Tag Archives: English autumn

Day 54 – November 23rd – Wet and wintry

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I seemed to get an incredible amount done today, probably because all there was to do was stay indoors and practise! I chatted with my parents and a friend in Australia in the morning, as well as sending in my Hatched application, but still managed all my practice hours before dinner. Had it not been raining, I would definitely have gone for a mid-afternoon walk, but alas this is England in November.

One of the things I haven’t written much about yet is my written project on the history of the flute, due just before Christmas. Essentially, this is part one of two, and we’re supposed to cover both the history of the flute to 1700 and ethnic flutes. The ‘paper’ (I don’t tend to use this word, but oh well) is 30-35 pages long, and we’re allowed to include pictures. Trevor gave us an example of one that he liked from a few years ago to have a look at, and this is where my inner academic kicked in. The example had no references or bibliography, wasn’t really formatted at all and didn’t reference any of the pictures that had clearly been copied from published documents. I was a little surprised that such a piece of writing passed muster, but then I need to remember that Trevor hasn’t been through the university system, and probably doesn’t consider that sort of thing as important as simply learning about the flute’s history. For me, I will write my paper to my own academic standards, partly because it matters to me, partly because it feels natural to write in that way.

As for how it’s coming along – I’ve done all the reading that I probably need to on early, renaissance and Baroque flutes, but still need to do a more research on the ethnic ones. Trevor has an impressive collection of books, and finding resources hasn’t been at all hard. The best selection of resources on ethnic flutes are a set of publications entitled Flûtes du monde, and their being in French means I’ve got them all to myself. I’ve made a start on typing out a first draft, and will easily make Trevor’s 30-page minimum. At the moment, I’m actually feeling that the problem may be keeping it below 35 pages!

I also had another big traverso practice session today, and am getting there with my Telemann Fantasia. The dolce movement is sounding quite presentable, and I’d be happy to play it in class tomorrow if asked. The allegro sounds good at an andante speed, and some of the runs are actually happening quite fluidly. We have our second class on Wednesday rather than Thursday this week, and I’ll definitely be able to play it by then!

Day 39 – November 8th – Bonfire

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Today was an odd one, probably because it’s got to the point where I need a bit of time off from flute practice. My morning sessions went well enough: at the end of two weeks, the Moyse finger exercises are sitting more or less comfortably at crotchet = 122, but I am still having trouble memorising Reichert No. 2 and 4 in all the keys. It doesn’t help that I still seem to get nervous about playing the exercises from memory in class, so feel like I need to find a way of pushing myself further in my practice sessions in order to make it seem easy in front of Trevor. I’ve been doing Taffanel & Gaubert No. 4 with the metronome at quite high speeds to try and achieve this.

By the afternoon, though, I was really ready for a break. I made some suggestions of a board game to Roya and Chin Ting, but neither were interested, so I took myself off on a walk down a road I hadn’t explored yet. It took me out East past several farms and many autumnal fields. It was blustery, and has got to that stage of English autumn where everything is perpetually damp. Other than a pig with very long, fluffy ears and a fields of skittish sheep, I didn’t meet a soul. It was a good walk though, there’s something delicious about the feeling of not knowing where I am, of almost being lost and not knowing what I’ll find.

In the evening, we all went to join the village bonfire night in a nearby field. The wind whipped the bonfire into great plumes of smoke and flames, showering the field with embers. Back in Australia, the whole thing would have screamed bushfire hazard, but here everything is way too soggy for any problems. I was actually rather impressed the bonfire stayed alight! The firework display was great, quite a bit bigger than I’d expected in a little village.

Being a family event, though, all was done by 7:30, and I was back in time for the Dr Who finale. Hopefully inspiration is flowing again by tomorrow.

Day 22 – October 22nd – Flapjack!

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Flapjack with glacé ginger!

Flapjack with glacé ginger!

