Dear Guests, Welcome to my blog which I treat like a creative garden where I regularly plant and change this and that be it poetry, philosophy, an Oboe Brilliance lesson, an essay of some kind, or a journal about composing. Visit every Monday for oboe coaching which is also helpful for many melodic instrumentalists. Musically yours, Kathryn

"How do you compose?" That is the most commonly asked question I hear.
This blog is a window into my creative process and philosophies as a composer and instrumentalist. At times it may contain music, photos, and poetry as well. May you enjoy, return, and benefit!

My Archives

September 2010

August 2010

July 2010

June 2010

May 2010

April 2010

March 2010

February 2010

January 2010

December 2009

November 2009

October 2009

September 2009

August 2009

July 2009

June 2009

May 2009

April 2009

March 2009

February 2009

Apr

21

What is Oboe Brilliance?

Dear Guests,

Oboe Brilliance Mission Statement of Purpose:

To create, provide and establish the “Oboe Brilliance School of Integrated Musical Pilgrimage” via a comprehensive pedagogy, a comprehensive library of 21st century music and performance opportunities for oboists world wide as imagined by oboist, teacher and composer Kathryn Potter.

Oboe Brilliance is a significant work with a few facets in progress.

The contents of Oboe Brilliance are:

1) A book of original solos I'm composing for oboists day one up to and including virtuosic players.

2) "" duets ""

3) A full chapter articulating my philosophies and techniques about how to best mentor/teach oboists.

4) A full chapter with artistic liberation exercises.

5) A full chapter of technical elegance exercises - which are now available via subscription. Simply buy the mp3 - see music page - C Chromatic study for $50, and receive a written lesson and an mp3 in your email inbox. Below is an example of a technical elegance written lesson.

Through Oboe Brilliance, I keep alive the tradition of oboe playing as it was taught to me by Peter Hertling (L.I.N.Y.), Lois Wann (N.Y.N.Y.), Michael Winfield (London Enlgand), Peter Hedrick (Ithaca N.Y.), and Marc Liefschy (S.F. C.A.), and add much of my own bringing oboe playing into the 21st century and hopefully far beyond.

As an oboist since 1973, private teacher since 1980, and S.F. Conservatory of Music graduate in composition, I have much to give and it is my goal to give oboists as much as possible. Stay tuned to when Oboe Brilliance will be completed and available in full. Now, only technical elegance is available in subscription form.

Anyone interested in publishing, distributin, or helping me with this project is welcome to contact me via my contact page.

Oboe Always!
Kathryn




Oboe Brilliance: The high art of wind sculpting lesson 9
Playing Arpeggios by Kathryn Potter © 2009

As before, all lessons are based upon the previous lessons, so once you’ve reasonably accomplished lesson # 8, you’re ready to continue with this next lesson which is a bit more theoretical.

An arpeggio is a chord that is played one note at a time rather than all notes of the chord sounding simultaneously. The pitches of a tonic triad are the first, third, and fifth notes of a scale, therefore the C Major tonic triad is comprised of C/do, E/mi, and G/sol since C/do is the first note of the scale which is called tonic, E/mi is the third note of the scale which is called the mediant and G/sol is the fifth note of the scale which is called the dominant.

In lesson # 8 we practiced playing octaves with the understanding that the perfect octave above the fundamental already exists as an overtone. The next overtone that already exists is a different pitch and is therefore the most dominant or prevalent other pitch. The most dominant other pitch after the octave which is the second overtone from the fundamental pitch is a perfect fifth above the first overtone, or a compound perfect fifth from the fundamental. This dominant is like the octave, already sounding within the fundamental. The same is true regarding the mediant, which is the next overtone with a new name, sounding within the fundamental. When these notes are spelled out consecutively within one octave we have the tonic, the dominant, and next the mediant, which when placed in order within the octave is in the middle of the tonic and dominant. These three pitches are the most stable and harmonious within a scale as they already live together most audibly in the fundamental pitch.

Okay, so to practice this understanding, play a long tone from the low register in a way already practiced from an earlier lesson. Now, review playing an octave as practiced in lesson # 8. Next, play an octave then up a perfect fifth from that, so if you’re playing low C, play the C an octave above that, then the G a perfect 5th above that C keeping in mind that the G is already sounding within the low C. Go back and play the low C and now just slur up a perfect 5th then back down to the low C treating the C, G, C, slur as if it is one long tone. Of course you will make some adjustments to embouchure as you play the different notes, but the whole point of the exercise is to play slurs to smoothly with the open air stream support and integrity of a pure long tone. Next, apply this technique to playing the arpeggio: C, E, G; as if it is one long tone. If you are a truly advanced player, you can play low C, C the octave above, G the perfect 5th above that, the C above that (the 2 ledger lined C) then the E above that keeping in mind that those pitches are the sequence of overtones as they naturally occur within the low C which is what comprises the theory behind the triad.

