Yesterday afternoon we finished a 4 day Flutewise course at Ovingdean Hall, Brighton. One course member said it was THE best one ever, but we always say that. It was pretty special.
Our guest teaching staff were from Slovenia and they were totally amazing. Matej Zupan was joined by husband and wife team Ana and Blaz Pucihar. Ana and Matej are both extraordinary flute players and Blaz is a pianist/composer of the highest order. Blaz didn’t actually manage to be our pianist on our course, he had to be our ‘Korgonist’, but more of that later.
It was a fabulous course with lots of wonderful music, new warming up ideas, ensemble work, games and performances. Abbie Burrows and James Cairns were there as ‘house staff’ and we were delighted to have Gareth McLearnon from Pearl flutes turn up on Saturday and stay the whole day.
All the young course members were amazing, not only with their flute playing skills but in everything we did. You should have been there to see the ‘Purple Cow’ performances! Wicked!!
Of course I had a few problems. It wouldn’t be a Flutewise course without them. The piano was one (more sometime soon) and the other was discovering water pouring through the ceiling in the entrance hall on Saturday morning – haven’t I had that one before???
Anyone who was there – your comments are welcome. If you weren’t there, your comments are also welcome.
6 Comments
Hi Liz,
This was THE BEST course ever! Everyone had a fantastic time and new course members said they were coming back for the next course – very very exciting!
I learnt a huge amount too and have been putting it all into practise today and looking forward to showing Clare at tomorrows lesson.
Our teachers from Slovenia were incredibly special and their legacy will truly make a huge difference to many flute players practise schedule. Most importantly the course hit home that our bodies are very important whilst practising. Navels In I seem to remember!
I got to bed at 8:30pm last night and was very tired, but It was sad to say goodbye.
It’s very refreshing to see young new players reaching high standards. Players in my scale class last course have really improved and It’s a real pleasure to see!
Thank you for organising everything – as usual, you manage and organise everything really well! Bravo!
Love
James x
I am so so so so so so jealous!
Love,
Stephen.
(currently lost in a street in Santarem, Brazil – using a very dodgy looking internet cafe and starting to worry because he has to make it back to concert hall for rehearsals for this evenings gig and he has no idea where he is)…..
You missed out big time Stephen, it was great! Brazil does sound exciting though.
Our teachers were all amazing and the performance they gave at the end of the course was incredible, thanks guys.
I really enjoyed the warm up techniques and , as you can see, the unusual football!
Several things will always stay with me… Robin in his lovely hat, the dream game and the Poulenc – la la la la laaaa!!!
As always, a huge thank you to Liz for putting in all the hard work. It wouldn’t happen without you.
Jack.
Yes Stephen – you really missed out! You even missed me being grumpy with not having enough sleep. The course was fantastic and we all have lots of stories to tell you for sure!
How exciting to be in Brazil – even better if you know where you are. Look forward to seeing you soon and are you going to Slovenia?
I had a quartet for my ensemble and of course we won the competition. We played two pieces, one by Marc Berthomieu called Les Chats and A Gaelic Offering by Catherin McMichael. Wonderful stuff!
Look forward to seeing you soon. Enjoy the rest of your tour and get back to flutewise soon! You missed our purple cow production – fantasic! Moooooooo!
Love,
James x
Stephens not the only one who missed out. Me too. And I wasn’t even in Brazil; actually I was at school. Which just isn’t fair. Especially because I had monsterous amounts of English homework (coursework) to do. And the computer deleted my file for no good reason, so I lost about 3 hours work going back to the last copy I had saved in another place. Huh. I’m feeling grumpy now.
But I shouldn’t post negative messages on Liz’s blog – so I better think of something positive to put. Oh yeah – I’ve done my theory exam today. And I don’t think it was a major disaster. Which I recon is an achievement.
Rachel :0)
Hi
Yeah – you both missed out !
It was the best course ever !!
Thanks Liz & everyone else.
See you next time.
Joleigh xx