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University Choir Performing Vivaldi's Gloria

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Example of section where parts had to be played down the octave

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Screenshot Shostakovich (down the octave)

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Example of Piccolo solo in Shostakovich 

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Snapshot of me playing Verdi's The Force of Destiny - Overture

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This semester I have been involved in the University Orchestra and Choir. This was my first opportunity to play with the orchestra. I played piccolo in the orchestra and was an alto in the choir. I performed at the Orchestra and Choir Concert in March but I was unable to continue with orchestra after the easter break due to exams.
I played the piccolo in Verdi's The Force of Destiny Overture and Shostakovich's Symphony no. 5.
I was excited to play in the orchestra as I hadn't played with a group of similar ability since I was in school. I discovered quickly that I struggled with counting large sets of rests and relied heavily on cues from Russell. I felt uncomfortable with the rest of my section and initially struggled to ask for advice. Once I started speaking to the other flutes I learned that they faced similar problems and relied on the first flute for entries. Unfortunately, I was unable to do this since my part didn't overlap with the first flute.
Another challenge was learning to play the piccolo. This was a new instrument to me and I only had four weeks to master it. There are countless similarities between the flute and piccolo but the change in embouchure and airflow proved to be challenging. The instrument I purchased was a beginner piccolo so it was not designed for the top octave but these notes were common in the Shostakovich. I struggled to play above F#. Even by the concert date, there were some sections which I had to play an octave lower (see figure 54 in extract below).
To combat these struggles, I spent two of my instrumental lessons on the piccolo. After playing with Debbie she provided me with some alternative fingerings, which I was able to put into practice, particularly in the Verdi. This was because the piece was easier rhythmically so I was able to change to new fingering more easily. We also discovered that the piccolo I bought had particularly flat Cs but was surprisingly in tune in the top octave. This settled some nerves I had about the tuning as piccolos are notorious for being out of tune. The piccolo seemed to get easier to play after it had been 'warmed up'. To ensure it was sufficiently 'warmed up', I booked a practice room before each orchestra rehearsal. This meant my playing was more successful but took up more energy, leaving me out of breath.
Another problem I faced, was that piccolo ended up being more of a priority than flute. I used up much of the time I usually spent practicing, playing piccolo so I got behind on my recital pieces. This lead to being able to play up to A7 by the final concert which was a great achievement. To do this I should have pushed myself to get to the correct embouchure and airflow but it would be hard to embed these into my muscle memory in time. I experimented with the positioning of the head joint and found that I could hit more notes in the top octave when the headjoint was turned in and pulled out. However, this made the tuning flatter in the bottom octave.  I was able to push the headjoint in before any lower passages, like in my solo, ensuring the correct tuning (see below). I did get nervous before any exposed parts and Russell was aware of this. In the technical rehearsal, I was miss counting rests. I spoke with Russell and he gave obvious signals to support me. This was beneficial to my sound as I looked above the stand. My hard work paid off and everything went well in the final performance. Russell complimented my playing afterwards which has given me confidence going into my recitals.
Choir was a more relaxed experience than orchestra. The rehearsals were more casual as there were more opportunities to get to know others in the choir and your section. Communicating with the rest of the section meant we were able to discuss any problems and provide solutions to one another. I quickly learned the parts and managed to get difficult intervals correct, spotting notes that I could remember over rests, even assisting other in my section at times. I felt more confident at the concert, with any nerves being overshadowed by the nerves for the Shostakovich. In contrast, the orchestra rehearsals were more of a commitment. If some parts were missing others may not have cues to help with their entries. With choir, there should be at least one other person singing the same part so there would always be someone to cover if you cannot attend a rehearsal.
Surprisingly, I preferred my choir experience this semester . I felt confident whilst singing, enjoyed being a part of the choir and performing in the concert due to the relaxed setting. Any nerves I had due to performance anxiety meant I was unable to appreciate orchestra fully.

