Friday, March 30, 2007

A Gig and a Read

Okay, so tomorrow is an odd gig. I don't know alot about it other than the fact that it will be somewhere in Rhode Island. The repertoire consists of many tunes that Mario Lanza sang and made famous. The repertoire is fun and the bass clarinetist laughs at my comments. That's all one really needs, right?

So, I'm finishing up a rather good book, "The Inextinguishable Symphony" by Martin Goldsmith. My friend CP in DC lent it to me and said it was an interesting read. It's a rather disturbing portrait of the author's parents and their experiences in Nazi Germany. His parents were both musicians in orchestras in Germany at the time and took part in a Jewish orchestra run by the propaganda machine under Hitler. Their abilities to play their instruments seem to have allowed them the opportunity to escape what was going on.

Go to

http://www.amazon.com/Inextinguishable-Symphony-Story-Music-Germany/dp/0471078646 if you'd like to purchase it. I have no stake in it; just a good read. Too bad I'll need to return it to my friend when next I hit DC.

Kerplunk

So...tired....(to be said in a Captain James Tiberius Kirk voice...dripping with melodrama)

As my car seemed to think that I tried to steal it on Tuesday, it promptly took action, crippling itself. This morning, I was able to get myself out of bed at ass o'clock and get on the Commuter Rail for retrieval. Yes, I had to go all the way back to the burbs where it died.

After that, a couple hours practicing, a few hours of rehearsing an exhausting Strauss piece, and a few more hours of practice. For my last 2 hours though, I tortured myself (and others) by sitting in a concert hall and playing repertoire for my friends. Poor schmoes. That crap is tiring, especially when you pick a reed and stick with it even when it stinks. Gotta learn to make it work.

I left the hall a little past 11pm, which makes me o-so-tired. I have a day to myself tomorrow to recover and continue my preparation. The king is dead. Long live the King.

Or something.

Friday, March 23, 2007

Where in the World is Carmen San Diego...or Chris?

So, the question of the hour/day/week/month is "Where in the hell are you going, Chris?" Well, that's an awfully complicated question, questioner. Stop being so nosey. I'll elaborate a little. Here are the possible destinations for me in the near future (next 6 months): Chicago; Washington, DC; Connecticut; Mississippi; Singapore; Osaka, Japan; Seoul, South Korea. Is that up in the air enough for you? Those are just the options that will probably come to decisions in the next 6 weeks or so. After that, there are other options. Notice the lack of Boston in the equation. Time for me to move on. I've already changed my official residence back to NC just to assist in the process.

Please accept any type/grammar problems as the inevitable result of spending too much time at the Milky Way this evening.

Today's soundtrack included Vic Damone, Sammy Davis Jr., Dean Martin, and Ludacris. Smashing, I'd say.

Now, off to bed to recover from my day of returning to work and play.

Wednesday, March 21, 2007

Spies and Expanding Mania

US Dept. of Energy my rear-end. That's like saying that a "think tank" is where people ponder the world's problems rather than ponder new and "improved" vote tallying. I'm fairly sure none of my friends work in that industry in DC. Most would either resent the time taken away from either practicing or partying. Feel free to drop a note and let us know who you are/why you are here. If it's Alberto, I'll try to keep the sedition to a dull roar.

On the other hand, it looks as if I'll be able to snag a big room tomorrow for a recorded runthrough of a bunch of repertoire. Why might I want this? Excellent question, but stop sucking up. Practicing solely in one's room (or the front room if no one else is home) is all well and good, but the acoustic properties of big rooms are much different. Frequently, playing with the amount of resonance necessary for a big freakin' hall while in a small practice space just creates a wall of sound through which it's difficult to hear. One can fix most of the technical and musical issues in a small room, but a big room is where you need to see if your sound is going to have too much/little edge when you're firing on all cylanders. I'm not sure which big room I'll use tomorrow, but there are several different possibilities, all with varying levels of being live. Any of them will provide good feedback, providing I have my little recording setup for later review.

