I'm going to have a recital!

Yay! The choir accompanist who I've previously mentioned (the one who saved the day, remember way back in April?) and I are putting on a recital in December. ^_^
I'm going to play Mozart's G major concerto as well as the Fantaisie by Gaubert, the 2nd Movement of Lowell Liebermann's Flute Concerto, and possibly the Chaminade Concertino. I'm not very good at that one and if I don't have it sounding as good as we want it we might cut it to make more time for practicing the pieces that are sounding great. My sister and boyfriend are also going to play, it's going to be lovely. I think I should even bake something so at the end people can have a snack, and if you put "Food Afterwards" on the flyer then more people will come. It's a scientific fact. It's called The Cookie Principle.
I'm excited, but I'm also nervous because I want to put on a good performance and I've never done anything like this before. Hopefully it goes well. :)

I can play the oboe now

So as of today my instruments I can play are...
Flute (Proficiency Level: Yayyyy!!)
Piccolo (Proficiency Level: Hasn't been taken out in a while but I can probably still play it just fine, though I used to be the piccolo queen)
Piano (Proficiency Level: Not great but I can do my music theory keyboard homework and that's what matters)
Alto Saxophone (Proficiency Level: What? I have to play lead now? I guess I'd better learn me some vibrato skills)
Oboe (Proficiency Level: REEDS ARE EVERYTHING. IF YOU THINK YOU SUCK AT OBOE SERIOUSLY GET A GOOD REED.)

Ahem. So yeah, I'm not adding any more instruments to this list, haha. I think that five instruments is more than enough for any music major, and I only really practice two of them consistently. Need to change that, haha. But yeah. Now I need to try out clarinet again because I wanna be woodwind queen. And then bassoon. AND THEN THE WORLD. Just kidding, I though I said no more instruments. XD

Princess Tutu (2002) Review Time! (Part 1)

So my sister and I just finished the first half of the anime unfortunately titled Princess Tutu, and it's just great. This is a show that uses classical music as the soundtrack and draws a lot of the plot and thematic material from ballet. The premise is as follows...
There's a writer called Drosselmeyer (lulz) who died in the middle of a novel. His characters got bored waiting around, so they broke out of the story. Those characters are a prince and an evil raven. To stop the raven from destroying the town, the prince 'shatters his heart', which seals away the raven because fairy tale reasons. But because he did that, he's pretty much just a mannequin who can talk and move around, so the story has ground to a halt. The author is still alive as a ghost, living in a bizarre clockwork realm, and he still wants to continue the story, so after many years he finally finds a way. A little duckling who has a crush on the prince wishes she could become a girl and hold hands with him and other cute things. So the author gives he a magic pendant that not only turns her into a girl, it also turns her into a character from the story, the only one who can return pieces of the prince's heart.
Phew. Premises should not take that long to explain, but there you go. The show is a little confusing at first, but it's fairly easy to get into. The first two episodes are pretty weak, and they look even weaker when you consider how strong the episodes at the end of the season are.
The cast is strong and dynamic, which is one of my favorite things about the series. Especially in regards to once character, their arcs go in very unexpected directions. The main character, literally named Duck is a very sweet character once she gets out of the first two episodes, where she is a little manic and over energized. Once the show as a whole settles down she does too, and we get to know her personality more. Duck is hyper and cheery, but she is equally insecure and constantly questioning herself and her motives. The other two interesting characters I can't really say much of anything without spoilers, but suffice to say that they are really interesting to watch. The only weak link in the cast is the prince himself, who has his moments but is mostly bland. Unfortunately he is the one that Duck is in love with, but we can't really find anything about him that's worth it.
However. The interesting thing is that the show itself mentions this. There's a scene where Duck questions why she loves the prince (called Mythos, apparently pronounced Myu-toe), and the dialogue goes in a really interesting direction before they are interrupted by killer crows. There's a lot of those in this series.
Anyways, let's get to the music! Each episode has a piece of classical music that sums up the thematic material of the episode, or just fits really well with the action. Or acts as sneaky bits of foreshadowing. The episode music includes these pieces, as well as many more that are just used as incidental music, or character themes.
Swan Lake, The Nutcracker, Sleeping Beauty, The Blue Danube, Pictures at an Exhibition, Scheherazade (!!!), Cinderella, Romeo and Juliet (the ones by both Tchaikovsky and Prokofiev!), and Danse Macabre! So far all the music has been really well used, and the Scheherazade episode was probably the best of the season.
We're looking forward to the second season. The show is very sweet, even if it has random weird things that kill the mood sometimes. Like the fact that the ballet teacher is a human sized anthropomorphic cat. Ahem. But anyways, school starts tomorrow and I wanted to do a fun post before I start complaining about school. Which might happen. Anyhoo, see you guys later. :)

