Hey everyone,
Now that my senior concerto is done, woo! – I now can choose a new piece to play. I was choosing between Doppler’s Airs Valaques and Popp’s Nightingale Serenade. I chose Doppler’s piece because I have had my fair share of playing music that is suppose to imitate birds. It’s a fun one, but not too hard. With this piece, it will be a quick turn around to learn and perform. I spent about a year on my concerto and spent about a month with this one. I performed in a chill and fun environment — my last performances before I’m off to college.
One thing that I have noticed is that I get way less nervous before performances. A few years ago before performances I would get super nervous because they were always a big deal. Now, I barely get nervous and don’t mind performing in front of audiences, even with super short notice. I have become more comfortable being on stage and have realized that the people in the audience are just there to enjoy whatever I have to offer and play. One thing that hasn’t changed though is the fact that the more time I have to just wait before a performance, the more anxious I get, so I usually have to distract myself.
Anyways to the performances themselves. For the piece I was playing with the piano and at first I would say that we were definitely struggling to stay together. I hadn’t studied the score too much, which may have been part of the problem. I wouldn’t say that we were falling apart per say, it’s just that we didn’t click together. But after some deliberate practice together, we figured it out. Now, to me performances are just part of the practicing cycle and a way to finish a piece off. More recently I have gotten more compliments about my playing which makes the experience better, knowing that people are truly enjoying what I put together.
I really loved playing the Doppler piece and there was something so fun about it once I learned it, putting it all together and hearing myself. For a quick turn around, I would call it a success.
My 2nd performance was very important to me even though it was a very relaxed environment. Every few months my private lesson teacher would gather all her students and have a recital together where everyone would show off what piece they were working on. Because of Covid for the past two years, it has been different. We all meet on Zoom and share videos of our performances. But, this was the first time where our recital was in person again. It was so nice to hear so many different flutes and see people from all walks of life trying to learn the instrument. I thought another thing that was cool was hearing my fellow students that I hadn’t truly heard in years and seeing all the improvements that they’ve made as players. It was also a farewell as sorts because this was my official last recital before no longer being a regular student of my teacher and leaving for college.
Something about this that I would say I enjoyed the most was the flute choir music we all played together. Flute choir is basically a group of all different types of flutes playing music together. These types of flutes include the normal flute, piccolo, alto, and bass flutes. I haven’t been a part of a flute choir for about 3 years now. It was so ethereal to be a part of something like that again — a part of something bigger that all blends together.
It’s crazy now to think that this part of flute playing is over and transitioning for me. Right now I’m getting ready for music in college.
-Jovie