Aren't I such a nerd?

Saturday, March 17, 2007

White Powder


Okay, any girl that describes a previous musical project as "Two Jewish girls do Salt n' Pepa" seems to me to be worth investigating. After assisting someone in getting ahold of this album (apparently not the easiest thing), I took a listen to it. It's fantastic. The sound goes back a bit to the girl groups of the 50's and 60's, but the lyrics at points most certainly do not. She's got an excellent voice. If you want some horror-inducing comedy, go check outYouTube and find her rendition of Michael Jackson's Beat It with Charlotte Church. Yup, the little 12-year-old Limey is still singing. I guess she's no longer 12, but I've never been one for details. Oh, and the performance takes place on Church's TV show. I'm pretty sure that's the 5th Seal being broken right there. I'm already stocking up on canned food in expectation of the coming plagues.

Wait a minute...Couldn't the FSM do something about that whole Apocalypse thing? I mean...he's got many tenticles/noodles/appendages. He's got at least enough to subdue the Four Horsemen. The Marinara alone should keep the horses busy and out of the fight.

The television tells me that we got 6 inches of snow yesterday. Thank god they told me repeatedly and without any sense of calm, because I wouldn't have believed them if they didn't have someone dressed as the Gordon's Fisherman battling Nature on Route 2. Sometimes just looking out the window can't be trusted.

Oh, and some kids offered to clear my sidewalk for a few bucks. Since I don't own the place and don't plan on leaving the building for a few days, I declined. However, I did tell them to come back this afternoon and they can dig my car out for a few bucks more. Nice...

Friday, March 16, 2007

"Get me another, Wench, or you'll be digesting this!"

Ever gotten between a mother bear and her cubs? Poked a dog while it's eating? Taken a picture of a sax player just when he's run out of beer? Little do the gentle soul on the right and the whitey on the left realize that they've just become fodder. Poor bastards.

At this table, we had three violinists, a sax player, a clarinetist, and the Queen of Boston Stagecrews. What did we talk about this time? Concert life, music, and great art? Not really...Mostly we just gorged hungrily, coming up for air to comment on various fruity drink recipes. Damn that duck was good. A toddler went missing in the the room during our stay. I think that it just wandered too close to the table and was swept up in the pre-human grab-and-bite.

I spent a couple of hours sightreading Richard Strauss this afternoon. It was some late work for winds and brass with a real pantload of accidentals. Frankly, I threw in a couple of accidents, myself. I need to spend a little time with Jettel again, but I'm fairly pleased with the quality of reading.

A habit I'm noticing with some wind players in the States: Projecting one's sound can be achieved several different ways. Yes, you can play sharp, which seems to be the most common solution. Then, your sound sticks out because it's out of tune. You can play with a sound that is pinched so the lack of warmth causes your sound to be "Which one of these is not like the other" that we so love. Everyone loves a pinched sound.

Or... You can play with enough resistance in your setup that your sound carries to the back wall without being forced. You can run with a setup that won't rattle even if you blow your hardest, if that's your fancy. Of course that means that you're somewhat limited in tonal palette. I fancy a little more flexibility, so go for something less than brain-clotting.

For FSM's sake, though stop with the pinching AND the playing sharp. That's just gauche.

Wednesday, March 14, 2007

A Cloud Parts...a Ray of Gold Shines Down

Ooh...my dream job has opened up. Well, it hasn't opened up, but I've information on very good authority that it will be announced soon that said job will be available. I have about 8 months until the audition, it seems. I've got the repertoire list from the last time this position was open, so I'll be working on that until I get more concrete information regarding the new list. Yay...

Crap...It suddenly dawned on me that I'll now have to win the job. Oops...Why don't they just give it to me as restitution for the bollux with which I've dealt over the past few years? Oh well...I'd better start studying those parts soon. The list for this audition is a little strange compared to the past few auditions I've taken.

