Category: contemporary music
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Getting Started with Multiphonics
I would like to share the following presentation: Getting Started with Harmonics and Multiphonics – with a deep dive into the harmonic structure of the flute sound. Why do I start this presentation with a discussion on harmonics? Because if you learn how to take out, put in, and isolate harmonics in your sound, harmonics…
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Too Many Flutists
The phrases “there are too many flutists today”, and “conservatories are producing too many flutists for too few jobs” may be true in a certain respect, but they really sadden me. And piss me off, if I really admit. It has been hard to put my finger on exactly why, but when a friend posted…
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Contemporary Music Pedagogy, and Benefits of Teaching Extended Techniques
[This is an excerpt from a questionaire sent to me by Lorenzo Diaz for research purposes. The answers represent my opinions only.] Do you think conservatoires and schools of music really attach importance to contemporary music education? My short answer to your question is “not really” because I think a “Comtemporary Music Education” should require…
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Performing Luigi Nono’s Flute Music
I am very honored to have been invited by Daniel Agi and Tempo magazine to contribute my experience of performing Luigi Nono’s music. Our article has been published; here is the abstract: “A performer of Luigi Nono’s late works is often faced with crucial questions regarding interpretation and technical details. An important tradition has evolved…
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Which extended techniques are harmful to flutes?
During composer workshops, I am sometimes pleased to hear the question: “What are some techniques we should definitely not use because they may harm your instrument?” So I will keep a running list here. Slamming your hands onto the keywork. A snap of the finger for a key click is one thing (and not all…
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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…
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Berio Sequenza, some musings and links
Several days until I record the Berio Sequenza no. 1. This winter break has been very stressful. I was with my family in St. Petersburg. Family can be stressful, my son is at a difficult age, I myself am at a difficult age. Russia is stressful. It was so cold that it has taken my skin…
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Electronic Music, Tape vs. Live Electronics, Click Tracks. Q and A
[Taken with permission from an interview with Cássia Carrascoza Bomfim, in preparation for her doctoral dissertation] Do you feel a lot of difference between playing works with a pre-recorded tape and computer processing in real time (Max/msp)? Both ways present various issues of playing with a microphone. With a tape piece, I am concerned that the live…