Ralph Gomberg 1921-2006 - International Double Reed Society

Transcription

2007
Ralph Gomberg
1921-2006
the Double Reed
Cover30_2.indd 1
vol. 30 • no. 2
Fox Products Corporation
P.O. Box 347, South Whitley, Indiana 46787
Telephone: (260) 723-4888 • Fax: (260) 723-6188
Vol. 30 • No. 2
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IDRS OFFICERS
President
Nancy Ambrose King
3019 School of Music
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Bus: (734) 764-2522
Fax: (603)843-7597
E-mail: [email protected]
1st Vice President
Martin Schuring
School of Music 0405
Arizona State University
Tempe, AZ 85287-0405
Bus: (480) 965-3439
Fax: (480) 965-2659
2nd Vice President
Sandro Caldini
Loc S Piero 14
Rigano S/Arno
50067 Florence ITALY
Secretary
Keith W. Sweger
Ball State University
Muncie, IN 47304
Bus: (765) 285-5511
Fax: (765) 285-5578
Past President
Terry Ewell
Chair - Department of Music
Towson University
8000 York Road
Towson, MD 21252
Bus: (410) 683-1349
Fax: (410) 830-2841
Executive Secretary/Treasurer
Exhibit Coordinator
Norma R. Hooks
2423 Lawndale Road
Finksburg, MD 21048-1401
Office: (410) 871-0658
Fax: (410) 871-0659
At Large Members
Phillip A. M. Kolker
3505 Taney Rd
Baltimore, MD 21215
Bus: (410) 659-8238
Legal Counsel
Jacob Schlosser
4937 West Broad Street
Columbus, OH 43228-1668
Bus: (614) 878-7251
Fax: (614) 878-6948
Barbara Herr Orland
8034 Crescent Drive
St. Louis, MO 63105
Bus: (314) 533-2500
Conference Coordinator
Marc Fink
School of Music
University of Wisconsin-Madison
455 North Park Street
Madison, WI 53706-1483
Bus: (608) 263-1900
Fax: (608) 262-8876
Music Industry Liaison
Larry Festa
Fox Product Corporation
PO Box 347
South Whitley, IN 46787
Bus: (260) 723-4888
Fax: (260) 723-5587
Advertising Coordinator
Wayne Gaver
413 Fernwood Drive
Severna Park, MD 21146
Home: (410) 315-8434
Bassoon Editor
Ronald James Klimko
657 Douglas Drive
PO Box 986
McCall, ID 83638-0986
Home: (208) 634-4743
Oboe Editor
Daniel J. Stolper
7 Hermosillo Lane
Palm Desert, CA 92260-1605
Bus: (760) 837-9797
IDRS-On-Line Publications Editor
Yoshiyuki (Yoshi) Ishikawa
University of Colorado at Boulder
Boulder, CO 80309-0301
Bus: (303) 492-7297
Fax: (303) 581-9307
http://www.idrs.org
Associate Members
Archivist
Michael J. Burns
School of Music
P.O. Box 26120
University of NC at Greensboro
Greensboro, NC 27402-6120
Bus: (336) 334-5970
FAX: (336) 334-5497
Gillet-Fox Competition Chair
Nancy Ambrose King
3019 School of Music
University of Michigan
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
Bus: (734) 764-2522
Fax: (603)843-7597
Gillet-Fox Competition
Oboe Chair
Rebecca Henderson
University of Texas at Austin
School of Music
1 University Station
Austin, TX 78712
Bus: (512) 471-0837
Fax: (512) 471-7836
Gillet-Fox Competition
Bassoon Chair
Keith W. Sweger
Ball State University
Muncie, IN 47304
Bus: (765) 285-5511
Fax: (765) 285-5578
Australasian Double Reed Society (ADRS)
Mägyar Fàgottos tarsasag (MAFAT) of Hungary
British Double Reed Society(BDRS)
Viennese Oboe Society
(Gesellschaft der Freunde der Wiener Oboe)
Chinese Association of Bassoon (CAB)
Finnish Double Reed Society(FDRS)
IDRS-Deutschland
Japan Bassoon Society
Japan Oboe Association
Cover30_2.indd 2
L’Association Francaise du Hautbois
(French Oboe Society)
L’Association “bassons”
(French Bassoon Society)
FagotClub Nederland
Depuis 1881
HAUTBOIS
OBOE
HAUTBOIS D’AMOUR • COR ANGLAIS • HAUTBOIS BARYTON • HAUTBOIS PICCOLO
DE GOURDON. 48 rue de Rome 75008 PARIS France
Tél. : +33 (0)1 44 70 79 55 Fax : +33 (0)1 44 70 00 40
E-mail : [email protected] www.loree-paris.com
5/16/07 9:55:16 PM
The Double Reed
The
Double Reed
Quarterly Journal
of the
INTERNATIONAL
DOUBLE REED
SOCIETY
VOL. 30 • NO. 2
Ronald Klimko and
Daniel Stolper, Editors
© 2007 International Double Reed Society
www.idrs.org
ISSN 0741-7659
Designed by Edward Craig
Ecraig3 Graphic Design
Baltimore, MD 21212 U.S.A.
Printed by The J.W. Boarman Company
Baltimore, MD 21230 U.S.A.
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Table of Contents
On the Cover: Ralph Gomberg (1921-2006)
Table of Contents
Vol 30 • No.2
Honorary Members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
Message from the President . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Nancy Ambrose King
5
Report of the Executive Secretary/Treasurer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Norma Hooks
7
IDRS WWW . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
IDRS Sponsor-a-Member Program . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Martin Schuring
9
Current Events . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Trubutes to Ralph Gomberg (1921-2006) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Letter to the Editors - Norman Herzberg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Remembrance of Norman Herzberg . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Gary Friedman
Obituary: L. Hugh Cooper, Harold W. Kohn . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Oboists in the News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
Daniel Stolper
Something That Was Never Had – Rice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
Stephan Weidauer
IDRS Membership Application Form . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
3rd Annual Oboe Day at the University of South Florida (April 14, 2007) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
Amy Collins
Articles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
New Light on the Weissenborn Family . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
William Waterhouse
Supplements to Weissenborn, Two New Bassoon Methods: A Review . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
Ronald Klimko
An Interview with Dan Ross . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
Emily Helvering
Double Talk with Judith LeClair and Sarah Chang . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63
The Ear of the Beholder . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
John Steinmetz
The Alexander Technique and Oboists, Part II . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Andrea Fedele
Outta the Closet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 82
Nehama Timstitt
It’s Never Too Late: Beginning Bassoon at 70 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
Robert M. Stein
Cor Anglais: Selected Chapters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
Rachel Tolmie
Something New and Something Old: A Survey of Some Bassoon Recordings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 90
Alf Sollie
Rivers, Spacecraft, and Opera Buffa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
Michele Murray
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THE DOUBLE REED
3
Where No Oboist Has Gone Before. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Brenda Schuman-Post
93
Hearing Loss from Music-Causes, Treatment and Prevention . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
William J. Dawson, M.D.
97
A Bassoon Lite, Please: The Perfect Rest . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Alan Goodman
REVIEWS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Oboe Recording Reviews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Robert J. Krause
Leslie Bassett – Song of the Aulos and Sonatas by Handel and Telemann. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Oboe Odyssey from Handel to Castérède. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 102
Oboe Music Reviews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Robert J. Krause
Concerto For Oboe (“The Clearing”) by Lucas Richman . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105
Bassoon Music Reviews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Dan Lipori
Music from EditionsVIENTO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Three Renaissance Dances, arranged for Four Bassoons and
Harpsichord by Isabel Jeremías . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
John Falcone Solo for Unaccompanied Bassoon. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Weaving Reeds, for Oboe, Clarinet, and Bassoon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
The Invasion of the Fiufas, for Woodwind Quintet and Narrator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Johann Sebastian Bach Little Fugue in G Minor, arranged for Double Reed Quintet by Gordon Solie. . . . . . . . . . . . .
Próspero Lopez Buchardo Tres Preludios, for Woodwind Quintet and Piano . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Gregory Youtz Soundtracks: Seven Themes in Search of a Plot, for Woodwind Quintet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Mattia Vento Aria “Chebramate” from the opera Sofonisba, for Soprano, Oboe,
Bassoon, and Continuo . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Mariano Mores Tres Tangos, arranged for Woodwind Quintet by Silvia Coricelli . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Seann Branchfield Spontaneous Bassoon Fabricator, for Woodwind Quintet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Ferdinando Paer Recitative and Aria “Eccomi lieto al fine” from the opera La Lacandra de Vagaboni
(La Locanda dei Vagabondi), for Tenor, Bassoon, and Orchestra, with piano reduction
by Ronald Richards. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Music from ALRY Publications. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Deborah Anderson Out of Bounds, for Bassoon and Piano . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Deborah Anderson Nightfall, for Flute, Clarinet, Bassoon, and Piano. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Edvard Grieg Four Norwegian Dances, arranged for Woodwind Quintet by Harry Stanton . . . . . . . . . . . .
106
106
106
106
106
107
107
107
107
108
108
108
109
109
109
109
109
Contributing Members . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 111
Advertisers Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 114
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Honorary Members
H onorary M embers
Günter Angerhöfer
(1926)
John Minsker
(1912)
Matthew Ruggiero
(1932)
Lady Evelyn Barbirolli
(1911)
Ivan Poushechnikov
(1918)
Ray Still
(1920)
Gerald Corey
(1934)
Mordechai Rechtman
(1926)
Daniel Stolper
(1937)
Bernard Garfield
(1924)
Lowry Riggins
(1930)
Laila Storch
(1921)
Alfred Genovese
Roland Rigoutat
(1930)
K. David van Hoesen
(1926)
James Laslie
(1923)
Louis Rosenblatt
(1928)
William Waterhouse
(1931)
President’s Award: Peter Klatt (Industry Liason), Jim Prodan (Archivist),
Noah Knepper (Founding Member)
D eceased H onorary M embers
Maurice Allard
(1923-2004)
Harold Goltzer
(1915-2004)
Stephen Maxym
(1915-2002)
Philip Bate
(1909-1999)
Ralph Gomberg
(1921-2006)
Robert M. Mayer
(1910-1994)
Robert Bloom
(1908-1994)
Leon Goossens, CBE
(1897-1988)
W. Hans Moennig
(1903-1988)
Gwydion Brooke
(1912-2005)
George F. Goslee
(1916-2006)
Frederick Moritz
(1897-1993)
Victor Bruns
(1903-1996)
E. Earnest Harrison
(1918-2005)
Karl Öhlberger
(1912-2001)
Donald Christlieb
(1912-2001)
Norman H. Herzberg
(1916-2007)
Fernand Oubradous
(1903-1986)
Lewis Hugh Cooper
(1920-2007)
Cecil James
(1913-1999)
Wayne Rapier
(1930-2005)
John de Lancie
(1921-2002)
Benjamin Kohon
(1890-1984)
Frank Ruggieri
(1906-2003)
Robert De Gourdon
(1912-1993)
Simon Kovar
(1890-1970)
Sol Schoenbach
(1915-1999)
Ferdinand Del Negro
(1896-1986)
Dr. Paul Henry Lang
(1901-1991)
Leonard Sharrow
(1915-2004)
Willard S. Elliot
(1926-2000)
Lyndesay Langwill
(1897-1983)
Jerry Sirucek
(1922-1996)
Bert Gassman
(1911-2004)
Alfred Laubin
(1906-1976)
Louis Skinner
(1918-1993)
Fernand Gillet
(1882-1980)
John Mack
(1927-2006)
Robert Sprenkle
(1914-1988)
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The Double Reed
Message from the President
Nancy Ambrose King
Ann Arbor, Michigan
A
s we know, the double reed community recently lost a number of prominent oboists
who were highly significant figures in our
musical world. Unfortunately, recent months have
also brought the loss of two very prominent bassoonists who both were Honorary Members of IDRS and
whose contributions to the Society and to the musical community at large will be felt by generations to
come.
Norman Herzberg and Hugh Cooper were
revered as two of the most prominent and influential bassoon pedagogues in the U.S., both with students performing and teaching at major institutions
throughout the world, and who both made significant
technological contributions to bassoon equipment.
Hugh Cooper was a founding member of IDRS who
taught for many years at the University of Michigan
and performed in the Detroit Symphony. Norman
Herzberg was a prominent studio musician in the Los
Angeles area, and professor of bassoon at the University of Southern California. I know I speak on behalf
of all of us in IDRS in expressing our deepest sympathy to the family and friends of Mr. Cooper and Mr.
Herzberg. The enormous contributions they made to
the profession will continue to impact generations of
bassoonists now and in the future. We will miss them
profoundly.
The passing of prominent figures in the oboe and
bassoon world such as we have experienced in the
past year is sobering to say the least. It is encouraging and affirming, however, to see new generations
of young double reed players throughout the world
bring their excitement, diligence, and youthful energy to the art of playing our instruments. In recent
months, I have had the chance to meet young oboists in Japan, France, South America, Eastern Europe, the U.K., and of course the U.S. Throughout the
world, youngsters are enthusiastically pursuing the
art of music by learning double reed instruments. It
is heart-warming to see their dedication and love for
the instrument and watch as the possible future leaders of the double reed community begin their journey
through the profession.
What does the future hold for these students
who are the next generation of our profession? The
options are many, despite the continuing news of
hardships in orchestral and university budgets. The
young double reed players of today will most likely be
prepared for a variety of possible musical careers in a
changing musical climate, some of which we haven’t
Left: oboe students in Japan, Tomoka Nishizawa, Sasai Misuzuri. Right: a young oboe player in Marseilles, France;
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Message from the President
even considered yet. In addition to orchestral and
pedagogical positions, freelance, studio, and chamber music work, they may fulfill the need for elementary and secondary school music educators, qualified
technicians on our instruments, reed-makers, supply dealers, or performers in local and community
orchestras, which continue to thrive throughout the
U.S. and attract more and more audience members.
During the difficult times of loss that both the
oboe and bassoon communities have faced recently,
it is reassuring and rewarding to see the many youngsters throughout the world who are committing their
time and talent to learning double reed instruments.
These students’ progress has been made easier by the
pedagogical and technical advances made by many
of our Honorary Members, who paved the way for
future generations of oboe and bassoonists’ study. I
extend my heartfelt sympathy to the friends, family,
students, and colleagues of the profoundly influential
members of our community who have left us in the
past two years. Their legacy lives on in those whose
lives they have touched and in these young students,
who benefit from the great contributions made to the
double reed community by the leaders of previous
generations. u
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The Double Reed
Report of the Executive Secretary/Treasurer
Norma R. Hooks
Finksburg, Maryland
HUGH COOPER, IDRS FOUNDER and
HONORARY MEMBER DIES AT AGE 86
exhibit area. This is our 36th annual conference and it
looks to be shaping up as another outstanding one.
It’s with great sadness that I share with you the loss of
Hugh Cooper. Hugh, along with Gerald Corey and
Alan Fox were the founders of this wonderful group
we call the International Double Reed Society. They
saw the potential of wonderful things that could be
accomplished if double reed players shared their ideas
and experiences across national borders.
Hugh Cooper probably had more friends in this
world than most of us have people we’ve met. Over his
52 years on the faculty of the University of Michigan
he influenced countless bassoonists as well as other
students. These former students are now scattered all
over the world, spreading the knowledge they gleaned
from him.
Hugh had an insatiable appetite for learning and
teaching. He would spend countless hours expounding on acoustics, bassoon repair, bassoon performance
or other topics on which he was so knowledgeable. I
remember spending an evening with him, which
stretched into the early morning, at one of the John
Miller Bassoon Symposiums. He had so many things
he wanted to share. I must admit that he was the last
man standing. I don’t think I’ve ever met anyone who
could function on less sleep!
Hugh’s many friends in the IDRS will miss him
tremendously. Even though failing health kept him
from attending our conferences in recent years, just
knowing he was there in Michigan was a comfort.
We send our most sincere and heartfelt sympathy
to Nan, Judith, David and their extensive family. May
the memories of Hugh’s long, wonderful life keep him
alive in all our hearts.
POSTAGE GOING UP - AGAIN!
IDRS 2007, JUNE 12-16, ITHACA, NEW YORK
I hope many of you are making plans to travel to Ithaca,
New York for our 2007 conference. Paige Morgan and
Lee Goodhew Romm are working around the clock to
prepare for the upcoming conference. They’ve prepared
an outstanding lineup of performers, presenters and
clinicians. We’ll be having a large variety of exhibitors
from all over the world. If there is something you need,
want or desire, I’m sure you’ll find it in our extensive
04 ExecSecReport.indd 7
The United States Postal Service is again raising their
rates! Though they are quick to tout a “$.02” raise in
first class, they don’t reveal to the general public the
other rate hikes. Priority mail is going up $.60 for the
first pound. They are eliminating international surface
mail. What the impact of that change will have on us,
I’m not sure at this time, but I know it WILL have an
impact. In some cases I believe it will double the cost
of mailing The Double Reed internationally. Though we
won’t increase mailing rates this year, I think we should
all be prepared for a rate increase in the new year.
CHANGING OF THE GUARD
Today (May 10) we are holding a meeting moving the
responsibilities of advertising coordination from our
Industry Liaison, Larry Festa, to our new coordinator,
Wayne Gaver. Because of personal pressures, Larry is
relinquishing the responsibilities of handling advertising in The Double Reed. He will remain on the executive committee in the position of Industry Liaison. I’m
looking forward to working with Wayne, who is a local
(Maryland) bassoonist.
EXCITING INNOVATION
Beginning with the third issue of this year, we will be
offering full page color advertising. We are hoping to
have enough participation from our advertisers to allow us to publish pictures in color within The Double
Reed. This is a big step for us and we are excited about
the upgrade in the publication. Our editors, Ron
Klimko and Dan Stolper work so hard to make our
publication the very best of its kind and this will allow
them to take The Double Reed another step forward.
We will have the new advertising rate card out soon.
We will mail them to all our current advertisers. If
you would like a copy, please contact Wayne Gaver:
[email protected].
I hope I will get to meet many of you at our conference in Ithaca this year. u
5/18/07 11:01:27 PM
IDRS WWW
IDRS WWW
Ten years ago
The Double Reed Vol. 20 No. 1 - 1997
http://idrs.colorado.edu/Publications/DR/
DR20.1.pdf/DR20.1.Index.html
05 IDRSWWW.indd 8
5/16/07 6:43:21 PM
The Double Reed
IDRS Sponsor-a-Member Program
Martin Schuring
Tempe, Arizona
T
he IDRS established a Sponsor-a-Member program in 1995 for the purpose of enabling double
reed players from around the world to participate and enjoy the opportunities of membership in
our organization through the sponsorship of current
members. The primary purpose of the Sponsor-aMember program is to attract to our society double
reed players who because of economic circumstances
would not otherwise be able to join the IDRS. This is
an important outreach mission of our society. Since
the program’s inception, sponsored members from
the Peoples’ Republic of China, Vietnam, Lithuania,
Ecuador, El Salvador, Romania, Poland, the Czech
Republic, Egypt, Ukraine, Tartartstan, Russia, and
South Africa have become IDRS members through
the generosity of sponsors. An additional aspect of
the program has been the exchange of letters and
communications between sponsors and new members.
In coordination with Norma Hooks, Executive
Secretary, I will be pairing sponsors with potential
adopted members. IDRS will honor sponsors’ requests for specific adopted members as well. Anyone
may become a sponsor by requesting an adopted
member and paying one year’s dues for that individual. Sponsors may elect to pay an additional fee
for first-class postage so that publications arrive more
promptly.
IDRS is thankful to all sponsors who have participated in this worthwhile project in the past, and
looks forward to new sponsors becoming active in
the program. If you are interested in sponsoring a
member, or know of a potential member who needs
assistance, please contact me for more information
at:
Martin Schuring
School of Music 0405
Arizona State University
Tempe, AZ 85287-0405
Sponsors
ARGENTINA
ARGENTINA
ARGENTINA
ARGENTINA
ARGENTINA
ARGENTINA
ARGENTINA
ARGENTINA
ARGENTINA
ARGENTINA
BRAZIL
BRAZIL
BULGARIA
CHINA(P.R.O.C.)
CHINA(P.R.O.C.)
CHINA(P.R.O.C.)
CHINA(P.R.O.C.)
COSTA RICA
CROATIA
CUBA
06 SponsorAMember.indd 9
David Sogg
David J. Ross
Glenn Harman
Heidi Huseman Dewally
John Towle
Laurel Kuxhaus
Linda Strommen,
IU Oboe Studio
Peter Zeimet
Rebecca Nagel
Shirley Robertson
Barbara Orland
Kevin Shackell
Kathryn Sleeper
Donald Vogel
Jim Prodan
Norma Hooks
Patty Mitchell
Gerald Corey
Nora Schankin
Marsha Burkett
CZECH REPUBLIC
CZECH REPUBLIC
CZECH REPUBLIC
ECUADOR
ENGLAND, UK
GUATEMALA
KAZAKHSTAN
KAZAKHSTAN
LITHUANIA
MEXICO
POLAND
POLAND
RUSSIA
RUSSIA
RUSSIA
RUSSIA
RUSSIA
RUSSIA
RUSSIA
SPAIN
VIETNAM
VIETNAM
Aaron Hilbun
Loretta Thomas
Nancy Ambrose King
Rebecca Henderson
Dan Stolper
Terry Ewell
Bill Chinworth
Nicolosa Kuster
Chris Weait
Carlberg Jones
James & Kimberly Brody
Phil Feather
Donna Ronco
Ellen Sudia-Coudron
Keith Koster
Marc Fink
Richard & Isabelle Plaster
Richard Killmer
Thomas Stacy
Craig Streett
Steve Welgoss
Troy Davis
5/16/07 6:43:36 PM
10
Current Events
Current Events
07 CurrentEvents.indd 10
5/16/07 6:43:47 PM
The Double Reed
11
Tributes to Ralph Gomberg (1921-2006)
Compiled by Dan Stolper with the invaluable assistance of Eugene Izotov.
By Mark Feeney
GLOBE STAFF
This obituary first appeared in The Boston Globe (December 13, 2006) and is reprinted with permission. ED
Ralph Gomberg, who as principal oboist of the Boston
Symphony Orchestra for 37 years was an integral part
of what many listeners considered the greatest jewel
in the BSO’s crown, its legendary woodwind section,
died Saturday at Wayside Hospice, inWayland.
The cause of death was primarily lateral sclero-
08 RalphGombergTributes.indd 11
sis, a neuromuscular disease similar to Lou Gehrig’s
disease, said his wife, Sydelle (Silver) Gomberg. He
was 85.
“It’s a small world, the oboe world,” John Ferrillo,
the BSO’s current principal oboist said in a telephone
interview yesterday, “and Ralph loomed large in it”
A Concord resident, Mr. Gomberg, who was with
the BSO from 1950 to 1987, was widely considered
one of America’s foremost oboists. It was a status he
shared with his brother Harold, who for many years
was principal oboist of the New York Philharmonic.
Time magazine hailed “the darkling brilliance of Mr.
Gomberg’s oboe playing.”A 1987 Globe review noted
that “the plangent and pliant sound produced by
Ralph Gomberg has been a crucial characteristic of
the glory of the Boston Symphony Orchestra.”
In addition to his playing, Mr. Gomberg taught
for many years at the Peabody Institute, in Baltimore,
the New England Conservatory, Boston University,
and the Berkshire Music Center. Among his former
pupils are the principal oboists of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Israel Philharmonic.
“Ralph left quite a legacy as a teacher,” Ferrillo
said. “Besides his own students, there was his teaching at the Tanglewood Festival. For 30 or 40 years,
he taught high school and college-age kids there. He
really left his imprint.”
Ralph Lewis Gomberg was born in Boston’s West
End on June 18, 1921. His parents were Nathan Gomberg and Mary (Levin) Gomberg. “My mother sang
a little; they both loved music,” Mr. Gomberg said in
a 1985 Globe interview. Five of their seven children
attended the Curtis Institute of Music, in Philadelphia. “I don’t want them cleaning gutters,” Sydelle
Gomberg recalled her mother-in-law once saying, “so
they’ll study music.”
As the youngest, Mr. Gomberg found himself at a
disadvantage musically. “His one regret about being
the baby,” his widow recalled yesterday, “was when it
was time to practice at home, he got the bathroom.
Everyone else had the dining room or living room.”
At 14, Mr. Gomberg became the youngest student
to study with Curtis’s celebrated oboe teacher, Marcel Tabuteau, who also taught Harold Gomberg. Mr.
Current Events
Ralph Gomberg, 85;
considered among top oboists in
country
5/16/07 6:43:59 PM
Current Events
12
Tributes to Ralph Gomberg
“There’s that little oboe solo of three
quarter-notes. I had no idea from his beat
- which looked like he was making French
mayonnaise - if it was in six or three. So I
didn’t come in.” Munch just smiled, Mr.
Gomberg recalled, and all went well the next
time.
A founding member of the Boston
Symphony Chamber Players, Mr. Gomberg formed a quarter of what was almost
a chamber group with the orchestra. Along
with clarinetist Harold Wright, bassoonist
Sherman Walt, and flutist Doriot Anthony
Ralph Gomberg, who was principal oboist with Boston Symphony
Dwyer, Mr. Gomberg made up a fabled
Orchestra, playing for Newton High students. GLOBE FILE/1965.
woodwind section that spanned the music
directorships of Munch, Erich Leinsdorf,
William Steinberg, and well into that of Seiji
Ozawa.
“I
never
expected to feel like a quartet member,”
Gomberg had started out on horn, but couldn’t find a
Dwyer, the last surviving member of the group, said
good teacher. “I chose the oboe because I admired my
in a telephone interview yesterday. “That’s for strings.
brother’s sound,” Mr. Gomberg said in a 1987 Globe
But I really felt that way with them, Ralph especially.
interview. “Being young and stupid, I also thought it
“He was always very generous, even protective.
was an easy instrument.”
He was just very nice. And as a musician, he was very
The oboe is, in fact, notoriously difficult. Those
artistic. By that I mean he didn’t just get a pretty tone.
who play it must regularly fashion new reeds for the
He wasn’t thinking of tone so much as what he had to
instrument. Mr. Gomberg made an estimated 15,000
say. It’s always a pleasure to play with someone like
reeds over the course of his career.
that. It makes it easier. And it’s just so warm and huIn 1940, Leopold Stokowski hired Mr. Gomberg
man. He was never indifferent.”
as first oboist for his All-American Youth Orches“If I’ve learned one thing, or if I could pass on
tra. Eugene Ormandy then drafted him to serve in
one thing,” Mr. Gomberg said in that 1987 BSO inhis Philadelphia Navy Yard Band during World War
terview, “it’s that music is not a technical art, it’s an
II. “Ormandy said to me years later,” Mr. Gomberg
expressive art. The oboe is such an expressive instrulaughingly recalled in a 1987 interview with the
ment - when it starts to play, it’s a unique sound and
BSO’s newsletter, “ ‘Boy, did I fix you up.’ ”
everyone is intrigued with it - I hope!”
After leaving the Navy, Mr. Gomberg enjoyed
In addition to his wife, Mr. Gomberg leaves
stints with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, the
three daughters, Stephanie Chiha, of Concord, JaNew York City Center Orchestra, and the Mutual
mie Balint, of Hudson, N.H., and Debra Diamond, of
Broadcasting Orchestra. He also helped found the
Mansfield; a son, David, of Framingham; and seven
New York Woodwind Quintet and worked as a musigrandchildren.
cal freelancer in Hollywood.
A memorial service will be held Friday at 1 p.m.
At one point, Mr. Gomberg was ready to abanin First Parish in Concord. Another service will be
don music for a job in real estate when Leonard Bernheld in January.
stein called to tap him for the City Center Orchestra.
“Years later I told him that if it hadn’t been for that,
I’d be a multimillionaire,” he recalled in a 1990 Globe
interview.
Mr. Gomberg soon became an institution at the
BSO, though he momentarily got off to a shaky start.
In a 1987 interview for the orchestra’s newsletter,
he described his first rehearsal. BSO music director
Charles Munch was conducting Albert Roussel’s Bacchus etAriane.
5/16/07 6:43:59 PM
13
The Double Reed
Ralph Gomberg, 85, Oboist With the
Boston Symphony
By DANIEL J. WAKIN
This obituary first appeared in The New York Times (December 12, 2006) and is reprinted with permission. ED
From Chick Lehrer
Thousand Oaks, California
Dear Dan:
It was with greatest sadness that Nancy and I received the news of the passing of our oboe teacher,
Ralph Gomberg. Indeed, it was ‘Mr. G’ who brought
Nancy and me together in Amherst, 25 years ago. A
call from Ralph in late summer of 1981 alerted me to
Nancy’s situation: in a word, she had run out of funds
to pay the steep tuition at Boston University. This occurred at the very time when my first teaching assistant (Nancy Argesinger, who went on to study with
you) had graduated. Of course, when she came out to
Amherst from Boston to audition for me at UMass,
it was love at first sight for the two of us, even though
there was 19 years difference in our ages!
I often tell the story in a different way because of
the uniqueness of the situation:
Current Events
Ralph Gomberg, the former principal oboist who
held sway at the Boston Symphony while his brother
Harold did the same, on the same instrument, at the
New York Philharmonic, died on Saturday. He was 85
and lived in Concord, Massachusetts.
His death, at a hospice in Whelan, Massachusetts, resulted from primary lateral sclerosis, a rare
neuromuscular disease similar to Lou Gehrig’s disease, said his wife, Sydelle Gomberg.
Mr. Gomberg joined the Boston Symphony in
1950 and held the principal chair for 37 years, until his
retirement. For much of that time, his brother Harold
had the same job with the New York Philharmonic.
They were part of a remarkably talented group
of seven siblings. One brother was a violinist in the
Philadelphia Orchestra; another played principal
trumpet for Leonard Bernstein’s New York City Center Symphony; a sister was a violin soloist; and another sister played cello.
“It was a question of who would get what room to
practice in,” Ralph Gomberg told BSO, the orchestra’s
newsletter, on his retirement. “Being the youngest, I
got the bathroom. It gradually dawned on my mother
that some of us were pretty talented.”
The family moved from Boston to Philadelphia so
that Robert, the violinist, could study at the Curtis
Institute of Music. Harold began studying oboe with
Marcel Tabuteau, a legendary oboe teacher. “When
it came time for Ralph, they decided he could study
with Harold in the beginning to save money,” Ms.
Gomberg said.
Ralph began studying with Mr. Tabuteau at 14
and was said to be one of his youngest pupils ever.
“He opened my eyes to what music was all about,” he
said of his teacher. Five Gombergs eventually graduated from Curtis.
All Mr. Gomberg’s siblings predeceased him. In
addition to his wife, he is survived by four children,
Stephanie Chiha of Concord; Jamie Balint of Hudson, New Hampshire; David Gomberg of Framingham, Massachusetts; Debra Diamond of Mansfield,
Massachusetts; and seven grandchildren.
Of the two fraternal kings of the oboe, Ralph was
said to have a heavier sound than Harold. Doriot An-
thony Dwyer, who sat next to Mr. Gomberg for 35
years as principal flutist in Boston, said she eventually acquired a platinum flute, which has a weightier
tone, to match him.
“He’d always lean over and say, ‘You’re a little aggressive today, Doriot,’” Ms. Dwyer recalled. “He was
warning me that if I kept it up he was going to play
louder than me yet.”
Seiji Ozawa, a former music director of the Boston Symphony, noted the imaginative playing of both
the flutist and oboist. “Ralph had a kind of crazy
fantasy,” he said in an interview with The New York
Times in 1993. “They were very dangerous but very
interesting.”
“Mr. Moishe, I need you for a very important
project, so get your toches in here.”
“What is it Boss?”
“Well, an oboe player in Amherst is in need
of our assistance: he needs an appropriate mate
to get him through the rest of his life. So I want
you to take care of this matter immediately.”
“But Boss, where do I start with such a daunting
task before me?”
“Look Moishe, I want you to have a talk with
one of our boys down in Boston. His name is
Ralph Gomberg: he has a student studying with
him, one of our girls, Nancy Gruenberg-Bonar.
Ralph will know what to do, after all, he owes
Lenny and me a big favor.”
5/16/07 6:44:00 PM
14
because it was there that Nancy’s ‘other career’ in
Computer Science took off, eventually landing her a
top position as Systems Architect at the great biotech
firm, Amgen.
Current Events
****************
Ralph Gomberg and his wife Sydelle.
Several days later, Moses returns.
“Boss, the deed is done: our man Ralph has presented the Amherst oboe guy and Nancy with
an incredible gift. But on the other hand, perhaps you have miscalculated, because the oboe
guy in Amherst will need some unbelievably serious work to bring him around... Get this Boss,
he’s a Goy, and our girl’s mother has been crying
for three days straight over that, already. What
do I do?”
“Who knows better than you? Did you forget, you’re a prophet, so get on with it: take him
through The Big Three”.
And so, it came to pass that after a period of intense study to learn all about Moishe and his Boss,
the Amherst oboe guy experienced The Big Three:
Beth Din, Bris, and Mikveh... And, in time, Moishe
received a new assignment to provide our couple
with a superior cane supply: so he moved them from
Amherst to Thousand Oaks in California where they
could reap the cane harvest in the sands of nearby
Mandalay Beach
And eventually, Mr. G’s special gift to the two of
them multiplied a hundredfold in Thousand Oaks,
Well, Dan, there you have it. But before closing, I
want to relate to you a most-remarkable coincidence
involving Ralph:
The last time I spoke with Mr. G, he was happy
to know that Nancy and I were living in Thousand
Oaks, because it was here many years earlier, and
before the creation of the town, that one of Ralph’s
brothers had bought land and advised him to the
same and settle down out here. At the time Ralph was
playing oboe in Hollywood in one of the 10 studio
orchestras that were so integral to the movie business
at the time; and he was making a very good salary.
But it would seem that there were other plans already
made for Ralph, for one day he received a remarkable
phone call from the conductor at the City Center Ballet in New York.
And, it is said that this event had been proceeded
by the following interchange:
“”Mr. Moishe, I need you for a very important
project, so get your toches in here.”
“What is it Boss?”
“Well, an oboe player in Hollywood is in
need of our assistance: he needs an appropriate mate to get him through the rest of his
life. So I want you to take care of this matter
immediately.”
But Boss, where do I start with such a daunting task before me?”
“Look Moishe, I want you to have a talk with
one of our boys down in New York. His name
is Lenny and among the performers inhabiting
Lenny’s artistic world is one of our girls, a ballerina named Sydelle...
Kindest Regards,
Chick
5/16/07 6:44:00 PM
The Double Reed
Eugene Izotov has assembled the following tributes
from colleagues and former students of Mr. Gomberg ED.
One of my most vivid memories as a young oboist (in
fact, I had barely started studying with my teacher,
Richard Summers, here in the Boston area) was of
turning on the local PBS station and being mesmerized by a half hour show called “The Double Reed”. It
was a glimpse into the lives and careers of Sherman
Walt and Ralph Gomberg. They were gouging cane,
they were shaping, they were tying and scraping, and
they were playing chamber music in the Gomberg
home. Oh, and they were cooking spaghetti sauce, I
believe. Ralph was filmed going into the Laubin factory to have a new instrument adjusted.
He was an Olympian figure. A strange, exciting
new vista opened in front of me, as that dolorous
middle movement of the Poulenc was spun out by
Ralph and Sherman. And - what a strange notion for
me - he was, then, almost exactly the age I am now.
Playing at the beautiful memorial concert his wife,
the radiant Sydelle Gomberg organized, I saw that
same video for the first time in 36 years.
To a young oboist in the Boston area in 1970, of
course, there was only one orchestra, only one hall,
and only one oboist. Ralph was a larger than life figure, and his mega-watt personality lit every note he
played. Thinking that I would ever sit in the same
chair up on that stage would have been, well… you
just didn’t think things like that. I was a late starter,
and not worthy to approach someone like him for lessons in high school, and, in fact, never had the chance
to work with him later at Tanglewood, as so many of
my peers had. It wasn’t till spring of 1986 that we met,
after a Boston Chamber Players concert in Davies
Symphony Hall, where I was playing a season as second oboist with the San Francisco Symphony. I had
just gotten my second big break, the job at the Metropolitan Opera, and, I was utterly sure, that would be
the place I would retire from. “I’m going to be retiring next year,” Mr. Gomberg said. “Get your excerpts
out, kid.” I felt like a 14 year old again.
Fifteen years later, at the end of a rehearsal during
my first guest week with the BSO at Tanglewood, a familiar figure made his way up onto the stage. “Who is
that,” one of my colleagues asked in a loud voice “the
ghost of Fernand Gillet*?” Everyone, particularly,
Ralph, had a guffaw. As I learned quickly, laughing
was ever present in Ralph’s vicinity. It was not the
most relaxing week I had ever spent. Although this
wasn’t an official audition week, everyone knew that
I was under the microscope, and no one more than
Ralph Gomberg. In fact, I was terrified at the notion
of turning my life on its ear or making a fool of myself
in front of this great orchestra and great musician.
Ralph would never know how much his generosity
of spirit buoyed me at that moment. Of course, there
was sage advice as well, but, more than that, there was
his positive, supportive presence, cheering everyone
on from the sidelines - as big a fan of the orchestra
in retirement as he was a committed member during
his career.
I don’t know if I’ve ever met someone with more
joie de vivre than Ralph Gomberg. He loved his family passionately. He loved to laugh. He loved food. He
loved music. He loved the oboe. He loved his BSO.
This is an autumnal period for those of us that
grew up in the shadows of Ralph and the other giants of his generation - his brother Harold and the
recently departed John Mack and John deLancie (to
name but a few). With their passing, the musical firmament seems to twinkle a little less brightly. May
we prove ourselves worthy of holding the baton they
have passed to us.
Current Events
From John Ferrillo
Principal Oboist, Boston Symphony
Faculty, New England Conservatory, Boston
University
15
From William Bennett
Principal Oboe
San Francisco Symphony
I was not aware of it at the time, but I first encountered Ralph Gomberg in a children’s book written by
my Grandmother. The book was entitled “All About
the Symphony Orchestra” and it featured lots of black
and white photographs of the Boston Symphony in
the late ‘50’s. The ‘Aristocrat of Orchestras’ was then
populated by a very young and regal looking group
of musicians.
In those pictures, Ralph is a commanding figure
on the stage - his dark hair slicked back, sitting with
two other kids we now think of as legends: Doriot
Dwyer and Sherman Walt. Those three soloists, together with Harold Wright, who had not yet joined
the orchestra when the photos were taken, formed
a quartet that I grew up listening to on the radio,
especially during the summers, when every Tanglewood concert was broadcast live. My Grandmother
5/16/07 6:44:00 PM
Current Events
16
Lipson, Bernstein, Gomberg, Walt
didn’t list personnel in her book (she even left Charles
Munch out of the credits, if that evens the score), so
Ralph was a bit of a stealth oboist. He crept into my
consciousness before I knew his name or the role he
would have in my training.
Looking back on my days in high school, when
I would sneak into Woolsey Hall for the BSO’s New
Haven run-out concerts, and my college summers in
the Tanglewood Fellowship program, I guess I still
think of Ralph in that sly role. I was studying with
Bob Bloom at the time, so Ralph Gomberg may have
been more reserved than he was with his regular
students. With me, he was a man of few words and a
knowing smile. He was always supportive, giving me
plum assignments and asking me to sub with the pros
in the Shed when his section mates were out, but he
knew how to keep my youthful swagger in check with
a glance and when he spoke, it stayed with me.
“You’ve got to tell a story!” is the line I remember
most. The audition grinder and the daily challenges
of an orchestra job conspire to challenge that simple
advice, but, when all is said and done, that’s what
it’s all about. Ralph might have been a quiet man at
times, but he was a very social animal - he and his
wife, Sydelle, hosted cookouts for the oboe students
at his Berkshire home and prepared fabulous meals.
(I can still taste a delicious salmon mousse that he
whipped up).
In 1977, I thought of Ralph Gomberg, his brother
Harold, John deLancie, John Mack, Bob Bloom, Marc
Lifschey and Ray Still as faces on Mt. Rushmore. For
me, they’re still up there, but I know that new faces
are added every so often. Mr. Still is the only member
of the club still living. In some cases, the Principal
chairs in the ‘Big Five’ have had multiple occupants
since the heroes of my youth moved on. Following
Ralph Gomberg’s memorial concert, John Ferrillo
spoke eloquently about the world we’ve inherited, a
seemingly rudderless world ‘without our teachers’,
those aristocrats of our golden age. Well… I guess
that’s the story we need to tell. Here’s to you, Ralph!
From Eugene Izotov
Principal Oboe, Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Faculty, DePaul University, Roosevelt
University
When I was 8 years old, my classmate at the Gnesin
Music School in Moscow lent me an audio tape with
the recording of Swan Lake performed by an American orchestra. There was no label on the tape so there
was no way to find out which orchestra it was. When
I heard the first note of the opening oboe solo, I knew
that my life would never be the same. I immediately
fell in love with the purity of tone and the beauty
of phrasing of the solo oboist. On that distant day I
could never imagine that it was the playing of Ralph
Gomberg of the Boston Symphony Orchestra – the
man who, ten years later, would become my teacher,
mentor, friend, and a source of endless inspiration
as a human being. I met Ralph Gomberg in 1991 – I
was seventeen years old and as excited as I was about
studying with him at Boston University, I had no idea
5/16/07 6:44:01 PM
The Double Reed
From Peter Bowman
Principal Oboe
Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra
I love Ralph and will always remember him and carry
his spirit with me. He was a major influence in my
life as my teacher, mentor, and later, my friend. I am
graced and indebted to him and in fact, his family for
all they have done for me. He taught me music, dedication and discipline, and remains an inspiration to
me. He left a special and wonderful legacy that can
never be replaced and will always be treasured by
musicians, students and audience members. I am so
thankful that he was an important part of my life. I
know he rests in peace.
