Michael Lisicky: Oboist, Author, and Historian

Michael Lisicky is second oboist with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. He is also an author and historian and has written five books on the histories of downtown urban department stores. (Visit here or here to purchase.) He has been sought out by CBS Sunday Morning, Bloomberg, Fortune, and other leading news sources as an expert on this field.

Greetings from the Inn at Bethlehem

Ok, not quite: Greetings from the Comfort Suites in Bethlehem, PA. I'm up here with The Bach Choir of Bethlehem for two days of our "Bach to School" educational programs for middle schoolers in the Lehigh Valley.

How I Spent My Summer Vacation...er, rather, My Week

Dearest Readers,

I told you before that my oboe career is very unpredictable. Some weeks my life is more oboe-centric than others and last week was one of them. Three different concert programs in three very different environments, plus three days at Curtis (I took two vacation days for some of the playing jobs) and another event for the Curtis Crescendo Club. And an interview with Jon Fink for an upcoming post. And...and...zzz  #longweek  #collapse

I will work backwards, saving the best for last:

#MajorAnnouncement

A few weeks ago, I was overjoyed to see an email that, at first glance, appeared to be from one of my favorite writers, Dan Savage. "He's FINALLY answered me after all these years?" I thought.

I opened the email and realized that it was from DYLAN Savage -- not Dan Savage -- pianist and Professor of Music at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte.

Dr. Savage is working on a book (title TBD) about the "transference of skills learned through music to other disciplines." The book will feature a section of first-person essays, and he has asked me to contribute a piece! 

Results of the Poll

Thank you to everyone who participated in my first reader poll: "How do you keep track of your schedule?"

Although certainly not scientific --21 votes received -- I actually find the results very interesting!

• Google Calendar was the winner with 52% of the vote.

Coming Attractions!

Exciting new content is in the works! I have interviewed composer Joseph Hallman, a remarkable person you will learn a lot from, so please stay tuned. All of the interviews are giving me more insight into my own journey so I'll be writing more articles about that, too.

The interviews do take quite a bit of time to put together: scheduling, the actual interview, transcribing, and then lots of editing to make sure they're perfect and that the interviewees are comfortable with them because it's pretty personal stuff we're talking about. 

What's My Motivation Again?

I’ve chosen today’s topic based on a reader comment. (Yes, I do take your feedback into consideration -- please keep it coming.)

This non-oboist reader said: “I don't know how you manage to have a full-time day job with the reeds. I would stab myself with the knife (intentionally) after about 3 weeks, let alone if I had to do it with something else full-time.”

Christina Schmidt, oboist and children's librarian, Allentown, PA

As mentioned in a previous post, Chris's story is incredible and without her, this entire project never would have happened! I can't thank her enough for participating in the project and for being an awesome and patient editor. 

What I find most interesting is that Chris actually took ten years off from playing the oboe, then took it up again and went on to do so many amazing things -- not only with music, but as a children's librarian and raising a family. She is a true inspiration to all!

Oboist Christina Schmidt of Allentown, PA, recently retired from a professional career spanning more than four decades, including many years with the Bach Choir of Bethlehem, Lehigh Valley Chamber Orchestra, and the Pennsylvania Sinfonia Orchestra. Chris earned a BA in English at the University of Rochester, where she studied with Robert Sprenkle at the Eastman School. Throughout much of her performing career, Chris also worked as a librarian, earning a Master of Library Science degree at Kutztown University and heading the children's departments at Parkland Community Library and Allentown Public Library.

Let’s talk mostly about the time period when you were doing both jobs -- so, oboe and the librarian job.

How it Started, Part Two: Maybe I AM the only oboist trying to do this!

The IDRS responded favorably to my concept. The Double Reed’s oboe editor Dan Stolper said of my pitch: “Your plan for interviews with professional double reed players who hold jobs outside of performance or teaching sounds fascinating, and I will be happy to help you bring it to fruition in an article, or a series of articles.”

Jacob Smith and I met for our first interview in August 2011. I left our meeting feeling even more amazed by all he manages to do, but not as encouraged as I’d hoped. Bassoon reeds, I learned, are very different from oboe reeds. As in, they last a lot longer. Jacob told me he makes reeds once a year; and he is not the only bassoonist I spoke with who does this!

How it Started, Part One: "If he can do it, why can't I?"

Let’s go back in time to summer 2010, when this project began. I was sitting alone in my apartment, staring at my reed desk, trying to will myself to practice. And I couldn’t! I could not move out of bed. I had no energy or desire left.

I’d been working for ten years, starting at a restaurant the week after my fifteenth birthday. No music festivals for this lady; summer jobs instead. Three simultaneous part-time jobs for most of graduate school; then for my last semester, I went to grad school part-time and worked full-time in the office for the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia. Plus oboe jobs and auditions.

By summer 2010, I was ready to retire!

Welcome to Recovering Oboist!

The launch of this blog coincides with the publication of my first article, "Cut Time," seen in the Summer 2012 issue of The Double Reed, the quarterly journal of the International Double Reed Society (IDRS). IDRS members can access the article for free online; I'm working on getting a scan to post here. Most music schools subscribe to The Double Reed; if you find yourself in a college music library, you can read it there, too.

This blog, like the article, will feature interviews with professional musicians who have full-time day jobs outside of music. I will start by telling you more about myself and why I started this project. Then I'll post complete interviews from the IDRS article, because I had to condense them for publication. Then I'll begin posting new interviews branching out from the oboe and bassoon world. I hope to meet some of you here, so please introduce yourself in the comments.

I'm one of you: fund-raiser by day, musician by night....sometimes vice-versa if we have a gala and I'm playing a matinee. Work-life balance and the motivation for pursuing "a double life," as I often refer to it, is of great interest to me. The good news is, we're not alone. A lot of musicians make this work, and pursue two -- or more! -- careers at very high levels. I will showcase their stories and hope to inspire those of us for whom this is a reality. It's not an easy life, but it is possible and can be very rewarding. 

Thanks for reading!