Tag Archives: traverso

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 53 – November 22nd – Bigger picture

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Today I achieved a somewhat strange feeling of contentment. It struck me that I’ve been spending quite a bit of time in recent weeks frustrated with this or that element of the course (isolation, Trevor being overbearing, social tensions). However, all the musical friends I’ve chatted with via Skype or email all express their jealousy that I’ve got this time here to just focus on flute and not worry about all the other things that life throws at us. Though everyone seemed to be keeping to themselves for the day, I embraced all the time I had, got a lot done, and throughly enjoyed it!

I noticed a small improvement on the Reichert from yesterday, and tried to take pleasure in it rather than dwelling overly much on what still needs work. A friend suggested I try some flute-free visualisation with the exercises, so I spent a bit of time on that as well.

In the afternoon, I spent some time comparing a cylindrical and conical bore piccolo (from the list of instruments we have to borrow out), as well as learning the Fantasia No. 6 in D minor by Telemann on traverso. The slow movement is coming along quite well, though I’m still not totally on top of notes like Bb, C and G# in both octaves. The D natural is very sharp on this instrument, and I’m having to adjust a lot of notes to get them in tune. As for the fast movement…I’ll get there! It’s great fun playing the traverso though, and I’m already wondering how I might be able to get my hands on one in the future.

I also spent a few hours finishing off an application for Sydney-based Ensemble Offspring’s 2015 ‘Hatched’ program – a year-long mentorship for composers and performers interested in new music. I have no idea whether I’ll get in, but am trying to use this time to apply for a whole lot of opportunities next year. I hope that at some point, either by getting into something or getting a job, I’ll have a clearer idea of which side of the world I want to be on come April! This sort of program would be ideal, as it would give me some structure and guidance while I go about my own thing (hopefully) working and playing.

Day 41 – November 10th – Good, but…

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I’d prepared a lot of things for today’s class: two Moyse studies, two Andersen, two Altès and the traverso scale. It seemed that the overriding theme though, with regards to my playing at least, was that no matter how hight I tried to set the bar there was always a but. Here are some selected highlights:

Moyse #9 (theme): Rhythm was now fine (as opposed to last week) but there was no expression.

Moyse #10 (theme): Good forte sound, but the last note was cut.

Andersen #4b: The first four lines were some of my best playing so far, but them the staccato got sloppy.

Andersen #5: “Some quite good playing happening, and not too many wrong notes”, but I wasn’t showing a good enough understanding of the piece’s structure and key changes.

Altès #4: Good articulation, but I was skipping beats because hadn’t learned the notes well enough.

Altès #5: A section fine, but I hadn’t learned the B section fast enough.

Traverso scales of D and C major: Fine, but why couldn’t I play a Bb or G# yet?

I’ve noticed that this teaching method of never being satisfied doesn’t apply to everyone – some of the others were told for this or that piece that “there are some good things coming from your playing” and that was it. I hope this means Trevor can see I’m a hard and keen worker, and that he can push me a bit further than some of the others. The main point that came across today though was that I still need to work a lot on playing expressively rather than trying to follow g musical ‘rules’.

In the evening, I went for dinner (fish and chips!), wine and some good British comedy with the lovely Sue and Paul. It was great to get away from the flute class for a bit, share some laughs and good talk, and generally have a bit of down time. I’m also now two episodes into Cold Feet, and looking forward to more!

Day 40 – November 9th – Traverso

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After yesterday’s lull in motivation, I ended up having a really productive day today. Partly, I think this was spurred on by the feeling of how much I need to prepare for class this week, but I also had a lovely Skype chat with some friends in Australia this morning and ran four miles (my legs will hurt tomorrow), so was generally in a much better mindset.

After Trevor’s comments on both Monday and Thursday last week about not playing either very loudly or with a full tone, I have been really focusing on this in my practice. I’ve generally tried to up the dynamic level of everything I play, but am also trying to be conscious of dynamics from the very start in everything I play. Andersen No. 4b and 5, which I’ve prepared for tomorrow, are both good examples, though employ dynamics in very different ways. In 4b, the challenge of the study is certainly the articulation and leaps, but I need to remember also the larger dynamic plan of the music – most lines crescendo to mf/f and then decrescendo back down to p. Conversely, no 5 have very few marked dynamic changes other than an f and con alterezza (with pride) at the start. Though there are a few crescendos and decrescendos to make a feature of, the main focus is instead (I think) maintaining the dynamic throughout and still being expressive within the realm of forte. 

Another thing that I’ve been preparing for tomorrow’s class is the traverso (Baroque flute). For the moment, I just need to play a scale, but will be working up to the required slow and fast movement of a sonata by the end of the month. To be honest, I’m not finding the fingering too bad so far, maybe because I’ve played the recorder a lot, though I’ve only attempted scales and tunes in D, G and C major so far. Since the natural scale of the flute is D major, this key requires so awkward cross-fingerings, though some notes on this particular instrument are incredibly out of tune. Once I start the foray into flat keys, though, I’ll need to get my head round all the awkward fingerings.