Here we go! First, if any of this needs explanation, this is the best place to start.
What an incredible day! I showed up at school around 9 AM to run through my study, check my reeds, and sit and panic for a few minutes before heading down to the Maureen Forrester Recital Hall for Brian Seaton’s Oboe Acoustics masterclass. We all sat on the stage–which I thought was kind of a weird experience. (I have often wanted to try putting an audience on a stage, and the performers in the audience, just to see how it would shake things up.) Brian talked about tone holes in the oboe (as he often does), and I came up with some more great ideas for oboe comics from it (as I often do). Anyway, we discussed how Loree oboes have a curvier undercut than, say, a Yamaha, and how it produces a more flexible (pitch-wise), more resistant (tone-and-air-wise) sound, whereas a Yamaha has a straighter undercut: more on an angle than arched, making it easier to play, and more stable (but of course, with less of the desirable Loree resistance).
He also told us that oboes need stability in the upper register, and flexibility in the lower register–causing me to wonder why they don’t combine a Loree bottom joint with a Yamaha top joint. It makes sense, right?

We also discussed some measurements and physics and stuff, but my notes are mostly doodles of stick people playing inside aquariums (the effect of straight-sided tone holes, don’t you know), so if you want to learn about it, email Brian.

We went overtime on that masterclass–a lot of people had questions–but I got to meet Alex after! He came over, and we shook hands and talked, and he signed a copy of the comic that started it all for me (and I signed copies of both the Alex Klein comics I did for him, which felt weird, but kind of awesome). We broke for lunch, which ended up being about half an hour long before the performance masterclass began!
Allie (Ally? Ali?) played first. She is doing Windfest at Laurier this summer, although she goes to the University of Western Ontario, and studies with Ian Franklin there. She played the first movement of the Poulenc Sonata, and she sounded great.
Alex got her to work on the drama, the emotion, and the expression in the music. “It’s about death,” he said. “Poulenc died a few months after it was written.” He introduced a hierarchy to us that looks like this:

He explained how the Poulenc Sonata is not just about oboe–the notes, the technique, the reed–and it’s not just about art–making it sound pretty–it’s about the self, it’s about Poulenc’s struggle with facing his own death. The music needs to express that, and to do so is *more important* than sounding beautiful. So he had her play raggedly, and so loudly that the tone got just a little ugly, and frankly it made the piece *more* gorgeous than it already is.

Heather played the Marcello Concerto (and also sounded lovely, as usual), and Alex got her to work on the Baroque-ness of the thing. When one has a transcription, with all the noodles written out, it is tempting not to make them up, which is what they did back in the 17th and 18th centuries. “Do we have any Baroque recordings?” Alex asked, to which Heather was confused, and he made a joke about a CD being released in the 1700’s.
He then explained that you can *walk into* eighteenth century recordings–architecture! Art! They illustrate the style of the time, and were designed by artists influenced by the same things that the composers were influenced by. The structures and architecture incorporate straight lines, he said, but the art has *no* straight lines. And that compares to the music: the basic harmonic structure must be steady (to support the piece), but the “art”–the noodles and the ornamentation–should not be the same at *all*. There should be no straight lines, very few repetitions.

It was an *awesome* way to look at Baroque music. I’ve never thought about it like that.

Danie played the Vaughan Williams Concerto (first movement). She sounded good, too, even if the super-fast section tripped up her fingers (completely out of character for our perfectionist Danie!).

Alex got her to work on that section, introducing the startling idea that practicing a piece slowly and bringing it up to speed is a terrible idea, since it teaches your brain multiple versions. (Then, when it comes time to play, your brain asks “Which one?” and you say, “The fast one, of course,” and your brain is all, “But that one is *hard*, I am going to play a slow one.”)

Naturally, it is difficult/impossible to learn a challenging piece up-to-tempo and note-perfect without playing it slowly, so Alex showed us a technique (that I think a lot of people use in conjunction with playing slowly) that involves playing challenging sections in time, but broken into tiny fragments, so that your brain associates two, three, six notes as one, and it becomes as automatic as playing an ‘F’. It works!

Jim, of course, had to stop everything when I got on stage to tell the assembly the story. I’m sure I turned beet red.

