Category Archives: Wye the flute?

Day 171 – March 20th – Eclipse

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Back to class today, and while warm-ups went well, studies weren’t great. The problem wasn’t as much my lack of practice as that I got nervous about it and about being up in front of Trevor again. Rather than addressing the problem of the nerves, he did the usual and just continued to push. While I was ‘passes’ on Andersen no. 17 and three more Drouet studies, Trevor still isn’t happy with the trills in Altès no. 25, and I have to keep working on it for another class. 

There was a solar eclipse over England today, though it ended up being too cloudy to see anything at all from where we were. We all piled into Trevor and Dot’s living room for a bit to watch it on TV, which for me was actually the best part of today’s class! 

This evening, four of us watched an old film of Marcel Moyse teaching and talking about his life. It was fascinating – he seems to have been such a lively old man who was excited about life and music. 

Day 170 – March 19th – Half-cooked

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Today we were all back to practice, having been a bit here and there in the past few days. Class tomorrow is going to be orchestral excerpts and studies, and I’m rather hoping that I’ll play quite a few of the former and very few of the latter.

I’ve rather shot myself in the foot with studies because I haven’t been terribly consistent practising them over the past few days. I’ll do some good work one day, then leave them and do other things like writing my paper and sorting out things after the course the next. So I have quite a lot of studies that are half-cooked and just about nothing that is going to sound really polished in class. Good lesson – don’t bite of a lot unless I plan to chew it properly!

A part of me wishes that our time here had ended after yesterday and the school concert. It would have been good to go out on such a positive note, and to remind ourselves of the greater purpose of music to communicate to audiences. I’m struggling to stay in the mindset of life here, and am certainly ready for my upcoming holiday!

Day 169 – March 18th – Kids Concert

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It has been an odd day, mostly because it seems so odd being here and doing anything even vaguely removed from routine! This morning, I had a Skype interview for some volunteer work in London once the course is over. So….from mid-April I’ll be working as a fundraising volunteer with the Garden of Ideas project for three months! I’ll be busy, but am looking forward to having more of a balance in my life and to flute being part of a bigger whole again.

This afternoon, we all walked over to Bodsham Primary School to give the students a little concert and talk on the flute. It’s a lovely school, with only about eighty students. We played four pieces arranged by Trevor, and then talked about the way the flute works, and showed the children some different examples of the flute family. Trevor has some good tricks for this sort of concert, including a bicycle pump flute (like a big melody pop), a paper-covered headjoint so that we could chop bits off the end and raise the pitch, and of course a whole myriad of different world flutes.

The kids seemed to enjoy it, and I certainly did. It was really nice to perform outside of class again, and the task of explaining to little ones was refreshing. It’s a reminder that not everything in music is about fast technique!

Looks like we have class on Friday, so tomorrow it’s back to the studies.

Day 168 – March 17th – Looking ahead

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Still with no flute lessons in sight, today became a day of sorting out bits and pieces, looking ahead and a spot of baking. In the morning, Paul was kind enough to take us on the penultimate Tesco trip, though without the regular composer quiz! Trevor being unwell is always a reminder of just how isolated we are here. While a walk to the shop in Wye would have been possible, we couldn’t have carried everything back, and the next option was Tesco online.

In the spirit of using up things in the cupboard (and because I felt like doing something different) I attempted to make bread this afternoon. I left the dough to prove while walking to Trevor’s to collect some extra flutes for tomorrow’s concert. I’m not sure whether it was because of this long proving time, or because of the size of the loaf, but it was still a bit doughy on the inside despite being perfect on the outside. Most important thing, though: I had great fun!

For the rest of the day, I spent some time thinking about everything that’s coming after my time here. First off, I’m off on holiday to France with my mum, which I’m looking forward to immensely. Then I’m visiting my grandparents in Grimsby for a few days, and then l’ll be boarding in Surrey (close to Hampton Court) for a few months. Plus, after being unsuccessful with my Bang on a Can application, I need to re-think some of my ArtStart plans for the summer, and also start thinking about when and how I’m heading back to Australia in July/August. All need work, and I’ve sometimes forgotten to stay on top of it all when there’s always another study round the corner. So I’ve been sending emails, clearing my inbox, making some lists. Hopefully all adding up to me being a little more organised.

Looking forward to our Bodsham Primary concert tomorrow. Complete with the extended flute family, some fun pieces and a bike pump, hopefully we’ll inspire the kids to get into some music!

Day 167 – March 16th – Tricky bits

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No class again today, as Trevor’s cold doesn’t seem to be getting any better. This afternoon we had another rehearsal for our concert and talk at Bodsham Primary School on Wednesday. The pieces are sounding quite good, though without the feedback of Trevor’s rather critical ear they’re not quite as polished as the Christmas concert ones were. For talk, we’re showing a little of how the flute works and then introducing the modern flute family as well as some more distant relatives. It should be good fun, and I hope the kids will enjoy it.

As we’re not sure what’s happening with classes, I’m in a sense of limbo with what to practice. This morning I did a good long session of technique, changing from the Practice Book 6 exercises to Moyse’s 480 Daily Exercises. I also finally got all the way round the circle of fifths for Taffanel and Gaubert-style scales with descending mordants in one sitting. It wasn’t amazing, but is certainly getting there. I’m finding a particular set of notes in the third octave tricky: G – A – G – F – Eb – F – Eb – D. The mordants happen on the G and Eb, and both use trill fingerings that don’t sit well under the fingers. For G – A, it’s left hand first finger and the first trill key, and for Eb – F it’s both second and third fingers of the left hand. For whatever reason that combination doesn’t sit well under my fingers at all!

In the afternoon I decided to focus on studies. While I spent some really productive time on Andersen and Drouet, I was probably a bit too tired by the time I got to the Altes. Oh well, with no classes in sight until at least Thursday there’s still time.