Clara's Theme by Murray Gold (from Doctor Who)

Hey-o! Want to hear us play? Here's a video of my sister, boyfriend, and I playing a cover of Clara's theme from Doctor Who. It was composed by Murray Gold, who is so seriously awesome.
I think we sound really good together, enjoy!
We call our trio TriTone, because hey! Tri=Three!

My Pieces...

I'm assigned so much that I feel like I'm not getting done, haha. But I'm doing okay with my massive pile of audition prep. So here is a list of the pieces that I'm working on and will be using to audition with!

Mozart Concerto in G Major
We've all got to do Mozart, over here in Flute World. Seriously. Mozart is great though, and his flute concertos are really cute. They aren't my favorite, but they're not too hard and they feel rewarding to play, so I'm happy to learn them. I know most of D major already, but my teacher tells me that G major is a little better for an audition, especially since it was written for the flute. D major was actually first written for the Oboe (Oboe Concerto in C major) but it was transposed into D and some things were changed to make it technically different.
Out of the two, I always thought that G major sounded more 'royal', while D major sounds more 'rustic'. Those adjectives really help me to put some life into my playing when I perform or practice these pieces!



Bach Sonata in E Minor
It's actually kind of a toss up between this and the Mozart. I'm learning mvts 2 and 3, which are fast and slow respectively. We want to see which set of 'fast and slow' showcase the good things about my playing. Displaying a knowledge of Baroque flute playing might impress the flute instructor at my top pick, so it could be this one, who knows, we're deciding next lesson. I don't know much about Baroque flute, but I know that you're not supposed to use much vibrato at all. The quality of phrase leading is what gives Baroque playing life. The sonata itself is one of Bach's best pieces for flute, and it's really fun to play. It's pretty hard, but not like Ibert level hard, so it's actually fun. I'm not a fan of harpsichord though, I like it a little better with piano or guitar.



Fantaisie by Philippe Gaubert
So we swapped out Chaminade in favor of this, saaaad. Well, not really. I love both these pieces! French flute showpieces are a genre by themselves in Flute World, and it's a genre I really like. I'm still maybe going to play the Chaminade at a recital later this year though. :)
Fantaisie is kind of like two pieces in one. It starts slow and well, fantastical, with lovely melodic lines. The second part is fast and full of energy, with bits of the original theme from the slow part coming back! It's a beautiful, well-rounded piece that will be very rewarding.

Poulenc Sonata
This piece is pretty nice. It's a three movement sonata from the 20th century that Jean Pierre Rampal first performed. It's whimsical and has many different moods. The first and second movement are fairly easy to manage, but the third one is absolutely insane! Thankfully, my teacher says they are more likely to be interested in the first movement, which is hard, but I've 98% got it down. Better safe than sorry though, I'm learning all three.

Here are the pieces that I may or may not be using, depending on what the schools want to hear.

Hungarian Fantasy by Doppler
Hard rhythms everywhere! It's very fun and fanciful though, and I get to use my low B foot!

Ibert Flute Concerto mvt. 3
Hard hard hard hard hard why. Cool piece though.

Prokofiev Sonata mvt. 1
I'm just so happy I can play this. ^_^ I hope somebody asks for it so I can show them how much I like it!