Continue practice by ascending and descending the arpeggio within one octave, and as you are able, two or even three! Decide in advance what you will do regarding dynamics. You may choose to play everything mono dynamically, or to crescendo or decrescendo as you wish. I suggest practicing every way you can imagine with as much control and beauty humanly possible. Test your personal dynamic range and long tone ability. Stretch your limitations and enjoy being able to do more musically over time with this exercise. Apply these skills to your understanding that all other pitches within a scale resolve to the tonic, mediant, and dominant pitches of the scale, ultimately to the tonic as you play melodic music.

As always, have fun and apply your skills to liberate your expression and musical artistry!

Musically Yours,

Kathryn

Apr

16

My Purpose, Perspective, Work and Music

Dear Guests, Here you can read my updated philosophy, and prior perspectives. I have just updated this Dec 1 2009, and am keeping the former blogs as well.

My personal philosophy in life, simply put, is that our only duty is to relish our life.

I use the word, our, singularly as individuals, and collectively as in the one life we all share ourselves.

My personal purpose in composing, simply put, is to relish our lives through sounds. Music is a celebration of the myriad of what can be felt, experienced, reached, and expressed through sounds. Much can be accomplished and achieved through music.

New sonic worlds can be discovered, rich emotional landscapes can be explored and enjoyed. New emotional states can be experienced. Sorrow can be transformed into delicious joy. A human body can be healed, an emotional body can be healed, an altered state of consciousness achieved, an ecstatic spiritual high shared, myriad of mysteries delved into and more.

How can music do all of this? How does music affect us emotionally, physically, mentally, socially, spiritually?

Quite a subject.

I compose because I've been hearing music in my head as long as I can remember. Before I started grammar school, I realized that I hear music in my imagination and other people can't hear it unless I share it. At a young age, I decided to learn the language of music in order to share the sounds I imagine and hear internally. This desire to share grew into a need and an addiction to create music. Now it is a joy I choose to share as my favorite way to relish my life and to hopefully uplift the lives of others while I'm at it.

I compose because it's interesting and fun. I compose because I love the positive effects great music has on the people who play it. Countless hours of human life have been spent learning the masterworks by Bach and other great composers. Hours enriching lives through music.

So, I continue to weave sounds, ideas, feelings.

I ask myself, "What music lasts the test of time and why?"

The music which continues to be enjoyed for generations share similar traits. They are emotionally and mentally liberating.

My desire is to create music which is emotionally and mentally liberating. Great music doesn't require a Doctorate in musical theory to fall in love. Beethoven's 9th - for example - speaks to people who feel. Beethoven's 9th speaks to people who ponder the depths of musical design.

I strongly believe that music has a strong influence on society and that society has a strong influence on music.

As a woman in the US, I find capitalism dominating the arts a very challenging stage in which to create deep, liberating, sincere music to uplift and expand the boundaries of music, on the one hand. On the other hand, I cherrish the theory of artistic and spiritual freedom allowed in our culture.

As an oboist carrying the torch of tradition into the now and into the future, I am passionate about my "Oboe Brilliance" work. Composing solo and duet music for oboists of all skill levels is some of my most important work.

Right now, Dec 2009, I'm busy composing "Now Point" a 10 minute ballet for full orchestra. This is serious fun, and I hope it is enjoyed in significant ways. At the very least, it is exalting for me to imagine and commit to the page, but I hope that more fun comes of it. I will be submitting the piece for review in February.

Anyone wishing me to compose a work for an individual instrumentalist (or vocalist) or ensemble is welcome to commission me to do so. Anyone wishing to help me publish Oboe Brilliance or help it get destributed is welcome to contact me.

All the best and musically yours,
Kathryn
"My purpose, perspective, work, and music" by Kathryn Potter 2009

My purpose is to liberate self expression through musical mastery and musical masterpieces individually and collectively as in the microcosmic and macrocosmic self.

From my perspective and way of thinking and being, music is the sound of how the divine love inherent in all material and immaterial dances with our singular and collective human and all else selves consciously and unconsciously.

