Monthly Archives: July 2008

Stephen: keeping the blog alive

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Posted by Stephen Clark on July 25, 2008 – 11:37 am
Filed under Stephen's posts

Hi everyone. I just thought I would post a wee blog while Liz is off sunning herself. I hope you’re all enjoying the summer? In Scotland, our summer only lasts about 3 days and we are definately in the middle of it because both today and yesterday have been sunny!!! (I guess that means tommorrow is probably our last day of sunshine for another 50 or so weeks).

I hope you have all been keeping busy. On Monday, I made a fun little trip down to Birmingham and I stayed with Sandy Hay (of Flutewise fame). We had a very pleasant evening cooking on his new barbeque in his garden. His chicken kebabs where very tasty indeed – although his mind was somewhere else because about two minutes before I arrived at his doorstep he had just seen a mouse running across his kitchen floor!!!!!

Aside from my little jaunts around the country, my flute has been keeping me active as ever. At the moment I am preparing for the onslought of performances coming up. I have a recital up in the north of Scotland in a few weeks followed by 7 days of 7 concerts throughout Italy and Croatia (not the same part as Liz though – she is near Split and I am going to Dubrovnik and somewhere else in Croatia which I have already forgotten the name of. In Italy, I am going to Venice and Rome and a few other places). The programme includes a Sonata by Telemann, a Sonata by Gaubert, Sonata by Mouquet, Suite by Mcilwham, Orange Dawn by Ian Clarke and some other stuff. (Possibly a Zoom Tube here or there too!!!). Following that, I am coming back to the UK to move into a new flat! Then, I am off to the British Flute Society’s convention in Manchester for three days. Any of you lot coming? Then its four days at Abbotsholme with Flutewise (and maybe even a trip to Alton Towers – Whooooo!) Who is coming to that? Then I am off to Rutland to give a masterclass and recital in Oakham School – this should be a good day and as far as I am aware it is already booked out! I love doing these kind of days so looking forward to that one. And as normal I am sure I will see a few Flutewise members there too!

Anyway, this blog seems to be getting awfull long so I will leave it there. Please please please post your comments because I love to hear what you have all been up to (flutey news or non-flutey news) and you guys are really what Flutewise is all about so keep them coming!

Love,
Stephen.

P.S. The photo above is of me with some of my very good friends after a concert I gave in Manchester. They are all flute players. They are me, Jen Brimson (from Canada), Peter Lloyd, Adam Chidley and Katy Welch.

Off to Croatia

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Posted by Flutewise Admin on July 20, 2008 – 5:02 pm
Filed under Liz's Blog

I’m off to sunny Croatia for my summer school at Kastel Luksic. Abbie and Gareth are joining me this year and I think it’s fair to say, we are all really excited. I’m looking forward to 2 weeks in the sun and seeing all of my lovely Croatian friends again and meeting new ones.

When I get back I hope to have lots of very, very exciting things to announce Flute-wise! Everything seems to be going really, really well at the moment and the future looks packed with good things.

Maybe while I’m away you can just chat amongst yourselves about anything to do with the flute. I might even award a prize to the most interesting poster when I get back. Andy should keep an eye on what’s going on and, if we are really lucky, Stephen might send a few posts.

I’ll be back …. soon.

Flutewise no more

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Posted by Flutewise Admin on July 17, 2008 – 9:17 pm
Filed under Liz's Blog

I always feel sad when someone doesn’t renew their Flutewise membership, but sometimes it makes me very happy, especially when I know Flutewise has done its job and has supported a young player. Today I received this email and it really ticks all the right boxes for me.

Dear Liz,

I received a letter through this morning, telling me that I need to renew my flutewise membership. It also mentioned at the bottom to let you know if I decided I didn’t want to continue my membership, well I no longer wish to be a member, but as I have been one for the past eight or so years and attended Project Flutewise 1,2 and 3, and an residential course, I thought I owed an explanation to why I’m starting.

