During the summer, I usually focus on technique. Every day, I play through large portions of Taffanel and Gaubert’s 17 Daily Exercises and Moyse’s Daily Exercises. I also reacquaint myself with old etudes and learn new ones. This summer, I’m taking a different approach. I’m working mainly on repertoire because I’m optimistic that I will be performing frequently this coming academic year, and if I don’t start working on it now, I won’t have enough preparation time once the fall semester begins. Current repertoire on rotation this summer includes:
Solo Flute –
The Great Train Race – Ian Clarke
Two Flutes (with and without piano) –
Op. 80 – Friedrich Kuhlau
Duos for Flutes – Robert Muczynski
Au-Delà du Temps – Yuko Uebayashi
Flute and Piano –
Hypnosis – Ian Clarke
Pressing Forward, Pushing Back – Kirk O’Riordan
Sonata – Lowell Liebermann
Sonata – Rob Cronin
Sonata – Mel Bonis
Orange Dawn – Ian Clarke
Alto Flute and Piano –
Framed – Garrett Shatzer
Alto Flute –
Cello Suites – JS Bach (arranged by Carla Rees)
Once performance dates are solidified, I’ll start to organize my rehearsal timetable with a bit more precision. I’ll also be adding a few more pieces and perhaps taking a few off the list. For now, I’m just enjoying having long periods of uninterrupted practice time.
Other fun things so far this summer: I was very happy to give an Ignite talk about Hildegard of Bingen. It isn’t often that you get 5 minutes to tell a coffee house full of people as much interesting stuff as possible about a medieval nun.
I was also on staff for the All State Music Camp hosted by South Dakota State University this past week. It was a good week of teaching flute, hearing some great students, and meeting band directors. I enjoyed seeing colleagues as well as some of my SDSU students who were working at the camp as junior staff.
And today I performed on a Virtual Recital, which is a new series run by Hannah Kim, Alexis Del Palazzo, and Travis Johnson. These recitals are streamed online and allow musicians from all over the world to perform at the same event. Considering the amount of technology required, there didn’t seem to be any snags; it was very well-run, and I hope to be able to participate again in the future.
Today also marks the one year anniversary of my on-campus interview at South Dakota State University. Grateful.
