Sitting in the Flute Section

Last week's CCB rehearsal got me thinking about all of my ensemble experiences and in particular the way I felt sitting in the flute section of any given ensemble.  I feel as though I have spent most of my life just "sitting" in the section rather than actually being a member of the section.  What I mean is that I was there physically, but my mentality and preconceived notions on how I should behave kept me from fully integrating myself into the group.  Up until graduate school I was uptight and closed off from building relationships with my flute peers.  This sounds awful, and it somewhat is, but it is more normal than you might think.  I wasn't mean or rude, but I didn't always go out of my way to get to know anyone who wasn't immediately to my left or, more preferably, to my right.  

I may have missed out on relationships that I could still have now and relationships that could have made me an even better flutist.  It is not that I want to be best friends with every flute player, but I want to know them and I want them to know me.  I didn't talk much during rehearsal, which is not a bad thing.  In fact, if more people would stop talking during rehearsals groups could get more done.  Talking, unless it directly pertains to rehearsal, is for breaks and time outside rehearsal.   Okay, mini rant over.  Back to the topic at hand.  When I say I didn't talk much, I mean, not really at all.  I probably couldn't name most of the people I have played with over the years even if you showed me their picture.

At my first University Philharmonic rehearsal in grad school, I sat down and pulled out my flute, warmed up, and then sat there until Maestro began rehearsal.  Except that this other flute player, who will remain nameless (although anyone who has played with them probably knows who they are), sat down next to me and as they put their flute together they turned to me, introduced themselves, and started talking to me about, really, random things.  They were so chill and so comfortable being in rehearsal.  The funny thing is that I didn't realize how uncomfortable I was in rehearsals until I realized how comfortable they were.  And I became instantly jealous.  Why couldn't I be that chill and relaxed?  Was I so uptight that I was alienating my peers? (Yes, I was.) 

The more I played with this flutist, the more I began to relax and enjoy rehearsing with the people around me.  I started to know other flute players in my section.  They challenged me and pushed me because some of them had the nerve to be better than me in various aspects of flute playing.  And I realized that this was the best situation.  When I think back to high school band I remember how tense I always was in rehearsal because I rather disliked the other talented flute player in the band.  Yes, she made me work hard because I wanted to beat her in reseatings, desperately, but I missed out on improving in a far healthier manner.  We probably still wouldn't have been best friends because of her mentality, but I would have been happier.

So, finally, back to CCB rehearsal.  I can name everyone in the front row of the flute section.  I am not sure I can say the same for the back row.  And that makes me feel horrible.  Fortunately, some of us in the front row have been considering coming an hour early for rehearsal and playing quartets and flute choir music (depending on the number of people that show up).  This is exciting because I love playing music in any ensemble setting.  But I am also hoping to get to know the flutists I play with in band better.  Some of them have been in the band for a decade and this is only my second year.  I want to know them and I want them to know me. 

Besides, a flute section that plays together [outside of rehearsal], plays together [better].  :)

A Bit of Music History for You: The Oldest Instrument and the Oldest Song

So, I ran across this little gem on Facebook (I will admit that social media has its advantages)... here is the link to the full article.  I think this is fascinating!  The flute and drums are allegedly the first instruments, other than the voice, and here is a flute that verifies that flutes have been around for a very, very long time.  The Adam/Eve of instruments.  Yep, I said it.  All the other lesser instruments came from a humble baby cave bear bone flute beginning.  Enjoy this cool piece of history!

And here is a little bonus.  The earliest known, as I understand it, song.  At least the earliest recorded, via writing, song.  It is generally assumed that singing/music was an oral tradition prior to written notation.  The rhythm is an educated guess by the smart people who researched this, but look at the original notation! I am impressed they got anything out of it at all.  But then, that is why I probably wasn't asked to consult on this little project.  Maybe next time...

Sometimes I really think I should have been a music historian anthropologist.  That's a thing, I'm fairly certain.

For more flute history, read this blog post by my friend Katie Smyth.