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My concert management was on 17th May at the Chamber Music Competition. This is an annual event put on by the department where some of the top classical performers in the department compete. These performers are judged by an external adjudicator, Richard Saxel. Richard Saxel is a concert pianist and the Director of Music at Cranleigh School. He studied Music with History of Art at the University of York before furthering his studies at the The Royal Academy of Music, specialising in Piano Accompaniment. This specialism makes for the perfect adjudicator, especially as five performances had piano accompaniment. He regularly adjudicates this event and the department were happy to welcome him back, after many years without the competition.
My first task at the concert management was to create a schedule for the concert and the technical rehearsals. Due to the larger number of performances, I had to separate similar instruments and consider the layout of equipment on the stage.
The final running order can be found in the table below.
This ensured the separation of the instrument families. This meant that the performances that required chairs were on first and finished last to ensure smooth changeovers. The aim was to minimise the possibility of the concert overrunning.  However, this resulted in a string of solo instrument and piano accompaniment. This may have lead to a less visually stimulating concert due to a lack of variation in the stage layout.
It was hard to stick to the planned timings. The competition started late so we were running 5 minutes behind schedule from the beginning. In retrospect, I would give more time for set changes as I overestimated how quickly the changes could be made to the set. However, this may have been more efficient had there been a concert manager.
The technical rehearsal schedule I created ran in opposite order to the final performance. This ensured the layout was ready for the first performance, however I received feedback from staff that the length of some slots were too short. Originally, I gave each group roughly twice the length of their performance but was told it was better to give some of those with the 10 minute slots longer, as well as changes made due to the availability of performers.
This was the correct decision to make as rehearsals started late due to delays in setting up floating mics. To stick to timings, I stopped the string sextet early, this upset some members of the group but it prevented any further delays. The sextet were given a total of 20 minutes to rehearse which equalled the allocation of other groups. I noted any equipment as well as what was required from myself and the assistant in between performances during each technical rehearsal (see attachments).
Despite the late running of the rehearsals, we finished 10 minutes after originally scheduled. From here, the assistant and I could complete all remaining tasks in advance to the start of the concert.
After this, it was just ensuring that I gave clear instructions to the concert assistant. However, I was not always specific enough. This resulted in one set of performers following me onto the stage rather than waiting for me to rearrange the stage and return to the green room, resulting in a less professional appearance.
The final problem I faced was dealing with uncooperative people. I was not informed that I had to pass copies of scores to the adjudicator. All groups knew this but one, who were unhappy that I hadn't told them. I attempted to print a copy but the printer broke so I was unable to give the adjudicator a copy. Whilst I was trying to print the score the assistant was left to put the sextets' chairs and stands into place. As he hadn't seen my sheet and I hadn't been there to give instructions, he put out five chairs, which were spaced too far apart. This not only disrupted the performance, but made it more difficult for the group to communicate effectively, negatively impacting their overall performance.
To improve on my performance, I would be more strict with instructions, send out rehearsal schedules earlier and ask staff more questions in advance to ensure I know what to ask the performers. Overall, the competition was successful despite the final performance. I received positive feedback from staff.

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Stattu Conducts Stravisky I: The Firebird