From Michael Dresser
Second Oboe
Virginia Symphony Orchestra
I first met Ralph Gomberg in 1997, at the Boson University Tanglewood Institute. After I had played for
him for only five minutes he told me, “You’ve got a lot
of musical talent, but that’s only half of the equation.
I can give you the tools so that YOU can complete
the formula.” I went on to study with him for my undergraduate degree at Boston University. Little did I
know that I would end up being his last student, with
Ralph delaying his retirement to finish the last two
years of my tutelage.
After a while it became clear to me that what he
said to me in my first lesson was going to serve as
the foundation of our relationship. This was crucial
in my development as both a musician and as a person, because I was learning (albeit slowly) to become
my own teacher. In this way, the responsibility fell
squarely on my shoulders, and Ralph was there every
step of the way to give me feedback and guidance. He
always reminded me that he didn’t want me to copy
what he was doing, but rather to use what he gave me
to express music in a way that I felt was musically
tasteful. His unique way of breaking down a seemingly complicated musical passage to the most basic
elements is something I think about often. He had a
way of being extremely real with me about what exactly the composer wanted me to achieve. He did it
in a way that made it all about the music, and never
about himself. If you did something out of place, he
would stop you and say: “Why are you playing it that
way? What are you thinking? You know, the composer wrote it this way for a very good reason!”
Ralph’s endless generosity and musical optimism
is a constant source of inspiration to me. I fondly look
back on the countless afternoons I would spend with
him and his beautiful and sensitive wife, Sydelle, at
their Newton home. Ralph and I would go over Ferling, excerpts, and of course reeds. I remember one
Current Events
what was in store for me. In my first lesson, Gomberg said to me: “I’m gonna make a good oboist out
of you, kiddo”. Certainly, he did a lot more than that
– over the past 16 years, throughout all my travels,
auditions, failures and triumphs, Ralph was always
just a phone call away to offer me his unconditional
support, friendship, and wisdom. One day after a Met
broadcast of Tannhäuser, he called me in the evening and said: “You should have kept the same reed
from Act One in the Prelude to Act III, but you still
sounded pretty good!” I couldn’t believe that he had
spent his entire afternoon listening to the radio for
over four hours just to hear me! I think most Gomberg students know that his teaching extended well
beyond lessons – sometimes, he simply couldn’t fit all
that he had to say in just one hour. One day, Gomberg
was teaching me at his house and when he noticed
that it was getting dark outside, he offered me to stay
for dinner – that night, I received my very first cooking lesson as I witnessed Ralph making his signature
“Gomberini” Pasta Sauce! The same night he casually explained to me the value of knowing “a little
about wine” so I could “impress some girl one day.”
Every time I played for him, he demanded my best.
He would say: “You need to have the highest possible
standards. I don’t expect you to meet them yet, but
I expect you to have them. You can’t be a student in
the morning and an artist in the evening.” Ralph was
never at a loss for words – he seemed to have a clever
saying for any aspect of a musician’s life – musical and
otherwise: “don’t play the notes, play the gestures”,
“beautiful sound is a beginning, not an end”, “music is between the notes”, and probably the two most
frequently used: “who says life is easy?” and “that’s
the way the cookie crumbles”. All of these things have
brought such a remarkable flavor and excitement to
my life as a student, I felt inspired to return to my
reed desk and spend the next four hours practicing and making reeds! At a time of uncertainty and
doubt, Ralph Gomberg gave me an extraordinary gift
– he made me believe in myself and inspired me to
follow my dreams. I know that his passion and kindness will always be in my heart and will continue to
inspire me forever.
17
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18
particularly rough lesson with him in which he had
me doing long tones for the entire lesson. Needless
to say, it was a long day, and I was completely physically and mentally drained by the end. Later that day,
he gave me a call to make sure that I was OK, and
that my head was in the right place. Something tells
me that Sydelle might have had something to do with
that call being made!
Ralph attended all of my concerts and recitals and
always gave me unadulterated feedback, untempered
by empty compliments. I always knew that whatever
he said was honest, and was intended to make me
the most expressive player I could be. He was insistent on having both total control of the entire range
of the oboe and a vocal and flexible tone. He was a
master of making musical analogies, comparing the
wind pressure to the bow pressure, or distribution,
of string players, or comparing all the musical colors
to a painter’s endless palette. He also had a terrific
sense of humor. I remember one Brahms 1 concert
after which he came up to me, asked to see my reed,
“peeped” on it and said: “Well, no wonder I couldn’t
hear you in the 4th movement!”
I always felt comfortable, although nervous,
about sending him recordings I had recently made in
hopes of getting some very real Gomberg feedback. I
was consistently surprised by how critical, yet positive, his feedback was. It truly was a rare combination. He was always there as a great sounding-board
in decisions both musical and personal. While he will
be sorely missed by all of us, I feel that the best way
for Ralph to be remembered is for all of us who were
touched by his kindness and insight to carry on his
traditions. It is up to us to continue his great legacy.
From Richard Dorsey
Principal Oboe (retired)
Toronto Symphony Orchestra
Ralph Gomberg was my oboe teacher. He was the
Vince Lombardi of oboe teachers. For those of you
not involved with sports or not old enough to remember, Vince Lombardi was an amazing man. He
was a great teacher of the game of football and a very
successful football coach. His style was fierce and demanding. Ralph shared these characteristics.
I studied with Ralph intensively for my four
years of undergraduate work at Boston University.
I also worked with him less intensively for the next
ten years. He was a tough, sometimes brutal teacher,
pushing and pushing me to do better. He also could
be a sentimental, warm, almost mushy man. The one
thing he always demanded was to be prepared and
serious about the task at hand. And the task was to be
the best oboist you could be.
The sweetest time of every week was arriving at
Symphony Hall on Friday afternoons, putting down
my 65 cents for a rush seat and watching and listening to Ralph and the BSO perform. These were concerts of magic; seeing my mentor make music with
his great orchestra.
I have a wonderful life of performing and teaching. I have played with great musicians all over the
world as principal oboist of Toronto Symphony Orchestra. I never would have had a professional career
at all without the tough love and intense teaching,
Lombardi style, of Ralph. Thank you, Mr. Gomberg,
from the bottom of my heart.
From Russ deLuna
English Horn
San Francisco Symphony
Before I began my studies with Ralph Gomberg, I had
heard many great things about him from his former
students and colleagues. I was excited to go study
with such a legend, and little did I know what awaited me. My time with Mr. Gomberg was a real time
of musical awakening for me. He opened my eyes to
the language of music, about which he spoke in every
lesson. His many stories of his illustrious career in
the BSO, his time studying at Curtis with Tabuteau
and his travels the world over, were a constant source
of inspiration. Ralph knew how to turn a good oboe
player into an artist - he said (and I quote),“Russ, you
came to me an oboe player and you’re going to leave
an artist.” As I go about my work, I am constantly
having flashbacks of lessons with him, and I find
myself thinking about and applying the things he
taught me. Ralph Gomberg was a consummate artist,
teacher and friend. I will always treasure the time I
was able to spend with him. His impact on my life,
musical and otherwise, will be felt for the rest of my
life. It is my desire to honor him through my playing
and to continue his legacy of music making through
my teaching. May he rest in peace.
From Tamara Field
Springfield, Massachusetts
I have just heard of the death of Ralph Gomberg.
5/16/07 6:44:02 PM
19
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all your might. If you did, you would succeed. He
was kind, generous and encouraging, often spending
many hours of extra time with diligent students, and
frequently going out of his way to help those whose
financial situation stood in their way. (I was one of
those. I could not have attended either B.U. or Tanglewood without his help.)
I studied with Ralph Gomberg for four years.
During this time I learned from him the full spectrum of timbre and dynamic range of which the oboe
is capable. I acquired a much larger range of color
and expression in my sound, which has made playing
the oboe even more fullfilling and exciting than I had
known it could be. I am grateful to him for showing
me how to do this.
Ralph Gomberg was more to me than a great
oboist and teacher. He became, over the years, my
mentor and friend. His belief in my ability and his
kindness and encouragement have been a major influence in my life. I will always think of him with
great affection, gratitude and respect, and I will miss
him terribly.
Current Events
Even though I have followed the course of his illness,
and knew it was terminal, I am aghast. The idea of a
world without Ralph is outrageous and appalling. I
will need time to come to terms with it.
I first met Ralph Gomberg in 1961 as a high
school senior when, with much trepidation, I went by
bus from my home in Washington D.C. to Baltimore,
Maryland, where the B.S.O. was performing on tour,
and where I was to audition for Mr. Gomberg as a
perspective Boston University student. I was young
and scared.
Immediately upon meeting him, I felt Ralph
Gomberg’s enthusiasm and positive energy, which
have come to be such an influence in my life and my
performance. No one could know Ralph and fail to be
impressed by his great sense of certainty, confidence
and wry, mischievous humor. All of this radiated
from him, and put me at ease.
Ralph Gomberg’s no-nonsense approach to
teaching was exactly what I needed and wanted, and
I responded to it eagerly. His attitude was that, having demonstrated talent and a desire to excel, it was
your job to set the goal high and work toward it with
The following article first appeared in the BSO, the Quarterly Newsletter of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Spring 1987, upon Ralph’s retirement from the BSO. It is reprinted here with permission. ED
The BSO’s Ralph Gomberg:
An Oboist and a Gentleman
by Caroline Smedvig
The Happy Couple - Ralph Gomberg embraces his bride of thirty-nine
years, Sydelle, on the deck of their West Stockbridge residence.
Oboe playing, like bird watching and taffy pulling, is a passion that seems to run in families.
The earliest famous oboe clan was that of
Frenchman Jean Philidor, who played at the
court of Louis XIV; after him, seven other
Philidors put lip to reed. Today the reigning
oboe family in the U.S. goes by the name
of Gomberg: Harold, 42, is first oboe of the
New York Philharmonic; Ralph, 37, is first
oboist of the Boston Symphony.
Time Magazine, December 1958
Throughout the musical world, the talents
of the Gomberg family are widely heralded.
And, closer to home, anyone who has attended a Boston Symphony concert within the
last thirty-seven years has known the warmth
and singing tone, “the darkling brilliance” as
the same Time magazine article put it, of the
BSO’s principal oboist Ralph Gomberg.
After nearly four decades in that daunting position, Gomberg has elected to trade
in his life of whittling reeds for perfecting
his forehand, his fairway drive, and his lamb
5/16/07 6:44:02 PM
Current Events
20
Philadelphia where all students
curry - just some of the many
were admitted on merit and
extra-musical interests he has
went tuition-free. So she packed
never had time to pursue fully.
up the whole family and we took
(He will play throughout this
a bus to Philadelphia - what a
Tanglewood season, retiring in
schlep that was - and five of us
September.)
ended up at Curtis.”
“Of course retirement will be
At fourteen, Gomberg bea tremendous change,” he says.
came the youngest student ever
“I can’t tell you how I’ll miss my
accepted by the renowned oboe
colleagues and my association
teacher Marcel Tabuteau. “He
with this great institution.”
opened my eyes to what music
Gomberg and his wife,
was all about,” says Gomberg.
Sydelle, currently Director of the
“He understood the spirit of it,
Boston Ballet School (the official
the beauty of music. He was like
school of Boston Ballet Compaa surrogate father to me.” At
ny), and as integral and beloved
eighteen, Gomberg became first
a member of the BSO scene as
oboist in what was called the Allher husband, are talking and
A Legend in Their Own Time—
American
Youth Orchestra. Its
reminiscing about their years
Ralph Gomberg (right) compared
music
director
was Leopold Stowith the BSO in Sydelle’s Boston
notes with his older brother
Harold, who was principal oboist
kowski. “God, did I have nerves,”
Ballet office overlooking Clarenof the New York Philharmonic
sighs Gomberg, recalling the audon and Warren streets. Sydelle,
for thirty-four years. Harold died
dition. Shortly after winning the
her hair swept up in a dancer’s
in 1985.
position, he embarked on the S.S.
chignon, reflects between phone
Brasilia for a two-month tour of
calls and consultations against
South America with Stokowski
a backdrop of leotards and legconducting every concert.
warmers. “It truly has been like a close extended
Gomberg then recounts getting a call from Eufamily all these years,” she comments. “Our kids to
gene Ormandy in 1941. Ormandy had been asked by
this day refer to Uncle Sherman [Walt], Uncle Joey
“some rear admiral” to assemble what became the
[Silverstein]. When you go through so many births,
Philadelphia Navy Yard Band, to play at parades,
deaths, illnesses, weddings, bar mitzvahs - there’s an
and the commissioning of aircraft carriers and ships.
unbelievable bond that’s created within the orchestra
“Ormandy said to me years later, ‘Boy did I fix you
over the years.”
up’” laughs Gomberg.
Gomberg was born in Boston’s West End, the
After a year playing principal oboe in Baltimore,
youngest of seven children, five of whom went on
Gomberg then left for Los Angeles to care for his
to graduate from the Curtis Institute of Music. His
older brother, who was taken seriously ill. While in
older brother, Robert, was a violinist in the Philadelsouthern California, he received a call from an aspirphia Orchestra under Leopold Stokowski; brother
ing young conductor in New York named Leonard
Harold was, of course, principal oboist for thirtyBernstein. “Lenny was looking for a first oboist for
four years with the New York Philharmonic; a third
his City Center Orchestra.” explained Gomberg. “He
brother, Leo, was principal trumpet in the Radio City
hired me on the phone.”
Music Hall Orchestra and the New York City Center
“Those were wonderful days. I remember Lenny,
Symphony under Bernstein. One of his sisters, Ciel,
who was about twenty-eight then, holding court
was a violin soloist under contract at NBC while anbackstage with the most interesting people in New
other sister, Edyth, was a cellist who married George
York showing up - Judy Holliday, Adolph Green, the
Zazofsky, a longtime member of the BSO violin secMayor.” The City Center Orchestra also played for
tion, and whose son is Peter Zazofsky, the concert
the City Center Opera and Ballet, with one perforviolinist. “It was a question of who would get what
mance, recalls Gomberg, even conducted by George
room to practice in,” explains Gomberg. “Being the
Balanchine himself. He also found time to play in
youngest. I got the bathroom. It gradually dawned on
the Mutual Broadcasting Orchestra and to found the
my mother that some of us were pretty talented,” he
New York Woodwind Quintet.
continued. She was told about this fabulous school in
5/16/07 6:44:02 PM
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After the forty-eight-hour trip from Boston to
Taipei, it turned out that the hotel in the city was
overbooked and a portion of the orchestra had to be
bused to Peitu, ten miles outside the city. “When I arrived, I was so mad. Some of the guys were all already
there and they came out onto a balcony, all smiles.
I couldn’t believe they weren’t upset.” Then, Gomberg continued, he learned that the Shakespeare Inn,
where they were staying, was actually a government
run bordello - closed down for the week to accommodate the Boston Symphony!
“You know, I feel so good about retiring,” Gomberg says. “I feel I really gave of myself, always tried
to keep the standards of playing to what I wanted,
and I received so much back. I played with Stokowski,
Reiner, Bernstein, Klemperer, Mitropoulos, Koussevitzky, Munch, Monteux, Ansermet. Those are incredible memories.”
What are some of the masterpieces he’ll miss
the most, oboislically speaking? “Brahms 1, the slow
movement,” he muses. “The Eroica, Berlioz’s Romeo
and Juliet, the slow movement of the Brahms Violin Concerto, Ibert’s Escales”, and Mahler’s Das Lied
von der Erde” This summer at Tanglewood will afford
Gomberg - and audiences - the chance to enjoy some
wonderful oboe writing in Ravel’s Tombeau de Couperin, Tchaikovsky’s Fourth Symphony, and Mozart’s
Serenade for Winds.
“If I’ve learned one thing, or if I could pass on one
thing, it’s that music is not a technical art, it’s an expressive art,” he adds. “The oboe is such an expressive
instrument - when it starts to play, it’s a unique sound
and everyone is intrigued with it - I hope!” he adds,
laughing.
“I feel we’ve been truly blessed,” says Sydelle.
“We have four wonderful children, we’ve made such
friends in the orchestra and among those associated
with the orchestra. Whenever I meet other oboists’
wives, there’s a real cameraderie between us. Try living with someone who goes around the house dropping little shavings from their reeds everywhere.”
“It’s the law of compensation,” adds Ralph. “If you
play the oboe,” he says, emphasizing both syllables,
then you figure something good has to come back to you
from all that suffering! I have the happiest memories
of my years here. And now there’s the excitement of
the years ahead with Sydelle, my kids...”
“And our new baby,” injects Sydelle. “A Siamese
blue point.”
“What more could you ask?” concludes her
husband, with a shrug of his shoulders and that
characteristic Gomberg grin. u
Current Events
At the same time, Sydelle Gomberg was an aspiring young ballerina, dancing with the Metropolitan
Opera ballet, and at Radio Cily Music Hall, which,
as the only institution offering year-round employment, was then the training ground for dancers. In
1945 she landed a soloist role in “Lute Song” starring
Yul Brynner Mary Martin (and, Gomberg points
out, also featuring a young unknown actress named
Nancy Davis, who today goes by her married name,
Nancy Reagan).
“During ‘Lute Song’ I spent a lot of time at Leo
Gomberg’s [Ralph’s brother, the trumpet player of the
Radio City Orchestra] and his wife Helen’s house,”
Sydelle explained. “Eventually my brother and sister-in-law got us together,” adds Gomberg, “and we
went bowling - for the first and last time - on our first
date.”
Sydelle remembers returning backstage at “Lute
Song” to her dressing table and announcing to the
cast that she had just met the man she was going to
marry.
In 1950, two years after their wedding, Gomberg
heard of the opening in Boston. “In those day’s,” he
explains, “Boston was the only orchestra that provided 52-week-a-year employment. It was definitely the
job to have. I was so thrilled to win it. I know Thomas
Wolfe said ‘You can’t go home again,’ but here I was.
coming home to Boston.”
Gomberg remembers the first two years as somewhat difficult in that the orchestra was tuning to 444
cycles per second as opposed to 440, the international
standard pitch. “Koussevitzky had liked (the higher
pitch because he thought it made the orchestra sound
more brilliant,” explained Gomberg. “It was really
difficult for me since it greatly affected the way I had
to make the reeds.”
“My first rehearsal with the orchestra, I was
so tense,” Gomberg recalls. “It was with Munch, of
course, and we were playing [Roussel’s] Bacchus et
Ariane. There’s that little oboe solo of three quarternotes. I had no idea from his beat - which looked like
he was making French mayonnaise - if it was in six or
three. So I didn’t come in. He stood there and looked
at me and then smiled. I figured it out and came in
the next time.”
Both Gombergs break into knowing smiles as
they recount the 1960 eight-week tour to Taiwan,
Japan, and Australia. “Eight weeks, can you imagine the orchestra on an eight-week tour now?” says
Sydelle. “I’ve never been so depressed as the day he
left, me standing there with four little kids and a German shepherd.”
21
5/16/07 6:44:03 PM
22
Letters to the Editors
Current Events
Letter to the Editors - A Tribute to Norman Herzberg
Dear Editors
Thank you for the excellent tribute (to Norman
Herzberg). You’ve covered all the general things I
would have mentioned. That leaves me with the difficult stuff; what Mr. Herzberg (I still can’t call him
Norman, even after 31 years) meant to me personally.
There is not a moment during my time playing the
bassoon when I do not have Mr. Herzberg’s voice in
my ear. His true specialty as a teacher was his ability to instill a rigorous work ethic, and a critical ear
that cannot be ignored. Rarely do I hear him say “atta
boy!” Often do I hear one of his more colorful epithets. The fact that I still practice scales, intervals,
and long tones every day is a testament to his (justified) insistence on fundamentals.
Now for the difficult part. I don’t really want to
turn this into true confessions, but Mr. Herzberg was
and will remain the most important male role model in my life. Before everyone started talking about
mentors and mentoring, he was my mentor. My studies began with him when I was fifteen and continued
until I began employment at twenty three. This was a
very rocky period in my life. My relationship with my
own father was volatile, and rather unhealthy. Mr.
Herzberg became my surrogate father. I don’t think
I’m the only one of his students who can say this.
Throughout my career, Mr. Herzberg and I kept
in contact. He helped on the many occasions I needed
help. He attended my wedding (embarrassing me half
to death at the rehearsal dinner with stories about my
youthful indiscretions). He made my life easier with
his profiler.
I will never forget Mr. Herzberg, I will insist my
students know about his legacy, and I will miss him
beyond reason.
Seth Krimsky, USC class of ‘83
Principal Bassoon, Seattle Symphony
Bassoon Instructor, University of Washington
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5/16/07 7:00:27 PM
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23
Remembrance of Norman Herzberg
Gary Friedman
San Rafael, California
09a HerzbergRemembrance.indd 23
The last time I saw Norman was in May 2003
when he and Leah came to hear one of my compositions performed at Los Angeles Pierce College. He
was very kind in his appraisal of the piece. That weekend Leah invited Ruth, my wife, and me to a meeting
of the local Democratic Party where Susan McDougal of Clinton/Whitewater fame spoke. Leah was obviously much loved and respected by her Democratic
colleagues. u
Current Events
I
am both a first cousin of Norman Herzberg (his
mother was my father’s sister) and a member of
IDRS and can provide another view of Norman.
He was 18 years older than I so I did not have much
contact with him. From occasional family gatherings during my childhood and adolescence, I do remember his arguing with my father, who was a businessman and a Republican, about the merits of the
musician’s union. Norman spoke very passionately
about the economic problems of musicians and how
Mr. Petrillo the head of the union at that time, was
trying to alleviate them. I think, but am not sure of
this, that it was Norman who discovered that I had
absolute pitch when I was a little boy learning to play
the piano - an attribute that, to my annoyance, has
become less accurate over the years. He recently told
me that having relative pitch is more important than
having absolute pitch and I agree.
Others have written of Norman’s superb craftsmanship with regard to his reed-making profiler and
other projects. I remember visiting him at home in
Encino perhaps 30 or 40 years ago and seeing how he
had beautifully restored a Jeepster, a sporty derivative of a jeep that probably most IDRS members have
never heard of.
My response to my mid-life crisis at age 54 was
to return to music by learning to play the oboe. Preferring low pitch I would have chosen the bassoon.
One of the main reasons that I didn’t was Norman.
I didn’t want to have to live up to his excellence or
ever be compared to him. Fortunately, playing oboe,
and especially English horn, has proven to be very rewarding. And many times, playing in various chamber and larger groups, I have met people who learned
from, played with, or otherwise knew and valued
Norman. His influence has been large.
5/16/07 6:44:24 PM
24
Obituaries
Obituaries
Current Events
L. Hugh Cooper (1920-2007)
Harold W. Kohn (1920-2007)
University of Michigan School of Music, Ann Arbor,
MI 48104.
As a final note of tribute, there are arrangements
afoot to publish some of Hugh’s many writings on
the bassoon by Dr. Mark Claque at the University of
Michigan. We will hopefully have more information
on this development at a later date. For now we Editors join both the IDRS and the double reed community in mourning the loss of this great artist.
L. Hugh Cooper
T
he IDRS was deeply saddened to learn of the
death of distinguished Honorary Member L.
Hugh Cooper on Thursday, April 26th, 2007.
Hugh was one of the founding fathers of the IDRS
and served as bassoonist in the Detroit Symphony
and professor of bassoon at the University of Michigan for over half a century. He will be missed greatly
by all of us who came to know and love him at the
many IDRS Conferences he attended and participated in bringing to fruition. Because this issue was
in final preparation when the news reached us, we
are planning to have a memorial tribute to him in the
following issue, Vol. 30, No. 3, of The Double Reed.
Those of you who will want to contribute to this memorial can send their comments to Dr. Jeffrey Lyman
at the following address or e-mail:
The IDRS has learned of the death of longtime IDRS
member Harold W. Kohn, 86, who died peacefully in
his home in Columbus, Ohio, on February 13, 2007.
Harold, who was a frequent attendee at IDRS Conferences was a strong supporter of Chris Weait and
his bassoon studio at The Ohio State University, as
well as an active amateur bassoonist himself. He was
particularly fond of “busking” and often entertained
with his wife Janet at County Fairs and convalescent
centers. His enthusiasm for everything bassoon was
infectious, and he will be sorely missed. The IDRS
joins his family and many friends in mourning his
loss.
Jeffrey Lyman
2905 Canterbury Road
Ann Arbor, MI 48104
Those of you who might want to contribute to
the Hugh Cooper Scholarship fund can contact the
09b Obituaries.indd 24
5/16/07 6:44:53 PM
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25
Oboists in the News
Dan Stolper
Palm Desert, California
L to R: Robert Walters, Margi Griebling-Haigh, and
Karel Paukert.
Margi’s Danses Ravissants for flute, oboe, cello,
and harp was given its premiere performance on April
11 at Trinity Cathedral in Cleveland by co-commissioners Susan Royal (flute) and Danna Sundet (oboe)
along with cellist Natasha Farney and harpist Jody
Guinn. Songs for Young Lovers (poetry by Edna St.
Vincent Millay) will be presented by soprano Sandra
Simon and oboist Danna Sundet on May 20 at historic St. Peter’s Church in Cleveland.
Many of Margi’s works including oboe and/or
English horn are available through Jeanne, Inc.
(www.jeanne-inc.com). Danses Ravissants will soon
be available on a CD from Centaur Records. Please
visit Margi’s website, www.musicalligraphics.com,
for information on other recordings, including the 2CD set from the John Mack Memorial Concert, and
publications.
09c OITN.indd 25
Dwight Russell Parry
is just finishing up his first and
only season as principal oboe
of the San Diego Symphony.
His short tenure there is due
to the fact that he was recently
hired as the new principal
oboist of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Parry’s
new job begins in the fall. Previously he worked with
Michael Tilson Thomas in the New World Symphony
in Miami, Florida. Originally from southern California, he began studying piano and voice at an early
age, but it was not until his sophomore year of high
school that he started playing the oboe. He pursued
his studies with Joel Timm, who opened his eyes to
the idea of actually making a living playing music.
Mr. Parry completed his Bachelor’s degree in oboe
performance at the University of Southern California, where he studied with Allan Vogel. Another
guiding figure in his life has been David Weiss, who,
though never formally his teacher, has been a devoted
mentor and a great friend from the moment they met.
Mr. Parry later earned his Master’s degree from the
Cleveland Institute of Music, where it was his sincere
privilege to work with John Mack.
Although passionately devoted to orchestral performance, Mr. Parry maintains a special affinity for
performing as a soloist, both with orchestra and as a recitalist. As an advocate of contemporary music, he has
participated in numerous premieres including those of
five new works featuring the oboe, all of which were
written expressly for him by different composers.
Mr. Parry’s professional solo appearances from
the last few years have included the oboe concertos
of Strauss, Mozart, Marcello, J.S. Bach and Vaughan
Williams. In orchestral performance, Mr. Parry has
been in demand both in the United States and abroad.
He has appeared as guest or trial principal oboist
with orchestras such as the New York Philharmonic,
the Cincinnati Symphony, the Atlanta Symphony,
the Los Angeles Opera, and the Deutsche Symphonie
Orchester of Berlin. In addition to performance, Mr.
Parry also has great interest in pedagogy and has giv-
Current Events
On March 11, Margi Griebling-Haigh’s Cortege d’antan for oboe, English horn, and organ was
premiered at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Cleveland
Heights, Ohio. The piece was commissioned by renowned organist, Karel Paukert, and was performed
by him along with the composer, oboe, and Cleveland Orchestra solo English hornist, Robert Walters.
The concert also included several of Margi’s new arrangements: Bartok duets for oboe and English horn,
Kodaly Epigrams for two English horns and organ,
and Josef Suk’s “Intermezzo” from Slepi hudci for two
English horns and organ.
5/16/07 6:45:05 PM
26
Oboists in the News
Current Events
en masterclasses at the University of Southern California and at the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of
Music. This season he served as faculty at both San
Diego State University and at the University of San
Diego, and has had eleven years of rewarding experience as a private music teacher.
Honorary member Ray Still,
long-time first oboist of the Chicago
Symphony will give an oboe master
class for professionals and advanced
students on Saturday, September
22, 2007 (9:00am to 12:00pm and
from 1:30 to 3:30pm) at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Annapolis, Maryland. Mr. Still will
cover a wide range of oboe repertoire: solo, chamber
and orchestral. He will deal with common technical
problems in performance, and will include a talk “It’s
all in the breath”. An evening recital is planned. Mr.
Still is inviting some professional colleagues to join
him in an oboe/English horn trio, and he is planning
to participate in a performance of Mozart’s Quintet,
K. 452, with his son, Thomas Still, at the piano. Fee
for participants (limited to 12) is $150.; auditors (not
limited) $40. Further information (including the
application form) is available on Mr. Still’s website:
www.raystill.com, or e-mail to Tim Barnum at [email protected]. All proceeds will go to the
Anne Arundel Habitat for Humanity.
Jean-Louis Petit, administrator of the Concours International d’interpretation de Paris-Ville d’Avray,
which this year focused on the oboe, sends us results
of the competition. Here is the list of winners. First
prize (1,500 Euros): Jose Andres Valerio Molina of
Spain; second prize (1,500 Euros): Emmanuel LaVille
of France; third prize (1,000 Euros): Althea Ifeka of
Great Britain; and the prize for the best interpretation of contemporary repertoire (1,500 Euros): Pierre
Makarenko of France. Four more participants were
singled out for special mention: Asuka Akaki (Japan); Margaret Herlehy (USA); Ramon Ortega
(Spain); and Pierre Makarenko (France). The 2008
competition will be for horn.
This spring’s Boston Early Music Festival takes place
June 11th-17th in many venues around Boston and
includes concerts, exhibitions, masterclasses, and
chamber music recitals. The festival orchestra’s
members include these double reed players: Gonzalo
X. Ruiz and Washington McClain, baroque oboe;
09c OITN.indd 26
Kathryn Montoya, haute-contre d’hautbois; Debra
Nagy, taille d’hautbois; and Marilyn Boenau and
Dominic Teresi, bassoons. For further information
and ticket information, visit www.bemf.org or call:
617/868-BEMF.
Geoffrey Burgess and Bruce Hayne’s collaboration The Oboe (Yale University Press, 2004)
was announced as the winner of the 2007 Nicholas
Bessaraboff Prize given by the American Musical Instrument Society. The committee indicated that the
book emerged from this year’s selection of books under consideration as “a masterful work of enormous
accomplishment and importance to the entire field of
organology.” Congratulations, Geoffrey and Bruce!
The Cardiac Kids, a trio (flute, oboe, and cello)
of young musicians who study at the Cleveland Institute of Music Preparatory Division’s Chamber Music
Program, recently gave a recital at Montefiore, a senior center in Beachwood, Ohio. Members of the trio
are Joshua Lauretig, oboe, who is in 7th grade at the
Beachwood Middle School; for the past year he has
been studying with Danna Sundet. Joshua has been
a participant in the CIM chamber music program for
three years, and he pioneered the inclusion of wind
instruments in the program. Alice Catanzaro, flutist,
has been studying for four years, the past two with
Mary Kay Ferguson; she is a 6th grader at St. Ann
School. Benjamin Francisco, cellist, is a 6th grader at
Old Trail School in Bath; he has been studying the
cello for for seven years and is the principal cellist
in the CIM Preparatory Orchestra. The trio’s coach,
Mary Kay Ferguson, says about the Cardiac Kids,
“They have really bonded as a group, their families as
well. I enjoy working with them immensely. There is
never a dull moment and they play beautifully!” u
The Cardiac Kids l to r: Joshua Lauretig, Benjamin Francisco and Alice Catanzaro
5/16/07 6:45:05 PM
27
The Double Reed
Something That Was Never Had - Rice
(Three weeks with four bassoon players through five cities in China)
Stephan Weidauer (“Wei Dao Er“)
Saarbrücken, Germany
(Translation from German to English by Eva Sjögren, Graham Salvage, Sibylle Göhner )
Current Events
Reprinted from Rohrblatt, Reed magazine, Frechen 21 (2006), pages 141-146 with permission from
Müller & Müller Publishing House.
“The easiest way to learn about another
country was to meet the professionals in
one’s own field.”
Isaac Stern (1999 looking back at
his tour in China 1979)
T
he Püchner China tour took place from the
11th of June to the 1st of July 2006. It comprised principally of three main activities:
exhibitions showing the different bassoon models
from the J. Püchner Company, concerts with bassoon
ensembles with four to eight bassoons as well as master classes in some Chinese conservatories.
Shanghai became acquainted with Western music in 1880 when the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra
was founded. This was the first bassoon quartet touring the P.R. of China and is described below.
The touring party included: Zhang Jin Min,
principal bassoonist of the Singapore Symphony Orchestra (SSO), Liu Chang, his colleague and assistant
bassoonist of the same orchestra, the writer (of this
article) Stephan Weidauer, principal bassoonist of
the Saarländisches Staatsorchester (another SSO!) as
well as Shi Li from Vienna.
The three Chinese bassoon players knew each
other from the time they were together in Beijing
and now work abroad as orchestral musicians, solo
players and senior lecturers. Liu Chang has made a
specific career as a very well-known rock singer in
China, when he sang the opening song of the Asian
Games in 1990 and despite his retreat from the stage
he was often surrounded by female autograph hunters – his songs could be heard even during this tour
of 2006! The spiritual leader of everything was Shi
Li, now living in Vienna who had gone through an
adventurous life during the Cultural Revolution and
later on as a dance musician until he was discovered
by Karl Öhlberger from Vienna. He was the manager
and the organizer of the entire concert tour.
10 China2006.indd 27
Zhang Jin Min
Liu Chang
Shi Li
Stephan Weidauer
5/16/07 6:45:38 PM
Current Events
28
Stephan Weidauer giving a masterclass in Xian.
I was the person in the bassoon quartet who was
appointed to take care of the master classes for the
students, - the only ”white ghost”.
Going back to the time that Isaac Stern taught in
1979 for no fees in China, (a documentary film about
this was given an Oscar in 1980 entitled “From Mao
to Mozart”) it is expected that all Europeans unselfishly, generously and freely offer their art and experience. In each city on this tour the very bassoon
professor himself was co-organizer, participating at
rehearsals, concerts, masterclasses and exhibitions.
The fifth person joining our group during the first
half of this journey around China was Gerald Püchner of the world renowned bassoon manufacturer
Püchner.
The daily schedule when not aboard an aeroplane,
had mostly the following form: Early morning in the
conservatoire setting up the bassoon exhibition and
starting the classes, continuing in the afternoon and
also rehearsing for the ensemble concerts. The four
core members being enhanced in numbers by local
players to perform quintets and octets.
The concerts were given during the afternoons
or evenings. The music comprising mainly of arrangements put together by Shi Li. The first half of
the concert was classical music from Mozart to Verdi
and after the interval lighter entertainment from the
Bubonic bassoon quartet publications and Beatles
songs.
Our first stop was naturally Beijing; from a Chinese viewpoint the centre of the world! In the Central Conservatoire of the P.R. of China Li Lan Song
welcomed his guests. I gained my first experience of
teaching Chinese students here. Although my Chinese was sufficient for simple conversation, this did
not extend to the subtleties needed for “in depth”
teaching of the bassoon. It is most unusual that English is used and understood amongst Chinese students and after a short time it was discovered that the
common international musical terminology like f or
crescendo was not used and the Chinese word took
their place, e.g. dà (big) for f and dà-guan (big tube)
for bassoon. In Beijing, I was fortunate; a Chinese
bassoon student from Saarbrücken happened to be
present and kindly helped me linguistically. On one
occasion an interpreter had been engaged who was
quite good at English but had no clue of musical terminology. When it came to piano he was of the opinion that “piano” referred to the instrument. A hosting
bassoon professor, (Song Zhi Bin in Chengdu) was
used from his student days to speaking German with
a Franconian Nuremberg accent. When I veered away
from the subject, help was found through my accompanying colleagues with their bilingual ability.
During my master classes Shi Li was usually also
giving master classes on the contrabassoon (di-yin dàguan, low-tone-big-tube) – incidentally the first contrabassoon classes in China – and Gerald Püchner,
assisted by Liu Chang and Zhang Jin Min, took care
of the exhibition. This did not only mean playtesting
of the bassoons by players from the region, but also to
give first-aid-repair-service by Gerald Püchner and
Liu, (who through a course at the workshop of the
prominent Püchner company in Nauheim was able to
5/16/07 6:45:39 PM
29
The Double Reed
Gerald Puchner repairing bassoons in Shenyang.
Jia Da Yong
language was not helpful on this occasion. Shenyang
is the home town of Shi Li, where he studied at the
conservatoire and he told us touching stories from
his time as a student and was cordially greeted there
by everyone.
It was not only here however that Shi Li seemed
to be known but also by the entire bassoon world in
China and vice versa. His hotel room was always a reception and organisation office for a constant stream
of visiting bassoon players and other musicians.
The third city was Shanghai with a temperature
of +38°C and a humidity of 95%. Here I experienced
for the first time a bassoon pad sticking, the reeds
also behaving in a subtropical manner. The Shanghai conservatoire turned out to be a giant building
site, the old buildings mostly having been pulled
down, and on large building maps one could see
the ultra-modern and giant
conservatoire which was under construction. As the new
building was not yet in existence the hosting professor Liu
Zhao Lu was highly stressed
to find a suitable space for us.
Finally we were generously
given rooms in the building
of the Shanghai Philharmonic
Orchestra so that our group
could have room for the exhibition, for lessons, rehearsals
and the concert.
Whilst Gerald Püchner
was boarding his homeward
bound plane, the rest of the
crew took the flight to Xian,
in my opinion the nicest town
when it comes to accommodation, surroundings, the campus and concert hall as well
as hospitality with scrupulous
Current Events
assist). The Chinese students did predominantly play
inferior bassoons in a poor condition, - they could
be adjusted, but on several occasions Gerald Püchner
had to give up. Where to start, where to stop? To really upset him one could hand over a non-swabbed
and soaking wet bassoon asking for it to be repaired.
Help was needed not only for the knowledge of bassoon music and musical terms, but also for the maintenance of the instruments.
The visitors of the exhibitions expressed great
enthusiasm for the quality of the Püchner bassoons.
Although the price-level was higher than what is the
norm in China, Gerald Püchner sold every single instrument that had been brought along.
Regarding my vision of bassoon professors: Here
I had a completely false preconception of going to see
elderly dignified gentlemen; instead I found quite
young men who welcomed us, whom I almost always
took for students. This was the experience I came
across in all the five cities, one encounters there an
absolutely new and young generation of conservatory
teachers, most having studied abroad or who were
still taking courses. The road from being a student
to becoming a professor is a short path, often without
any experience of orchestral playing.
One of them was the host in the old Manchurian
city Shenyang (earlier Mukden); Jia Da Yong, from
the conservatoire in this town. He had been studying
in Russia, but unfortunately his knowledge of that
5/16/07 6:45:41 PM
Current Events
30
preparations arranged by the host Zhou Wen Bo. Just
24 years of age he was the youngest of all the professors. When it comes to conservatories in China one
has to visualize a huge or giant campus with large
and smaller concert halls, libraries, dining halls and
entire living quarters – still with separate quarters for
men and women! – and generous skyscrapers. These
are aspects that leave musicians from the lands of diminishing cultural budgets in respectful amazement.
Our local university college has perhaps the size of a
small Chinese college reception. The number of students counts between 3,000 and 16,000, including
those who are studying traditional Chinese music.
Especially enormous was the new campus in
Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan, which was the last
stop of our visit. Moreover, Xian and Chengdu, which
we in Europe believe to be provincial towns, have in
fact “only” 8 million inhabitants. The conservatoire
of Chengdu has certainly a respectable campus in the
city. Furthermore, it now has an extra enormous area
placed outside the town wall with futuristic buildings
and a traditional park. However, there are rumours
that they have put themselves into great debt since
there were no funds left for the purchase of a contra bassoon! The Principal smilingly told us that the
“low-tune-big-tube” is seldom used in the orchestra.
Now we come to the core of the problem of the
Chinese conservatories of music. An insider informed us that the hardware is now at hand but that
the software is principally still missing. If this refers
to the substance of the education, methodology, didactic and pedagogy, I can really agree. The statement made by my prominent forerunner Isaac Stern
about the situation in 1979 is still correct, a statement
which surely not only referred to violin but also to
the bassoon: ”They could all play the notes with astonishing dexterity but they did not understand the
music. They wanted to play fast, flashy, loud and difficult compositions, display their technical virtuosity.
They hadn’t had sufficient time or instruction in basic
musical values.”
In fact, this was exactly my impression after having experienced five different conservatories. When
it comes to technique I have nothing to say, but regarding breathing, quality of sound, phrasing, articulation, text accuracy, structure and dynamics there
is much work to be done. It starts with the education
material which consists of bad copies taken from copies, taken from further copies. The ability to write the
composer’s names in the original language was unknown, this was sometimes in Chinese or often even
in Cyrillic. It is difficult to explain the illegal action of
copying music when this way of doing it is practically
taken for granted in China.
Bassoon power in Xian.
5/16/07 6:45:42 PM
The Double Reed
31
Current Events
Bassoon quartet concert in Shanghai.
Furthermore, too many difficult pieces of music
were played too early, e.g. Weber’s Andante e Rondo
Ongarese in the second year of their studies. One
could only talk briefly about the historical practice of
performance, first of all the basics have to function.
For instance when a professor plays with a hideous
sound and the students diligently imitate this, it is
a wonderful experience when after a few minutes of
my own teaching the student produced a completely
different sound on the bassoon. Also in the field of
orchestral studies and excerpts we would all like to
see considerably longer and more detailed tuition
given by European guests. One of the tutorial lessons
given by the “white ghost”, may pop up in the CV of
students, but only small tips and inspiration can be
given in a single “one-off” lesson.
