Author Archives: flutietoot

Day 73 – December 12th – Whist

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Another late night and with it no desire to write a long post! We’re just back from the monthly whist drive, which was good fun. I didn’t do as well as last time (back in October), but did manage to come away with a packet of Sainsbury’s Turkish Delight Thins for getting the highest score in the first half of the evening. More importantly, though, I had a lovely time chatting with some of the other villagers, and supper there was a lovely treat!

The rest of the day wasn’t terribly productive – I did a few hours practice in the morning, though it felt like I was just showing myself how much work I have to do rather than really achieving much. One of my Altès studies for this week is all slurred octaves, and I need to remember not to cut the second note of the slur but to make it softer. Easy in theory, but whole strings of them at speed is rather doing my head in! In the afternoon we had a rehearsal for Tuesday’s concert, though I think it’s got to the point where everyone is mentally a sick of the repertoire. Hopefully our excitement will reignite in time for the concert itself.

Tomorrow we’re off bright and early to London – there’s a coach going from the village and it means we get a day there for £10 return. I’m looking forward to it; catching up with friends, Christmas shopping, hopefully some time for the National Gallery. I think it’ll be good for everyone to let off some steam.

Then hopefully I’ll find a bit of time to write about the Rachel Brown masterclass!

Day 72 – December 11th – Rachel Brown

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I’ve been avoiding writing this entry for a few hours now, so think it’s probably better to save reflections on the day until I’ve had some sleep! The masterclass with Rachel Brown went surprisingly well, and I felt like I learned a lot and ended up playing quite well. She really is a fantastic musician, and I really hope Trevor might be able to get her back down some time.

Night

Day 71 – December 10th – Bach and bunnies

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After my relatively slim practice yesterday I had a really productive day today. Though none of the warm-up exercises were exactly easy, that was because I was trying to push myself and play things that I couldn’t do rather than those I could. I’ve been practising Reichert No. 2 with either the first or second set of semiquavers in each bar at double speed, in the hope of convincing my fingers and brain that I know it and not to worry so much. So far it seems to be working, at least in the practice room.

I chatted with my little sister this morning and was introduced to her two gorgeous new rabbits – Rory and Danny. It rather makes me miss Horace from the weekend before last!

Tomorrow we have a masterclass with Rachel Brown, who is a flute and traverso player well-known in particular for her performance of Baroque works. I’m playing the C.P.E. Bach (originally thought to be J.S.) Sonata in Eb major. It’s been an interesting piece to prepare in that the notes themselves aren’t that hard but I still don’t feel terribly comfortable leaping into Baroque music from a stylistic point of view. Hopefully I’ve done a good job with this one – it’s really a trio sonata as the right hand part of the harpsichord is very important, and I’ve really tried to think of the way the flute fits into the ensemble.

Out walk tonight was cold and blustery, but I couldn’t take my eyes off the moon. A few nights past full, it sat fat and low in the sky with waxy, yellow glow. It felt like the setting for some Gothic novel!

Day 70 – December 9th – ArtStart

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This morning we woke up to the first really stunning frost of the winter, covering everything in a glistening sheet of white that twinkled in the low morning sun as we drove to Tesco. I should have gone out earlier and had a walk around before it all melted!

I ended up getting very little practice done today, partly because I’ve been feeling exhausted (last night’s class and rehearsals were long), and partly because I felt the need to finish off my history paper and given myself some proofreading time. Though the paper is not quite finished, it is just about there. I’ve written about panpipes, nose flutes, ney, shakuhachi, dizi, pipe and tabor, and what feels like a million other varieties as well as Renaissance and Baroque transverse flutes. I’m beginning to feel quite pleased with it, but am now ready for a bit of relaxation and an early night!

Once the paper is finished, I need to turn my attention to the next big project. I found out a few weeks ago that I got an ArtStart grant from the Australian Council for the Arts for 2015, which I’m incredibly excited about. The grant is given to young artists (creative and performing arts disciplines) to ‘develop a sustainable artistic practice’, and it means that I’ll be able to do some extra skills development activities, develop a professional portfoilo and buy some things like wireless head mics that will be useful in future creative projects. While I submitted a detailed budget and plan for the project with the initial application, the list of things I need to do to realise it is quite incredible. Receiving the grant is, however, a really welcome encouragement that others see the potential of my music-making and are willing to help me achieve some of my goals!

Day 69 – December 8th – Phrasing and rhythm

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I had been steeling myself for another day of not being able to do anything right in class today, but things ended up going surprisingly well. My goal was to always play with the biggest dynamic range I could possibly muster, but otherwise to not think too much about rules and just enjoy the music. The results were:

Moyse #16: C#s are too sharp, then a couple of picky comments about phrasing when I did sections of it again. The variation wasn’t quite so good, added the high C#s was a need to bring out the first not more clearly.

Moyse #17: Started too fast, and so had the pleasure of repeating strings of chromatics for the class for five minutes. Then played it fine, and Trevor conceded that I’d just started too fast.

Moyse #18: Yes, I ended up playing three… I need to work on staccato low notes, which wasn’t news to me at all. Double tonguing needs to be louder.

Andersen #8: Good, I just need to play staccatos shorter. This was my big win for the day – I had really put a lot of time and thought into the phrasing, dynamics and make sure I didn’t clip phrases. Yay for improvement!

Altes #9: Some parts nicely phrased and expressive, others a bit flat. Yes…those bits were where there were lots of notes!

Moyse 50 Variations on Bach A minor #2: “Perfect” when I played it a little under tempo (yay!) but then when I upped the speed a little I wasn’t playing my semiquavers totally evenly.

Jazz Study #1: I don’t remember the composer of these, and my photocopy doesn’t have the name. I ended up making a bit of a pig’s ear of this, as I didn’t realise there was a backing track, and so hadn’t quite practised it fast enough. Trevor didn’t comment on my rhythm here, but I need to hold notes longer before glissandos, and make sure to observe staccatos.

Later this evening Trevor sent me an email about other things, but finished off with this comment:

“I thought the phrasing of your studies was better, and it improves each week.
Just fix the rhythms and it will sound much nicer.”

Righteo!