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I have two assessed performances this semester so I have prioritised performance. My first performance is of Hamilton Harty's 'In Ireland' (1918) with 'Hypnosis' by Ian Clarke (1994) and in the other I will perform the first and second movements of Prokofiev's Flute Sonata (1943) . I am pursuing a career in mathematics and these may be my last opportunities to play. In previous semesters, I have simply learned the assessed pieces. This prevented me from getting lower grades but made me a less well rounded flautist.
My first opportunity to get more involved in the department, was playing in the orchestra, where I would play piccolo. This may provide more opportunities to play in local orchestras in the future. Playing in the orchestra lead to me being able to get involved in the department further. I played in a second year conducting class and at a Tonmeisters recording session of God Help the Outcasts (recording below). Regularly playing in front of others, particularly when my lines were exposed developed my confidence. This was also helped by hearing others perform with minor errors, such as at lunchtime concerts.
The first lunchtime recital I observed featured four performances, one was of Gary Schocker's 'Regrets and Resolutions'. This is a late 20th century flute piece. This flautist and I particularly enjoy music from the 20th century and I am an admirer of her choices of repertoire. She has exposed me to pieces that I would not have considered otherwise, but still enjoy. Her performance was strong, with clear confidence and understanding of the piece. She was able to deal with tempo changes with ease and clearly listened to the piano part. Her understanding of the music was noticeable through her movements. The stand out parts of her performance were the long sections of double tonguing. She was able to execute these with evenness whilst maintaining a clarity in her tone.
I struggle with some advanced techniques, such as double tonguing or flutter tonguing and am yet to master them. This inspired me to practice double tonguing through playing this piece.  I paid close attention to the sections which required double tonguing and I found my double tonguing improving quickly. I had to play most of the notes individually first to develop evenness in the fingers and build up the speed slowly when adding the technique but improvements were made. I struggled with the final passage as it required seven bars of double tonguing, but with more time I would be able to perfect this. I later tried to apply this to In Ireland to see it if would make the long passages sound more even but after experimentation I found it did the opposite. Since I was not confident with the method of tonguing so it was often uneven. This became even harder when attempting to play with recordings. Since In Ireland is a particularly challenging piece, it seemed unnecessary to complicate it further by adding double tonguing. However, if I were to play the piece any faster, I would have to start double tonguing some sections.
The next concert I attended was 'Santtu conducts Stravinsky I: The Firebird' at the Southbank Centre's Royal Festival Hall. This was performed by Philharmonia, a resident orchestra founded in 1945, with multiple shows a week at the Southbank Centre. Santtu-Matias Rouvali has been principal conductor for Philharmonia since 2021 and is the sixth person to hold the title.
I admire the work of Stravinsky, however, I went there to see the first half, Prokofiev's Scythian Suite (1915) followed by Prokofiev's Piano Concerto No. 2 (1912-1913, rev. 1923).
Prokofiev did work with Stravinsky early in his career. Sergei Diaghilev commissioned Prokofiev to write music for a ballet, Ala and Lolliy, after hearing Prokofiev's second piano concerto. After delivering his first draft of the score Diaghilev was unimpressed and described the music as 'rather poor' but still sensed his talent so sent him to Stravinsky. The ballet was never completed but Prokofiev used the best parts to compose the Scythian Suite, which premiered in St. Petersburg in 1916. Stravinsky later described Prokofiev as the best composer of his day, after himself. My experience with Prokofiev's writing is that it can be challenging for flute. He was keen on including top Ds in his work. This often adds little to the pieces but can cause discomfort to the audience. Therefore, in my performance of his Flute Sonata I will play the top Ds as quietly as possible.
When watching this performance, I focused on the flute section, including piccolo. I was hoping to identify some phrasing techniques that I could implement in my performance of Prokofiev.  I was in awe of the control of the piccolo player, Robert Looman, who seemed to play the top register with ease and clarity, something I aspire to achieve. As well as this, he remained in tune even at the top of its register. The projection of the entire flute section was impeccable and it could be heard over the rest of the orchestra. One technique I did hear was the way in which they played notes in a bell like manner. I have applied this to the slower section of the second movement. I had been playing the quiet notes too short and with poor tone. As there is little happening in the piano at this part, adding the bell like tone to the flute makes the music more interesting.
There was a sense of unity in the orchestra, the bows moved in unison and the flutes almost blended into one. I think with improved communication with my section in the future we could create a similar sound but I have been unable to implement this yet.
After watching this concert, I spoke with Debbie about how to improve my projection. We discussed how often I can be glued to a stand and that I need to aim high to fill the corners of the room. Visualising my sound helped fill the room more. I often know all of the notes that I need to play by the time I get to a recital, so I have no need to be glued to my stand. Philharmonia rarely had eyes on the stand and instead focused on Stattu, watching him and moving with him. This was prominent when the violins had bouncing bows.
I had to move from practicing at home to play at PATS. I have to play quietly when practising at home but playing constantly at this dynamic resulted in me adjusting to only playing softly so I stopped using my full lung capacity. Returning to playing in practice rooms has started to solve this problem. I am still more cautious with the dynamics but am gradually using more air.
Overall, I have been more involved in the department this semester. I have thoroughly enjoyed myself and wish I had been more involved in previous years. I have opened myself up to more repertoire, although I could do more to learn pieces from before the 20th century. I wish to continue this involvement next year with I complete my masters in Mathematics.