A Day in the Life: Cray-Cray Performances

Yay, Easter Break is finally here! [sobs] I needed you, baby.

Ahem. So we had a performance last night at school, and I was in a few pieces. We have a student and faculty recital every semester, and it features a lot of cool different kinds of music. I played the first movement of Mozart's Flute Concerto in D major, and it was pretty cool. I did an okay job, here's the video, hope you like it. :)

We also did a piano duet, me and my boyfriend. We enlisted the help of my sister with the page turns ;) Again, please enjoy! ^_^

A Day in the Life: Stuff Happens

Here is how I thought my day would go today.

Stuff happens. You let your 20 page essay sit un-worked on just a little too long, and then some seriously stupid stuff at school goes down. This is so stupid, I could have handled the situation better, but in all honesty, I think it only would have delayed the inevitable. In the world of music you will encounter a lot of different people. Some are great, some are self-centered and hard to work with the moment you have a slight disagreement with them. I've met mostly wonderful people, including my boyfriend, a terrific pianist. But the one person I've met who is the second type actually tried to get one of my teachers to think badly of me today. Said attempt kind of backfired, and now the choir accompanist is stepping in at the last minute to try and help me out after this guy decided he couldn't stand working with me.
I think I have to think carefully about my behavior. It's true that I have been very stressed out, and when I'm stressed out I am not a particularly fun person to be around. The thing is though, I do my very best to stay on my best behavior when I know I'm stressed out. I deal by just trying to be stoic, but that easily slides into just being moody. So I'm not blameless in this sticky situation, but I did my best to keep things civil... and this happens. So yeah. Doing better today. Kind of in shock that the accompanist for the choir is willing to try and learn this in barely a little over a week from a performance. Hat tip. Shout out. Praise and honor upon ye.
So anyways... whine post. I hardly ever do them, I think, so I won't let it happen again, haha. Gotta finish my essay and pile of music theory homework.

Is Classical Music Snooty?

What a big question for my tiny blog! But seriously, I'm tired of people telling me, a college age, mixed-race, female classical flutist that "Classical music is for old, white men." That statement can't be true. At least, it's no more true than "Only young goths with lots of tattoos enjoy heavy metal", because my Dad enjoys heavy metal, and he is neither goth, or young (sorry Dad). And I'm pretty sure he doesn't have any tattoos.

Saying that old white men are the only ones who can enjoy Tchaikovsky is as ridiculous as saying that only African-American women can enjoy the singing of Ella Fitzgerald (ah, j'adore!).
Of course, the stereotype of old white men being the main fans of classical music didn't come from nowhere. There are a few reasons why people think classical is snooty.0
The first being, most well known composers were, in fact, white men. Tchaikovsky? White. Ravel? White. Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov? White. Wagner? White and controversial!

There's no getting around the fact that all the big names in music are white men. But why does that have to stop us from enjoying them and their music? The answer to the diversity problem in music is NOT to shun composers like Beehoven and Debussy, but to add to their numbers by exploring composers of different backgrounds! If it really bothers you that all the composers in your playlist are white men, than add some Cecile Chaminade! Go ahead and explore the works of Arturo Marquez! Share what you find with your friends, and make sure that more people find out about these wonderful composers.

I'm tired of hearing people say that classical music isn't inclusive when I learned so much about different cultures in- guess where?- the youth orchestra I spent high school in! The conductor of said youth orchestra is a native of Turkmenistan, a country which, at the risk of sounding hipster, you've probably never heard of. He is absolutely in love with the music of Beethoven, and Tchaikovsky, and Rimsky-Korsakov. But guess what? We played music from many corners of the world, alongside the aforementioned Beethoven and others. We played a piece from Turkmenistan that had never been played in America before, and the following year, we had a guest artist from Vietnam who arranged some traditional Vietnamese-style music for us to play. Even when we weren't playing that kind of music, we were still learning so much about different cultures, just because our conductor was so passionate about spreading a love of music to every corner of the world.

There is a problem with classical music education only being available to rich people. I myself have been very lucky, being able to score enough scholarships to make my education possible. But a lot has to be done to make this accessible to everyone. It's something that actually bothers me about classical music society. People at fancy galas pat themselves on the back for being cultured, and talk about how kids need to be more into being cultured too. And then they turn around and charge $70 dollars per ticket for concerts. I think that a lot has to be done to make classical music education available to everyone. After all, isn't music an important part of our humanity?

To me, classical music is not snooty, or elitist. Music embodies all the experiences and emotions that human beings have had, and will ever have. You can find this grand tapestry of human emotions in Jazz, Soundtrack, even Rock. When I listen to classical music, I can always find something that suits me at any moment. Feeling sad? Tchaikovsky! Feeling nostalgic? Pavane for a Dead Princess by Ravel. Just feeling really cheerful? Capriccio Espagnol by Rimsky-Korsakov! It's a world of experiences and thoughts that I've inherited from musicians before me, and guess what? You've inherited it, too. Because even if you don't play in instrument or know anything about music, music belongs to you. It belongs to everyone!

So do I think classical music is snooty? Heck no! A lot of the people who like it are snooty, but are we going to disown an entire ongoing chapter of human history just because some people who like it are jerks? No! Just like how we don't abandon our cars when we hear that some people who drive cars are jerks. I think that in the world of classical music there is something for everyone. And if you find nothing that is to your liking? That's okay! Listen to what you like, and what speaks to you. But don't call me a snob because I like classical music. I'm tired of hearing it, and I hope that I have managed to defend my position with this silly blog post. :)

A Day in the Life: Why am I in so many ensembles?

