[Music: Orefici’s Melodic Study #5, performed by Terry B. Ewell]
1. Hello, I am Terry Ewell. Welcome to this video on Orefici’s Study number 2.
2. I think a good deal about spiritual things and how they apply to life, how they apply to my attitude towards others, how I play bassoon, etc. One thing that I was thinking about in relation to this study is that Jesus says that people hear without hearing and see without seeing. He was talking about spiritual things. He would speak about certain matters, and they wouldn’t understand the spiritual application.
3. But we do much the same thing when we play bassoon. We hear what we are playing, but at times we are really not listening and attending to it. I am sure guilty of that in my playing. A lot of times I am concentrating on things, and I am missing the intonation. Or there is an attack that is not quite clean that I really didn’t quite hear. Yet I am attending to the music. It is difficult to really, really listen and grasp what you are doing.
4. For instance, take a look at me now. Really closely examine me. Are you seeing that I am wearing a tie that is a tribute to Vincent van Gough? Did you see that? You were looking but maybe you missed that. This is partly what I mean.
5. Orefici Study #2 gives you an important entrance into really attending to features on the bassoon. Here is the opening with an E drone.
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6. The ending can also be worked well with an E drone. I find that the low E is best in tune by adding the little finger.
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7. When I am playing with the drones, I am using my ears to critically listen to the placement of each note in the arpeggio with the reference pitch. This is an important skill to develop that will really help you to play well with others and to better discern what is in tune and what is out of tune.
8. The F#s in this piece are best played with the little finger, the right hand little finger. That F# is lower in pitch than the one with the right-hand thumb.
9. Next, carefully listen to the quality of the sound and the fingering work in the very fast passages.
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10. That octave leap is often quite slow. So, in needs to be in tempo.
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11. I have the metronome set to 120…
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12. …making sure that every note is clear and distinct and controlled.
In the next line the fingering is also quite tricky. I concentrate so that every note is controlled, in tune, and well centered. I don’t allow a single tone to escape my concentration. I really hear each note when I play them regardless of the speed. This is key to the best accuracy and sound production.
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13. I find it particularly difficult coming off the high A with the F#, E, and D#.
There are cross fingerings here, forked fingerings. It is also an issue of intonation.
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14. Now. Let’s work phrase direction. You can still phrase through staccato notes. This is called “playing on the wind.”
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15. See, I am using the air to shape the phrase, to shape the dynamics—not the embouchure, not the tongue, or anything like that. Those are used instead for articulation. But I really am shaping this:
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16. The ending portion of the piece with staccato eighth notes are difficult because you have to sneak in breaths. The quickest breaths can be done by dropping the jaw not raising the head. This is the way I choose to play this at the end.
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17. In conclusion, it is too easy to see without really perceiving and to hear without truly discerning. Take the time on this study to hone those skills. You will make much more rapid progress on the bassoon, if you fully understand the imperfections in your playing and then address those issues. Goodbye.
[Performance of Orefici Melodic Study #2]
[Music: Orefici’s Melodic Study #5, performed by Terry B. Ewell]
Copyright © 2021 by Terry B. Ewell. All rights reserved.