Blogging on the Powwow

I'm back in Washington. Despite the frigid weather, I had a wonderful trip home, with many lessons learned. Never Underestimate When Being a Runner will Come in Handy Last Friday, I was on a flight that arrived at Logan Airport in Boston at 5:03pm. It was my goal to make the 5:10 C&J bus that would bring me to the Newburyport bus station, which is just five or so miles from my house. In theory, the bus arrives  at the airport at 5:10, but then starts making the rounds to each terminal, A, B1, B2, C, etc. As long as one does not fly into terminal A, one can count on a small cushion to catch the bus. I did some trotting inside the airport, because I knew it would be close. When I neared the exits I saw that it was 5:14...not likely that I would make the bus since I was in terminal B1. I got outside and hurried in the direction toward the C&J stop. Then I saw the coming toward me. I tried to flag it down, but failed. I felt defeated. Then a man who had witnessed my eff...

That's a good question. I'm in Washington, D.C. now and I keep asking myself, What am I doing here, anyway?!  I've been getting a lot of questions about why I'm in Washington, D.C. and what I'll be doing. Here's the Cliff Notes version. I have been appointed by the Society for Research on Child Development to serve as a Congressional fellow. What does a Congressional fellow do?  Another good question! Many professional societies/associations appoint Congressional fellows annually, where the goal is to bring highly skilled individuals (people with PhDs) to the policy arena and at the same time, to expose highly skilled individuals to the policy-making process. Here's what my sponsoring professional association says about Congressional fellowships. The SRCD Congressional Fellowship Program is designed to provide greater interaction between the developmental research community and Congress. Fellows spend one year with a placement that involves working for ...

I have no idea if Percy Grainger led with his chest. But, it's a nice play on two themes that carried me through the academic year that is coming to a close (2014-2015). In the 2010-2011 academic year, I returned to the oboe when I was on a fellowship and released from all teaching/campus responsibilities. As I have written before ( here and here ), it was like magic, and Neil and I dubbed that year, the Year of the Oboe - YOTO. I think of this most recent academic year as the Year of Percy Grainger - YOPG.  In case my readers have not been exposed to the world of concert bands, allow me to be so humble as to introduce Percy Grainger to you. Percy Grainger (1882-1961) was a composer and concert pianist, wildly famous, who mostly lived in Australia, England, and the United States. He was most well known for his innovative and fresh compositions involving British folk music. I will insert a side note to add that Mr. Grainger was a very generous friend of the oboe. It would...

Neil gave me permission to write this post in case it helps someone else. My husband, Neil, used to smoke...a lot. He smoked in the shower, when he was riding a bike...he even kept a cigarette between his fingers when he practiced the oboe so he could take a few drags when resting his chops. If you know Neil, then you know that Neil never did or does anything small. It's been several decades since he lit-up, but when his doctor asked him if he wanted to go for a free lung cancer screening for people with a history of smoking, he reluctantly said yes. He was sure that he would have a false-positive, which is of course when health professionals think there is a problem, but there is not. Well, it turned out that there was a problem -- he had a true-positive. A small, active mass in his lower left lung. My good friend, Kathy, said, "You tell those doctors that Neil doesn't have cancer. He can't have cancer. It's just Oboe Lung...a small collection of reed dust in ...

I've been on sabbatical for the past year, which among other things, has allowed me to play in not one, but two, community bands. Yes, these are the things that academics do on sabbatical. Rather than prepping lectures, I was squawking away in rehearsals in New Hampshire. Rather than grading student papers and fielding emails from panicked students, I was practicing. Every night. Okay, almost every night. It's been awful and wonderful at the same time.  It was just about four years ago that I was facing the fantastic opportunity of my first year away from teaching - a year-long fellowship at full salary. It's hard to beat that. Better  than sabbatical, in fact. I don't even remember why, but I got the crazy notion to take up the oboe again, a topic that I covered in a previous post . With the exception of a 5 month period when I played in one of Neil's student groups in 2000 or 2001, I had been away from the oboe for 19 years. Count them...19 years. But, I decided...

I met Trevor in fall of 1987, I believe, at Deering High School in Portland during a rehearsal for the Portland Youth Symphony Orchestra and the Portland Youth Wind Ensemble. These were, and still are, music ensembles for select young players in southern/central/midcoast Maine. Trevor played oboe, too, was two years ahead of me in high school and we became good friends. It helped that his high school music program in Camden and my high school music program in Topsham (SAD-75) were usually top-ranking in state competitions. So, in addition to seeing him weekly in Portland, I would occasionally see Trevor during other music events throughout the academic year and at All-State Music Festivals. Then our schools did an exchange and performed at each other’s schools. My family hosted Trevor and some of his friends during this exchange. Then I got my license and being the “willing to drive anywhere, anytime, any distance” person that I am – my friend, Kathy and I, made the occasional trip to...