What did the guest university teacher and hobbysinologist experience and see apart from conservatories and hotel rooms? In every town something special:
In Beijing we stayed around the corner from Tian An
Men Square and the forbidden city, and a taxi excursion to the lovely Tian Tan (Temple of Heaven) was
also possible. In Shenyang, the insider Shi Li – himself an aristocratic Manchurian – showed us the first
palace of the Qing-Dynasty (1644-1911) and the tomb
of the first Manchurian emperor, his ancestor so to
speak. In Shanghai we saw the coastline’s futuristic
panorama illuminated by night – which twenty years
ago did not exist! Around Xian there was an evening
stroll through the enchanting old town and two real
excursions, one to the Buddhist monastery “Fa Men
Si”, and of course one to the Terracotta Army with
its 8,000 soldiers, (Isaac Stern was only able to see a
few hundred). In Cheng-Du a visit to a wonderful and
newly restored old quarter and genuine pandas!
What about body and stomach? You can forget
all what you have eaten from the Chinese restaurant
around the corner! We admired each region with its
own specialities, however there was one thing that
was never served: Rice. There are enough of other
delicacies. Drinks? Tolerable beer, ice cold and without froth, you just had to be careful with “Gan bei!”
because that meant literally “empty your glass”!
– with no whistle being blown....
Football World Championship? No issue or more
accurate: a big one. CCTV 5 was sending live and in
replay with Chinese pronunciation our national eleven, Ba La Ke and Ke Lo Se…
To sum it all up, an adventure with minor difficulties but with positive results, which in a modified
way could be repeated, because everywhere it was
heard ”Zai lai! – come back!” u
Stephan Weidauer is the former President of IDRS
Deutchland, bassoon teacher at the Hochschüle für
Musik, Saarbrücken, and principal bassoon of the
Saarländisches Staatsorchester.
5/16/07 6:45:43 PM
32
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Phone (410) 871-0658 FAX (410) 871-0659
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5/16/07 6:45:58 PM
33
The Double Reed
3rd Annual Oboe Day at
the University of South Florida (April 14, 2007)
Amy Collins
Tampa, Florida
Current Events
The University of South Florida Oboe Day Participants 2007. (Amy Collins, bottom left and Carlos, middle third from left)
O
n April 14, 2007, The University of South
Florida (Amy Collins, oboe professor)
hosted its Third Annual Oboe Day. Young
oboists from around Florida attended a morning
repair and adjustment workshop given by Carlos
Coelho. In the afternoon participants attended a reed
making workshop given by Amy Collins. During the
reed making workshop, each participant had an assigned time to have Carlos adjust their oboes. Stellar Oboe Products was on hand to fulfill oboe supply needs and some participants had a chance to try
out new Lorée oboes brought by Carlos. The Music
Department at The University of South Florida looks
forward to its next Oboe Day 2008!
Carlos Coelho during the repair workshop.
12 USF_DR Day.indd 33
5/16/07 6:46:10 PM
34
Articles
Articles
13 Articles.indd 34
5/16/07 6:46:22 PM
35
The Double Reed
New Light on the Weissenborn Family
William Waterhouse
London, England
(This article is concurrently being published in Double Reed News of the BDRS and in Rohrblatt.)
T
he Weissenborns came originally from Thuringia in Eastern Germany. Three members of the family
were professional bassoonists active in Eisenberg and Leipzig. While the name of Julius Weissenborn
(1837-1888) is known universally to every bassoon-player, that of his elder brother Louis (1813-1862)
and father Wilhelm (1788-1865) has hitherto remained unknown. What follows sets out for the record in tabular form what information I have been able to piece together on the careers of three remarkable musicians (see
Illustration 1).
WEISSENBORN FAMILY TREE
Illustration 1
HANS WEISSENBORN = ?
1660?
?=
?=
WILHELM = Johanne BUSCH
Otto Ernst Julius Luise Felix
Juliane
?
JULIUS = Mathilde OETTEL
Ernst Hedwig Carl Erdmann FRITZ = Emmi GOLDACKER Max
Marie Fanny
HELLMUTH = Lesley MACDONALD
Articles
Caroline MEYER = LOUIS = Clara ERNST
Johann Wilhelm Weissenborn (1788-1865)
Directly descended from Hans Weissenborn, b May 1600 in Schafau (nr Rastenberg, Thuringia).
1788
28 May
ante 1813
b Johann Wilhelm Weissenborn in Schafau
settled in Friedrichstanneck
1813
14 June
married Johanne Christiane Busch (d ?) in Eisenberg, where listed as Musikus allhier (musician active locally)
-
29 Dec
birth of son Louis
1837
13 Apr
birth of son Julius
?
birth of daughter Juliane and another daughter
1843
documented as Musikus and a sought-after supplier of bassoon reeds
1852
elected as GemeindeRath I. Klasse in Friedrichstanneck to serve for 2 years
1862
joined by Louis’s widow Klara and family
1863
June: celebrated Golden Wedding, for which Julius composed a Polka for
piano
1865
14 WeissenbornNewLight.indd 35
20 May
d at age of almost 72.
5/16/07 6:46:38 PM
36
Wilhelm Weissenborn had, by the time of his marriage in 1813, relocated 25 miles away from his birthplace in a
small village on the outskirts of Eisenberg. Friedrichstanneck, though only a small village1, was a popular resort
with a Gasthof that attracted visitors, and he could evidently make a living there as a professional musician. In
1843 he was documented there as being a sought-after supplier of Faggottmundstücke [sic] (bassoon reeds)2, and
as Musikus - indicating a degree of all-round musical ability. He evidently trained both of his sons to become
bassoonists - and Louis a violist as well. A set of bassoon duets by G.A. Schneider copied by him survive3; undated, they presumably served as teaching material.
Friedrich Louis Weissenborn (1813-1862)
1813
b ‘Friedrich Louis’ in Friedrichstanneck, elder son of Wilhelm, then married
to mother since only 6 months; emergency baptism same day by the midwife
Zuckschwerdt
1830
made manuscript copy of three bassoon duets by Blasius at age 16
1835
appointed 2nd Bassoon in Leipzig at age 21 (as colleague of Carl Wilhelm von
Inten (1799-1877)
1837
appeared in Leipzig as soloist in Concertino by Maurer (AMZ , 9 Dec 1837, p.836)
-
Articles
29 Dec
13 Apr
birth in Friedrichstanneck of younger brother Julius, later bassoonist in Leipzig
1838
appeared in Leipzig as soloist
-
for Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (FMB) copied J.S. Bach Cantata parts (8 folios),
performed in June at Cologne
1841
-
for FMB: copied J.S.Bach Matthäus Passion parts (75 folios) for 4 Apr performance in the Thomaskirche, Leipzig
1842
-
14 Aug
1843
married Caroline Wilhelmine Pauline Meyer (1821-1849)
-
21 Jun
birth of son Max Otto (1843-1871), later bookkeeper in a Leipzig music shop
-
Sep
for Robert Schumann: copied Paradies & Peri (2 Oct entry in Haushaltbuch)
-
Dec
for FMB: made 2 copies of MSND (2+5 letters FMB/LW @ Oxford, London,
Washington-DC)
1844
30 Sep
birth of son Ernst Louis (d at age 5)
1846
2 Jan
birth of son Julius Eduard (d at age 3 weeks)
-
for FMB: copied Athalia for presentation to HM Queen Victoria: 156 folios (@
GB-Lbl)
-
for FMB: copied Oedipus for presentation to Albert Prince Consort: 104 folios (@
GB-Lbl)
-
for FMB: copied Oedipus (one movement cut) for presentation to Franz Hauser:
194 pages (@ GB-Lbl)
1848
1 Jan
-
birth of twins: Luise Cäcilie (d at age 1) and Paul Felix (d at age 20 weeks)
Nov
1849
for Robert Schumann: copied Genoveva op 81 Acts 3 & 4 {letter 13 Dec LW to RS
@ Zwickau)
-
25 Sep
death of 1st wife Caroline Wilhelmine Pauline at age 28
-
Nov
for Robert Schumann: copied Concertstück op 86 (letter 6 Nov RS to LW @
Zwickau)
5/16/07 6:46:39 PM
37
The Double Reed
1851
11 May
2nd marriage to Clara Ernst (1827-?)
1853
12 Oct
birth of daughter Marie (1853-1935), later schoolmistress
1855
1856
having retired as 2nd Bassoonist at age 41, now became viola-player in the
Orchestra
10 Jun
birth of daughter Fanny (1856-1953), who 1876 married Emil Krödel, d Grossenhain aged 97
1857
younger brother Julius appointed 1st Bassoon in the Orchestra
1860
retired as viola-player in the Orchestra
1862
6 Feb
-
died as Pensionär in Leipzig at age 48
widow Clara with three children Otto, Marie and Fanny relocated in
Friedrichstanneck.
Articles
Thanks to new evidence, it is clear that Louis Weissenborn was hardly less talented a musician than his
younger brother Julius. He was early trained both as bassoonist and string player, doubtless by his father. At
age 21 he was appointed to the Leipzig orchestra as 2nd bassoonist. He made eight appearances as soloist there
between 1837 and 1849; in a concert review of 18414 Robert Schumann praised his playing of a concerto as
excellent. His first wife bore him five children, only one of which survived infancy, but she died 1849 aged 28; a
second wife bore him two further children. In 1855 at age 41 he switched from bassoon to viola. After completing 25 years with the Orchestra he retired on pension, dying two years later aged 48; his widow returned with
the children to live in Friedrichstanneck.
Louis’s ancillary activity as a music-copyist working for such famous composers as Mendelssohn and
Schumann can be documented from 1838. At this time music-copying, a trade requiring specific skills that
only an experienced musician would possess, was frequently practised by orchestral players in order to supplement their meagre income5. Copyists were needed to reproduce legibly the composer’s manuscript for dispatch
elsewhere, to extract individual band-parts from it and to duplicate them as necessary. In an age when performance royalties were unknown, delaying publication could benefit the composer financially, enabling him to
supply copies himself. To these tasks might be added the preparation on occasion of a fair copy for presentation
purposes. While qualities of speed and legibility were vital, accuracy was even more important in order to save
precious rehearsal time. In the case of a composer like Robert Schumann, the deciphering of illegible handwriting would pose a further challenge. Louis built up an excellent reputation thanks to recommendations by
Schumann’s publisher Whistling and the conductor Julius Rietz. For Schumann he was to make copies of the
oratorio Das Paradies und die Peri (op. 50), two acts of the opera Genoveva (op. 81), and the Concertstück (op.
86) for four horns6.
His earliest known copying assignment for Felix Mendelssohn - extra Bach Cantata parts for use in Cologne
- dates from 18387. Three years later Mendelssohn gave a repeat performance in Leipzig of Bach’s Matthew Passion, which he had earlier premiered in Berlin. For this, new performing material was needed, and 75 folios
copied by Louis have survived8. Over the following years until Mendelssohn’s premature death in 1847 he was
to became one of the composer’s main copyists, to whom was entrusted not only the preparation of duplicate
conducting scores but three fair copies for presentation. Their relationship is documented by a correspondence
- two letters from the composer and five in response - relating to A Midsummer Night’s Dream (op61)9. In December 1843 Mendelssohn wrote from Berlin commissioning Louis to make duplicate copies of his new incidental music to Shakespeare’s play. This score presented both composer and scribe with unusual problems, since
it contained passages of melodrama where spoken text needed to be interpolated into the score. Felix instructed
Louis as follows:10
Dear Mr. Weissenborn, Enclosed is the manuscript of my Midsummer Night’s Dream music, which I would ask
you to copy as quickly as possible. But take great care of my manuscript, so that I may have it back unaltered.
Also on no account let it out of your hands. Ask Schwarz to show you the copy he has made and ask him to
explain to you how I want the passages of melodrama to be written; notate them in the same way, and also ask
5/16/07 6:46:39 PM
38
C[oncert] M[aster] David to lend you the volume of his Tieck Shakespeare that contains A Midsummer Night’s
Dream, so that you can copy out of it the words of dialogue (which in my manuscript are partly unclear, and
partly omitted) in the same way that Schwarz has done from my copy. I am relying on you to do all this with
accuracy, since otherwise I might not be able to use the copy at all. And send me back both manuscript and
copy at your earliest convenience (…)
Articles
He had agreed to entrust Louis with his precious original - a rare privilege - since the copy that Schwarz (an
otherwise unrecorded copyist) had already made for scheduled performance in Leipzig was already in use and
unavailable. Three weeks later the composer ordered further copies.11 (Illustration 2):
Illustration 2: Envelope addressed to Louis Weissenborn in Mendelssohn’s hand, author’s collection.
I was most contented with the copy that you have sent me, since accuracy is the main consideration, and I
would ask you especially to attend to this in all the subsequent copies, because I am not able to look through
all of them carefully and yet must be certain that they are free of any mistake regarding notes, markings, tempo
indications and so on.
From this we can see not only how meticulous Mendelssohn was over points of detail, but the degree of skills
required by the copyist in order to be able to undertake such work, especially when needed in a hurry. To ensure
5/16/07 6:46:39 PM
39
The Double Reed
accuracy at speed, he would need to be a trained musician to understand what he was copying. The elements of
graphic skill required by a successful copyist are comparable to those faced by the music engraver. The copying
of any orchestral score, especially when, as in the case of an opera or oratorio, a vocal line with text underlay has
to be incorporated, calls for considerable skill. Problems of layout and justification need first to be addressed
before any of the actual notes may be entered in. Louis was manifestly able to satisfy the composer with regard
to his reliability; in addition he possessed the calligraphic skills required for preparing fair copies for presentation to Royalty. In 1846 he supplied exquisitely neat copies on thick cartridge paper of the scores of two major
works: Athalie (op. 70) was commissioned for presentation to Queen Victoria, and Oedipus at Colonus (op.93)
to Prince Albert12.
While professional copyists never signed their work, Louis had the habit of adding a decorative flourish at
the end of his work (see Illustration 3). For this Dr Ralf Wehner, Director of the Mendelssohn Archive in Leipzig,
having studied the various scribal hands represented in surviving contemporary copies, had nicknamed him
‘the copyist with the terminal flourish with two dots’.13 Mendelssohn himself had often used a similar, though
Articles
Illustration 3: Terminal flourish (slightly reduced in size), from the copy of Mendelssohn’s Athalie commissioned in 1846
from Louis Weissenborn for presentation to Queen Victoria (London, British Library R.M.g.5). Reproduced by permission.
5/16/07 6:46:40 PM
40
less flamboyant sign, as did also Brahms later on. In 2000 Dr Wehner was for the first time able to identify him
as Louis Weissenborn by comparing the copious passages of written dialogue appearing in the scores with that
of his five surviving letters. To him could also be attributed manuscript copies preserved today in London,
Oxford, Leeds, Paris and Princeton14 (none of his work for Schumann survives). The author already happened
to possess a music manuscript copied by Louis at the age of seventeen.15 The comparison of this example of his
early hand with his later work has confirmed this identification.
Christian Julius Weissenborn (1837-1888)
1837
13 Apr
@ Leipzig
aa1854
@ Rostock
1855/56
@ CH-St Gallen
1856
@ Eisenberg / Düsseldorf
1857
Articles
b ‘Christian Julius’ in Friedrichstanneck
1852/53
Appointed 1st bsn @ Leipzig aged 20 as successor to C.W. von Inten
1860
14 Jan
married Mathilde Henriette Lina Oettel (1840-1903)
-
Aug.
testimonials from Julius Rietz, Dresden, and Moritz Hauptmann, Leipzig, as to
ability as choral conductor
1861
21 Nov
birth of son Ernst Felix (1861-1899), later a teacher in Leipzig
1863
27 Mar
birth of daughter Hedwig Maria Martha (d at age 4 months)
-
16 Jun
composed Polka Hochzeitstänzchen for his parents’ golden wedding in Friedrichstanneck (see Illustration 4)
1865
20 Sep
birth of son Carl Gustav Paul (d at age 1 year)
1867
26 Nov
birth of son Erdmann Curt (d at age 5 months)
1869
14 Mar
birth of son Julius Fritz (1869-1941), later artist, teacher at Kunst-Akademie in
Leipzig
-
appeared as bassoon soloist with Orchestra
1871
10 Jan
birth of son Max Johannes (d at age 4 months)
1874
18 Oct
Cantata Die Drei! (N. Lenau) premiered in Leipzig Gewandhaus Hall
1875
19 Jun
Motet Herr, neige deine Ohren premiered in the Thomaskirche
-
23 Apr
Fest-Marsch performed in the Stadt-Theater
1876
Appeared as bassoon soloist with Orchestra
1879
Appeared as bassoon soloist with Orchestra
1882
Appointment to newly created teaching post @ Royal Conservatorium of Music
-
21 May Drei humoristische Stücke for 3 bassoons performed in the Centralhalle (see
Illustration 5)
-
10 Jun
1887
1888
Motette Herr, neige deine Ohren performed for 2nd time in the Thomaskirche
retired from the Orchestra after 30 years of service
21 Apr
d Hospitalstr. 32, Leipzig, one week after his 51st. birthday.
The name of his younger son Julius is known to bassoonists worldwide on account of the tuneful etudes and
tutor from which they have learned as beginners. Born in Friedrichstanneck, he doubtless benefitted as a bassoonist from the fact that both his father and elder brother Louis were also expert players of the instrument. As
well as studying bassoon he also took composition lessons in Leipzig. Manuscripts dated from Rostock, St Gallen, and from Düsseldorf indicate that he was already gaining professional experience in these towns. In 1856 he
obtained a remarkable appointment for one aged only 20 - that of principal bassoonist in the Leipzig orchestra.
5/16/07 6:46:41 PM
The Double Reed
41
Here his duties included playing for concerts, at the opera and in church. At the time of his marriage two years
later he obtained testimonials from two leading conductors16 in order to obtain an appointment as choral conductor. Both testified to his capability as bassoonist, composer and arranger; however these ambitions failed to
materialize. In 1869 he appeared for the first time as bassoon soloist with the orchestra, and further solo engagements were to follow. In 1874 the premiere of his cantata Die Drei! for soloists, chorus and orchestra was well
received in the local press; this was followed by a motet that was twice performed in the Thomaskirche. A selfpublished Masonic Hymn indicates that he was a Freemason. In 1882 his music was commercially published for
the first time, by now being an experienced composer for orchestra, military band and choir. That same year he
was appointed to a newly created teaching post for bassoon at the Royal Conservatorium of Music. In 1887 he
retired from the orchestra, having completed 30 years of service.
His ambitious plan to write a large-scale Tutor - comprising practical instruction, etudes, and study pieces
with piano accompaniment - indicate that he devoted much thought to his professorial duties. This original
concept sadly failed to materialize, doubtless for commercial reasons, and much of what survived was divided
between various publishers. In all, some eight publications of bassoon music appeared during his lifetime, most
of which have remained in print to this day17. The ‘Bassoon School’ as published endorsed the Heckel bassoon
(the founder’s son Wilhelm had introduced a new model in 1881), claiming that this now combined the benefits
of Almenraeder’s reforms with the positive features of the earlier Dresden instruments (this and much else was
omitted in Carl Schaefer’s revision of 1929 and all subsequent reprints). Julius died at his home in Leipzig, just
one week after his 51st birthday.
Miscellaneous Compositions
Four part Lied: Weine nicht (as ‘op.1’)
1853
String Quartet movement (as ‘op.1’)
1854
Overture in C major for large Orchestra [Rostock 1854, as ‘op.2’]
?
Wiegenlied Schließe, mein Kind (Max Träger) for Soprano + Piano.
1855
Finale from Der Freischütz arr. (lost)
1856
Finale from Lucia di Lammermoor arr. (lost)
1857
Four part Lied: Sink ich einst in jenen Schlummer (lost)
?
3 char. Tonstücke in Marschform: i Rekrut!, ii Der Abschied, iii Glückliche
Heimkehr[as ‘op.2’]: versions for
1860
5 Geschwind-Märsche and 2 Reveillen for Military Band / Orchestra: SchützenMarsch (+ Orch.arrt.),
1863
Polka: Großvaters Goldenes-Hochzeitstänzchen for Piano (later arr. for 3 bsn)
?
Aus dem Soldatenleben – 3 char. Tonstücke in Marschform for Orch.
?
op. 1
Lied: Brüderherzen klopfen freudig (Br. Lucius) for Tenor with Piano (privately
published)
?
Kriegerischer Marsch for large Orch. – Score & parts, do. 2nd version: Score
1874
Kantate: Die Drei! (N. Lenau) for Soli, Chorus & Orch.: Score, parts, Pf arrt.
1875
op. 5
Articles
1852
Motette: Herr, neige deine Ohren for Soli & Chorus, Forberg [PN 2979 = 1882]
Concerto in G for Flute & Strings by Quantz: free arrangement, Breitkopf & Härtel
[PN16645=1884]
1884
Compositions for Bassoon
1882
op. 3
1882
1882
?
Romanze (Bsn & Pf.), Forberg [PN 2961]
do. (Bass clarinet & Pf.), Forberg [PN 2962]
op. 4
6 Stücke für drei Fagotte, Merseburger [PN 573]]
“Teil iii einer Fagottschule”: 18 Ton- und Vortrags-Studien
5/16/07 6:46:41 PM
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42
?
Title- / Thematic Catalogue: 60 Fagott Studien für Vorgeschrittene Op. 8.2
?1887
Praktische Fagottschule / Practical Bassoon-School, Forberg [PN 3692]
1887
op. 8
Fagott-Studien Vol. i & ii, Peters [PN 7122/7123]
1888
op. 9
6 Vortragsstücke Vol. i, ii, iii, iv (Fg + Pf.), Forberg [PN 3883/3886)
1888
op.10
3 Vortragsstücke (Bsn & Pf.), Breitkopf & Härtel [PN 17973]
?1888
op.14
Capriccio (Bsn & Pf.), Merseburger [PN 1064]
o. O.
5 Kleine Stücke (Bsn & Pf.), Hofmeister [PN 2168 = 1994]
Polka: Großvaters Goldenes-Hochzeits-Tänzchen for Piano [1863]; composer’s autograph, author’s collection.
Polka: Thé dansant im Landschlößchen [1882], Sechs Stücke für 3 Fagotte op. 4.3; composer’s autograph, author’s collection.
5/16/07 6:46:42 PM
The Double Reed
43
The career pursuit of music was later discontinued in the family, Julius’s son Fritz and grandson Hellmuth
becoming artists specializing in draughtsmanship and graphics. Fritz Weissenborn (1869-1941) showed precocious ability as artist, demonstrated by a surviving portrait in pastels made of his father in December 1883 at
the age of fourteen18 (see Illustration 4). He became a tutor at the Kunst-Akademie in Leipzig, dying there on
22 December 1941. His son Hellmuth Weissenborn (1898-1982) evidently inherited some of these talents. After
holding a post as Professor at the Leipziger Akademie für graphische Künste und Buchgewerbe he left in 1938 to
settle in London, where he enjoyed a successful career as free-lance painter, engraver and book illustrator. It
was from his widow that the author was able to acquire the material that he had inherited from his grandfather
Julius, consisting of bassoon, choral and orchestral items (in Autograph and in First Edition), and contemporary documents and cuttings19. Günther Angerhöfer graciously gave to the author the results of genealogical
research on the family that he had commissioned in 1973. In April 2006 a trip was made together to Eisenberg and Friedrichstanneck, the author’s research on Louis having been triggered by the acquisition of one of
Mendelssohn’s letters to him. It has thus been possible to document the entire family, and to rescue Louis and
Julius from obscurity. u
Articles
Illustration 4: Portrait of Julius Weissenborn by his son Fritz (Stadtgeschichtliches Museum, Leipzig,
Porträt H. 21). Reproduced by permission.
5/16/07 6:46:43 PM
44
For help in carrying out research for this article the author is indebted to the following:
Günter Angerhöfer, Bad Lausick
Dr Chris Banks, British Library, London
Frau Dura, Stadtgeschichtliches Museum, Leipzig
Dr Rudolf Elvers, Berlin
Bianka Leißner, Stadtarchiv Eisenberg
Dr Anette Müller, Robert Schumann Haus, Zwickau
Uwe Pretzsch, Friedrichstanneck
Dr Thomas Synofzik, Robert Schumann Haus, Zwickau
Peter Ward Jones, Bodleian Library, Oxford
Dr Ralf Wehner, Forschungsstelle Leipziger Ausgabe der Werke von FMB, Leipzig.
Articles
Notes
1 A population of 182 inhabitants was reported in
1843 (August Leberecht Back, Chronik der Stadt und
des Amtes Eisenberg, Eisenberg, 1843, p. 501).
2 ibid, p. 501.
3 Author’s collection.
4 Performance of Variations by W. Haake (Neue
Zeitschrift für Musik (26 Mar 1841) 103); Haake
played 2nd flute in the Orchestra.
5 See Anette Müller, Komponist und Kopist - Notenschreiber im Dienste Robert Schumanns, (dissertation, Universität des Saarlandes, Saarbrücken 2005).
In this pioneering study of Schumann’s 35 copyists,
the author gives hitherto unavailable information on
music-copying in the early nineteenth century.
6 Margit L. McCorkle, Robert Schumann: ThematischBibliographisches Werkverzeichnis (Munich, 2003),
pp. 223, 363, 383.
7 Oxford, Bodleian Library Deneke 38.
8 Oxford, Bodleian Library MS. M. Deneke Mendelssohn b.8, b.9.
9 Letters from Louis Weissenborn to Mendelssohn
dated 30 November, 19 December, 31 December
1843, 15 January, and 1 February 1844 (Oxford,
Bodleian Library: Mendelssohn ‘Green Books’
XVIII 143, XVIII 252, XVIII 292, XIX 32, XIX 68).
10 Letter dated Berlin 2 Dec. 1843 from Mendelssohn
to Louis Weissenborn (Folger Library coll., Y.c.1486
(2), US-DC-Washington), reproduced on their
website >http://shakespeare.folger.edu/other/html/
dfogerman.html<.
11 Letter dated Berlin 28 Dec.1843 from Mendelssohn to Louis Weissenborn (author’s collection).
Reprinted in the preface to the new Leipzig Edition,
Series V, Vol. 8: Mendelssohn Bartholdy, Felix (ed.
Christian Martin Schmidt): Musik zu Ein Sommernachtstraum von Shakespeare op. 6I, (Wiesbaden:
Breitkopf & Härtel, 2000) pp. xv-xvi. None of
Weissenborn’s copies of this work has survived.
12 Athalie: British Library R.M.21.g.39; Oedipus at
Colonos: British Library R.M.21.g.5.
13 “Kopist mit der Schlußschleife mit den zwei Punkten”;
Weissenborn’s flourish is similar to the ‘Line of
Beauty’ which the British painter William Hogarth
published in his treatise The Analysis of Beauty,
London, 1753
14 Under the auspices of his work on the new Leipzig
Edition of the Works of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy,
edited by the Sächsische Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Leipzig, Dr Wehner has been able to identify the following examples of Louis’s hand: copies of
Oedipus at Colonos for Fritz Hauser (Oxford Deneke
Mendelssohn c. 96) and for Prince Albert (British
Library R.M.21.g.39); copy of Athalie for Queen
Victoria (British Library R.M.21.g.5); copy of Lauda
Sion (op. 73) for John Hullah (Leeds, Brotherton
Library); copy of two songs (Paris, BN MS 210).
Copies of Variations op.82 and op.83 for Piano are at
Princeton University NJ (CO199, NO. 707).
15 These 29 pages of music manuscript (bassoon duets
by Blasius), signed and dated ‘Louis Weisenborn
[sic] 1830’ (together with other undated duets copied
and signed by his father), formerly belonged to
Julius’s student Adolf Gütter, later of Berlin. They
then passed to his American nephew Walter Gütter
(1895-1937), and then to his successor in the Philadelphia orchestra Sol Schoenbach (1915-1999), who
in 1969 gave them to the author.
16 Moritz Hauptmann (1792-1868) of Leipzig and
Julius Rietz (1812-77) of Dresden.
17 A compact disc of 62 minutes duration (EQ 72)
devoted to works of Julius Weissenborn for bassoon
was recorded by Robert Williams and issued in 2004
by EQUILIBRIUM >www.equilibri.com<.
18 Leipzig, Stadtgeschichtliches Museum (Porträt H. 21).
19 Material acquired by the author from Mrs Lesley
Weissenborn in 1982 and 2001.
5/16/07 6:46:44 PM
45
The Double Reed
Supplements to Weissenborn
Two New Bassoon Methods: A Review
Ronald Klimko
McCall, Idaho
Cheryl Ann Huddleston:
Foundations for Success: Technical Training for the
Young Bassoonist
Southern Music Company
San Antonio, Texas 78292
Michael Curtis:
New Millennium Bassoon Method
(Now with 26 Progressive Duos)
MMS Publishing Company, $20.00.
Website: www.drumshtick.com/mikecurtis
15 Weissenborn.indd 45
Articles
Years ago, when I was very active as a bassoon teacher
of both beginning and advanced students, I had a
beginner who, upon my urging, went out and got
the Weissenborn Method (Cundy-Bettoney Edition,
which I preferred because it also included the Milde
Scale and Arpeggio Studies, Op.24), and began lessons
with me. The student showed lots of promise: great
basic sound, quick to adopt my suggestions, etc.
That is until the infamous Lesson IX: the use of bass
clef Cs, was demonstrated and assigned. When this
student showed up for the next lesson, these were his
exact words: “I’m not going to play bassoon anymore.
It’s too hard!”
I have always felt that getting beginners over
the forked E f and the thumb-whisper roll Cs in the
Weissenborn was a big hurdle for the beginner. Most
survived it, some didn’t. Now, however, we have been
blessed with not one, but TWO beginners’ method
books which can work as a wonderful addition to
the “Weissenborn”: one to guide the student through
the basics beautifully, using “Weissenborn” as a
supplement, and the other as a kind of supplement to
both of these to teach additional material important
to the modern bassoonist.
The first Method I am referring to is a brand new
one just published by Southern Music Company:
Foundations for Success: Technical Training for the
Young Bassoonist by Cheryl Ann Huddleston. The
author is an active bassoon performer/teacher in the
Houston, Texas, area and highly devoted to teaching
and music education. Her new Method book is 48
pages long and contains an Introduction for Students,
16 well thought out Lessons, a section of Suggestions
for the Teacher co-ordinated with each of the 16
Lessons, Recommended Reading for the Teacher (a
mini-bibliography), and a nice Fingering Chart on
the inside back cover, but only up to high f1. In other
words, it is a “beginner’s beginner” Method book,
capable of being mastered by a precocious student in
a fairly short period of time. Author Huddleston has
definitely designed the book carefully to coordinate
well with the “Weissenborn”. In her Preface she
writes of “Lessons in the book can be used as
technical training etudes to complement etudes in
Practical Method for Bassoon by Julius Weissenborn.”
Suggestions for coordinating etudes can be found in
the back of the book.
Throughout the Method, Cheryl Ann has
provided a slow-but-thorough presentation of all the
basic concepts so necessary to helping the beginner
avoid the mistakes that self-taught or band directortaught students often bring with them when they
come to study the first time with a good teacher.
This nifty new Method, along with the standard
“Weissenborn”, can go a long way to making the
beginning bassoon process not only painless, but
highly enjoyable as well. I recommend it strongly for
all you active beginning bassoon teachers.
I have written about this second method before, the
New Millennium Bassoon Method by Michael Curtis
(The Double Reed, Vol. 26, No. 2, 2003, p. 109). But
just in case you missed my review I am going to quote
parts of it to you again, because I believe in its value
and usefulness very strongly. The New Millennium
Bassoon Method:
“… is a quality work and deserves reaching a
larger audience. Author Michael Curtis is a
skilled bassoonist/composer who has written
extensively for winds. He is especially gifted
in writing wonderful jazz, latin and klezmer
compositions.”
“…We bassoonists are bound (sometimes to our
5/16/07 6:46:57 PM
46
Supplements to Weissenborn: Two New Bassoon Methods: A Review
Articles
detriment) by traditions. Weissenborn’s Method
is a prime example. We all grew up “nursing”
on it, and it is incomprehensible that it could
be replaced. I admit, I agree with the former
statement. But that does not mean that it could
not be SUPPLEMENTED by a work that can
do so much to teach today’s bassoonist about
today’s music. Mike’s excellent Method can do
that very well. Following and excellent fingering
chart and some early progressive exercises a la
Weissenborn, the work takes the student stepby-step through all the required information and
techniques, and, most importantly, BEYOND.
Exercise 131 introduces swing music, 132
funk, and 133 Latin jazz (after Chick Corea).
Exercise 136 is a jazz ballad. By Exercise 143 and
144, the last exercise, the student is dealing
with atonality, microtones, and multiphonics.
Perhaps most valuable of all, however, are the
final 26 progressive duets for bassoons at the
end of the Method. With these, your student can
learn as he/she plays along with you.” “…If you
are a serious teacher then you can’t afford NOT
to know about this wonderful publication.”
So, as the reader can see, both of these publications,
along with the venerable “Weissenborn” can assist the
serious teacher in helping a young bassoonist become
an even better musician, well prepared in both basics
and for the progressive music of his/her time. What
could be more fun than that?
15 Weissenborn.indd 46
5/16/07 6:46:57 PM
47
The Double Reed
An Interview with Dan Ross
Emily Helvering
Appleton, Wisconsin
D
Articles
Dan Ross
an Ross has served as the professor of oboe and bassoon
at Arkansas State University
since 1968. He performs as principal
oboist of the Tupelo Symphony Orchestra and served as principal oboe
of the Arkansas Symphony and the
Arkansas Opera Theatre Orchestra for
many years. Recently, he has also been
performing as a soloist with the Forum
Sinfonia of Krakow, Poland.
Perhaps Dr. Ross is best known in
the double-reed community for his
work with gouging machines, which
he manufactures in a shop located on
the same lot as his home in Jonesboro,
Arkansas, but he has also performed,
taught master classes, and presented
gouging seminars across the country.
He has also been key in the organization and promulgation of the MidSouth Double Reed Society.
Dan Ross possesses an infectious
passion for music and life. It may be argued that he has been led through life by
his love for music and learning, which
have clearly proven to be sound guides.
I believe that it can be seen through
his words that he is not only a truly
fabulous musician, but also a wonderful person who generously shares his
unique gifts and perspective to improve
the lives of those around him.
This interview was held on the
campus of Arkansas State University
in Jonesboro, Arkansas on November
4, 2005. I would like to thank Katie
Bowden and Chris Vanlandingham
who also contributed to this project.
Emily Helvering (EH): What led you to
go into music and what interested you
in the field?
16 DanRossInterview.indd 47
5/16/07 6:47:09 PM
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48
Dan Ross (DR): Well that was what I could do, you
know. Everybody sort of has things that they can do
- I hope - and that was what I could do, fairly well.
So that was where my first priorities were: band, and
church choir. My church choir director was also the
choir director at the high school. Now you have to
understand, I was in the dark ages. There was only a
girl’s glee club at the high school, and I was the first
male to integrate the girl’s glee club. But only a few
days after I got into it, lots of other guys decided they
wanted to be in there too. We never discussed whether it was that they wanted to be in there to sing, or
whether they just wanted to be in there with the girls.
You know, at that time I was a clarinet player; don’t
hold that against me. That’s just what I did, clarinet
and saxophone. And then I got into college and did
much the same stuff. I was just kind of a band geek
and I liked music. I was in everything in college:
band, choir, everything.
I tried majoring in everything but music. When
I got into college, I had vivid memories of my dad
saying, “Well, you can’t make a living in music.” I
thought I probably should do something else, so I
tried majoring in everything else under the sun. Finally one fall semester, the band director called me
in, and his exact words were, “What in the hell do you
think you can do besides music?”
“Nothing.”
He said, “It’s decided then. That’s what you are
going to do.” Of course, by then I had played oboe for
all of three months.
EH: Do you want to go into more detail about your
education?
DR: Well, my real music education was based on
several weird little factors, I guess. One of them had
to be the organist at the church where I went. This
lady would play Sibelius symphonies on the organ,
or movements, for preludes and offertories and stuff.
It wasn’t until I got into music seriously that I realized that woman had to have been crazy to play that
stuff, but she could play it. And so I was exposed to
a lot from that. When I was in high school, I had a
wonderful experience with high school choir. Also,
our high school band director and principal got together, and for fourteen years these two guys wrote
an original musical. The principal would write the
story, the dialogue, and the words to all the songs;
and the band director would write the music to all the
songs. Of course, we had to have a pit orchestra, and
you get lots and lots and lots of experience playing
manuscript in the pits and stuff, and so it was kind of
like learning by fire.
Then in college, all I ever did was listen to music. Our school was so poor - this was really back in
the dark ages - our listening room consisted of boxes
upon boxes of records, and only one turntable. There
was one amplifier, which would funnel the music
into an outlet box that had as many as eight outlets
for headphones. So whatever you listened to, everybody had to listen to the same thing. I lucked out and
got a key to the listening library, and that’s all I did.
I started with box number one, record number one,
and just listened to everything.
EH: Did you have other people in there listening
with you?
DR: Well for the most part, yeah.
EH: It sounds like a club.
DR: It kind of got to be a party. It was never a formal thing. Our listening exams in music history and
so forth were not nearly as extensive as I find lots of
students having to go through these days. Everybody
knew that we listened, so we didn’t get crazy.
EH: So where exactly did you go to school?
DR: I went to school where I teach now.
EH: I know, but you went to Ole Miss.
DR: Well that was just to get a doctorate.
EH: Just to get a doctorate?
DR: Yeah. Well you have to understand that I might
hold the record for the youngest person ever hired to
teach here. I did my undergraduate here, and I sort
of wake up in a new world every day, so when I was
going to graduate, I hadn’t thought past tomorrow
morning. The department chairman came to me and
said, “What are you going to do next year?”
“I don’t know.”
And he said, “Well, you know our graduate program is pretty good and we have assistantships. Why
don’t you stay here and do a masters?” And so I did.
Then at the end of my first year of graduate work,
the department chairman caught me and said, “I’ve
got an appointment with the president of the school
in a few minutes, and I’m going to ask for two jobs.
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EH: How long was that after you started teaching
here?
DR: I started teaching here in the fall of ‘68, and
then I started there in ‘71. I just went a full year, a
full twelve-month year, and then came back here and
taught. I did things in the summer, and finished the
degree in ‘75. I’ve just been running around here ever
since.
EH: So where did seminary fit into that? I know that
you went.
DR: No, I didn’t go to seminary.
EH: What am I thinking of?
DR: OK, I got a license to preach in the Methodist
church. It’s when I was a freshman and sophomore in
college because I was going to be a minister. At that
time you could do all this correspondence work and
get your license to preach. While you were in college
you could go do minister-type things and then go
to seminary after you finished with college. And, of
course, I changed my plans mid-stream, which was
OK. I had a little church up in the hills for a while.
I think I was good for them, and they were certainly good for me. Since then, I’ve done the sermon
in church a few times. At my church now, about a
month ago I did it. The only thing I told them when I
first got up in that pulpit was, “I promise you nothing
but brevity,” and someone in the congregation said,
“Amen,” very loudly.
EH: Has your ministry education influenced how
you teach oboe in any way, do you think?
DR: Oh I don’t know. I think that, as far as teaching,
you have to find an approach that works with students, and the older you get, I think you either learn
better how to assess the people who entrust their
lives to you, which is literally what they do, or you
just teach a method. People come to you, and some
of them have incredible technical abilities, and they
sometimes don’t realize that music is not written to
show off their technical abilities. There are some situations where you just have to say, “Well, this is what I
think the music calls for, and you need to find a technique that will allow you to achieve that.” Which, by
the way, I don’t think is the wrong thing to do, because the music should dictate the kind of technique
we use rather than learn a technique and just apply
it to the music. So there are different ways of doing
things. As far as musical expression, I mean it is all
about music; it’s not about how well we play the oboe.
It’s how well can we use the that thing to make music
real for people who really listen.
You have to play. You have to do what you have to
do, but you can’t be all fluff and buff. It’s gotta be substance. You have to have substance. And when you
get that job in the orchestra, it’s not about impressing
the musicians around you. It’s about making music
that’s exciting to the little old purple-haired lady in
the second row.
Back when I played in the Arkansas Symphony and it was a chore to run all over the state of Arkansas
and teach school all day long - I remember deciding,
“OK, I can play pretty much anything that we’d play,”
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Hopefully they’ll give me one this year and one next
year. For the one next year, I’d really like you to stay
around here and teach oboe.”
I said, “Wow, that would be fantastic.”
A little while later, he came back and said, “He
[the president] gave me both jobs for next year. Is
there any way you can finish your degree between
now and next year?”
Of course there was no way at all. And besides
that, I was going to get married that summer. We
both had jobs at Interlochen so that we could sort of
honeymoon up there. So we changed our plans and
went to grad school all through the summer.
Well, he went back to the president and said,
“There’s no way this guy can do this, but he’ll finish
up in December.”
So he came back with two contracts for me, one
for the fall until I finished my degree, and one for after
I finished my degree. It was a bit awkward in the fall
because at 8:00 in the mornings I took my last class,
and at 9:00 I went across and taught a good many of
the people who were students with me at eight. They
don’t do things like that anymore. They’re a little bit
too prissy. But anyway, I finished that degree, and
later on, that same department chairman, who was
good and very kind and knew the ways of the world,
said, “I’ve been here so long, it doesn’t make any difference to me, but for you, you really have to get a
doctorate. It doesn’t make any difference where, go
get one. It doesn’t make any difference what it’s in,
just get a doctorate.”
There was this program at the University of Mississippi that was expressly designed for college teachers, and I thought, “Shucks, man, that sounds good.”
So that’s what I did.
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but as tired as I was it wouldn’t be so exciting. And so
I sat - I’d always get to concerts an hour early and sit
down and play and try to figure out how my reed is
going to be - and as I was sitting there, the girl who
plays second oboe for me, Katie Bowden, said, “What
are you doing?” I was looking out at the audience and
I was thinking as I watched some older gentleman,
“You know, that guy went to a lot of trouble because
he’s very old and very feeble. He went to a lot of trouble to be here. And if he’s going to go to that trouble,
the least I can do is play my absolute best.” And so
after that, I began picking a date for the evening, and
I told Katie. So the next time we were in Mississippi
playing together, in came this old lady who was having to be helped by her daughter, having to hold on
to every chair down every aisle. Little Katie turned
around and said, “Well, I see you’ve picked your date
for tonight.” And I said, “Yep, she doesn’t know it,
but that’s her.”
