My fascination with astrotheology has inpsired some of the relaxing flute music I have been writing lately. Seems completely logical to me that we are not alone in this vast universe.
Some claim we are a star race decended from the Pleiades from thousands of years ago. It’s a tantalising idea….
What ever the case, I think there is much more to the official evolution story we’ve all been told since childhood.
As the saying goes: we’re all made from star dust’.
Introducing my official ‘film clip’ for ‘From Where We Come’ for flute and orchestra. Feel free to comment below and let me know what you think!
Soothing Flute Music
If I had to choose between listening to fast paced flute music and soothing flute music, I’d always choose the latter. When I wrote this piece of music, I did not yet have a name for it, but felt it should somehow relate to nature.
When my 4 year old daughter heard me listening back to the recording one day, she came in and said “This music is nice mum. What’s it called?” I said I didn’t have a name for it yet, but asked “What do you think I should call it?” She said without hesitation “Flower rose meadow”. I liked it, but I dropped ‘flower’ and left it at Rose Meadow.
So, here it is: ‘Rose Meadow’. Have a listen below. If you would like to purchase the recording for this piece, you can do so here. The sheet music for this piece is available here.
What do you think? Do you think the title of this piece is appropriate for what it sounds like? Feel free to comment below and let me know. 🙂
Allegro Brillante-Flute Etude
In this post I am going to give a mini tutorial on and perform Allegro Brillante by Giuseppe Garibaldi in the video below. This piece is one of the Grade 4 flute set pieces for the Australian Music Examinations Board. I will break my points down one at a time.
Don’t run before you can walk.
As I always say, before playing a fast piece up to speed, learn all the notes at a speed which is half the set tempo. After you have done this, break down the piece into different sections so you can focus on one spot at a time without feeling like you need to tackle the whole piece all at once.
The way you determine each section is where you see the general pattern and interval sequences of the music change. For example, I have broken this piece down in my mind into 5 sections:
- Bars 1-16 is the first section because we have the opening theme
- Bar 17-33 is the second section
- 33-46 is the second section
- 46-62 is the third section
- 62-75 is the 4th sections
- 75 to the end is the 5th section.
Why break down the piece for practice purposes?
So why should you break a piece down like this? Well, one of the main reasons is if you only have limited time to practice you want to isolate particular areas and master them in one practice session, rather than trying to tackle them all at once and not master any of them.
Identify the hardest section.
Next, I am going to go to the hardest section of the piece, and that is from bar 63 to 74. The reason why this is the most difficult part is because of the finger changes between notes c and d. Plus, the right hand pinky can seize up because of the e flat making the palm of the hand tense and which affects the smooth transitions of all the other notes in this passage.
You are most likely to rush!
One thing I really want to emphasise here is that you are most likely to rush at this point. This is because, some of the finger changes are very easy, but are mixed with more complex changes-so what tends to happen is you’ll rush on the easy parts which makes you more likely to stumble on the harder parts.
The solution?
To remedy this, the first thing is to practice at a slow pace with a metronome. But, beyond this we can practice this passage in the following ways:
- Dotted rhythms
- All tongued and slowly
- Accenting first note, then second note.
- Focusing on the slur from the last note of the bar to the first note of each bar.
Make sure you have really good air flow and finger coordination as you slur up to the higher note, and make that higher note sing.
Final thoughts.
Finally, record yourself playing the section once you have got this more or less up to speed and notice if you are rushing. Think of this section as a lyrical section of which you have time to be expressive, and ensure the palms of your hands are relaxed.
Watch the video below to listen to my final performance from time stamp 4:22.
What do you think?
Did you find these tips useful? How might you apply similar tips to a different piece you might be working on at the moment? Feel free to comment below and let me know!
