Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Oboe in the O.R.


Last night's call was QUI-ET!  Nice to have respite like that after last Saturday's call, which was non-stop activity from 8 a.m. to 4 a.m.

So I sat in the anesthesia office surrounded by darkened operating rooms, recovery room, and corridors and played a little Rimsy-Korsakov.  I love the oboe part from the second suite in Scheherazade.

This morning Kyoko and I worked on that, plus some Bizet, and the Corelli-Barbirolli.   She really wants me to move on to the Cimarosa, but I don't think I can do it. How can she have that much faith in me after my sluggish tonguing this morning?  I watch these pre-pubescent oboists on Youtube toss it off seemingly effortlessly, and I think:  I am too old to get my finger muscles to learn that kind of accuracy and agility.  What was I thinking?!

But I'm still enjoying the instrument, and making some progress, and indulging in musical "treats" for myself at home (Zipoli adagio, passages from Les Miserables, stuff we sing in church; maybe I'll throw some Borodin in now), so I go on, glad to be allowed this chance to live with music for its own sake, without pressure.
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4 comments:

  1. JoMarch 19, 2009 at 9:00 AM

    Wow! I played the Rimsky-Korsakov Scherezade in a uni orchestra, but not the solo (not that I was capable of playing it at the time - I managed to fluff the oboe bit in Thieving Magpie in the same concert), and would love to have a go at it.

    I've got a concert on Saturday, and am doing the oboe solo from Dance 1 of Borodin's Polovtsian Dances - I'm terrified! I've had it on loop on my MP3 player, but I still don't think I've got the rhythm right...

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  2. gelci72March 19, 2009 at 9:35 AM

    Please don't have the impression that I am CAPABLE of the Scheherazade solo - I am a stumbling wreck! I could NEVER do these oboe parts with an actual GROUP. I just like to attempt these things and have something to work on...

    I was listening to the Borodin just yesterday. It's SO cathartic. :)

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  3. JoMarch 19, 2009 at 10:28 AM

    Hey, you've got the music for it! That's one step further along than I am - the closest that I've got is listening to it on CD and sighing occasionally :-)

    I love playing pieces which are challenging - it feels so good when they suddenly click and you realise that something you really couldn't play a few weeks ago just falls under the fingers.

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  4. gelci72March 19, 2009 at 1:59 PM

    You can download the score from IMSLP (link at right).

    And yes, I LOVE that feeling when all of a sudden the music actually comes OUT after weeks of seemingly hopeless struggle! :)

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