Saturday morning I planned on taking the 6:34 train into the City but overslept. The 7:34 arrived in Grand Central at 8:34, and I still made it to the hotel meeting room in time for the 9:00 a.m. Flute Choir Reading Session, the last one of the convention. The session had a travel theme, which the sponsoring flute choir's director put together to show how one might program a concert. One of the things I appreciated about the reading sessions was that the music folders we were given were not all one part. For the first piece you might have the first flute part, for the second fourth flute, second flute on the third piece, etc. Not only does that give participants a better feel for the music, no one gets frustrated with always "getting stuck" with the fourth flute part. I'll have to see if there are any flute choirs in our area.
At noon I attended Ivana Zahirovic's performance of flute music by Croation composers. I liked a couple of the pieces well enough to keep them in mind to look at if I ever had the opportunity to perform solo.
Next I went to the 30+ Open Amateur Masterclass with Linda Chesis. This workshop was part of a series of three organized by the NFA's Amateur Resources Committee. A Masterclass is where a student musician performs a piece of music (or a portion of it) and then a "master teacher" works with the musician to improve technique, performance, etc. Usually a small number of students are chosen by audition. At conferences and other events, Masterclasses are done in a larger venue with an audience--the Masterclass James Galway taught at convention took place in one of the ballrooms. An open class is one where people in the "audience" can volunteer to work with the teacher, or be called upon by the teacher to ask a question of their own. This particular class was specifically for amateur flutists over 30--people like me! Linda showed us how to use a drinking straw to work on airflow and articulation. She also demonstrated a more relaxed posture for playing and gave us some good ways to practice scales, exercises, and performance pieces. It was amazing to see and hear immediate results from her teaching. As a result of this workshop, I did go to the Exhibit Hall and make another purchase--a small tuner.
Here is the description for the last workshop I attended on Saturday:
Kinesthetic artist Zara Lawler, featured on Thursday’s Gala recital, gives a performance workshop on incorporating dance and story-telling into your playing."Interesting, I thought, I'll go see what it's like. I can always leave." Wow! Zara and dancer choreographer C. Neil Parsons performed and led workshop participants through a series of exercises that ended up with a choreographed playing of "Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star." Dancing while playing your instrument; what a concept! Storytelling in instrumental performance isn't new (think "Peter and the Wolf"), but one person doing both the narration and the playing? I came away lots of ideas for storytelling in church settings and things that might be interesting to try in contra dancing and even ballroom. Zara also contra dances--she and her partner had contra dancing at their wedding--and plays for English Country Dancing down in Greenwich Village. She was very interested in the Lavender Country and Folk Dancers second Friday dances at the LBGT Center in the City, too, so I may see her again.
I stuck around late because I wanted to go to the Cabaret Concert of the NFA Jazz Flute Big Band, which was selected through competition. Ordinarily, Jazz is not my thing, but Jonathan was one of the winners, and I figured I could go see him perform. Unfortunately, in order to catch the 12:07 p.m. train home, I had to leave the concert early and missed his solo (though I didn't know he was playing one...).
I got about four hours of sleep before getting up Sunday morning to catch the 6:34 train, so I could attend the 8:00 a.m. Targeted Strategies for Amateurs workshop led by Lisa Fahlstrom, chair of the Amateur Resources committee. More really good ideas for practice, especially when you have limited time to practice. Two of the things that stand out from the session are don't avoid the "icky stuff" (scales, etudes, and exercises), because you do need to work on technique, and play something you like and can play well last, so you can end your practice time feeling good. We also had a conversation about where to find opportunities to play. Lisa asked again and again for ideas and input for programming for amateurs at future conventions. She said that while the NFA had been founded by professional flutists, the majority of the membership consists of amateurs, even if they don't might not admit it. Her definition of an amateur? "Anyone who isn't playing the flute to pay their mortgage." I spent a couple of minutes after the workshop in conversation with Lisa, and I volunteered to participate in the Amateur Concerns Committee, which could affect my decision on whether or not to attend the convention in Anaheim next year.
Next on the schedule was a Mini Flute Spa with Patricia George. The program described it this way:
No time to practice? This participatory masterclass will explore several exercises to keep you playing well. Suitable for all ages and playing abilities.While I learned a couple of interesting things, Patricia seemed to have designed her workshop with teachers of young flute students in mind. I did walk out of this workshop early.
I was really looking forward to Fenwik Smith's From Urtext to Your Text:
Using a Telemann Fantasy in the Bärenreiter Urtext edition, Fenwick Smith will guide you through the options of dynamics, articulation, tempo, phrasing, and style to come up with a viable and stylish “edition” of your own.This was another mild disappointment. Fenwick was late, and it was another presentation using an overhead projector. However, because we were marking music as we worked through the Telemann Fantasy, it was probably the best way to do it, short of digital pen technology such as Canson's PaperShow, which is still in its infancy. He also allowed a couple of participants to hijack the workshop and turn it into a conversation on judging of performance competitions. I and two other participants ended up shutting that down. I did learn a little bit about looking at a piece of music before preparing it for performance, but not as much as I expected out of an hour-and-a-half workshop.
I had lunch with Jonathan both Saturday and Sunday, and we hung out together whenever our free time coincided. So often the first time you go to events like this you don't know anyone. I never travel without a book, but having someone to hang out with and talk about what was going on at the convention was really nice. Not that we spent all of our free time talking a bout the convention and flutes. We discovered some common interests outside of music. We're planning on getting together to see a movie or something when I get back from Pennsylvania.
Even though I didn't stay at the convention hotel in the City, there was still the sense of being in a different time with its own rhythm similar to the way Lavender Country and Folk Dancers Camps feel. Or any convention or multi-day gathering, I suppose. The last day is always that winding down and preparing for re-entry into the "real world." Fortunately, I'm not doing an immediate re-entry, because I'm spending the week with Scott, Maureen, and the kids.
Peace,
Jeff
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