Well, we played our concert. Afterwards, we went
to our favorite little Greek/Italian place. Good old
Papa Bonelli had a long table set up for us, and oh,
about twenty of us were there - and in comes my date
and her daughter! I nudge Katie and I say, “Look it,
there’s my date! Not only does she like good music,
but she likes good food!” By the time I got through
saying that, here’s this lady standing in front of the
table waving her cane for us to shut up. We all kind
of looked over, and she said, “I just want you to know
this was the most wonderful night of my life.” Katie
kicked me under the table, and I said, “Yes, that was
my good night kiss.” Look at it how you will, but that’s
the person who is important. That’s the person who
gets excited about music and says “Man, you guys
have to go hear this orchestra, or whatever ensemble.
It’s not other musicians that you’re trying to impress
is it? I mean, come on, what gives you the most warm
fuzzies and goosebumps in the world? Well that’s
what we’re missing sometimes when we play.
EH: What outside of official schooling did you get
that you would call education?
DR: Good Lord. Mostly listening to music, and mostly being exposed to some wonderful people. I’ve had,
I’ve really had the good fortune of being associated
with terrific people, and I can start with, oh, when I
was in grad school, a wonderful, wonderful conductor, fabulous conductor, fabulous musician, Arthur
Kreutz. He was a Prix de Rome winner in composition, was one of the first people other than Toscanini
and assistant conductors to conduct the NBC Sym-
phony, was frequent guest conductor of the New York
Philharmonic, Chicago, Boston, and he was one of
my teachers. He conducted an orchestra I played in
and was a just fantastic person. And then when I got
out of grad school, I started playing in the Arkansas
Symphony. We had a fantastic conductor there, a guy
named Kurt Klippstatter who was married to Mignon Dunn, and all the old folks would have known
Mignon Dunn. She was a Metropolitan Opera singer,
and he had been her coach. They fell in love, and they
moved back to Little Rock, Arkansas where he conducted. And he was wonderful. And the principal
oboist at the time - I was playing English horn then
- the principal oboist at the time was a guy named
Eugene Showalter. Eugene Showalter, Clyde Roller,
Earnie Harrison, and Wayne Rapier were all at Eastman at the same time. What a hoot that must have
been for those guys! Showalter was a fantastic musician. He played in Oklahoma City - he and Al Laubin
were the section in Oklahoma City - and then he was
in the National Symphony with Ray Still, believe it
or not. He played for Robert Shaw for some time, and
then he was in New Orleans. The oboe section in New
Orleans at that time was John Mack, a very young
John Mack, Gene Showalter played second oboe, and
Louis Rosenblatt, who later went to the Philadelphia
Orchestra as English horn. And then Showalter’s
mother became very ill. He went home to Little Rock
to take care of her and had to give up his position in
New Orleans.
Now I found later that New Orleans kept trying
to keep him on the payroll, and they would go out of
their way to offer him every playing job that would
come up. After he had died, I found telegrams from
them saying things like, “We can pay you more if you
will play English horn on this concert because we can
pay you soloist’s fee and doubling or something, and
we’ll also provide you a train ticket” - because they
had trains that ran from Little Rock to New Orleans
at the time. I don’t know how many of those things he
did or did not do, but he was a magnificent musician
and a terrific friend, and he basically gave me the job
as principal oboe in the Arkansas Symphony. He had
a talk with the conductor and said, “Look, this crazy
Ross guy can do this. I’ll play second.”
So when I got my contract that summer and it
read principal oboe, I called the management and
said “Well, you made a mistake.”
“No, Mr. Showalter wants it that way, and the
conductor says it’s OK.”
So I called Showalter, and he said, “Oh, it’s about
time, but don’t worry, I’ve still got lots to teach you.”
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EH: You talked about how you got your job at Arkansas State. I was wondering if you could talk
about how you think music education is important
in general.
DR: Well, let’s put it this way. I am not like a lot of
“educators” today. I am certainly not in harmony
with the kind of education policy that has been put
across to us of making scores on standardized tests.
You teach a person. We have computers; they can remember things better than we can, right? So why are
we wasting our time cramming junk into kids ears?
And if you go ask any students that are involved in
this “testing program,” they’ll tell you exactly what
we’ve known forever. You give a kid a written test,
they work really, really hard to memorize all the facts,
they take the test, they make the grade, and thirty
seconds after they leave the room, all the information
drains out anyway.
You have all your life to learn history, don’t you?
In fact, sometimes it takes all of our lives to learn
things about history that need to be put together, and
of course, we teach history all backwards anyway because we teach history of politics and wars and money. And we don’t teach the history about real people,
other than George Washington and Christopher Columbus “1492 the ocean blue” and all that crap. We
don’t teach people how to think and how to put all
the pieces together. So we have to teach people how to
think, how to sense. We have to get musicians, specifically, away from being paper-trained. That’s what you
do to your damned dog, your little puppy. When you
get a dog, you paper-train him. Well that’s basically
what we are. We play ink on paper, and ink on paper
has to amount to warm fuzzies and goosebumps.
What do you have to be expressive? You have
your pretty tone, you have your pretty tune, you have
dynamics, you have articulation. I’m sure other people will think of other things, but you can’t just play
ink on paper. It has to amount to something. So all
of this music education, we’re losing out because it’s
lost its emotional impact with people. We’ve taken it
down to a level of technique rather than warm fuzzies
and goosebumps. Go listen to country western stuff
and listen to what people are listening for. Man, their
technique is just God awful. Their tuning is terrible.
But there is some kind of emotional reward there or
people wouldn’t go there. Now young kid’s rock and
roll, sometimes people outgrow that, but we are not
giving them anything to grow into if we are abandoning the aesthetic part of what we do. Oh yes, and
everybody says, “Oh, well that’s your beautiful tone.”
No. It’s more than your beautiful tone. But if we
abandon the emotional context that goes along with
music for us... Why did we get into it in the first place?
We sure as hell didn’t get into music because, “Oh, I
love showing off my technique.” We got into music
for the warm fuzzies and goosebumps. I even tell my
high school kids: other than a belief in a supreme being, music is probably the most intimate experience
in your life. It’s more intimate and personal than sex.
I mean, sorry, but think about it. Isn’t that why you
got into it?
So why do you go to movies? For the warm fuzzies and goosebumps. And it takes you away from
whatever things you’re dealing with. There’s this retired minister in our church who I happen to think
is the smartest man I’ve ever known. David Lafferty.
He’s fantastic, and aside that, he loves good music. I
was very shocked when I got up to do my little sermon a month or so ago, and there he was sitting right
there. I’m thinking, “Oh no, why didn’t they ask David?” He’d been filling in as interim somewhere, and
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And everybody that I’ve ever run into, everybody
in my life, has been wonderful to me. No matter what
I would do, every oboe player I have ever met has
been terrific to me. And Richard Killmer, I consider
him my best friend in the oboe business, and Becky
Henderson, and any time I had a question, even before I knew a lot of these people - this conductor in
Mississippi wanted me to play a crazy solo with the
orchestra down there. Well, I was having a terrible
time finding the music because they didn’t have a real
librarian. They said, “You get the music. I really want
you to play this.” I was having a terrible time finding the music, and I’m so dumb I guess, I just picked
up the phone and called John DeLancie at home and
asked him if he had it. He said, “Yeah, I think I’ve got
that around here, hang on.” And I kept hearing filing
cabinet drawers open and close. He said, “Yeah, I’ve
got it right here, do you want to borrow it?”
I said, “Oh that would be great.”
And he never did charge us anything. He mailed
the music down and said, “Just use it; send it back.”
And, when I had questions about gougers, I’d pick up
the phone and call John Mack. He was great to me.
And everybody I’ve ever called and talked to was just
terrific to me. Bob Sprenkle was terrific to me. All of
those guys were just fantastic. So we’re in kind of a
pretty good group, and while not everybody agrees
on how to do what, when, where, why, and how, anytime you want to ask a question, it seems to me that
they’re just ready to jump at the opportunity to help.
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I thought maybe they didn’t realize it. A week or so
later we had dinner together, and he said, “You know,
I’ve got to compliment you on your sermon. You were
very aware of what one of my teachers at seminary
said, ‘As you look out over that congregation, you
have to remember that everybody there, everybody
there, is dealing with personal issues, everybody.’”
And I said, “I never thought about it in those
terms.”
He said, “Yes, everybody you see walking down
the street is dealing with personal issues.”
Well, if they’re dealing with that, why can’t we
take them away from their problems for just a little bit
and give them a wonderful, I don’t know, departure
from it so they can rest from their labors a little bit?
And when you go back to it, you can find a solution.
My first day of teaching Fine Arts Musical class,
my very first day of teaching Fine Arts class, I go
through a very long litany, too long probably, about...
food, and how much I love food, and it shows, obviously. And we like pretty things to look at, and we
like nice things to smell. I go through it all, and then
I say, “You know, if I’d walked in here and cut this to
a Reader’s Digest version, and said, ‘You know, we’re
all sensuous beings and we should enjoy it to the fullest,’ half of you would become very morally offended.” But in truth, we do enjoy our senses, but the next
truth is, we just use them because we want to be emotionally happy, that’s all we want out of life. We want
to be emotionally happy and fulfilled. I think that’s
what everybody in the world is looking for. And who
else better to provide that. I mean, hell, we hold the
keys to the kingdom as far as providing wonderful,
beautiful emotional satisfaction. And of course, my
next question is, “How many of you have husbands,
wives, boyfriends, girlfriends, or concubines?” Most
of them raise their hand. My next question is, “How
many of you understand your husband, wife, boyfriend, girlfriend, or concubine?” Boy, the hands go
down. And I say, “OK, hands back up. How many of
you think your husband, wife, boyfriend, girlfriend,
or concubine understands you?” And the hands really go down, and some of them begin to have terrible looks on their faces like, “Maybe I’m making
a mistake with this person.” And I say, “You’re not
making a mistake. It’s fine. You don’t have to understand them to love them and appreciate them any
more than you have to understand music to love and
appreciate what it is there for. In fact sometimes, if
you take away the mystique, it’s like watching - you
know they have these movies now on how they do the
special effects for movies. I don’t want to watch that.
I want to just go in and be fascinated, and go, “Ga lee,
man!” like a kid in a candy store. So to me, once we
rob people of the mystical part of what we do, it’s all
over but the shouting.
EH: What do you see as the key ingredients in a
strong musical education? What do people need to
have to get out there and succeed?
DR: Well, as far as performers, if you want to be a
performer, you have to play, and yeah you’ve got to
have the technical ability to make the music work.
This will come off wrong, but you have to be dumb in
a certain way. Because if you listen to people, they’ll
say, “Oh, you have to be too good to do that. You have
to work too hard to do that. You’ll never be able to do
that.” Just ignore that thought. Just be dumb enough
to think, “I’m so dumb I didn’t know I couldn’t do
that.”
Someone once asked me, “Who gave you permission to do this gouger this way?” And I said, “I didn’t
know I needed permission.” I never thought of it in
those terms before, but I was glad that he asked that
question because it makes you think. The whole time
I was doing this stuff, I was thinking, “Boy, this is
just totally frustrating.” I would get on the verge of
just giving up, and I would think, “Oh man, this isn’t
going to happen.” Then it dawned on me. The only
way I’ve ever succeeded was that I was so dumb that
I didn’t know that I couldn’t do something. From
my first oboe lesson, the teacher showed me how to
make a reed, gave me cane and a tool kit and said,
“Go make something that will crow and come back,
and I will give you a horn.” Well since nobody told me
that making reeds was hard, I didn’t know enough
to know that making reeds was hard, so I just went
down and kind of made this reed and went back the
next day, and he gave me an old open-ring oboe, and
of course I just knew I was going to come out of there
sounding just like Ray Still on that recording I have
of Heifetz doing the Brahms Violin Concerto. I just
knew that that was how I was going to sound, and
it’s a good thing we didn’t record me then, because,
oh well, it’s probably a good thing we don’t do many
recordings of me now, but, you know, it’s too late in
life to give up now.
EH: What do you look for in your music majors?
DR: Well, I hate to tell you this way, but it’s really
true. They need to be hungry to make a little music.
When you hear music - look at all that, and that, (wall
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full of compact discs, shelves of compact discs) and
that box full down there. The wonderful thing about
music is it is so satisfying and so exciting. Everything
you can think of, it’s that and then some. But at the
same time - whether you’re listening or whether
you’re playing - at the same time that it’s so fulfilling,
it also creates a terrible longing. You know, you listen
to Brahms for example, and boy, it’s just so incredible, but at the same time, it’s like, Nope, I’m going
to make you hungry for more. So in that case, I don’t
think it’s all that bad, but I like students who have
this terrible longing to make music, because there are
never problems. That’s the whole deal. They’ll work
hard to achieve and do what they need to do in order to make the music work, no matter what that may
mean. So that’s the substance as far as I’m concerned.
Besides you can make lots of good friends.
EH: You’ve alluded to this a bit already, but what
trends have you seen in music education over the
course of your career, and are they positive or negative trends?
EH: So, how do you play the oboe?
DR: How do you play the oboe? Stick it in your face
and blow, some times better than others. I don’t
know. Why did you pick the oboe anyway? Was it
because it was a strange instrument? I know people
who think that if they play the oboe they will get a
better scholarship in college. I do. But I think people
that are given their choice to choose the oboe do so
because they like the sound, for starters.
EH: Most teachers struggle with getting their kids to
listen to art music, and you don’t...
DR: No, I just force it off on them, what are you talking about? They come in the door and every day I play
something. I play some kind of recording for them.
Sometimes it’s to listen to someone play the oboe, just
for the sake of “listen to this,” but most of the time it’s
“listen to the music that this person or this group can
make.” And really, I just want them to enjoy music a
little bit. It’s not one of those awful addictive drugs,
but it is addictive, you know. And it’s one that we all
want to share. I mean don’t you? That’s why you do it,
right? Because we’re not going to get rich doing what
we do. Unless there’s something I don’t know about
it.
But I didn’t get into this for the money or anything, I just got into this because I like music, and I
wanted to help a few other people enjoy music along
the way. It’s OK. You know I felt guilty when I first
started teaching here about accepting a paycheck for
something I really love doing. I was going, “Golly, I
really feel guilty about this.” I don’t know who it was
that said, “Find something you love to do and then
get somebody to pay you for it.” I think it was Henry
Ford maybe. But that was his advice to people: find
something you love to do and get someone to pay you
for it. Sure.
I was teaching some at the University of Alabama
when Becky Henderson was there. I don’t know, she
had taken a week off or something, and I went over
and taught her students. On about the third day I was
there, this freshman student came in for a lesson and
she said, “You’re so good. I’m just curious as to why
you’ve never tried to make it in the big time.” I said,
“I thought I did.” She said, “Oh no, I mean like New
York or some place like that.” And I said, “What’s the
difference in people in New York or people in Alabama, Arkansas?” The purple-haired lady in the second row is no different down here than the purplehaired little old lady on the second row in New York.
And so from this little girl being so open and honest
with me, I just kind of said, “Well, you know, wherever you are, that’s the big time. If it’s the Goobertown
Philharmonic, man, that’s the big time.” And wherever we are, that indeed is the big time. If we treat it
as anything less than that, then certainly we’re not
going to make it. It just depends on a lot of things. I
guess I’ve stayed in Arkansas for a number of reasons,
one of which was just my folks lived here, my wife’s
folks lived here, but you have to live somewhere. And
I like it here. So, my crazy son has decided he likes St.
Louis, well that’s fine.
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DR: Well, in our part of the world, I don’t think it’s
positive. They’re so contest happy and competition
happy that they’re just using students to make the
directors look good. So I’m not seeing very much
positive. But you know what I am seeing, which is the
most positive thing. I see students continually rising
above the system, which is tough. It’s much harder
now than it was when I was growing up.
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EH: One characteristic of your teaching that stays
with your students is an emphasis on quality. If you
could please spell out why you choose to emphasize
it so strongly and explain what influenced you to
value it so highly in the first place, who instilled that
in you?
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DR: I don’t know. I guess all of my life I’ve gotten
frustrated when I watch commercials on television
because sometimes they’re unique and funny, but
you have to stop and ask yourself, “When is the last
time I bought something that really lived up to the
advertisement?” Hardly ever. And really if something
is good, you just don’t have to advertise that much.
People will find out about quality. So I don’t know, I
don’t know, it’s just a thing. You just want the best.
You want to be the best you can be. Partly because
- well after having taught so many years and watched
kids come and go, you see students come, and they
come in as freshmen and they register, and they
think, “Man, I’m only in class fifteen hours a week.
Gosh, I could get a job at Wally World and get out
of the dorm and get my own apartment, get chicks.”
And so our hero does. And he gets out of the dorm,
he gets his little apartment, he has his little part time
job at Wally World, and OK, but then he can’t keep up
with school. And when he gets to be about a junior,
his credit cards are maxed out because he couldn’t
live his lifestyle on his part time job, and his grades
have taken a nosedive. Then he decides, “Well, I’ll
drop out of school for about a year, pay off my credit
card bills and kind of get myself together, and go back
and finish up.”
Most of the time they don’t finish up. Most of
the time they do a Wally World job or the equivalent thereof, and I have several problems with that.
They don’t ever become the best they can be, and they
have to take a job at much less than their abilities.
But they’ve also taken a job away from somebody
else who, if they really worked to their max, would
do that Wally World job, but that would be about all
they could do. They don’t have the brain power to do
much more, but our hero has taken that person’s job,
and so that person has to take a job less than what he
is capable of, and it goes on down the job food chain,
as I call it. Then the folks at the bottom, they get left
out.
Now, that’s not so good, but it really hits home
when you see our hero get to be about forty and have
his mid-life crisis. He realizes that this is all that the
world has to offer him because he didn’t make the
best of himself, because he didn’t go to school, and
because whatever reasons. Then he gets mad at the
people on welfare, but he never stops to think, “I’m
the reason that a lot of those people are on welfare because I didn’t get out of the way and move on up and
make room for them when I could have and should
have.”
A lot of people may not buy it, but I’ve seen it
too much. I’ve been here too long, and I’ve seen it on
more than one occasion with people I know directly.
And you want to just say, “That’s fine if that’s your
choice,” but the problem is, you’re damaging some
people who don’t have the capacity you have, so you
want to be the absolute best you can be and go from
there. I know that sounds crazy in some ways, but
there’s a lot of truth to that, so quality playing, quality everything. And it’s not just that you don’t want
people criticizing your playing. You just want to give
people the best. I mean, for crying out loud, if you
want to give a gift, you don’t want to give a schmucky
gift do you? I mean, gosh, the gift of music, it’s very,
very intimate and very, very personal. If you’re gonna
get in that relationship with somebody, you better
be giving your best, right? So you know, then people
learn to expect it.
EH: Anyone who has studied with you knows that
viewing you only as a musician is to miss the point.
You fall easily into the role of mentor and help students in a host of ways. Why you think that you
naturally fall into that spot and why it is important
for you?
DR: Let’s face it. Part of what we do is help people have
a life. I have lived here long enough, I know people
who have certain jobs. You get to know doctors, you
get to know lawyers, you get to know car mechanics,
and all sorts of things. Kids come here to go to college. So when they have a problem, you don’t want
them chasing all over hell’s half acre to figure out how
to get their car fixed or what doctor can they go to.
You know the university has a little health center, and
that’s all well and good, but if they need something
more than a couple of aspirin or something like that,
you want to be able to pick up the phone and say, “I’ve
got this student and they need help.” You get that
stuff out of the way, then they can do what they came
here to do better, more quickly, and they’re not sitting
out there squirreling around and stuff.
I know a lot of people would say, “Oh no, you
should let them get out there and let them find this
stuff out on their own.” Good. But not. So it’s very
nice that I can pick up the phone if a student needs a
doctor and say, “I’ve got a student that is really sick.”
And they’ll say, “Fine, send them down.” “When?”
“Now.” And that car problem that I can’t fix, you
know, brakes and stuff like that, I call Joe’s, and they
say, “No problem, send them down.” That’s just part
of what I think we should all do.
It’s like when I got really sick, I stayed on the
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fantastic support group. And I don’t
feel like I’m upholding my bargain
to them because I’m on the receiving
end all the time, and I’m not helping
them, but there are some things I do
to try to help them a little bit. It’s just
something you do, another thing.
Lots of people have lots of worse, you
know, there are worse things than
dying, let’s put it that way.
EH: Your son Philip recently won
the second oboe position with the St.
Louis Symphony Orchestra. How
do you feel like you’ve influenced
him?
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verge of tears all the time, not because I was sick, but
because so many people were so nice to me, it was
terrible. In mean, it was... it was just... it was really...
you know, people were bringing me food. They knew
that I would have three weeks when I couldn’t eat
anything. Then that one week that I could start to
eat a little bit before they had to do another round of
chemo, all this food would appear. Or I would have
cards, or I would have people come and see me that
were thinking about me, and I would just cry like a
baby. I’m sure part of it was that I was so tired, but
mostly it was because people were so nice to me. One
day one of my really, really dear sweetheart friends
from church brought over yet another dish that she
knew I could eat, and I said, “Mary, I don’t understand all this. People are so nice to me. I’ve never
done anything for them.” And she said, “You play for
them.” That was her answer. She said, “You play for
them.” I just play at church, and she said, “You have
no idea what that means.” So it’s all about music.
There’s a group down in Little Rock at a church
where I play frequently, that to this day, sends me
cards from the cancer friends at Pulaski Heights. You
know, and they invite me to come to their dinners,
and of course, I can’t go, but they call me. What a
DR: Any father would like to think,
“Oh yeah man, I’m the big influence
that Philip had.” Well, in part, because I made reeds for him, but in
and out of my house were all these
really hot oboe players, teachers that
come down and grace me with their
presence. I think as much as anything it was lots of visitors coming
and playing, and he could hear them
and here and again. You have the people that were
here a lot and would influence him: Dick Killmer,
Becky Henderson, Harry Sargous was down quite
a bit, Sherry Syler, Wayne Rapier, Earnie, all those
guys. Of course, he (Philip) was a student at Interlochen. He was a violin player, and so he got to know a
lot of those people, and of course Alex (Klein) was
a big influence on him. Alex has never been to Arkansas. Yet. But we’re working on that. Philip was at
Interlochen quite a bit as a young kid because I was
on staff up there in the summer. So he had lots of influences, lots better than me anyway.
EH: When did you begin making gouging machines?
DR: When I first met Richard Killmer, which was in
the early 80s. He and I discussed the situation and decided that we both were in strong agreement that the
largest factor in our reeds was gouge. And so I came
back and sort of designed a machine, and I got a machinist here in town to make it for me. I operated that
way for a little while until his work began to diminish
and I was constantly having to take things back for
just basic machining. One day I went over - and you
know Jonesboro is a dry county - and he was unload-
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56
ing beer from his van. When he got to the sixth case
of beer, I asked him how long it took for him to drink
that much beer. He said, “Oh, about a week,” and then
I knew why his work had gone down.
Showalter had died and left me some money, and I
had an old maid aunt in Little Rock that had died and
left me a little money, and so I took all that money
and bought the machines necessary to make gouging
machines and get set up to do that. I’d never operated
a milling machine before I bought one, so it was kind
of learn by doing. I’m learning better these days. So
that’s when I started. I personally didn’t make them
myself until ‘86, but I had him make them for three
or four years before that.
This particular machine is built so that instead
of the carriage going up and down, the bed goes up
and down underneath it. When I made the machine,
I took depth micrometers and made sure that the carriage was perfectly parallel to the base, locked this in
place, then the way this works, you notice there’s a
slot in the roller plate. The roller plate is attached to
the base of the machine. See it’s got those little bitty
screws there. This screw right here, loosens the bed,
and by turning this screw, it raises and lowers the
bed. These two screws anchor the roller plate to the
base so that the carriage actually stays parallel. And
to change the thickness, you raise and lower the bed
underneath.
EH: What was your goal in entering the gouger
business?
EH: How does the gouge affect a reed?
DR: Well, I wanted to make a machine that is not
difficult to operate, relatively speaking, and one that
could be made so that machines and blades could be
made by machine and ground by machine, removing some of the mystique. There’s all this mystique
forever that has surrounded gouging machines. You
had to send it to exactly the right guru in order for
the gouger to work, and that’s hocus pocus to me. So
I came up with this crazy design, and actually, I got
as much help from Paul Klipsch as anybody because
Paul Klipsch was one of the world’s leading geniuses
in audio. He was a musician, but he was also an incredible machinist. A lot of people don’t know that he
was just an incredible machinist. He guided me very
strongly about the design of it, and why my attitude
of how to construct the machine itself should work
- as far as coming up parallel to the base and stuff,
the carriage that is. And so he gave me some helping hands. The biggest thing was - if you just get it
down to the minimum - was he showed me where to
drill one hole to make all the difference in the world.
I know that sounds crazy, but that’s it. And so I had
my machine.
You’ve never seen this machine. (gets out a gouging machine) It’s covered with dust, and I put it together very hurriedly before I was going to see Bob
Sprenkle one time, so that’s why all the holes are
in the base in funny places. I missed, and I drilled
these holes in all the wrong places, so I just turned it
around, and then I drilled them in the right places.
Original Ross gouger design. The carriage comes
down parallel when it hits the roller plate, and a
screw is used to raise and lower the bed for thickness
adjustments.
DR: I wanted something that would help the intervals be in place, and of course sound is a consideration for all of us. Everybody talks, when they talk
about gougers, in terms of numbers, center-to-side
numbers. Well, if you think, OK the oboe shape itself
will average out about 7 millimeters in width. You’ve
only got about 3.5 to mess with. You’re going from
the center to the side twice, basically. Well, it’s not
necessarily how thick it is in the center and how thin
it is on the sides, but How does it get from the center
to the sides? The actual rate that it tapers. There are
lots of variances.
See these? (mounts for grinding gouger blades at
various angles) These are experiments of 35, 30, 37.
We got some good reeds with 37, man, we used 37 a
lot. You can tell. This one, I don’t know what this is.
39. We made a lot of good reeds with 39. And this one
was so radical, I just didn’t even choose to finish it.
I have several more at home. So I experimented, in
grinding the blade, with the angle, and the angle at
which the blade is ground changes the taper rate. I
experimented with lots and lots and lots of different
angles for grinding a blade that give a taper rate that
would do whatever we wanted it to do. So that’s, it.
There’s not a secret to gougers. I mean there’s nothing
crazy about it. I did things like, I wanted the nylon
clips, so that if you drop the carriage, it’s not going to
dent up the guide as the metal ones will, and if it hits
the blade, it’s not going to chip the blade, which some
of them will. In fact, some of them are intentionally
designed that way. If you lift up the carriage at the
end, the metal clip will hit the blade and chip it.
I didn’t want parallels, because if you use steel
parallels - they call them triangles - they rust. Outside
of a brand new machine, I have yet to see a machine
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with those steel parallels where they haven’t rusted.
And so I had to come up with some way to change
the gouge thickness that wouldn’t involve parallels,
so we have to have this funny little dial on the side,
and that works out pretty well. That’ s easy to change,
sometimes too easy to change.
I wanted a shaft big enough that it wouldn’t flex
when using it, and I’ve learned that aluminum is
not a good material to make gouging machines with
because it wears out. Brass doesn’t wear out. Blade
hardness is a peculiar thing. I’ve experimented with
all kinds of different blades, different hardening techniques, air hardened blades. I can get blades Rockwell
64, which is incredibly hard. Cane is pretty rough on
blades. It’s got lots of silica and stuff in it. It’s pretty
hard on blades, but I’d like to come up with something that is very sharpenable that will stay sharp
longer. But that’s just one of the ironies. There’s really no mystery, there’s no mystique, it’s all just pretty
simple, you know. Paul Klipsh’s motto is KISS, Keep
It Simple Stupid, or whomever you’re talking to,
Sweetie, whatever. The more simple it is, the easier we
can understand it.
DR: Well, most people in the Americas who make
gougers, make them so that the blade is mounted in
the carriage at a 45 degree angle. So you could use
any angle less than 45 degrees to grind a blade. And
you can get the desirable numbers, center to side, if
you just look for this number and this number, but
I’m finding the higher angles - you can go up to fortyfive - are probably better than the lower ones. Thirtysevens, they work, they’re fine, thirty-nines are fine,
forty-ones are fine, forty-twos are good. I’ve really
wanted to do a good experiment as high as forty-four
so that I have one little degree of relief angle and see
how that works, and it may well work fine.
EH: So you can’t say, “Reeds tend to do this at a lower angle and tend to do this at a higher angle?”
DR: No, I’m finding if you use the lower angles, in
order to get what you want, sometimes you have to
use thicker sides. So you see, you’ve distorted everything then. You’re not using the same numbers. So it
just depends on what you really want. So what we’re
doing now makes it very easy to make a very fast reed,
and they hold up well, pitch is good, and obviously,
lots of other things come into play like, What kind
of shape are you going to use? is obviously part of the
equation. What kind of tubes are you going to use?
is another part. How long are you going to tie them?
I know some shapes where you can tie seventy-two,
three, four, five, six, even seventy-seven in length and
they’ll still make a reed, and they’ll still seal on the
sides. It just depends. But as far as just making reeds,
all of those have to work together: gouge, shape, what
kinds of tubes, how long do you tie them.
EH: A couple of times you’ve said, “We.” Who’s we?
DR: Me and everybody else. Listen man, I have people that I experiment on. You know, I call Killmer
and I say, “Hey Dick, you want to try something?”
Or I’ll call Sherry Syler, and I’ll say, “Hey Sherry, you
want to try something?” Or I’ll work on Philip. “Hey
Philip, you want to try something?” And all the time
they’ll say yes, and the good part is they’ll give me
their honest feedback. That’s good that I can get honest feedback. Or I’ll use my students as guinea pigs.
Say, “Here, try to make a reed with this.” And I’ll
know immediately, because if a young student who
is just learning can make reeds with it, OK, this has
some stuff.
EH: So what are some common misconceptions
about the gouge?
DR: Well, there are too many to list. There’s all this
to-do about single-radius and double-radius. I’ve had
lots of people explain it to me lots of different ways,
and of course, with some machines, if the carriage
doesn’t come up parallel to the base on the machine,
then one side of the guide is going to be deeper into
the bed than the other side. A lot of people say, “Oh
well, you just make half a blade and then turn the
cane a lot.” That’s fine. It works. When I was asking
somebody that I had lots of faith in and who had observed this for a long time, he said, “Well I think that
the reason that they do that is because they can only
make half of a blade with a good radius. And so that’s
why we do it.”
I said, “Well I don’t care why we do what we do.
If it works, it works. Use it.” But, I’ve devised a blade
grinding machine that grinds symmetrically, and
then I use the alignment of the bed, the carriage and
the blade to make it work. There are lots and lots of
concepts, and I don’t think one’s any better than another. It’s just what works, and I wasn’t particularly
thrilled with anything that was on the market. Either
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EH: Are you willing to make any generalizations
about a smaller angle versus larger angle in what
happens with a reed?
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that, or maybe I’m just a control freak and I want to
have all this that I can control. After all, I live in Arkansas for crying out loud. Where can I go? I’m not in
New York, California, or Philadelphia.
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EH: How do you know when your gouger needs
servicing?
DR: That’s like saying, When you realize that you’re
in over your head, stop digging. The first thing that
most people will notice is that the sides of their reeds
will be big because the blade wears unevenly. As the
carriage lowers, it’s this part of the blade over on this
side, the shaft side. It’s gouging all the time from the
get-go all the way to the very final thing. And as that
gets dull, well it’s going to start getting thicker and
thicker and thicker. The thicker it gets, the bigger the
reed opens. In fact sometimes you will have people
who will call and say, “Man, my reeds are just standing open on the sides.”
I say, “Well, your blade’s dull.” And you get that
blade re-sharpened or reground, and set up again,
and it’s like old home. But that’s where they wear the
most is over on that edge where it first engages the
cane. That keeps on gouging right to the bottom, and
the outside hardly comes into play until the very last
minute, so it doesn’t get so dull. It’s just that inside
portion closest to the shaft.
EH: There’s one thing I’ve wanted to ask, and you’ve
talked about it a little. It’s always sounded to me as
if you and Killmer worked as a team on gouging machines, so I wanted you to explain how much the two
of you collaborate.
DR: Well, I don’t know. As far as the design of the
machine, he would basically tell me if things worked
or not. He was terrific about being a good colleague
and supporter and was a good critic. Sometimes your
best friend is the person who says, “Hey we’ve got a
problem. We’ve got to fix this.” So that works, you
know. But, he was crazy about gougers too.
I did a little session at one of the double reed conventions. A question came up about it (our collaboration), and I said, “Well, there was a time when I was
visiting Rochester. We were over at Sprenkle’s house,
and Dick’s wife called and said, ‘You need to come
home, we’ve sprung a leak in the basement.’ We got
there. I noticed it was a gasket that had blown, and
all it needed was a screwdriver and a piece of rubber to make a new gasket. I said, ‘Oh man, if you’re
got a screwdriver then we can fix it.’ And Dick said,
‘Screwdriver, screwdriver, it,’ (singular), ‘is down at
the office.’” So anyway, I announce to people that
since I had more than one screwdriver, I got to make
the machines. But yes, he was highly instrumental in
every aspect of it as far as being a good critic and being a good questioner. Why are you doing this this
way? you know. He was good to challenge the thought
process. Heck, who was I? I was just some crazy redneck from Arkansas, and the only reason he’d heard
of me was because Katie Bowden had gone up, and he
would say, “Where are you getting your cane,” and
she would say, “Dan Ross,” and he said, “Who’s he?”
I don’t know if she was shocked that he didn’t know
who I was or not. It’s worked out, we are still going
over gouger stuff and figuring out how to make life
better. It’s been really good.
EH: Do you see yourself primarily as a teacher, performer, or machinist?
DR: I can’t separate them. I mean, I know a lot of
people who some of the best teaching they do is by
playing. And I hope that when I play my students
learn from observing some of the concerts and recitals I play, and I really can’t separate those two. Yeah,
I’m kind of a machinist on the side, so to speak, but
I’m still the luckiest person in the world because I get
to enjoy all of it. I’ve always been the luckiest person
in the world, but I’m really the luckiest person in the
world because I get really good students, and I get to
play wonderful music, and I get to meet lots of nice
people through futzing with gougers.
EH: What role does music play in your life and what
does music mean to you?
DR: I have to say this, before I got married, I told my
wife-to-be that she would have to understand that I
am a musician first, and she has tolerated that all of
our life together, so that will give you some idea.
EH: What is your taste in music?
DR: Everything. You know, I’m very much in the
classical music world; it’s just where I am. And it’s
not oboe music, as you well know from having been
here. I make my students listen to choral music, vocal
music. I tend to think of practically all music as vocal music, in lots of ways. And I think it’s important
that we be able to understand and perform music of
all sorts of styles and genres. I don’t think rap is music, but we don’t want to go there. We’ll just stick to
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The Double Reed
the classical music stuff, and that’s what I do. I never
did like rock and roll. I admired lots of rock and roll
performers because they were very good entertainers,
and some of them were very good musicians.
EH: Why do think that you’re been successful?
DR: Gosh, different people measure success differently. As I tell my students, When is it you feel the
best about yourself? When you’re doing something
for somebody else. And I think that holds true for
whether you’re the server at one of the fast food restaurants, or you get to be fortunate and be a teacher
and musician. And success is enjoying life and sharing the joy with your friends and anybody else that
cares to join the party, kind of like Beethoven’s last
symphony. Let’s be happy, and let’s all come to the
party.
EH: How has the music industry changed over the
course of your career?
ten that people were very well entertained, and he
said, “Well I hoped to do more than entertain, I hope
to make the people better.” So I think a lot of changes
have taken place on both sides of the coin.
On one of Peter Schickele’s programs, he talked
about Mendelssohn going to see Queen Victoria, and
Queen Vickie said, “Oh, I’ve got the latest edition of
your songs, and I would be honored if you played the
piano so that I could sing one of your songs with you.”
And so he (Mendelssohn) said, “So which would you
like to sing?” And she picked one song. Well it turns
out that it was one that his sister Fanny had written
and he had published under his name. And so he explained to her why he had done this, because women,
of course, couldn’t get their music published. And
then Peter Schickele goes on saying, “Now can you
see Sir Elton John going to see Queen Elizabeth, and
hearing Queen Elizabeth say, ‘Oh Elton, I’ve got your
latest CD and I’d love it if you’d play the piano so that
I can sing along.’?” I don’t see that happening, and in
some regards, just by some of the literature we choose
to play sometimes, we really turn audiences off. No
you don’t have to pander to people, but you do have
to make it accessible. Whatever we play, we have to
make it accessible to the people who are listening.
That is part of our job as interpreters of music.
Our local campus station has a free service. They
have the arts channel, and it’s all these old historical performances of music, which are just fabulous. I
mean, there’s no place you can go and watch videos of
some of these fantastic orchestras and soloists, Heifetz, Leontyne Price, things, all these famous, famous,
famous you know, older, some departed, musicians
on videos. But they also get free news from Germany,
and it’s in German. So for me, they’re going to have
to dumb it down because my German is so bad that
I can’t deal with it. There are some people who can
understand German, and I’m sure that to them this
is wonderful. In performing music, in the actual performance of music, if we can’t make it accessible to
the people listening, whether it’s on an emotional
level or an intellectual level, then we’re the failures,
not them. If they’ve gone to the trouble to come, and
they’re going to concentrate on what we’re doing, and
they don’t understand, we’ve failed.
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DR: I don’t know that the music industry has
changed. I think there was a period in which we got
a little bit out of touch with audiences, and I think
there’s a period when audiences got a little bit out of
touch with music. I don’t know exactly how I would
describe it other than to say I’ve had the good fortune of knowing a lot of older people, and being
very close friends with a lot of older people - I think
maybe Schumann said, in one of his things, “Have
older friends.” Virtually every older friend I’ve had
has wanted to better themselves, not necessarily financially better themselves, but they just wanted to
be better people and no more. So they would go to
the extremes of inconveniencing themselves, so to
speak, by going to concerts and learning about music
and the significance of music and, all the way to - you
know about Maslow? The educational psychologist
who said that most people live for peak experiences
and the peak experiences in most people’s lives are
music and sex? I won’t argue. But if you observe now,
if you just sort of observe people now, I don’t find that
a lot of people want to better themselves so much as
people, but sort of think “Make it easy enough on me
and I can do it.” I kind of see a lot of that attitude, and
I don’t find it attractive amongst a lot of people these
days, but that may have a lot to do with the political
atmosphere we’re living in, I don’t know.
I think a lot of people want to be entertained
rather than better. I think maybe it was Handel - that
about a performance of The Messiah once, it was writ-
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EH: What are some of the achievements of your students, musical and non-musical?
DR: Most of the earlier students were teachers. A lot
of them are retired. I have students who are mostly
teachers now. They are either teaching now or they’re
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60
playing here, there, or yonder. You know, Gerry Gibson sitting in the Arkansas Symphony. I’ve got several students doing things like that. They’re playing
in orchestras like that, or they’re teaching in public schools, or teaching privately, or are in graduate school somewhere. And you know there’s Jason
(Onks), he’s playing in orchestras and doing his repair stuff. He’s kind of a free lancer and doing that
stuff. That’s where they go and that’s what they do.
Most of them seem to be very happy. So, you know,
that’s what counts. At least I think.
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EH: Will you describe notable experiences that have
stood out over the course of your career.
DR: They’re all sort of musical things. Some of them
people would find stupid like driving 150 miles in
eight inches of snow to play in a wedding of one of
my students. But that was her wedding day, and I can
remember that vividly. I remember lots of concerts
vividly, like the little old lady that was my date, or
playing with some really high-powered people who
are very generous with their words of appreciation.
Like Eugene Istomin, whom I thought was a fabulous piano player, who after his performance, waded
through the orchestra and asked me to take a bow
with him, which was a little embarrassing. He walked
up to me and said, “Would you take a bow with me?”
You know, a lot of wonderful times like that. So far,
I’ve never had a bad review. I mean, some people may
not like how I play, but the critics have been nice to
me.
Some of the nicest moments I’ve had have been
in teaching students, not necessarily because they
walk away playing better. I remember when they had
the shootings out at Westside, which really traumatized this part of the country, and I had two little
girls who were twins who were in the seventh grade.
One played oboe and one played bassoon. Of course,
when that happened, we didn’t have lessons for a couple of weeks. But then on the year anniversary of the
shooting, it was decided that they would have some
ceremony at the school, and it really upset the little
girls. They had lessons that afternoon, and they came
to their lessons, and they were really upset, terribly
upset, so their mom waited for them outside while
they had their lesson. We didn’t play a note that day.
Instead, we sat down - and this was totally outside
of their religious background - and we sat and we
listened and watched the translation of the entire
Brahms Requiem. And when that was over, it was
like, the pall had been lifted and they were fine.
That’s worth more than tons of concerts. But
there are lots of those. And those kids didn’t stay in
music. They were little grade school kids. They went
their own way; they have other lives, but even if they
don’t stay in music, it still has a big significance to
them. They may never go to another concert, but they
will always appreciate, I think, what they did, and
yeah they may (attend concerts), you never can tell.
It may be like Tabuteau’s quote to a friend of mine
who went over to take lessons from him. In his (my
friend’s) first playing, he used all harmonic A’s. Tabuteau said, “Why do you do that?” And my friend said,
“Oh, but Maestro, you always did.” Tabuteau said to
him, “Save something for your old age.” It could be
that they wait until their old age to start going to orchestra concerts, but I find it’s interesting when you
look out in the audience. You see a lot of grey hair, but
now I’m finding I find a lot of high school and college
students. And there’s this kind of gap of middle agers,
you know, quite a few, but not like lots of grey hair,
and lots of really young people. And it’s very heartening to see the really young people coming.
