2003-03-14 - 10:23 p.m.
has been a long time that i write anything here. last time i tried to add something here but the site was down... so what happened in the last few weeks was:
the flute practice was still on. the lessons were interrupted for two weeks because of traveling. however, i did bring my flute with me on my trip to italy - imagine that, practice flute in italy! i didn't do any full practice there, but it was good to keep playing a little so i could remember how it felt.
sometimes i feel i am at a plataue already. not learning any new notes, so it feels that i am not learning anything new. just had some faster rythms, like a bunch of 16th notes. and this week i have to learn new time signature - 3/3, 6/3, 9/3. big deal!
i don't like figure exercises. somehow i could manage to do some good ones in front of lori. when i don't practice my scales, they are very raw.
the tone is not always reliable. sometimes i get good tones for a long time (10-15 minutes), but sometimes especially in class i can't produce any satisfactory sound. seems it all depends on luck. however, a few notes i can always get better tones: the first few notes i ever learned, and then the lower ones. the higher ones usually have those ghost sounds. very frustrating.
i bought a few flute music books, including the 40 easy flute/piano pieces in progressive order, and bach's flute sonatas. bach turns out to be very difficult - what should i expect? it's just like that telemann's sonatas. i guess i just want to keep copies of these difficult music to motivate myslef, so i know what i am working towards.
still hoping to find some pinaist willing to accompany me. i remember when i was a pianist :) i didn't like to be the accompanist. when annie yan first visited me in beijing, she played violin and asked me to play the piano with her. somehow the piece just sounded like her violin show piece. there's no way for the piano to outshine any other solo instrument. especially now i play the flute.
this weekend i plan to practice well and maybe i can progress faster. my goal is to finish this second book by the end of may.
i also want to ask lori about where to find "support" group for beginner flautist, such as amateur chamber group. also the possibility of learning jazz flute? i want to have something else other than her to measure my progress against, and to set up a goal to work towards.
D-F is very difficult.