My work is to keep one foot rooted in divine love, the other rooted in sound and to dance the weaving of the two by creating audible music existing and heard on earth in order to fortify the bridge between the immaterial and material worlds.

My music is sonic medicine, celebration, expression, invitation, weaving, dancing, and bridge. It has many flavors, strong medicine, refreshing drinks, hearty meals, multiple tapestries and purposes within its purpose. I’ve been keeping one foot in each world consciously since age 3. This pilgrimage at this time in culture is full of diverse terrains, storms, vistas, monsters and poetry.

I believe that the need for this work is significant if not imperative and timely in order for humanity to evolve in multilevel health and peace for survival, if not for a lessoning of sorrow and torture during our extinction.

Musically Yours,
{ Kathryn

Apr

14

Oboe Brilliance

Oboe Brilliance (updated/edited on May 20th 2010)

Oboe Brilliance is my life's work put in a book and is a work in progress. I will be perpetually adding to it throughout my life, so it's influenced by my life studies, teachings and composing specifically as an oboist. Within oboe brilliance I honor the rich tradition from which I come and continue it into the 21st century as best I can to honor what I've been taught and to give all I can for oboists of today and tomorrow.

My teachers have included Peter Hertling - L.I.N.Y., Lois Wann - N.Y.N.Y., Peter Hedrick -Ithaca N.Y., Michael Winfield - London England, and Marc Leifschy - S.F. C.A.
Their teachings, techniques, and philosophies are influential to the technical elegance, artistic liberation, and most of all, mentoring aspects of Oboe Brilliance.

Contents:

1) 6 levels (beginner - virtuosic) of unaccompanied soli, duets, trios

2) 6 levels progressive studies soli - duets

3) technical elegance

4) artistic liberation

5) mentoring - essays about various aspects of teaching/learning/playing

Right now I'm focusing on completing books which will be compiled into a collection to make Oboe Brilliance. The first two books scheduled to be completed are "The Secrets of Ravans" a book of 7 oboe duets at the intermediate (III) to semi professional (IV)skill level required to play, and the other "In Adoration of the Earth" a collection of unaccompanied oboe soli of various skill levels portraying animals. Premiere of books and new content Sunday October 31st 2010 in Asheville N.C. performed by me and select oboists from my studio.

Musically yours,
Kathryn





Apr

10

My purpose and philosophy as a composer

Updated May 23rd 2010

Dear Guests,

Since being a a very young girl, I have always "heard/imagined" music in my head/heart. It upset me that others couldn't hear the music that I could hear inside. At a single digit age I learned that people called composers learn to write out music in order to share with others, that there are schools called conservatories where people learn to compose and play, and that there are concert halls all around the world to play the large works composers write so many people can experience and enjoy it. So, I decided I'd learn the language of music by playing an instrument - I fell madly in love with the oboe at age 3 - and give the best I can as a composer.

Here I am. Decades later, composing for soloists and full orchestra while enjoying my 37th year of playing the oboe :) (I had to wait 5 terribly long years before I was old enough to hold it!)

I aspire to leave a legacy of extrememly well crafted music which is deeply fulfilling to study, teach, share, perform and enjoy for one's ENTIRE life, for GENERATIONS to come!!!!!!

The solo music of J.S. Bach, for example, is a significant source of my inspiration to compose solo works for myself and other instrumentalists. I have both personally experienced, and have witnessed several musicians experience cultivated gratifying, enriching, fulfilling decades long relationships with masterful musical works in solo repertoire. (Bach, Chopin, Beethoven, Telemann, Britten, Schumann ....)

Since having a long term (if not lifelong) relationship/journey with an art form - such as playing an instrument - is deeply nurishing intellectually, physically, emotionally, philosophically/"spiritually", socially and perhaps financially, and one of the greatest joys personally while uplifting/edifying our collective culture, it is simply following my bliss and intrinsic nature/calling to compose.

Yes, I love the large scale works and have discovered that composing for full orchestra is such an incredibly fun playground. It is also gratifying to FINALLY be able to write out what I imagine onto the score, after painstaking years of learning to turn inside out onto the page with near accuracy, using a pencil. (I still check it with a keyboard, and NOW I have to finish learning how to use Finale - a software program to enable others to hear it and read it with greater ease.) I equally love, and will continue to pursue more, the solo and duet writing out of my love of the individual musician, relishing the deep personal relationship with playing music in life. While the huge forms are so exhalting, the solo journeys and the mentor student relationship is the core.

