Tuesday, November 26, 2013

MQVC and why You should take a lesson with Me!

Life in Austin has been quite an adventure so far. I started a band a while ago, for which I have been writing music. I don't know much about composing, but I'm having fun and the very talented musicians in my band know how to rock out! It's been awesome. We've only had a few rehearsals so far and are building up our rep list so that we can take some gigs downtown. When I get a recording I'll be sure to upload to YouTube and share. And yes, I am playing bassoon in this band. :)
My bassoon students have been doing really well and it has been exceedingly gratifying to see them improve and grow to love the bassoon in new ways. One of the parents wrote to me one day a very kind letter of encouragement which I asked if I could post, provided that the names were changed. She agreed. Here is her letter:

"Katie,

I wanted to thank you for your kind encouragement today.  I am, of course, the proud mother, but I see Natasha as a wonderful mixture of courageous and, sometimes, timid teenager.  It took courage to show you “her” music and you couldn’t have been any nicer!! Thank you for your perfect blend of encouragement and constructive corrections.  I think Natasha is responding beautifully to your instruction. I look forward to her lessons and her subsequent practices. They are sounding SO much better!! 

With great appreciation,
Lily"

And in other news, I made semifinals (click to see my bio!) at an international bassoon competition called the Meg Quigley Vivaldi Competition and Symposium. It's open to anyone to attend and happening January 18-24th at Round Top, which is in Texas. It's a really big bassoon event, and it is incidentally the venue through which I first met my teacher Ms. Jensen back in 2010. I'm really excited to have the chance of performing for so many people. The event lasts for several days during which the semi and final rounds occur for the competition, but also many master classes from distinguished bassoon professors and other performances from acclaimed bassoon professionals. It's all bassoon all the time! There of course will also be people there trying to sell bassoon stuff, because we all know that when bassoonists geek out, they geek out hard. Which of course is great for people trying to sell stuff to them. hahaha

And finally in other-other news, I got to play in a rap song that will be coming out at part of an album called Bealerious, which should be coming out in late January. Click here for the Soundcloud link! Chris Beale is the mastermind behind the album (hence Bealerious) and when I told him his music would be all the better featuring a bassoon, (winky-face) he gave me the opportunity to feature in a song called "Right on Time." It is a rap song featuring Megz Kelli, a talented rap artist with the band "Magna Carda." So excited for RAP BASSOON!!
Recording in Sewell Studios for "Right on Time" in Bealerious

If you would like to take a lesson from me, please check out my online lesson platform and book your lesson today! The first 30 minute lesson is always free! You can be anywhere in the world to use this lesson platform! I highly recommend!

Friday, September 20, 2013

From Escondido to International


People have asked me why I named my blog "Escondido Bassoon Teacher" and there are two reasons. As a 16 year old when I first started writing my blog I had two motives. The first was to make sure that when you google-searched "bassoon teacher" my blog would show up. This took a few years to actually happen, but I'm glad I did because now (years later) my blog is pretty good about popping up when you search the term "bassoon teacher. " Escondido is simply the town in which I spent the majority of my childhood.. and at age 16 I though it was important that people to know exactly where I was in case they wanted a lesson... haha 

Now that I no longer live in Escondido, I have kept the word Escondido because of something my teacher Valentin Martchev told me before I left for college. He said in a thick Bulgarian accent ; "Katie Clark, no matter where you go or how well you impress people, never forget where you came from, it will keep you stable and give you perspective."
This was coming from a man whom I respected above all else, and who practiced what he preached. So even though Escondido is a retirement center with a downtown that makes a hollow ringing sound when you step foot in it, or where you can hear peacocks and parrots every evening, or find a random buffalo next door, it will remain a part of who I am for as long as I am.

That being said, because of cutting edge technology, I am now available for lessons world wide. If you live anywhere with an Internet connection (which you'd need to read this) YOU can now take lessons from me. 


Please message me if you would like a lesson and we'll work out a time!

The password for the video is: bassoon

Please excuse my appearance, the owner of the company, named Claire, took a live recording of me fooling around on my bassoon while I was in my grungy exercise clothes right after I got back from a run, just so that I could check the sound quality of lessons before getting involved with the company. I was impressed and I think you will be too. It's much better than other video relays.


I hope to meet you soon!

Wednesday, September 04, 2013

How Then Shall We Practice?

As Charlie is aware,

the biggest thing upon which I like to focus in lessons is how to practice. 

