I was fortunate to have several fantastic opportunities to perform in September. The first was a Baroque concert in Carlisle as a part of their public concert series. I was asked to play a Vivaldi Double Flute Concerto. It’s not often that I’m asked to play a concert like this, let alone solo (or duet) in this case, so I was really excited about it. I also admit that being asked to do this felt like a bit of redemption after a poor concert experience earlier in the year (I may write about that someday). I practiced my butt off for this. It paid off. I did all of the techniques I tell students to use: recording myself, playing slowly with a metronome, and listening to recordings. Recording myself was a new technique for me. I generally hate listening to myself play but I knew recordings would be valuable. It helped to listen to them a day later when I could be more objective about things. I can’t understate how much the recordings helped (are you hearing this, students?) Arriving at rehearsal, I felt relaxed and confident in my ability to play well, which was something I haven’t experienced in quite some time. I felt so lucky to play in such a beautiful space and with absolutely amazing musicians. The folks in that orchestra are the finest musicians in my area, hands down. We all commented on how much we enjoyed making music together. They were all so supportive and enthusiastic about the Vivaldi piece and called us rock stars! You can see a video in my previous blog post. It felt like the first real concert I had done since the COVID shutdown, although I had played several other concerts before this. Maybe it was the first concert since COVID that I really enjoyed and felt sort of normal about. It was pure joy and one that I will treasure for a very long time. The following two weeks found me playing in the pit orchestra for a local collegiate production of Into the Woods. Until my older daughter got into musical theater, I had not really cared much for Sondheim’s work (don’t worry, she turned me around!) I can’t believe I had never played one of his shows previously. I love playing shows because of the challenge. They’re physically and musically demanding and I believe it’s some of the most difficult playing a musician can do. It’s also neat to be able to give students great support for their performance and they really appreciate it. Sondheim’s music is tricky and complex (again, I practiced my fingers off). In this show, the flute plays almost the entire time with very little downtime. There are numerous solos, including some screaming piccolo things (the piccolo plays the part of the birds in the show). In the second act, the flute has some of the most beautiful musical lines in the whole show, and they need to be played precisely, musically, and sensitively. The show has so many interesting ideas to ponder: what we wish for versus what we really want, the relationship between parents and children, and finding your family. It was fascinating to see these ideas play out before an audience and see their reaction to them. Like all shows, the audience response was different at each show. Although I’m super tired as I write this, I feel deeply grateful to be a part of these performances–and I have another exciting concert coming in October! As I was reminded by another flutist recently: how lucky am I to get to play music?
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Here's the 3rd movement from the Vivaldi Double Flute Concerto that I played on 9/11/2022 in Carlisle, PA. It was an absolute joy to work with these top notch musicians.
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I Write too!I write about flute, classical music, college auditions, positive mindset, and music advocacy. Archives
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