October 28, 2007
It’s been a while… I am making a promise to myself that I won’t go so long without posting. I think about it often, but stuff comes up. Like practicing my scales and arpeggios, or cooking… you know how it is. I know, all lame excuses. But Trevor has been in Germany all weekend, eliminating our evening walks opening up a few hours in the day for catching up. It’s amazing how much productivity more can be accomplished with just two hours freed in a day.
Lots going on, well in comparison to the norm that is. Over the past few weeks we have, of course, had our usual classes and shopping trips, and this past week we got to see the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra perform at the Royal Albert Hall. It was amazing. To start, I can’t remember the last time I heard a professional orchestra perform. They did Debussy’s Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun and La Mer, a Prokoffiev Piano Concerto (can’t remember which one) and Ravel La Valse. They were all a first for me, hearing live that is. It helps so much with my interpretation of the music when I’ve heard the whole work in person. Recordings are helpful, but not always an acceptable substitute. Plus it was nice to hear instruments other than the flute. Obviously I love this instrument… but seriously, all day everyday for over a month is a bit extreme. And tuning to a piano does not count as getting to listen to another instrument.
We’ve been able to go to one of the two local pubs. This one is “Froggies”, a French pub. It’s high class, and not really what I expected it to be, since it is titled “pub”. In the end I think we each dropped £25 on the dinner, with Trevor buying our drinks. But not having to cook was wonderful, and the meal, beer and atmosphere were amazing. I miss going out to eat. It was a great treat, and I plan on taking advantage of all that it has to offer multiple times while here.
Eventually we are all going to get to visit with Albert Cooper. For those who don’t know he his, in a nutshell he is the person who has had the most influence on the modern flute in the 20th century - an incredibly important person, VIP if you will. He’s battling Alzheimer’s, and doesn’t remember much about the flute or the influence he has had on it - all very depressing. The nursing home he resides in is about a 2 hours’ drive from here, and Trevor visits at least monthly bringing one of us along each time. In November we are all going and will be doing a concert for all the residents. Which adds a lot of extra repertoire to our already full load… but it will be nice to play for other people.
Tomorrow Trevor is giving a class at the Royal Academy, which we are using as an excuse to get out of the village. We aren’t required to go, in fact he said we’re crazy for wanting to go, but I think it will be nice to see him harass other people, a change from the usual. And as a bonus the train rides are when I’m most productive with the weekly assignments – maybe I can even get ahead. I guess it’s a pretty expensive motivational source…
Still having difficulty getting everything done that I want to each day, especially now that the weather has taken a turn for the worse – windy, rainy, foggy and cold. All the time. I just want to lie around and read all day. Maybe watch an entire season of Gilmore Girls/Grey’s Anatomy too, bake brownies or a pie or something else scrumptious. But none of these are options for me. Instead I just continue to put off working on the big project we have. I have done some reading for it, but no further steps have been taken. At least I’m not alone on this… I predict we’ll all be pulling all-nighters in December.
Today we changed the clocks back one hour, or rather this morning we did. From now on we’ll have little daylight each day – maybe a maximum of 7 hours for the next month or so, then down to 5ish. Sigh. But it means for the next week, until the US changes clocks, I am one hour closer to home. This is a nice feeling.
I’m definitely beginning to miss home. Particularly at the moment I miss being able to drive. Driving for me has always been my alone time. It’s when I can listen to whatever music I want and not be teased by others, I can sing and rock out as loud as I want, and if needed can just enjoy the silence and sort out my thoughts. I haven’t been able to sing to awful pop music since I got here. I hum occasionally on the train, but then I think I just become an annoyance for those around me.
Since I’ve been here I’ve been very anal about keeping up a notebook – a practice and lesson journal (thank you Beth!!!). It’s amazing how helpful it really can be. Forcing myself to write down what I’m doing really does help sort out what I should focus on each day. So to all those current BEC flute students, I promise it comes in handy. Yes, I hated it at first too, but when I’m feeling completely brain-dead and can’t remember the last time I practiced a certain exercise, all I have to do is turn back to find the answer. And when I can’t remember the last thing Trevor assigned us and yelled at me to fix in my practicing, I can refer to that too. Incredibly useful.