Most of the time learning how to practice is the entire point of lessons. You are your best teacher, but first you need to know what is important and how to teach yourself.

I found this article interesting and helpful. It focuses on the larger game-plan aspect of practicing. 

Too often it can be overly daunting to start practicing when you know there is a lot of work to be done and it must be complete, even though you have no idea how to get it all done. 

The answer to that is to break it up and break it down. Little bits are not nearly as scary as a huge menacing mess. Once you master the little bits, just practice connecting them until you can play the whole passage. No sweat right? lol 

Although conquering obstacles is rarely easy, this checklist of questions may expedite the process:

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~In which key am I? Am I fluent in the corresponding scale/arpeggios/intervals?

~Am I in tune with myself? If not, is my pitch fixable with an adjustment to support, embouchure or my reed?

~In which meter am I? Does that affect my interpretation of the rhythms? Can I tap out my rhythms in the abstract? 

~If a passage is not clean, what interval can I isolate in my practice to fix it? If it doesn't improve with slow repetition, is there something wrong with my technique which I can see in the mirror? Is there an alternate fingering that will work better?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

As with all practice be sure to be careful and stay aware of your body. Injuries to musicians are too common and can be prevented through caution and awareness. Even non-musical activity requires awareness as injuries can occur at any time. Try to avoid undue strain or poor posture, and remember to give yourself time! 

Once I got a fortune cookie with a very helpful thought. The paper within the cookie read; 

"Infinite patience produces immediate results."

Although this isn't entirely true, patience is key to progress. It is also a virtue in which I am often found lacking... but I will say that I get a lot more done when I give myself the opportunity to delve more deeply than impatiently demanding instant perfection as I consecutively build bad repetitions. Because of this, my patience with myself has increased enormously, largely due to the fact that a patient attitude yields faster results than imprecise floundering! Go figure. 

Friday, August 16, 2013

Like the Falling of Small Rocks that Precedes an Avalanche..


I got an email today from someone in Europe who wants to play None More Black with his band!!

HOW EXCITING IS THIS?????

There is next to nothing in the popular genre, especially of serious popular pieces, for the bassoon. In that sense, NMB is a jewel of a rare nature.

I am currently working with a composer to create more "popular" pieces that can be played by bassoon and a variety of other instruments. These types of works are, especially serious ones, so uncommon that almost anything we come up with will be a well needed expansion of bassoon repertoire.

Traditionally bassoon pieces that aren't classical in nature (and some that are) tend to focus on the comedic aspect of the bassoon or rely on amusing gimmicks. We have well enough of these comedic works, where are the pieces I can go downtown to play and make a few bucks playing it?
The answer used to be, "you picked the wrong instrument," but as of very recently "popular" works including the bassoon are in progress. 
 I don't know why it is, but people can't seem to take the bassoon seriously as a viable source or genuine entertainment. I will point out that if you read the poll of words-that-people-associate-with-the-bassoon, the two most unfailingly popular choices are Exotic and Expressive. If this is the case, why is the bassoon sequestered to the back of the orchestra?? It doesn't need to be..
An instrument with such qualities needs to get out there and just do it!!

There are tons of solo string players, but I could name on one hand the list of solo bassoonists I know. However I digress, the music we're working on  is not purely soloistic in nature, but rather features the bassoon with nontraditional ensembles. The fact that previous "pop" pieces for bassoon are intended to be either comedic or a novelty I think is too bad, and it's time for change.

Bassoon is hard enough to play, but when the only real performing jobs are limited to classical repertoire, you can understand why it would be stifling to play the same sorts of things over and over. I never want to play a Bb 3 ever again. You bassoonists know what I'm talking about..

It's high time we started improvising, but the sad truth is, bassoonists typically don't.

_____________

Here is the email I found in my inbox this morning;


"I really liked the piece by Ben Stonaker, I am wanting to bye it for my band so that I can actually play the bassoon in the band. That would be really cool! 

There are som things I am wondering about though, prize and parts. 
I am basically wondering about what the prize is, and if the guitar solo and so on is written or if improvised. 

I live in Norway, so do you ship over here? 

Thanks, and please excuse me for my terrible English.

Sincerl, Didrik"

(thanks Didrik for giving me permission to post!)

I have great hopes that this is only the beginning, and that once serious pop bassoon music starts to become available, a whole new genre of pop bassoon repertoire choices will not only be accessible to future generations of bassoonists, but to a certain degree expected. Obviously only time will tell if this experiment will work or not, but nothing ever got done by not being tried. :)

Fingers crossed!!

