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Letters to the Editor

Dear Mary,
It is always a pleasure to receive my copy of Flute Focus. I have always found that the magazine has contained something of interest to me... Please do keep up the broad, interesting and often surprising coverage of the magazine!
John Sutton

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Interpretation - Imagination or Grammar?

Are scales, exercises, and the mechanics of playing contradictory to imagination and emotion? Certainly not…

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Body Mapping - Safeguarding Our Hands

In this article, I want to specifically address factors affecting the health of our hands....

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Syrinx by Debussy

Alexa Still has some helpful tips on playing this deservedly famous flute piece...

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A Beginner Flute To Suit

One effective way to apply ergonomic principles, and avoid poor playing positions, is through the choice of appropriate instruments:

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The Piccolo: Part 1 - Getting Started

Are you ready to begin your Piccolo Adventure?....

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Frontpage Slideshow (version 2.0.0) - Copyright © 2006-2008 by JoomlaWorks
Welcome to Flute Focus, a Resource for All Flute Players

Welcome To Flute Focus!

Follow us on Twitter! We  will Tweet when we load new content. This should make it even easier for you to keep up to date with new content as it arrives...

Why can't all flute players around the world form the letter T the same way? Mia Dreese has a useful approach to articulation that addresses this interesting point. And why can't Suzuki students just plough on through their books, learning new pieces before really polishing earlier ones. Pandora Bryce's regular Suzuki Column explains exactly why not and how to deal with such requests...

As promised we have loaded some interesting thoughts on meditation and it's benefits for musicians, plus some perspectives on Suzuki Flute teaching. The promised jazz flute articles are not far away...

This follows recent uploads of an interview with Aldo Baerten, a press release of 4 CDs to be released shortly, just in time for Christmas, and a new puzzle from Owen Auger.

The timetable for the upcoming 2010 New Zealand Woodwind Competitions is available for downloading here. All competitors should download and print a copy for their reference.

Don't forget the recent instalment of Benjamin Ochse's series on the Maori flutes held at the University of Gottingen. It never ceases to amaze me how these ancient flutes ended up at a university in Germany...

Have a look at the interview with Shaina Rush, a very talented flutist from the USA. Her comments on how she rations out her time to fit in practice among all her other commitments may be of use to other busy young players...

Recently we have been reminded by personal injury that without our hands working properly life is potentially limited and difficult, especially for flute playing. We have therefore loaded some articles first run in the first hard copy of Flute Focus back in January 2005. Alexa shares her thoughts on this subject in Playing For The Rest Of Your Life, followed by A Look At Hardware - a look at some interesting modifications that we can make to our flutes to greatly reduce stress on our hands. As well as that, we have advice from Gordon Engel MD on The Hand - Its Place In Space, which also details some sample hand stretches at the bottom of the article.

We also have the thoughts of Horace A Young on Doubling On Saxophone, sharing his advice for students on things to consider before heading down the wrong path.

Have you ever wanted to make a living purely from your flute? Karen Lonsdale has achieved that goal, and shares her experience in her article Success Principles For The Freelance Musician.

Of course, to make a living at the flute you first have to learn it. What does a parent do when they have a talented child who has natural flare but no interest in practising? One of our readers has that very problem, and Ingrid Culliford provides suggestions in her response titled To Persevere Or Not?

Also from Ingrid we have a CD review of Nino Rota, a composer known mostly for his movie scores such as in The Godfather, and from Alisa Willis we have her regular Scherzo column, this time looking at what happens when advice is taken too literally

Recently, complementing Karen Lonsdale's popular article A Beginner Flute To Suit, we had Maarten Visser explaining the importance and use of curved headjoints in his article Children's Flute Ergonomics. I especially found the research results on when to switch from a  curved to a straight headjoint fascinating.

Sasha Garver followed up her article on Stage Deportment with helpful hints and observations On Competitions - highly relevant to all students at all levels. Competitions are not just about competing, but are a tremendous opportunity to perform, and to seek good feedback. Sasha has experienced a wide range of competitions, both as performer and teacher, and has some valuable advice to share.

