It’s not often that we toot our own horns, but someone once said, “If you don’t toot your own horn, there is no music.”

At any rate, in this case, I think it is more than warranted.

Please help us congratulate Anne Bach (co-owner of MKL Reeds) on winning the second oboe job in the Grant Park Music Festival.

For those of you outside of Chicago, the Grant Park Music Festival is the nation’s only remaining free, outdoor classical music series. It is a great orchestra and a great addition to Chicago’s long list of summer activities.

CONGRATS ANNE!

(If you like, send a quick email right to Anne. Her email address is anne at mklreeds.com.)

After you’ve been playing the oboe for a while, you develop your own system for organizing your reeds. If I am preparing for a recital or some other solo, it is not unusual for me to put away those “really good reeds” as I make them so that I have a collection for the big day.

With this Bach Double performance in particular, I remember being surprised by the really good reed in my case. I had only made a few because my gouge was feeling pretty good, and I actually hadn’t put away many at all. It was the morning of the performance, and like I always do on the morning of an afternoon/evening performance, I got out every reed I was considering and lined them up in my reed case in order of how good they felt that day.

The reed I ended up choosing to play had NEVER been played on, but had somehow “morphed” into just the right reed for that day and hopefully, for that performance. I didn’t even need to scrape it. It responded just the right way and felt just right for what I knew the acoustics required. (The recital was given at Church of the Holy Trinity, Episcopal, in NYC)

I don’t usually make a fuss about reeds generally, but I normally do scrape on them a bit or refine them just one last time before a performance. This reed didn’t need anything, and I was not only surprised but a little skeptical. But, compared to others I was considering, it was far superior.

I never like to oversoak my reeds, even hours before a performance, so after coming to all these conclusions in a few minutes, I put it away for the concert later. And it came to pass it was a really good reed in the moment of truth (as my teacher used to say), and that is all that matters. It turned out to be one of those performances where you actually play the music and don’t think about the reed.

What fun…

You can listen to a movement from the live performance here.

Playing the oboe is not easy. I think back to when I started and I marvel at how much practice and dedication it takes just to get a nice sound out of that little piece of wood.

That said, I am always surprised at what good can come from taking a break from the oboe and giving it an extended nap in its case. You would think that not playing the oboe would not be cause for much improvement, but, over the years, I have found otherwise.

Without fail, everytime I take a vacation from the oboe, I come back with better perspective, a better ear and more appreciation for what I do.

Let’s take these one at a time:

• Better Perspective - In the words of Charlie Parker,
  

  “Music is your own experience, your own thoughts, your wisdom. If you don’t live it, it won’t come out of your horn. They teach you there’s a boundary line to music. But, man, there’s no boundary line to art.”

  Think about it, music is life. Your life is what makes your music interesting.

• Better Ear - It is said that your body’s muscles grow when they aren’t in use. And so it seems to be with your ear… When you take a break from music and then come back to it, you hear things differently. And for a musician, that’s a good thing.
• More Appreciation - This kind of goes without saying. It is pretty much a rule that you never truly appreciate something until you are without it. Same thing applies here. Everything just sounds better when you come back to it.