Dear Ones,
The March 7th, 2020 Masterclass at the Nadia and Lili Boulanger Conservatory in Paris, was a seriously fun 55th birthday party with lovely memories for which I am deeply grateful. THANK YOU to the Conservatory for hosting, Marika Lombardi for the invitation as part of the 2020 OboeParis Festival, for all the supportive contributors such as Fortin-Armiane and other companies of the OboeParis 20th annual festival plus all participating students, family, community and friends.
In this blog I write about gratitude, and review the various teaching methods I used to help the students which I feel can benefit all who read this blog should a reader choose to incorporate the techniques into their own study and/or teaching - in general - as well as while studying or teaching the music I’ve composed.
Gratitude and respect: I choose the image of the wall listing posters of events at this conservatory as a celebration of how inclusive, forward thinking and passionate it’s devotion to the arts. It was great seeing the various ages, interests and levels of hard work toward excellence happening at this great school. It was a thrill and honor to be a guest artist for the day. Having heard so much of Nadia’s work and legacy, what a joy to see it moving forward in this way, in the Conservatory named after her and her sister. The children, parents, amateurs and young adults who dropped into the class were such a seriously fun mix of inspired people. XOXOXO Also - to the students of Marika’s who got the memo it was my birthday and so generously surprised me with birthday gifts ! THANK YOU. Chocolate Eiffel Towers - that’s right - plural - a book in French about Paris - mais oui! melt in the mouth delicious macrons - (a reason to live) - a bottle of chocolate filled with chocolate covered nuts and fruits - a box of deluxe chocolates Paris boasts to offer - what a surprise showering of sweetness. OH YOU ALL MELT MY HEART.
What a thrill to be there and feel the history and contribute to it. It was soul watering to hear the students and to take our passions forward in our art together. ALL ages and levels of instrumentalists who participated were highly motivated, open minded, courageous and involved.
Overview and methods used in reflection:
While people were arriving and settling in, I juggled.
I juggled two and often 3 sacs. I did this for a few reasons. One, it calms me, focuses me and centers me - all in assistance to support me in doing my best. I had nervous energy, I was still off the feeling of time with the time zone change - jacked up of strong coffee - and excited! That aside - juggling helps integrate the right and left hemispheres of the human brain, aiding in creativity and utilization of the whole brain. Furthermore - it creates a feeling of serious fun, of play, of creativity - sets a great emotional tone for a 4+ hour class on a SATURDAY - there are kids coming in - and it helped support the vibe of creative adventure and possibly - courage, intrigue?
SELF INQUIRY AND PLANNING OF PRIORITIES:
While flying over to Paris, I asked myself - what emotional tone do I want to be the underlying experience for these students and I decided that deep artsy creative courage and discovery … was what I wanted to foster in every student’s experience - in the group and every individual. I wanted it to be warm and playful. Everyone seemed to immediately embrace the seriously fun mode. YAY. What is my job? To help foster the unique artist within each participant and employ techniques with one - that others could apply for themselves.
It was fun to watch students from the corner of my eye and discover the ones where were up to toss the sac back and forth and those who were more cautious. It helped me learn about the different students - how they communicated non verbally to me regarding the tossing or not of these sacs. I intentionally used it as a method of assessment while also doing my best to convey and easy going and accepting respect of desire to participate or not in the tossing. (I was also feeling playful!) It was fun to toss it back and forth to parents and adults present.
Group warm up:
Simple start for all - a simple 5 note improvisation (mi, fa#, sol, la, ti) of random movement starting softly and slowly - making a crescendo and increasing in rhythmic movement - then decrescendo and decrease of rhythmic movement. I played these notes on the piano and did the least amount of conducting possible while getting a general sense of the students as they played. Watching them to see who’s who in the zoo.