I decided, easter, of two years ago that I wanted to learn a second instrument (I don’t play piano so all I was playing at that time was flute and piccolo) so I began learning bassoon, I got on really well with help from my brilliant flute/bassoon teacher (Janet Whitteridge) and my already ok(ish) flute skills-Grade 8 distinction, helped loads along the way and within 11 months of starting I had passed my grade 8 bassoon with distinction as well :) but sadly because of my progress, the demand for the instrument and how much I enjoy playing bassoon this meant it became my first instrument and the flute was put down. (Well not literally.) Playing bassoon has opened so many doors for me though. I have played more extensively with my county groups (Somerset County Youth Concert Band and Somerset County Youth Orchestra.) And last year I became a member of the National Youth Orchestra, for my final course of the year I have been invited to play with the NYO Sinfonietta and I’m hoping to return for a final year. Also I’ve gained a full scholarship to the Junior Department of the Royal College of Music, as well as being really lucky to be receiving lessons from Martin Gatt (Ex prin. bassoon of LSO!) So sadly, I am a now a bassoonist through and through. But I would like to thank you for all the work you put in running flutewise, the magazines are brilliant and have helped me no end. It’s just a shame theres nothing similar in the bassoon world. Sorry it’s such a long update of my progress, but I thought that because of the help flutewise has given me you deserve an explanation!

Thanks

Luke

Learning scales- cycle of 5ths

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Posted by Flutewise Admin on July 16, 2008 – 9:39 am
Filed under Liz's Blog

I had an interesting email from Hannah yesterday. One thing she told me is how she has started work on her Grade 7 scales and she is stunned at how many there are. Many people find their scales really hard and a chore. Once you’ve learnt all of your scales you realise just how easy they are. Honest. I just can’t understand why people just learn scales randomly for exams. Just learn them all – from being a beginner onwards. You’ll then understand how they work.

Here is what I suggest. Start with major scales and only one octave. You need to know 3 things – the order of sharps, the order of flats and that an arpeggio is made up of the 1st, 3rd and 5th note of the scale.
To remember the order of sharps – Father Charles Goes Down And Ends Battle
For flats it is the same sentence backwards – Battle Ends And Down Goes Charles Father.
With this information you are ready to play (and understand) all of your major scales.
Of you go – play C major (no sharps or flats in the key signature). Now play the arpeggio – CEG, play the G again and this takes you to the next scale G major, 1 sharp, F sharp. Play the scale and the arpeggio GBD – the D takes you to the next scale D major, 2 sharps F sharp and C sharp. Get the idea?
SCALE ARPEGGIO KEY SIGNATURE
C C E G nothing
G  G B D 1 sharp F
D D F sharp A 2 sharps  F C
A A C sharp E 3 sharps F C G
E E G B 4 sharps F C G D
B B D sharp F sharp 5 sharps F C G D A
F sharp F sharp A sharp C sharp 6 sharps F C G D A E
C sharp – or D flat this is when you need to change from sharps to flats and then life gets easier as you start to get rid of flats
D flat D flat F A flat 5 flats B E A D G
A flat  A flat C E flat 4 flats B E A D
E flat E flat G B flat 3 flats B E A
B flat B flat D F 2 flats B E
F  F A C 1 flat B
C  we are back to the beginning! Easy.
(I’ve tried 3 times to set the above nicely as a table – sorry it is a mess. I’ll ask Andy how I can do it later).
Give it a try. It’s called a cycle of fifths. I really recommend you only play one octave (with a beautiful tone) until you feel really secure. As well as using your brain to work them out, let your ears help you, you should know when it sounds wrong, ie you play a wrong note. Once you are secure in the low octave, work on the higher octave then practise 2 octaves or 3 where appropriate. But don’t rush, take your time – mastering a little something new each day but reviewing what you did the day before is the way to make good progress.
Let me know your thoughts on this.
Happy scale playing!

Boring

Comments Off
Posted by Flutewise Admin on July 15, 2008 – 11:02 am
Filed under Liz's Blog

I’ve spent six hours sitting in a tax seminar. Will this really improve the quality of mine, or anyone else’s, life? All I want to do is play my flute.