Also for Students and Teachers, Michel Debost relates a cautionary tale about The Flutist And The 3 Little Devils. Michel advises that even he, after 50 years, is still visited by at least one of these devils...

From Kathleen Joyce-Grendahl we have a discussion of the Norwegian Seljefloyte. Not many of these survive as they were traditionally made from bark...

Trevor Wye is as entertaining and informative as always, continuing his Flute Facts series - this month the second instalment of Performing Baroque Music On A Modern Flute.

And we have some CD reviews to whet your appetite - starting with Jean-Pierre Rampal - Premier Virtouse. Some of these tracks are extremely rare, and are a must for Rampal fans. Plus we have reviews of O Bell'Alma and Squarely Baroque - that latter particularly interesting as it features Leonard Lopatin playing his square keyed flute...

Other recent uploads include - Do adults experience the same nerves as students as children and teenagers? Helen Spielman provides an illuminating insight with her experience with the Trill Seekers. Ans we have the first in a new series on Body Mapping by Lea Pearson to follow on from the recent introductory articles. This first article is on Navigation - if you don't know your way around your body, mapping it is going to be a bit difficult...

The Flute Puzzles from Owen Auger are always a good challenge. Do you have what it takes to unlock Owen's puzzles and riddles?

And what would whale song sound like on a flute? Alex Still has reviewed a new CD titled Vox Balaenae, literally 'voice of the whale', and her thoughts are of particular relevance to anyone learning the works showcased on this beautiful album.

For those looking at the always vexed question of headjoints, check out the third and final article from Melanie Sever-Jordan on Headhunting - Materials. This answers many questions on whether it makes a difference using exotic materials or not...

Don't forget the the second in the series by Benjamin Ochse on the historic flutes held in Gottingen, Germany, this time the Forgotten Koauau from the Cook/Forster collection - apparently, this was for many, many years not recognised as a flute, but thought by the 'experts' to be a cloak button!

Entries are still open for  The New Zealand Woodwind Competitions 2010, and here you can find the Entry Form and Rules.

As always, check out our Calendar - we regularly post events of interest, indexed by location in the world and type of event. And is service is free - if you want your event listed, just fill in the form here.

So whether you like classical flute, jazz flute, Irish flute, contemporary flute, ethnic flutes or flutes of any description please browse the site, enjoy the experience, and return often to get your regular Flute Fix.

Mary O'Brien

(Photo credit - Ron Weiss)

 
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Competitions

NZ Woodwind Competitions 2010 Timetable

New Zealand Woodwind Competitions 2010 Timetable 28th – 29th August, 2010 The Raye Freedman Arts Centre, Epsom Girls Grammar School Silver Rd, Epsom, Auckland, New Zealand  

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NZ Woodwind Competitions 2010

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  

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About The NZ Woodwind Competitions 2010

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

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NZ Woodwind Competitions 2009 Results

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...

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NZ Woodwind Competitions 2009

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

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Flute Genres

The Norwegian Seljefløyte

A Norwegian folk flute and traditional shepherd’s flute, the seljefloyte plays a significant role in the lives of the people within the folktale of Nøkken Draugen. Widespread throughout Norway, the seljefløyte or borkfløyte (willow bark flute or sallow flute) is considered to be an instrument of spring as that is the easiest time to harvest the willow bark to make flutes...

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Super-Octave Piccolo

It’s really, quite simple: what instruments we know about now are the ones that have managed to survive through a historical “development” in a process that seems to be conceived as a cultural evolution. Rarely do we ask ourselves why rebecs, ophicleides, musettes, or serpents (or their potentially modernized versions), do not appear in the symphony orchestra....

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Pick Of The Crop – Southern Summer Fruit

Since 1927 the flute has taken its part in jazz ensemble recordings. The playing of Alberto Socarras, Wayman Carver, and others is well documented in Flute Focus issue of October 2008. In listening to these low fidelity recordings we need to keep the music in the context of its time. Questions arise like, how does the flute compare and contrast with other instrumentalists in the band? What does it contribute to the music?...

