oh I don't know
This has been such a strange summer so far.
Just got back from a week at the Oregon Coast Music Festival in Coos Bay. I stayed with my friend J's sister's fiancee's parents. Confusing, yeah? They have a beautiful summer home on the east bay, from which I enjoyed a breathtaking 25 minute drive to rehearsals/concerts a few times every day. It was very kind of them to open their home to a stranger for a week! J himself visited, and we went on a couple hikes on the coast. One was 8 miles of beach hiking, which is nice and easy at first because the ground is flat and forgiving, but brutal down the stretch as your ankles long for solid ground. We also took advantage of the kickass $13k projection screen at the house by hooking up my computer, plugging in usb controllers, and playing Super Nintendo's greatest hits in a jaw-dropping environment.
The orchestra was already very tight-knit, which made socializing tricky, but they were all friendly and I had a great time every night. A very popular hang was Roger's Zoo, a North Bend dive bar that - like Roger himself - defies description. A colleague of mine has a pizza named after him at Roger's that you must try if you find yourself anywhere near North Bend, OR. It's basically an excellent cheese deep dish that has several cloves of minced garlic cooked in. The amount of garlic is staggering, I mean, I don't know if I've ever had such a concentrated dose. I lit two sticks of incense at night and again in the morning, because the entire room I was staying smelled like garlic practically the second I walked in. But after it clears your system, you feel absolutely terrific.
As in Astoria and Corvallis, the host families were kind and gracious. They prepared abundant spreads at every meal, thanked us constantly, and were terrific people. The orchestra was actually quite good, with the music director James Paul being quite a competent conductor. I really enjoyed playing two pieces that I'd never played before: Bernstein's "On the Waterfront," and Rachmaninov's rarely performed Third Symphony. Late Rachmaninov is confusing, and I didn't like the piece much at first, but it grew on me. I still feel that the piece is kind of a mess structurally, there are some fantastic musical gestures. Jon Nakamatsu was the soloist on Rachmaninov's somewhat overplayed but still lovely 2nd Concerto - and his performance was impeccable.
So what's next? Some random pick-up gigs, teaching, preparing for the woodwind camp that I teach at in Wallowa, OR. The good news - 10 bassoon students! The bad news - no literature for 10 bassoons! I really, REALLY, hope they can handle the arrangements I've been working on... And some more recording. So far this summer, a soundtrack (ask me in private and I'll tell you more) and a folk-rock album (see rylandbouchard.com) that I played about 15 contrabassoon tracks for. Crazy, huh? Maybe not so much. I loved some of the songs, and contrabassoon was a surprisingly good fit. I would like to do more non-classical work...we'll see if anything develops.
And finally, since I rented a car, I made a huge IKEA run on the way home from Coos Bay. Sadly, no time to clean my apartment before I teach on Tuesday, but oh well. Anyway, I realize this isn't terribly personal, but I've honestly been really happy. Although my eating in Coos Bay was a setback, I got some good physical activity in, and I still weigh 20-25lbs less now than I did at Christmas. I suppose that might not be saying much considering the kind of weight gain I was engaged in... but anyhow I feel physically pretty good as well. I can't wait to see what happens when I actually work out on a normal basis. The season starts around August 20th, so less than a month now! I am so not ready.
Also, I am almost decided that I will not take the principal bassoon audition here. More on that later.
Just got back from a week at the Oregon Coast Music Festival in Coos Bay. I stayed with my friend J's sister's fiancee's parents. Confusing, yeah? They have a beautiful summer home on the east bay, from which I enjoyed a breathtaking 25 minute drive to rehearsals/concerts a few times every day. It was very kind of them to open their home to a stranger for a week! J himself visited, and we went on a couple hikes on the coast. One was 8 miles of beach hiking, which is nice and easy at first because the ground is flat and forgiving, but brutal down the stretch as your ankles long for solid ground. We also took advantage of the kickass $13k projection screen at the house by hooking up my computer, plugging in usb controllers, and playing Super Nintendo's greatest hits in a jaw-dropping environment.
The orchestra was already very tight-knit, which made socializing tricky, but they were all friendly and I had a great time every night. A very popular hang was Roger's Zoo, a North Bend dive bar that - like Roger himself - defies description. A colleague of mine has a pizza named after him at Roger's that you must try if you find yourself anywhere near North Bend, OR. It's basically an excellent cheese deep dish that has several cloves of minced garlic cooked in. The amount of garlic is staggering, I mean, I don't know if I've ever had such a concentrated dose. I lit two sticks of incense at night and again in the morning, because the entire room I was staying smelled like garlic practically the second I walked in. But after it clears your system, you feel absolutely terrific.
As in Astoria and Corvallis, the host families were kind and gracious. They prepared abundant spreads at every meal, thanked us constantly, and were terrific people. The orchestra was actually quite good, with the music director James Paul being quite a competent conductor. I really enjoyed playing two pieces that I'd never played before: Bernstein's "On the Waterfront," and Rachmaninov's rarely performed Third Symphony. Late Rachmaninov is confusing, and I didn't like the piece much at first, but it grew on me. I still feel that the piece is kind of a mess structurally, there are some fantastic musical gestures. Jon Nakamatsu was the soloist on Rachmaninov's somewhat overplayed but still lovely 2nd Concerto - and his performance was impeccable.
So what's next? Some random pick-up gigs, teaching, preparing for the woodwind camp that I teach at in Wallowa, OR. The good news - 10 bassoon students! The bad news - no literature for 10 bassoons! I really, REALLY, hope they can handle the arrangements I've been working on... And some more recording. So far this summer, a soundtrack (ask me in private and I'll tell you more) and a folk-rock album (see rylandbouchard.com) that I played about 15 contrabassoon tracks for. Crazy, huh? Maybe not so much. I loved some of the songs, and contrabassoon was a surprisingly good fit. I would like to do more non-classical work...we'll see if anything develops.
And finally, since I rented a car, I made a huge IKEA run on the way home from Coos Bay. Sadly, no time to clean my apartment before I teach on Tuesday, but oh well. Anyway, I realize this isn't terribly personal, but I've honestly been really happy. Although my eating in Coos Bay was a setback, I got some good physical activity in, and I still weigh 20-25lbs less now than I did at Christmas. I suppose that might not be saying much considering the kind of weight gain I was engaged in... but anyhow I feel physically pretty good as well. I can't wait to see what happens when I actually work out on a normal basis. The season starts around August 20th, so less than a month now! I am so not ready.
Also, I am almost decided that I will not take the principal bassoon audition here. More on that later.