Educational Performances

Recently Pipes & Keys has been putting together ideas for things we could do at elementary school visits.  It is a bit tricky because we are trying to create programs and activities that will engage the young audience, involve music for two flutes, and exhibit good use of materials in the time allotted.  Playing for younger audiences can be especially challenging due to their general lack of attention span.  Unlike in a recital, when playing music for children the program needs to be more interactive, unless you want the children to stop listening after the first five minutes.

So I read excerpts pertaining to such events in "The Savvy Musician" and "Beyond Talent".  Both books gave the same general guidelines.  For instance, consider using musical excerpts or shorter arrangements of the music so that attention is more easily maintained and the excerpts can be repeated and more easily facilitated in the performance.  Only plan on a 30-45 minute presentation/performance, again for the attention span.  Try interweaving other school subjects into your musical presentation: writing (or English, as it were), Math, Art, etc.  Stick to one theme/concept for the whole presentation.  You don't want to overwhelm them and, despite the most well thought out lesson plan, too many details will be just too much.  I say this with experience as I taught Italian while working on my Masters degree.  Even college kids can only handle so much information in 45 minutes.

As I thought about things Pipes & Keys could do, I tried to treat the whole affair as a call and response activity, or as interactive an experience as I could make it given the musical pieces I was considering.  Here are a few of the ideas that I came up with:

A) We could play a piece, any piece, and ask the students to respond in some manner.  It could be something as "serious" or "dense" as Bach's Partita and we could have them write a story while we play, or it could be as "fun" and "light" as RK's Flight of the Bumblebee and we could ask them what makes it sound like a bee.  Is it the speed?  The buzzing sound created by flighty half steps in constant eighth note rhythm?  Is it the shape created by the melodic line?  Or does it not sound like a bee at all to them?  There is a chance that could be the case, especially if they have never heard it before and therefore don't associate the melody with a bee.

You could also take this time to give a brief, but fun, music history lesson on the composer of the piece you are playing and an introduction to the world they lived in when they composed the piece.  There are fun music history books out there geared towards younger audiences.  There are also theory books of the same mold.  And there are also just hilarious books like "Bach, Beethoven, and the Boys".  Seriously, just read the first page and if you aren't laughing then I am a bigger music nerd than I already thought.

B) We could play short excerpts of music from their favorite movies or play excerpts of Carnival of the Animals or Peter and the Wolf and introduce the idea of a musical motif.  If we play music from, oh I don't know, How to Train Your Dragon, do the students associate a particular melody with a particular character, place, or event?  After going through all the characters in Peter and the Wolf musically, can we tell the story, or even have them make up a story with those characters?  Finally, at the end of the day, do the students understand what a motif is?

C) Using theory, we could make work sheets with rhythms written out, a string of varying lengths of notes and have them tell us the total beats.  For example, they will see an eighth note, a quarter note, and a doted quarter note and they will add that up to equal three.  This is basic math in a musical context.  You can work on addition, fractions, greater/less than/equal to all while using musical notation.  You can also write out rhythms, give them a time signature and have them insert bar lines.  The possibilities are endless here.  You can have them clap rhythms and play them yourself.

D) In relation to the above mentioned idea, we could delve into simple composition as well.  You would have to teach them the range of your instrument -- not a bad idea -- and if you're feeling up to it and you play multiple instruments, you can emphasize the fact that not all instruments have the same range.  At any rate, the composition can come into play by you giving them pre-written rhythms that they can copy and to which they can merely add pitches.  If you want to be extra crafty, give them famous rhythms they might not recognize without the proper pitches, Beethoven's 5th for example.  The kids will have fun hearing what they composed played out loud and it might inspire them to go home and compose some more.  Think about it, you may inspire a future composer in 30 minutes of playing!

It seems like the possibilities are endless.  Plus, it will be fun  and we can leave them some fun music related puzzles or activities for them to take home.  I loved doing music math, and using note names to finish stories when I was younger (see example below).  Actually, I still do.  That shouldn't come as a shock considering I got my degrees in music.  Why would I take music theory and history classes unless I enjoy it?  And now that I have a plethora of music stickers I feel more than ready to go out into the young educational community and participate in the simple joys of music making!

Do you have more ideas on how to engage a young audience?  I would love to hear them as well as hear about your experiences in the elementary classroom!  Teach on, my friends. :)