Category: feedback

  • Tempo, Where’s the Hurry?

    In my last entry, I made some sarcastic remarks about the tempo in Berio’s Sequenza for flute being too fast. Now with genuine curiosity, I would like to probe composers’ psyche in the hopes that it will reveal why given tempi are often too fast. I will try not to make this a rant. Given…

  • Wish List

    Things I wish I had spent more time on as a student: Sight reading Scales in intervals of a sixth – and sevenths and ninths! There are too many of those intervals flying around in contemporary music. Improving my writing skills Yoga or sports Learning acoustics. I wasted a lot of time trying to blow,…

  • Newsflash for Teachers: Being an Asshole is Ineffective

    Every time I pick up a science news magazine or book I end up smacking my head in disbelief that science goes to such lengths to prove what everybody else knows already. So being an Asshole is an ineffective approach to teaching. Really, a Nobel Prizewinning scientist said so!  I read it in a random…

  • Are we confused now?

    Here is a long, rambling flute entry based on last week’s teaching: helping “older” students who still have basic problems. Because we’re talking about professional training, “older” means mid-twenties – usually – but there are notable exceptions. However, by age 21-22, most young flutists have done their 4-year degree and are looking for a Masters…