What I Am Working On

As a music major preparing for transfer to a four-year school, I certainly have a lot of stuff I have to work on.
School expect a lot out of you during auditions, and the repertoire that they ask for is nothing short of demanding. My teacher is very eager to help me get my skills up to that level, and is assigning pretty much every piece that they are going to ask me for at my auditions. Which should be taking place around this time next year, actually! Scary thought...
Anyway, I'm assigned a lot of stuff. If you're in a position like me, and you're hoping to transfer soon, consider taking a look at these piece and getting in touch with your teacher about them. It's never to early to start preparing for the future.

1. Mozart's Flute Concerto in D Major
I can sigh and pine over the brilliantly eccentric Nielsen Concerto all I want, it doesn't change the fact that as a young flutist, I absolutely have to learn one of the Mozart concertos first. My good pianist friend is a huge fan of the D Major concerto (k. 314), so I decided to study that one. This piece looks deceptively simple. I mean, it doesn't really go that high (for a flute concerto), and it doesn't go all that low. But looks are deceiving. This concerto has some crazy fingering acrobatics, and there are some spots where it is impossible to catch a breath in the midst of all these crazy 16th notes. Nevertheless, it's still on the easy end of the flute concerto list, and I should have it down in no time. I have already performed the beautiful second movement with my friend, the aforementioned pianist! Let me tell you, it was a huge hit! Here, watch it yourself, we filmed one of our rehearsals.

2. Flute Concertino in D Major by Cecile Chaminade
This one was written by a woman! This piece was composed in the early 20th Century France, and it sounds very elegant and charming. It covers many different moods and ideas, all under ten minutes! I love it so much, it's gotta be one of my favorite pieces for flute! It's extremely challenging, with running scales and very fast passages with devilishly awkward fingerings. I like the lively middle section, though it gives me a lot of trouble. The piece ends on a joyful and energetic presto, and many players use the auxiliary D, which is technically in the flute's range, but almost never written in music, to finish out this amazing Concertino. Take a listen to the orchestrated version that Chaminade later arranged, it's really one of the most beautiful pieces I've ever heard.

3. Prokofiev Sonata for Flute and Piano
I actually don't know why the heck I'm learning this. My teacher thinks it can be done (of course, she thinks I need a better flute for it!), but I think it's a very difficult piece, one of the most difficult pieces ever written for flute. It's a really beautiful work though. Even in the first movement alone there is such a large range of emotions that it is such an experience to listen to, and to play for that matter. Remember that high D that I talked about in the last paragraph? Well this is a rare piece that actually uses it. In a very fast section. Filled with accidentals. Oh my gosh. It requires a lot of very strenuous work, but I know it will be more than worth it. Along with the Chaminade, this is one of my favorite flute pieces!