My father would regularly play the piano after work and before dinner when I was a child. That is a constant underpinning of my inspiration to create for others. Creating music to enable others to recreate it is my primary aim. My mp3 electronic sounds sculptures which I create on my Clavinova, are the fruits of my love of improvising on the keyboard. Since I can easily turn what I improvise into an mp3, plus cultivate it with tools, I enjoy selling them for people to enjoy hearing. They are snapshots of my musical meditations/finger paintings and for me, serious fun! I've enjoyed improvising - free style - on the piano since I could climb up onto the bench. When I was 13 I began private lessons, but until then, it was mostly improvising - a habit I continued while also loving to learn to play the music of the masters.

My focus is solidly on completing my "Oboe Brilliance Project" which consists of soli, duets, trios, chapters on mentoring, artistic liberation, technical elegance, reeds and more for oboists of all stages. It is such a significant project that in order to complete it, I'm now narrowing my focus completing sections of the project at a time, and then compiling them all. I aspire to have the verbal parts translated into many languages so that oboists world wide can partake. Right now my focus is on completing "The Secrets of Ravens" which is a book of 7 oboe duets, and "In Adoration of the Earth" a collection of oboe soli sonically portraying various animals. Both books are scheduled to be premiered Sunday October 31st in the Asheville N.C. region. I'm almost done with both, but need to finalize it and get it into book form. I've asked my son Ivan, to illustrate them both.

If you or anyone you know is sincerely interested in producing, distributing, publishing, promoting (documentary?) this project, please contact me.

To buy a sound sculpture - visit the music page. To commission a work be it solo or ballet for full orchestra - visit the commission page.

Musically yours,
Kathryn

Apr

9

Bio and Resume

Bio for Kathryn Potter - updated June 6, 2010.

My devotion to music is lifelong and my love of sound and silence profound.

At a very brief glance my life can be put into 3 catagories:

1) student/performer 1973 - 1990
2) mother/part time teacher and very part time composer 1991 - 2010
3) full time composer/serious player 2010

While in the crib I would wait for the wind up duck to stop its musical noise so I could go back to hearing the music in my mind which I prefered. (To this day I keep the clock work of it on the windowsill of my music or room.) Before attending Kindergarden I learned that composers write down onto paper what they hear inside so that others can enjoy it too. At a very young age I vowed to myself to learn the language of music since I must be a composer.

At age 3, I heard the oboe for the first time and fell head over heals thoroughly in love with it. I started playing in January of 1973 when I was 8 (after waiting 5 terribly long years)and have been playing ever since for the past 37 years now!

1) FIRST I STUDIED: my teachers were...
James Cassara
Peter Hertling, L.I. N.Y.
Lois Wann* N.Y.N.Y - oboe matriarch!- after she was Cleveland and N.Y. Phil principal
Peter Hedrick*, Ithaca N.Y. (while I attended I.C.)
Michael Winfield, London England - (right after he retired as Royal Phil principal)
Marc Liefschy*, S.F. CA - (while I attended S.F.C. of M - my ALMA MATER) - while he was principal w/S.F. symphony

* on merit scholarship which I earned through intense passionate practice and competing years via N.Y.S.S.M.A., receiving A and A+ ratings competing for years on level VI which was vital to opening doors to study with Wann, Hedrick, and Liefschy

During my oboe educational experience I constantly played in a plethora of bands, chamber groups and orchestras, gave many recitals plus performed ballet for 12 years, other dance for a few, acted in a few plays, and sang constantly in choruses which I LOVED.

I must also include that I played piano since I was 6 for several years before receiving formal training. I am now grateful for this although at the time I begged for lessons. Finally my grandfather provided lessons for me when I was 13 to 17.

more study:
private piano from 1976 - 1988, private voice, periodically

COMPOSITION:
Karel Husa in Ithaca N.Y. while I attended I.C. - as a double major in oboe performance and composition

Ellie Armer: S.F.C.of M. my ALMA MATER, as a composition major after I first got in through the door as an oboe performance major.

2) THEN I TAUGHT: 1992 - present: oboe to all ages in my music studio, (plus flute and piano)- during which time I composed too, and performed periodically

During my time as a teacher to date I organized two performance series running a year or so each in the 90's in downtown Asheville at the Green Door, and then several private concerts

My abilities as a composer have been growing more and more over time. I have been able to cultivate my skills organically and non commercially while out of school and somewhat while raising my son and running a music studio.

