Comments, not on the photo (it is quite a nice cow, isn’t it?) but have you been trying to leave comments and they haven’t appeared? I’ve copied an email sent to me from Jack this morning. If you post a comment and it doesn’t appear, would you be kind enough to send me an email? Andy has been saying we are changing the blog to something else. When we do, I hope we get rid of these problems. Then again, we’ll probably find some new ones!
Of course you are welcome to comment on my cow photo. You could even write a poem!
What have you all been up to then? The photo above is not related to anything really, it’s just quite nice.
I’ve been busy doing lots and lots of post this week. I’m staggered at how many foreign members we have. They all have to be packed and stamped individually with the addition of airmail stickers and custom declarations for some of them. It takes ages. We’ve got members in Costa Rica, Poland and Iceland as well as the places you might expect.
One of our adult members in Cardiff would like to find others to contact and maybe play with. Anyone have any ideas?
I heard from a friend today that her copy of Flutewise hasn’t arrived yet. Has yours? The post is sometimes very strange.
On Sunday I’m off to a seminar run by the ABRSM. It’s all to do with their great new exam books. We’ve had some new Flutewise joining forms printed. They are bright orange as Andy says that is the ‘now’ colour. They do look good on the outside, but there’s a bit of a problem with the photos on the inside as they are a bit dark. I’ll need to get them re-done, but they’ll have to do for Sunday. I’m going to take free magazines for all of the teachers attending, just incase they don’t know about Flutewise. I hope it will get us some new members.
I’m back from my short holiday. Thanks for the messages you left. I’ll have to award a prize soon.
This photo is of a present my friend Mike gave me just before I went away. Isn’t he sweet? I mean the frog, not Mike.
I had a good time when I was away but I really, really missed my flute. The main reason is a bit mean I think. We had booked a lovely thatched cottage in the middle of nowhere. The roads for about 3 miles around it were single track, hardly wide enough for a car. The cottage was lovely apart from the fact that the owner had divided it badly into two, with an upstairs and downstairs. We were downstairs. Upstairs there seemed to be an enormous family of deaf, clog wearing elephants suffering from some type of hyperactivity syndrome. They seemed to have their TV on as high as the volume would allow and at night time the snoring was unbelievable. I really wished I could have done a couple of hours scale practise every dawn and maybe some piccolo high note playing in the evenings! Is that mean?!
Has your magazine arrived today? What do you think?
… will the mice play? I’m off on holiday this week, so while I’m away I want you to talk amongst yourselves and I’m offering prizes of CDs for the most prolific writer and the funniest or best writer.
The photo is my cat Doppy, or Doppler. I’m off to the Devon/Somerset border for a few peaceful days with some good books to read and my ipod to listen to.
I’m going to suggest two topics to write about:
1. Why are Flutewise courses worth attending
2. How can we get more Flutewise members
Scales are wonderful. I’m really pleased the way our scale classes on the last course helped people – and continue to help people.
I’m a very proud and happy teacher. One of my pupils, J, said she wanted to do Grade 5 very soon. This was just at the end of last term. I told her that it was OK by me, PROVIDING she learnt all of the scales necessary before the entry date for the exam which is quite early in the September term. I think she might have been a little bit worried that I didn’t suggest much in the way of music for the exam, but I assured her that if she could memorise the scales, she would find learning the pieces a doddle.
I was really impressed at her first lesson this term. After the course J had done loads of hard practice and she knew her scales – maybe they weren’t 100% fluent, but she certainly knew the notes. I gave her a study and two new pieces and within less than a week she can get through them reasonably well. I’m very proud of her – and even more proud because she’s decided to leave doing the exam until next term when she’ll sail through it.
Have you practised your scales today?
