Once again, quintet rehearsal was cancelled today, so I have a free afternoon to catch up on homework - or, go on the internet, procrastinate, and post here.
Today's lesson was, unfortunately, eventful. Sometime between when I practiced earlier and when I arrived at my teacher's house, I managed to do some pretty nasty damage to my oboe. It's not physically too bad - no cracks, nothing that severe - but it sure is annoying. One of the trill keys that I use fairly often (it's only use I'm positive of is a C to D trill, but that comes up a lot in Mozart) isn't sealing properly; when I release the key, it goes back to its "resting" position, but it has maybe a fraction of a millimeter of space that it just doesn't cover. When I try to play, the musical equivalent of "..." happens. Or, a rather unpleasant squeak or a strongly duck-like, tone-less sound reminiscent of beginning oboists that I'd rather not hear coming out of my oboe, depending on the note.
Thank the Lord for rubber bands, that's all I can say. After scrounging in various drawers around his kitchen (another reason I'm thankful I take lessons at his house and not at a studio), my teacher found a suitably skinny rubber band, and tied down the key. My oboe plays now, thankfully, although it takes a little more effort than I'm accustomed to to use the key. I'll just stick with Strauss and avoid the Mozart concerto, and otherwise just deal with it. It's going in for repairs and a general check-up this coming Thursday, so hopefully David (Teitelbaum, a fantastic repairman whom I recommend greatly) will be able to figure out what on earth is wrong with it.
The relief I have that I discovered it didn't work at a lesson as opposed to a rehearsal is rather huge. Up until a few hours post-lesson, I'd thought quintet was still on, leading to plenty of horrendous thoughts of what might have happened, had I taken a lesson on Sunday instead. Plenty of things I don't fancy thinking about. (*shudder*)
Today's lesson was, unfortunately, eventful. Sometime between when I practiced earlier and when I arrived at my teacher's house, I managed to do some pretty nasty damage to my oboe. It's not physically too bad - no cracks, nothing that severe - but it sure is annoying. One of the trill keys that I use fairly often (it's only use I'm positive of is a C to D trill, but that comes up a lot in Mozart) isn't sealing properly; when I release the key, it goes back to its "resting" position, but it has maybe a fraction of a millimeter of space that it just doesn't cover. When I try to play, the musical equivalent of "..." happens. Or, a rather unpleasant squeak or a strongly duck-like, tone-less sound reminiscent of beginning oboists that I'd rather not hear coming out of my oboe, depending on the note.
Thank the Lord for rubber bands, that's all I can say. After scrounging in various drawers around his kitchen (another reason I'm thankful I take lessons at his house and not at a studio), my teacher found a suitably skinny rubber band, and tied down the key. My oboe plays now, thankfully, although it takes a little more effort than I'm accustomed to to use the key. I'll just stick with Strauss and avoid the Mozart concerto, and otherwise just deal with it. It's going in for repairs and a general check-up this coming Thursday, so hopefully David (Teitelbaum, a fantastic repairman whom I recommend greatly) will be able to figure out what on earth is wrong with it.
The relief I have that I discovered it didn't work at a lesson as opposed to a rehearsal is rather huge. Up until a few hours post-lesson, I'd thought quintet was still on, leading to plenty of horrendous thoughts of what might have happened, had I taken a lesson on Sunday instead. Plenty of things I don't fancy thinking about. (*shudder*)
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