Music

So I thought I'd do a post about the thing that takes up so much of my time these days - music. This is the time of year when everything starts happening in Cooma, and the music-scene is no exception. In 3 weeks is the annual Cooma Music Competition which is the highlight of my year. We're not doing much this year, except a piece in the small vocal ensemble section. Our family (namely Mum, Bradley, Emma, Caitlyn, Sarah, and myself) has been getting into singing in 4-part harmony lately, so we thought it might be fun to do a piece in the competition.

The Snowy Mountains Ensemble is also expected to perform in the final concert as guests, so we have been polishing our best piece in preparation. On top of that, the Ensemble has been asked to put on a concert for some U3A Music Appreciation program thing the day before, which has kept us busy. Being a new ensemble with new music, there are only a couple of pieces we can play well, so our family ensemble will be playing some pieces to supplement. Unfortunately Joshua won't be back from Newcastle then, so Emma will be doing her first performance in this ensemble on viola (her main instrument is the violin, but she has taught herself how to play viola so that she can play the much-needed parts in ensemble pieces).

Speaking of ensembles, at MuST last week we had a masterclass with a touring ensemble from Chicago. It was really great to be able to talk to them about life as an ensemble musician and hear them play. They were doing a concert at the Wesley Music Centre that evening, but they played most of the program for us, so we essentially got a free concert!

Finally - and before you get too bored to read the rest of this post - I will announce the Snowy Mountains Ensemble's Christmas Carols. This coming Thursday and every Thursday from November 11 to the end of this school term we will be rehearsing simple, fun arrangements of Christmas carols - the idea is that we will invite as many people to join us for those rehearsals as possible, giving local musicians the opportunity to experience ensemble playing in a relaxed atmosphere, and hopefully, if they enjoy the experience, some of them will stay on as permanent members. Easy arrangements and an open strings violin part mean that musicians of any skill level are welcome, and we now have clarinet parts. After all the work we've put into organizing all this (and trust me, it has been hours upon hours of hard work), it would be very nice to see some people participating in and benefiting from this opportunity. So if you know of anyone around that plays an orchestral string or woodwind instrument, tell them to come! :-)

Apart from that there is not much to report, except that I am preparing for an audition next month and I've started learning the coolest piece ever written for flute (well... maybe not quite) - The Great Train Race by Ian Clarke, which is subtitled "The Flute as you don't usually hear it." Quite aptly so, too, as it employs several extended techniques such as residual fast tonguing, singing while playing (!!), lip bending, explosive harmonics, use of quarter-tones, multiphonics and optional circular breathing! It's very fascinating, but the bit that interests me most is the multiphonic section. Until last week I never knew that it was possible for a flute to play more than 1 note at a time - it turns out that flutes can play 2, or even 3 notes at once (multiphonics). Obviously I am very excited to learn this fascinating new piece...