I've a few pics to post sometime soon. A number of musician friends were in town from 'round the globe, so we wandered over to Chef Chang's House for a heapin' helpin' o' Peking Duck. It's always better when you can let the Taiwanese couple do all the work of ordering. Just let them know you want plenty of food.

Oh, and I've stopped bothering to re-read for typos...as if you couldn't tell.

Saturday, March 10, 2007

Recordings and Such

The 'thumpians and I ended up just recording the Earle Brown last Tuesday. They also had a session with Xenakis' Epicycles (Ben Schwartz, solo cello) earlier in the afternoon. The Brown recording will be interesting, but Ben's performance of the Xenakis is just fantastic. The whole damned piece is played without vibrato. Playing in tune seems is hard enough for string players, but playing Xenakis without the crutch of vibrato must be a real bitch. Regarless, Ben owned the piece.

What shall become of this piece, a faithful reader (and mother) asks? Who the hell knows? It'll probably disappear into the vaults like so many of the other Callithumpian recordings. Most of them are pieces that don't have other recordings available, so it's doubly annoying that they haven't made it to the stores yet. I know of a violin concerto recording that's just dumbfounding in it's accomplishment, but it's sitting on a shelf somewhere. Were this to get out, it might win an award or two. That's how good it is. Frankly, I'd be happy to get copies of most of these recordings, at this point.

Speaking of recordings: I did something mildly naughty. I took my laptop to record myself before an orchestra rehearsal recently. I wanted to sit in a big hall and see how my new setup works. (I believe my quote was "I'm going to try to eat the orchestra with my sound.") I was getting alot of the solidity of sound in the throat register and below. Also, the homogeneity of the sound was much better. All in all, a good little session. Here's the kicker...It turns out that, with my newly cleaned up hard drive and new recording software, I had PLENTY of space to record the rehearsal. So, I just left the rig running surreptitiously in the back of the hall. Oddly enough, my solos over the orchestra are clear as day. My solos with alot less texture underneath are less easily heard. Hm...

Why is this recording mildly naughty? Well, no one else in the ensemble signed a recording release for for me. Shhh....Why do you think I'm deleting the files immediately and not giving you the name of the ensemble? Shh....(Like anything is private 'round these parts.)

Back to not working...

Tuesday, March 06, 2007

Recordapalooza

I'm not really sure what I'll be recording today with Callithumpian. I'm pretty sure that we're recording Earle Brown's Event Synergy II but we may also record a Lucier piece. I can't really keep up. Frankly, shouldn't my preparation be the same either way?

Jeez...I've got a gigantic list of crap I've got to do on the 'net before I swing into the session.

Saturday, March 03, 2007

Singing Penguins


Pepper, meet everybody. Everybody, meet Pepper. He's one of my favorite dogs. This is an unusual picture as he actually appears to give a damn about something. This will be the last shot you'll see of him for a while since he's in NC and I'm...well, these days, I'm everywhere. In the past few weeks, I've been in Chicago, North Carolina, Washington, D.C., College Park, MD, Glens Falls, NY, Boston...Criminey...



Everybody, meet HJ. HJ, meet everyboday. One of my MD friends and one of my favorite people. As you can see, she is also a clarinetist and also has the requisite mental problems. Also, as a friend of mine, she must also have a 2nd set of mental problems. I'll ask her the next time I'm in town. In fact, it looks as if my schedule coincidentally has me in town right around the time of one of her doctoral recitals. If it end up happening, I'll make sure to plug it inappropriately.

Concert on Sunday with Beethoven's Emperor Concerto. The Pianist is the real thing. Worth hearing. If I'm not too lazy tomorrow, I'll give the proper info for those wanting to trek all the way up here. I recorded today's rehearsal so I can get a gander at how my new setup performs in the wild. I'll take a listen tomorrow afternoon and report back on whether I need to break something or not.Too tired tonight...