Departing!

In less than a week I will be in Brazil. I am told that the internet is fairly accessible, so I'm excited to be writing about my experiences, about the orchestra, and all the culture -- keep checking and hopefully there will be updates through the month of July, and possibly pictures!

You can track the orchestra's progress through YOA's website.

I know your next question will be what time is it there?

While I'm gone, I'm going to miss this concert of one of the greatest works ever written for the flute. But you don't have to! Go!

Finally...save the date: September 25th, 8 pm at the Old Church is FLUKE: A night of new music for flute and piano with Elise Blatchford and Rhonda Ringering.

Until later.

New neighbors

Over the weekend, I moved into a new apartment - many of you will begin to have lessons in this new space in the coming week.
At this point, things are a little rough around the edges.

I haven't lived in an apartment building in over a year, and there is always the anxiety of practicing in a space that is really not all that private. Will the neighbors complain? How loud is it on the other side of the wall? How many third-octave scales at 8 am does it take to get kicked out of a building?

My personal nightmare is the person upstairs writing the next great American novel.

So far, no complaints. So I continue to melodicize...

Player-instrument relations

Probably a lot of us can relate to the idea of our instrument being, at once, our best friend and worst enemy.
Michel Debost even compared the player-instrument relationship to a very complex marriage. The flute and I have fallen in love, settled into a routine, had our tiffs, suffered a major rift, separated for a while, and eventually reconciled. At this point, we are involved in a deep connection.

I am known to be a little moody when it comes to my music. A bad practice session can taint an entire day for me. I've been known to angrily switch the radio station when a flute concerto comes on. I have mentally pictured what my flute would look like melted down, or what it would be like to take a lighter to my pads and watch them singe and curl back from the key. I have left it out of the case in cold temperatures to "punish" it.

Yes, I am a little crazy.

Being involved in some long-term practice goals at the moment, I have to say that practicing hasn't been "fun" for me in several weeks. Until today -- which I believe saw me at the start of a new plateau. It's comforting when I just really like to play.

Career facets - it's so much more than the orchestra

Some of my older students (and their parents) have asked me how exactly one supports oneself as a musician. I can't answer for everyone - for me it's a combination of things. If you're curious, you can see job listings for orchestras around the world without logging into the union pages at musical chairs. There, you can click on the job and see exactly what's required and what the process is. In America, you usually pay a refundable deposit to hold your audition time that can be between $25 and $100. Some orchestras screen resumes or hold tape-only rounds. Most simply invite candidates, and send you a repertoire list that you must learn for the audition.

I was raised on a steady diet of the "make-your-own-opportunity" brand. That means I'm involved in a lot of other projects that are a little harder to explain, like Classical Revolution PDX, a radical chamber music association that presents concerts in venues outside the concert hall. CRPDX has a monthly gig at downtown Portland's Someday Lounge where we're getting a lot of attention and young audiences. I perform and research expansion for them. Right now, none of this is paid work - but we hope to get some money for music rental and organizers' salaries through aligning with other non-profits and applying for grants. My goal is to make this a paid gig for the organizers within the year, and to have all musicians paid within five.

This fall, concertizing will hopefully become a small source for income for me. Pianist Rhonda Ringering and I are planning several recitals around Oregon in the fall. Basically, we front the money to rent a hall or church, we try to get as many people to come as possible, we put on a great show, and hopefully make more in ticket sales that what it cost to put on.

The single most reliable source of income for me is my students, and my future job at Pacific University. Having tuition cover my living expenses opens me to taking on projects like CRPDX and frees me from relying on "gig money." That way, I won't have to feel compelled to take every wedding that comes along!

Summer projects!

People that tell me they've never missed a day of practice in their lives (something James Galway is rather fond of saying) usually just make me roll my eyes.

Come on -- we have all had the flu. Or other health problems - like a burst appendix! Or if you're a great musician like Sir Galway, you've been on planes for more than 12 hours at a time. And don't tell me that when you got off the plane, you picked up your flute and a book of Andersen etudes and headed for sonic bliss.

At the same time, it's ideal to practice as much as you can. And summer means a hiatus from school, and maybe even a break from flute lessons for some, but I always thought of summer as a special time to attack new projects we don't have time for during the rest of the year. Order a new book of music that's just for fun. Find a friend (any instrumentalist, or a good singer) and have weekly duet reading hangouts. In the past I've enjoyed doing something serial or numerical, like learning all 20 Karg-Elert Caprices. I mapped out ten weeks and learned two a week. I've memorized concerti. One particularly dorky and ambitious summer found me with the goal of keeping everything in the Baxtresser Orchestral Excerpt book in my fingers at the same time.

My project for this summer is exceptional: tour Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay with the Youth Orchestra of the Americas. As exciting as that is, though, I think I'm going to miss (a little) the time I've had before to make my own practice choices for a month or two.

What sounds fun for you this summer?