Classical
music
Introduction
In June 1999 I started learning the flute, and I have to say it is taking a lot longer than I expected. I still consider myself a complete beginner and have not yet risked any public performances. I like to make the excuse that an inconspicuous but nevertheless significant notch in my upper lip makes things difficult for me on the flute, forcing me to play to one side where the muscles are significantly weaker and less well controlled than at the centre. But how can I say that when the world famous Jean Pierre Rampal did exactly the same, and seemed able to play really quite well. I hold onto the hope that as he managed to play so well despite what might be seen as a major obstacle, then I might be able to play quite well eventually. For the time being I have to accept whatever I can achieve at present. Talking to other flutists, I think the flute is not the easy instrument that it is made out to be.
I also play piano and organ. Well at least I did until a few years ago - I stopped playing them when I started the flute because I was short of practice time. Some years ago (in my mid teens) I used to accompany cathedral style church services (anthems, canticles etc) and in the process learnt many organ voluntaries, including most of the Prelude and Fugues by Bach, the Three Chorales by Cesar Franck and also many pieces by Vierne, Langlais etc. There were some pieces I never managed to learn, like Dupre’s Variations on a Noel, and Bach’s Variations on von Himmel Hoch, so once I’ve made at least some progress with the flute, I’m sure I will be tempted to go back and learn a few more organ pieces. I have given a number of organ recitals, but no piano recitals as I unlike the organ I somehow never managed to have any formal piano lessons.
In Sept 2001 I bought a copy of Sibelius (www.sibelius.com) to get some composing experience. This program is expensive, but it is very quick to use compared with many other scoring programs I tried, and does a better job with complex piano and organ music. In fact, many scoring programs can’t multiple part piano or organ music at all.
For recordings I use a Sony MZ-R700 minidisc recorder with a Sony ECM-MS907 microphone. The minidisc recorder has the habit of adding annoying electronic whirring sounds but I could not find a better recorder at the price at the time I bought it. If you wait 20 seconds after starting the recorder, you miss the worst of these noises. I use CoolEdit 2000 (www.syntrillium.com) with Multitrack Studio to edit sound files and to produce mp3 files. This really is great software, especially for the money (under $100). (You need to install something called mp3fix to make it work correctly with low bit rate mp3 files).