Flute Sheet Music | A Million Dreams
I was randomly browsing youtube for flute covers of popular songs the other day, and I came across this one-‘A Million Dreams’ from the soundtrack of the movie ‘The Greatest Showman‘. I decided to create my own flute cover of it, simply because I liked the song. I had not heard it before the other day, which is funny because I have since found out it is a hugely popular soundtrack which topped the charts for a record amount of time.
I needed to find the flute sheet music because I really don’t have time to sit down and transcribe the notes myself.
I like the soaring chorus in this song, and the change of key in the bridge and the positive message behind it of ‘creating a life by design’.
My cover is in the below video. If you are looking for the sheet music for this song, click on the music below:
If you are looking for the backing track, click on the pic below:
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A Million Dreams The Greatest Showman |
A Moment Of Clarity
It has been a while since I have composed a piece of music. I have been going a few different directions career wise-plus the business of being a mum takes over most of the time too. But, I am back and feeling a sense of clarity and purpose now and will be composing more from now on, plus taking on more flute students when I open up Saturday mornings for term 2.
Here is the latest piece of music for solo flute: ‘Moments Of Clarity’. This piece was inspired by the new sense of direction I feel at the moment. It goes for three and a half minutes and would be perfectly suited as an encore for your flute concert or perhaps as an opening piece for a program that is more ‘meditative’ in nature.
If you would like to purchase the sheet music, click here.
Support your child’s music tuition: 7 things you need to know…
Regardless of what instrument your son or daughter is playing or wants to play, it is important to understand that music tuition is a very big subject. If you are to get your money’s worth from your hard earned dollars to pay for their music tuition, here are some tips to help ensure they get the most out of their lessons and give them the best opportunity to get maximum enjoyment out of their music making.
1.Make sure you are choosing a good teacher. Ideally the teacher you choose would have a solid professional history of performing as well as an enjoyment of teaching. They should also have some kind of formal qualification such as a Bachelor of Music or Bachelor of Music Education. At the very least they should have completed their Diploma in Music and have a performing history. It is not as important that they have a long teaching history because often the best teachers are the ones who have mastered their chosen instrument and practiced their craft over many years. It can be likened to the elite sportsman who had a good career and has gone onto coach after their playing career finished.
2. Choose one on one lessons over a group learning environment. Music involves more of the learning faculties than other subjects due to the physical act of training the fine motor skills, the intellectual aspects of learning how to read music (just like learning another language), the aural training for the ears and the emotional intelligence to commit to regular practice sessions and the ability to make the most of constructive feedback. Although many teachers will teach in groups, it is often at the cost of the education of the students and more for the profit of the teacher, or a cost saving measure for the school. If you really want to ensure your child has the best chance of success in terms of committing to their chosen instrument and developing their skill which can have the added benefit of enhanced self esteem, it is best to choose one on one lessons.
3. Be your child’s main fan and take an interest in what they are learning. The main factor as to whether your child will continue on with music lessons has as much to do with your involvement as it does with the person who is teaching them.
4. Use technology to your advantage. There are many ‘how to’ videos posted on YouTube when it comes to learning a musical instrument. Although these are not a substitute for a one on one lesson in person, they can still be a great resource when your child gets stuck on a problem with the instrument and it is still 4 days away from the next lesson with the teacher. Ideally the teacher would be using technology to shoot follow up video lessons for each lesson taken if they are teaching from a tuition book, which ideally, they would be as it provides structure.
5. Make sure your child is keeping a practice diary where they write down how many minutes they practiced for and what they worked on in each practice session. This is great feedback for the teacher as well as accountability for the student, and will help develop the student much more quickly than having unfocused practice sessions. Initially it could be as little as 15 mins per day, but 15 mins per day is far better than an hour and a half the day before a lesson.
6. Know that learning an instrument is not all fun and games. Although the foundation of learning an instrument should be about enjoyment, discipline and focus are needed to get the most enjoyment out of it to minimise frustrations which can easily end up in quitting the instrument leading to a loss of self esteem before the student has given themselves a chance to achieve a few milestones towards mastering the instrument.