I was just playing a Barrett study (No. 21), and I played okay (although I am a “lesser” oboe, and certainly the least-advanced of the ones playing that masterclass). Alex talked about how studies “aren’t really music” so playing them up-to-tempo, and with dynamics and stuff like that isn’t necessary. They are a part of the “Oboe” level on the hierarchy chart, as opposed to the “art” level. So we broke some stuff down, he told me that a lot of note-not-speaking problems are “mind over matter” and if you *make* your brain do it, it will.
And it did.
Neat!

Caitlin (former principal oboe of the Saskatoon Symphony) had emailed Jim, I guess, along with 14 or 15 other Canadian oboes, asking to play. I guess she was the first! And she sounded amazing! Wow. What a follow-up to li’l ol’ me.
She played the Strauss Concerto (ironically), and Alex made some “Oh, *this* piece” comments**, which made most of the audience smile. He worked with her a bit on her contrast between ‘playful’ and ‘angry’ sections, and it was neat to hear someone who is so obviously already a talented artist continue to improve!

Graham rounded out the oboe-repertoire-categories by playing the excerpt from Brahms’ Violin Concerto–you oboes know the one. Starts on a killer high A, really long phrases, delicate dynamics…it’s a sensitive bit of playing, for sure. Graham sounded great, though! Alex showed him some neat alternate fingerings to make those last, impossibly soft notes speak more readily, and at a lower dynamic. And with this totally sweet covered sound. He also sat down at the piano and played a couple of the other parts so Graham could work on fitting his part in with them. That was neat to hear, too, since even though we have the piano transcriptions of the orchestra parts, most of us practice excerpts solo and sometimes forget that there are other people that will be playing with us.

It was a long masterclass–more than three hours! Marta played something dance-like on the English Horn, and I can’t for the life of me remember what it was–I’m not even sure I caught the title when she told him at the beginning of her performance. You know what that means? I’m useless. My focus wandered completely by the end of that three hours.
(But she sounded good, I remember that.)

My mother insisted on getting a picture (but of course her camera was out of batteries. Kristen took this one.)

THE RECITAL
Oh man, you guys. You haven’t seen oboe playing until you’ve seen this guy play the freaking oboe. Dick was sitting down the aisle from me, and when he got up at Intermission he was offering to sell his instruments to everyone who would stand still, just out of pure “What’s the point of there being anyone else?” (Of course he was kidding; Dick is an awesome oboist himself. But see, Patty, I’m not the only one!)
Alex used *all four* members of the illustrious oboe family in his recital, starting off with Bach’s Suite No. 1, S. 1007 on bass oboe (it’s usually played on ‘cello). I could not *believe* the things he did with that bass oboe. I mean, Lora played it for the Holst and oboe band this year, and she commented multiple times how hard it is to play in the upper registers. And Alex played it ridiculously high, and loudly, and the tone was incredible, and just wow, okay? Arpeggios and everything.
Then he played “Homage a Bellini” for english horn and harp (with Lori Gemmell on harp), which is also totally amazing, and goes really very fast, and might have blown my mind a bit. You can listen to him playing it here, and see for yourself.

He played the Dutilleux Sonata (one of the “four great French oboe sonatas of the 20th century”), accompanied by Les De’Ath, and then, then you guys, he played “Caprice No. 24″ by Paganini on oboe. Some of you know this piece, some of you may not. But listen to this and imagine it on oboe. At 1:25, when there’s a slow section and double stops? Alex freaking *hummed* the second note. There are NO WORDS to express the awesome. None. It was the most incredible thing I have ever heard, ever. So high, so fast, so many arpeggios, I mean, that thing sounds hard on the *violin*, and we all know the oboe is harder than the violin.

He finished with Schumann’s “Fantasy Pieces Op. 73″ on oboe d’amour (originally for clarinet), and they were lovely, too, but I was still in a state of open-mouthed shock and awe from the freaking Caprice, and did not take many notes, mental or otherwise.

Basically, it was a phenomenal recital, with gorgeous oboe playing, and some mind-blowing technique. But really, there was nothing “basic” about it. If you ever have the chance to see Mr. Klein in concert? DO IT.

