During the month of February I plan to play a brand new piece of music every day. In other words, a piece of music that I’ve never had the pleasure to learn before. Now some of you might be thinking this is pretty silly and not much of a challenge since I’m a flautist and Read more
Wednesday, February 4th: I began my practice session by revisiting the Boismortier Trios and added Howard Buss, Remembrances for flute, cello and piano. Howard J. Buss (b. 1951) is an American composer of contemporary classical music. In the score he writes, “Remembrances was composed immediately following the death of the composer’s grandmother, May Buss (1903-2000). Rather than being Read more
Saturday, February 7th: The next piece on my list was Carl Czerny’s (1791-1857), Fantasia concertante for Flute, Cello and Piano, Op. 256. Czerny was an Austrian composer, pianist and teacher who wrote over a thousand works, many of which are still widely used today. At ten years of age, Czerny performed for Beethoven and was later asked to premiere Read more
Monday, February 9th: Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1809-1847) was a German composer, conductor and pianist of the early Romantic period and the most recognized musical prodigy since Mozart. As a conductor, Mendelssohn revived interest in the music of Johann Sebastian Bach and was one of the first conductors to educate his audience about the composers and their Read more
Thursday, February 12th: I absolutely love the works of Ian Clarke and decided to learn another one of his newer pieces today, Beverley for solo flute (2011). His music is a really exciting edition to the flute repertoire and is embraced by flutists all over the world. The score reads, “Beverley is a simple melodic plaintive lament. This Read more
Saturday, February 14th: Ian Clarke wrote Touching the Ether for flute & piano in 2006 in memory of his mother, Wendy Clarke (1935-2003) and provides the following program notes in the score: “Touching the Ether was premiered at the 2006 Woldingham International Summer School (UK) and then at the 2006 British Flute Society’s International Convention, Manchester. The US premieres Read more
Monday, February 16th: Today’s musical treat was Franz Joseph Haydn’s, Trio in G Major, Hob. XV, No. 15. Joe and I have actually played the middle movement before for a church service, but not the first and second. Haydn was commissioned to write these three trios (Hob. XV, No. 15, 16 & 17) in London in 1791. Read more
Thursday, February 19th: Today’s “pièce de résistance” was Jacques Casterede’s, Twelve Studies for Flute, Etude 3. The first two presented challenges of meter and technique, so I breathed a sigh of relief to see that the third etude is slow and lyrical, therefore presenting a different set of performance challenges. It’s certainly sight-readable so I was able to Read more
Saturday, February 20th: I didn’t have time to grab any other pieces as I was frantically running out of the house this morning, so I decided to keep on keepin’ on with Jacques Casterede’s, Twelve Studies for Flute, Etude 5. I was glad to see that this etude is another lyrical etude, which allowed me to keep my Read more
Days 23, 24 & 25: On Monday I didn’t have a ton of time to practice today with all of the other tasks I needed to accomplish before teaching, but I made a bit of time to play through Jacques Casterede’s, Twelve Studies for Flute, Etude 7. This etude is technically demanding simply due to a fast tempo and Read more