A Day in the Life: Monday, Monday, Monday

So. This is what Mondays are going to be like, huh? Ow.
I had soccer this evening, and uh, ouch, my legs, haha. I was the most useless person on the team, but at least I was running around and having some fun. The coach was, well, a coach. He yelled directions at us and made us do relay races and that kind of thing. It was fun, but also kind of a pain because it's a three hour class and the first hour is basically a crazy workout routine. I didn't know how to do some of the fancy stuff he wanted us to do on the relay races, so I ended up spinning across the room at one point, haha.

What else happened... uh, we went through music in choir... one of the other altos let me borrow a Rick Steves dvd about Spain, so I guess I can't quit because I have to return those at some point, haha.

Me and a friend played a Ravel duet, and it was fun. I really like hearing the parts lock together, because practicing a duet by yourself sounds so, well, incomplete, so it was really nice to finally play with a partner!
I'm teaching said friend Flute, also. I'm such a bad teacher he basically figured the embouchure out himself, because I wasn't really being helpful. He kinda knows the fingerings already, so I'm bringing some music next time and it'll be way more fun than playing whole notes while I shout orders.
"DEEPER BREATH"
"SUSTAIN IT!"
"ROLL IN!"
"DON'T DO THAT-, oh wait doing that actually improved the sound, ok ignore me because I clearly don't know what I'm doing haha."
I can't wait until he can play some stuff, it will be so fun! (*cough*playthisawesomeduetfortwofluteswithme*cough*)

So anyway, goodbye, lol. I'm wiped out from soccer.

A Day in the Life: The First Day After Vacation

So my school started back up today... I've got a bit on my plate, the current challenges being posed by the semester being...

-Do I really have to learn Clarinet for orchestra? This means that I'm not going to be playing flute in any kind of ensemble. Saaaad.
-How am I going to do a 20 page essay on the guitar for my Spain class? When are they even going to create the course, because this is getting a little crazy.
-I haven't started choir yet (it begins tomorrow), and I already want to quit because singing stresses me out.
-Yay music theory is still fun though.
-How am I going to survive me pre-algebra class?

I was so nervous this morning that I honestly thought I might puke. Derp. I don't know why I was so nervous. I guess it's just what I do.

So uh, short and whiny post. I just wanted to write my worries down so that in a week I can look at them and see how silly I am. It's good for you to do stuff like that, right?
Anyways, I hope you're all doing well with your school/work, or anything. :)

A Day in the Life: Metronomes... Who needs 'em?

So today I learned the importance of metronomes. Oh, all my music life people have been telling me the importance of metronomes, and I always ignored them. Why? Why would somebody as bad at counting as me reject something as helpful as a metronome? A few reasons. First, I was just lazy. I usually played through my orchestra repertoire once a day, without going over any problem spots, and then I would go straight to playing Kingdom Hearts songs on my flute for an hour. That was practice, haha. Also, the constant ticking of the metronome set off anxiety and made me nervous, and unable to play right.
But today... I was practicing Sergei Prokofiev's flute sonata, and I've been having a terrible time with that piece, allright? It is super difficult, full of awkward fingerings and insane high register gymnastics. I've been listening to the Marina Piccinini version, admiring her control and tone. She plays it with beautiful energy, and her interpretation of the piece makes it soar. However, her interpretation is also taking it way above tempo. Prokofiev's metronome marking on the music is Quarter note =80. Today I decided to actually take my teacher's advice, and I played problem spots of the sonata with the metronome. The first thing I noticed that I was actually getting way ahead of it. It was then that the sun came out and I realized that I didn't have to play it as fast as Marina Piccinini for it to sound good. In fact, this is the tempo that Prokofiev actually wanted. Most people play it faster than that, but who says that I have to take it that fast right now? When I'm older and more experienced I can tackle it at a faster tempo. For now, 80 works for me!
Working with the metronome made it easier for me to coordinate one of the most nightmarish passages in all of flute literature- the dreaded high d triplets! With a metronome, you can make it sound a little less slushy and messy, because you know when the downbeat is coming, and you can better pace your notes!

So, what is the point of this post? Using a metronome can really make your day. Give it a chance, even if you hate them, because you might be pleasantly surprised at how you play with one!

And no, the council of metronomes did not pay me off for this post.

A Day in the Life: Stuff I'm Working on in Flute

So more stuff has been thrown into my face by the world of music majoring.
Turns out, most of the schools I've been looking at require this sonata for flute and piano by this Monsieur Poulenc fellow, and it's a nice piece, I like it, but what madman makes you slur rapidly to and fro on E and C in the third octave? WHO?!??!?!
So I've got that to work on, though I'm not seriously grinding on it until I meet with my teacher and again and get an opinion from her.

Next up is something my teacher asked me to start in January, and since it's January I just printed out the first movement of... the Jaques Ibert flute concerto. Because nothing says ENTERING conservatory like playing a piece that you need to have GRADUATED to have the skills to even attempt! Ahem.

I think that I'm actually a little worn out, because I just busted my wrists fine-tuning on the Chaminade Concertino. I'm really far along on that piece, been seeing some real improvement and all that, but um... fine tuning is one of the hardest parts of learning a piece. I'm trying to get these bumps and missed notes and weird fingerings all sorted out and it's just very hard. I'm going to whine in my emo corner now.

[whines in emo corner]

Okay, I'm back. So what's on the menu for my fluting life this semester? Because, yikes the semester starts in eleven days. So what am I doing this semester?

1. Scheherazade (Playin' the piccolo part! It's so fun!)
2. Chaminade Concertino (Why are these fingerings like this?)
3. Prokofiev Sonata, Mvt. 1 (This one is kicking my butt, I am very sad)
4. Ibert Concerto (Are that many flats even ethical??)
5. Poulenc Sonata (Who slurs like that?)
6. Trying not to suffocate and die while playing the Midsummer Night's Dream excerpt

On the bright side, I can definitely see myself playing the Chaminade very soon in the future. I think I'll have it down soon enough. I also am very excited because in college we're going to play the ENTIRE 8th Symphony by Dvorak. I just hope I still get to be 1st chair! I've been spoiled this semester, haha. I'm also kind of excited because I was asked to play along with a choir in a performance of John Rutter's Requiem! I hope that works out! My schedule is crazy this semester, but I really want to have time for the things that music is really all about- namely, performing.

Hope you are all doing well! Enjoy this recording of the Requiem I hopefully get to play with the choir, haha!

I found a Russian piece...

...Well, in all fairness, my teacher suggested this to me ages ago, but didn't specify what movement I should play. So I spent a really long time moping around before I finally picked one.
So anyways, I decided to play 'April' from Tchaikovsky's The Seasons.
I kind of wonder why it's called The Seasons though, I mean, there's one for every month, doesn't that make it "The Months" instead? ANYWAYS!
So this piece is very pretty, and I think I might be able to learn it... maybe. Hopefully it'll boost my skills.
Tchaikovsky's The Seasons is really a lovely piano suite, and it's too bad that nobody really knows about it. The movement I chose, April, has the subtitle 'Snowdrop', which is a kind of flower. It's a lovely mental image to keep in mind as you play the piece!