A Flute for Me!

In ob/gyn, we divide physicians into two groups - white clouds and black clouds.  White clouds rarely have a difficult call.  They often sleep uninterrupted for at least six hours when on duty.  Deliveries usually occur before midnight.  They are, as a general rule,  well-rested and content.  Black clouds rarely have an easy call.  They are often paged throughout the night.  Deliveries occur at the most inopportune times.  They are sleepy and grouchy.

Guess to which group I belong.

Despite a rough night on call last night,  I was able to get some quality alone time with my flute.  Long tones, scales, etude, orchestral excerpt and solo work -- all practiced with minimal interruptions.  Perhaps I should measure my calls based on whether I have an opportunity to play my flute.  So far, I am a white (or silver?) cloud!

I have, dear reader, made a decision.  I am purchasing the Miyazawa flute and the Hammig headjoint.  Convincing Keith to support this decision was not an easy task.  We are, as you may remember, closing on a home in the near future, which brings inevitable expenses -- closing costs, moving fees, furniture, decor, etc.  Keith is correct when stating that another large purchase is not the best decision.  But, I put on my pouty face and convinced him that, for the first time since moving to DC last June, I feel this city opening up to me.  The opportunities for amateur musicians abound.  After begrudgingly going through the motions of living in a city renowned for northern charm and southern efficiency, I have finally found an outlet that makes living here worthwhile.  And I love, cherish, adore playing the flute.  The cost of the flute is a good investment.  He acquiesced, and I will have it in about 4 weeks.  Yea!

I had a nice practice session today, as well: long tones (Moyse), harmonics (Wye), scales (T and G), etude (Cavally/Terschak), and solo work (JSB).  I completely forgot about the orchestral excerpt until after I had cleaned and put away my flute.  Improvements occur at a steady pace in all aspects -- harmonics with less splitting and better master of the high G from low C, faster and more even scales (T and G 1 and 2 still at 63 bpm, articulation 2, last page of each exercise; #4 at 66 bpm, articulation 3, C major through G minor), the seventh study in the Cavally book (easy stuff), and a play-through of the first movement of the Bach Partita in A Minor and beginning practice of the second movement.  I read in Baxtresser's orchestral excerpt book that all breaths in JSB works must be planned precisely, so that's what I focused on in the first movement of the Partita.  I marked the second movement up into arbitrary rehearsal sections, played it through completely one time, and then rehearsed the first section.

A theme I've noted while reading various articles on how to practice is the assertion that recording and listening to oneself is crucial to improvement.  I have yet to do that since I've started this project.  I will endeavor to record myself tomorrow.  If I can figure out how, I'll post a clip on my next blog post.  Yes, dear reader, you will finally get to hear what a flutist who has played only occasionally over the past 10 years, and who has taken a two year hiatus, sounds like.  What a treat for everyone!