Tag Archives: English winter

Day 82 – December 21st – Solstice

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Something that I never notice in Australia but always in Europe is the winter solstice, the shortest day of the year. The year I was on exchange in Helsinki, it really was a relief to know that the days were going to start lengthening again – it was dark all the time and felt like the sun had been hiding behind clouds for the odd hour or two of daylight we did get! Here it’s not nearly as bad as that, but I am looking forward to having a bit more light in the mornings come January.

This year, it feels like the solstice almost marks the midpoint in our course. We have one more class tomorrow (which seems to be feedback-focused) and then I’m off up to my grandparents in Grimsby for Christmas. Though I’m definitely planning on taking a break from playing for a few days, I will use the time to contemplate strategies for bettering my practice. I know I’m improving with all the exercises and scale patterns – I can do a whole ream of things that weren’t there in October – but I also know that I need to up my game to keep up with what Trevor introduces over the coming months as I still don’t find these exercises easy. One of the important parts is mental practice, and I know I haven’t been disciplined enough with myself about doing it daily. I think there still needs to be more focus in the way I practice with the flute as well. Every time I play through something there has to be a clear goal, and then I won’t waste time playing the same bit too many times.

As for last night’s concert, I really did enjoy myself. We had a good turn out in the village church, and it wasn’t nearly as cold as we were expecting (I had thick gloves at the ready). Trevor got all his playing done in the first half, and I particularly enjoyed his pieces on Bb flute (flûte d’amour) with pianist Robert Scott. Then it was our turn, first the Musical Snuffbox by Liadov (complete with off-stage tweets and hoots from Trevor) and then a jazzy Shuffle by the Seaside (McDowall). Interval came with mulled wine, which was very welcome for hand-warming, and then we got into the jazz pieces proper. Trevor’s arrangements of Autumn Leaves, Tea for Two, Smoke Gets in Your Eyes, Lullaby of Birdland and The Way You Look Tonight for five flutes and piano seemed to be real crowd-pleasers, and we had a great time playing them. Away in a Manger rounded off the concert, and then it was off to the village hall for a sumptuous supper and general merriment.

Day 67 – December 6th – Productive procrastination?

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Today I alternated being really productive and really unproductive, both with flute practice itself and with writing my assignment. My practice sessions were generally good, though I’m not doing a great job of memorising the pattern for Taffanel and Gaubert-style minor scales. Reichert No. 2 is sounding quite good now though, I just need to trust myself and not start questioning what the next note is!

This afternoon I went for a run, which was definitely procrastinating about writing. The day was stunning though still cold. At 2pm, the sun hung low and glaring in the sky, casting long shadows but rendering other objects lush and green. Some fields had not seen the sun at all, and still sat under a layer of thick glistening frost. By the roadside, some of the puddles had a thin coating of ice, and the little English child in me took great pleasure in the crack of my foot on the surface. The winter air at once caught in my throat and tasted delicious.

As for studies later in the afternoon, I’m becoming better at learning things at speed. The prospect of playing almost eight pages of music on Monday is no longer scary, and I’m not able to zone in on the bits that need work without feeling the need to repeat the easy parts just to feel more comfortable.

Tonight is supposed to be the coldest so far – I’m hoping for a lovely thick frost tomorrow morning!

Day 64 – December 3rd – Doing it at speed

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It continues to be rather cold in a very wintry sort of way. I put off my morning run because of the rain, but even when I did finally head out at 2:30pm it was brisk and chilly. Overall I quite like the cold – properly rugged up, I really enjoyed our walk this evening – but am not sure how much longer my morning runs are going to last!

One of the thing that Trevor has pointed out a few times now is that I need to relax and trust myself with the warm-up exercises. I think part of the problem is a fear of letting my fingers go onto autopilot, which applies equally to pieces where I have to play things at speed. Today there were moments where I surprised myself with the Reichert exercises – I could genuinely get through two or three keys at speed without dropping any notes. Then suddenly I would be back to thinking about what comes next, and so would fall apart. The only way I can see of resolving it is to keep pushing the threshold. If I can get through three keys without a slip today, then maybe tomorrow I can do four, and I can do them a bit faster. I’ve definitely improved at this since being here, and I can do things now that I couldn’t have two months ago, but it’s still an area that I’d like to feel better about.