Next warm up: “CRUNCH” 2 students determined the outer note low and high envelope, with another student fortifying each boundary leader with constant playing of the outer notes sustained. There was a flutist supporting the top contour and a bari saxophonist support the bottom down an octave. Meanwhile the other students performed any pitches of short dry isolated notes in between the outer voices like dots. I’d conduct the duration of the section and internal speed of internal voices, the stop, and start of a new section - with each decreasing outer envelope size - over and again - creating a crunch towards the middle range.
Lastly - all instrumentalists performed the note A 440 playing the duration, repeats and dynamics of their own choosing.
GARDENING TOOL BOX METHOD:
When it comes to working with individual oboists - I don’t follow a one size fits all approach to coaching. I think of oboists like flowers - some need sun, others rain, some need rain this day and sun that day…basically I feel like a gardener with a took box - approaching the garden wondering what the day, weather, season and individual “plant” needs of that moment demand! Again - help the unique artist within - foster courage - encouragement of the individual artist.
INTUITIVE APPROACH:
As the first student prepared stood above the class, ready to play, I asked him if I might say a few words. In somewhat comprehensible French - I spoke about how helpful it is to cultivate an art form for ones personal enrichment throughout ones life for different reasons and how from the book Illuminations ' - from which this student was about to play - I found great comfort in helping me through while grieving the death of my father a year prior. It wasn’t the hard to play virtuoso demanding music I needed, but the delicate small flower portraits of this book to think about and remind me of the fleeting, delicate beauty of life and to give it voice. How that emotional delicacy and deceptive simplicity - nurtured the torment of the pain of death. I mentioned my gratitude to have an art form to turn to in times of deep emotional challenge and fragility. I thanked the parents for supporting their children’s growth in this - how it’s good for them, families and society. I thanked the students for cultivating the gift of being an artist and how we all need this moving forward in the world today.
Thankfully, the young boy seemed truly patient and centered (confident) I loved his vibe.
He played the piece he prepared well XVII - Little Morning Glory - Petit Liseron - with sincerity, patience, accuracy, sensitivity to detail, respectfully. He played it like he was tasting his food and enjoying the flavor! (I bet he’d make a great wine taster and food critic!) What a nice way to approach a work of music. Good for him.
Of course as with ALL instrumentalists, there is a higher and lower level, things done with skill and artistry and more to learn. I chose to applaud his courage, determination and spirit which were all strong and encourage others to also. I praised him for his attention to detail and sensitivity. The community was happy to join in with encouraging support. Great atmosphere. Support to his healthy confidence and to assist in playing a work in front of the composer - a positive and encouraging experience. It was a joy to hear him. I encouraged him to repeat an area - while I conducted - which immediately supported areas he was ready to develop stronger, even greater attention to detail - something he seemed to deliberately be concerned about and ready to increase. That piece invokes that.
He seemed emotionally behind the intellectual challenge.
I sensed a nice balance of emotional and intellectual approach. No talking no lecturing - we just jumped right back into the piece with the conducting support to work more. Sensing he was a balance of intellectual and emotional approach to music, I mixed empathic and verbal expression of praise to him.
Now - I’ll jump around with what happened when, partly because I may not be remembering everything in exact sequence and to edit repeat techniques.
The last soloist studying music I composed performed the advanced version of the very first piece studied in the Masterclass - Hi played, XI - Morning Glory - Liseron in the book Arc en Ciel it was fun to hear the awareness of that epiphany in the audience! This student was also male, and had studied for many more years. I recalled him from the Masterclass 2015 in part of Oboe Paris and I was thrilled to see him again and this time participating with deeper and more courageous involvement with the music and advancement in technical elegance.
Like before - he played as if everything came easily to him - like it flows off his fingers. Appropriate to let it fly in this piece. He followed the direction for joyfully and he played at the suggested tempo. I thought that to take his level of artistic involvement up a notch - he was ready to add embellishments and I coached him how to do it in a way congruent with the style of my music and with how I like to play it. He played through areas of the work - trying out ideas then incorporated them. I would mostly listen with patient enthusiasm and briefly add with conducting to nourish a sentiment or guide a little while he played.
