Raleigh Area Flute Association March Newsletter

Newsletter of the Raleigh Area Flute Association

Tune In

March 2009

Solo Fest 2009

Sixty flutists have registered for RAFA's 5th annual Solo Fest, to be held Saturday, March 21 at Meredith College, Wainwright Music Building. Participants and their teachers will be contacted soon with the afternoon's schedule. Questions can be directed to Solo Fest coordinator Anne Dyke at (919) 755-2267 or annedyke@aol.com.

Save the Date!!!

Mark your calendars for Sunday, March 29 at 3 p.m. for the RAFA Collaborations Concert--a unique concert event that celebrates the musical ventures of our professional flutists with other instrumentalists and vocalists. The program features chamber works with a variety of guest musicians: flutists Christine Gustafson and Wendy Mehne with pianist Andrea Merrill; flutist Mary Jo White and guitarist Rob Nathanson; flutist Catherine LeGrand and pianist Kenneth Grigg; and flutist Nancy Schneeloch-Bingham with soprano Julia Pedigo. The concert will be held at St. Philip Lutheran Church, 7304 Falls of Neuse (across from Ravenscroft School) and is free to members as well as the general public.

Native American Flutist Scott August
Saturday, March 21
7:30 p.m.
Carswell Concert Hall, Meredith College
Tickets $15 available at the door

To purchase tickets in advance or to register for an afternoon Native American flute workshop ($40, 2 to 4 p.m.), contact John Kincheloe at kincheloej@meredith.edu.

Before the concert, vendors will display and sell Native American wooden flutes, beadwork, jewelry and other items in the lobby.

Scott August is a frequent headline performer at some of the largest Native American Flute events in the country. He is a master of both the Native American Flute and the Anasazi flute. His CDs Distant Spirits and New Fire were Nammy nominees, and his Sacred Dreams was a winner of the Native American Music Award. To learn more about Scott, visit his website.

Laura Gilbert Enlightens and Inspires
By Julie Frederick

New York flutist Laura Gilbert offered inspirational ideas to those who attended her RAFA class February 7. The emphasis of the class was to incorporate Tone Development through Interpretation by Marcel Moyse into our warm-up routines, something other than just playing long tones.

Ms. Gilbert first enlightened us with a beautiful performance of Cordet's Tenderness of Cranes, an unaccompanied flute solo that incorporates extended flute techniques such as singing and playing simultaneously, key clicks, and beautifully arching harmonics. Explaining that learning extended flute techniques enhances one's classical music skills, she recommended the use of Robert Dick's books to learn these techniques.

After participants performed chosen melodies from Moyse's Tone Development through Interpretation, Ms. Gilbert had these helpful suggestions:

Audience

1. Experiment with the angle of one's head to find the most centered sound. Try aiming the air toward left elbow.
2. Avoid collapsing body when taking breaths. Breathe the air in front of you instead of above or below. Keep ribcage up and open.
3. Aim the sound outward, forward and to ends of phrases. It is helpful to keep phrases moving forward.
4. Connect the notes with air.
5. Practice breathing with finger breaths. Finger breaths are done by placing base of index finger over lips shaped in an "O". Exhale fully before drawing in breath. Inhaling air through open throat and jaw helps bronchial tubes remain open, particularly helpful for flutists with asthma. In order to keep bronchial tubes and throat open, do not rush breaths.

When asked how she warms up, Ms. Gilbert explained that she most often uses harmonics, beginning on low B in order to get the entire tube of the flute to resonate. Play first with no vibrato, then add it with a "natural spin". The bottom register is the sounding board for the upper notes on the flute. Resonating low notes creates a better sound throughout the registers. When playing higher partials, match the richer sound of the harmonic with the true fingering of each pitch. Two of Ms. Gilbert's favorite warm ups are numbers 4 and 11 from 17 Daily Exercises by Taffanel and Gaubert. She plays them with varying articulations.

Laura Gilbert gave us great ideas for improving our sounds and being creative with warm up routines, giving us ways to vary our daily routine to avoid over-taxing any set of muscles and to keep things fresh. I encourage everyone to attend the flute classes RAFA offers each year and want to especially thank Laura Gilbert for her inspirational session!

Julie Frederick teaches at the Cary School of Music, Fuquay's Joyful Sounds Music Academy and free-lances with Florian Music. Thank you to Emily Ours for taking photos at the Laura Gilbert event.

Headjoint for Sale

Grenadilla wood headjoint made by Asheville (NC) flute maker Chris Abell; $800 (includes hard and soft cases). Owner Sarah Bost says, "The headoint, purchased three years ago, is still in excellent condition. My only two reasons for selling it are that I do not perform as much anymore since becoming a band/orchestra director, and I plan to move after graduation and could use the extra money for rent and travel. The embouchure hole is more of a rounded square cut, rather than Abell's other oval cut option. If you are interested in purchasing it, I am agreeable to letting you 'test-drive' it for a little while to make sure it is what you want." Contact Sarah at SB64738@gmail.com or 704-929-0400.