Often I get very overwhelmed with how much investing is necessary for this career - instruments, music, reference books, recordings, concert tickets, performance attire, lessons, and the list goes on and on. Everyday I probably write down two or three things that are necessary to add to my collection. Especially being here with Trevor, because one of his big things is to “buy it while you can” - in terms of recordings and books. So often materials that are very important and useful become are no longer available years down the road because of the expense to continue production. I don’t even know where to begin most of the time. Maybe it will just be the Christmas and birthday wish list that never ends. But I don’t want to only receive flute presents for special occasions.
A lot of our assignments from Trevor are completely overwhelming, but then make past assignments seem so much easier. For example, we have to memorize all scale/arpeggio exercises as we start new ones in the warm-up. This is beginning to get much easier - just two patterns to memorize (major and minor) and then put in different keys. Of course it’s still difficult (especially for myself where it takes me weeks to memorize anything), but when faced with the new assignment of eventually having to memorize all J. S. Bach flute sonatas and the “top 28” orchestral passages for flute, a scale study seems like nothing. My brain will be utterly full once he’s done with us.
We had our weekend with Robert Dick, and it was great. It was nice to do a little traveling, even if it was only for a brief time. He did a “basics of circular breathing on the flute” which was very helpful, a concert with some pieces I had heard and some I hadn’t and a few other miscellaneous extended technique subjects. It was nice to have a second chance to take in all that he does. When he came to JMU I was still trying to grasp what he was all about, so this definitely helped reiterate some things.
On the train ride back to Wye from Robert’s class Marta began teaching me Croatian. I would love to be fluent in a second language. I hate that in the US we don’t start learning until it’s really too late to easily become fluent. It’s a very slow process, because obviously I can’t spend lots of time studying, but it’s nice to learn a few nouns and maybe a verb or two each week. It’s something different from what I’m usually thinking about, a welcomed occasional distraction.
The ever-anticipated whist drive took place last Friday. It was everything I had dreamed of… well, it was at least nice to meet some of the villagers and do something other than practice and cook. I really like the game, and I did win a bottle of wine out of it, which was a nice surprise.
Hopefully with my new self promise the posts won’t be so long from here on out…
love,
lindsay
A few noteworthy learnings:
1. The Croatian word for “tomato” is pronounced “paradise”. I completely agree.
2. The Japanese version of a hamburger is almost a soup, and is called “hamburg” (hahm-burg). Mime made some on Friday, where the patty itself is pretty similar, but then after grilling, or frying, you throw in water, vegetables and some Japanese seasonings. Served with rice on the side, of course.
3. You can play so much more the “Hot Cross Buns” on the recorder. And it does have a few octaves.
4. Intonation. I can almost hear it. Amazing.
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Friday, October 12, 2007
So much to do, so little time
It seems incredibly implausible that at the end of the day I feel that very little has been accomplished. I have always felt this way about practicing - spend hours working on something but never quite feel you have it just right. And at school I was definitely feeling this way constantly - with SAI, flute club, CMENC, MRDs, flute, etc. there was always something to do. When I came here I was hoping, and slightly expecting, to not have this feeling. Of course I assumed it would stay in terms of practicing, but I thought the feeling might subside with everything else. Maybe it's just my nature to always find something to do - cooking, cleaning, emails, research... and the list goes on.