Also on the topic of speed, I did my Moyse finger exercises at crotchet = 124 today, which is getting pretty brisk! Interestingly, it actually felt easier than crotchet =122 yesterday, and I’m not sure whether that’s because I’m nearing the end of a two week cycle, or whether I was a bit more focused today.

Tomorrow we’re playing Fukushima’s Mei in class, or at least I’m playing it. Some of the others haven’t practised it, and all seem to be assuming that I’ll go first, Trevor will talk about the piece, and then they won’t actually have to play. I’m rather dubious about this plan, as I have a feeling that no matter how well I play, Trevor will dig into me about my penchant for new music and declare that I’m no better at it than anything else. I have, however, taken the time to practise the piece, and really like it. Hopefully I’ve done enough work to have a constructive lesson, and will be able to return to it at some point in the future.

Day 37 – November 6th – Jack Frost

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Mist of dawn,
And up winding hedgerows,
‘cross hill and field,
Down the garden path,
Jack Frost danced.

How,
In such a whimsy, merry flight,
To coat each grass blade,
Nettle,
Earthy ridge,
With a dust of sparkling white?

I, racing morning sun,
Try to squeeze heavy boots
‘tween glistening spires,
Yet my footfall only quickens
A miniature spring.

The child of five takes my hand,
Wide-eyed with carefree wisdom.
“Jack Frost,” says she, “will return –
Come now, for in such a chilly morn
We must play at dragons.”

 

As for the rest of my day, class was mostly positive. Trevor’s only comment on my Scherzo from Midsummer Night’s Dream (Mendelssohn) was that the quality of my double tonguing needed some work. Everything else – tempo, dynamics, breathing, phrasing – all seems good, which was heartening.

Similarly, the slow sections of my Damase met with general approval, though I wasn’t terribly confident with the faster passages. Despite managing everything quite well during my practice sessions, I’m generally struggling to play fast passage-work on class if it’s relatively new. I’m not sure that it’s nerves so much as a lack of confidence in my abilities after such short practice periods, and it’s definitely something I need to work on.

I had another tune this week, Elgar’s Salut d’Amour, and while I am generally improving with the exercise Trevor made a very interesting comment. I had proposed Ulpirra, a little piece by Australian composer Ross Edwards, as a potential solo in our Christmas concert, and got up to play it directly after Salut d’Amour. Trevor noted that my performance of the two pieces was hugely different – Ulpirra had so much life, expression and (by contrast) a full tone with more varied dynamics. His conclusion was that I play expressively when I really love the music, but don’t understand ‘normal’ tunes because I’m so fixed on contemporary music. I rather disagree with the whole of that statement – I don’t just love contemporary music, and am much more open-minded that he seems to be giving me credit for! However, it is a reminder that I can’t let any reservations I do have about certain pieces get in the way of my performance – I have to play with a full commitment to every note.

Day 26 – October 26th – Dark evenings

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The clocks changed today, and I was reminded of just how dark it gets in English winters when the sun set at 5:30pm. Looking on the bright side: it’s now lighter for my morning run, and as yet nowhere near as cold or dark as the year I spent in Helsinki!

I wonder whether my scales might be suffering from happening the hour after Practice Book 6 exercises? These last two days, with the exercises at a faster tempo, the hour of scales has felt sluggish and below par. The exercises, though, have felt good. Tomorrow we switch back to the Moyse interval exercises.

I spent a lot of time today on Andersen Op. 15 No. 4 – it’s hard! There are three things I’ve been trying to focus on:

– A really clear staccato, but always expressivo as Trevor says it should be.

– Internal dynamics, so making sure that the low notes are equally as loud (and resonant) as the higher ones. As a result, the lower ones have a bit more oomph in the staccato, while the higher ones are shorted with a bit more ping.

– Large-scale dynamics, played fully and as if it were my last ever performance (c.f. Davies book from yesterday). Fitting this in with the other two points is tricky.

Despite my work, I’m quite prepared to be asked to present this study next week as well, and in some ways would quite like another week to really get working properly.