So we had our college music department fundraiser last night, and I had a good time and I think I did pretty well all things considered, but oh my gosh! It was so stressful! So for our fundraiser we have every ensemble play, in addition to several piano students in between the choir and chamber singers. I was in everything except the Guitar ensemble, and I'm so tired, haha! But I'm going to leave you with the names of the pieces that me and my boyfriend played in the interlude between choir and chambers. I would leave you with videos, but I had to download finale notepad and it's killing my computer and videos won't load anymore. Hmph. Anyway, itt was really nice of the piano teacher to let me play flute in addition to piano! Our teacher is very gruff and Russian, but she is one of the most honest people in the world, so when she tells you that you're doing a good job... you really know it. We appreciate her so much!

So first I played the excerpt from Ravel's piano concerto in G major, my family had never heard me perform it before, so it was really nice for me to play it for them

Next, my boyfriend and I played the first movement of the Mother Goose suite by Ravel, it's a duet, and I've written about it before, it's very cute!

After that I played something on solo flute, this is Tango Etude no. 5 by Astor Piazzolla. It's a really amazing piece, full of passion and fire.

My boyfriend likes to play music by Mexican composers, and it's so cool that he was able to bring recognition to these underrated guys last night. The first one is Gavota by Manuel Ponce, and the second one is Cuban Dance no. 7 by Mario Ruiz Armengol. The Gavota is very tender and lyrical, which contrasted nicely with the Cuban Dance, which was rhythmic and cheerful. Full of jazz chords too, it sounded so cool.

I DID IT!!

Allrighty, the Requiem Concert cycle is ov-ah! After a terrific opening night, a pretty much good Saturday, and a stunningly good Sunday afternoon, I'm just wiped out. I got so many nice comments on my playing, and i have gained so much experience! I was really nervous at first because the other musicians in the chamber ensemble were professionals, and the oboe and the cello were actually from the local symphony orchestra! So I was kinda under a lot of pressure, I tried to look really professional. I didn't tap my foot on stage or anything, and I managed to keep up with all the really good musicians.
And I got paid. Mwahahaha. I made good friends with the harpist, and we hope to play together sometime in the future. (She wants to do the flute and harp concerto.... If we could find an orchestra that would be too righteous).
So I had a great time, and I gained experience that will prove to be so valuable to me in the future.
Later, dudes.

Scheherazade and New Flute

*pant pant* So I don't know if I've mentioned this here, but the youth orchestra I was in all of high school is performing Scheherazade, and I'm returning as a ringer to play with them. The concert is tomorrow, or if you're reading this on Sunday the 26th of February, then the concert is today. This is something I've been dreaming about for ages, and I never thought the day would come. I begged the conductor for ages to play it, and I even played light and harmless practical jokes on him that brought the piece to his attention. I'm thrilled that I get to play it, and I think that tomorrow is going to be an amazing day. I'm playing piccolo in this concert, and Scheherazade has one of the absolute best piccolo parts.

Something else that's big is that I now am the proud owner of a college level flute. After many trials and considerations involving a good many flutes to try out, me and my teacher settled on a nice Yamaha, with a solid silver headjoint and a nifty extra trill key that makes some trills sound much better. It's a beautiful flute that will take me far, I'm excited to work with it! So shineeeeeeee.... haha.

Anyhoo, I'd better get some sleep before the concert. After I do some research for my Spain essay that is. ;)

A Day in the Life: REQUIEM!!!

I really adore the Rutter Requiem. It's really an amazing work, and I am so blessed that I get to play it- as one of my first paid gigs, too! This isn't my first paid gig, but it's the biggest opportunity I've ever had. I'm completely independent. My first time getting paid for a performance was with the youth orchestra woodwind ensemble, and we played at a fundraiser even for the Carmel Bach Festival. I think I was paid about $50? Not sure, I don't remember, haha. But we had the woodwind ensemble coach with us, watching, and I had a ton of rehearsals with the other members. This time, I have no coach, and I only have two rehearsals to get coordinated before three performances!

This is the first time I've ever had more performances of a piece than rehearsals! It's how it is in professional music, because most groups perform often enough that their rehearsal time is very limited. Now, the choir is rehearsing a lot, but they won't be ready for us until those last two rehearsals! I'm really excited because it's like my dreams are coming true, haha, that is very cheesy, I know, but you have to forgive me for it just this once. This is just the kind of thing I want to do. I know that I won't be able to make a living off gigs (not at first, anyway!), but to have these kinds of opportunities makes me happy. I feel like I'm kind of on the right track. I still have to do a LOT of learning, but I'm looking forward to learning more, so that I can keep doing this kind of thing.

I also have to perform Musica Dei Donum tomorrow for the choir's spring retreat thing, and I'm very afraid. I should probably be practicing right now, haha!
But um, it's pouring rain right now. We had 66 mph winds starting at 5 am, and it's been crazy ever since. My sister is in a really sour mood because the concert (Sibelius Violin Concerto!) we were going to go to with my boyfriend got canceled due to extreme weather conditions. We're really sad over here, lol.