We've definitely been kept busy here recently. Last week Trevor started taking us to area places for shopping. Some of us went to Canterbury, others to the local Farmer's Market. I went to the Farmer's Market, and of course loved it. I picked up all the sweet tooth cravings I haven't been able to satisfy - homemade ice-cream, fudge, truffles, walnut bread, and so much more :-) Afterwards Trevor took us to a local butcher shop he uses, which I loved too. It was slightly surreal. The shop is just outside the butcher's home, on his farm, surrounded by land and nothing else. To get there you drive down a not so popular road, and then suddenly you'll see handmade "butcher shop open" wooden sign. I definitely believe that if you're going to eat meat, this is the way to do it. Go somewhere where you know the animals are treated properly, where you can get fresh meat, and where someone is doing the work the "old-fashioned" way.
The train tickets arrived safe and sound for our weekend of Robert Dick. They were addressed incorrectly, but somehow were still able to find us. Now all we have to do is figure out how to work the train connections...
We were able to finish the movie, Jean de Florette, on Monday. We attempted to watch it Saturday night, but the power went out - for apparently no reason whatsoever - so it was postponed. It is very depressing but a great film, made in 1986.
Last Friday a local family began teaching all of us to play the card game Whist. Every month there is a Whist tournament (whist drive) and we are always invited to participate. To me it is a very British card game. It goes back to the 18th and 19th centuries, and you play in couples. The "leading lady" always begins - with the men dealing and retrieving the winning cards. I love it. The family that helped us is one that we will see a lot of. Paul, the husband/father picked Judith and I up from the airport. Sue is his wife, Robbie their son. Robbie is about 12 years old and plays the flute. Every year some of the students will help him with his playing. He's too scared to play for Trevor - I don't blame him. Recently he had an article published in Flutewise Magazine (a children's flute magazine in the UK) where he explained why he was the luckiest Flutewise member. In exchange for us giving him lessons the family will help us with transportation, teach us whist, take us to castles, etc. Robbie and Sue are coming over again tonight to finish our lessons.
On Tuesday of this week we went to the Royal Academy in London to see a masterclass with William Bennett (Wibb). Him and Trevor are almost the same person. They share similar mannerisms, common phrases and opinions. During the class we would often start laughing because hearing something from Wibb that we usually hear from Trevor was very strange. The class was of course great. The students that performed were a mixture of his and other flute students in the Academy. There was a big mix of playing levels, and a large mix of nationalities - Chinese, Canadian, American, Japanese and a few others. The class lasted all day, which made Judith and I wonder if they had other classes they were supposed to be in. Beginning around 10:30, we didn't leave until 6:00. There were two tea breaks and a 30 minute lunch break. It was very difficult to concentrate throughout the whole class, but I still managed to learn a lot.
The Monday before we went to the Royal Academy for a class by "Flute Maestro Shashank" - South Indian Classical music. It was great. He went into pretty great detail, which was incredibly hard to follow, but very informative. He played a mini-concert (with a computerized drone since he had to come solo). His life story, so far, is pretty incredibly. Obviously the cultural differences play into this. He began studying music at the age of 2... his father being and Indian flutist as well. I purchased a CD and I listen to it constantly. So a shameless plug for him, go to www.shashank.org to learn all about it :-)
Throughout our time with Trevor we will spend about a month each on the recorder and Baroque flute - maybe a few others. I start recorder this week, tenor, and I forgot how frustrating it was to learn a new instrument. Yes it's similar to flute, and yes I did play it a bit throughout college for education classes, but I think I'm having to relearn everything. And plus learning something for Trevor is very different from learning something to pass a playing quiz.
I was finally able to book my flights for the Holidays. I'll be home from Dec. 16th - Jan. 4th.
I suppose those are the main updates for now...
love,
lindsay
Things I've learned:
We've definitely been kept busy here recently. Last week Trevor started taking us to area places for shopping. Some of us went to Canterbury, others to the local Farmer's Market. I went to the Farmer's Market, and of course loved it. I picked up all the sweet tooth cravings I haven't been able to satisfy - homemade ice-cream, fudge, truffles, walnut bread, and so much more :-) Afterwards Trevor took us to a local butcher shop he uses, which I loved too. It was slightly surreal. The shop is just outside the butcher's home, on his farm, surrounded by land and nothing else. To get there you drive down a not so popular road, and then suddenly you'll see handmade "butcher shop open" wooden sign. I definitely believe that if you're going to eat meat, this is the way to do it. Go somewhere where you know the animals are treated properly, where you can get fresh meat, and where someone is doing the work the "old-fashioned" way.