Saturday, June 29, 2013

Rock Bassoon

My latest bassoon adventure has gone to the dark side, in fact there's None More Black... hahahaha (to unsubscribe from lame jokes click here)

None More Black was a project for my senior recital and completely voluntary on the parts of everyone involved. The idea was to write a rock song for bassoon and play it! I really wanted to play something people could relate to better. I love classical music, but how often do you go downtown and hear classical music blasting from a bar? Or bassoon in a downtown setting?
Though I think hearing classical music in a bar may be a long shot, I'm really hoping the fate of the bassoon will not be so grim. One step at a time.

I digress. The wonderful people who made this song come to life did everything for free and are totally amazing. You guys rock. Literally.
We world premiered NMB May 3rd, 2013 but due to some funny business with the microphones, we rerecorded with fancier mics (though tragically with slightly less sophisticated recording equipment) in early June. C'est la vie d'une etoile de rock. hahaha (please don't kill me)
iphone pic of  hastily scribbled theme 

Ben Stonaker is the composer. He hails from Louisiana and is currently working on his doctorate at UT Austin. He was a rock musician for the longest time, but turned rogue and now writes music of the new variety. He was the perfect guy to write this piece, which wittily features quotes from Paint it Black and Freebird (6 minutes in). NMB is also centered around a melody sent via text message.. from my phone! Gotta love technology! Incidentally, I look back at this picture and I cannot for the life of me understand what possessed me to write B double flat.. or C flat.. *sigh*

It was great collaborating with him. Funny note, he ended up sight reading the piano part at my senior recital.. sight reading a concert is badass.. no matter how you slice it! Ben Stonaker, you are a beast.

Other news from my senior recital, click here for my fav recording from the recital that is not rock related. This is Eugene Bozza's Recit, Sicillienne and Rondo for bassoon and piano. Suyeon Kim (possibly the best pianist I know) was kickin' it with me for this one and recently got a job as a full time professor in Colorado. Congratulations Dr. Kim!!
Special thanks to Dadio who came out with Mom and recorded and uploaded it all from his phone.

Right now I'm just trying to finish school. I supposedly graduated, but in reality I have 2 online science classes to finish, one of which I finished last Tuesday and the other I'm hoping to knock out early in the next 1-2 weeks. Cannot wait to finish.

I also have been teaching at the Long Horn Band Camp again this summer. It was fun! I really love the kids and we always have a great time. I never get tired of their excited young faces or cracking jokes when I'm supposed to be teaching. I'm so ADHD myself that I really try to make lesson times as relevant and engaging for the student on as many levels as possible. I understand how difficult it can be to focus on what teachers say, I was there not that long ago!

One amusing excerpt from a lesson went as follows:

Me: Try singing this note before you play it again, and really tune it..
Student: *grins* I can't.
Me: Nonsense, now sing.
Student: *still grinning* I can't.
Me: *sings horribly but in tune* look, if I can do it, so can you! 
Student: *worried smile* I can't...
Me: We haven't got time for this, now just try.
Student: *sings well and in tune*
Me: AHA!! YOU CAN!! Now don't tell me you can't anymore because you clearly can! Now let's do that again and really listen to tune it with the piano. *plays interval of a 5th*
Student: I can't..
Me: You just did... 
Student: *sings pitch eventually tuning well*
Me: Great, now do that on the bassoon!
Student: *tunes bassoon and sounds amazing*
Me: Never tell yourself that you can't, because you only set limits for yourself. You just proved that you can, even though you thought you couldn't before!


Not that long ago I was the one saying "I can't." in lessons.. I was so sure I knew my own limits! So I totally understand how much saying "I can't" is a complete waste of time. It is completely counterproductive to put limits on your own infinite creative potential. Thank you Ms. Jensen for knocking some sense into me. 


On that note, it's time for sleep. Until next time!

Monday, April 22, 2013

Senior Recital, AHS, Blanton, the future....


The future is wild and unknown. lol

I've decided to defer on Northwestern's offer of admission for a year in the hopes of hanging around in Austin for a little bit longer to freelance and teach. I'm hoping to expand the types of acceptable venues in which the bassoon can be played, and one of the ways I'm doing this is with my senior degree recital.

The recital will try to dispel preconceived notions about the limits of the bassoon by doing a couple of things that people have said could not be done, either explicitly or implicitly. The opening piece will feature classical guitar and bassoon, which if you've been reading my blog you know Thales and I have been doing for a few months now. BUT even at the last master class at which Thales and I performed, there were incredulous professional musicians sitting in the audience literally saying "it can't be done..."
right up until we did it.