There’s an art form and judgement when to listen, learn and allow and when to step in and shape a bit. When to roll up the sleeves and dig into nitty gritty work and when to move on to the next.
I praised what he did well. The piece was well prepared, accurate, in tune, clear, in time and expressed that with joy. I sensed that the best form of deeper encouragement however was through underlying empathic feeling of joy with some pride to nurture the empathic part of him.
I feel like my technique of teaching is like intuiting dosage of what learning/creating operating system of the student needs and receives FOOD - nourishment. So, the metaphor of gardeners tool box - use the tool of visual, verbal, movement, empathic…..mathematical intellect? Imaginative verbal? Emo empathic? Visual empathic? what combination?
Some great things about music which I appreciate is how it weaves together and demands ALL the learning modalities helping anyone become a more intellectual, empathic, sensory learner and creator. It demands all forms of learning. Playing an instrument in and of itself is a multiple intelligence form of learning and music teachers have a variety of possible approaches to use with different results with students.
Typically when I step into conduct with my music - it is to encourage stronger articulation and dynamic contrast as well as beat clarity. I don’t think it’s possible for anyone to go too far in the arena of contrast as written …. otherwise - it should be as one deeply feels it. There is a place for semplice … occasionally.
Another student working of solo music I wrote, performed XII - Peony - Pivoine from the book Arc en Ciel. I sensed she was deeply and primarily empathic and sonic so I used an empathic approach, working beyond words and intellectual reasoning by conducting precisely, constantly and singing gently exactly how I want the piece to go metrically as it is in 5/4 preventing the common danger of the slip to an even meter signature. I just conducted and sang gently - yet while following her lead, emphasizing the lovely nuances of her interpretation. I let her mirror my mood, rhythm, and voice as I emphasized what I sensed she was doing - a magnifying mirror glass approach.
(if she were different - bossy and predominantly intellectual - I would have stepped aside and observed - then offer thoughts for her to think about and then resume allowing her time to make adjustments - offering her a more of here’s a tool - do it yourself approach, kind of like how I worked with the older Morning Glory student.)
First we worked on small sections - then reviewed more of the piece. She got it visually and energetically immediately to shift and move further along her understanding. I was careful to vibe patience even though I was excited because that was the necessary flow of the piece and as she was super sensitive I felt it important to cloak that and replace it with a tenderness which I felt underlying - so it was like a “flipping of the camera lens direction” of internal emotions for me. Turns out she was also studying a 6.4 meter - duet - adding challenge to playing 5.4 meter. But it also provides contrast which gives one a learning advantage.
Afterwards we had a lovely eye contact exchange of warmth and tenderness. An empathic, non verbal support of her artistry and lovely presence.
to reiterate:
My focus as a teacher is to encourage the artist within - for his or her own sake - patiently and for the benefit of the student. It’s never about competing or reaching deadlines - it’s about bringing out the internal voice of THEM - I think of my music as a recipe - and the individual follows it for their own nourishment.
Music is soul food.
Her mother was there and was also seemingly very warm and sensitive. She and I had a nice meeting of eyes recognizing how special and deep her daughter is. I think it can be very tricky to make sure that level of delicate sensitivity be honored and cultivated and recognized and moved forward as we go forward in the 21st century. In the 20th century the habit of more competitive and aggressive or intellectual based artists on the oboe have had more opportunities for advancement at the sometime devastation of the more of what I’ll dare call feminine - at the risk of being misunderstood - artists in a competitive and less personal - established system of judgement. Students like her thrive in private mentored relationships.
________
side note
I’ve watched to my horror for years, strong young women artists BREAK when the school system or parents demand that they use their art to compete for advancement and/or for collegiate scholarships to help the family financially afford tuition. Competition is a double edged sword. It has it’s place - and sometimes that place is in the scabbard. Using music as a means to an economic ends is not always best for the musician. “Not every gardener needs to feed the world, or one’s family - but just oneself and on occasion with others as special guests - and in so doing helps all relationships that gardener has with others.” Little metaphor, I believe.
