Finals week!!!

This is good news and bad news. The good news is that the semester is almost over, which means more time for practicing and college apps. and sleep and all that good stuff. Bad news is that until finals are over I have to study my rear off.
Well off to studying I go!

I'll post something for real after Thursday. :)

Cheers!

#23

Well we've seen how the bassoon is expressive, versatile and all that rot... but where did this fascinating instrument come from?
It's so exotic! It can play every role, and speak with any voice. It is truly amazing!

Here's an article that touches on the origins of the bassoon;

http://www.cnn.com/interactive/career/0103/ny.phil.bassoon/frameset.exclude.html


It's very interesting. For those of you who think this is all just a bunch of talk, here's an example of the bassoon's versatility and powerful expression, just ignore the insane beard...

http://youtube.com/watch?v=5IBwilB05oc&feature=related


This one shows how truly earthy the bassoon can sound, plus as a female bassoonist I find it interesting to see a bassoon section comprised entirely of women. It's a strange occurrence, I have only had the opportunity to play with four other female bassoonists besides myself in an orchestra, and it was never for any extended amount of time. Every other bassoonist has been male. Not a bad thing at all. ;-)

http://youtube.com/watch?v=phIRRINOF-M&feature=related


Here is Jazz bassoon, something I'm interested in, but haven't studied much, I think it's a lot better than listening to a saxophone, but of course I'm biased. :D
Did you know; the saxophone started as an experiment to make a metal bassoon? Something must have gone terribly wrong... ;^)

http://youtube.com/watch?v=dzc4MX5ozT8&feature=related


And lastly I wanted to include some pictures of early bassoons, before they were even called a "bassoons." You're probably familiar with the word "dulcet" which means "sweet", well older bassoons were called "Dulcians" -probably from the same root.

Moeck Dulcian -you can actually buy these things online for $3,497!

Basson d'Amour
Bassoon of Love, or lovely bassoon

And now for something completely different...
Faggott, Fagotto, Fagott, are all different spellings for the bassoon's more common names in Europe. It means bundle of sticks, because that's what the bassoon actually was before it evolved.
I don't know if this is necessarily the case, but when I was in Russia I asked the shopkeeper of a store selling sheet music for; "bassoon music," when she didn't understand I said "Fagott?" and she immediately understood and showed me what they had. -Our entire orchestra descended upon and invaded the shop that day; I doubt they've had such good business since! ;)

#22

Ok, this is totally AWESOME!!!



Miniature Bassoons! So adorable! Check it out;



http://www.millermarketingco.com/bassetto/index.htm



They're called Bassettos, or Faggottinos, whatever you prefer.

Bassettos may be just a little less conrtoversial...

I love 'em! I wish I had started playing at such a young age as to have bought one, but that's ok maybe this will open the eyes of some parent wanting their young child to start playing the bassoon.

Ok, catch ya next time! :)

don't forget to ask a question, be it a 'how to' or a 'how much' or 'what if...' I love hearing from people!

#21

Ok guys, this is the real deal. If you want to hear THE most awesome bassoon playing in your LIFE this is THE time.

Check it out, Valentin Martchev, a boy from rural Bulgaria whose love and talent for music put him in the big time. He will be playing John Williams' (that's right, the Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and Harry Potter guy) "Five Sacred Trees" and the bassoon solo in Shostakovich Symphony No. 9, E-flat major, Op. 70. Keep your ears open for the Star Wars theme, it's there!

Don't miss it! Just tune in on your computer to http://www.kpbs.org/radio/listen Or you can tune in with your radio to "kpbs 89.5"

The entire program is;
Haydn: Symphony No. 85, B-flat major ("La reine; The Queen of France")
John Williams: Five Sacred Trees: Concerto for Bassoon and Orchestra
Shostakovich: Symphony No. 9, E-flat major, Op. 70
Need more? Read up on it! http://www.sandiegosymphony.com/uploads/pdfs/pdf_mw0607_8.pdf

How often are you gonna hear something like this anyway? Might I add (on a slightly nerdy note) that this concerto is the first in history to be played with a wooden bocal, instead of metal. Yes my teacher is a real pioneer. Have a wonderful Sunday!