EH: You were diagnosed with cancer in 2002, what
is you status now concerning the disease?
DR: Hey, I’m great! You know it’s funny, I’ve always
felt good, but I tended to overreact very, very much to
the chemotherapy to the point that one of the doctors,
who is at a cancer research hospital, said that it might
take my system two years or more to get back to normal. I feel good. I’m too fat. My doctors are now telling me I need to lose weight. I said, “You’ve been telling me to eat!” They said, “You’ve accomplished the
goal. You can quit.” But I feel great. You know I get up
at tuning time every day, 4:40. Some days I’m a little
flat or a little sharp, but most of the time, you know,
I do that and I work all day. Some days I work harder
than others, but I think that’s true of everybody. But
the whole deal with that is, everybody has trouble, everybody has a problem, like it or not. Sometimes our
problems are physical, sometimes our problems are
mental, sometimes our problems are emotional, but
you don’t dare let those things define who you are.
You find your definition of who you are by yourself.
You don’t ever let anybody else define you. You decide
who you are. And so yeah, those things affect you. I
will not question that. It’s made me much more aware
of anybody having to go through that stuff because
it’s not fun, but you can’t let it rob your life. You can’t
let it rob your pleasure.
When I was at my absolute sickest, I did miss
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The Double Reed
EH: How in the world did you manage to do all of
that when you were that sick?
DR: Well, from the get go I tried my best to get my
chemo doctor to have a sense of humor. I went in
wearing a Chicago Symphony baseball cap because
my son was in Chicago, in Civic, and they had sent
me a Chicago Symphony ball cap. When I went in, I
wore it. And he comes in and introduces himself, and
I said, “Am I going to lose my hair?”
And he said, “Oh, we’ll get to that in a minute, I
want to do...”
I said, “Oh no, this is really important to me.
Will my hair come back?”
And he said, “Oh sure!”
Then I whipped off my Chicago baseball cap to
reveal my bald head, and he didn’t laugh at all, not
one laugh, and I thought, “Oh, Lord.” Various times,
I tried my best to get him to laugh, and he wouldn’t
do it. He just didn’t have it in him I guess. The only
time I got him to laugh was after my last chemo treatment. I’d gone to my dentist who wanted to replace
a filling, but she said, “It will wait until after your
chemo’s done. You can’t do it while you’re having
chemo.” Now you have to understand, they make you
chew on ice while you’re having chemo treatments
so you don’t get quite so sick, but the chemo makes
your teeth really brittle, so I cracked that tooth. And
the little lady said, “You’ve cracked that tooth. I don’t
know, you’re going to have to have a crown.” And her
assistant said, “Well do you want gold or porcelain?”
I said, “I don’t care,” but then I thought, “Wait.
No, I read an article in the paper a couple of months
ago that said that when you died you can be cremated and your ashes can be pressed into a diamond,”
which is true. And I said, “so if I have a gold crown,
that would make a good mounting for the diamond.”
And he finally thought that was a little funny. I
said, “Look, you’re a damn stick in the mud. If you
go out there into the chemo suite where all these people are sick, they all have cancer, they’re all getting
chemo, they know darn good and well in a couple of
days they’re going to be getting just as sick as they
can be. But yet, they’re having fun. They’re telling
jokes, they’re laughing. They’re having a great time,
and you come in and you put a pall over the whole
thing.” I said, “You’re going to have to learn to lighten
up.” And so I told him about my sign on the front
window that says, “Don’t take life seriously, it’s a temporary situation.” I’m very bad, I guess, about giving
my students unasked-for advice because I tell them
never ever, ever to take themselves seriously. Take
Articles
a couple of days of school. I lost seventy pounds or
more, but I didn’t miss any concerts. I did miss one
session that I normally do down in Florida because
I was very, very, very, very sick. Everything you can
imagine. There was no way that I could have made
that work, but I did make it up later that year. I felt
bad about missing that one thing, but I never missed
any concerts. I played everything, probably not as
well as I would have if I had felt a little bit better, but
you can’t let that interfere with what you do and who
you are.
My students were great. When I had surgery,
man, they were waiting in my hospital room at 5:00
in the morning when I got there. They were very understanding if I didn’t stand up in their lesson, if I felt
like I had to sit down for a while. Nobody could have
taken care of me better than my students. They did
boss me around a little bit. I had a student, Leanne
Woodard, who’s fabulous, and they had the big cancer walk on the campus. It was the first year that they
ever had it, and between Sylvia, the secretary, and
Leanne they decided that they would put together a
team from Fine Arts. The team from Fine Arts was so
big that the people in charge said “You’ve got to have
two teams.”
That particular night, even though it was April in
Arkansas and was pretty warm normally, it was very
cold. I went, and I went with the intention of staying out all night with the kids you know. And Leanne
saw to it that I was bundled up. She had even had
her folks send me some down booties from Alaska
where she lives to keep my little feet warm. At 10:00
they had a ceremony where they read lots of names of
people, and she saw to it that I had a quilt wrapped
around me. After that she said, “OK you have to go
home now. It’s too cold for you to be out here. I’m
sending you home; you can’t stay. It’s too cold, you’re
going to get really sick.” So I said, “OK, I’ll be back
in the morning,” so I went home and spent the night
home, but at 6:00 I came back and took them all out
to breakfast, and we had a good time, so you couldn’t
ask for better care than my students gave me during
that time.
It’s hard not to allow something like that to really
kind of play mind games with you, you know. When
even well-meaning doctors say, “Well, you know,
you’re not going to make it.” And I’m sure he was well
meaning. But it does play mind games with you, and
you just have to say, “Well, why do I feel so good then?
If I’ve got about a year or so to live, why do I feel so
good?” Well, it’s because somebody made a mistake.
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62
what they do seriously, but never take themselves seriously. We’ve all done it, but you take yourself seriously, you make a southbound end of a northbound
horse of yourself real fast.
Articles
EH: Has your experience with cancer changed or affected your career in any way?
DR: I don’t know. I always thought that I valued life
a lot, and a lot of things phase us. Every time I have
a student who asks me why I’m not charging them
money for lessons, I explain. And then I sit down
with them I don’t care how young they are, junior
high, high school - and I explain, “You are the only
person that has ever seen the world through your
eyes. The world needs your perspective. You have no
idea how valuable you are,” and I really believe that.
Stop and think, yeah we all experience basically the
same things through life, but our perceptions and
our reactions to them are different, and so we bring
that to our music. We bring that to everything we do.
And so, we share who we are with every action, with
every reaction, and a part of that is our perceptions
that we gain just through living a little bit. I still feel
badly about the first little student I ever taught in my
life, because that didn’t happen for her, and I watch
all these little kids come in, and nope, they’re not going to be he greatest oboe players in the world, but
if they can have some enjoyment and some pleasure
and fulfillment doing it, that’s what it’s all about, and
music is not a foreign item to them, nor is coming to
grips with who they are.
I would never, ever, ever want to go back through
the hormones from hell stage again. But it’s something we all have to survive, and some people survive
it better than others. But if I can just kind of - we’re all
here to help each other get through the process, you
know. And it’s just a process. It’s like, I always looked
at the chemo stuff as, well it’s just something that I
have to get through. And it got to be sometimes, Well,
if I can get through this month, next month won’t be
so bad. And then there were some times when I just
hoped I could get through that day. And there was
one particular weekend when my wife and Sylvia
both thought I was going to die, and they kept calling
the doctors saying, “He is so sick, I don’t think he’s
going to live.” The doctor called me and said, “How
are you doing?” and I said, “Oh, I’m OK.” I had to go
in the next week, and he said, “I knew darned good
and well you weren’t OK, your wife and your secretary had called me about a half dozen times each, and
when I called you, you said, ‘Oh, no, I’m OK.’ I could
tell by your voice you were not OK at all.”
I said, “I don’t know how sick I am.”
“You felt miserable didn’t you?”
I said, “It was pretty bad.”
“You can’t do that anymore, this stuff is really
dangerous.”
So I had a good laugh about that too. But that’s
what’s important. I think maybe now, it kind of
brings you around a little bit to, no, you’re not going
to live forever, so maybe because of that, maybe I play
a little bit better now. Maybe I’m able to help people
a little bit better, help my students a little bit better
through what goes on. I don’t know. Maybe they perceive things differently when I talk to them about all
the other peripherals of life, and say, you know, that’s
not important. Or if it’s a situation with money, it’s
only money. It’s only money, or whatever it is. We’re
going to get through this and we’re going to move on.
That’s the only thing I can think of. u
Emily Helvering teaches at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh and plays second oboe/English horn with
the Dubuque (IA) Symphony Orchestra and the Oshkosh Symphony Orchestra. She received her BM degree
from Arkansas State University where she studied with
Dan Ross. Her other primary teachers are Dr. Doris
DeLoach of Baylor University and Mark Weiger of
The University of Iowa. In addition to her teaching and
performing, she serves as editor and webmaster of the
Midwest Double Reed Society.
5/16/07 6:47:15 PM
63
The Double Reed
double talk with Judith LeClair and Sarah Chang
(The following article first appeared in the Reeding Matter newsletter of the Australasian Double Reed Society and is reprinted with
the kind permission of the Editor.)
Biography:
J
Sarah: Let’s talk about how you learn a piece of music. Is that a matter of practice or skill or knowledge
or what?
Judith: I think it starts with listening. Listening
to your teacher. You listen to what he’s saying, you
watch what he’s doing and you try to imitate. You’ll
still have your own sound but you hear what he’s doing, you watch. Listening is the most important thing
to have just an open ear, and open mind.
Sarah: So how do you take it from there?
Judith: You make a lot of mental notes. You write
things down. You go home and you just practice it
and practice and listen and do it till it feels right. Till
it sounds good to you. Till you feel comfortable moving from note to note. Till you’re comfortable with
17 DoubleTalk.indd 63
Sarah: So if you were going to practice a passage,
would you practice it one way, or would you vary it as
much as possible?
Judith: Well, I think you have to vary. Obviously
if you’ve played the piece several times before, you
know what’s coming, it gets easier the more times
you play something. You can practice it one way with
ritards, with more expression here, more expression
there and then practice being flexible because a conductor is going to tell you “you must be able to do
this, you have to be able to do it.” Whether it’s softer
or louder or slower, flexibility is very important.
Sarah: But suppose you were playing a solo piece or
suppose you play a piece of chamber music where
there isn’t a conductor, it’s just you. How would you
practice?
Judith: Well, if you’re doing chamber music with
other people, you just listen. You listen to your colleagues, you listen to your pianist. You have exchanges of ideas. That is to me the most important thing
that you can learn as a young musician, is to learn to
listen and to play with other people. I think if musicians have a chamber music base, they’ll use it their
entire lives. A lot of people don’t know how to listen,
don’t know how to react to other people.
Articles
udith LeClair (b. 1958), from Newark, Delaware,
is an American bassoonist. Principal bassoon in
the New York Philharmonic since 1981 and on
the faculty at The Juilliard School since 1985, LeClair
began studying the instrument at 11 and began her
professional career at the age of 15 in a performance
with the Philadelphia Orchestra. She studied bassoon
with K. David Van Hoesen at the Eastman School of
Music, and held the principal chair in the San Diego
Symphony and San Diego Opera for two seasons after
her graduation in 1979 before winning her position
with New York.
John Williams’ bassoon concerto, The Five Sacred Trees, was written for LeClair and her “unparalleled artistry”; she premiered it in April 1995 as
part of the New York Philharmonic’s 150th anniversary festivities after having chosen him to receive the
commission for the piece. She currently plays a ca.
1940 Heckel bassoon. Her first teacher, an older student, owned the professional-level instrument; after
he died in a tragic accident at the age of 19, LeClair’s
parents bought the instrument from the boy’s family;
it remains her only instrument.
the sound you’re getting. Till you feel that you can get
from note to note easily and expressively and you can
do what the music is telling you to do.
Sarah: But suppose you have something like Rite of
Spring. Now that’s got to be a classic problem for bassoon players, right? I assume that you’re tense about
it, but not scared to death of it.
Judith: Maybe the first time you’ve ever played it,
you’re scared to death. I think you’re tentative the
very first time in rehearsal when you have to do it.
And then you do it, you realize what you have to do,
how your reed is responding, how other people are
responding to you, how you’re breathing - there are
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64
so many things that come together when you’re playing an excerpt like that.
you play long tones on different notes, or just practice
attacking the note.
Sarah: How would you practice it?
Sarah: So are you practicing a kind of feedback
mechanism? That is, you’re hearing what you’re doing when you’re practicing. You’re adjusting.
Judith: I practiced it at home as if I was performing
it. Like with any major solo, you work it up to a point
where you are performing it. And by the time you finish with a practice, you can play it a few times and
work out the little kinks and then go back to it.
Articles
Sarah: If the beginning of the Tchaikovsky Sixth
were an exercise, would you practice it differently
than if it were a performance?
Judith: The beginning of the Tchaikovsky Sixth - I
think I wouldn’t be lying if I said that most bassoon
players are scared to play it. It’s written very softly
and in a low register, starting on a very bad note, and
you have to have lots of air support and a lot of control. You’re starting out of these subterranean depths
of the instrument. The basses are low. It’s all very low
and brooding and anguished. And you do feel a little
anguish there at the beginning. It’s very difficult to
start very softly and control it in the lower register of
the instrument. And you have to have special reeds
that will do that. And so most bassoon players don’t
enjoy playing that. The rest of the piece is fine after
that. We’re lucky it’s over in the first 16 bars.
Sarah: How would you practice that?
Judith: I would practice the opening just to have air
support control. Being able to tone the very first note.
Being able to fade away into a pianissimo, the way it’s
written. Being able to start it again. Just keeping your
intonation steady. There are a lot of things to think
about. Making sure that you’re in tune with the basses when you start.
QUESTION: But what actually are you practicing?
Judith: One, one of the things that bassoonists - most
wind players - do, is is play long tones. You start a
note softly and you crescendo and you decrescendo
and you play long tones. It should be one of the first
things that a teacher ever has a student do, because
it increases their air support, it teaches them how to
stay on one note with a crescendo, a decresendo without varying the pitch, and teaches them what they
have to do with each note. Attacking very softly on
a woodwind instrument is a difficult thing to do, so
Judith: Well, you’re also training your muscles to do
this. A beginner is not going to be able to play a long
tone that lasts a minute, they’ll be able to hold the
pitch for a few seconds. And so you just practice. You
practice getting air support, you practice using these
muscles in your abdomen, your mouth. You must adjust for intonation. Your mouth, your muscles, you
have to keep the pitch down, keep the pitch up. It’s
all done with these muscles and it’s constant work.
When you’re playing with an orchestra or chamber
music, you always need to adjust and listen so you
know where a note will be, and you know how to play
the note in a chord. But it might be different when
you’re in an orchestra in a different passage.
Sarah: That’s when you’re performing, or let’s say
with an orchestra. But now you’re home and you’re
practicing and let’s talk about something virtuoso.
You’ve got this huge scale passage to play - fast. How
would you go about that? Would that be different?
Judith: If it was something extremely difficult technically, I would start practicing it very slowly, whether
it’s a fast tonguing or just notes, I would practice it
slowly. I would do it with a metronome. I would just
make sure that I could play it in time, in tune, in the
right place at a slow tempo before I could do it fast.
And yes, there is a lot of repetition. Practicing is a
very difficult thing because a lot of people don’t know
how to practice. I mean you learn this in school, you
should learn it early on. Some people can practice six
hours a day and never change because they’re practicing the same things wrong over and over again. I
think it’s up to a teacher to help a student to learn
how to practice. Learn what to listen for. If they’re
just practicing everything too fast and it’s wrong, it’s
out of tune, it’s not going to get better no matter how
many hours they play.
Sarah: Could you practice watching television with
the sound off?
Judith: I’ll make reeds with the television on. But as
far as practicing, no, because you have to use your total concentration. If you can have an hour, hour and
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The Double Reed
a half of total concentration of thinking exactly what
you need to do, making it happen, it’s worth four or
five hours of distracted practice, I think.
Sarah: So you don’t think just moving your fingers in
a pattern as being practicing?
Judith: No, I think moving your fingers in a pattern
is learned early on. Those are just things that should
become rote early on when you’re playing. When a
student first starts, he does etudes to learn the different difficult passages on the bassoon. There are several etude books that bassoon players all over the world
use, and they’re wonderful. Usually they’re harder
than anything you have to play in the orchestra.
Sarah: What keeps you from getting bored out of
your mind?
Sarah: Would you do it differently if it were in
performance?
Judith: I think I would think of the same things.
How to play it, what the dynamics are, smoothness,
getting it up to note, intonation, how is your reed responding, there are so many different things! When
you’re young and you practice the fingerings and the
embouchure and the air, you become more proficient
at doing them altogether. And so by the time you’ve
played the instrument a while, it just becomes second
nature.
Sarah: What do you tell your students about how to
get up to that point? When they’re doing this exercise, do you tell them to think about any particular
thing? What about scales?
Judith: Scales. I tell them to do them at home. I don’t
want to hear them [LAUGHS]. It’s something that
they should be able to do and just do cleanly. Just
practice until it’s clean and proficient.
Sarah: Would you say a key word is hear or listen?
That you can’t practice scales without listening to
what you’re doing?
Judith: I think you cannot practice unless you are listening intensely to everything you’re doing. You have
to know what you’re listening for. A lot of students
do not know what they’re listening for and they need
to be taught, yes, I have to get this clean. I have to
have this interval. This interval is this wide or this
narrow. They have to listen to intonation. They have
to hear how they get from note to note. They have to
know how to support from note to note. It’s different
playing in a low register than in a high register. You
have to learn how to play in the different registers. It
involves different muscles, and intonation is such a
difficult thing.
Sarah: Suppose you run into a kid that you’re teaching who says, I don’t want to play scales and I don’t
want to play arpeggios. I want to play Mozart bassoon
concertos. How do you deal with a kid like that?
Judith: It’s like doing slalom skiing after you can’t get
down the bunny hill. You can’t do these things without years of practice. You need to have the muscle
memory, you have to have the ears. You have to be
able to hear it. If you have a student that hears these
things early on, that’s a find. If they have a concept
of sound and they hear pitch and they listen to other
people, and they play, it’s just gold. It doesn’t happen
very often.
Articles
Judith: Oh, you can be bored. The scale exercises of
course, in the long term, could be terribly boring. But
if you make a goal for yourself, like ‘how many beats,
how long can I hold this note? How smooth can I get
these technical exercises?’ And then if you can put
that into a lyrical etude or a concerto or something
and if you can transfer that to playing something
musically, that’s when it starts getting fun and interesting. And that’s where you hope that it will click
with your students that this is all technical. That once
they’re comfortable with doing everything, then they
can start applying it to playing music.
65
Sarah: Let’s go to the Tchaikovsky symphony. It’s not
you by yourself there. What’s going on?
Judith: At the opening, the basses have these, this
low, gloomy opening and you rise out of these subterranean depths of gloom. It’s very dark and very
brooding, and sort of an anguished start to the symphony and the bassoon is just in the darkest brooding
register.
Sarah: Do you try and make it sound like the basses?
Do you change the color of what you’re doing?
Judith: Yes, you want it to sound the same dark feeling. You want it to be the same pitch when you come
in. There’s a tone color that he wants out of the bas-
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66
soon. No other composer has ever gotten the tone colors out of the bassoon that Tchaikovsky has. He’s got
big hairpin dynamics - crescendo descrescendo. He
wants everything exaggerated. He’s got a color with
two bassoons which wouldn’t have the same color if
it was just one bassoon playing in the last movement.
It just descends and descends and gets gloomier and
darker and morose. He goes from five pianissimos to
four fortissimo. The extremes are amazing.
Sarah: The whole piece is a hairpin.
Articles
Judith: Well, the inner movements are just so triumphant and happy. There were so many things going
on in Tchiakovsky’s life at this point. He was personally very depressed and nervous. And for different
reasons, personal reasons, he was descending into
this gloom and depression and thinking of death. The
last movement especially is just final. He’s just saying
there’s something - finally this is it. This is the end,
it’s death. And then the other movements are triumphant and happy. He loved the symphony and he had
a hard time orchestrating it too. He was a master of
orchestration but, this was very difficult for him to
do. He just got so many colors.
just thought it was such a great sound. So I think a
student has to realize that they can go beyond their
band, they can go beyond their college orchestra -it’s limitless, what they can do with the instrument if
they have imagination.
Sarah: If you can learn something just by looking or
hearing over and over, how come all orchestra players look at their parts for a piece that they’ve played
1000 times?
Judith: Well, it’s a lot to memorize. But the major solos that you learned since you were 14 years old and
practiced and practiced them, they’re in your head.
Sarah: You can’t practice away from the instrument.
Is there such a thing?
Sarah: Why, when Tchaikovsky’s looking for doom
and gloom, does he turn in your direction?
Judith: I don’t think you can. You can think about
the music. You can think about fingerings. You can
practice fingerings. But you need to have the reed.
You need to practice. Like if you haven’t played in a
week and you have to go play something that’s like
Tchaikovsky Sixth or something, it’s much more difficult because your lip is out of shape. Your mouth
muscles and your lip muscles are out of shape and it
doesn’t come back just in a couple of hours. Even just
a half hour a day is much better.
Judith: The bassoon can express so many tone colors. It can be singing high and it can be lyrical and
expressive.
Sarah: And I suppose the same goes for skiing or a
sport. If you wanted to be a great tennis player, or a
really good tennis player, tell me what you would do.
QUESTION: But why would he put in a bass clarinet
and cello?
Judith: If I wanted to be a great tennis player, I would,
I would take lessons twice a week. I would try to practice every day. I would play with different people. I
would just practice. I would constantly watch. I would
watch it on TV. I would watch better players. It would
be a totally engrossing thing. It’s like an instrument.
Hopefully I’d have a good teacher.
One has to listen all the time. One has to feel what
it feels like when it’s right, and just try to achieve that
same sensation whether it’s tennis, whether it’s playing an instrument.
You have to feel it. You have to listen. u
Judith: The dark, dark reed color. There are a few
passages where he has to put the bass clarinet. It was
written for bassoon but it’s too soft for the bassoon.
I think he, he could create a picture out of this tone
color.
Sarah: If you were going to start a kid playing the
bassoon, how would you keep him interested?
Judith: A student has to want to learn. He has to
just love the instrument. I know when I was a student, I just was fascinated with the sound of the instrument. I just thought it was a wonderful sound. I
thought wow, look at the different colors. You can get
down low, you can get all this beautiful sound. You
can get up high. It can be funny, it can be lyrical. I
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The Double Reed
67
The Ear of the Beholder
John Steinmetz
Los Angeles, California
This article first appeared in Chamber Music magazine, Vol. 23, no. 6, April 2006. Reprinted with permission.
I
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offenses I hadn’t even noticed; a friend so irate that
it seemed we had attended different concerts. Maybe
I imagined that these were exceptions, or the ravings of unhinged curmudgeons, but after my veil of
ignorance lifted, I saw that it was perfectly normal
for wonderful music-making to inspire both rapture
and rage. (I also remembered times when I came
unhinged myself, ranting about music that others
loved.)
Many of the issues that make people mad are technical: wrong vibrato, illegal trills, unacceptable intonation, unforgivable phrasing. But there are deeper
issues, too, having to do with emotional stance and
perceptual style. Some listeners crave drama and vividness, while others seek refinement and subtlety. For
some ears complexity is exciting, but for others it’s
annoying. Some people want music to be orderly and
rational, while others yearn for contact with mystery
or the unexplainable.
Such deep differences help to explain certain
abiding arguments between music lovers: Beatles
versus Stones, Verdi versus Wagner, “period” versus
“modern,” Babbitt versus Reich. When people argue
about music, they often proceed from wildly different
assumptions about what matters. Sometimes they’re
not really arguing about the music; they’re arguing
about criteria.
Despite such disagreements, some works have
managed to become “classics.” I spend a lot of time
playing music that many people, over many years,
have found beautiful, vital, compelling and worthwhile. Doesn’t this prove that there’s a certain amount
of agreement about musical quality? I’m not so sure.
First of all, most of us musicians don’t evaluate the
classic pieces; we just program them because everybody else does. We might have a feeling about whether a piece is enjoyable to play, and certainly we take
delight in wonderful moments, but do we love every
Mozart minuet, every Beethoven finale? We’re often
too busy playing the music to think about whether it’s
any good. To some extent, the classics are just habits.
And then there’s the ongoing disagreement about
what belongs in the canon. For example, even though
Brahms long ago joined the pantheon of Immortal
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used to know what artistry was. I believed that
if musicians performed or composed with honesty and heart, giving voice to their personal
understanding of music, and did this skillfully and
eloquently, then the audience would connect.
Well, I was wrong, but I didn’t realize it for decades, until a colleague inadvertently punctured my
naïveté. He was talking about being a judge at international competitions. The purpose of these competitions is to select the best performer and to reward
the highest-quality music-making; but there’s one
big problem. According to my colleague, the judges
at competitions don’t agree about what is beautiful.
When he first told me this, I was startled. People
don’t agree about what is beautiful? That had never
occurred to me, but I saw right away what he meant.
The tone that sends the Italian judge into a swoon
might seem, to the German judge, utterly immature.
The English and Russian judges probably don’t see
eye to eye about phrasing. Tempos that seem just
right to the Korean judge might give the Venezuelan
a headache.
This disagreement about what is beautiful, my
friend said, explains why the most exciting contestants may not win. “The only thing the judges can
agree on is whether or not a mistake has been made,”
he said. So the winner is often somebody who doesn’t
make mistakes.
I already knew that people’s tastes differed - I
wasn’t that naïve. But my colleague was pointing out
something else. He was saying that honest, heartfelt,
craftsmanlike music-making is likely to upset someone. One discerning listener might hate a performance that another discerning listener loves.
That scared me. It meant that even if I could play
exactly the way I meant to, even if I managed to embody my particular feeling for the instrument and
the music and the deepest realities of the universe,
my approach was bound make somebody mad.
Of course that’s true, and competition judges are
not the only people getting mad. All my life I have
seen the evidence: a review trashing a concert that I
thought was gorgeous; listeners storming out during
a piece that moved me; a connoisseur ranting about
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Masters, I know of two highly trained, experienced
musicians - one is an eloquent, music-smitten critic,
and the other is a wonderful composer - who loathe
Brahms. Brahms makes them both mad. (Brahms
made George Bernard Shaw mad, too.) Maybe the
“standard repertory” is just a bunch of lists to argue
about.
Reputations, too, change over time. Yesterday’s
failed composition is today’s masterwork, on its way
to becoming tomorrow’s abandoned relic. Bizet died
thinking that his Carmen was a failure; now it is the
most-performed opera. During their lifetimes, the
sons of Bach were much more famous than their father; now J.S. is revered, while his sons’ terrific music
goes largely unplayed. Hummel was more popular
than Beethoven in their day; now look whose bin is
bigger.
During my musical life, I have watched multiple
reversals. Remember all those serial compositions
that were so highly regarded in the ‘60s and ‘70s? Remember when Handel’s operas had nearly vanished
from the stage? Remember when John Adams was a
fringe figure? And look at Haydn, probably the most
popular living composer ever. When I was in college,
only a few Haydn works got performed regularly. Now
he seems to have made a comeback, with multiple recordings of his complete string quartets and frequent
performances of music that used to be ignored.
Performance practice goes through similar mood
swings. One of my teachers said that Beethoven’s
way of playing would be laughed off the stage today.
Mahler’s orchestrations of Bach, with their writtenout trills, show that his interpretation differed totally
from today’s. Recordings show how much ideals of
tempo, tone, vibrato, and phrasing have changed over
time.
Let’s admit it: fashions change, tastes change,
definitions of excellence seem unsteady at best, and
people don’t agree about what matters. In fact, I don’t
even agree with myself about what matters. My reactions can be highly inconsistent. I remember sitting
in a university library, wearing headphones, listening
to a stack of recordings. I put on a record of Donald
Martino’s Notturno, but after the opening notes, I
stopped it, thinking, “Oh no, not that kind of thing!”
and I switched to something else. After listening to
several other somethings, I tried Martino’s piece
again. This time it sounded exquisitely beautiful. Go
figure.
Despite so much disagreement and fickleness
about what is excellent, many of us musicians (my previous self included) go on assuming that certain mu-
sical ideals are universally shared and eternal. Music
organizations have mission statements about “artistic
quality” or “the highest standards” - as if somebody
knows what those things are, as if there is consensus about quality. Now that I no longer imagine any
agreement about excellence, I suspect that our organizations, like competition judges, sometimes reduce
artistic excellence to technical excellence. (When
they say, “Highest artistic standard,” perhaps they really mean, “We don’t make mistakes.”) In other cases,
artistic success gets confused with business success
(“We sell lots of tickets”), with popularity (“We are a
household name”), or even with unpopularity! (“We
are so cutting edge that nobody comes to hear us.”)
Wonderful art certainly exists, and sometimes
an artist or an ensemble becomes widely popular,
but that doesn’t mean that “artistic excellence” is
anything real. It might just be an abstraction - or a
fantasy.
If people don’t agree about what’s beautiful, if
beautiful performances make people mad, if artistic
quality is a myth and people find quality in conflicting places, then what is a musician to do? How can we
tell if what we’re doing is any good? What should we
aspire to? Whose opinion should we trust?
As usual, it depends on what you want to accomplish. If your goal is to please others, then you should
try to compose or perform for like-minded people.
Either become like your audience or find an audience
that resembles you. Find out all you can about their
taste. Keep checking on whether they like what you’re
doing. Good luck.
Perhaps your goal is not to please others but to
stay out of trouble, to avoid making anybody mad.
This goal might lie behind performances that take
a sort of “generic” approach; it might explain why
performers sometimes “play it safe.” (Isn’t it odd that
musicians even need to talk about “playing it safe”?
What could possibly be “unsafe” about a way of playing music? Yet sometimes playing music does feel
unsafe, with potential disapproval looming.) Maybe
you sense that avoiding mistakes is a good strategy.
After all, it seems to win competitions. Yet middleof-the road performances don’t guarantee happy
outcomes, because somebody is likely to get mad no
matter what.
Maybe, though, your goal is to make people mad
on purpose. (Now and then that goal becomes fashionable.) Perhaps you want to defy expectations, to
challenge assumptions, or to create controversy.
Perhaps you want to invent a transgressive art that
will shock, or a sophisticated art that will baffle.
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cultivate and meet their own standards.
I learned more about this approach from a young
professional musician who took some lessons from
me. Let’s say that the musician’s name was Mike. A
successful freelancer, Mike was a skilled and soulful
player, but he was losing enthusiasm for music. Before deciding to quit, he wanted to try to recover his
love of playing. He didn’t need help with his instrument (which in any case was different from mine); he
was looking for an attitude adjustment.
As we talked together over the course of a few
lessons, I gathered that Mike had assumed, without
quite realizing it, that some players knew more than
he did about what sounded good. He imagined that
these special players were successful because they
knew more about musical excellence. It was as though
they had access to secret rules.
When I invited him to visualize the situation,
Mike pictured an exclusive gathering in a special
room set aside for the best and most prominent players of his instrument. Bouncers kept Mike out of this
imaginary room because he didn’t know enough
about quality. His fatal flaw was incomplete knowledge about standards of excellence.
Not surprisingly, Mike always felt inadequate
when he played. No matter how hard he tried or how
beautiful his performance, satisfaction always eluded
him. Since he didn’t know what it took to measure up,
he could never measure up. He was doomed to failure
before his first note. Mike’s assumptions had taken
the joy out of playing. (Fortunately, he was confronting related issues in therapy, learning how to deal
with a father who had always disapproved.)
Mike was genuinely surprised to learn that people
don’t agree about what is good, that there is no single
set of criteria, secret or otherwise, to define excellence in music. As he began to understand that different musicians have different ideas about what sounds
good, Mike began to consider his own ideas, and his
enthusiasm for music started to return. He realized
that his natural musicality, a gift that had been present from a very young age, had gotten disconnected
from his playing, but he easily remembered how to
trust his own ear and his own heart. Now it was my
turn to be surprised as he quickly reconnected with
his native ability. He mobilized his own standards
and discovered a way of playing that fit them. From
my perspective, the more his performance was guided by his own taste and musical instincts, the more
his playing took on personality and a vivid, detailed
liveliness. His own musical taste, it seemed to me, led
him to artistry.
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Occasionally posterity rewards such goals by sainting a former rebel (how strange that iconoclasts can
become icons!), but sometimes musical rebelliousness is just a backhanded way of deferring to other
people’s taste. In any case, making the audience mad,
like every other artistic approach, eventually goes out
of fashion.
These three kinds of goals - pleasing, playing it
safe, and rebelling - all rely on other people’s reactions to determine quality. But there are some other
options to explore. Lately, I’m trying to be truer to my
own enthusiasms. Maybe now I’m a little less worried about what colleagues and former teachers want
to hear, and a little more curious about what I want
to hear. In some ways, playing and composing are
harder now, because I’m not too easy to please. And
since I don’t always agree with myself about what is
beautiful, I can get really confused. Still, facing my
confusion is probably easier than dealing with other
people’s contradictory tastes.
To follow your own taste you have to find out
what your taste is, and that might surprise you. When
a percussionist friend started composing a few years
ago, his preferences startled him. He told me, “As a
player, I play different pieces in different styles, and I
enjoy adapting myself to the needs of each piece. But
when I started composing, I had to find out what I
like.” His smile was almost rueful as he confessed, “I
found out that I really like melody.”
Once I met a cellist who told me about her composition lessons with Joan Tower. The student, who
had never written music, started composing a concerto for cello and orchestra. Each composition lesson began with teacher and student playing through
the piece together on cello and piano. After playing,
Tower asked the student, “How do you like it?” and
together they explored the student’s responses to her
own piece. After reworking the piece, the student
brought it back for another lesson, and they played it
again, and the question was the same: “How do you
like it?” This process went on, I gathered, through
months of listening and revising. When I heard the
finished piece, I was astonished that a first composition could be so fully realized, with such a clear personal voice.
I like Joan Tower’s question, “How do you like it?”
Answering that question helps develop the student’s
own perceptions and skills, as well as musical taste,
and can lead to all kinds of fruitful inquiry. It can
accommodate ideas from the teacher, too. Such a fine
question gave me a fresh perspective on the work of
music teachers: teaching means helping students to
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Adopting a “please yourself” approach to musicmaking might seem dangerously myopic. But personal taste doesn’t develop in isolation. My taste was
formed not only by my temperament and personality, but also by the culture and subcultures around
me and by a host of influences: teachers, colleagues,
performances I loved, the musical traditions I have
encountered, other people’s taste, audience reactions,
favorite recordings, and things people said to me
years ago and yesterday. As a distillation of multiple
influences, personal taste can be a rich and inspiring
guide, more helpful than imaginary “standards of artistic excellence,” and far more supple and adaptable
than any artistic standard that could be codified. Personal taste isn’t a static set of rules; it keeps developing in response to new inputs.
Eventually these questions of quality and taste
drew me back to Robert Pirsig’s amazing book Zen
and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance. Through
much of the book, Pirsig wrestles with an old problem
in philosophy and the arts, trying to define quality
(goodness, beauty, excellence). Some people say that
quality is an ingredient or attribute that exists in the
world, ready to be noticed and appreciated wherever
it is found. Others say that quality isn’t “out there” in
the world, but that it resides inside the observer - that
“beauty is in the eye of the beholder.”
Pirsig finds a new way through this problem. He
discovers that quality is neither in the observer nor
in the thing observed. Yet he is certain that quality
exists, because people do encounter it and recognize
it. Eventually, he realizes that quality is an event, and
it can happen only when an object and an observer such as some music and a listener - come together. To
put it in musical terms, if the music and the listener
resonate, then Quality happens.
That’s a way to recognize excellence, and a way
to cultivate it: look for resonance. When we’re at our
best, I think this is what musicians do. We don’t measure music against some set of criteria; we check for
resonance. We can’t define excellence, and we don’t
agree about where to find it, but we can recognize it,
we can foster it, we can try to serve it. Fortunately,
many audience members - probably most of them come to concerts not to judge or to evaluate, but to
experience the music and to be affected by it. Most
listeners bring their hearts, not their clipboards. At
our best, all of us - musicians and listeners - come together to share an experience. We are, all of us, seeking moments of resonance.
I don’t know how it happens, but many of the
sounds that resonate for me also resonate for others.
Not everyone is moved in the same way, of course, and
somebody will probably get mad, but some listeners
do seem to receive something like what I meant to
send. And that’s more than enough. u
Bassoonist John Steinmetz, a Los Angeles freelancer,
plays chamber music with XTET and Camerata Pacifica. He is principal bassoonist for the Los Angeles
Opera. Steinmetz’s compositions have been released
on Crystal, Helicon, and Albany CDs. In June 2006 he
completed his term as a CMA board member. Contact
him at [email protected], or visit http://www.
johnsteinmetzmusic.com.
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The Alexander Technique and Oboists, Part II
Applications of the Alexander Technique to Playing the Oboe
Andrea Fedele
Minneapolis, Minnesota
head is held ahead of the center of gravity. The
upper back is ‘rounded,’ causing stress in that
region. The shoulder blades rotate downward,
placing stress upon the scapular muscles, which
then cause myofascial pain. The head is held in
‘forward head posture,’ causing the neck muscles
to sustain a painful muscular tension. The neck
has to arch to compensate for the increased
thoracic kyphosis, which may cause stress upon
the cervical discs.1
E
Increased suboccipital backward bending (posterior rotation) in FHP [Forward Head Posture]
leads to suboccipital tightness and anterior cervical flexor weakness, or an imbalance in the agonist/antagonist relationship of muscular action.
When the occipital condyles slide anteriorly and
the occipital bones move closer to the atlas, as
in a relaxed slump, compression of neurovascular structures results. 2
very individual moves in a unique way and
an Alexander teacher will work with each individual according to his or her needs, much
in the same way a good oboe teacher will work with
each oboe student to strengthen his or her particular weaknesses. Just as oboists’ ideal embouchures
will differ from one another a little according to the
structure of their mouths and reeds, each individual’s most balanced and free way of moving will differ from another’s because of his or her structure.
What follows in this article are some ideas of ways in
which oboists may use what is learned in Alexander
Technique lessons in their oboe-playing, but oboists
will need to discover for themselves exactly how the
Technique may be applied specifically to their own
playing by taking Alexander lessons. Because habits
associated with playing are very strong, most Alexander teachers will first work with a musician for several lessons without the instrument, bringing in the
instrument later after the musician has learned the
basics. This method can be compared to being able
to do scales well before attempting to play a difficult
piece of music.
When physicians discuss the misuse and overuse problems of musicians, they very often state that
musicians need ‘good posture’ or ‘correct body mechanics.’ They have also researched the problem and
written articles on their research that show time and
time again how postural faults are a cause of musculoskeletal difficulties:
In the process of ‘leaning into the music’ the
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Excessive or improper physical use of our bodies
certainly is not illegal (like recreational drugs) or
otherwise restricted, but it too may cause problems such as strains of the joints, muscles and
tendons, accompanied by pain and decreased
function. Such difficulties may occur during our
musical lives and at other times, including the
activities of our ‘day jobs’ or our recreational
pursuits.3
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The article preceding this one (“The Alexander Technique and Oboists, Part I: What the Alexander
Technique is and How it is Relevant to Oboists,” The
Double Reed, Vol. 29 No. 4) introduced the Alexander
Technique and explained why the information that
one learns in Alexander lessons is relevant to oboe
players. An explanation of the main principles of the
Technique, as well as some of the vocabulary associated with it, was included; a glossary is located at the
end of this article as well.
Although the musician may note a problem of
the hand or fingers, it is likely that the problem
originates in a much higher center; the bad habits that have been incorporated at an unconscious cerebral level cause a modification of the
normal movements of all the muscles of the upper extremity and possibly the entire body.4
Muscle strain symptoms from playing can be
precipitated or aggravated by the improper use
of muscles anywhere in the performer’s body.
Playing ‘under tension,’ for whatever reason,
involves using more muscles than are usually
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needed to get the job done or using the correct muscles in a state of greater tension than
is necessary. Co-contractions (the simultaneous contraction of both agonist and antagonist
muscle groups during a specific action) are usually counterproductive to the smooth performance of rapid, repetitive motions and must be
minimized or eliminated.5
All of these medical professionals are describing the
problems that can arise in a musician from misuse.
They describe various forms of misuse and talk about
the role of habits and misuse in causing improper
functioning and pain. There is no doubt about the
link between misuse and the pain that many musicians experience. This link is an example of Alexander’s more broad statement that use of oneself affects
functioning, or how one uses oneself affects everything one does.
Because of this link between misuse and pain,
people in the medical field always recommend ‘good
posture’ and ‘correct body mechanics.’ Quarrier,
a physical therapist, says musicians should “be instructed in proper postural alignment.”6 Another
physical therapist, Novak, writes, “Postural connections must be understood and incorporated into the
musician’s daily habits and performance technique.” 7
Tubiana, an M.D., states that “it is important to have
a clear understanding of the concepts behind the
fundamental positions (for instrumental musicians),
beginning with basic posture, before proceeding to
a discussion of specific positions for a particular instrument.”8 Efforts have also been made to describe
in writing what the optimum physical condition is
for a musician. Dr. William Dawson, frequent author
for the The Double Reed, writes,
Optimum performance on musical instruments,
like doing any other physical activity well, requires a precise and correct degree of tension
(force) in the muscles performing the task. It is
usually not possible to play well with insufficient
muscle tension, whether manual or facial. Excessive tension, on the other hand, can be compatible with good performance, but the frequently
deleterious effects of abnormally large forces ultimately may be noticed by the musician.9
Another medical doctor, Dr. Lippmann, says,
“Basically, playing skill at any instrument comprises
relaxed coordination at needed speed, carried out
with a minimum of energy and utilizing the helpful
forces of gravity, inertia, and tissue elasticity to the
hilt in order to save on muscle power.”10 The difficulty
arises from the attempt to acquire such an optimum
state. ‘Bad posture’ is the result of a general pattern of
misuse present in an individual. This pattern of misuse is an influence on every activity the individual
does, including, for example, exercises. It is generally accepted that exercises can ‘fix’ posture, but a
person who habitually slouches, also tends to slouch
during exercises, therefore strengthening the very
imbalances causing him pain in the first place. Even
if the sloucher is an unusually motivated person and
decides not to slouch during exercises, two problems
are setting him up to fail. First, he is only exercising
for a small percentage of his day. For the rest of the
day, he is slouching. His habit of slouching will not
be overcome by just a few minutes per day of change.
