Author Archives: njohnson

Day 159 – March 8th – Hiking

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Beautiful cliffs, though still a little way away from Dover.

Beautiful cliffs, though still a little way away from Dover.

I’ve arrived at the end of today feeling utterly exhausted in a different (and much better) way! My friend Sherlock was down in Kent for the weekend, and I took (another) day off to go hiking with him. We walked from Folkstone to Dover and back, about thirteen miles all up, and it was lovely. The weather couldn’t have been better – springtime sunshine, though with quite a bit of wind. I even had to dig around in my cupboard to find my sunglasses, which haven’t seen any action since September.

Our trail was part of the North Downs Way, a long hiking track spanning miles of Kentish countryside. We walked along the coast, mostly perched up high on the cliffs with a blustery view over the Channel. The paths were well-kept but not always well-signposted, and we often had to backtrack walking through little villages. On the way out, we descended from the cliffs to the ‘Warren’ of paths closer to the sea. It was nice to be out of the wind, but I’d rather been hoping for a warren of caves!

Almost there!

Almost there!

I arrived home with big plans of doing some work on my flute history project tonight, but haven’t got very far and think it might be as well to go to bed and try again in the morning. No class tomorrow, as the others are up in London for a concert and will get back very late. I still have a day’s grace before studies on Tuesday.

Day 158 – March 7th – Fatigue

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It’s only 8pm, but once again I’m feeling exhausted and this won’t be a terribly long post. I’ve been spending a lot of time over the last few days weighing up some things about the next step I take on my musical journey, and the process isn’t easy. I feel like it’s taking up a lot of mental energy, energy which I should probably still be spending on the flute. But decisions need to happen some time, and better sooner with less stress than rushed right at the last minute. 

I did get in some good practice today, especially on technical work. As I was tired, I noticed I was playing semiquavers unevenly in some of the scales and technical exercises. I haven’t done this for a while, and think it’s probably to do with being tired. However, I think the difference now is that I notice it quickly, and once I’ve noticed I can revert back to nice even playing quite easily. 

No class until Tuesday this week, which means I have another (very welcome) day to work on studies. 

Day 157 – March 6th – Piccolo and the Pub

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Another busy day and so another short post. This morning I was off bright and early to London to attend Peter Verhoyen’s piccolo masterclass at the Royal Academy of Music. It was great to watch, and I really felt like I learned a lot, especially about how to conceptualise piccolo differently to flute. The class finished at 1pm, and so I went for a wander down to Oxford St – more for a change of scenery than for any desire to go shopping! 

My friend Sherlock is down in Kent this weekend, and met me at Wye station. We had a walk in Wye nature reserve (chilly, but the view was worth it) before heading to the Three Bells Pub in Brabourne for dinner. All in all both a lovely and insightful day. There’s lots to practice tomorrow though! 

Day 156 – March 5th – Lambs

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Lambing has started at Elmsted Court Farm! This evening, we all went out to the barn behind our dairy, and there were already several new arrivals. The lambs ranged from active and bouncy to sleepy little bundles who looked a bit bemused by their new world. Andy was amazingly calm and jovial, telling us all about the process and answering my reams of questions. We saw two ewes give birth, immediately setting to work to clean up their offspring. The lambs are amazing – often up and on their feet in a matter of minutes, and with voices to match. The barn was full of bleating, though mostly the sheep getting excited about the thought of food. Once the lambs are born, Andy puts them and their mother into a private pen for a bit so they can spend time together, and so the ewes seemed quite relaxed. I’ll definitely be back for a visit soon!

We had another chamber music rehearsal this evening, and things are starting to sound quite good. As I said the other day, our ensemble intonation has improved a lot , but we still need to work on settling into a tempo straight away and then maintaining it through the entire piece. We’ve been making sure that there is a lot of dynamic contrast to make the music really exciting…hopefully Trevor approves.

I promise a proper reflection on Julie’s class in the coming days, but for now need to head for bed. I’m off to London tomorrow to hear a piccolo masterclass, and will need to be up early.