November 11, 2007
- 7pm PST
David Lockington, conductor
San Diego Symphony
Valentin Martchev, bassoon

Ok, so if you missed it last night don't give up! I am requesting a link from KPBS so you can hear it online! Who knows? Maybe it will work! I'll put it up as soon as I get it! :)

I've gotten a few questions about my teacher's wooden bocal. What's it like? How does it sound? Who made it?
Here's the link http://www.robertronnes.com/paraschos.bassoonbocal.html
you can see them, you can hear them! You can read about them!

It's a very new thing, and totally revolutionary -in an old-world way. :) I'm gonna have to get me one of those.
So go check it out! It's so awesome!

Until later! -oh yeah, feel free to leave a comment or a question and I will be happy to respond when I get it, I love hearing back from you!

#20

So I had to take the SAT yesterday. I'm pretty sure I didn't do well because I'm sick and while I was in the testing room there were way too many cobwebs in my brain. I only finished answering two sections completely, the rest was all left incomplete. Both of the sections that I did finish, however, had to do with writing. They were 'the essay' and a 'revising paragraphs' section. My math skills got me through high-school with A's but this SAT math seems like it's always out to get me!
Did you know that; Some colleges (more with conservatories) don't even look at your SAT score, because it is soooooo subjective. Especially the essay part, (bad for me, good for others) which is thought to be soooooo subjective that it routinely goes unnoticed. Have I said sooooooooo subjective enough yet? My SAT study book says that the SATs are hardly a good measure of how you are doing in school, and that they should be done away with. YIPEEEE! I'm all for that! Just look at our GPAs, if they're not a show of how well we do in school, then nothing is! I'm not a bad student, I almost always get A's, but the SAT could ruin all of that for me, when colleges look at it and say, ''Well, she's above average, barely, so we know she has a brain... but not much of one. So should we let her in? Naaaa, ok out she goes!"

Ok away from the terrible and hum-drum. Last Halloween I dressed up as a mix of 'the mummy' and 'the creature from the black lagoon'. So hilarious! We put a big, thick rectangular piece of foam across my shoulders and a trench coat on top. Now what did we do? Haha! I stood of the side of the walk-way to our door and waved at the wall in a mechanical motion. The funny part is that people could not tell whether or not I was a machine, and would come up and poke me to see if I was real, then I would startle them by jumping a little towards them. They screamed, jumped, then ran off laughing at what a good joke it was. :)
It was hilarious, especially when you're listening to them say, "It's real! I saw it blink!" and "Hey check out the machine! Wait, is that real? Naaa, here let's poke it to find out!"
Hehehehe. Little did they know... BLAH!!!!

Well, it's time to go back to sleep, I'm exhausted! (because I'm sick)
Until next time!



#19


So the voting is over and I now know everything you think about the bassoon! Muhahaha!!!
And the winner is 'Expressive' with 8 fabulous votes making it the number one choice of audiences and musicians alike! Runners up in order of top to bottom are;

Solid (6 votes)
Ponderous (5 votes)
Dulcet (4)
Exotic (3)
Farty (2)

I'm not going to count adjectives with only one vote to back them up, because those (I think) were done by my ornery little sister who just wanted to skew up the results. Thanks munky, you're a pal.