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Handel Flute Sonatas - Part 3

In the eighteenth century there was a great trend for decorating the melody, particularly in slow movements, and some music was written deliberately plain, with the expectation that the performer would embellish it in his own way. And yet, ornamentation is of little use if it does not reflect and enhance the character of the music...

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Sonata For Flute and Percussion

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...

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Music and Meditation

Have you ever wondered about the role of feeling and consciousness and intuition while playing or performing on the flute – and pondered on how to get in touch with that capacity more easily? It’s that lovely realm that we sometimes access when we go beyond technique and mind and become one with the music itself, as though we ourselves are an instrument and some beauty that is not our own is flowing through us. Athletes call it ‘being in the zone’ – a rapture of pure consciousness when the mind is free of all thought, constraint, self-consciousness and everything we do flows from some deeper part of our being. The ego ‘I’ that separates musician from music has gone and we have become the music itself.  

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Aldo Baerten

At the 2009 NFA Convention in New York, I caught up with Aldo Baerten and asked him about what interests and motivates him to do all that he does in the flute world...

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The Hand - Its Place In Space

In considering an injury (or potential injury) to the hand we must think of its relationship to the neck and upper extremity. It is anatomically and functionally an integrated unit rather than a collection of parts.....

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This article is intended to inform those who may be experiencing some discomfort, have students struggling, and/or those who are plain curious. All of the items discussed in this article are things you can try on your flute, without permanent alteration to your instrument and without major financial investment. These items are available to apply to your flute, or are do-it-yourself creations using components readily available from your local building supplies store and your local chemist...

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Katherine Kemler Interview

Over the course of her career Kemler has proven to be a versatile, energetic player with a knack for adapting music to her own personal styling. As a world class contemporary flutist, Kemler has shown the fluting community that you don’t have to stick with what you start with to be a successs...

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Reviews

Ultimately, this book is about the construction of a unique flute and in this it succeeds brilliantly. I’m sure all flutemakers wish they had such a great document of the work we do to help people understand how we work, what goes into it, and where we spend our creativity.....

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Nino Rota

Nino Rota is a composer less well known for his solo and chamber music than for his film scores especially for the wonderful Fellini movies of the 70’s and for the “Godfather” films...

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O Bell Alma

American flautist Michele Frisch and harpist Kathy Kienzle have joined forces to produce a sumptuous chamber music recording of popular operatic melodies....

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Squarely Baroque

Former member of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, Leonard Lopatin has added another string to his bow by developing and making his own instruments. Does the squared keyed flute surpass its round-keyed counterpart? You have to listen to find out....

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Jean-Pierre Rampal Premier Virtuose

This 3 CD set issued in France in 2002, is a re-mastering of rare early performances by Jean-Pierre Rampal, recorded on 78 rpm discs and tapes between 1946 and 1959. To quote the liner notes, “Follow him in his expression: his flute echoes throughout all eternity.”...

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Fingers and Phrasing

Many difficult passages are lost due to poor control of the tone when we are preoccupied with the rapid succession of notes. On the other hand, faulty phrasing of slow lines can often be attributed to uncoordinated fingerings. We tend to emphasize sound as an entity unto itself, relevant in the domain of musicality, whereas fingers are the attributes of virtuosity, an unavoidable and cumbersome necessity.  

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Much Suspicion

Dear Mary, I have attached a PDF of the score (2 pages) for "Much Suspicion", which was premiered by Yuri Tamashiro and Eshian Teo at St Johns Presbyterian in Wellington on 12 Dec 2008...

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Tip-Of-The-Tongue Tales

If every flautist would pronounce the ‘Tip-of-the-Tongue Tales’ with a clear ‘t’, articulation on the flute would be a piece of cake.....

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When Can I Start The Next Piece?

"When Can I Start the Next Piece?" In the absence of a simple answer, I am going to default to a response that would stand up in court if you had to defend it under cross-examination: “It depends.”...

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Suzuki Flute Teacher Training

It is very common for teachers to teach in the way they themselves were taught. We may have had fine teachers, but if we started at an older age, caught on quickly, happened to produce reasonable tone, and read music easily, we may not actually have many skills or tools for teaching much younger children or for solving problems (or avoiding them in the first place).

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