This is where I advocate some of the older traditional Indian schools of pedagogy - train with a master mentor - perform years later if and when the teacher says. Competition has no place for x number of years. Oboists - all - I feel, require long term mentoring. Not all oboists benefit from any form of competition - many do…. and the WHY or WHY NOT and the HOW or HOW NOT is equally important. Again, there is no one size fits all. The motivation can greatly influence outcome. There are psychological advantages and disadvantages to having a cultural set up with or without competition. It CAN be LETHAL to some artists to be put prematurely or at all into a competitive arena. It can be lethal for some students to have a teacher that is solely intellectually critical. (I’m not saying this is the case for the last mentioned student mind you - or casting any shadows - it’s just that this tender empathic artist whom I love - reminds me of some former students who have been hurt by aggressive and verbally abusing competitors and judges. ALSO - much of my teaching experience has been involved in MUSIC THERAPY helping reclaim and rehabilitate badly pruned and damaged artists of toxic pedagogy! So I try to navigate a healthy and aware not callous or unconscious approach to musical nourishment. I put that in overdrive when I’m the composer in residence. Imagine being a child - or adult - playing a piece of music in front of the composer. OMG - I sweat bullets playing Bach - when he’s dead - but if he were standing right next to me! OK - I’m not Bach - but …. I’d be a bit on full alert to the response - and more likely to be influenced and remember than from the “usual” lesson.
Anyway - this lovely tender artist - inspired my maternal sense of protection and nurturing. She really stole my heart.
_______
Another student played a solo work - XIX - Magnolia from Illuminations Her interpretation was very sturdy. Marika encouraged a conversation regarding articulation - which I omitted on this work - leaving it to the interpretation of the artist.
The music I wrote which has A LOT of detail written inspired a focus on the detail. Music I write free of detail - inspired more of a listen to YOURSELF - phrase it approach. Very important I feel to cover this topic. There are works - like this one - I don’t want to add detail…
When I play this piece - I play it many different ways - legato here, slurred there, stated there - it depends on the moment and I don’t wish to convey a fixed articulation - yet in those instances I suppose I should mention that articulation is free and to be determined by the artist - to be clear. Anyway - I learn that erring on the side of clarity is best to avoid misunderstanding… Magnolias are hardy and her interpretation conveyed that.
Her spirit of grace and strength came through, determination and optimism.I felt that the emotional fragrance of her strength of character came through. HOW LOVELY! I gave verbal intellectual support and encouragement. I omitted all articulation details in that piece and encourage the individual artist to therefor make it their own. Personally, I play it differently every time and intuit what I do based on the mood du jour… or for that matter - moment! Besides, it repeats a lot. I think it’s best to treat repeats differently in emotional tone.
At one point, I reminded her to use diaphragmatic support. We all need to do this all the time as a priority as oboists. Sometimes young players when very determined and focused - like she was - need a little reminder. POOF - instant sound improvement! It felt like we were all a bit surprised even though we all know this - or should. It was a good reminder to everyone. She immediately sounded astonishingly better - and it wasn’t like it was obvious her support dropped. Kind of like - sitting up tall again, standing up straight. Suddenly one is 3 “ taller and 10 pounds lighter!
Later the students who worked on Peony and Magnolia worked on a challenging duet no. V Secrets of Flying (in 6/4 ) from the book of 7 oboe duets The Secrets of Ravens - one that requires both strengths the different students have! Perfect assignment to further the two students along working together. There is a lot of counting and a lot of intuitive bonding to stir together to perform this well. Marika and I had to really work on this one before performing and recording this one years past. We laughed and talked about it and we both jumped in to coach these two girls - conducting, counting, encouraging and laughing in our own way. After so many moments of applause after different students - I said - hey - today isn’t a performance - we’re here to WORK! and they were all about it. We jumped in and worked on sections practicing skills with the metronome that lovely torture devise that combs our hair. This took every skill. Both girls were all about digging in and working hard. We all worked on approaches for further practice.
