Tuesday, November 21, 2006

The Ill Wind that Nobody Blows Good

Yes, that's right...it's the OBOE! A four-letter word if ever there was one.

I haven't played since I sold the blasted thing to finance a year of undergrad school "back in the day," but I "jammed for Uncle Sam" for a bunch of years playing...

...yep: OBOE. I sometimes still wake up in a cold sweat, having dreamed that my arsenal of ten perfect reeds are all either cracked or won't work because of a change in the weather. (You know that's part nightmare, part fantasy simply because NO ONE ever had ten perfect reeds at the same time; heck, nobody ever had even five at once that were better than so-so. That's God's curse on reed cane, and on oboists for being insane enough to begin oboe in the first place.)

So here's the quiz result:







What is your inner musical instrument?




You're an Oboe. Girl power?
Take this quiz!








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And as my final two cents' worth on this bizarre subject, I'll quote a bit of oboe doggerel which I know, despite the androcentric archaic language, to be all too true (apologies to the "poet," but I don't recall who wrote it; it was in a book called "The Woodwind" that I read in high school when I was learning to play):

Veiled, soft, and sad the oboe's tone;
Not veiled or soft the player's groan
On mornings when his reeds he whittles;
He swears at life, he shuns his victuals:
He wishes he had ne'er been born,
Or learned oboe and English horn.

6 comments:

Cathy said...

Yes you double reeded players - to have more than one "perfect reed" doesn't happen very often. I am assuming you made your own!

Psalmist said...

I should say I *tried* to make my own. As most professional players would probably tell you, there are more failures than genuinely good reeds. I was fortunate to have been married at the time to a better, more experienced oboist who would often give me some that weren't quite right for him, for me to tinker with so they were pretty good for me. In fact, he was the one who taught me how to make reeds in the first place.

(shudder--bad days in just about every way. VERY glad to not be in that business anymore!)

Catherine said...

My dear Psalmist, I give thanks to God for you and your gifts of music and writing. Thank you for your blessing of care and love, my fellow writer. May you have a blessed Thanksgiving too.

In Him Who first loved us, all of us...

Catherine+

PS: I am a euphonium! And I am listening to Renaissance Christmas music as I write!

Anonymous said...

Years ago when I studied orchestral conductiong, I was taught that one should never argue with the oboe player because they were all crazy. Something about all that pressure built up against the brain:)
I enjoy your blog! (o)

Unknown said...

Well, I'd say you have been oboed for sure.
Thanks for your thoughts and comments

LutheranChik said...

Happy Delurking...I am an Oboe too!