So that's going to be the overall theme of this recital. It CAN be done and it SHALL. lol

The last piece on the program is composer Ben Stonaker's None More Black.

Ben was inspired by the Rolling Stones' song Paint it Black, and as its name implies there is a quote from the Stones which necessitated the similar name. Click here to see Paint it Black if you aren't already familiar with that song.
On a side note, rehearsals for None More Black start Wednesday and yes this is a rock'n'roll piece. ;) *yay!*

Besides all of that, the recital will be given with the advertised function of being a benefit concert for the Austin Humane Society. Readers of this blog are familiar with my infatuation with our furry friends, and it struck me that I could actually do something to help them with my music! I am VERY excited to be raising money for the AHS, so please come to my recital and donate for all the puppies and kitties that are saved and need homes! There will be food afterwards and I would love to meet you!

As to my future in Austin, I am very excited to be moving out of the dorms and into a real apartment! I will be playing with Thales a bit, branching out into other venues of performance in smaller settings, some possible orchestral involvement, and doing a lot of teaching.

Above is a picture my student's mom took of the lesson we had outside in the beautiful spring weather! Such a joy to be outside right now!







Also, Thales' dad came to one of our performances at the Blanton and took some video and photos! What a dad!! See some of those below.
peeking at the music

Click HERE for the video! In the video we do a lot of talking in an effort to better reach our audience. The people were very receptive and enthusiastic. Many of them came to thank us afterwards and a few of them asked if they could hire us to play at house parties and other events, to which we answered YES OF COURSE PLEASE HIRE US. :D One guy even tipped us $20 at the end, so Thales and I went to enjoy some well needed lunch afterwards! Woot!!

Thales and I LOVE playing for people in intimate settings! Special thanks to Thales' dad and the wonderful Evan Leslie who coordinated this event and gave us the opportunity to perform!!

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Mystery Music

So there is a lot going on and I haven't been diligent about blogging it.. dun dun dun...

So fast and wild recap. GO!

I'm on YouTube again click HERE!

This was a small free performance at the Fine Arts Library at UT which was part of Russell Podgorseck's Excessive Noise Series. My chamber buddy in the video, Thales Smith, was particularly inspired by one of the pieces performed by a soprano and guitar at this concert... so Russell rewrote it for guitar and BASSOON.
I am very excited to say that we are playing it! Will post on YouTube when we perform it!

My senior recital is coming up and I am planning on making this recital a little bigger than the standard affair, ie. less boring. I'm also hoping to use my recital as a benefit concert to raise money for the Humane Society. I will be playing a lot of traditional repertoire, but also something a little less standard.. it's a piece currently being written for my recital by one of the composers at UT, Ben Stonaker. Nope, it's not even in the New Music genre, though there will be one of those obligatory pieces on the program... you knew it had to happen. lol (actually 21st century genre is required to graduate..)

Can you guess the genre of this mystery piece Ben is writing??? ;)
click here for hint
Or leave a comment if you care to guess!

Applying to grad school has been crazy, I've a applied to five already but only taken the auditions at 3 so far. I may not even be done yet, Ms. Jensen keeps suggesting new places for me to apply, but I really want to stay at UT for obvious reasons. So we'll see what happens. I've heard back from only one of the schools at which I auditioned so far (and was accepted yay!) but still waiting to hear back from the other two. I'm not sure where I'm going to come up with the money for grad school, but I'll find a way.

And lastly, I'm finally FINALLY graduating!!! (at the end of the summer.. shhhh...) So EXCITED at the prospect of actually having a degree in my hands!!! The amount of credits I have is insane, I've already earned a degree and a half but I won't get the degree until I finish jumping though all the hoops and climbing over the red tape that is my particular set of degree requirements.

Currently I'm on spring break and SXSW is in town, so naturally I have been doing some serious spring cleaning. Absolutely necessary.  Feels so good. Annnd I'm going to a free show tonight that I am very excited about!!

Previously in this blog I have mentioned my brief encounter with eurhythmics, for which I am so thankful, it has truly been a gift that keeps on giving. Ms. Jensen asked me to help one of my younger studio mates with rhythm comprehension (which I have struggled notoriously with myself) so I gave a mini master class to our freshmen and took the cutest video of them while we had fun exploring rhythm in physical motion! With minimal goofiness.
XD





k, gotta catch a show (and practice). Until next time! :)