New Zealand Woodwind Competitions 2010 Prize List, Rules and Conditions of Entry 27th – 29th August, 2010 The Raye Freedman Arts Centre, Epsom Girls Grammar School Silver Rd, Epsom, Auckland, New Zealand  

The New Zealand Woodwind Competition is an annual national competition, held at the end of August, for Primary, Intermediate, Secondary, Tertiary and Adult students of the saxophone, flute, clarinet, oboe and bassoon. Great prizes from our sponsors are given out each year.
27th – 29th August, 2010
The Raye Freedman Arts Centre, Epsom Girls Grammar School
Silver Rd, Epsom, Auckland, New Zealand

The 2009 New Zealand Woodwind Competition, an annual national competition, was again a great success. As always, the standard was very high and our congratulations go out to all winners and competitors alike! Details of the 2010 New Zealand Woodwind Competitions will be available soon...

What is the competition all about? The New Zealand Woodwind Competition is an annual national competition, held in September, for Primary, Secondary and Tertiary students of the saxophone, flute, clarinet, oboe and bassoon. Great prizes from our sponsors are given out each year.
28th – 30th August, 2009
The Raye Freedman Arts Centre, Epsom Girls Grammar School
Silver Rd, Epsom, Auckland, New Zealand

Dear Flute Colleagues, I am pleased to announce the European premiere of my Sonata for Flute and Percussion. To help promote future performances, I have made the music available free for download on my webpage. I hope you will help me spread the word about this piece and would be delighted to learn of any plans to perform it...

In the Native American flute community, there are three primary approaches to playing - playing from the heart, rote learning, and by reading a form of music notation called TABlature. While one may also read regular music notation using the Native American flute, TABlature is easier since the fingering system remains constant regardless of what flute key is utilized...

Because of all the possibilities embracing the new media formats can afford, even though this event may now seem like “old news”, I thought I would wait until Flute Focus went on-line to give my report on this most interesting and important biennial event,  The International Piccolo Symposium.....

Pianist, Mark Eisenman, needs no introduction to Canadian jazz audiences or musicians. Indeed, as a longstanding and active participant in the jazz community in this country, Mark has unquestionably established himself as one of its elite members...

Cutting my teeth playing jazz flute was very difficult because, as much as one practises, there is no substitute for playing with experienced players. Jazz musicians do not suffer fools gladly, and novices may not be treated kindly, so my advice to anyone who wishes to play standards and light jazz is to first hone your skills using ‘Band in a Box’ software.

"Flute repair is tedious, time consuming and exacting," Phil Unger says. "You have to be mellow." But there are compensations. Flutes need his special touch, but so do their players. Nurturing relationships with clients entails entertaining flutists from around the world over leisurely meals....  

This is the first in a series of three articles devoted to exploring the world of headjoints with a goal of arming you with knowledge to overcome (or at least reduce) the stress and confusion of finding a new headjoint. This article discusses preliminaries and includes general advice about preparation for the hunt, an overview of the headjoint market, and an overview of influences on headjoint design. The second article will explore in detail the various qualities of sound that can be affected by different headjoints, such as projection, loudness, tuning, color, and responsiveness. The final article will discuss the effects of different materials, such as gold, silver, platinum, and wood, and the effects of alterations in the design of parts such as crown and stopper assemblies and risers;...

Musical sound is governed by the movement that produces it; and the quality of that movement is determined by the accuracy of the ‘body map’, the neuronal representation of our movement developed in the brain. Therefore, musicians who have mapped their movement accurately will always be free to play expressively. ‘Body mapping’ is a self-enquiry method that teaches clear and accurate information about the body in movement, and advocates freedom of movement through accurate mind-body connections. This results in a poised and balanced body usage, the prevention of injury and promotion of facility. The ultimate goal is complete freedom of expression through poised, dynamic, musical movement.

Joseph Schwantner studied guitar with Robert Stein. Schwantner described Stein as an amazing teacher and told many anecdotes about his lessons. He explained how compassionate his teacher was when Schwantner added ‘filigree’ to the assigned music, or when he brought in his own compositions to play instead of what his teacher assigned. Recognizing that Schwantner had a talent for composition, Stein introduced music theory into his lessons. In one lesson Schwantner told his teacher that he would love to play Dvorak’s New World Symphony on guitar; to his amazement, in the next lesson Stein had arranged all the major themes from the symphony for guitar...

For many of us, we find the musical world divided into a well established series of genres and, for the most part, these categories work fairly well on their own. It is, therefore, a gifted individual who can take the worlds of Jazz, Classical and native Venezuelan music and fuse them together so seamlessly that they might never have been apart...

Trevor Wye says on the first page of this new book “Don’t waste time reading this book. Practise instead” and then “Wait. On second thought, your practice will be more efficient if you do.” I would agree....

Clare enjoys a terrific reputation as an important pedagogue in the UK. This is just one of a series of publications, published by Just Flutes, covering her teaching concepts in a precise and affordable manner.....

Having grown up listening to the funk tune Mercy, Mercy, Mercy it was a treat to see it arranged for flute quartet. This clean and simple arrangement treats the flute quartet as a sax section. The written articulation helps communicate the funky feel. This is a great tune for beginning improvisers...

This handsome book is a truly comprehensive dictionary of all flute-related terminology. Susan addresses the simple to the most complex with consistently clear and succinct explanations, thoroughly cross-referenced, including equally easy-to-understand images as appropriate....

For searchable articles on a multitude of topics, this is an invaluable resource for those who are content to read superb contributions of numerous experts to know the latest about historical practice and the flute.....

Adult amateurs often want to master a new piece at first sight and could be disappointed if this is not so easy as they had imagined. They might have noticed that they lack the patience to approach a new piece step by step, and set themselves too many goals at once and thereby get in their own way. When taking lessons your teacher can help you slow down and coach you, but when you work on your own the hurdles could seem too high to even try starting something new. A pity, because mastering a new piece through slow and easy practising is so rewarding. For these real amateurs (= music lovers) the following tips can be useful....

Down under (southern hemisphere), we are starting the new academic year. As I meet up with my new students, my awareness of this partnership is heightened... I hope I made the right choice in selecting my students, I hope they’ll feel they made the right choice in coming to the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, and most of all I hope we’ll have a good time making terrific progress!....

There are nine rules that summarise the basic precepts Quantz sets out in his 'VERSUCH', (ESSAY), 'On Playing The Flute' covering the use of the slur, with one rule that overrides all of the others.....

It takes 10,000 hours of practice to become an expert at anything. However, the investment of time is only part of the story; the practice must be meaningful and mindful. The Suzuki Method includes by design a rich variety of opportunities to practise with other people...

Puzzle Page contains a flute fingering puzzle, notation puzzle and a riddle.