3) NOW I OFFICIALLY COMPOSE FULL TIME: as of June 2010, and am reclaiming conservatory level playing chops and beyond on the oboe in order to perform my compositions on my new Laubin.

Prior to June 2010 I composed part time:

Since 2008 I've been composing for full orchestra and really flexing my composer chops on a grand scale - oh pun intended! I'm thrilled with what I'm composing for oboe duets and am finding my voice more and more as a composer beginning to approach what I consider to be a professional level skill matching my oboe skills. My voice is unique, and I look to be published soon beyond self publishing.

Read on about my composing:

Kathryn composes for solo instruments up to full orchestra for musicians of any skill level as well as pipe organ, harpsichord, classical guitar, piano, and voice. Her specialty to date is composing solo material for individual instrumentalists to take the player to higher and new fulfilling sonic experiences in relationship to his/her instrument. She has been “hearing” music inside her head all of her life, has a rich imagination and has been committing it to the page since 1976. Since 2003 she has also been creating electronic sounds sculptures. In 2009 she began composing for full orchestra. She accepts commissions; see commission page on website

Some works to date listed below: inquire for details - see contact page on website

Solos for virtuosic players: Trombone (2007), harpsichord (2000), cello (2007), double bass (2004), oboe - many years

Pipe Organ works: “Holy Spirit” (2007): oboe and pipe organ, Celestial Light Ringing: oboe and pipe organ (2006), “Lamentations”: double bass and pipe organ (2005)

String Quartet: double bass, cello, viola, violin “Listening to an Ancient Forest” (2007)

Full Orchestra: “Agigua” (2009), "Now Point" ballet (2010)

Duets: "The Secrets of Ravens" (2010) -set of 7 oboe duets, oboe and double bass (2005), oboe and classical guitar (2001), oboe and pipe organ(2006, 2007), oboe and flute (2002), double bass and pipe organ (2006)

Chamber: “Crossroads”: piano, voice, double bass*(2003, 2004), “Elizabeth’s Lydian Lullaby”: cello, voice, piano, and flute (2000)

Solos for students: piano, oboe, flute –

Books in progress – Oboe Brilliance: solos and duets for oboists day one to virtuosic players, technical elegance exercises, artistic liberation exercises, and essays about mentoring, plus other books such as "The Secrets of Ravens" oboe duets, and "In Adoration of the Earth" a series of oboe soli.

Electronic sound sculptures: hundreds created on my Yamaha Clavinova see Works on website to hear and or purchase

LASTLY:
Worthy of mentioning is my love of poetry which I am being now coached in writing, thank you Diana Manister - who's poetry I am now setting. Of great influence to my music is my relationships with nature, and meditation. Sound, rhythm, communion, communication and silence are significant ingredients to my artistry.

For more information, or to possibly purchase an above work, contact me via contact page. To commission, see commission page, to study, please see home page and fill out questionaire.

Thank you for your time and interest.

Musically yours,
Kathryn

Apr

7

Oboe Brilliance: Lesson 7. Color Play in Long Tones

{ Oboe Brilliance: The high art of wind sculpting lesson 7
Color Play in Long Tones by Kathryn Potter 2009

Lesson # 7 is built upon all of the previous lessons, so once you’ve reasonably practiced and incorporated the previous lessons into your playing, you’re ready for lesson # 7.

Imagine you are listening to a vocalist. If the vocalist is tight, tense, and closed up, the sound may be pinched, nasal, whiney, etc. If the vocalist is open, relaxed, is using diaphragmatic support, and consciously articulating, you might hear a warm rich tone.

The body of an oboist influences the color of the music/sound an oboist makes. Before in a previous lesson, you were encouraged to observe how your body is in relationship to the sound you create. Now it’s time to deliberately experiment!

Continue practicing you long tones – see if you can break your record, or personal best time, “p.b.t.” As you do this, manipulate the muscles in your face as if you were singing a specific vowel sound as you play a long tone – using impeccable technique as previously discussed! You can also imagine that you are opening up areas of your body internally as you play as a way to become more resonant. What do you notice?

Often as I listen to a student play, I may suggest, open up between your shoulder blades, or open up the back of your throat, open up behind the mask, open up the back of your head. Inevitably, the sound will change.

Reed placement is an important factor as well. Keep only the amount of reed in your mouth that you have to have to play and no more. Less is more!

Okay so, play lots of long tones, with dynamic changes, while slurring, and play with the sound colors that you can create. Keep discovering your personal dynamic range, p.b.t., and the palette of colors you can create with your tone.

As always, have fun and love the art of it!