wow! I'll take out the flute when the urge strikes. There is an excellent flute player who is very well known. Actually, there are several. The only two I can think of at this particular moment are Sir James Galway, and Ian Anderson.
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On Nov 9, 2023, at 7:07?PM, sandy.sexton via groups.io <sandy.sexton@...> wrote:
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Hi Kajsa, and others¡.
??? Good to hear from you.? We¡¯re all fairly quiet these days.? I think that most flute nutters are still playing, and maybe that¡¯s why we find little time for on-line chat.? I¡¯m largely self -taught too; there just weren¡¯t any flute teachers nearby enough, and as I was working full time I couldn¡¯t really give up the time to drive a couple of hours.? However, I was lucky in that there were some really fine players who had been professional musicians who happened to need a flute player.? Gulp.? I worked very hard to get up to scratch, and back in the day got good advice from Brian Burgess, Adrian Brett, our much loved Jen Cluff and lots of encouragement from being in a flute loving community.? I learned a lot by listening closely to recordings of many different fine players, and by playing with my trio/quintet partners learned much about phrasing and musicality.? (Think of Judi Dench reading a Shakespearian sonnet compared to a year 9 English student.? The words are the same, but¡.)
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??? Now I play at least two hours a day, always doing a hour of what I call ¡°T & G¡± ¨C technical exercises, etudes, tone work.? After a break, I¡¯ll spend another hour working on pieces I¡¯ll be playing.? If I have a rehearsal that night, I¡¯ll hit 4 ¨C 5 hours a day.? It¡¯s fun, I enjoy it, and it boggles my mind that some people would spend 2 ¨C 4 hours a day watching television.? Much rather spend that time with my flute.? The most wonderful thing about playing is that seeking improvement never ends.? There¡¯s always something to work on.
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??? I¡¯m lucky to live with my duet partner, an oboist, who also plays ¨C everything else, but plays flute so badly that we don¡¯t even try flute duets.? Lots of woodwind doublers who play all of the reeds baulk at playing flute I¡¯ve found.? I¡¯ve often shared reed 1 books in shows to do the flute parts.? I have never wanted to be doubler.? I¡¯m a flute monogamist.
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??? Having mentioned my duet partner who plays flute badly, I have to moderate my comments here. ??He plays his other instruments regularly, and enjoys them, so prefers not to play flute, but I think that if flute was the only instrument he could get his hands on, he¡¯d gladly play it.? It doesn¡¯t matter how well we play, or how expert we are, or what other people think of our playing (although it¡¯s nice to get a compliment from time to time).? What matters is that we are having fun playing.? Making air into sound is a really neat trick.
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My best to you all,
Sandy (with ducks)
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Yes, of course I remember you!!? Welcome back to the fold.? :-D
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