Aldo Baerten at the Summer Flute Academy - photos!

I'd like to again thank Aldo Baerten, Principal Flute of the Royal Flemish Philharmonic in Antwerp, Belgium, for his wonderful recital and masterclasses at the Summer Flute Academy this year. His performance and work with the students reflected the artistic influences of his teacher, the legendary Peter-Lukas Graf, a special stylistic flexibility that perhaps comes from performing under chief conductors Edo de Wart and Philippe Herreweghe, as well as that special "something" that reaches and touches the audience, in this, the most ephemeral of the arts.

Aldo is a Powell Flutes Artist, and his presence was made possible by Powell Flutes in Boston, USA. Photos below: Aldo Baerten in action teaching, a group foto with Aldo, and with me before the session on Powell's history and flutes—a few minutes later, the room was full of flutists trying out the gear, of course!

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Happy 90th Birthday to THE PROFESSOR

I've just discovered that the composer Karl Kohn, my dear Professor of Music at Pomona College, celebrates his 90th birthday today, so this entry SIMPLY MUST be dedicated to him. Professor Kohn was the towering figure of the music department for years, and for good reason. Born in Vienna he escaped to the U.S. with his family as a teen, was educated at Harvard, and has received numerous grants and fellowships, as well as being on the board of the famed "Monday Evening Concert Series" of mostly new music in Los Angles for 20 years. His works are published by Carl Fischer, among others.

At Pomona, he received us as freshmen: lumps of unformed musical material with extremely little culture (for someone from Vienna, especially), and through patient if occasionally dramatic means somehow, by senior year, turned us into near-musicians! (I suspect he'd have loved to begin teaching us at exactly the moment we graduated!). We heard Ligeti for the first time in a duo-piano performance with his also-gifted-pianist wife, Margie, and it was ELECTRIFYING. We discovered that Machaut and Josquin were just as clever as Stravinsky, rhythmically. We were taken to task if we turned in illegible work (pre-computer era): "You expect musicians to have time to try to read this garbage?" followed by the sound of your score being torn to shreds! Or, "you expect professional musicians to sit on stage and play 10 notes in the entire piece?? Write them something to play!". We eventually got the idea!

Now he is a Distinguished Emeritus Professor—retired with benefits—and is still busy composing and leading a life in music. I was honored to perform at a concert at Pomona last February, and in a way, knowing he was in the hall was all I needed to know I had to play my best. Thank you dear Professor Kohn, and many happy returns of the day!

Composer Karl Kohn with Raj Bhimani, piano soloist and member of Syrinx: XXII in February 2016

"Zapping" warm-up for flutists

Photos coming soon; this bug or lack Wifi or whatever is a DRAG!

Today: some flutey advice on how to warm up in a short(ish) time! I gave the warm up session this morning at the Academy, and it was not only fun (company!) but functional! 

We went through 5 exercises, as samples of a "healthy flute diet" that can be done in 20-30 minutes; I used or adapted exercises that have more than one goal. Yay for multitasking! In order, briefly, and with a reference of the original material:

1) 2-octave arpeggios, starting on F major, and ascending by half-steps. This is for checking posture, breathing without stress or hurry, and to cover the whole range. Go to top and return to low C through F. Simplified from the Vocalises in Philippe Bernold's book: L'Art de l'embouchure.

2) Two-octave scales in sixteenths, first slurred, then repeated double-tongued. Aim for same air support in both versions. Then go down two steps to the relative minor and repeat the process. Etc. through all 24 M/m keys. Can change color/dynamic to make more challenging as it goes along.. Simplified version of Taffanel and Gaubert's exercise journalier (17 Grandes E  J ) N° 4.

3) Articulation, slurs and release exercise from Moyse "De la sonorité", with pivot note (work the hardest ones most frequently!) in four versions as per M  Moyse's excellent instructions  

4) Five-note/articulation exercise from Robert Stallman's "Flute Workout". Work for sound, clarity and, of course, speed! So musical, love this book!!

5) Wide-interval study as from Bernold's book again; we did minor 7ths, but you could choose any interval (2 8ves), and vary the dynamics for a greater challenge . Always aim to work somewhere between the "easy" zone and the "frantically hard" zone - there lies PROGRESS! Enjoy and write in with feedback!

Just another typical day at the Summer Flute Academy

Which is to say: FULL! Morning: last lessons of master class given by our wonderful guest artist, Aldo Baerten- fabulous playing and fabulous teaching, exciting to watch! While everyone goes off to lunch, set up an expo of Powell flutes and piccolos in main room. Rush to lunch, eat on the fly. Seminar on the Powell company, its storied background, and current offerings, followed by a swarm of eager testers, swapping out head joints and bodies, great fun, the proverbial "birdcage on fire". OOPS, time's up, chamber music! Quick check on the duo working up the winning composition of our composition competition, "Traveling", for flue and alto flute, by Ricardo Matosinhos. Brilliant playing by two excellent participants. Then we crash the composers seminar, run by the President of the competition's jury, Ivan Moody, and the duo is worked through with the composer: a few tweaks here and there—a fantastically fun píece! Then on to hear a Kohler Quartet, which is coming along great— Friday performance on the docket. Then rush to rehearse "Recompor" by Jorge Ramos with a large ensemble: fine-tuning balance and expression, checking details with Jorge- so useful to have LIVING COMPOSERS at hand. Finally a moment of rest, then the urge to practice- a golden half hour, not bad. Final event: "Body Percussion" with Artur Carvalho. FUN FUN FUN. I am terrible, but who cares! Totally cool teacher; I want to do it again NOW! And just before starvation hits: dinner with Ivan- civilized and entertaining yakking over great food! Now that's a day in a "life in music", folks! 

A day full of inspiration

We broke with our usual AFV schedule yesterdayyy to host a masterclass by the fabulous Belgian flutist Aldo Baerten, and it was well worth it! Beyond being a flutist, he's a "musician's musician": the flute is only a tool for making MUSIC, rather than an end in and of itself. He gave generously in his attention, respect, knowledge and appreciation to each student, and they were remarkably adroit in making the suggested changes. I thoroughly enjoyed the day: I was simultaneously a teacher observing an admirable colleague's work… and taken back to my days as a young player attending masterclasses—scribbled notes to keep as food for thought and useful tactics to try when the well of my own inspiration runs dry. Thanks again to Powell Flutes, who sponsored Aldo here! (Having a technical snafu whereby I cannot attach photos to the blog- I'll do photos next week from home…). Cheers to all!

I'm busted! (Thanks for busting me, Clay)

A member of my vast readership has pointed out to me that life, and music, do not begin in college, and right he is! He perhaps wants me to confess that my first instrument was the ukulele?… having gotten that out of the way, i'll jump to high school and confess the greatest good luck with both teachers and fellow students. Ours was a magnet school for performing arts before such a thing existed. We put on musicals twice-yearly, with the entire production, on and offstage, turned over to the students: scenery, lighting, tech, orchestra, and even the singers! Once a sub filled in for Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz on a day's notice and was an instant star. A friend wrote an oratorio, another friend conducted us singing it. We sang a twelve-tone Anthem by Stravinsky. We learned about aging singing in local convalescent homes. The cute boy who could do stand-up and mime took on a serious role perfectly in the play "The Diary of Anne Frank". One singer later started an opera company; another was nominated for a Grammy. Our teachers had unlimited faith in our nascent abilities. Another day I'll write more about it all, but Clay, don't worry it's not forgotten— none of you are remotely forgotten. Ramona High School: an extraordinary ordinary public school in the California 'burbs. As I start a week of working with young musicians, I'll keep these thoughts close at hand.