So I was reading oboeinsight and came across this post.  And it made me laugh!  Because “It doesn’t become dangerous until it starts playing the trombone” is pretty much true of everything.
If you are an oboist and you don’t read oboeinsight, you should!  Patty is the superhero of oboe bloggers.

I finished my first-ever piece for orchestra, you guys! I am so excited about hearing what it sounds like. It is colourful and sparkling and always in motion and I *hope* sounds original without sounding ugly. I don’t have a problem with ugly music, but it is not what I hope to do with my career as a composer. I have a piece in the new music concert coming up this Wednesday, as well! It is for double reed ensemble; nearly every oboist and bassoonist in the school is playing. 14 of us! It is kind of idiomatic and pretty, but I tried to make it sound a little medieval and modern *at the same time* so who knows!
Sometimes I fear I try too hard to make my music something people will like to play.

Some of you may know about 24-hour comics, or the 24-hour album I wrote in The Cord about recently. I am going to do something similar over Reading Week, which is the Canadian equivalent of March break, but with composing! I am going to write a piece every day–either 7 days or 9 days (with the weekends surrounding the week) for solo tuba, and combine them into a suite. My friend Christopher, about whom I have blogged before, is going to play them for me. It is exciting! In the meantime, I have to write a full, short, piano piece for Peter by next Wednesday, need to get back to work on “Scoot” for trumpet and trombone duet, and have begun work on my aural comic!
That’s right. My aural comic. One day in the semi-near future you will come to the site and all there will be is a play button and you will listen and smile to yourselves. Aimee is going to play it for me live, but I may very well record the version for the site myself. So you will be able to hear my oboing!

Speaking of oboing, I am playing the “Introduction, Theme, and Variations” for oboe by Hummel, and I love it. I LOVE IT. It makes me feel and sound like I can really play. I would try to get it in a noon-hour recital, but it seems like most of them are full.
Do you know what else I love? Schenkerian Analysis with Dr. Swinden. It’s actually a great class for performance application since what we look at is primarily melody-based. Essentially, we reduce music to its most important notes, and then most important notes again, and again, and again, until we reach a I-V-I progression in the bass and  a descending 3, 5, or 8 note passage in the melody. It’s great for performance because it illustrates where the most important notes are, why phrasing is shaped (or should be shaped) certain ways, and where the goals of each section are.

Also Dr. Swinden is my favourite favourite.

In conclusion, Peter has me writing copy for KWS’ bi-yearly convention/festival, Open Ears! So if you read any of the literature, you will be reading some of my writing. He says it will add up to a free pass, and I am so excited.