The train tickets arrived safe and sound for our weekend of Robert Dick. They were addressed incorrectly, but somehow were still able to find us. Now all we have to do is figure out how to work the train connections...
We were able to finish the movie, Jean de Florette, on Monday. We attempted to watch it Saturday night, but the power went out - for apparently no reason whatsoever - so it was postponed. It is very depressing but a great film, made in 1986.
Last Friday a local family began teaching all of us to play the card game Whist. Every month there is a Whist tournament (whist drive) and we are always invited to participate. To me it is a very British card game. It goes back to the 18th and 19th centuries, and you play in couples. The "leading lady" always begins - with the men dealing and retrieving the winning cards. I love it. The family that helped us is one that we will see a lot of. Paul, the husband/father picked Judith and I up from the airport. Sue is his wife, Robbie their son. Robbie is about 12 years old and plays the flute. Every year some of the students will help him with his playing. He's too scared to play for Trevor - I don't blame him. Recently he had an article published in Flutewise Magazine (a children's flute magazine in the UK) where he explained why he was the luckiest Flutewise member. In exchange for us giving him lessons the family will help us with transportation, teach us whist, take us to castles, etc. Robbie and Sue are coming over again tonight to finish our lessons.
On Tuesday of this week we went to the Royal Academy in London to see a masterclass with William Bennett (Wibb). Him and Trevor are almost the same person. They share similar mannerisms, common phrases and opinions. During the class we would often start laughing because hearing something from Wibb that we usually hear from Trevor was very strange. The class was of course great. The students that performed were a mixture of his and other flute students in the Academy. There was a big mix of playing levels, and a large mix of nationalities - Chinese, Canadian, American, Japanese and a few others. The class lasted all day, which made Judith and I wonder if they had other classes they were supposed to be in. Beginning around 10:30, we didn't leave until 6:00. There were two tea breaks and a 30 minute lunch break. It was very difficult to concentrate throughout the whole class, but I still managed to learn a lot.
The Monday before we went to the Royal Academy for a class by "Flute Maestro Shashank" - South Indian Classical music. It was great. He went into pretty great detail, which was incredibly hard to follow, but very informative. He played a mini-concert (with a computerized drone since he had to come solo). His life story, so far, is pretty incredibly. Obviously the cultural differences play into this. He began studying music at the age of 2... his father being and Indian flutist as well. I purchased a CD and I listen to it constantly. So a shameless plug for him, go to www.shashank.org to learn all about it :-)
Throughout our time with Trevor we will spend about a month each on the recorder and Baroque flute - maybe a few others. I start recorder this week, tenor, and I forgot how frustrating it was to learn a new instrument. Yes it's similar to flute, and yes I did play it a bit throughout college for education classes, but I think I'm having to relearn everything. And plus learning something for Trevor is very different from learning something to pass a playing quiz.
I was finally able to book my flights for the Holidays. I'll be home from Dec. 16th - Jan. 4th.
I suppose those are the main updates for now...
love,
lindsay
Things I've learned:
- To play whist.
- Mincemeat pies don't taste as bad as they sound.
- Saying "bless you" after someone sneezes is because of the Plague in Britain. Japanese don't say anything when you sneeze.
- How to make sopapillas.
- The postal service here, Royal Mail, frequently goes on strike so it is likely you will only receive mail 3 days out of the week.
- The following are pronounced differently (incorrectly by Americans... according to Trevor...): Baroque (should be closer to Bah-rock, no long o), Gouda cheese ("gow-dah" not "goo-dah"), anything with two t's (we say d's).
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)