7. Encourage your child to listen to lots of top quality recording artists who play their chosen instrument to help them get a real feel for the kind of sound they should be striving for in the long term. The teacher will have suggestions on who to listen to. It is not important whether or not the student ever achieve this sound or not, but it will go a long way to help them make the most out of their potential. This will also have the added benefit of developing their aural perception and help them develop nuances and expression in their playing as their skill grows.
Learning an instrument can be a great platform for developing many other skills in life such as perseverance, discipline, social skills when making music with others, and it is also well known that kids who learn an instrument are generally found to be higher academic achievers, and who wouldn’t want that for their child?
7 Reasons to Play the Flute
So why exactly should you learn to play the flute? Here are some of my favorite reasons to play the flute:
- You learn to feel melody in your body through the flute more than most other instruments, as it has many similarities to singing.
- Having the ability to play an instrument can be a social bonus, because you get to play music with others and learn how to work as a team and have fun, and the flute is diverse in its ensemble settings.
- The flute is extremely portable and easy to store compared to most instruments, as well as easy to clean, and you don’t have to worry about reads or stings or valve oil like other instruments have
- The flute is usually the one to carry the melody in an ensemble setting, compared to instruments that play in lower frequencies. Who doesn’t love a good melody?
- The flute has mythical origins, which add to its charm. It is perfect for weddings and other ceremonies.
- The flute has similar fingerings to the recorder, which makes for a nice transition from learning the recorder to learning the flute.
- The flute is suitable for many styles of music from classical to jazz, to ambient and world music, to pop/rock and beyond.
5 Practice Secrets Every Beginning Flute Player Should Know
Are you a beginning flute player looking for some tips? Check out these 5 practice secrets that every beginning flute player should know. If you utilize these tips in every practice session, you’re well on your way to improvement!
1.Keep a practice journal. Detail your goals at the beginning of the week and what you would like to achieve by the end of the week. For example, if you are learning a difficult piece where the tempo is too fast for your fingers to play at this point, set a metronome marking that is much slower and make sure you can play it perfectly at this speed with the metronome before bumping it up 5 notches. Play it perfectly 3 times at each speed before you bump it up to the next speed. Detail in your journal what speeds you are up to as you go, so that after a break in practice you know what speed to go back to and you can also see your progression.
2. Be consistent. There is little point in practicing madly the night before your next flute lesson after a whole week has gone by with no flute practice. Just take 30 minutes every day, preferably at the same time each day (for example, in the morning before school). That way it gives your brain and muscles time to integrate over night what you are learning each day.
3. Sing the piece of music you are learning to play on the flute before you actually play it. If you have a CD with your tuition book, listen to the individual track first, then sing it back. Learn the notes by heart first, then when you go to play it on the flute it will be much easier.
4. Break your practice session up into three parts. If you are a complete beginner and are practicing for around 30 mins, spend the first 10 minutes practicing producing a good sound on the head joint alone. Look at your lips in the mirror and notice which lip positions are giving you the best sound. Keep trying to replicate those lip positions. In the next 10 minutes, spend some time going over the rhythms in the piece of music you are attempting to play. Put down your flute while you do this. Set a tempo and clap out the rhythm. Feel it in your body. The final 10 minutes can be spent with your flute put together, playing the music your teacher suggested you practice for the week.
5. If you get physically tired, try doing some light exercise and stretching before you play the flute. This will increase the blood flow to your joints and muscles and you will be able to withstand a static position for longer.
The Top 3 Orchestral Flute Solos You Need to Hear
Some of the really big repertoire for the flute is in the context of a symphony orchestra. Here are some flute solos that are shining moments for this silvery and sometimes golden instrument.
1. Appalachian Spring A Ballet, written by American Aaron Copeland – A heart swelling, melting moment for the flute.
2. Beethoven 5th Piano Concerto – After hearing an epic first movement and majority of the second movement of this Beethoven piano concerto, the flute gets a spotlight with a simple but breathtaking solo. Beethoven at his best.