I was thrilled to see a strong streak of determination preside over these two young girls.
No matter what - LOVE - (of art …etc) can eclipse all nonsense or hangups we artists may find ourselves entangled with regards to our strengths, weaknesses or operating systems of learning and interacting. I think that goes for life in general.
Back to another solo practice of a work I wrote - a male teenager played XIII - Petunia - Pétunia from the book Arc en Ciel. This Vivace 3/8 work is like riding a horse that’s ready to bolt. Very easy to drop rests and RUSH- unlike other 3/4 or 3/8 pieces can be…sometimes…. Add to this situation enthusiasm and you have a common situation. The technique I employed with him was of repeating the same measure without missing a beat before moving to the next measure - and repeating that one as well and so forth. We then practiced repeating lines. This forced him to slow down and not race - like a snowball downhill. Repeating measures, or measure groups or lines or phrases, helps put the breaks on speeding and helps develop vertical strength and SOLO rhythmic control.
At another point in the masterclass - this student played duet no. 2 Ritual Dances from The Secrets of Ravens. As an ensemble player - he aligned himself with the rhythm of the other oboist. So I make the point that it’s important for strong ensemble players and those good about following conductors to deliberately focus on developing solo rhythmic strength carefully. It’s one thing to understand - but it takes practice to play with solo rhythm control - IN FRONT OF OTHERS - when one is emotionally enthusiastic. This takes practice in the form of audience and stress. Here is an plug in favor of performing and competing… again - it depends. It reminds me of how challenging the art of teaching and studying can be. That said - one can be too careful - and one too unconscious….
So - back to the duet. Both young men played the piece very well. I praised them and then told them how they can take it higher - They had a pretty interpretation with a lot of artistic elegance…very nice - yet they could make it really POP and add character by exaggerating the accents and articulation even more. So, they gave that a try and were delighted at how that made the piece come alive with greater clarity. One small change - BIG results. Nuances and details can really make all the difference in certain works.
There was a young woman who I just couldn’t read intuitively who worked on a Rose ( no. 2, I think) from the book A Dozen Roses. I kept my interaction cordial and neutral as best I could. Supportive in her continuation and encouraging her to drop any grace notes higher than three ledger lines. Understandably, she seemed just fine with that! Marika asked me a question about the grace notes and we discovered an error in printing. Frankly - I’d like to revise the issue of the highest grace note - and make some changes - the highest grace notes intimidate many oboists and I fear scare them off from playing the entire book - which is a shame - so I just want to drop them and simplify that one tiny detail in roses 1 and 12 which will open up the enjoyment of the book to the majority - not minority - of oboists. In hindsight the student may have been frustrated and polite simultaneously. I wouldn’t be surprised nor blame her. I felt awkward at the discovery of a printing error that I never noticed. Not sure how it happened. To my publisher’s credit, she came up to me later and was clear that she’d make any corrections I’d ask.
There was an adult hobbyist who bravely played étude no. 5 VIPER from the book IN ADORATION OF THE EARTH. It was soul watering and heart warming to listen and observe this man PERFORM this piece. He threw himself into it and performed as best he could. He was a retired (I think) airline pilot, and I suspect that his experience of flying above the hubbub of humanity, gave him the perfect consciousness to detach from the common cultural sense of 20th and 21t century living - to engage into the deeper sense of nature while portraying the VIPER.
Let’s dwell on the subject of TIME a bit more…. What are the ingredients of music????
TIME is certainly one. There is also the consideration of CULTURAL relationship with time.
THAT - the cultural relationship with time and how that influences HOW we approach and perform music is a critical DETAIL of a primary ingredient of MUSIC.
As a composer, my past involvement with being OFF the grid and in the wilderness and spending much time bird watching and canoeing and hiking up and down the east coast as a child and young adult - deeply informs and influences my work as a composer and artist relating to TIME. So too - the life long habit of MEDITATION.
It’s best to approach the music that I compose, in a vertical state of NOW. One foot in eternity and one foot in linear time at cross roads of vertical and horizontal. That’s where I hear and feel it.