Second, when this person with a habitual misuse pattern that causes slouching decides to ‘straighten up’,
he’s not eliminating his habitual tensions but adding
to them. He’s using himself differently, but just a different kind of badly.
What is missing from these direct ways of trying to acquire optimum use is an acknowledgment
that because misuse is inseparable from one’s total
pattern of coordination, the total pattern as a whole
must be addressed. This may sound difficult, but
only because it is unfamiliar. From the viewpoint
of someone with experience of the Alexander Technique and musculoskeletal pain who has tried both
ways (trying to change the parts involved in misuse
versus trying to change the whole pattern), it is much
easier to change the whole pattern, with the help of
an Alexander teacher. Dealing with general habits of
misuse is only difficult without a means to do so. The
Alexander Technique is unique in that it provides a
practical way to change one’s total pattern of use so
that this use is a constant positive influence on functioning rather than a detrimental influence. Furthermore, movements performed with the resulting
integrated coordination and balance of muscle tone
are characterized by a “precise and correct degree of
tension (force) in the muscles” and are “carried out
with a minimum of energy and utilizing the helpful
forces of gravity, inertia, and tissue elasticity to the
hilt in order to save on muscle power”, as optimum
use is described by Dr. Lippmann above.
Lessons in the Alexander Technique often begin
by addressing the student’s habits while sitting in a
chair as well as standing and getting in and out of
the chair. These actions are clearly relevant to oboe
playing, even though the student is not at the time
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to which she can compare all other activity. For example, she learns how to use the arms with a minimal
amount of tone, rather than too much, and can then
explore what the minimum amount of tone would be
for her to pick up and play the oboe.
When focusing on the arms, the Alexander
teacher may begin by having the student just raise
her arms in front of her. In just this one action various forms of misuse may become apparent and could
be eliminated. For example, to raise the arms people
often raise the shoulders, lean back a bit, and push
the pelvis forward, which compresses the spine and
puts extra tension throughout the body. They might
do something similar when they bring up the oboe.
Most people who do this are not aware of it, but it
feels ‘right’ to them. The muscles involved are under
one’s control, unlike the involuntary muscles, but
use of these muscles is not always conscious. The late
Carol McCullough, Alexander Technique teacher
and violist, writes, “It is because this musculature is
under the voluntary control by the human nervous
system that difficulties arise in an individual’s use,
and consequently, potential exists for improvements
in an individual’s use. Voluntary control should not
be confused with conscious control. It is the unconscious control of the voluntary musculature that gets
one into trouble.”11 When the Alexander teacher and
student eliminate misuse while the student lifts her
arms, the student is already going to be using herself
in a more coordinated way while playing the oboe.
Another common misuse in oboists is the tendency to excessively contract the muscles of the arms,
pulling the oboe in towards oneself by applying too
much pressure with the fingers on the keys. This requires more work of oneself than necessary, and the
arms, from the thumb to the back, then have to counteract that effort to keep the oboe away from the body.
These simultaneous contractions of the muscles that
bend and extend the arms result in excess tension. In
Alexander Technique lessons, the student becomes
aware of her habits of misuse and learns how to encourage length of the musculature of the arms and
freedom of movement, rather than shortening and
rigidity. This experience provides the student with a
new standard and conscious control over her use. In
this way, such habits are changed fairly easily.
Much attention is given to the fingers by musicians and music teachers. We focus on the fingers
when practicing technique, for example. Again,
people don’t tend to be aware of the connection between problems with tense fingers or problems with
technique, and the tension resulting from misuse
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playing the oboe. These are basic, relatively simple
movements that allow the Alexander teacher to work
with the student’s overall habits of use, the same habits that influence any activities the student engages
in, including playing the oboe. Besides, when someone plays the oboe, he’s either sitting or standing, so
there is a direct application of this work with sitting
and standing to playing the oboe as well.
Most musicians consider the workings of their
arms and hands to be separate from the workings of
the rest of their bodies, but in fact the arms are supported through the musculoskeletal system by the
back. A well-coordinated back that has an appropriate balance of tone is a strong back which provides
support to the arms, a kind of buoyancy. A non-integrated back does not do its part in supporting the
arms, causing the smaller muscles of the arms to do
more work than they are intended to do. In addition,
a collapse of the torso or the opposite, an excessive
rigidity of the torso that occurs from an imbalance
in muscle tone puts an additional burden on one’s
structure, a burden that the arms must overcome in
order to lift the oboe. The reader can get an idea of
what this does to the arms by sitting normally and
lifting his or her arms and extending them in front of
him like a conductor, then collapsing and lifting his
or her arms. The arms are noticeably more difficult to
lift when one is collapsing. If the oboist’s normal way
of sitting includes a lesser degree of collapse, that collapse is always making it harder for the oboist to lift
the arms. The difference between this oboist’s norm
and the demonstration above is simply one of degree.
Neither is helpful to the oboist.
When working with a student in a lesson, the Alexander teacher will begin by asking the student not
to move in her normal way, but to allow the teacher
to move her in a new way. Through this procedure
the student learns what Alexander called ‘inhibition’
or ‘non-doing’, which is simply a pause during which
the student decides not to continue the activity in
her habitual way. This then allows something nonhabitual and more coordinated to happen, assisted
by the teacher’s both verbal and hands-on directions
(suggestions for how to move in a more coordinated
way). First the teacher and student may focus on the
relationship between the head and neck and torso,
later expanding the student’s awareness to include
the extremities. The goal is awareness, a good balance of tone throughout the body which results in
free, dynamic, and integrated use, and the ability to
consciously control how one carries out an activity.
Through lessons the student develops a new standard
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somewhere else in the body that seems distant, such
as the neck, back, or hips. A couple of oboists related
in interviews with me their experiences of the connection between overall use of themselves and technique. Peter Cooper, principal oboist of the Colorado Symphony, described his experience related to
technique:
“I found that freeing my neck enabled me to
perform cleanly under pressure certain technical passages that were within my ability, but not
always ‘nailed’ under pressure. Freeing my neck
actually allowed my fingers to work better.”12
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He then elaborated using Ravel’s Tombeau de Couperin as an example:
I was applying that throughout the audition.
Pieces like Tombeau, or Mendelssohn’s Scottish
Symphony, La Mer and others were works that
I knew I could play cleanly, but hadn’t always
done so in auditions. This time I focused during
the audition on keeping my neck free and my
arms and fingers soft. I was oblivious to the audition pressure and just kept giving myself those
‘Alexandrian’ messages. All of those excerpts
were sparkling clean at this audition. I attributed
it to 10,000 times practicing Le Tombeau de
Couperin slowly and keeping my neck free at the
audition. Keeping your neck free doesn’t work if
you haven’t put in the 10,000 times.13
Alecia Lawyer, oboist in Houston, Texas, said that
she always had good technique, but that lessons in
the Alexander Technique “really made it more fluid
and effortless and it [Alexander work] just got rid
of the unnecessary tension.”14 As her awareness improved, she said she “started really chipping away at
it [technique] and literally trying to get rid of finger
motions that I did not need.”15 It has already been
mentioned that oboists often apply too much pressure to the keys. Fingers can look somewhat claw-like
on the oboe, as everyone knows. Marcel Tabuteau,
principal oboist in the Philadelphia Orchestra from
1915 to 1954 and ‘father’ of American oboe playing,
“strove for lightness of finger technique and supreme
economy of movement.”16 This need is clearly nothing new, and the Alexander Technique is just another
way of exploring how to use the fingers in a released,
lengthening, easy way.
In his book on the Alexander Technique and music, Indirect Procedures, Pedro de Alcantara includes
a quote from a 1600-page work on the physiology of
breathing:
Surely no organ or system of the human body is
at present completely understood anatomically
or physiologically. It would be difficult, however,
to single out one vital organ concerning which
more has been written, on which more lively differences of opinion are still expressed in print,
and of which more remains to be learned, than
the mammalian lung.17
It is not necessary that we understand breathing to
ensure that it functions, luckily, because we oboists,
like others, have many conflicting beliefs regarding
breathing. Some say the abdominal muscles should
be raised in; some say they should be pushed out and
held there. Some people advocate big breaths; some
recommend exhaling then playing with what remains. Some suggest ‘learning’ how to breathe and
doing exercises for this purpose, while others prefer
a more ‘natural’ approach. Oboists also disagree as
to whether there should be movement of the chest
and shoulders while breathing. Regardless of what
we believe, like other forms of functioning, breathing
is influenced by an individual’s overall condition of
coordination.
Frederick M. Alexander (the man who developed
the method that was later called the Alexander Technique) was himself an actor, and as he began to teach
his Technique, he focused quite a bit on breathing for
a while. This was probably because it was fashionable
at that time for people to do ‘deep breathing’ exercises, and to take ‘breathing lessons’ to improve their
breathing and therefore their health. Acting students
also came to him with questions about breathing,
since he was apparently relatively unique at the time
in that he didn’t gasp between phrases while performing. Alexander was well-acquainted with doctors in
Sydney, where he was living at the time; they referred
patients to him sometimes if they believed his work
might be able to help them. In his book, Constructive
Conscious Control of the Individual, Alexander gives
a rather lengthy description of what happens during
breathing, but his mention of the diaphragm was
rather brief, stating that “the floor of the [thoracic]
cavity (diaphragm) plays its part, moving upwards
and downwards in sympathy”18 with the contractions and expansions of the thorax. Reference to the
diaphragm is often made by oboists and other people
conscious of their breathing, and while it is better
understood than previously, misinformation is still
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fairly common.
The diaphragm is the muscle that separates the
chest and abdominal cavities. When the lungs are
relatively empty, the diaphragm is relaxed and domeshaped, the top of the dome resting almost as high in
the torso as the lower point of the sternum. Evelyn
Rothwell gives a clear description of how the diaphragm works in her book entitled Oboe Technique,
first published in 1953:
“When we breathe in, the abdominal muscles
work on the diaphragm to contract and pull
on its central tendon, flattening the dome and
pushing down the abdominal organs…When we
breath out the diaphragm relaxes and becomes
dome-shaped again [italics hers].”19
and other forms as well, often result in restricted
movement of the ribs, which, in unhampered breathing, expand and contract freely and with a great deal
of flexibility. For example, everyone knows that if an
individual slumps, he is restricting his breathing, but
if he is habitually even just somewhat collapsed during ‘normal’ breathing, he will still always be preventing his ribs from expanding and contracting freely.
Nicholas Quarrier, a physical therapist, writes, “Poor
posture affects the breathing mechanism, thus creating abnormal muscle tension and undue expenditure
of energy.”21 One would expect this to have some detrimental affect on the average person’s health, but the
detrimental affects on an oboist’s ability to play are
especially clear. Put simply, the oboist would have to
work harder and would be more tense. It also seems
clear that breathing exercises are not going to change
the influence of misuse on someone’s breathing. The
influence of misuse on someone’s breathing is tricky,
because an individual is completely accustomed to
how he uses himself and how he breathes, so without having the experience of breathing freely with
his misuse eliminated, he is probably unable to even
imagine what the difference could be.
In Alexander Technique lessons, the student becomes aware of his habits related to breathing and
learns to get out of the way of the process so that the
breathing mechanism functions freely and reflexively. For example, if one’s habit is to collapse while
exhaling, then one learns not to collapse. If one’s
habit is to overarch the back, as pulling oneself into a
well-intentioned attempt at ‘good posture’ often does,
then that habit is eliminated. Through being guided
by an Alexander teacher, one can learn to remain
free instead of collapsed, and instead to be easily
lengthened. One learns that after exhaling, by simply
remaining free and allowing the ribs to be free, the
ribs will spring open automatically which results in a
free and reflexive inhalation. Joseph Robinson, former principal oboist of the New York Philharmonic,
makes a wonderful analogy between exhalation and
wringing water out of a sponge in his article entitled,
“Oboists, Exhale before Playing.” He writes, “To replenish the supply of water, one need only return the
sponge to the tub of water…We need only to relax the
muscles that have been wringing out air to replenish
our supply of wind for the next phrase. In this way,
blowing is an active process, and inhaling is completely passive.”22 Rather than focusing on how to inhale properly, if the oboist takes care of exhaling and
then allows the ribs to be free, the inhale will simply
happen, easily.
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The suggestion to “breathe from the diaphragm” is
common, but does not really work for a couple of
reasons. First, doing so would literally only involve
the chest cavity, or approximately the upper half of
the torso. Breathing involves the whole self, but most
actively the whole torso. That is what most teachers
are probably trying to communicate when they say to
“breathe from the diaphragm,” to use the whole torso
rather than just the upper half. Secondly, because the
diaphragm contains no proprioceptive nerve endings, it is without sensation. Being impossible to feel,
it is also therefore impossible to “exercise any control over diaphragmatic movement except through
the reflexive act of breathing,”20 writes Cornelius
Reid, singing teacher. If the goal of the suggestion to
“breathe from the diaphragm” is to involve the entire
torso in breathing, and not just the chest, then perhaps the suggestion to “breathe from the pelvic floor”
would be a better one, since the pelvic floor is located
at the base of the torso.
Alexander Technique teachers will frequently
work with a student’s breathing during lessons,
whether the student is a professional breath user or
not. As habits of misuse influence breathing, habits
of misuse in breathing can have a negative affect on
a student’s overall use as well. In the quote of Cornelius Reid, above, breathing is referred to as “reflexive.” Wind players have the potential to improve their
functioning while playing simply by allowing their
inhalations to be reflexive, rather than ‘trying’ to inhale ‘correctly’, or worse, gasping. What one needs to
do is to not interfere; ‘correct’ breathing then occurs.
By trying to control the inhale, oboists often misuse
themselves, and this misuse actually gets in the way
of free breathing. Tensions from this form of misuse,
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Alexander Murray, Alexander Technique teacher
and former principal flutist of the London Philharmonic, describes how he first began to work with allowing the inhale to be reflexive:
My earliest recollection of applying what I
learned from the Alexander Technique to playing was (and continues to be) to rid the mind
of ‘taking a breath’ to play. This is an important
aspect of all my practicing. If I wish to play a long
phrase, I first exhale, then allow the breath to
return (through the nostrils silently) and then
play when the breath is ready to move out.
When playing continuously, I always take time
to breathe, even if it means stopping the flow
of music. Naturally this is applied to practice.
When performing, one does what the music
requires with whatever means one has at the
time. 23
Of course inhalation can be controlled, by interrupting the breathing process at any point and inhaling,
but done in this way, the inhalation becomes tension-producing and uncomfortable instead of free.
It is also similar to what one does when frightened
by something, like an unexpected loud noise. One
gasps. Gasping is part of the startle reflex, a pattern
in which a person gasps, raises the shoulders, draws
the head down into the shoulders, collapses the chest,
locks the knees, and generally stiffens the entire body
when startled. This pattern is present to a lesser degree when an oboist gasps for a breath instead of allowing the ribs to expand freely to inhale at the end of
a phrase. Gasping is inefficient, and as contradictory
as it sounds since one gasps in an effort to bring in air
quickly, one does not have time to breathe like that.
Oboists ‘take’ breaths of all different sizes while
playing and in life outside of playing. The size of the
breath is determined by the body’s need for oxygen.
After exercising for a while, the breaths are bigger
and more frequent, but not bigger or more frequent
than necessary. While sitting and watching a movie,
the breath will be slower and smaller because of a
lesser need. After playing a short phrase on the oboe,
the following inhale is likely to be fairly small, but
at the end of a long phrase, the breath will be bigger and quicker, because it is needed. If one needs a
great deal of air quickly because there is a long phrase
coming up, by simply knowing this one can allow the
ribs to expand quicker as the air comes in quicker, if
the ribs are not restricted by excess tension. This is
far more efficient and effective than gasping. Gasping
produces unwanted tension that must then be overcome. Free ribs do not. The requirements of the music
determine the speed and size of the breath with minimal tension as long as one’s use is coordinated and
free. “No rigidity anywhere: that’s the objective,”24
states Robinson.
The late Arnold Jacobs, former tubist in the Chicago Symphony who was sought after by musicians
of all types for lessons in breathing, advocated “letting the music be the guide.”25 This is similar to what
happens in conversation. Joseph Robinson writes, “I
challenge anyone to discover a friend who, during
casual conversation, prepares for a remark by taking a breath. The fact is that we go along, communicating very comfortably with one another without
intentionally doing anything at all.”26 This idea also
came up during my interview with Julie Ann Giacobassi. She said, “When I have a young student, I say
to them, ‘When you answer the phone, you don’t take
a deep breath and say “HELLO!”’ So much of playing
can be very much like what your air is doing when
you’re conversational. You don’t take a deep breath
before you start to talk. The air just comes in and
out naturally.”27 In a master class at the Banff Center
for the Arts in 2001, Richard Killmer, professor of
oboe at the Eastman School of Music, remarked, “you
breathe as often as you need to, and as naturally as
you can.” In order to “breathe naturally,” one needs
to stay out of the way of the breathing process by
stopping misuse and using oneself well.
The idea of breath ‘support’ is another confusing
concept for many wind musicians. One is told to “use
more air support” or “support the air,” and everyone
agrees it is necessary, but identifying what is means
exactly is difficult. Some people maintain that it is the
inward and upward push of the abdominal muscles
that results in support, but one is able to do this push
and produce an unsupported sound. Focusing on the
abdominal muscles can be tricky as well because it
may cause a rigid tightening that gets in the way of
playing freely. This is a subject also discussed in my
interview with Julie Ann Giacobassi. She said,
John Baron (her Alexander Technique teacher)
kept trying to get me to relax my abdominal
muscles, which was another thing which is just
so anti-everything you’ve been brought up [to
do], particularly with holding your stomach in
and all of that stuff. And I found that very hard
to do. It’s not support but tension that he was
trying to get rid of – that sort of gripping the
abdominal muscles which you don’t need to do.
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You need to have a strong support but there
can’t be any tension in it at all. 28
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Other oboists describe support as having to do with
air pressure, speed, focus, or air direction. It seems
that support has something to do with all of these
ideas together, and that the lack of a sufficient amount
of any of them can result in an unsupported sound.
When all of these are in balance, a feeling of support
results. An interesting definition of support is proposed by Michael McCallion in The Voice Book: “To
put it simply, it is the refusal to collapse.”29 Refusing
to collapse is a natural result of using oneself well.
The feeling of ease that accompanies good use and
coordinated breathing mechanisms has a positive affect on every aspect of oboe playing. For example
when one isn’t constantly fighting tension resulting
from misuse, one has more endurance. If the oboist
is familiar with what a neutral level of muscle tone is,
he can take advantage of that during even brief rests
in the music, releasing the higher level of muscle tone
required to play the oboe and returning to a minimal
level of muscle tone for a moment. Jim Mitchell, an
oboist in the Chicago area, said in our interview that
he appreciates having that ‘neutral’ to return to, and
takes every possible chance to “back up, let go.”30 If
the oboist is constantly in a state of excessive tension,
even during rests, he will not be able to use the rests
to his best advantage and will have less endurance
than he otherwise could have. He will also feel more
tired when he is done.
Any number of other problems that oboists encounter while playing can be related to excessive
tension and the oboists’ habits of misuse, including
problems with sound, vibrato, intonation, the throat,
jaw, and embouchure. Every oboist has experienced
playing with a bad reed that requires too much work
to control, resulting in a response, sound, vibrato, intonation, and so on that is not as free and easy as one
would like it to be, and making one feel very tired or
even in pain by the end of a rehearsal. Then the oboist makes that last adjustment to the reed and everything falls into place: the response is easy, the sound
and vibrato are free and pleasing, intonation is accurate. Everything is easier. A similar improvement in
how one feels while playing, though spread out over a
longer period of time, is possible with integrated use
of oneself, free of excessive tension. Like no longer
having to fight a bad reed, one no longer has to fight
excessive tension. Good use doesn’t exempt anyone
from needing to have talent, to practice, or to find a
great teacher, but like a good reed, it certainly helps.
Though the relationship between an individual’s
overall condition of coordination and the embouchure, jaw, and articulation can be difficult to imagine for some people, studies do show the connection.
One of the studies cited at the beginning of this article states that forward head posture (allowing the
head to fall forward of one’s center of gravity) “may
lead to multiple sources of pain,” including “temporomandibular joint (TMJ) pain from faulty head, neck,
and mandibular alignment.”31 Misuse such as forward head posture changes the relationship between
the head and neck and the rest of oneself, disrupting the balance of the jaw. This changes the demands
placed on the musculature and therefore impedes the
functioning of the jaw. Even if the imbalance is not
exaggerated enough to cause the oboist pain in the
temporomandibular joint, the compromised functioning of the jaw and unbalanced tensions could
have implications for the embouchure and tongue as
well because of proximity alone.
Several oboists who I interviewed had noted a
change in embouchure and tonguing as a result of a
change in the way they were using themselves. Andrea Ridilla, professor of oboe at Miami University,
was able to tongue faster after an adjustment made to
the relationship between the head and neck initially
made by an Alexander teacher. Both Julie Ann Giacobassi and Daniel Stolper, former professor of oboe
at Michigan State University, oboe instructor at the
Interlochen Arts Academy, and editor of The Double
Reed, stated that a slow tongue was the result of tension. Giacobassi stated that “the more tense and rigid
one is the slower the tongue is.”32 Stolper observed the
relationship between tension and rigidity in his chest
and the functioning of his embouchure and tongue:
“And if I did that (a use of himself that resulted in a
tightening of the chest) I found that my embouchure
was getting tired, my tongue was getting tired, lots
of things.”33
Alexander Technique principles may also be applied to personal practice time. Every musician has
probably been taught to practice a new or technical
piece of music slowly. Slow practice works. Frank
Wilson, M.D., a neurologist, describes why it works:
Slow practice is the key to rapid technical progress. The cerebellum is a non-judgmental part
of the brain; it assumes that any repetitive activity in the muscular system is being repeated
because the conscious mind is trying to make
it automatic. The cerebellum will be just as efficient an automatizer of incorrect sequences
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of timing as of those that are correct. When
practicing takes place at a pace too fast for accurate playing, there is very little chance for the
material to be mastered, and reliable, confident
performance simply will not occur. On the other
hand, it is probably true that practice for speed
is seldom necessary. The cerebellum can supply
all the speed wanted if patterning is correct during practice.34
This statement probably also explains how habits of
misuse become automatic as well. In Alexander lessons, the student learns that the first step toward
changing a habit is to become aware of it. An oboist
can become aware of those habits of misuse that may
be interfering with her playing and her practice. The
second step toward changing a habit is to stop oneself from doing something that one knows is misuse.
In personal practice, this skill can help the oboist to
just stop and consider what she is doing and how she
can do it better, rather than blindly pressing ahead
and practicing mistakes and probably misusing herself. On the other hand, when something goes well
in playing, an oboist with good awareness and coordination will be more likely to notice and repeat the
process that had the desired result in order to achieve
that result again.
The ability to stop and consider how one is doing
what one is doing will also help an oboist to avoid
fatigue and therefore harmful levels of tension. An
oboist who is accustomed to and is in the positive
habit of being comfortable while playing will be more
likely to be comfortable while performing under
pressure as well. From the audience’s point of view,
this makes her more pleasant to watch than someone
who appears to be suffering.
The oboist who practices comfortable playing will
also be more able to avoid or manage the symptoms of
stage fright. The startle pattern reflex was described
earlier in this article with reference to gasping. When
a person is startled, besides gasping, he instantly
shortens his neck, raises his shoulders, collapses his
chest, grips his abdominal muscles, locks his knees,
and generally stiffens his entire body. John Henes,
an Alexander teacher in Chicago and former Lyric
Opera trumpet player, points out that the physical
manifestations of stage fright are like the startle reflex, only to a lesser degree and slowed to span hours,
days, or even weeks. Using oneself well as taught in
Alexander Technique lessons, however, is the opposite of this reaction. Therefore, as Henes concluded,
“even though you are still nervous you don’t have to
allow those physical manifestations to take over; you
can be doing the opposite.”35
Several oboists I interviewed described ways in
which lessons in the Alexander Technique helped
them to deal with the symptoms of performing under pressure. Julie Ann Giacobassi said, “part of it is
just trying to bring myself back to the really comfortable sitting position that he’s (her Alexander teacher)
worked on (with) me in a session, trying to remember
that…and getting the air flowing calmly instead of
hyperventilating.”36 Alecia Lawyer has found that the
Technique helps her deal with her thinking during a
performance:
I do feel like it [the Technique] also helps me to
integrate myself when I am performing. I mean,
I have done a lot of studying of what goes on
in your brain, too, when you play and audition
and stuff. It really, I think, makes you help your
thoughts skim by, you know, I’m talking about
when you have negative thoughts. I think that
Alexander helps you deal with the really bad
physical stuff that happens when you are nervous, but also lets you calm your brain down,
too.”37
The discussion of technique above included Peter
Cooper’s experience of being able to perform Tombeau de Couperin to the best of his ability by keeping
his neck free. He said, “what it (the Alexander Technique) helps is being able to pull off under pressure
things that you can play.”38 Cooper gave another example of this experience as well:
I find that when I have to play soft low notes in
the orchestra, there is an instinctive tendency
to crunch up your torso and make your body
look like the way you want the note to sound
– small and un-noticeable. I find the Alexander
Technique is actually the complete opposite of
that physically. If I think about using Alexander
Technique, I’m thinking about my neck, thinking about my back, thinking about my shoulders,
thinking about my head, and the lower notes are
much more likely to come out softly and without
cracking. I remember thinking, why is it so easy
to play soft low notes when you’re alone and so
difficult to play them in the orchestra? Years ago
I remember thinking [that]. I realize it’s because
of the tension I create in myself when I’m in the
orchestra. If I don’t manufacture that tension,
then I’m more likely to play how I can play.”39
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As one can imagine, tensions resulting from time
spent collapsing over a reed have an influence on
one’s use of oneself in general, and while playing the
oboe. At the very least, it would be nice to have a way
to be more comfortable while making reeds rather
than feeling tight, strained and sore afterwards. This
is particularly important for those oboists who sell
reeds and therefore spend even more time than most
making reeds.
There exist as many specific applications of the
Alexander Technique to playing the oboe as there are
oboists, and probably even more. This article demonstrates many ways in which an oboist’s habits of
use can affect her oboe playing, but each oboist’s distinct habits and relationship to the oboe will make
manifestations of Alexander Technique work and the
resulting more-integrated, coordinated use differ. A
couple of constants do seem to present themselves
among those oboists who have learned and applied
the principles of the Alexander Technique to their
playing, however. One is that playing the oboe or
English horn gets easier. The other is that these oboists appreciate the additional skills acquired in their
Alexander lessons and frequently and effectively use
them to deal with challenges that they encounter in
their playing. How the Alexander Technique could
benefit the individual reader will only be discovered
if that reader takes some lessons. u
Glossary
endgaining carrying out an activity without
paying attention to how the activity is being
accomplished.
directions one’s own thoughts, or verbal or handson suggestions from the Alexander teacher,
that encourage a free and balanced use of the
musculature.
inhibition (also called ‘non-doing’) pausing and
consciously deciding not to do an activity in a
habitual way. By stopping the habitual misuse
from happening, the person can then choose to
do something in a better way.
means-whereby a term Alexander coined to refer to
the steps taken to reach a goal or to do whatever
we are doing.
use a person’s overall condition of coordination.
Often heard in the Alexander Technique in the
phrase ‘the use of the self’, meaning how one
organizes oneself in an activity.
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The pressure of performance upsets one’s equilibrium.
What happens to a musician when he or she is nervous
is not a reaction of just the mind or body, but the whole
person. The Alexander Technique, by addressing the
habits of the whole individual, can help a musician to
deal with the manifestations of stage fright.
Oboists are probably as well known by the general public for being hunched over whittling a piece of
wood as for giving the tuning ‘A’ in an orchestra concert. Oboists have so much invested in their ability
to make a comfortable reed that they tie themselves
into knots in the effort to make the ideal reed. Oboists’ use of themselves is notoriously bad during reedmaking, and their habits associated with making
reeds are probably even stronger than those related
to playing the oboe. Daniel Stolper said, “I have tried
to expose my students [to principles of the Alexander Technique] partly through some of my own little
ideas of stance at the oboe and posture and stance at
the reed desk even.”40 Julie Ann Giacobassi shared the
following story in our interview when asked about
her approach to personal practice time:
I know one big thing about it is reed-making.
Because at some point during the Alexander
sessions he [her Alexander teacher] said he has
seen a lot of oboists, and he said, ‘What about
reed-making? You never talk about that. Why
don’t you bring your stuff in and show me how
you’re making reeds?’ So here I am, we were
halfway through the session and I’m all relaxed
and ready to go. I pick up my reed knife and my
shoulder goes up, I hunch over, all this tension in
my hand and he just fell apart laughing. I would
say that it was a definite help for him to help
me to line up and approach the reed-making
the same way. You know, I had this nice posture and the whole bit and then just destroyed
it all in a fell swoop, every time I’d pick up that
damn knife! It was so funny, because it was one
of those ‘DUH’ things that I’d never considered
at all. Reed-making – that necessary evil.”41
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Notes
1 Rene Cailliet, M.D., “Abnormalities of the Sitting Postures of Musicians,” Medical Problems of
Performing Artists 5 (December 1990): 134.
2 Glenna Batson, P.T., M.A., “Conscious Use of the
Human Body in Movement: The Peripheral Neuroanatomic Basis of the Alexander Technique,”
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80
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
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11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
MPPA 11 (March 1996): 5.
William J. Dawson, M.D., “Caring for your
‘Equipment’ – Arts Medicine for the Double
Reed Player,” The Double Reed 17 (1994): 56.
Raoul Tubiana, M.D., and others, “Fundamental
Positions for Instrumental Musicians,” MPPA 4
(June 1989): 73.
William J. Dawson, M.D., “Common Problems
of Wind Instrumentalists,” MPPA 12 (December
1997): 110.
Nicholas F. Quarrier, M.H.S., P.T., “Forward
Head Posture in Vocal Performance,” MPPA 8
(March 1993): 31.
Christine B. Novak, P.T., M.Sc., “Conservative
Management of Thoracic Outlet Syndrome in
the Musician,” MPPA 8 (March 1993): 20.
Tubiana and others, 73.
Dawson, “Common Problems of Wind Instrumentalists,” 110.
Heinz I. Lippmann, M.D., “A Fresh Look at the
Overuse Syndrome in Musical Performers: Is
‘Overuse’ Overused?,” MPPA 6 (June 1991): 58.
Carol McCullough, “The Alexander Technique
and the Pedagogy of Paul Rolland” (Research
paper for D.M.A., Arizona State University,
1996), 55.
Phone interview with the author, 2002. Printed
in Andrea Lynn Fedele, “The Alexander
Technique: A Basis for Oboe Performance and
Teaching” (D.M.A. diss., University of Illinois at
Urbana-Champaign, 2003), 224-228.
Ibid.
Ibid.
Lana C. Neal, “The American Oboe School: Its
History and Hallmarks,” The Double Reed 22
(1999): 53.
Vernon E. Krahl, “Anatomy of the Mammalian
lung,” in Wallace O. Fenn and Hermann Rahn,
eds., Handbook of Physiology: A Critical, Comprehensive Presentation of Physiological Knowledge and Concepts, iii: Respiration (Washington,
DC: American Physiological Society, 1964),
213; quoted in Pedro De Alcantara, Indirect
Procedures: A Musician’s Guide to the Alexander
Technique (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1997), 90.
F. Matthias Alexander, Constructive Conscious
Control of the Individual (USA: E.P. Dutton &
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
Co., Inc., 1923), 1997 ed. from collection entitled
The Books of F. Matthias Alexander (New York:
IRDEAT, 1997), 334.
Evelyn Rothwell, Oboe Technique, 3rd ed., (London: Oxford University Press, 1982), 72-73.
Cornelius Reid, A Dictionary of Vocal Terminology: An Analysis (New York: Joseph Patelson
Music House, 1983), 88; quoted in De Alcantara,
93.
Quarrier, “Forward Head Posture in Vocal Performance,” 29.
Joseph Robinson, “Oboists, Exhale Before Playing,” The Double Reed 19 (1996): 95.
Alexander Murray, “The Alexander Technique,”
Hands On, Achieving a Healthier Relation With
Your Flute 8 (Spring 1996): n.p.; quoted in Solomon R. Baer, “The Alexander Technique and
Performance: A Clarinetist’s Journey” (D.M.A.
diss., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2002), 48.
Robinson, 96.
Solomon R. Baer, “The Alexander Technique and
Performance: A Clarinetist’s Journey” (D.M.A.
diss., University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, 2002), 50.
Robinson, 95.
Ibid.
Michael McCallion, The Voice Book (London:
Faber and Faber, 1989), 37; quoted in De Alcantara, 94.
Quarrier, “Forward Head Posture in Vocal Performance,” 31.
Interview with the author, 2002. Printed in
Andrea Lynn Fedele, “The Alexander Technique:
A Basis for Oboe Performance and Teaching”
(D.M.A. diss., University of Illinois at UrbanaChampaign, 2003), 257-263.
5/16/07 6:47:56 PM
The Double Reed
Please feel free to contact Andrea at anewfedele@
yahoo.com with any questions or comments. Andrea
encourages you to visit the American Society for the
Alexander Technique website (www.alexandertech.
org) as well.
Articles
34 Frank R. Wilson, M.D., “Mind, Muscle, and
Music: Physiological Clues to Better Teaching,” (Walnut Creek, CA: published privately by
Frank Wilson, 1981): 14.
35 Baer, 82-83.
36 Phone interview with the author, 2002. Printed
39 Ibid.
81
Andrea Newhouse Fedele (AmSAT-certified) is an
oboist as well as an Alexander Technique teacher. She
began studying the Alexander Technique both to help
her achieve greater ease and comfort while playing the
oboe and to improve her well-being in general. She became certified to teach the Alexander Technique while
she was pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts degree at
the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, combining what she had learned about the applications of
the Technique to playing the oboe in her doctoral dissertation entitled “The Alexander Technique: A Basis
for Oboe Performance and Teaching”. She currently
resides in Minneapolis, Minnesota, teaching oboe at
St. Cloud State University, the College of St. Benedict
and Concordia University and maintaining a private
oboe studio as well. In addition, Andrea teaches private Alexander Technique lessons and gives Alexander
Technique workshops.
5/16/07 6:47:57 PM
82
Outta the Closet
Outta the Closet
Nehama Timstitt
Jerusalem, Israel
S
ince my arrival in Oboeville eleven years ago,
I have become aware of a certain four-letter
word that is never mentioned verbally or in
print. To me it seems like a useful, quite mentionable
word, and the members of my quartet (of different
instrumental persuasions) don’t hesitate to make it a
subject of lively discussion:
Flute: “You know those objects brass players stick up
the bells of their horns to kept things dynamically
manageable?”
Oboe: “Yeah. Mutes.”
Articles
Clarinet: “In the second movement of this piece, the
oboe sounds like it’s just plain taking over.”
Flute: “So can you get a mute somewhere?”
Oboe: “Uh, they don’t sell oboe mutes in stores;
I guess it has to be an original job. I never heard it
mentioned before.”
I was unprepared for the sound. However, I
generally liked the new tone quality. Suddenly,
screechy reeds worked, though some made me feel
like I was sitting behind an Undefined Woodwind.
Removing the new invention in time for the oboe
solo was impossible, requiring an enormous amount
of concentrated digging. So I cut a black shoelace in
half and tied it around the middle of what was left of
the sock. Two short string ends now hung down for
quick, easy yanking.
Since I felt that this subject was now out of the
closet (in every sense), I began asking teachers and
oboe acquaintances if they had had any personal
mute experiences.
Surprise. Ninety-nine percent answered
“yes,” each one telling of his/her mute version and
adventures therewith, technical details included.
I hope that someday I will open a book on oboes
and find a few pages about this fascinating topic.
Anybody out there....? u
Classical Guitar: “This is a howl.”
After the rehearsal, I listened to the piece in question on a homemade CD. They were right. I really
blew that one.
Whereupon I stuck my hand into a drawer in me
closet and pulled out a clean, black sock. It looked
too voluminous for an oboe bell, so I cut the sock in
half. In it went. After adjustments here and there, so
as to free the low C and Cs , it did its job well and
interestingly.
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83
It’s Never Too Late: Beginning the Bassoon at 70
Robert M. Stein
Los Angeles, California
“Well, you got to the bassoon as soon as
you could! Very Warmest Wishes,
Chris Weait, June 4, 2005”
I
21 NeverTooLate.indd 83
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have always been an adult music student. I began
playing the piano at forty. I started the cello at
fifty. And at seventy began playing the bassoon
after injuring my right thumb and no longer able to
hold the bow without pain.
The bassoon was recommended to me as a good
replacement for the cello by a friend and well known
conductor along with three pieces of advice. “Start
with a good instrument - it will make your playing
easier and at your age easier is important. Listen to
lots of CDs to get an idea of what the bassoon should
sound like. And most importantly – when you attend
master classes, don’t open your case and they’ll think
you’re the teacher.”
So what are the benefits, pitfalls and problems of
learning to play the bassoon as an older adult?
Learning anything new as an older adult is brain
food. Recent studies have shown that the brain, like
other muscles in the body is a “use it or lose it” proposition. Previously, it was believed that as we age it
was strictly “lose it” but that is no longer believed to
be the case. The brain is actually vitalized by having
to learn new skills, process new ideas and store new
information.
Memorizing, on the other hand, is an entirely
different story. When we are young we can memorize large amounts of information and spew it out on
command. But as we get older memorizing becomes
much more of a challenge. As with many things, as
older adults we have to learn to replace the sheer power and strength of youth with the more subtle and elegant solutions of maturity. In the case of memorizing,
techniques such as association and mnemonics work
quite effectively. How appropriate that mnemonics
derives from Mnmosyne, the name of the mother of
the Muses in Greek Mythology.
Something we should not forget are ego issues.
We older adults are used to being competent in our
fields and admired for our expertise and accomplish-
ments. Therefore ego can play a significant role in the
psyche of beginning older adult students. I like to tell
the story of when I was learning to play piano in my
forties. My next door neighbor was Joseph Silverstein,
the then concert master of the Boston Symphony. I
must admit that I had became just a bit too arrogant
when my teacher, who loved adult students, told me
how gifted I was. Mistakenly I pushed Joe, despite his
reluctance, to listen to me play and tell me what he
thought of his gifted friend’s playing. After hearing
me play he responded as diplomatically as he could
and still preserve our friendship by saying “The best I
can say about your playing is that at your age Mozart
had been dead for ten years.”
We must as older adults set aside our egos and
enjoy the pleasures and accept what might be said to
be the indignities of being a student. I often deal with
this by thinking of myself and my progress in terms
of a youngster. I think I’m now playing like a junior in
high school and aspire to soon reach the level of a college freshman. What better way to judge my progress.
I certainly don’t want to compare myself to bassoonists who have been playing for thirty years or more.
It’s very important as an adult learner to determine just how good a player you want to be and are
capable of becoming. Do you just want to play the
bassoon or do you really want to become a very good
bassoonist with the technique, musicality and sound
that requires? Either goal is appropriate but each requires a very different commitment and challenge
physically and mentally.
I chose the latter, to become a very good if not
an outstanding bassoonist. In making this choice I
was prepared to make the commitment necessary to
achieve, as near as I could, my goal. When I asked
my teacher if I had the talent to achieve that goal I
was reminded of the apocryphal story of Franz Liszt
who when told by an admirer that his playing was an
expression of genius replied “Madam, my genius is
practicing ten hours a day.”
A very effective modality for learning a foreign
language as an adult is the total immersion program.
These programs consist of traveling to a foreign
country where the language is spoken, living with
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It’s Never Too Late: Beginning the Bassoon at 70
Articles
a family, taking courses and only speaking the language to be acquired. In a way, it is possible if one is
willing to make the effort, to immerse oneself in the
sub-culture of the bassoon. The bassoon community
is a very welcoming one and there are many readily
accessible programs that provide knowledge, support
and encouragement for the adult learner.
I have attended the annual IDRS Conferences
and use the IDRS forum on a regular basis. There is
the Glickman-Popkin Bassoon Camp in Little Switzerland each year. Last year I audited the Judith LeClair
master classes at Hidden Valley. I have attended several Bassoon Day programs at various colleges. In
every instance I have been warmly received, learned
a lot, met a lot of wonderful people of all ages who I
keep in contact with and come away with renewed
enthusiasm which is very valuable in keeping me going during many long hours of practice.
Learning bassoon has been a rich and rewarding experience for me. Since I am only at the performance level of a high school junior, I still have a long,
long road to travel. u
21 NeverTooLate.indd 84
5/16/07 6:48:19 PM
85
The Double Reed
Cor Anglais:
Selected Chapters
Rachel Tolmie
St. Ives, New South Wales, Australia
Chapter 7:
Breathing in detail
“Breathing for the Oboe” first appeared in The Studio
Vol. 9 No. 1, February 2003. It is reprinted with permission. ED
B
***************
22 CorAnglais.indd 85
Having sorted out the diaphragm movements, it is
important to remember that the chest cavity is quite
large and extends down your back and sides as well,
so everything needs to expand and deflate. It can be
helpful to think of a tyre expanding and deflating
all around the middle of the body (just below the rib
cage) while playing.