3. Daphnis and Chloe Daphnis and Chloe, written by Maurice Ravel – A ballet inspired by the Greek writer Longus. It is based on a love story. The flute solo symbolizes where Daphnis and Chloe dance together for the first time. Ravel’s exquisite use of the flutes tonal qualities is unrivalled in any other orchestral flute solos.
5 Things to Consider to Get the Most Out of Your Flute Lessons
So you’ve decided you want to learn the flute? Or maybe your child has decided they want to learn. What should you be looking for in a teacher? Where might you purchase or hire a flute? What tuition books should you start with? How often should you practice? Here are 5 tips to get the most out of your flute lessons.
1.Choose a teacher who has a music qualification. This one may sound obvious, but there are teachers out there who don’t have any professional experience or recognised qualification in music and have only played the flute as a hobby. The risk with learning from someone like this is the high chance that they will teach you incorrectly and pass on bad habits in terms of physical posture when holding the flute, which puts you at a higher risk of repetitive strain injury, making the instrument harder to play than it needs to be. You want a teacher who has a good knowledge of music theory, enjoys teaching people in your age group and is also highly skilled and an experienced player. At the bare minimum, you want to see that they have at least successfully passed their AMEB 8th grade examination in flute (or the equivalent depending what country you are in), or achieved a diploma in flute performance or music teaching where their instrument of choice was the flute. But ideally, they would have a Bachelor of Music or Bachelor of Music Education, enjoy teaching (not everyone who attains their Bachelor of Music enjoys teaching because they are more focused on their performing career), and be a highly skilled player as well.
2.Once you have found your flute teacher, you will start off most of the time having one half an hour lesson per week. Many beginners assume this is all it will take to learn the flute. In truth, most of it is up to you to spend time practicing each day what you have learned in your lessons. A good rule of thumb for the amount of time you should spend practicing is approximately 30 minutes per day to begin with. As you progress and build on your skills and stamina, this amount will increase depending on your goals.
3. After about 10 lessons, set some time aside and consider what your goals are for learning the flute. Do you want to take examinations and begin the journey of having a thorough understanding of classical music and really begin to refine your skill, which will give you a solid foundation for any other kind of music you may want to learn? Or, do you want take a more relaxed approach where you learn the fundamentals of how the instrument works and learn how to play a set of various tunes with a CD backing for personal enjoyment and build on your repertoire over time? Or, perhaps you would like to experiment in writing your own music, in which case a good understanding of music notation and theory is crucial, of which a qualified flute teacher should also be able to teach you. There are many ways you could go, but being decisive about it will help you get more satisfaction out of your flute playing. Your flute teacher will help you set your goals based on what interests you the most.
Tools and resources you need:
- A music stand. This is important because it will affect your posture when you are reading music. You don’t want to be crouching over a table with your music while trying to play because this is very bad for your neck and back.
- A metronome. This will help you keep good rhythm as you play your music. Before the age of smart phones, these items were a little pricey, but now you can download an app on your phone for free.
- Flute servicing. At some stage, you will need to get your flute serviced to keep the mechanisms working well, which enables the flute to continue to work. Often, students assume they can’t play any more, when really the problem is that the flute needs a good service. Your flute teacher can advise you of where to get it serviced. If you hire a flute, the hire company would take care of that for you.
- Your ears! Spend regular time listening to recordings of well known flute players. You can find many on youtube such as James Galway, Jane Rutter, Susan Milan, or one player who is really hot right now in the flute world, Emmanuel Pahud. Regular listening to the best players will remind your ears of the best sound to aspire to.
5. Be disciplined about your practice. Keep a log book of your practice times and write down any questions and problems you have to bring to your next flute lesson. Then, once you have your answers, record them so you have a learning journey record to refer to.
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