Can you believe it? I wrote this post on Thanksgiving weekend and before I knew it, Christmas was here and over. But, since I wrote it, I'd like to post it, even if it is late...and it's all still true! -------------------------------------- It has taken me a while to get around to writing a blog post about being thankful. I am thankful. Of course, I am thankful, is my most common response. I am thankful for all the things that I should  be thankful. I love and I am loved in return, by humans and my canine. I have a home, and even better, a home that I like and cherish. I am warm. I have a job and an income to cover my basic needs, and then some. I am healthy and no one in my life has a chronic or life-threatening health condition. I can go about my business without interference from law enforcement or government. This is the condensed version. The expanded version addresses the aspects of my life for which I am most thankful weekly, if not, daily. I am most thankful f...

I started this as a Facebook post a few days ago, but took it down and decided to write a full blog post. I've never been great at pitch -- my own or someone else's. Sharp? Flat? Adjust up, adjust down? Is it right now? No idea. It's a terrible thing for a child of two music teachers to admit. It's even worse for an oboist to admit, given that we give the tuning note for the ensemble. But, that's what tuners are for, right? Well, something hasn't been right with my pitch, or so I thought. I always leave my tuner on during rehearsals, but now I started keeping it on during my practice sessions. Sharp. Regardless of the reed, the weather...sharp on all notes above middle B.  I talked to Neil. Which reed? All reeds.  Which notes? Everything over B.   Well, you could have a crack.  A crack? Had I cracked Neil's beloved, old Laubin? I confessed to Neil that in a moment of weakness I had pulled out my reed 1 millimeter to get my pitch down during rehearsal...

Apparently someone named William Clark, or someone who uses the name William Clark and whose email address is: wclark200@yahoo.com . Last week Neil mentioned to me that he had received an unusual request from "William Clark," for oboe lessons for his 13 year old daughter, Mary. He stated that they were out of the country, but would soon be coming to the United States. Mr. Clark failed to answer any of Neil's usual questions for new students, such as how long Mary had been playing, inquires about her instrument, and whether they would be taking lessons at USM or Dartmouth - the locations of his two teaching studios. Neil usually asks if the child has, in addition to playing oboe, any other tendencies toward self-injurious behavior. Silent on all of these matters.  Then Mr. Clark wanted to pay for several weeks of lessons upfront. Neil had never encountered this before, but why would a free-lance musician say no to a parent wanting to pay for lessons in advance? Then N...

Many people know that with the exception of the five months that I played the oboe in 2000 or 2001 while I was writing my dissertation, I took 19 years off from playing the oboe. Many people have been supportive of my return to the oboe, but no one has been more supportive than my husband, Neil, who is a professional oboist. You might think that it would be intimidating to have to practice while he is at home, but actually it is quite helpful and I ask him many questions. There have been times, too, when he has practiced my community band music with me, playing the first part, while I struggled along playing second. It was hugely reassuring for me, especially since I have never been very good about intonation. But, Neil assured me that I was playing well and I shouldn't worry about playing in public with others. I confessed to a young oboist in my community band that my husband is a professional oboist, to which he replied, "Wow. I guess that you can have a lesson any time you...

We're getting close to the time of year when Trevor called to tell us about Mark. It was November 12, actually. I was meeting with students in my office in the evening. Neil was teaching in Gorham. I called him with the bad news. Silence. The truth is, I never knew Mark very well. I knew Mark through other people - Neil, Trevor, and Neil's colleagues. Mark visited Neil and me at our home in Saco on occasion. Between these visits and the stories I heard, Mark made a tremendous impression on me. Mark was larger than life. He was a fantastically talented oboist. Mark was driven in a way that caused most people to take pause. He was incredibly demanding of his students and even more demanding of himself. He poured himself into his work in a way that would crush most of us - solo, chamber music, teaching, administrative duties in Iowa, recordings, auditions ("just to stay fresh"), festivals, music camps, and the like. His productivity knew no limits. I'm a highly p...

It's hard to believe that Summer of the Oboe (SOTO) 2012 is almost over. Didn't it just begin? But, last night I had my last rehearsal with my community band and on July 29 I will play my final concert with them for the season. I hate to admit it, but before long I will be teaching on Tuesday nights and during my drive home, I'll be thinking about the band rehearsal that I am missing " back home ."  SOTO 2012 was too short, but all together enjoyable. This year offered a new adventure, which was playing next to a 14 year-old oboist. He's a great oboist and I was thrilled to have the opportunity to help bring him into the fold of community band. I was once a 14 year-old oboist in a community band--the Bath Municipal Band --and I was shown great kindness and patience by everyone in the ensemble, but most of all, by our director, Jimmy Footer. Perhaps I received special privileges because my parents were both music teachers, or because they both played in the ...