tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-12580816327709340552024-03-12T19:08:14.224-07:00Roger Bobo's blogRoger Bobohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16362215160366262594noreply@blogger.comBlogger173125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1258081632770934055.post-80123788513267378552022-02-24T15:14:00.001-08:002022-02-24T18:50:26.023-08:00Comparisons
In the mid 20th Century there were two violinists thought by many to be the best in the world, American, Jasha Haifitz and Soviet, David Oistrakh, the reasons for these opinions as who was best were prevalent, diverse, strong, and impassioned. The first points of openion were some of national favoritism, Hatfitz was American and Oistrakh was Russian plus this mid 20th century Roger Bobohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16362215160366262594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1258081632770934055.post-79069214197064829682022-01-21T11:08:00.002-08:002022-01-21T11:09:41.456-08:00 SATURDAY, MAY 14, 2011The Heifetz SyndromeIt’s difficult to admit the mistakes one has made or even worse, mistakes that were made repeatedly. I’ve made a few but in the case of this article I’ll limit my words to what I call the “Heifetz Syndrome”; thank God we learn with time, the greatest teacher of all!Joshua Heifetz is the name of perhaps the most famous violinist of all time, who, in Roger Bobohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16362215160366262594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1258081632770934055.post-7143687719073556822022-01-12T15:08:00.002-08:002022-01-16T07:32:04.739-08:00Codas
Corona virus, with it’s accompanying postponements, cancellations, quarantines and isolation requirements, has not only left us with the frustrations caused by the necessary disruptions of our regular lives, but hidden in all the inconveniences it has left us with an unplanned plentiful gift of free time and the possibility of using that free time in positive and creative ways. Roger Bobohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16362215160366262594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1258081632770934055.post-90079566162406442842021-12-27T13:11:00.003-08:002021-12-27T13:11:45.279-08:00 Lateness
There are scary videos available where one can hear Maestro Aturo Tosconini screaming at the orchestra, frequently that rage was directed at the contrabasses and the the low brass about their chronic lateness. Many of the musicians to whom that rage was directed rationalized that the reason for the lateness was that those instruments that were the most distant from the Roger Bobohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16362215160366262594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1258081632770934055.post-26885359464683767412021-12-02T12:45:00.003-08:002022-01-12T16:43:58.833-08:00 SOMETHING HAS TO BE SAIDOne month ago I experienced a small health set back; it was a very mild stroke, of course, it has to be taken seriously but I want to emphasize the prognoses is very positive and improvement has been visible little by little every day.The saddest part of this set back is that it came half way through a tour of Roger Bobohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16362215160366262594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1258081632770934055.post-57090048125421276112021-09-28T10:04:00.000-07:002021-09-28T10:04:46.376-07:00
Monsters
September 2021
Late last night, while exploring the the long lost dark corners of my computer, I found this essay I had written in circa 1995. Perhaps it might be interesting or at least entertaining today.
Are we the way we are because of the instrument we chose or did we choose our instrument because of the way we are?
So frequently the tuba plays the role ofRoger Bobohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16362215160366262594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1258081632770934055.post-78998279964508004132021-08-27T10:56:00.001-07:002021-08-27T10:56:59.097-07:00 Balance
It was 1952, the New York Philharmonic was in Los Angeles for concerts and I was solo driving my fathers 1952 Chevrolet to the Wilshire Hilton Hotel to take my first lesson with my hero William Bell. I remember that lesson, he taught me take short sniffs through my nose so I could play through a long passage of fast notes without distorting the rhythm when I took a breath; it Roger Bobohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16362215160366262594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1258081632770934055.post-25593729090739838992021-04-30T10:58:00.000-07:002021-04-30T10:58:27.160-07:00Roger Bobohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16362215160366262594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1258081632770934055.post-38117773084158443402021-04-29T14:07:00.002-07:002021-05-01T10:07:05.466-07:00Tubas in G and DIn 1955, while returning home from 8 weeks in Interlochen, the National Music camp in Michigan, I had made arrangements to stop in Chicago and meet Arnold Jacobs. I had an eight hour layover between the train from Travis City to Chicago and the train from Chicago to Los Angeles; even 66 years ago Arnold Jacobs held the reputation of being the center of knowledge and wisdom ofRoger Bobohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16362215160366262594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1258081632770934055.post-12780177349039316162021-03-25T11:34:00.000-07:002021-03-25T11:34:54.340-07:00 Specters ReunionIt seems my most successful essays for TubaNews are the ones that have dealt more with specific aspects of our instrumental function rather than broader thoughts regarding the world of music. I hope I can write about both.For issue 3 of TubaNews (A Tuba Magazine of 20 years ago) I wrote the essay, "Specters", about some of the interesting people, those who would follow Roger Bobohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16362215160366262594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1258081632770934055.post-34630674496692563772021-03-23T15:15:00.000-07:002021-03-23T15:15:08.716-07:00SpectersSpectersIn In the places and in the ensembles where I’ve lived and played, there seemed to always be a number of followers, people that were just there, day to day and year to year. It didn’t seem to be important where or what the ensemble was; it was almost as though it was the same people, whether it was Rochester in the 50s, Amsterdam in the 60s, Los Angeles in the late 60s, 70s and 80s or Roger Bobohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16362215160366262594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1258081632770934055.post-124992937567037172021-02-18T18:13:00.002-08:002021-02-18T18:48:38.994-08:00Time and PerceptionOnce, a long time ago (maybe it was 1946) a new 1st trombone player joined an orchestra far away; he was by far the best brass player in the orchestra. The other players in the orchestra were what we call now "old school," and it clearly stayed "old school" for many years after the new 1st trombonist arrived; the horns were primitive, the trumpets were symphonically ignorant and the trombones andRoger Bobohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16362215160366262594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1258081632770934055.post-59563810016713161652021-01-10T12:46:00.001-08:002021-01-10T13:02:47.900-08:00This blog was actually written twenty years ago in Lausanne, Switzerland at the time when I had just started to learn how to write. I hope now, twenty years later and at a time when democracy is on everyone's mind, it will be an interesting read.RB Is Music a Democracy? Frequently, while giving masterclasses, I will ask students to play a passage several different ways and then ask the Roger Bobohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16362215160366262594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1258081632770934055.post-69283194406344996202020-12-29T09:38:00.001-08:002020-12-29T09:38:23.980-08:00 Low Register Beauty All tubists are looking for ways to improve the low register and there are several low register methods available for that purpose. Some are very good, none are bad, but I would like to suggest that perhaps the very best method available has been available for a very long time. First, let’s review a couple of the very unique idiosyncrasies of low registerRoger Bobohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16362215160366262594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1258081632770934055.post-34266409337049518982020-12-22T13:05:00.004-08:002021-01-10T14:09:21.048-08:00 The Horn LessonSometimes time-proven solutions are not sufficient to resolve a problem; if, after trying everything with no positive result, it’s time to take a new direction.During the end of the 1990s, it was 1997, I had such a student; the logical course of thinking might have been, “this is a hopeless situation”, but I couldn’t accept this prognoses.This exceptional girl was a huge Roger Bobohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16362215160366262594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1258081632770934055.post-3835741248516833692020-12-14T12:06:00.005-08:002020-12-14T14:13:13.576-08:00 Christmas Carols, Cold andCrystallized 1959The four students who couldn’t get home for Christmas from the Eastman School of Music because of time, distance and money, were nostalgic and lonely; three of us had never been away from home at Christmas before. We were brass players; more specifically we were trombone players. We were bonded by the fact that we were all trombonists and, Roger Bobohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16362215160366262594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1258081632770934055.post-16924982941277026892020-11-17T10:20:00.003-08:002020-11-18T10:55:49.378-08:00Our Sophisticated Scream In the mid 1960s my friend Tommy Johnson lent me a number of the components for playing electric tuba. The possibilities with the sounds and effects that were available seemed endless. And I could play loud, it was unbelievable how loud I could play; while using only enough air and energy for a very conservative mezzo forte, I was able to play many times louder than Roger Bobohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16362215160366262594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1258081632770934055.post-72868152213896846852020-11-12T14:00:00.002-08:002020-11-12T14:12:53.549-08:00Sonic GenesisIn Japan a fiscal year starts in April; that includes schools, which started April 1 this year. It takes a little getting used to, having spent my whole life counting down for first semesters starting in September. Two days ago I attended the entrance ceremony, (in western schools it’s called a convocation) for the new students.The ceremony was held in the beautiful Bach Saal, the concert hall onRoger Bobohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16362215160366262594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1258081632770934055.post-74055930977742891642020-11-04T14:43:00.005-08:002020-11-04T16:01:34.564-08:00Roger Bobohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16362215160366262594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1258081632770934055.post-16353399991087279312020-10-23T15:51:00.002-07:002020-10-23T16:07:33.215-07:00 StudentsGrandstudentsandGreat-grandstudents When looking back on my musical career and my connection with the tuba, the most gratifying and fulfilling aspect of my 70 years in the tuba Roger Bobohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16362215160366262594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1258081632770934055.post-31390560274760891972020-09-25T11:46:00.010-07:002020-09-25T18:10:22.476-07:00Friction Some people call it edge; some sizzle, and some just call it energy. Many think it’s a bad thing, especially when it’s referred to as ‘edge’ and sometimes that may be correct, but this timbre, with its many names, is an essential enhancement to any brass player’s sonic palette. In seeking one appropriate word that describes this special timbre I have chosen“Friction”; technically Roger Bobohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16362215160366262594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1258081632770934055.post-64873121895059664932020-07-01T13:25:00.000-07:002020-07-09T23:16:00.021-07:00
Teaching and Travel:
My Passions
Since 1989, when I resigned from the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra, I have been extremely fortunate to reside in Italy, Netherlands, Switzerland, Japan and Mexico. And from those locations as my centers I have literally been privileged to teach all over the world.
I was very happy with that situation until the arrival of COVID-19. Now, for the foreseeableRoger Bobohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16362215160366262594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1258081632770934055.post-39937734952691043862020-06-07T13:21:00.000-07:002020-07-03T11:31:33.331-07:00
Tubists Online
A good friend of mine, while we were having an intercontinental online chat, asked me, “Why are there so many tubists playing online?”
Reviewing the online activities of the amazing number of unemployed musicians, who have discovered the Internet post COVID19, is almost the only outlet where there is a possibility to perform. Both My friend and I had noticed that there seemed toRoger Bobohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16362215160366262594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1258081632770934055.post-88180844857629178872020-05-17T10:02:00.001-07:002020-05-17T10:02:58.369-07:00100 Amazing Tuba and Euphonium All-Stars From Around The World: Elgar’s ...Roger Bobohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16362215160366262594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1258081632770934055.post-58006388866373370712020-04-16T17:46:00.000-07:002020-04-18T10:55:18.271-07:00
Legacy of a classic Contrabasstrombone
It was spring break in the late 1950s, specifically 1958. As in every spring break, we stuffed 4 of my fellow Eastman School of Music classmates plus a couple of tubas in my 52 Chevy 2 door, and started the early Saturday morning six-hour drive from Rochester to New York City.
I was scheduled at 8:00am on Sunday morning to have a lesson with my hero, theRoger Bobohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16362215160366262594noreply@blogger.com