Railroaded for flute choir

The Atlanta Flute Club asked me if I would be one of the conductors for the Atlanta Flute Club's Honors Flute Choir this year for the Atlanta Flute Fair and that I could choose the music performed. How could I pass up the opportunity to compose something new for flute choir?

When I write for flute I like to take advantage of all the different extended techniques that the flute has to offer, however, I knew this group of flutists were young and almost had no exposure to any extended techniques. When looking at the repertoire available, I see that most pieces that use extended techniques are for more advanced players. I wanted to compose a piece that might introduce one or two new techniques, especially since I'd have a whopping total of 4 1/2 hours to prepare the choir, and we were learning several pieces. So I kept it simple. I used 3 syllables of beatboxing (ch, ki, ts) and a pitch bend.

The end result was "Railroaded" for flute choir. The piece is about 3 minutes long, and the group had a good time learning it even if it was all new. I feel the piece works great for any group at any level looking to try out some extended techniques. You can give a listen to a recording, watch a video on how to perform the techniques and purchase the sheet music as a PDF here: http://www.spottedrocket.com/Railroaded.html

Crazy Yet Amazing Week ahead.

Conducted "Footloose" orchestra

If only the whole year could be as busy as it has been up until this point. Right now it seems like it might stay this way until the end of June (and I couldn't be happier)! So far I've conducted 6 Footloose musicals,  performed with Clibber Jones Ensemble, had a few pieces performed/premiered, and secured a commission. If only this keeps up and I don't have a repeat of last summer.

So what's up next? Next week is crazy, yet amazing. On Tuesday, I travel with Terminus Ensemble to give a masterclass and perform at the University of Tennessee. On Thursday, I give a masterclass and perform with Perimeter Flutes at Georgia State University (we are performing my "French Quarter" at the masterclass and "Coalescence" at the concert). On Friday, my sister rolls into town so we can prepare for our presentation "When Tooting Your Flute Is A Pain in Your Neck" at the Atlanta Flute Fair on Saturday...did I mention I am also conduction the Honors Flute Choir at the Flute Fair where my piece "Railroaded" will be premiered and running a booth with my husband for Spotted Rocket Publishing? Yeah...crazy week, but all good things.

So I really haven't had a lot of time to think about what I want to accomplish. I suppose I should leave that

Me, pianist Kaju Lee, and tuba player Bill Pritchard 

to the slower summer times to make any plans. I do know what I want to compose, but plans change depending on who I meet and interact with. So far a must do is a flute choir piece commissioned by the Flute Choir of Atlanta directed by Kathy Farmer. They will premiere the piece at the National Flute Convention in Washington, DC. I've been in flute composing mode for a while, and it would be great to branch out and compose some band pieces. There seems to be a need there.

In the meantime, I've got lost of upcoming concerts and compositions being performed by old and new friends. Last week, tuba player Bill Pritchard and pianist Dr. Kaju Lee gave the first public premiere of "Surus". The best premieres are those given by good old talented friends. But, looking forward to hearing about upcoming performances by people who I just met, and know they are just as talented like Areon Flutes. Who knows? Maybe I'll finally make it out to California, however, my bank account still likes to say otherwise. Regardless, I am certainly looking forward to this year. Its been pretty exciting so far.

New Things

I am not a creature of habit. I rarely like to repeat myself. I love to experience and try new things, especially when it comes to music and travel. Perhaps that's why I love to perform new music and compose. I like to try and experience music I have not heard before and even better, when it has never been performed before. The past few months have been a healthy dose of repetition and new things. Over the past year I have traveled to Hartford, CT 3 times. Don't get me wrong, Hartford is a neat town filled with fabulous musicians (courtesy of the Hartt School) and friends. Luckily, I've been to Hartford 3 times because I've had 3 different premieres - "Trajectory", "Elasticity", and "Stridulation". Otherwise, I wouldn't have gone to hear the same piece performed. I try to go to all my premieres. I'll even try to go to repeated performances if its a place I've never visited before and I can swing the money for the travel. Any excuse to travel, even if it might be some remote college town in the middle of a corn field - say Missouri, but that's another blog post.

So what does a girl do when she can't come up with the finances to travel to glamorous places? Well she tries all sort of new things in town. I decided to get out of my comfort zone and teach a workshop at the Atlanta Flute Fair called "Beatboxing to a Better Bach". I am by no means an expert in beatboxing. I leave that to Greg Patillo, but I use it in my music and I do have the basic understanding. So teaching a group of beginner beatboxers wouldn't be beyond my scope, right? Sure! It went well to my surprise. I certainly succeeded in getting EVERYONE dizzy. So by the end of the workshop I'm sure no one could remember anything.

Sometimes I'll even try things I probably have NO business doing, like conducting a musical's orchestra. Sure I had to take orchestral conducting in college and I have to conduct the church choir every once in a while, but I'm pretty sure that doesn't qualify me as a legitimate conductor. Somehow, I find myself saying, "Sure, I'll do it. As long as you understand I've never done this before." So I conducted my church's annual fundraiser musical. This year it was "The Music Man". I thank my lucky stars that its a musical with only 3 tempos: March, Ballad, and waltz. I was also behind a screen with the orchestra, so I'm sure I wasn't distracting anyone, and every orchestra left the pit with two eyes every show.

Now because each time this year I've tried something new, I decided to go WAY out of my comfort zone and make a fool of myself at the same time this week. I have no shame, and I'll try anything to spice up my musical life. Since I was little - 9 maybe? - I've owned a jaw harp. I've never done much with it except annoy my family on long car rides. (The jaw harp was foolishly bought by my parents on a 9 hour car ride from St. Louis, MO to Savannah, GA. They never thought I'd figure it out. It took 10 minutes. 8 hours and 50 minutes of jaw harpin' with popular 80's tunes on the radio!) So when a buddy of mine in Mercury Orkestar asked a group of percussionists I was standing with if any of them played jaw harp, I pounced! I've already had one appearance this past weekend, but on Friday at 7:45 at Smith's Old Bar I'll play 50 cents' "In Da Club" with Mercury Orkestar on jaw harp for 500 Songs for Kids. I do it for the kids, people!

 So what's next? What am I gonna do to keep it all interesting? Well I really don't know. I'm finishing up a commission for Clibber Jones Ensemble which has been a new composition challenge, but I'm sure I need to find my next scary and ridiculous challenge. I'm open to suggestions. Summer is a perfect time to do crazy things, at least I can blame the heat.