I just wanted to comment on the diversity of opinions that got the same amount of votes...
I noticed at the beginning the votes were pretty unified, for numbers 8, 6, and 5 there was only one adjective selected, it's when you hit 4 that there starts to be a little diversity of opinion. In 4 the biggest diversity I can see is the difference between Dulcet and Buzzy. To me, those things don't seem to go together.
In group 3 it doesn't really seem to contradict itself unless you have a problem with Gorgeous and fuzzy, I don't. I happen to be both gorgeous and fuzzy... ...........
Here in group 2 we have the really juicy stuff! Farty and Beautiful. Hmmm... not the first thing you'd find put together in your thesaurus... but ok. Or maybe it was the case that some kind soul took pity for the shamefulness of farty and tried to balance the emotional seesaw with a polite compliment. In which case, farty is really the winner here, because it beats a pity vote by 1.
Overall I think this is a really good case for the proof of the diversity of the instrument itself. The bassoon has so many characteristics, that it's hard to put your finger on it exactly. All you can say with any amount of clarity is that the music moved you, you're not sure why, you're not sure how, but there was something in there that you liked, consciously or subconsciously. That being my theory, I think it's safe to say that expressive is a pretty logical conclusion from that.
And now the complaint. The word expressive could describe any ol' instrument.
I guess as far as definitive goes, I'll just have to assume that the bassoon is more expressive than let's say its fellow double reed instrument, the Oboe....

Ok, it's wandered a little bit from the topic of voting, just a little bit, and it's way late, so I'm off to hit the hay. See ya next time!

#18

Just a bit of French, because I can't help myself!
If you can't read it, skip it!

Quel sens sans lequel est-ce je ne pourrais pas vivre ?

Le sens que j’aime le plus est l’ouïe. Je pense que c’est un sens sans lequel je ne pourrais pas vivre. Je suis musicienne et je trouve que sans l’ouïe mon travail serait très difficile. Eventuellement trop difficile. Si je ne pourrais pas entendre la musique ou les voix de mes amis, je serais vraiment triste. Il n’y a rien chose qu’on ne peux pas faire si on ne peut pas entendre, mais vous pourriez perdre votre joie de vivre. Si on peut entendre seulement, il faut qu’on pense pour comprendre les mots (et la musique). Je pense aussi que le bonheur est atteint par la capacité de penser. Si on ne peut pas penser on ne va pas être heureux. Si on n’est pas heureux, on ne veut pas vivre, et la vie serait banale et terriblement ennuyeuse. C’est pourquoi je pense que l’ouïe est le sens le plus important.

La vision et aussi très importante à moi, j’aime beaucoup la télé, mais je pense qu’une personne est plus intellectuelle si elle peut entendre les autre gens, qui donnent des conférences, et des conseils. Je pense aussi que la vision (esp. La télé) rend on stupide. Avec la vision, tout est expliqué, ce n’est pas nécessaire de penser. Mais on ne peut pas conduire si on ne peut rien voir. On va perdre la liberté de marcher, et ça n’est pas pratique.

Je pense que les deux sens sont importants, et pour la vie pratique il faut qu’on voie, mais pour une vie heureuse il faut entendre. Je ne suis pas pratique,

et c’est pourquoi j’aime l’ouïe le plus.

Vocab;

sens -sense (ex. hearing, touching, seeing, ect.)

l’ouïe -the sense of hearing

pratique -practical, adj.

conseils -bits of advice

banale -boring, assinine

atteint -attained, verb en passé composé

lequel -the which

Oh yes, the voting marathon is still going! If you haven't voted please do so! Just scroll all the way to the bottom of the page and voila!
Please! Feed my insatiable curiosity!

#16

Recovery

So the wisdom tooth surgery went well, and I'm recovering rapidly, I hope to be practicing and doing whatever I do full time by the end of the week. Right now I'm on pain meds which are making me fairly silly and dizzy, but that's ok. Everything is ok. I sit on the couch and do nothing. It's great! There's no swelling or bruising so my job is to not break the stitches on my bottom jaw. So I'm just watching videos of when I lived in Missouri and England. Featured is our first Scottish Terrier, Chaucer McBark'n'Bite Clark, and my dad with a surprising guest appearance of dad's hair! Dad has decided to go with the shaved look for a while now. :)

In the videos there were two very telling comments that my dad made, one was the observation that (at age 4) that I was not a morning person, and second (even though a little off) that I might one day do "The Nutcracker." And he had his finger on it, even though he meant dancing instead of playing the music. :) It's so great to see how all those little things make so much more sense now, years later.