It would appear that the worst of the Hurricane winds are past, and I managed to go for a nice but rather cold run this morning. At 7am it was 7 degrees and still rather dark – I’m looking forward to the clocks changing this weekend so as to keep my schedule going for a little bit longer at least! When it did happen, the sunrise was beautiful: long swathes of pink and orange woven through light blue, all hazy and a little surreal. Still not quite cold enough for frost, but I’m sure it will come.

I noticed a distinct improvement in playing the Reichert exercises from memory today. Still not perfect, but I getting somewhere. I got all the way round the circle of 5ths playing a Taffanel and Gaubert-style one-octave scale, followed by a short version of the Reichert No. 2 (first bar and a half). Then I managed to play through quite a few keys in both Reichert Nos. 2 and 4 without peeking at the music.

Following on from my scales yesterday, I now have a list of tempos that everything sounds good at, so that I can gradually push them faster. For each set, I’m starting from B and working up by semitones (rather than round the circle of 5ths), the range is low B to top D, and I’m using the long fingering for Bb.

– Majors followed by broken chord: crotchet = 96

– Minors (melodic and harmonic) followed by broken chord: crotchet = 76

In practice, the harmonics can go quite a bit quicker, but I’m really focusing on trying to get the melodics at a better speed!

– Arpeggios: crotchet = 96

– Dominant and diminished 7ths: crotchet = 84

– Augmented and diminished arpeggios: crotchet = 84

– Whole tone scales: crotchet = 88

That’s all Trevor has asked for so far, though I’m sure that scales in thirds, fourths and fifths are next round the corner.

We’re all heading over to Trevor and Dot’s for a fish-themed dinner tonight. Though we are under strict instructions not to bring anything, I thought it would be nice to say thank you in some way, and so made some flapjack that I’ll take for class morning tea tomorrow. I used this recipe with glacé ginger to give it a little bit of spice. All went well, though I should probably have left them to cool a little longer in the baking tray before trying to lift them out, as a couple of corners crumbled. They still taste good though!

Day 8 – October 8th – A week in!

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A day with nothing to do but practise, and this was even enforced by the rainy (alternating drizzly with absolutely hosing it down) weather. In the morning we still had no working heating, and I was really struggling to keep my hands warm enough to practise. As well as my almost-constant cups of tea, I was doing start jumps every 15 minutes to try and get my circulation going a bit better. However, around lunchtime Andy (our landlord) came to sort out our problem with the heating, and now we have functional radiators!

As the days progress, I’m becoming increasingly aware of the amount of music and the number of exercises that Trevor wants us to get under our fingers. Each week in class we need to present an Andersen Study, a Moyse Study (from 24 Little Melodic Studies), a repertoire piece and an orchestral excerpt. Not enormous on its own, but in addition to all the exercises that we’re expected to have from memory in the not-too-distant future, it’s quite a lot to fit into each day’s practice.

I guess in some ways the question of how to deal with it all boils down to risk minimisation. I want to memorise all the exercises, but I also don’t want to make a fool of myself playing them in class tomorrow or next week either. So just going for memory at the expense of quicker learning from the book isn’t an option. On the other hand, I also don’t want to make a fool of myself if and when Trevor does take the book away! So I need a practice plan that allow for both, and makes the best use of my time each day.

Here, for the moment, is what I’m doing:

– Trying to spend a little time on each and every exercise on the list

– Starting at a different point (aka in a different key) each day

– For the key I start with, I try to play from memory, and so spend a bit more time on it.

– If that key is moderately successful, I keep on with the memory work for a few more keys.

– Then I play a few more keys with the music (but trying not to look too much) and at a faster speed, trying to get in the finger work-out part of the day as well.

My plan means that I’m not getting through every key with every exercise, though all the keys are covered by the end of my practice, often a couple of times. Hopefully (and my fingers are still crossed) this will mean that everything gradually settles itself into my long-term memory, and that my fingers will get more agile along the way.

Now on my fifth cup of tea (herbal only though) for the day!