A follow-up to an earlier post

I`m sorry I’ve been away from the blog for so long, I’ve had quite a lot of work and practicing to do, and I haven’t had much to talk about either. That will change right now.

So as I had mentioned in a previous post about early instrument affecting my modern instrument, I now have noticed the reverse as well.

The past three weeks have almost entirely circled around the modern bassoon. This past Tuesday I had a concert for two elementary school classes and I played first movements from concerti by Vivaldi, Mozart and the frist two movements of “Sonatine” by Alexandre Tansman. If you know the Tansman, you’d probably understand why I basically shunned the baroque instrument for quite some time leading up to the concerts.

By the time it came for my occasional lesson with Mathieu, he noticed that I was holding the (baroque) reed quite firmly in-between my lips. He felt that I wasn’t making my instrument resonate 100% although it was playing in tune and musically. I also have noticed recently that the muscles just below my eyes feel sore after playing on the larger baroque reed. We spent most of the lesson on loosening up my embouchure and it was very helpful. You could really hear the difference between an 85% resonant bassoon and one that was resonating fully.

Interesting how about a month ago I was more concerned about the baroque bassoon affecting my modern playing but not the other way around… 

An idea for period costume

This coming Saturday I’ve been invited to a ‘50s themed party. One of my roommates, Marissa, and her friend took me out to value village (i say took me out, ‘tis not 3 minutes walk from our house) to look for costumes. I managed to find a great short-sleeved, collared shirt and suspenders for cheap and, as I left the store, I got thinking.

Does playing an historical instrument affect your modern playing?

I’ve had a funny week.
I have two bassoon teachers: Jo Ann, my modern teacher; and Mathieu, my baroque teacher. Jo Ann has recently shown some hesitation towards me taking up the baroque bassoon, and rightly so. At first she was very encouraging and was the one to get me in touch with Mathieu, but now that the baroque bassoon is taking more and more of my practice time it’s starting to invade on her territory.

How often do guest artists visit schools in your city?

For the past week, I’ve been reading The Music Teaching Artist’s Bible by Eric Booth. It`s a great book, although somewhat dense at the beginning, and I recommend every musician to take a look at it. I had to order it through Carleton`s interlibrary loan system (known as Racer) which, I might add, is a real tool.
While reading Mr. Booth’s book, I’ve been reflecting on the amount of arts learning in my elementary school curriculum. At my elementary school (Manor Park Public School, Ottawa), in the ‘90s, we would have a touring troupe or musical group perform about once a year and there was never any lead-up to the performance. What I mean to say is that before the assembly, the teachers wouldn’t tell us what we were about to see, as if it were as surprise to everyone. These performances seemed to be treated as if they were entertainment, not an opportunity for learning.