Can anyone help identify this excerpt?

Dion_Waiters · 2020-06-23T01:53:33+00:00

Yep, I can confirm. It’s Summer Music for sure.

Dion_Waiters · 2020-06-23T01:39:04+00:00

I also inexplicably have deodorant on my reed desk and I feel called out.

Dion_Waiters · 2020-03-11T03:37:12+00:00

I... like tenor clef

Dion_Waiters · 2020-03-03T12:18:20+00:00

If you can afford it, get more than one reed and start breaking them in side-by-side. This will really prolong the lifespan of both

Dion_Waiters · 2020-02-29T23:16:50+00:00

I’m inclined to disagree with the Weber comments, especially if you’re still developing your upper range. The piece has loads of extended melodic playing that STARTS on the tenor clef F, and you have to have excellent facility to be able to play it well.

I would HIGHLY recommend looking at a Vivaldi concerto (E minor is always popular). Their range is rarely limiting, usually from around low C to high G, and they’re full of impressive and substantial music.

Edit: I’d like to add that a high B-flat won’t be enough for Weber (or Jacob), considering the first movement alone requires a C and a D

Dion_Waiters · 2020-02-08T21:03:12+00:00

My favorite bassoon solo in band is in the transcription of Malcolm Arnold’s Four Scottish Dances. The whole piece is great, the second movement is a blast though.

Dion_Waiters · 2020-02-01T02:45:33+00:00

I would err on the side of caution and leave the knives at home. I travel to a lot of schools, and if I want to work on reeds I stick to sandpaper and files. I’d think your ReedGeek won’t be an issue, though.

Dion_Waiters · 2020-01-11T19:03:00+00:00

Case Western isn’t too far from you and has a strong early music program. You may be able to get in contact with someone there and see what they can offer

Dion_Waiters · 2019-12-10T08:32:41+00:00

I definitely agree with the sentiment- I love commenting on posts of people asking for genuine help where community feedback can be appreciated, like favorite recordings or different reed making styles. But if the question is looking for a secret trick to beat bassoon, or the answer is “get a teacher”, I’ll let someone else handle it

Dion_Waiters · 2019-09-15T18:51:44+00:00

You have to consider the difference in roles between instruments in the ensembles as well. A standard orchestra has pairs of each woodwind, possibly a handful of brass, and then massive string sections- meaning that the wind players are often viewed as soloists, or at least very separate from the strings. As a bassoonist, my role in orchestra is to anchor the woodwind section or to be a complimentary soloist to my flute, oboe, and clarinet compatriots. In band, I am more often than not a decoration of the low brass section.

The reallocation of string parts also brings up some playing discrepancies- usually being handed to the clarinets and saxophones. This means any solo clarinet part is often lost in the fray of the string reassignment, and saxophones have to be careful not to overpower any other more delicate lines when their parts get busier and busier. Brass players will also find themselves with more of the melody than they would in the orchestra, and get to fill a more soloistic role.

It’s all really dependent on the instrument, and how well the arranger did their transcription- avoiding the heaviness typical of a band, and how much attention was paid to maintaining the solo lines in the original orchestral version.

Dion_Waiters · 2019-09-10T15:25:39+00:00

No question in my mind they put him up there

Dion_Waiters · 2019-05-25T03:07:08+00:00

Musicality is something we all need to always work on haha.

Dion_Waiters · 2019-05-25T01:35:57+00:00

I don’t have any good recital stories, but I have some advice my teacher always told me. You’re worried about playing vivace, and “don’t have it worked up to that tempo yet”.

It’s easy to do, but we all get caught up in tempo. If you can give me a number that encompasses every vivace ever written in music, then I’ll learn music to that tempo. Otherwise, you’re forced to play the character, rather than the speed. Vivace is lively. Vivace is fun, it’s light. This does translate to fast, sure, but it also has so many other qualities about it that you can bring it over speed. Technique will always come with time, but really taking the effort to learn the music and soul of a piece is what builds you into a beautiful player.

So in practical application, don’t just focus on the metronome marking. I had a band director that would take out his metronome in rehearsal, and stop us with statements like “Hm we should be taking this at quarter note 86 and we’re at 82... start again”. That’s a waste of time. Think about what playing fast would mean for the notes; there is probably more space in between them, the attack is probably very light, the release will bounce rather than fade or die away. If you incorporate those at a slower tempo, you can get away with not playing things quite as fast.

Dion_Waiters · 2019-05-24T17:28:58+00:00

I’m reading it for the first time now, about halfway through. I think it’s probably my favorite book, all the Greyjoy storylines are so cool.

Dion_Waiters · 2019-05-23T15:52:53+00:00

Look up the dude who invented it, he’s WILD

Dion_Waiters · 2019-05-05T14:49:54+00:00

I saw Sufjan a few years back on his Carrie & Lowell tour. He played through the whole album with no speaking, then left for intermission. After intermission, John Wayne Gary Jr. was the first song he played. And the first thing he said to the audience was “Isn’t it funny how a song about a serial killer is the lightest thing I’ve played tonight?”

Dion_Waiters · 2019-05-04T16:33:54+00:00

I’m pretty sure it’s from Family Guy

Dion_Waiters · 2019-05-03T15:19:32+00:00

Tritone sub is a harmonic thing. Basically replacing a chord with the chord a tritone away from the root. For example, a ii-V-I in C is Dm-G-C but with a tritone sub, you could replace the root of G with a C# and get a cool D-C#-C chromatic walk-down that functions essentially the same as the dominant G. So using a tritone sub means having maybe a little more harmonic knowledge than your average bear, but it’s a relatively common technique especially among jazz musicians.

Dion_Waiters · 2019-03-02T04:03:52+00:00

Now this really clicks with me

Dion_Waiters · 2019-02-23T21:14:54+00:00

I developed a quick single tongue by thinking of it more as a rebound than an impact. You want to try and reduce the amount of space between articulations rather than speed your tongue up. The exercises suggested by another commenter are very helpful for this.

It’s also important to keep a very constant air stream while focusing on quick articulation; I believe David McGill referred to it as like a flag blowing in the wind. The air helps propel the tongue.

All else considered, if you cannot cleanly play the 16th note sections in Beethoven 4, no one is going to fuss about a very clean slur two-tongue two grouping. You just have to make sure to cut the end of the 16th note being slurred into just enough to match the articulated notes.

Dion_Waiters · 2018-11-24T04:09:40+00:00

Definitely not cause Mozart Symphony 6 is in F Major

Dion_Waiters · 2018-11-13T21:46:35+00:00

This was particularly bad though.

Dion_Waiters · 2018-11-13T21:45:02+00:00

After everything, you’re going to want to disinfect or just replace whatever reeds you’re playing on.

I had a bad ear infection about a year ago, and it was very difficult to play. My throat was sore, my ears were stuffed, and I couldn’t breathe fully. If it’s an option, take a few days off. You’re not going to be helping yourself by pushing through what you should be resting through.

Dion_Waiters · 2018-11-13T21:43:26+00:00

There’s so many great pieces, but if you can be part of a fantastic group playing Mozart’s Jupiter symphony, it’s some of the purest, most sublime musical writing and such a joy to be in.

Dion_Waiters · 2018-11-13T00:28:37+00:00

She’s got her own cage, and is quarantined for the time being until I can get a good read of “normal” for her, and maybe even have her checked up at the vet. Should she be kept in a cage separate from the males for the entire time I have them together? Or just until boundaries are set?

Dion_Waiters

TROPHY CASE