VIPER - especially - calls for a stillness - but an alive stillness!! Not to be confused with calm. This gentleman seemed to really understand and convey that. I was SO pleased! If you think of an animal of prey being still before pouncing - THAT - is an active or an alive stillness. The art of being alert without hurry.
As musicians - I feel we have a duty to sensitize ourselves in our relationship with time NOW and in our understanding of how composers and musicians of yesteryear related to time. This is a big topic for higher advancement in musical relating. This is the conversation that Michael WINFIELD and Lois WANN were having with me intensely. I am SO grateful - and this deeper relationship with TIME - is what the students working on music other than mine - were ready to begin to think about with the Classical piece and the Baroque piece other oboists brought into the masterclass.
The young woman could play the Mozart so beautifully - and was ready to take it higher - artistically. I encouraged her to slow down her relationship with time. To not push the beat - like one might in Jazz. Rather - think - wearing heals and a gown and wallow in limelight. Her musical voice seemed hidden under her technique (at first) I employed the technique ‘ PICK ONE OF THE FOLLOWING THREE” and engaged the others in attendance to listen for which she choose. I gave her three choices, pick one secretly, and play the section depicting her choice. First I gave her the choices - Winter, Spring, or the last day of Autumn. She looked at me incredulously yet respectfully and I looked back with patience, and confidence in her ability because I was completely serious.
Within the first 2 measures - it was CRYSTAL CLEAR - that she picked Spring. The ripple of awareness was ELECTRIC throughout the room. People were astonished. It was - I think - unanimous that she picked Spring. I think her ability to convey her imagination so strongly surprised her. Later in a different section of the work - I gave her the choices to play the section as if one of the following three character were singing it - ROMEO, JULIET, or a clown…. again - within two measures - if that - we could hear that she picked ROMEO. SERIOUS FUN! Sweet surprise.
That simple technique - can do wonders - when playing an old barn burner in the repertoire for the umpteenth time! It helps to hear more of what the piece can do and it liberates one’s imagination and helps go beyond the intellect. She didn’t have to ponder for half an hour HOW to make it sound like ROMEO or SPRING - she just got there within herself and did it.
I’ve worked with this method for decades with all kinds of kids and adults. Everyone - without exception - that I’ve coached can do it. TRY IT and see for yourself.
You can think in terms of seasons, elements, characters, and more…. pretend that you’re playing on an instrument made of ice, or fire, or crystal or molten lava …. stone or stardust. Just fire your imagination and listen to what just seems to happen. You’ll be amazed. Have fun.
So let’s say for instance - you’re playing VIPER and wonder HOW to employ this technique - well, portray different kinds of snakes in different kinds of places. A king snake, or an invisible snake or a ghost snake or a viper in smoke or a viper in ice…. a viper made of lace, or bronze …. stars in the sky…. a shadow of leaves…
Employing this technique in other ways….. imagine you’re playing any work - as a sound track for a movie. What’s the movie? What’s the scene, season, character, location and so on. Pretend you are a mythical god or goddess playing the piece. How would VENUS play it? Or Hercules? How would an animal bring the piece to life - which animal? Where? Weave the sound out of….
Play the music as if it was echoing out of a hieroglyph…or Apollo’s lyre.
you get the idea
I encouraged her - and those listening - that when repeating a section or working out expression - to decide things like this. Play a repeat with a different expression for contrast - or a different way on a different day for fun. OR - if you are the 10th person in a competition to play the same piece - stand out - make if your own by consciously choosing a specific voice or artistic interpretation! If you are playing this piece on a recital program - choose the interpretation that works best in the context of the program - if you’re playing something heavy like Brahms - lighten up how you portray Mozart, creating greater contrast and so on….
With the other student working on the Baroque piece - we spent more time on the relationship with strong and weak parts of the beats and measure creating more time related geometry to the work and dynamic shading…sculpting.
