What I'm Working On... June 2017 Edition

I'm assigned a lot of stuff. I'm coping by blogging about it. But seriously, help me, haha. I'm supposed to start applying for schools in the fall and I don't feel anywhere near ready, but I guess I'll find a way to do it. If I have to do something, I'm usually able to muster up the energy to do it.

Ibert Flute Concerto, 3rd Movement
This piece is insane. I mean, I like it and stuff, but I'm not happy about all those accidentals, triplets, and wonky trill fingerings. This is going to be a very rewarding piece though, I can tell! I'm just not even off the first page, though I can stumble through most of the first page at a very moderate tempo. Urgh.

Doppler Hungarian Fantasy
This is a little more bearable than the Ibert. It's really demanding, of course, but it's easier to imagine myself playing it competently. I'm currently assigned the middle section to the end, starting with the coquettish bit in 4/8, and leading up to a spectacular ending that involves a cadenza that is secretly fun to play because it's probably the least testy part of the piece.

Poulenc Flute Sonanta
Yeeks! Not that hard, but still pretty capricious. The rhythms are tricky and there are some parts that are like torture to an embouchure, but hey, it's something I think I can learn in a few months. The second movement just has difficulty in the phrasing department. I haven't really touched the third movement... it looks hard but I think I can do it. :)

I'm back

Hi guys :) I'm back, I've been back for about a week, and the picture posts should be coming soon unless I get lazy. I had a really good time. I went to many cities, almost all the big ones. Madrid, Toledo, Sevilla, Córdoba, Granada, and Barcelona. :)

Here's the Plaza de Espana, which was one of my dream locations to visit. ^_^ It was really beautiful there, even though I didn't get to explore as much as I wanted to... it was extremely hot, but I got some ice cream and enjoyed the scenery, it's a wonderful place.

Here's me and my salamander friend at Park Guell in Barcelona! Gaudi's architecture really gives Barcelona a lot of whimsical charm, and it's part of the reason I enjoyed the city so much. Definitely one of my favorite places! I'm going to bring my favorite people here someday. <3

Leaving for Spain tomorrow

Hi everyone :)
I think it's been a while, since May 10th, haha. But I had so many finals to get through... Our orchestra concert went well, I think it was one of the best I've played in. I can't wait for the recording, I'm going to share it here when I get a copy from the instructor. I want to hear how I did on my solos, haha. I hope I'm on my way towards being a good enough flutist to be in a professional orchestra.
So I don't think I'll be able to post from Spain, but you can expect a VERY long blog post about how it went, with pictures. :) My trip lasts about three weeks. See you then, guys. :)

A Day in the Life: I'm tired

... Just what the title says. I'm tired and I need a break, haha. Everyone feels like that this time of th semester, so I feel massively guilty complaining about it :P
Pain recital tomorrow... I'm playing pretty simple stuff, which I don't think the teacher is happy about, but she understands that piano isn't my main instrument, so as long as I am able to learn new repertoire and advance little by little I guess it's fine. I dunno.
Anyways, just checking in because I forget to post. But I'll post more later bye.

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. :)