A few weeks ago, I was lucky enough to have a week long gig with the American Ballet Theatre when they came through Chicago. The ballet was Giselle and it was beautiful. Or so I was told, you can’t see much from the pit. But you can read a review of the production by the Chicago Sun Times.

The really special part about all of this is that I got to spend the week playing next to a person who is one of my best friends and very close “oboe family,” Anne Bach (co-owner of MKL Reeds).

What’s so great about playing with good friends? Here are just a few things:

• No one is right (don’t you just hate when you sit next to someone who is always right?) and the finished product is always much greater than the sum of its parts.
• Fear takes a backseat to making music. As my teacher, Richard Killmer always used to say, “Fear is not an appropriate color.” It is so much easier to get caught up in the energy of the moment when you are surrounded by those you trust and admire.
• It just works. No trying, no tuning, just playing.

Stuff like this really makes you love what you do.

I’m in Nashville playing Heldenleben this week. It’s a hectic time for the Symphony since Kenneth Schermerhorn, their music director of 22 years, recently passed away. The oboe section here is Bobby Taylor, Ellen Menking, and Rodger Weismeyer. The season after next, the Symphony will move into their brand new hall, the Schermerhorn Symphony Center.

If you make a living playing music, you are probably aware of the following points:

1. you are in business (as the sole owner of You, Inc.)
2. marketing can be a major key to your success

Music is both art and business, and if you depend on it to keep your lights on and food on your table, you will need to pay attention to both parts.

In business, one of the most powerful and mysterious forces is marketing.

For example…

Despite what we are often taught, the best players don’t always make it to the top. I am sure everyone knows many great players who just can’t seem to make ends meet or other super talented individuals who just can’t seem to win an audition. Usually, it is that person that is a both a good player and a good marketer that stands out.

So what is marketing?

It is a pretty vague word that means different things to different people.

Marketing guru Seth Godin just released his newest book entitled All Marketers are Liars that puts a pretty interesting spin on the whole idea of marketing.

In his book, Godin writes about how storytelling can be the most powerful marketing force of all.

It is a book not directly aimed at the musical world, but nevertheless very valuable for anyone making a living as a musician.

You can read his blog at www.allmarketersareliars.com or download an excerpt of the book.

Recitals can be fun, exciting, grueling and invigorating all at the same time. Here is a short clip from a recital I played a few years back.

You can listen to it here. (It is fairly small but might take about 5 minutes to download on a dial-up connection.)

What’s your most memorable recital experience?

Rachel Whipple wrote us with a funny oboe story the other day:

Today I woke up very early to go to breakfast for Mother’s Day with the entire family. Afterwards, I thought it would be fun to practice my oboe outside for the first time this spring. The birds were chirping, the bees were humming, the dogs were barking, so naturally I thought that I should give my contribution of music to the neighborhood.

I began my practice session playing simple major and chromatic scales. Then I moved onto the Allegro of Handel’s Sonata No. 1. Suddenly, two DUCKS came from out of nowhere and made a perfect 10-point landing in my pool. I was stunned.

It is not a normal occurrence to see ducks in my backyard. After a few minutes, one of the ducks had a long enough bath and flew off into the sky. So one duck remained while I continued to play the Handel. After about ten minutes, I looked away from my music once again and saw that the second duck was finished with his bath and was standing on the patio. Every time I played, he shook his wings and feathered tail. I experimented by starting and stopping the music. Every time I played he danced; every time I stopped he stopped. I played several different notes and ranges. When I played middle range E, Ebs, and Fs he directly looked at me and turned his green neck and head to the side.

Perhaps in another life the duck was Handel and he was stopping in to hear his music. Or maybe it was a famous oboe player in a previous life. But…I guess the reality is that I basically sounded like a duck with some advanced beautiful mating call sound. I guess I should concentrate on those particular notes some more, because forever in my mind they will be known as the “Duck mating call notes.”

So I guess the lesson I learned today is if I never become a truly great oboist, the ducks will always stop on in and appreciate my music.

I woke up one Saturday in February to find a huge article in the New York Times about the abundance of available oboe positions among the nation’s top symphonies.

As a member of the “next generation” of oboists that was mentioned in the article, I took issue with some of the stuff that was said. In particular, that there is any shortage of qualified players to fill the aforementioned positions.

So, I got up off my chair and wrote a response. Little did I think it would actually get printed.

You can imagine my surprise when I got an email from the Editorial Desk, and, well, the rest is history…

Unfortunately, you have to pay to read the entire article in the archives, but you can find a snippet of the original article here
(registration required).

At any rate, this was my response:

EDITORIAL DESK
In Search of the Elusive Oboist? Try Respect

Published: February 18, 2005, Friday

To the Editor:

Re ‘’Suddenly, ‘Oboist Wanted’ Signs Are Everywhere'’ (front page, Feb. 12): I am an oboist of the next generation. I was educated at one of the top music schools in the country and have played with professional orchestras throughout the world.

I have many talented, artistic and imaginative oboe-playing colleagues. We have one thing in common: we have no interest in subjecting ourselves to the audition process until the current system is replaced by one that recognizes musicians for being dynamic artists and not mechanical music boxes.

There will never be another John Mack or Joseph Robinson. It is time that our country’s symphonies stop trying to re-create the past and instead focus their energies on creating an audition process that truly helps them select the artists they want and deserve.

Maryn Leister
Chicago, Feb. 15, 2005

Published: 02 - 18 - 2005 , Late Edition - Final , Section A , Column 4 , Page 26

Playing the oboe is hard enough as it is, so I try to keep my reed philosophy as simple as possible. I believe there are only a few things that make a good reed. The rest, as they say, is just opinion.

A good reed must have:

• response - if it doesn’t make a sound, what good is it?
• stability - using words like integrity and down-to-earth seem a bit philosophical, but if the shoe fits…

Everything else about a reed grows out of these two things. Pitch, of course, is relative. After all, what good is a reed that is “right-on” in terms of pitch if everyone else in the ensemble is playing sharp? Who loses in that situation (besides the listeners)?

Reeds can be complicated animals, but when you really get to the heart (pun intended) of what makes a reed great, it’s actually quite simple.