The graduation concert is behind us, and I have only two more lessons before the holiday break. Practice will continue throughout the holidays, but the respite this season brings is delightful — fewer pieces to cover and more time for “fun stuff,” like the album of Christmas duets for flute and clarinet.
During the winter break, my reading is often a bit more relaxed, too, although I’m thisclose to finishing a few books on my TBR shelf. It may be worth pushing a bit harder than I usually do in December.
Speaking of which, today was supposed to be an off day, but there we were, putting in a few miles before all of the light drained from the sky. Tomorrow we’re planning to walk in one of the conservation districts.
Since Tuesday evening, we have been fighting some sort of bug, the chief characteristics of which were congestion and lethargy. We have nearly snapped out of it, though, and look forward to resuming our regular walks.
During my sick days, I rediscovered NYPD Blue (Hulu). A fan during its long run, I appreciated returning to this engaging show when I was too weary to read but not enough to sleep. Had I been well, I would have finished Gissing’s The Odd Women, now a task for this weekend.
Next weekend, we will play at the graduation concert. We did manage some quality practice this week and look forward to more this weekend.
🎶 In last week’s lesson, we concluded our work on the Mozart Duetto No.1, K.378, an eleven-page undertaking that began in late June. Because this is the final piece in Selected Duets for Flute, Volume II (Advanced), I have moved on to Johann Christian Schultze’s Sonata for Two Flutes in Album of Flute Duets, revised and annotated by Louis Moyse.
🎶 Somehow I have arrived at page 16 of Robert Cavally’s Melodious and Progressive Studies from Andersen, Gariboldi, Koehler, and Terschak for Flute, Book 2, which means I am working on the second of Köhler’s “moderately difficult pieces as studies for flute” from Op. 33, Book 2. For this adult learner, they are simply difficult, but the work informs my progress in band.
🎶 Not long after I presented the first half of 113 in P. Bona’s rhythmical articulation studies, band rehearsals resumed. With only a few days until our fall concert, however, Bona has moved from the bottom of my daily practice roster back to the (near) top. According to my instructor, only two assignments remain in this book, 116 and 120, the latter of which is five pages long; hence, Bona will remain on the practice roster until at least mid-2024.
🎶 For the last three weeks, I have been working on the third movement of the Stamitz Concerto in G major, Op.29. Unsurprisingly, getting the passage of triplets at measure 45 and the quick measures beginning at 225 under my fingers requires the concentrated repetition in assorted rhythms that many instrumentalists hate but that I really appreciate.
🎶 I first joined the community band for the Spring 2018 concert program. While I felt welcomed and well-supported in what was then a large section, I also felt woefully unready. Four and half years later, when I arrived for the Fall 2022 program, I brought my husband and a significantly stronger skill set. For this weekend’s concert, in addition to a featured flute passage in one piece, I was also assigned the featured piccolo passage in another. What a difference 3,000 hours* can make.
* the (very) approximate number of practice hours between May 2018 and November 2023
Nerdishly 