Observe what happens when lying on your stomach. The back expands and contracts. This movement
causes the lungs to gather in more air. If we can cause
the back and bottom of the lungs to work, this is favourable for any wind player.
Put your hands on your sides, thumbs pointing
forwards. These hands must be high enough so they
can feel the expansion and contraction of the bottom of the chest cavity (more particularly, the sides
and back.) Exhale, pushing in with your hands. Still
pushing with your hands, try to inhale (or inflate
that imaginary tyre.) Your diaphragm muscle, sides
and back will fight the pressure of your hands. Do
this exercise three times, feeling the strength of your
muscles. You should feel an expansion all the way
around your middle. This exercise really wakes your
muscles up.
Another good exercise for getting air into the bottom of your lungs is to stand up and simply bend over
from the waist. Breathe a few times in this position.
Your back will expand and contract as your thorax
cavity expands and contracts which causes the lungs
to expand and contract.
A final exercise is to light a candle and hold it out
so that when you exhale slowly the candle flickers.
This is an excellent breath control exercise. Keep the
candle flickering as long as possible without blowing
it out.
Articles
reathing for the oboe is very simple. The first
rule is that it comes from the diaphragm.
This means that the diaphragm is the muscle
that needs to be activated when breathing in deeply.
When you breathe in deeply the brain tells the
phrenic nerves to activate the diaphragm. The diaphragm then contracts, moving downwards and flattening out. Because the diaphragm is placed at the
bottom of the lungs, at the base of the thorax (chest)
cavity, this flattening out causes the lungs to expand
and breathe in. At the same time the intercostal
nerves under the ribs tell the inspiratory intercostal
muscles to move the ribs outwards also causing the
lungs to expand.
When breathing out the expiratory set of intercostal muscles are told by the intercostal nerves to
pull the rib-cage inwards, decreasing the chest cavity. At the same time the abdominal muscles push
the diaphragm inwards and upwards also decreasing
the chest cavity. These movements cause the lungs to
breathe out.
BREATHING OUT IS VERY IMPORTANT. ALWAYS BREATHE OUT BEFORE BREATHING IN.
Breathe out a lot but only breathe in a normal amount
of air. As an oboist you only have a small hole (ie. the
reed) to blow through so you cannot possibly blow
all your air down the reed. As a result you gradually
accumulate carbon dioxide if you keep breathing in
without getting rid of what is left over from the last
time you breathed. You will faint if you do not expel all air before breathing in. Therefore you breathe
out first, for longer than you breathe in. The lungs are
very big so you will discover that even if you breathe
out like this you will still have enough air to play. The
lungs will work automatically if the diaphragm is
moving correctly.
Exercises:
***************
To sum up, the diaphragm is at the base of our lungs.
As wind players, we use the diaphragm to control our
breathing. The lungs are contained in the thorax or
chest cavity. In order to let the lungs expand or breath
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Cor Anglais: Selected Chapters
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in we need to expand this thorax cavity as much as
possible. We do that by telling our diaphragm to push
down and out and letting the front, back and sides
of the thorax cavity expand. This allows the lungs to
expand, inhaling air.
To exhale we need to tell the diaphragm to push in
and up using our abdominal muscles. This decreases
the thorax cavity causing the lungs to breathe out
or exhale. The back and sides will automatically
be drawn inwards in response to the diaphragm’s
movement.
Support is when you breathe in and then keep
the stomach extended outwards in the just breathed
in position while playing. Firm up the muscle while
breathing out. Keep a lot of air whooshing down your
instrument while doing this.
It is very important to keep throat relaxed while
breathing. If it becomes tense, you tense the vocal
chords. This is bad for your vocal chords and leads to
noisy breathing. When you breathe, open your mouth
and keep the reed on the bottom lip, then close your
mouth again to play.
Chapter 11:
What is Attitude?
“What is Attitude” first appeared in The Studio Vol.12
No.3, August 2006. It is reprinted with permission. ED
Attitude is the way you behave. What you say, the
way you say it, level of politeness and the way you approach life. Good attitude is being grateful for your
opportunities, wanting to practice, practicing in a
constructive way with positive energy and making
the most of your time.
Bad attitude is grumbling, complaining about
practice or rehearsal or life in general. Bad attitude
is letting your own ego take over, putting yourself
before others and being discourteous to conductors
and other musicians to their face and worse, dissecting their character and saying bad things about them
when they are not there to defend themselves. Bad attitude is not helping someone in trouble or not doing
something, when you have been asked politely to do
something important.
Good attitude is being nice to people, complimenting them when they do something well and giving them the benefit of the doubt when they slip up.
Good attitude is more than practicing when required.
It is being aware of what you are saying and behaving
well when the instrument is not in your mouth but
still in your hand. It is behaving well away from the
instrument altogether, as well as when you are playing. It is knowing that it is OK to relax and chill out
after a job well done. It is not being too hard on yourself and learning from your mistakes. It is being able
to laugh at yourself. It is taking your job seriously. It
is not laughing at others but always laughing at their
jokes. It is being sociable and then working hard when
alone. Good attitude is not talking in rehearsal about
something unrelated to the rehearsal. Good attitude
is treating a conductor with respect. Good attitude
is listening carefully and not talking instead. Good
attitude is doing the best job you can with what you
have been given and not wishing yourself in someone
else’s shoes. Good attitude is playing the part you are
given and not insisting on a more interesting part or
job. It is being prepared to play any part in the oboe
section. You must play as part of a team well before
you can play solo well. Music is about teamwork like
any other profession. Create good vibes and be pleasant within the section or group. And most importantly be prepared and have fun.
Good attitude is a skill that is continuously evolving. You do not get it right one day and decide you
have good attitude. You must work on it every day in
the same way you practice your instrument. Smiling
helps and being happy. If you are not happy you need
to concentrate harder on being pleasant and polite.
Practice on your instrument is about playing better. This can mean bringing your bad playing up to
an acceptable level. This then makes you a more consistent player. Consistent good playing is what it is all
about. The same logic applies to attitude. Bring your
bad attitude days up to an acceptable good attitude
and you will find it easier to play consistently.
Music is a great thing to do. Treat your own playing with respect and be kind about other people’s
musical attempts. After all, musicians understand
the work and energy that goes into making music.
So, please be nice to and about each other. We want
others to know that it is the best of professions and
one of the most challenging and interesting things
you can do. Music is always used at important occasions and celebrations. That is because music makes
everyone feel better. It can also help us deal with grief
and gives people something beautiful to remember,
In other words, music helps us celebrate life. It deserves our best attitude.
Be proud of your musical profession or playing.
Be helpful and courteous to conductors and administrators, managers, recording engineers, accompanists and other fellow musicians. Remember they
work just as hard as you do and they want it to work
5/20/07 9:31:02 AM
The Double Reed
less then an hour before you may feel dizzy, uncomfortable or nauseas. If it has to be less then an hour
before, eat a small amount.
The way you approach music needs concentration, attention to detail and the ability to live in the
present. Learn from the past but also move on and
treat each practice session or concert like a new
experience.
Attitude is also professionalism and like your instrument playing, it needs practice every day.
Chapter 12:
The Musical Career
“The Musical Career: a Letter to Students” first appeared in The Studio Vol.11 No.2, May 2005. It is reprinted with permission. ED
Dear Student,
Right, so you have a music scholarship at school
but where do you go from there? Join an orchestra
and do as much music as possible, of course. Then
when you are at tertiary level you need to think laterally. While doing a B.Mus or a BME you need a
job. This is very important. The best musicians are
well-balanced, with a firm grip on realities like the
weekly pay cheque and going to work regularly. Very
talented musicians sometimes do not think of realities until it is too late. They assume they will walk
into a job. Some do. If you are talented you will have a
musical career. However it never happens the way or
when you expect it to. It is important to realise that
playing music is not the only thing you can do.
What happens in between gigs?
As a musician you work very hard. Music is your
highest priority work-wise. That is fine but a lot of
music is financially unrewarding. That is OK as long
as you have something to fill the financial gap. Many
well-known artists have been secretaries, retail salepersons, and waitresses. Or librarians, barmen/maids
or real estate agents. Many musicians find music related jobs within the industry. You could start with a
job selling CDs in a music store. However I am in favour of a job outside the industry as it helps to maintain perspective and anyway it is interesting to meet
people from other professions. It is also important as
these people see you as you and not just “that really
fab oboe player.” The people who you work with at the
“office” do not mind whether you play an instrument
or not. This reduces pressure enormously on yourself
as you are not forever measuring yourself on your
musical ability.
Articles
out well too. Employers look first for motivation and
enthusiasm for the job being offered. That is another
way of saying they are looking for a good attitude.
Uphold traditions in music (eg. stand for the Hallelujah chorus, though not if you are actually playing
it) Easter music, Christmas music, outdoors music,
chamber music and orchestral music as well as your
solo music. All have histories with past performances. Research all the music you play.
Look after your instrument, reeds and equipment, also music, (never keep originals of large group
music; give it back). Respect copyright laws and when
writing respect your sources. Always give fresh, interesting performances that are up to date and in
today’s mode. Baroque instrumentalists concentrate
on re-creating the past. That is fine as they research
these things endlessly and the end product is a joy to
listen to. Modern instruments demand a freshness of
approach and a modem interpretation. By all means
use old techniques and ideas or articulation but remember you are in the 21st century.
Playing the oboe can be expensive (instrument
and repairs, new music, reeds, reed equipment) so
make sure it is a financially viable option before taking the plunge.
Pay attention to your soul and spirit. Whether
that means an established religion or just the ideas by
which you live your life, make sure you are spiritually
refreshed and that you have a clear idea about the best
way to live your life. This self-confidence will help the
way you interact with other people. Being a musician
is a very sociable thing to do so you need to be able to
cope with lots of people at the same time.
Cor anglais playing especially demands a good
approach. Keep your reeds up-to-date, as you would
for your oboe. Try not to become blasé about cor anglais playing. It demands the same attention as oboe.
It is a first-class instrument in its own right and must
be treated with respect. It has a repertoire of its own.
If in a group pay attention to detail and what
people are saying about the music. Always bring a
pencil.
Make sure you are ready to go on stage. It is
amazing what you forget when nervous. Make sure
you are concentrating on what you are doing. Water
to drink, as well as soak your reeds, reeds, (a spare
one as well), an instrument whose keys you have just
cleared of water. Make sure you are wearing the right
clothes, your hair and make-up are right and that you
have cleaned your teeth. You also should have eaten
a large amount about 1 and a half hours before going
on stage. This helps stamina and concentration. If it is
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88
Cor Anglais: Selected Chapters
For example: What happens if there is a death in
the family and you take a break from playing? Are
you less important as a person because you can’t play
perfectly in tune today? This is what I mean by perspective. You are not just a musician. It is important
but not the most important thing.
Musicians get their important musical jobs when
they are relaxed, enjoying life and firmly pursuing
their life in an orderly fashion. It is not when they
are stressed, in financial difficulty or ill. Or when
they are comparing their playing to that of other
people. They have a positive outlook firmly based in
the present. They are doing something constructive
musical or otherwise each day. They are not following
some vague dream they don’t know how to achieve.
Dreams are very important but they must be
approached realistically.
PLEASE REMEMBER THAT TALENT
HAS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH
WHETHER YOU GET THAT JOB OR NOT.
So you have finished school and you want to do
a Bachelor of Music. Or perhaps a Bachelor of Music
Education (BME). A BME teaches you to become
a class room music teacher. Many good and varied
careers emerge from the music department of a good
school. A simple Diploma of Education can also be
pursued at the same time as a Bachelor’s degree. (At
another place). The organisation that does your grade
exams also has teaching diplomas you can do. A
syllabus can be found at a local music store.
MOST MUSICIANS TEACH. A teaching
certificate of some kind is a very good thing to have.
Being a private one-to-one music teacher can be
rewarding both as a teacher and financially. Being
your own boss can be fun. Joan Sutherland worked
for years as a secretary before her musical career took
off. (We do music because we love it, not because we
want to be famous.)
The best consistent musical careers I have seen
are those that started in Yrs 11 and 12 with the
student having a part-time job outside music. Or
perhaps you could start in the tertiary years. A job
in Year 11 could be three hours on a Saturday morning working as a receptionist. Find a job that uses a
computer perhaps. Understanding employers are out
there. This job gets you into the habit of good work
behaviour and helps you understand the value of a
regular income and regular hours.
Then perhaps another better job might come
along and you move to that job instead. This is while
pursuing your musical life. Your 6th job may be musical, the one you dreamed about in primary school.
This might be very fulfilling or it might be that you
find a different job that is more interesting.
There are some interesting statistics out there
that show that the majority of job-getters already
have a job and are simply transferring from one to
another one. Employers are looking for interesting,
well-balanced, mature and friendly, happy people.
And people who are genuinely interested in the job
being offered.
The thing that catches many musicians by surprise is the gaps. There are long periods of life with
very few performances in them. What do you do? See
it as an opportunity to have a party! Pursue social
activities, a non-musical job and broaden your other
interests. Play team sport or have a holiday. (Do take
holidays. Everybody needs a break sometimes.)
Yes, I hear you say, but I want to play. Look around
for any group you can play in. Community orchestras
are good for keeping the playing good when you leave
your youth orchestra. Form your own chamber group
with friends. Put on a concert at your local church.
A good idea once you leave school is to audition
for a band. By this I mean the Police band, the Army
or Navy band or the Air Force. These particular professional bands require oboes. Ring them up to see
what positions are coming up and apply. You can find
them on the internet. This is a very good job and is
similar to playing in the school band, only better.
(Remember, playing the saxophone (alto) will be important in this job.)
There are lots of bands about (Salvation Army,
Ambulance) so think laterally. If you can’t find one
watch the Anzac Day parade. They always play in
that one. (Most are voluntary.) This is generally not
the oboist thing. In a marching band oboe is banned
because it is unsafe if someone runs into you. This is
where you play the saxophone instead.
If you decide to go overseas be aware that one
tertiary institution is very like any other, world-wide.
The fun of living overseas and possibly speaking another language makes it quite interesting. Can I suggest again some kind of job while you are over there?
Find out what your visa will allow you to do. Be careful that you live and work in a SAFE area. People who
are employed will find it easier to find more work
then those who are not.
What I am trying to cover here is the interesting part of your life that involves going from being a
student to a professional person. I am suggesting that
if you combine the two from an early age the transition will be easier. What I am recommending is a
dual career.
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The Double Reed
Your musical career will have big adrenaline
rushes and low points. If you are doing something
else as well there is less pressure and you will be financially secure. This will enable you to pursue your
musical career with gusto. It will be easier to deal with
if you make music fun, don’t take other peoples opinions about your playing too seriously and remember
that music is one of many important and enjoyable
elements in your life.
Yours sincerely,
Your teacher
Rachel Tolmie
Oboist, Cor anglais player
Music degree Rachel was awarded the Fellowship in
Music, also from the AMEB in 1995. Also in this year
Rachel recorded a ‘Young Australia’ Recital for ABC
Radio, 92.9, Classic FM.
2MBS-FM, 102.5, Sydney’s Fine Music Station has been important to many musicians in Sydney. Rachel is no exception. Twice a finalist in their
Young Performer’s Award in 1989 and 1991, Rachel
returned there in 2004 and 2005 to record two CDs of
Australian oboe and piano music with John Martin.
These are called Summer Madrigal and Nightfall and
Merrymaking.
In 1996 Rachel undertook and was awarded
with Distinction, a Post-Graduate Diploma in
Performance as a Solo/Ensemble Recitalist at the
Royal College of Music, London. She was assisted in
this with an Australian Music Foundation Award, a
Sydney Conservatorium Association Award and held
a Senior Exhibition scholarship while at the College.
Currently, Rachel works as a freelance musician
in Sydney. As such, she is currently in the orchestra
for the Sydney Philharmonia Choirs and the Sydney
University Graduates Choir. As well, Rachel has had
the wonderful experience of playing casually with
the RAAF Air Command Band.
As a soloist Rachel has appeared with the Con,
High Orchestra, the Balmain Sinfonia, the EastWest Philharmonic Orchestra and the Central Coast
Symphony Orchestra. As a solo recitalist, Rachel is
currently appearing in music clubs around Sydney
with her fabulous associate artist, John Martin.
Rachel now teaches at the Central Coast
Conservatorium.
Her e-mail is [email protected]
Articles
Rachel started playing the recorder and piano when
she was four. Aged six, she won the first Eisteddfod she
entered, on the piano. She continued to win awards
at Eisteddfods (mostly Warringah and City of Sydney) on the piano, recorder and oboe for many years.
Needing an orchestral instrument to audition for the
Conservatorium of Music High School, Rachel started the oboe at age ten. Owing to her grandmother’s
generosity Rachel was able to start playing the cor anglais with a magnificent new Lorée instrument at age
twelve. Rachel still plays this instrument and would
never consider parting with it. Rachel’s first orchestra
was the Sydney North Youth Orchestra of which she
became a member in primary school. At high school
she played in the Conservatorium High School Orchestra for five of the six years of high school. She
also joined the Sydney Youth Orchestra in Year 9 of
which she was a member for many years.
Rachel had her first professional gig at age sixteen. It was Gilbert and Sullivan’s “The Yeomen of
the Guard” in the Broadwalk Studio at the Sydney
Opera House. Also in this year she started teaching
the oboe. In years 11 and 12 she took part in and was
awarded the Certificate of the Sydney Conservatorium of Music with merit.
Rachel continued her music education after her
HSC with a Bachelor of Music, also at the Con. During this time she played with many amateur and
semi-professional orchestras in Sydney. Included
among these were the Sydney Concert Orchestra, the
East-West Philharmonic Orchestra and the Balmain
Sinfonia. Also during this time, Rachel completed
her Associate in Music and her Licentiate in Music
Awards from the Australian Music Examinations
Board (AMEB). After completing her Bachelor of
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5/16/07 6:48:33 PM
90
Something New and Something Old: A Survey of Some Bassoon Recordings.
Something New and Something Old:
A Survey of Some Bassoon Recordings.
Alf Sollie
Narvik, Norway
Articles
T
he most recorded work for bassoon is, not
surprisingly, the Mozart Concerto. So far
more than one hundred recordings have been
made. Of these are about 40 currently available. And
this includes CD re-issues of old recordings like Camden (1926), Oubradous (1937), Sharrow (1947), Bidlo
(1952) and Oehlberger (1954).
So far the Mozart jubileum has triggered at least
four new recordings; Gustavo Nunez, principal Concertgebouw Amsterdam (PentaTone PTC5186 079);
Luc Loubry, principal Belgium National Orchestra
(Harp&Co CD 5050 03); Ursula Leveaux, principal
Scottish Chamber Orchestra (Linn CKD 273) and
Daniel Jemison, principal of Royal Philharmonic Orchestra London (RPO SP 005).
Also triggered by the jubileum is a re-issue of some
old French Mozart recordings. The Sinfonia Concertante from 1946 and the piano/wind quintet from
1948, both works with Maurice Allard on basson.
The Sinfonia Concertante is directed by another great
French bassonist, Fernand Oubradous. The CD also
includes the Oboe Concerto with Pierre Pierlot from
1951. The first of his three recordings (Alpha 800).
If Mozart only left us with one bassoon concerto,
Vivaldi was much more generous with his 37 concertos. The majority of these concertos are well served on
records, in particular the E minor concerto (RV 484)
with more than 30 recordings. The Naxos label has just
released volume 3 in their complete series. The soloist is a young Hungarian, Tamas Benkocs (8.557556).
There are also new albums of Vivaldi bassoon concertos from Italian label Tactus with soloists Paolo Carlini (TC 672240) and Roberto Giaccaglia (TC 672242).
Plus there is more Vivaldi from Germany - six of the
cello sonatas played by Hanno Dönneweg on bassoon
(Organum Ogm 251112).
The US label Crystal must be credited for their
many wind recordings. Recently released are Benjamin Coelho with Bravura Bassoon (CD844), Carolyn Beck with Beck and Call (CD846), and Bellissima
with Susan Nigro and her contrabassoon (CD854). All
three albums have been reviewed in The Double Reed
by Ron Klimko.
Another CD worth to mention is Music for Per
23 SomethingNew.indd 90
with Per Hannevold (Albany TROY 784). Also this
CD has been reviewed in The Double Reed. And from
Sweden Fagotto con Forza, modern Swedish music for
bassoon played by Knut Sönstevold (Phono Suecia
PSCD 164)
A lot of bassoon CDs have been made in Japan.
The majority of the recordings are domestic and not
easily available in the US and Europe. Some of the
Japanese labels, like Camerata and Denon, have international cataloges. Many European artists, like Milan
Turkovic and Michael Werba, have recorded for these
labels.
Japanese artist Isamu Magone has recorded several albums for Camerata, including four albums with
bassoon and harp, the Devienne Quartets for bassoon
and strings (32CM-515), modern Japanese concertos
(32CM-175) and Mozart coupled with Vanhal two bassoon concerto together with Milan Turkovic (32CM29). Mr. Magone has also recorded Weber’s Concerto
and the Andante and Hungarian Rondo (Canyon Classics D32L0008).
The Meister Music label has a very rich catalog of
wind recordings. They have just released their 5th bassoon and piano recital (MM 1208) with Koji Okazaki.
This is Mr. Okazaki’s fourth album for this label.
ALM Records also have many bassoon CDs. Recently released are Duos with my Friends with Shinkichi Maede (ALCD-9055) and Kiyoshi Koyama’s
Basson Francaix II (ALCD-3075). His Basson Francaix
I was released in 1999 (ALCD-3052). Another recital
from this label is with Akio Koyama, not related to
Kiyoshi (ALCD-3038).
The best known Japanese bassoonist outside Japan
is probably Masahito Tanaka and he has made two albums for the ALM label – Bassoon Banquet (ALCD-30
from 1987) and Arpeggione Sonata (ALCD-3043 from
1996). It is regrettable he has passed away, but his web
site (masahito-bsn.com) is still up, including a complete list of his recordings
If anyone would like more details, don’t hesitate to
contact me privately.
Alf Sollie
Narvik / [email protected]
5/16/07 6:48:43 PM
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91
Rivers, Spacecraft, and Opera Buffa
Michele Murray
South Park, Colorado
This article originally appeared in the Mountain Gazette, April 2006, and is reprinted here with permission of the author, Michelle Murray. ED
Life is always changing and in not so subtle ways,
either.
S
24 RiverSpacecraftOpera.indd 91
Articles
ometimes life changes in great spurts. Oh,
there is always a constant low-grade ebbing of
hormonal changes due to age and microbial
influences in the body that make a person feel strange
from time to time, but as I sit here in the Seattle- Tacoma Airport waiting for my flight to Juneau, Alaska,
to board, I try to maintain a hold on this planet’s hide
with my gripping toes. I feel a change coming on that
has more to do with the Earth tipping on her axis. My
priorities have been flung into orbit and I know it’s
my bassoon’s fault: again.
A mysterious black suitcase, which holds a bundle of wooden tubes, sits by my leg. It lies next to me
like a bad dog. A good dog would just wait without
issue. A bad dog lies there pondering remorseful
thoughts: That’s my bassoon. I don’t know if I hate
the thing, but I do know that the bassoon has issues
of its own. My bassoon lives in a closet for most of
its dormant life, shut away from my world of rivers,
horses, mountains and dories. It waits dutifully, like
devoted dog, for me to touch it, even after a hiatus of
many years.
I brought this bassoon to the Colorado River
once, to State Bridge Lodge below the confluence of
the Piney. We performed a Sunday Brunch on the
deck next to the frightened horse mural across from
the train trestle, across from the monstrous cottonwoods and the kayakers’ take-out. I think it was
Mozart - it usually is. Mozart is for the whitehaired
brunch ladies dining at cafes on Broadway in New
York City. Mozart is also for Teva/Patagonia-clad,
dreadlockdonning, hard-body river rats. They all
dine on Bloody Marys and breakfast potatoes, but
on the Colorado River, they dine below the angular
unconformity of Cretaceous sandstone, which dominates the view above the vast river.
I think, a very long time ago, I also had my bas-
soon with me in the desert sand way out in Navajo
territory looking for access to the banks of the Rio
Grande. I don’t remember the details of that part of
my life very well, mostly due to too much peyote, mescaline, psilocybin and whatever else I found in the
glove compartment of my boyfriend’s pickup truck (a
handsome cowboy dumb as a brick but adorable, like
a stray dog). I have no idea why I toted the bassoon
clear out there. I resented it even then. It took me a
long time to learn I can live without it - that I don’t
need it to serve as an entree into the lives of more sophisticated people. I don’t need a double-reed hanging out of my mouth to be a complete person.
So, my bassoon went with me to Juneau. An orchestra there was performing the “Great Requiem”:
Mozart’s (not Verdi’s, not Faure’s). My invitation was
extended to perform in Rossini’s Barber of Seville opera, as well. These opportunities arose as a result of
having once been a terrific bassoonist in New York
City. I couldn’t very well say, “No,” could I? To Mozart’s Requiem? To an opera? In Alaska? I held a day
job on Admiralty Island near Juneau working as a
geologist. My life incorporated helicopters, drill rigs
and guns on an island full of grizzlies. In the evening,
I would be flying or sailing into town for rehearsals.
The innate problem has always been with the bassoon itself: It is a poorly designed instrument. There
are “zones” on the bassoon that are unnatural to human fingers (e.g.: the Fs -G-Gs -A connection). That
cluster of notes is like the La Brea Tar Pits for a bassoonist, and not just physically - the tone is terrible!
Also, the C-Cs -D-Ds is completely contrived.
The horror! I devoted the first half of my life to making my bassoon sound good. Then, I took a dory trip
down the Grand Canyon, returned to Manhattan,
sold my things in one week and moved to the Colorado River at the confluence below the Piney. I put my
bassoon in storage to let it burn in my thoughts, simmering in the darkness of forgotten memories.
I commenced the second part of my life: geologist/river guide. For the life of me, I have no idea why
the Sitka black-tailed deer on Admiralty Island like
bassoon music. Caribou probably do too. I know that
elk will bed down outside my cabin in the winter to
5/16/07 6:48:53 PM
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92
Rivers, Spacecraft and Opera Buffa
hear me play the thing. And apparently, Rossini loved
the bassoon, too. I will play Rossini most any day. He
understood the bassoon and gracefully ignored the
ugly parts when he wrote his comic opera (Opera
Buffa), his Barber of Seville (the Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd haircut cartoon music). I’m certain Rossini
wrote the opera to showcase the bassoon.
When Maestro Hunt contacted me via e-mail
(on the island full of grizzlies between helicopter
flights and drilling core) to play the opera in Juneau, I brought my bassoon up from Colorado to
end its banishment. And the bassoon is not a light
instrument, either. The plastic handles broke off the
case first thing. Then, the shoulder strap snapped.
Even my reed box disintegrated. What Columbia or
Helly Hansen need to design for the Arctic North
is a highimpact, lightweight, waterproof, thermally
dynamic bassoon case (a black one so as to remain
concealed on stage) and sleek enough to fit under the
backseat of a D-500 helicopter. I need a bassoon case
thin enough to stow in a kayak, stout enough to pack
by burro, and probably, in consideration of the future,
a good bassoon case should be worthy of outer-space
travel, too. (An attachment for clipping on a water
bottle or carabiner would also be nice.)
So, the change I felt coming on in the airport
lounge was that, in addition to aging, I am coming
around to thinking that the bassoon may not be that
bad a dog after all. The Requiem was a tremendously
gratifying experience (directed by a different Maestro, Kyle Pickett). The opera (conducted by Maestro
W.T. Hunt) was simply inspirational! Both conductors seemed to become possessed by the dead composers’ spirits, like mad men. I didn’t have battle with
my bassoon, either. After all these years, there were
no longer any issues to resolve. No double-reed demons waiting for me when I opened the case after a
three-year hiatus. In all, great music was performed
in the Inside Passage, along a corridor utilized by humanoids for tens of thousands of years. Mozart and
Rossini were alive and well and living in Alaska.
I’ve put my bassoon back in its closet already,
and it seems content in storage again. I think perhaps, that even Hunter Thompson, Edward Abbey
but most especially now, John Fayhee, would know
exactly how it feels to put a bassoon away for a while.
Perhaps those writers know (or, in the case of the two
dead ones knew) (and, now that I think about it, in
the case of the comatose one might have known or
one day will know) that from time to time - special
needs that are above and beyond (when in doubt, go
higher...) the capacity of a normal, casual life to fulfill
24 RiverSpacecraftOpera.indd 92
need to be put away for a while. That’s because, too
much of anything will most certainly kill you. That’s
what I believe. And that’s why I have no intention
of opening that black case again for at least another
couple of years. u
Contributing editor Michele Murray lives in a very
remote part of South Park, Colorado, a part of the
country where even the nonremote parts are remote.
© Mountain Gazette Publishing 04/01/2006
©Copyright 2006 Mountain Gazette.
All Rights Reserved.
5/16/07 6:48:54 PM
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93
Where No Oboist Has Gone Before
Brenda Schuman-Post
San Francisco, California
S
25 WhereNoOboist.indd 93
- public and private, wishing me well, sending encouragement, expressing love of Star Trek and nurturing support for my daring. It was great to share
this unusual double reed/Star Trek bond.
Thus began two weeks of obsessive mental composing and intensive practicing. I created a new musical composition/arrangement by mentally improvising and mentally practicing while I drove, while
I ate, while I slept. I was urgently putting together
the various themes, chronologically and creatively. I
thought about the shows, what they expressed, what
were their differences and similarities, and all the
while my wonderful son, Elijah, nine years old at the
time, would pop into my studio to inform me that
I was playing a wrong note, an incorrect rhythm, a
misunderstanding of that particular melody. I hung
on his every word, followed his instructions, and
came up with a five minute Fantasy on Themes from
Star Trek. I decided to dedicate it to the android character Data, who played the oboe in a Next Generation
episode entitled In Theory, and who had died in the
latest movie Nemesis.
It was time to pack
up my family and leave.
I was freaking out. I’d
practiced for so many
hours but still there were
entire sections of my own
composition that were
not trek-nically perfect! I
needed more time. I was
frantic.
“Brenda, put down
Brent Spiner as Data
the phaser - you are going
to win”. It was a message
on my answering machine from oboist/friend Bennie Cottone. During the long (still mentally practicing) drive to Las Vegas, and during the several convention days prior to the contest, those words became
my mantra.
On the morning of the contest, I was informed
that there would be no rehearsal time and no sound
check. Internally, I screamed, “AAARGHH!” then remembered, “Brenda, put down the phaser.” I calmly
Articles
ummer, 2003. For our family vacation, we decided to drive nine hours from San Francisco,
California, to Las Vegas, Nevada and attend
the Creation Entertainment Star Trek Convention.
We’ve been watching Star Trek forever, it’s a source
for family bonding, and we knew it would be fun! I
logged onto creationent.com and discovered a notice
about the first annual Star Trek Idol Talent Search,
taking place during the convention. I took a chance.
I got hold of the music to all five TV show themes,
practiced until I had memorized tiny sound bites
from each, noodled around until I had them strung
together in a recognizable one minute medley. The
deadline for submission was July 1, and at 3:15 PM
on June 30, I leaned up against the wall of my studio,
dressed (because I know you are wondering if I wore
a costume) in my normal street attire of leopard print
clothing, and videotaped myself playing the oboe.
My daughter ran to the post office for me, and in the
nick of time, mailed it off via express mail.
“Hello”. It was about 2:00, in the afternoon, just
two weeks before the convention. “Hi Brenda, this is
Tina from Creation Entertainment. I’m calling to tell
you that you have made the finals of the Star Trek Idol
Talent Search”.
I screamed. Then “uh, uh, uh.” I could hardly
speak, I was so excited. It wasn’t the possibility of the
$1000 gift certificate prize. I have had an intriguing
career devoted to bringing the oboe to audiences that
don’t usually have the opportunity to hear it either at
all, or in a soloistic context. Here would be a chance
to bring this gorgeous sound to thousands.
“Uh, how many finalists are there?
“Eight,”
“What’s my competition?”
“Mostly singers. Some comedy. Other stuff.”
“Is everyone good?”
“Yes”.
My mind was racing. Maybe I should play a Telemann Fantasy.
“Should I keep the theme to Star Trek?”
“I think so. That would be a good idea”.
I notified the double reed world via the IDRS and
Double Reed online lists. I received dozens of e-mails
5/16/07 6:49:05 PM
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94
explained about reeds in relation to unfamiliar environments, and Tina gave me special dispensation
and kindly arranged for me to have five minutes to
adjust my reeds on stage. That’s when I met the sound
technician. Dr. Benn – a former oboist.
There were maybe two hundred people in the audience for the contest. The competition was fierce an hilarious and uplifting Klingon with all the moves
and props attached to his attire, singing Tom Lehrer’s
Masochism Tango, a Beverly Crusher look-alike coloratura soprano singing “Queen Of The Night” from
Mozart’s The Magic Flute, a Scotsman in full kilt,
singing a perfect imitation of Louis Armstrong, an
incredible soprano singing “I will always love you”,
several other extraordinary singers/entertainers and
a seven year old boy who had composed his own song.
Everyone was wonderful and memorable.
The judges were Larry Nemecek, editor of Star
Trek Communicator Magazine, J. Kelly Burke, co-author with Larry of the Voyager episode Prophecy, J.
G. Hertzler and Robert O’Reilly, actors who played
Martok and Gowron. Imitating American Idol, they
offered hilarious comments to each of us.
While all of the contestants sat backstage, the
judges compared notes and deliberated out front. My
family reported afterwards that from the audience
there arose a steady chant: “oboe, oboe, oboe”.
I won. What a feeling of exhilaration! Onstage
after the announcement, the judges asked intelligent
questions. I don’t remember much of my interview,
except for the comment by Janice Kelly Burke who
said, “I must tell you that when I heard there would
be an oboist, I cringed”.
The Las Vegas Hilton, site of the event, hosts The
Star Trek Experience which includes a “promenade”
in imitation of the set of Deep Space Nine. That
night, we went to Quark’s Bar. I was famous. Klingons pounded their beer
mugs on the tables as I
entered, and Star Trek
actors and convention
attendees radiated appreciation and love.
My career as a visible, innovative oboist
has developed largely
because of my own determination and perseverance. Being different, as we know from
Star Trek, can lead to
Live, onstage audition
the attraction of nega-
tive energy, but determination and perseverance can
ultimately lead to profound positive influence. In
Adam and Gary, owners of Creation Entertainment,
I found understanding and support. I persuaded
them to allow me to perform at the Pasadena Science
Fiction Convention in March, 2004. They generously
provided me with free admission to the convention
and a free table to sell my Oboe Of The World CD in
the merchant’s room. I would perform as the closing
act for Leonard Nimoy, (Spock) and my dream come
true! as the opening act for Brent Spiner (Data).
As time approached for my performance, I had to
change clothes in the public ladies room, and I asked
advice of the woman standing next to me at the sink.
I told her what I was about to do and asked “Which
shoes should I wear?” “The gold ones”. We talked a bit
and she told me that her husband is Malachi Throne,
who played Commodore Mendez in the original series, and Pardak in Next Generation. She invited me
to come visit them in the autograph room.
There were 3000 people in the audience. Dr.
Benn had, once again, set the microphones perfectly.
I played the five minute Fantasy, and with applause
still ringing, I walked down the steps into the makeshift, very dark, backstage. Brent Spiner walked over
to me and said in an exuberant tone, “what’s that?”
“The oboe” I answered. “I love the oboe” he responded, “are you going to play”? “I just did! I composed
a piece to honor Data, and I won the Star Trek Idol
Talent Search last summer. That’s why I’m here.” “I’d
like to hear it,” he called back to me as he was hurried
onto the stage.
Whoa. Brent Spiner. Damn! He hadn’t heard it. I
sat down and began to pack up.
Two very attractive young teenage boys approached. I knew they had to be actors, in order to
even be backstage. One held out his hand, to shake
mine. The look on his face was one of awe, and in
a trembling voice he said “wow, I just want you to
know, that was great!”
I could hardly see in the dark, but I thought I recognized this kid. But from where? The other young
man began to speak. I recognized the voice and British accent before I clearly saw is face. “Oh, I know
you” I said, and leaped to my feet. “You’re Neville
Longbottom!” (from Harry Potter, actor Matthew
Lewis). “I just want you to know,” he said, ” when you
played that theme from Voyager, that was, that was
awesome”.
“Thank you, thank you”, I said, “I’ll come over to
your table and visit you guys later”. They took off, and
I realized that the first young man, was Daniel Logan,
5/16/07 6:49:05 PM
The Double Reed
Daniel Logan, Devon Murray, Brenda, Matthew Lewis.
Being a celebrity myself was energizing and exhilarating. What a trip! I headed over to talk to Mrs.
Throne. She and Malachi were in the autograph room.
They had come to hear me play and we had a delightful conversation. Malachi is a thoughtful, kind person, and I asked him what it’s like for him, getting
employment. Having had so long and successful a
career, does he get lots of offers, lots of opportunities,
or does he have to look for work? He quoted a friend
of his: “The job is looking for work. The vacation is
when you get it”.
Brenda with Malachi Throne.
With my gift certificate “prize” I had arranged to
have my photo taken with Brent Spiner and now was
the time to head over to the photo booth. Bennie Cottone had made a brilliant suggestion: “Bring two oboes!” So
I stood on line with two oboes
in hand, and my oboe backpack on my back, and engaged
in conversation with Star Trek
fans who indeed knew what
the oboe is, and asked really
good questions about reeds and
more.
When my turn came I said
to Brent, Will you? I held up
one oboe. “Sure why not”, was
the answer.
I must explain that there
are thousands of people at these
conventions, paying substantial amount of money to have
their pictures taken with the
Articles
Baba Fett from Star Wars, episode 2.
I finished packing up. Brent Spiner was still onstage, now answering questions from individuals
lined up alongside the stage. My website designer,
oboist/friend Brian Moses had asked me to inquire
of Brent, what training if any, he’d undergone in order to so skillfully imitate an oboist, in the episode In
Theory. So now I stood last on line, and just as Brent
turned to me so that I could ask my question, he was
informed that time was up, he had to depart the stage
immediately. Nevertheless, Brent graciously turned
to me, and quite hurriedly, I simply thanked him on
behalf of the oboe playing community, for doing such
a good job of pretending that he played the oboe. “I
do play the oboe” he responded, and left the stage.
All those years of practicing oboe embouchure
must have finally paid off, because my jaw could not
have dropped any lower. I was dumfounded. Brent
Spiner plays the oboe? My oboe was still backstage,
I’d arranged to return, and the guards knew me, so I
ran backstage, stood real close to Brent and inquired:
“You really play the oboe?.” No”, he said, “I was just
kidding”. I hugged him, and he was rushed out to begin signing autographs.
I deposited my oboe in a secure location and went
off to find the young actors. They were signing autographs. Devon Murray, (Seamus Finnegan from Harry Potter) was also there. They were posing for photographs, having their pictures taken by blissful fans.
These are just wonderful, young teenage boys, rather
awed at the attention, at this convention with their
parents. I asked Matthew’s (Neville’s) dad if he’d take
my picture with these delightful young men.
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96
stars. Each photo shoot takes exactly 20 seconds, so
there was not much time to look over at Brent to see
what pose he had adopted. Besides, I was Star struck.
It never occurred to me that he was unfamiliar with
holding an oboe and was expressing kindness and
generosity in agreeing to this photo. Later, much
later, at a different convention, Brent explained to
me that he had no memory of ever playing the oboe
in any episode. “Did I play the oboe?” he had asked.
“You didn’t”, I’d answered, “Data did.”
In Pasadena, I was staying with bassoonist John
Steinmetz and family. His wife, Kazi is the violist
who performed, on viola, the misnamed violin solo
that was so gorgeous it made Vulcan Spock’s father
Sarek, cry. Kazi had just invested in a substantial
number of baby chickens with the intention of raising them for the eggs. Born and raised in New York
City, living in San Francisco, I have had no experience with baby chicks, so spending time in that delightful and wondrous environment was the perfect
ending to this Pasadena Sci-Fi Grand Slam and I left
LA in quite the happy state.
I used the rest of my $1000 gift certificate to purchase tickets for the August, 2004 Star Trek Convention in Las Vegas. I figured I’d show up at the 2nd
annual talent contest and pass the crown to the next
winner. But, huh? There was no contest scheduled.
The annual Star Trek Idol Talent Search was not to be
and I retain the crown!
“Hello, Brenda? This is Sky Conway. I run Planet XPO. We’re having a convention in Hollywood
to honor Jimmy Doohan. It’s called “Beam Me Up,
Scotty”. I hear you’re a terrific oboist. Would you like
to come to Hollywood and play at the convention?”
To be continued….
Coming soon:
Episode 2: An Oboist Among the Stars
Episode 3: Do Vulcan’s play the oboe?
These are some of the voyages of the oboist, Brenda
Schuman-Post. Her lifelong mission to bring the gorgeous sound of the oboe to every being in the universe,
to educate oboists and audiences alike about the instrument’s effect and potential, to liberate all beings
through sound and kindness, to perform in every conceivable venue, to boldly go where no oboist has gone
before….