It is a bit crazy to think that I set this thing off with my little comic! And not just this one concert, but MWM Financial, who Jim got to sponsor the concert and masterclass, have set up a Distinguished Artist program at Laurier. A FIVE YEAR program, featuring two or three of the world’s finest musicians every year in a masterclass and recital.
I am getting my signed copy of the be-famed comic framed in my room.
Sometimes my life is just too cool.

**Alex won a Grammy for “Best Solo Recording with Orchestra” for his recording of the Strauss Oboe Concerto

Some of you are probably wondering where my account of the proceedings on Monday is.
It is coming. I’m waiting for the photos Kristen took.

Teaser: Best. Day. Ever.

There was an article about Alex Klein and Obohemia in the Record–they interviewed Jim! Cool.
For your reading pleasure.

Tomorrow is the big day!

We have apparently received new funding! This has turned into an event of fairly massive proportions. There are oboists coming from all over the country. In the masterclass, the Windfest oboes are playing (4 which include Heather and Dani from the Laurier studio), along with Graham (recent Laurier studio alumnus and principal of the Windsor Symphony) and the principal oboe from the Saskatoon Symphony, for a total of 6.

Schedule is as follows:
10-12 Brian’s master class
1-4 Alex’s master class
8 Recital

Truth to be told, I was a little surprised and scared when Jim said all the Laurier oboes were going to be playing. So my response now, finding out I am not, in fact, going to display my “skills” for a bunch of oboes from all over the country? Relief. Mostly.

Also a little disappointment.

C’est la vie?

  Edit edit edit! I am going to be playing, too. Hooray! Yikes!

This is from Married to the Sea.

And something that made me giggle. A LOT.

From Wondermark.

Don’t worry, we’re not handing in our resignation. This is two weeks’ notice for Alex Klein’s Recital and Masterclass (a.k.a. Alex Kleinfest, a.k.a. Oboe Day)!

I hope you’re excited. I am! Also scared sockless, but that is beside the point.

In case you are still wondering about details, so am I. I haven’t been able to get in touch with Jim! Uh oh.
We can assume fairly safely, though, that the recital–which you should come to if you possibly can as Mr. Klein will be performing on *several* oboe-family-members–will start at 7 or 8 in the evening, in the Maureen Forrester Recital Hall.
I hope people can come!
Also, another link to the Facebook Event; there have been rides offered, if anyone needs one!

The good news in all of this is I went through all my reeds, yesterday, and disposed of several, and *discovered* a bunch that sound good! That *I* made! Yes, guys. Yes.

I got stuck in Newmarket for an extra day. I don’t have access to a scanner there, so now that I’m back in the loo, I’ll update in the morning.

Sorry for the delay! I promised 3 comics a week, and you’ll get them!

-Moy-

You may have noticed that I (Ren) have not been posting comics recently. That is for two reasons.
One: I spent the last week-or-so in California. (The next time I go I am *totally* arranging for a lesson with Patty.)
Two: Moy is going to take the summer to try to catch up to my 100-comic lead on her. This appeals to me because I get the summer off to work (my wonderful work-ation), and I will hopefully have lots of sparkling ideas come September! This is a Good Thing, guys. It means you will not have comics like this one going on.

I hope you approve. This is also a Good Thing because it means Moy will have uninterrupted time to tie up some of her previous storylines. And create new ones!
The Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony’s new season is up on their website, and I am pretty psyched for the Signature Series although odds are I will go to most of the concerts–I have to take advantage of my $50 season pass! (FIFTY DOLLARS for almost ALL the concerts. Dude. It’s insane. I love it. LOVE.)

Anyway. The next big and exciting thing on the agenda is the Alex Klein masterclass/fest/con deal! I am going to make Moy bring her camera and take many, many pictures of the goings on!
Hopefully I won’t screw up too badly when I play for him. And hey, maybe I won’t play on a super-sharp reed. Yes. Plan.

Ren out.

The Site is back up now! The Box story will resume Monday.

I give you Bob! The rest will show in the morning. Enjoy!

Today is jury day. Today is not the day for happiness and birdsong. Today is not the day for garbage bags and serenity.
Today is the day for complete and utter panic.
Eep.

EEP.