Bassoons supporting Bassoons

 Ya know whats cool about being in a studio with lots of great bassoonists?

1. Our professor is generally proud of us and called us "truly an outstanding class." 

2. We continuously compare ourselves to each other. This may sound negative but it is in the most wholehearted manor possible. When speaking to each other about playing passages or in master class, its always something along the lines of "well I wish I played like you did in X..." Which is a really great problem to have because its constantly lifting each other up and simultaneously pushing us to get better. It's a healthy competitive atmosphere. 

3. We are always asking peers how to do things better or about equipment we use. I play a lot for my studio peers individually as I'd love their comments. A lot of these people have various different training backgrounds and most are very qualified to give feedback/suggestions. It's also super cool having a diverse studio as we all play with different equipment and since they're all super nice people they're more than willing to let you borrow or try out their equipment prior to committing to a purchase. Or heck even buy it from them with a food payment! 

4. We practice together. Almost every week we play the scale game in studio. Consists of; one person plays a scale (type determined in the prior week) and we go around the circle of fifths as we go person to person, each on playing one scale of a minimum of 2 octaves. BUT if you mess up/play an incorrect note - you must start at the beginning and play through all the scales. So we tend to practice scales together in private prior to presenting them in class, it does make it loads more fun.

5. We try to hold a weekly reed night. To get together once a week outside of school, decompress, talk about our weeks, assignments, make reeds, and play ridiculous chamber music/games. 

6. We generally really like each other. Obviously we don't all have to be best friends but I feel that most everyone gets along well. Well enough that we're trying to go on a camping trip over fall break. Could be a great time. 

Efficiency of mind or body?

Labor day weekend...

Did I do anything productive/even remotely 'normal' in terms of productivity over the glorious 3 day weekend? ABSOLUTELY NOT! Heck I took my bassoon out once, to test two reeds that were crap! It was great but a lot more stressful than I thought. It did give me a lot of time to think and plan my next moves/semester to see what I really wanted to do with this Graduate Degree... We're getting there but hey, its my money so who cares?

Day after labor day weekend...

Guys, I worked (as I do every M, Tues, Thurs 5a-9a, lifeguarding is really the way to go in order to work full time and go to school time plus have free time). Had class 10-11, sang some awesome Modal melodies that make way more sense than moveable Do sightsinging. Then I practiced for 2.5 hours, went home, lunched, napped (seem to be doing a lot of this but also at great times to gain weight, like right after eating lol) then went back to school to set up for rehearsal, practiced another 2.5 hours and was held accountable by an awesome new friend to run. It was supposed to be a 5k(ish) as its my first run post triathlon and we did over 4.

EM

Hours practiced - 5!!!

Rough first lesson... but so much to learn

 I had my first *bassoon* lesson today. I honestly feel kind of sad/depressed about it. Maybe even just disappointed in myself. 10/10 imposter syndrome. I prepared the Saint Saëns Bassoon Sonata (first movement) in about a week.... Played the notes on the page but there wasn't anything else there. Did some dynamics, most articulations and WOWZA tuning was all over. Passive playing rather than active/proactive playing. I'm currently having a hard time remembering that this is exactly why I'm here, to take my music to next level, its so cool but its so hard to hear.. 'thats great' (Unenthusiastically) but do this. Which is equally hard because its what I say to MY students - compliment sandwich. 

Listening back on my lesson there were a lot of good things. And in reality we only have an hour together so it was, 'that was good, now lets...' lol. As Michael said "High expectations probably means he thinks you can get there too." Which I absolutely agree with - its just more critiquing and nit-picking I'm not used to. Again, it's exactly why I'm here. To do more. 

I guess in summary it felt like a masterclass I was SUPER underprepared for. 

Saint Saëns Bassoon Sonata written in 1921, Saint Saëns stated, a model of transparency, vitality and lightness", containing humorous touches but also moments of peaceful contemplation." The scholar Jean Gallois states that this piece is “a model of transparency, vitality and lightness", containing humorous touches but also moments of peaceful contemplation."

I also just discovered Bram Van Sambeek as a bassoonist thanks to a fellow classmate and he has a great recording of this piece on youtube.