I think the best and fastest way to get expert in learning the style of a composer - is to play duets with the composer. If the composer is dead - then study with a true master of that composer. NOT to be confused with a masterful musician who plays the music of a composer. For example, Yoyo Ma - a masterful cellist - plays BACH like Yoyo Ma - not like a Bach specialist. THAT’S OK - but if you wish to master the style of BACH - study with a master of the BACH style. If you can’t do that, then listen carefully and imitate recordings of someone who is not only a master player - but masterful in the tradition and KEEPER of the tradition of style of that composer…. if you prefer to play solo in your own way when you play - don’t worry about it. Also - don’t presume to imitate a recording of someone else performing a modern composer as a way to understand that composer. Many premiere recordings or performances should not be the gold standard or means of imitation. Don’t presume recordings are accurate.
( That said - I am happy to inform that ANEMOS quintet recordings and performances of my quintets are stylistically accurate, artfully sensitive - 90% …at the right tempo ; ) I’m very grateful. HOWEVER - there are hundred of ways to “cook an egg”. Don’t limit yourself with being a copycat. FIND YOUR OWN VOICE and be accurate both, if you wish.
There was work on the trio DREAMS OF THE BLACK SWAN for flute, oboe and bassoon. The bassoon part was changed and adapted to bari sax.
Marika and I worked simultaneously. Marika near the students conducting and advising. I sat at the piano and at times played certain lines to help add support. Occasionally I said something technical.
At one point when I sensed a student feeling embarrassed I reminded everyone that this isn’t a performance, we are here to work and practice techniques of work. This is why we’re here - its all about artistic work.
OBOE QUARTET no. 2 FLYING WITH RAVENS INTO THE SUN
Serious fun - Flying with Ravens into the Sun - quartet was rehearsed by Marika and 3 advanced oboe students. The feelings of uplift and excitement were conveyed. Lots of chromatic runs, fast movement, alternative scales, flapping movement and flying occurs in this piece.
So now with this last masterclass being the 3rd one as part of the OBOEPARIS festival, consistent features were: working on solo pieces - duets and oboe quartets.
I have two more oboe quartets in me….
the ones completed are:
FLYING WITH RAVENS INTO THE NIGHT - no. 1 - see SHOP PAGE
FLYING WITH RAVENS INTO THE SUN - no. 2 - see SHOP PAGE
awaiting the pen - and if someone steps up to sponsor will happen sooner than later
FLYING WITH RAVENS BEYOND TIME’S GATE no. 3
FLYING WITH RAVENS HITHER AND THITHER no. 4
Oboe quartets are a reason to live. It is a THRILL to hear and perform and write, oboe quartets.
If you are so inclined - please contribute to help more of these exists. SHARE THE JOY.
In closing, I’m so grateful that France Monot, my publisher with Fortin-Armiane who helped, in part, sponsor the OboeParis2020 Festival, was present for the ENTIRE masterclass, and had a display of books of mine they publish available for interested students to purchase. Several students asked me to sign books, which was endearing and touching.
The students and their supportive family members present were inspiring.
I have fond memories of them all and feel deeply grateful to contribute to their love and devotion of music. It warms my heart, waters my soul, and helps me feel appreciated knowing that the notes I’ve put down can be a source of creative inspiration to them. I felt that I was able to give something unique to assist the other oboists studying works of other eras and composers.
As always in teaching, I felt the ghosts of my mentors and teachers. Lois WANN mostly and others are by my side as I employ techniques I learned from them - and from other artistic teachers and idioms.
Going into the masterclass - ironically - I felt very insecure. When I was younger I felt so sure of myself - but with many years of studying oboe and of teaching - I learn there is more that I don’t know than what I do know, I am less certain of my convictions and more curious. I felt relieved that I was able to draw upon experience to help. I felt like I served as best I could.
As always - I learn from the students - and feel privileged to hear them in a supportive role.
I’m so grateful to continue in this oboe passion. I hope to celebrate more birthdays with this great lifetime love and to share this profound joy of music.
In service to the muse,
gratefully,
K.J.P.