

reeds all terrible
try another hopefully
should have played the flute