5/16/07 6:49:06 PM
The Double Reed
97
Hearing Loss From Music –
Causes, Treatment, and Prevention
Glenview, Illinois
A
26 AskTheDoctor.indd 97
Articles
ll of us are exposed to sound as we play or
sound level.
listen to music. This sound has specific
All musicians in a band or orchestra share in
characteristics which our brain recognizes
this risk of excessive sound levels, although not all
and defines as music. It reaches us through the air
to the same degree. For instance, double reed orchesand enters our ears, the external part of the heartra performers are seated in front of the trumpets,
ing mechanism. It also reaches us directly by means
trombones, and/or percussion and must regularly
of the instruments’ contact with our bodies, as the
experience the high sound levels and intensity fresound waves are transmitted to the inner ear through
quently produced by those instruments. In bands,
our jaws, fingers and other bony parts.
they may sit next to piccolos or in front of high brass
Most people are born with normal hearing—the
instruments. Fortunately, unlike piccolo or tympani
ability to hear both loud and soft sounds in frequenplayers, double reed players do not add to the sound
cies from about 20 Hz to18,000 Hz—and usually
assault with their own instruments. Although the
maintain this high degree of acuity for many years.
overall sound pressure levels in such ensembles are
However, some elements of our environment can inless than in groups who use amplification, these interfere with this ability. Excessive or repeated expostrumentalists are also at significant risk for developsure to very loud sounds at any age can cause daming music-related hearing loss.
age to the hearing apparatus and result in decreased
Sound pressure or loudness is measured
hearing acuity. In some cases this loss may be tempoin decibels, or dB; the type of loudness measurement
rary, while in others it is permanent. Musicians are
that applies most to musicians is the A type, which
at considerable risk for such damage, in good part
is labeled dBA. According to OSHA, the governmenbecause they are regularly exposed to loud musical
tal Occupational Safety and Health Administration,
sounds, and because the source of the sound is so
there are limits of both sound levels and durations
close to their ears.
that are important for many occupational groups (inObviously, not everyone who plays or listens to
cluding musicians). Their recommendation for a 24music develops hearing losses. There are several comhour period are listed in the table below.
ponents of musical sound that
can be considered increased
Exposure to sound pressure of 90 dBA should not exceed 8 hours
risk factors. Three of these are
95
4 hours
of crucial importance to all
musicians; they are loudness,
100
2 hours
or sound pressure level, inten105
1 hour
sity, and duration. Loudness
30 minutes
120
or sound level of music varies
from the ppp of many comTable 1. OSHA standards
posers to the ffff required by
some of Tchaikovsky’s compositions. Intensity can often be related to the type of
The National Institute for Occupational Safety
instrument making the music. For instance, the forand Health (NIOSH) is more stringent in its stantissimo of a trumpet’s or piccolo’s high notes is much
dards, mandating a maximum exposure of 8 hours
more intense than the same ff produced by a bass
at 85 dBA. In addition, their recommendation of
clarinet. Finally, the duration of sound exposure is a
decreasing exposure for increasing pressure levels
factor in potential damage to the human hearing apis based on 3 dBA, not the 5 dBA of OSHA. So, for
paratus. Prolonged or repetitive exposure obviously
each increase of 3 dBA, NIOSH recommends that one
carries a greater risk than short periods at the same
halve the exposure time.
5/16/07 6:49:16 PM
Articles
98
Hearing Loss From Music – Causes, Treatment, and Prevention
Some instruments are capable of producing potentially damaging sound pressure levels. Flutists
can generate levels in excess of 105 dBA, piccolo players 120 dBA, and trumpeters 95 dBA. Full concert
bands and orchestras can produce sounds in excess
of 99-105 dBA. Other studies of marching bands and
jazz bands have found equally high, or occasionally higher, sound pressure levels during rehearsal or
performance.
Musicians who function primarily as teachers
are as susceptible as the instrumentalists themselves.
This includes conductors of large ensembles—bands,
orchestras, and choruses/choirs. Although hearing
damage is more prevalent in these conductors, many
instrumental teachers also can be afflicted, especially
if they teach in small practice rooms with hard wall,
floor, and ceiling surfaces.
Prolonged and/or excessively high sound levels
affect the inner ear and cause permanent damage to
the microscopic hairs or filaments that transform the
fluid motion of sound to neural (electrical) impulses
for the brain to process. When these filaments are
damaged or even broken off, the specific frequencies
they detect cannot be transmitted to the brain; this
loss is permanent, since the filaments, once damaged,
will not regrow. Damage from sound exposure is cumulative over the years. Moderately high exposures
may cause damage to only some of these hair cells,
but repeated exposure may affect additional ones,
thus making the hearing loss progressive with continued exposure.
This change in hearing acuity is termed noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL). In NIHL, the characteristic deficits occur around the frequency of 4000-6000
Hz. People with this condition often complain of
ringing in their ears, a symptom known medically as
tinnitus. This symptom is usually perceived as a highpitched sound; it has been likened to a hum, whistle
or the sound of a cicada. Although the person with
tinnitus is more aware of it in a quiet environment,
it usually is continuous. It interferes with conversations, especially those in the higher pitch ranges, and
often produces difficulty in understanding words
spoken by groups of people during social occasions.
For a few, tinnitus can be so loud that it interferes
with everyday activities. Some sufferers prefer to have
a continuous level of background sound, such as a radio playing, to minimize the perception of tinnitus.
The diagnosis of NIHL is made by having an audiogram performed by a hearing specialist or audiologist. The normally level printout of hearing acuity at
various frequencies shows a dip or notch at the 4000-
6000 Hz level, which may extend toward the higher
8000 Hz level as well. The degree of dip indicates the
severity of loss, measured in decibels (dB). This measurement is exponential, so that a change of 10 dB
indicates that the sound level is doubled (if a positive
change) or halved (if negative).
Figure 1. Audiogram of person with NIHL, worse in
right ear (circles)
Currently there seems to be no good treatment
for NIHL. Traditional hearing aids only amplify the
sound in the outer portion of the hearing apparatus
and have no effect on the inner, or nerve, portions
where NIHL develops. Research into the effectiveness of cochlear implants is under way, but this is a
surgical treatment and is not usually recommended
as an option in managing NIHL. The best hope,
therefore, lies with prevention, or with minimizing
further losses in those already affected.
The concept of prevention is simple, but often
extremely difficult to put into practice: one must
decrease either the sound level or its duration down
to accepted standards. Simply put, this means that
sound pressure levels reaching the middle and inner
ear should be lower, and/or they should be of shorter
duration.
Ear plugs or sound attenuators to decrease dangerous sound levels have been worn for years by
members of the military, industrial workers, and in
shooting sports, but only in the past 15-20 years have
satisfactory models become available for musicians.
These include custom ear molds made by an audiologist, which are fitted with a central sound filter or at-
5/16/07 6:49:17 PM
The Double Reed
Figure 3 ETY•Plug™ and plastic carrying case
techniques to minimize sound exposure and prevent
this progressive, permanent type of hearing loss. Music educators and band directors need to address this
situation with their younger students and performers, providing accurate information and indicating
their approval and encouragement of hearing loss
prevention. u
Suggested Readings
Chasin Marshall: Hearing aids for musicians.
Hearing Review 2006;13(3):
Cutietta RA, Klich RJ, Royse D, Rainbolt H: The
incidence of noise-induced hearing loss among
music teachers. Journal of Research in Music
Education 1994;42(4):318-330
Niquette P: Hearing protection for musicians.
Hearing Review 2006;13(3):
Owens Douglas T: Sound pressure levels experienced by the high school band director. Medical Problems of Performing Artists
2004;19(3):109-115
Schweitzer, Marsha: Hear today - gone tomorrow.
Senza Sordino 1999;37(1):1-3,5
Articles
tenuator designed by Etymotic Research Co. Sounds
heard with these earplugs have the same quality as
the original, only quieter. The result is that speech
and music are clear—the wearer still can hear the
blend clearly, feel the bass, and distinguish each tone.
Attenuators can lower the sound level by 9, 15, or 25
dB, or from about 60% to 85%; most instrumentalists
choose the 15 dB model. The cost for a pair of these
molds and attenuators averages $150-$200.
In the last few years a new model has been developed, ready-to-fit without the need for custom molds.
These ER•20 High Fidelity Earplugs were developed
to provide low-cost, one-size-fits-most high fidelity
earplugs that can be used in a variety of noisy environments. The design goal of this earplug was the
same as for Musicians Earplugs: to reduce noise but
preserve sound quality; in effect, to turn down the
noise but not muffle voices, environmental sounds
or music. Other advantages of this type of attenuator
include: (1) they replicate the ear’s natural response;
(2) speech is clear, not muffled; (3) they reduce sound
approximately 20 dB at all frequencies.
By decreasing the intensity of sound heard
through the air, but not changing that which is transmitted through the body, attenuators alter the sound
perceived by the musician. When wearing then, one’s
instrument seems to sound louder than it actually
is (when heard by others nearby), so the performer must learn to
compensate for this by
increasing his or her
dynamics appropriately.
Figure 2 ER-15 attenuators
This is possible with
comparatively
little
practice, but input and guidance from the conductor
or nearby musicians also can be helpful. It goes without saying that this type of hearing protection is also
recommended for conductors.
Transparent sound baffles or shields have found a
place in many orchestras over the past decade and are
another useful way to protect certain musicians from
excessive sound levels. These come in various sizes, to
protect several persons in a row or just one performer.
In general, they are placed in front of the brasses and
percussion. I recommend reading the Senza Sordino
article (referenced at the end) for a more complete explanation of these shields and their use.
Hearing specialists, as well as performing arts
medicine physicians, recommend that young musicians start early in their careers to become aware of
the damaging effects of noise, and to use appropriate
99
About the Author
Dr. William Dawson is the medical consultant to the
IDRS, and has written articles for The Double Reed
and the IDRS Journal since 1988. A retired hand and
orthopaedic surgeon, and Emeritus Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery at Northwestern University’s Medical
School, he currently is president of the Performing Arts
Medicine Association and serves on its Education/Research Committee. Musically specializing in low reeds
(bassoon, contrabassoon, and sarrusophone), he belongs to several regional and community orchestras
and bands in the Chicago area and teaches bassoon
privately in the northwest suburbs. Dr. Dawson has
no affiliation with or financial interest in Etymotic
Research.
5/16/07 6:49:17 PM
100
A Bassoon Lite, Please... The Perfect Rest
A Bassoon Lite, Please...
The Perfect Rest
Alan Goodman
Bedford, Wyoming
Articles
E
fforts to create a more perfect bassoon beckon
the woodwind world’s greatest minds as the
ultimate challenge of acoustical engineering.
Making a perfect bassoon presents a challenge as forbidding as climbing the Himalayas in bare feet.
Recently I had an invitation to take a journey to
a far away and forbidding place that promised an answer to the riddle of making a perfect bassoon. An
old friend, Flora Adora, tried to convince me that this
was an invitation I dare not refuse.
“Puleeeeze!! For mercy’s sake, Al, get a life!” Flora
Adora sat on my reed table - the one with no reeds.
Her lovely legs were crossed, revealing through the
flimsy material of her dress a suggestion of many past
fantasies. In all the years I’d known her she hadn’t
aged a day.
“I’ve had enough,” she continued, lips pouting in
a way that had managed to befuddle me more than
once in the midst of playing the bassoon solo in
Scherazade.
Flora Adora had entered my life one day when I
was fifteen years old and strolling down Eighth Avenue in mid-town Manhattan on my way to a bassoon
lesson. She stared out at me from a life-sized poster in
the window of Petie’s Porno Shoppe. I stopped long
enough to memorize every curve of her alluring intellect, which was attractive enough to cause me to
arrive at my lesson somewhat late. From that chance
encounter Flora Adora seared a permanent home in
the shallows of my imagination.
“It was fun at first,” she said somewhat wistfully.
“But when you went off to seek your fortune as an
orchestral bassoonist I figured this was my chance to
finally get some much-needed sleep. But no, no, here
you were in the middle of rehearsing Beethoven’s
Fifth Symphony when I sensed your mind turning inward again for some X rated frolic.”
“But I thought you liked Beethoven,” I asked,
somewhat hurt over this outburst.
“He’s okay. But I like Stravinsky better.”
“Why?” I wanted to know since Flora Adora had
always professed to be a romantic.
“Fewer rests. Those rests were interrupting the
best chance I had to get some sleep. Every rest you
27 PerfectRest.indd 100
got you were back in my boudoir peeling my nightie
off. Stravinsky was the only composer that kept you
so busy you didn’t have time to wander back and
forth between me and your imagination. Oh, the
sleep I managed while you counted like crazy in
Stravinsky!”
“Gee,” I said somewhat taken aback. “My favorite
composer was actually Buckner - no bassoon solos,
hundreds of bars of rest, just waves of pulpy notes
splashing endlessly upon the sands. Why one time
when the orchestra played Bruckner you and I found
this isolated section of beach in Tahiti during the
endless first movement. By the time the last movement rolled around we were in each other’s arms
about to ...”
“Now that’s just what I’m talking about,” she interrupted before I could get to the good part. “It just
so happens I had checked your schedule that week,
and had made plans to visit my mother in Romania.
Little did I know that Bruckner was nothing but a sea
of rests interrupted occasionally by a buried bassoon
burp here and there. If I had known that I wouldn’t
have even bothered making the plane reservations.”
Flora Adora broke into sobs. Her amply endowed body threatened to fall from my reed table
into my lap. I reached out to pat her shoulder, but she
shrugged my hand off.
“I’m sorry, Flora,” I said. “ I didn’t know you even
had a mother.”
“See, that’s how your mind works. To you
I’m nothing more than an X rated fantasy during
an endless sea of rests during another Bruckner
symphony.”
“Well,” I answered trying for a sympathetic tone.
“Mahler’s rests had their moments too ...”
But by that time, Flora Adora had jumped from
the reed table and hurried out of my imagination.
Her last words before she disappeared were something like, “You’d better take that journey to find the
perfect bassoon dimensions, because you won’t have
Flora Adora’s to distract you anymore.”
And she was as good as her word. I suspect that
she’s found another bassoon mind to inhabit. I’m
determined to get her back even if I have to give up
5/16/07 6:49:33 PM
The Double Reed
101
Bruckner symphonies. I’ve hired a detective agency
to track her down. I told them it should be an easy assignment - all they have to do is monitor the world’s
orchestras to see which bassoonist is occasionally
drifting off during his solos in Scheherazade.
Until they find Flora Adora and I can talk her
into returning to my imagination, I’ve decided I don’t
need the perfect bassoon. It’s the rests between the
bassoon solos that I miss anyway.
And so, I think it best to let someone who’s too
distracted by the music to enjoy the rests, conduct the
search for secrets to making a perfect bassoon .
Don’t you? u
Articles
27 PerfectRest.indd 101
5/16/07 6:49:33 PM
102
Reviews
Reviews
28 Reviews.indd 102
5/16/07 6:49:47 PM
The Double Reed
Oboe
Recording
Reviews
Reviews by Robert J. Krause
Canyon, Texas
Leslie Bassett – Song of the Aulos and Sonatas
by Handel and Telemann
Susan Louise Bissiri, oboe; Don Fishel, flute; Gail
Jennings, piano; Janice Clark, piano; Carol Wargelin,
piano
Recorded by Solid Sound Studio, Inc.
Ann Arbor, Michigan
Produced privately by Susan Bissiri, 2004
([email protected])
29 Reviews.indd 103
emeritus) was commissioned by Mu Phi Epsilon to
write a number of pieces to be premiered at the annual May 2000 luncheon. Song of the Aulos for Unaccompanied Oboe was one of those pieces and Susan
Bissiri gave the premiere performance. She was later
invited to perform the work at the International Mu
Phi Epsilon Centennial Convention in 2003 in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Song of the Aulos is a very challenging and attractive piece for solo oboe. Ms. Bissiri’s performance is
very substantial. Her fluid control and clear technique are nicely enhanced by her warm, but authoritative sound. This was my first exposure to Mr. Bassett’s addition to the solo oboe repertoire. I like Song
of the Aulos and recommend it highly for teaching
and personal performance. It is published by Edition
Peters and may be obtained from TrevCo or Forrests
Music.
Sonata in C minor for Flute, Oboe, and Piano by
Telemann is nicely performed by Ms. Bissiri, Mr.
Fishel, and Ms. Clark; the ensemble works well together. Like the Sonata in A minor, the slower movements contain very attractive cantabile playing, but
lack performer embellishments, and the tempi in the
faster movements are on the conservative side and
tend to lack spirit.
Handel’s Sonata for Oboe, Violino, and Basso Continuo and the “Allegro” from Sonata No. 1 in B flat for
Flute, Oboe, and Piano are collaboratively played well
by Ms. Bissiri, Mr. Fishel, and Ms. Wargelin. Again, I
would like to have heard embellishments in the slower movements, other than just the printed trills, etc.
The faster movements tend to become a little plodding and sometimes the tempo actually slows down,
but on the whole the performances are enjoyable.
This CD will be a nice addition to an oboist’s library. Leslie Bassett’s Song of the Aulos for Unaccompanied Oboe is well worth the price of the recording
by itself.
Reviews
Susan Bissiri presents us with a new CD which includes performances of Leslie Bassett’s Song of the
Aulos for Unaccompanied Oboe; George P. Telemann’s
Sonata in A minor for Oboe and Piano, and Sonata
in C minor for Flute, Oboe, and Piano; and George
F. Handel’s Sonata for Oboe, Violino, and Basso Continuo and the “Allegro” from Sonata No. 1 in B flat for
Flute, Oboe, and Piano.
Ms. Bissiri is currently principal oboist in the
Plymouth Symphony Orchestra, Plymouth, Michigan, and has taught oboe privately in the Ann Arbor,
and southeast Michigan area since 1986.
The first tracks on the CD are the very familiar
Sonata in A minor by Telemann. Ms. Bissiri’s warm
and sweet sound contributes to her lovely cantabile
playing of the slower movements. I was especially attracted to her very delicate playing in the third movement (Andante Amabile). My only reservation of
the slower movements is the lack of embellishments
which is a vital element of baroque performance. The
second and forth movements (Spirituoso and Vivace)
are somewhat cautiously played. The tempi are rather
reserved, but performed with all the notes and phrasing being very clear and in place. For my taste, these
movements are a bit lackluster. The sonata is well
played by both Ms. Bissiri and Ms. Jennings.
The next recorded selection is Song of the Aulos by
Leslie Bassett. Mr. Bassett (who taught composition
at the University of Michigan from 1952-91, where
he was chair of the composition department from
1970-88 and the Albert A. Stanley Distinguished
University Professor of Music from 1977-91, and now
103
Oboe Odyssey from Handel to Castérède
Evelyn McCarty, oboe and oboe d’amore
Imelda Delgado, piano
Boston Records
BR2050
Included on the disc are the following:
William Grant Still, Incantation and Dance and If
You Should Go
G. F. Handel, Sonata in G minor
Oboe Duets, arranged by E. McCarty: “Happy
5/16/07 6:49:58 PM
104
Reviews
Reviews
Spring Time,” “The University of Oxford,” “The
Crazy Ones,” “The Drunken Peasant”
Benjamin Godard, From “Scotch Scenes,” Op. 138:
Légende Pastorale and Sérénade à Mabel
Marina Dranishnikova, Poem
Andre Previn, Wedding Waltz for Two Oboes and
Piano
Ernest Schelling, Variation XV from “Impressions
from a Artist’s Life”, arranged by E. McCarty for
oboe d’amore and piano
Richard Rodney Bennett, Siesta from “Summer
Music”,arranged by E. McCarty for oboe
d’amore and piano
Jacques Castérède, Sonate pour Hautbois et Piano
This is Evelyn McCarty’s third CD release recorded by Boston Records. The initial two were Gems
for Oboe and Piano (also a collaboration with Imelda
Delgado) and Of Winds and Song.
The first two selections on the disc are works of
William Grant Still. Mr. Still has often been termed
the patriarchal figure in American Black music and
was the first African-American composer to achieve
significantly wide publication and performances. His
works contain many “folkloric” materials, and Incantation and Dance and If I Should Go are certainly
not exceptions. Being an oboist himself, Still demonstrates his knowledge and affection for the instrument in Incantation and Dance with the oboe’s initial
rhapsodic melody. He also keeps the interest of the
listener and performer with the challenging technical passages and interesting rhythms in the dance
section. If I Should Go (arranged for oboe and piano
by New Zealand flutist, Alexa Still) is a very lovely
little gem that fits the oboe so well.
The Handel Sonata in G minor performance contains slow movements with flowing lines that are enhanced by eloquent embellishments. The two faster
movements contain well executed dynamic contrasts
and strong technical playing.
The Oboe Duets performed next on the disc, are a
result of Ms. McCarty’s doctoral work at Northwestern University. They are interesting little miniatures,
but unfortunately the balance does not always sound
even. Many times the lower part seems to overshadow
the joint effort. The music for these duets is obtainable from Southern Music Co. (Oboe Duets and Trios,
Vols. I and II arranged by Evelyn McCarty.
Benjamin Godard’s Légende Pastorale and Sérénade à Mabel from “Scotch Scenes,” Op. 138 are wonderful incidental pieces from the nineteenth century
romantic period. It is nice to hear a recording of Séré-
29 Reviews.indd 104
nade à Mabel played on the oboe instead of the flute.
Both Ms. Delgado and Ms. McCarthy render sensitive performances of these works.
Poem by Marina Dranishnikova is probably my
favorite composition on this disc. This dramatic,
mysterious, sorrowful, and passionate work is a very
attractive and much needed addition to the oboe repertoire. Marc Fink, professor of oboe at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, brought attention to the
work in 2002 after doing research in Russia. After a
performance at the IDRS Conference in Greensboro,
North Carolina, he was able to have TrevoCo Music publish his edition of Poem. Both McCarty and
Delgado make convincingly impassioned statements
while carrying on intense dialogues between the two
instruments.
Andre Previn’s Wedding Waltz is a short dialogue
for two oboes and piano that alternates between lyrical and more agitated passages. This interesting piece
seems like it could be somewhat programmatic as alluded to by Ms. McCarty in her program notes, she
writes, “...which seems to have programmatic inferences to married life. Towards the close of the piece,
the fussy dialogue then settles into a calm ending.”
Evelyn McCarty arranged the next two selections, Variation XV from “Impressions from a Artist’s
Life”, by Ernest Schelling and Siesta from “Summer
Music”, by Richard Rodney Bennett for oboe d’amore
and piano.
Both arrangements work very well on the oboe
d’amore and are great additions to the repertoire. I
hope that Ms. McCarty will make them available for
others to perform. I especially enjoyed the lovely lyrical playing in Evelyn McCarty’s performance of the
Bennett.
As part of a project to compose a sonata for the
individual wind instruments of the symphony orchestra, Jacques Castérède wrote his Sonate pour
Hautbois et Piano. The following program notes were
furnished by Mr. Castérède: “This sonata is in four
movements, but these do not follow the order of the
classical sonata. It begins with a ‘Moderato pastorale’ which is constructed on two distinct themes, one
very song-like, the other lively and of a rustic character. The second movement is a ‘Scherzo’ with a lively and rhythmic ‘refrain’ and ‘verses’ that are more
relaxed and varied. In the third movement, ‘Adagio’,
the song, very slow, of the oboe is accompanied by the
steady harmony in the piano. The fourth movement
is essentially a melodic piece in which the principal
theme alternates with more animated sections. The
Sonata ends in an atmosphere that is very calm and
5/16/07 6:49:58 PM
105
The Double Reed
peaceful.” (These notes were written by Jacques Castérède in French and translated by Evelyn McCarty.)
This sonata was little known to me, and I am very
glad to have had the opportunity to become familiar with it through the performances of Ms. McCarty
and Delgado. I am intrigued with it and will certainly pursue its study and possible performance in the
future.
Oboe Odyssey makes for some pleasant listening
and is filled with a wealth of wonderful oboe music.
Unfortunately it sounds to me like the recording was
not always well engineered. There seems to be some
extraneous sounds (air escaping and other throat like
sounds) that show up at various intervals. They tend
to distract and should have been eliminated. There
are also a number of places where the balance seemingly needs adjustment, and times when the intonation is suspect.
Oboist Evelyn McCarty and pianist Imelda Delgado are active performers and teachers. They are
founding members of the Camerata del Sol Chamber
Music Players of South Texas. Both received their degrees in music performance after study with master
teachers at the Curtis Institute of Music, Northwestern University, and Indiana University.
Oboe
Music
Reviews
Reviews by Robert J. Krause
Canyon, Texas
Concerto For Oboe (“The Clearing”) by Lucas
Richman
Oboe Range: c1-g3
Lucas Richman was commissioned to write this concerto by the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra for its
principal oboist, Cynthia Koledo DeAlmeida. The
concerto is a depiction of “one’s spiritual journey
through life’s forest of worldly distractions.”
29 Reviews.indd 105
The 23rd Psalm figures prominently in the
overall concept of my Concerto for Oboe and
Orchestra. To me it conveys a moment of epiphany, expressed in gentle acceptance and understanding, that becomes the quiet climax of the
work. Taking the vocal rhythms of the psalm’s
Hebrew declamation, I began writing the concerto by setting the words in the solo oboe part
as a simple prayer. From this prayer evolved the
musical material for the rest of the work. The
“clearing” of the subtitle is the place in which the
epiphany or spiritual reconnection occurs, and
is meaningful on several levels…the term also
suggests a purification of mind and spirit after
having fought through the trials and obstacles
with which we are faced in life.
The concerto is constructed with five distinct sections linked together into one movement. Beginning with a plaintive melody of
descending tones, the introductory section presents a character prior to entering the symbolic
forest of life. A surging tempo stirs the character
to life and the reminders of spiritual insight and
connection become distant memories with the
onslaught of earthly reality. A broad melody becomes the orchestral highpoint of this second
section, stemming from the phrase, “Gam ki
aylach b’gay tzalmavet…” (“Yea, though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death”). This
phrase is presented thereafter in its full form by
the oboe in the ensuing prayer, as the character has finally found the clearing. With a simple,
child-like, acknowledgement of innocence lost
and then re-found, the prayer leads to a brief
section of recapitulation. By resigning pride and
ego and by accepting divine assistance, the character celebrates in the concerto’s last section,
dancing a final dance of affirmation.”
The concerto was composed in 2006 and was
premiered by Cynthia Koledo DeAlmeida and the
Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. Andrew Druckenbrod of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (February 17,
2006) described the concerto as, “A quietly ravishing
oboe vocalise, crafted to inflections of the Hebrew
text to the psalm, flowed like milk and honey.”
The writing in Mr. Richman’s Oboe Concerto is
very well suited to the oboe. The flowing melodies
are very attractive and fit the lyrical and melancholic
Reviews
Published by LeDor Publishing
8905 Kingston Pike, #12-330, Knoxville, TN 37923
Fax: 865-691-0448
Toll Free: 888-624-9094
[email protected]
The following is taken from program notes by
Mr. Richman:
5/16/07 6:49:59 PM
106
Reviews
tendencies of the oboe so nicely. The technical passages, although difficult at times, seem to fall under
the fingers very comfortably. What a beautiful and alluring addition to the oboe repertoire. I recommend
this captivating composition to everyone. Bravo Mr.
Richman!
Lucas Richman has been Music Director and
Conductor for the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra
since 2003. He served as the Pittsburgh Symphony
Orchestra’s Assistant Conductor from 1998-2002 and
Resident Conductor from 2002-2004.
Bassoon
Music
Reviews
Reviews by Daniel Lipori
Ellensburg, Washington
Music from EditionsVIENTO
8711 SW 42nd Ave,
Portland, OR 97219-3571
http://www.editionsviento.com)
Three Renaissance Dances, arranged for Four
Bassoons and Harpsichord by Isabel Jeremías.
Reviews
EV 538 ($8.50)
Here are three interesting arrangements of dances
by Baroque (not sure why the title says Renaissance)
composers François Couperin and Jean Phillip Rameau. As is somewhat typical of keyboard works
by these composers, the dances are not too difficult
until you add the ornaments. As there is some argument about ornaments from this time, it would
have been nice to include an ornament table in the
publication. The first dance, in E Minor, is a gigue of
Couperin’s, which has a very nice lilt to it. There are
mordents in the first bassoon part on g1 and a s1, as
well as turns on a1 and g1, making the movement a
little tricky. The second dance is a lovely sarabande of
Couperin’s, which does not go as high as the gigue,
making the ornaments much easier to execute. The final dance is a tambourin of Rameau’s, which depending on the tempo, could be pretty tricky. It is in A
Major (my least favorite key, thanks to Nutcracker!),
and has some faster sixteenth notes passed between
all the voices. Luckily this movement has no orna-
29 Reviews.indd 106
ments within, though it would not be inappropriate
to add them. This movement has the melodic material spread between all the parts, as opposed to the
first two dances, where the first part dominates the
melody. The keyboard line for the most part doubles
the bassoons, but there are a few measures of keyboard alone in the tambourin, which perhaps could
be rewritten in the bassoon parts, so the dances could
be performed as a bassoon quartet. I would give the
work a grade of IV, mostly because of the ornaments,
and some tricky jumps in the third dance.
John Falcone
Solo for Unaccompanied Bassoon.
EV 106 ($5.50)
This work is divided up into two sections. The first
part is a slower, cantabile section, with many larger
slurs throughout, covering the entire range of the instrument. The second section, titled ‘Agitato Blues,’ is
slightly faster, and has many quicker notes, syncopated ideas, and off accents, while changing meters several times. There are also five multiphonic fingerings
in this section, which are not too difficult to produce.
This work is quite difficult, earning a grade of V, with
the bassoon part extending up to e f2. The counting/meter changes in the second section will provide
quite a challenge for the performer. I had some trouble making sense of this work, trying to determine
how to fit the different motives throughout together.
(Perhaps I just need to work on it some more.) If you
are looking for a new challenging piece to tackle, you
should get a hold of this composition.
John Falcone
Weaving Reeds, for Oboe, Clarinet, and Bassoon.
EV 334 ($ 6.50)
The reed trio is one of my favorite chamber music
combinations, and this is a nice addition to the repertoire. This piece was originally written to accompany some dancers at the Julliard School. There are
two primary sections. The first section, ‘Frolic,’ is at
a pretty fast tempo and has all three parts jumping
around quite a bit playing larger intervals, some syncopated motives, and several grace notes and accents
on off beats. This section is quite difficult, with the
bassoon part extending up to e f2. The second section
‘Soliloquies,’ is much slower and has a very peaceful,
serene feel to it. Only occasionally do all three parts
play together in this section, and it ends with about
five bars of solo clarinet. The clarinet part has some
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quarter tone fingerings in this final section, which
adds an interesting color to the work. The work is
quite technically challenging, and I would give the
piece a grade of IV+. This is a very fun piece to play,
and I would recommend it highly.
available, this certainly would be a nice additional to
your library.
Próspero Lopez Buchardo
Tres Preludios, for Woodwind Quintet and Piano.
EV 606 ($12.50)
John Falcone
The Invasion of the Fiufas, for Woodwind Quintet
and Narrator.
EV 534 ($10.50)
John Falcone has given us another nice piece for
quintet and narrator, similar to The Bassoonist of
Hamelin, reviewed a few issues ago. This piece tells
the story of a man whose house is filled with fiufas
(an endearing term for cockroaches). He tries to get
rid of them but cannot, so he decides to share his
house with them. The music does an excellent job of
helping to portray the story. This work is moderately
difficult, as there are many tempo and meter changes
throughout, so you must have a solid ensemble, or
possibly the narrator could serve as a conductor.
The individual parts are also fairly challenging, and
I would give this work a grade of IV+. A version in
Spanish is due out soon.
Johann Sebastian Bach
Little Fugue in G Minor, arranged for Double Reed
Quintet by Gordon Solie.
EV 537 ($6.50)
29 Reviews.indd 107
Gregory Youtz
Soundtracks: Seven Themes in Search of a Plot, for
Woodwind Quintet.
EV 533 ($16)
There are some interesting notes given for this work.
Gregory Youtz describes this piece as:
A series of character studies that explore different ensemble groupings within the standard
woodwind quintet. Like a musical melodrama,
the ‘characters’ interact in a series of scenes,
the plot of which is unknown, even to the
composer!
Reviews
Most of you have played an arrangement of this piece
before, as there are ones for orchestra and wind quintet. This version for double reed quintet, is meant to
be played with oboe, oboe d’amore, English horn,
bassoon, and contrabassoon, though a 2nd oboe may
be substituted for the d’amore and a 2nd bassoon may
be substituted for the contra. The sound of the double
reed ensemble works extremely well for this piece.
If using a second oboe, however, the main theme is
slightly altered in the beginning, as the oboe cannot
play as low as the d’amore can. There are also some
low downward slurs that are somewhat awkward in
the oboe parts. The most difficult aspect of the work,
might be determining where to take breaths in the
oboe and English horn lines, as they sometimes play
for extended periods. I would give the work a grade
of III+. The one aspect I was a little disappointed with
is that the contrabassoon part does not play for extended periods. It might be nice to have some more
doublings of voices that would give the work a fuller
texture throughout. If you have the instrumentation
Though the inside page of the score lists Lopez Buchardo as a Chilean composer, all of the web sites I
found list him as being Argentinean. There is little information about him, other than the fact that he was
a composer and cellist. The parts in this sextet are not
overly difficult and the parts are fairly equal. Many of
the works for this combination have the piano dominating and the winds accompanying, but that is not
the case here. The first movement “Meditación ante la
tumba de un Indio” is a very slow, melancholy work,
with many longer, thick chords throughout. Movement two, “Cantelenas bajo el balcón,” is the fastest
prelude of the three, as well as the most difficult. It
moves between several key areas, including a section
in B f Minor, where the bassoon has a fun sextuplet
pattern for a few bars. Movement three, “En el Valle
Encantado,” moves back to a slower tempo, but has
faster moving notes than the first movement. There
are a few sections where the flute plays piccolo, and
one section where the bassoonist gets to play triangle! I would give these preludes a grade of IV-. These
works are nice additions to the limited piano and
wind sextet combination, and would be very good
pieces for a student group to perform.
Youtz also gives notes to the performers:
The players are invited to imagine themselves
as characters in a scene during each movement.
Players do not necessarily remain the same char-
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108
Reviews
acter throughout the seven movements. Melodrama is essential and most particularly in the
dramatic moments leading up to the excruciating death of the bassoonist in movement six.
Then, of course, the calvary arrive…
Youtz obviously wants the performers to use their
imagination for this piece and make up their own
plot as to how to the movements are connected as
well as the overall interpretation of the work. He also
gives many descriptive markings in the parts to try
to assist the performers in their interpretation. There
is no description of how or why the bassoon player
dies at the end of the sixth movement. Perhaps that
is determined by the performers as well. Each movement is fairly short, each not more than a few minutes
in length. Movement two is just for clarinet and bassoon, while movement three is just for flute and oboe.
The movements seem somewhat sparse to me, and I
had trouble creating continuity between them. Part
of the fifth movement reminded me of one of the Elliott Carter Etudes, in that all five parts are playing
the same pitch while alternating a mostly eighth note
pulse throughout. The work is of medium difficulty,
with the only really difficult movement being the
sixth, which has some faster sixteenth notes in all the
parts, and the bassoon line descending up to an e2.
I would give the work a grade of IV. If you are looking for some new quintet literature and have a group
with lots of imagination, you should take a look at
this work.
Mattia Vento
Reviews
Aria “Chebramate” from the opera Sofonisba, for
Soprano, Oboe, Bassoon, and Continuo.
EV 720 ($8.50)
Mattia Vento was an Italian composer who was born
and studied in Naples, but spent most of his productive life in London. The opera Sofonisba was premiered in London in 1766. This particular aria must
have been a tremendous success, as The New Grove
Opera quotes a newspaper critic from the Public Advertiser on March 19, 1766 as having written: “Sofonsiba is most beautifully heightened by the harmonious sounds of Signor Vento…The Song ‘Che Bramate
o Giusti dei’, heightened by Mr. Vincent’s hautboy,
worked powerfully on everyone as was evident from
the high applause.” The oboe has a very lovely obbligato line that compliments the soprano line well,
while the bassoon line reinforces the bass part, and
occasionally plays with the oboe in the tutti sections.
29 Reviews.indd 108
The aria has an andante tempo marking, and the
most difficult aspect of the work might be the key of
A Major that it is in. The bassoon part does not descend very high, only going up to e1, and I would give
the work a grade of II+. This would be another nice
piece for a student recital.
Mariano Mores
Tres Tangos, arranged for Woodwind Quintet by
Silvia Coricelli.
EV 536 ($13)
These arrangements of dances by bassoonist Silvia
Coricelli, would be great additions to your quintet
repertoire. The three dances included easily show the
variety of styles there are within the tango. The upper
instruments play most of the melodic material, while
the bassoon and horn serve more of an accompanimental role. Though the bassoon part is not overly
difficult, the other voices, especially the flute, are
fairly virtuosic, giving the work a grade of IV. Once
the individual parts are learned, putting together the
ensemble is not too bad. These would be great closing
works for a recital.
Seann Branchfield
Spontaneous Bassoon Fabricator, for Woodwind
Quintet.
EV 535 ($12)
Well, the title of this one immediately sparked my interest! Seann Branchfield writes of this work:
This is a three movement work that features
the bassoon in a woodwind quintet. The role
of the bassoon changes in each movement to
explore the capability of the instrument in an
ensemble. The first movement, the bassoon provides a driving bass line while the other instruments, although playing some melodic figures
of their own, support and bring emphasis to the
bassoon part. The second movement features
the bassoon as a solo instrument in opposition
to the ensemble almost like a ‘concertino.’ The
third movement encompasses both of these
principles, using the bassoon as both a foundation and solo instrument.
Movement one is titled ‘The Machine” and the bassoon has a fairly regular ostinato pattern, while the
other instruments weave in and out of its texture.
Movement two “The Randomizer” has the bassoon
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playing most of its melodic material alone, or with
very minimal accompaniment. There is a flowing, legato eighth note line through much of this movement.
The final movement “Vertical Cylindrical Planes” is
much more rhythmic in nature, with a fairly recurring rhythm of eighth, two sixteenths, two eighths
throughout. This is not a very difficult work, deserving a grade of II+, and could easily be handled by a
good high school group. It is not often that we have
a chamber work that features the bassoon, and this
work will certainly help fill that void.
Ferdinando Paer
Recitative and Aria “Eccomi lieto al fine” from the
opera La Lacandra de Vagaboni (La Locanda dei
Vagabondi), for Tenor, Bassoon, and Orchestra,
with piano reduction by Ronald Richards.
EV 721 ($10.75)
Ferdinando Paer was an Italian composer, who spent
much time in Vienna, Dresden, Warsaw, and Paris,
and whom Napoleon was very fond of. The opera
was written very early in Paer’s life in 1792, and premiered in Parma. This aria does not have an overly
difficult bassoon line, which could be handled by an
intermediate player, and I would give it a grade of II+.
The aria is in E f Major, and does not go higher than
f1. There is a bit of interplay between the bassoon and
tenor lines, repeating motives back and forth. The
piano reduction is probably the most difficult part of
this piece. This would be a very nice piece for a student recital.
Music from ALRY Publications
PO Box 36542
Charlotte, NC 28236
http://www.alrypublications.com
Deborah Anderson
This piece was written for a thirteen year old bassoon
student, who was also very active in athletics. The
composer describes the student’s interest in sports
and the piece:
On his bike, he likes the downhill rush after riding uphill. At baseball games, he enjoys tensionbuilding situations which then resolve themselves with a hit or home run. He also told me
29 Reviews.indd 109
The work is divided into two sections. The first is a
slower, more lyrical line, where the bassoon ascends,
then falls back down though much of this section.
This is contrasted by a quicker, more articulated part,
with some larger intervals throughout. Though it was
written for a young student, there are a few tricky
items within. Some of the slurs are fairly awkward,
and would require flicking for them to come out at
all, and there is a g1 to a1 trill which I did not learn
until much later. I would give the work a grade of II+.
The piano part is at about the same level, and there is
a bit of interplay between the two lines. This would be
a nice work for an intermediate student to play.
Deborah Anderson
Nightfall, for Flute, Clarinet, Bassoon, and Piano.
CM-68 ($15)
Here is a pretty little piece, that could easily be handled by an intermediate student group. Deborah Anderson describes the piece as depicting “nightfall, a
time when the day’s duties and cares retreat to the
background, a time when day mingles with night.”
The tempo is not too fast, and the melodic lines are
longer, flowing slurred passages. The parts are all
fairly equal, with a lot of interplay between the voices,
and the work is not very long, being only about four
minutes. The most difficult aspect for a young group
might be the key of the second section, which hovers
around B Major. I would give the work a grade of III-.
There is also an alternate oboe part in place of the
clarinet. Since there is not a lot of music for this instrumental combination, this is a welcome addition.
Edvard Grieg
Four Norwegian Dances, arranged for Woodwind
Quintet by Harry Stanton.
CM-70 ($28)
These dances, originally for piano duet, have been arranged for orchestra previously, but they work very
well for woodwind quintet. Each dance is in a ternary form, and shows some of the variety of styles in
Norwegian folk music. There are some nice clashes of
harmony and accents, giving each movement a very
Reviews
Out of Bounds, for Bassoon and Piano.
BP-4 ($10)
the story of one fishing trip with his dad, where
a fish got hooked but cleverly swam around a
piling and managed to free itself…The phrase
‘out of bounds’ is used here to mean getting
free, releasing tension, or breaking out of a binding situation.”
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110
Reviews
unique sound. The first dance is a march based off the
Sinclair March from Vaga. Movement two also has a
march-like feel to it, the melody of which is a ‘halling’ from the Osterdal valley. In the third dance, the
melody presented at the beginning in a quick tempo,
is played about half tempo in the middle section, with
a longer note accompaniment, providing a nice contrast to the more jovial sounding opening. The final
movement has the most dissonances, and starts with
a long slurred melody, before moving to a piu vivo
section, that again has somewhat of a dance feel to
it. These are just fun pieces to play. They are not very
difficult, earning a grade of III+, and would be a nice
ending set to a chamber concert.
Reviews
Daniel Lipori serves as assistant professor of bassoon
and music history at Central Washington University.
He is editor of Georg Wenzel Ritter: Six Quartets for
Bassoon and Strings op. 1, published by A-R Editions,
Inc. (1999), and author of A Researcher’s Guide to the
Bassoon, published by the Edwin Mellen Press (2002).
29 Reviews.indd 110
5/16/07 6:50:01 PM
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MS Bernadette Zirkuli
Marilyn J. Zupnik
5/16/07 6:50:13 PM

Ralph Gomberg 1921-2006 - International Double Reed Society

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