Well, we have reached the middle. I have learned a lot about the flute – how keys work to open or close the body of the flute, changing the sound; how our body, with breath and posture and embouchure, are an extension of the instrument; how different pitches need different keys and delivery, even if they’re the same “note.”

I’ve also been on a journey understanding myself as a learner over these past couple months. Although I did not expect to say anything interesting in my vlog, I have had a lasting lightbulb moment considering that I’m learning a complex skill in a very small amount of time with little guidance, so anything that I do learn feels important and borderline revolutionary. With that in mind, I’ve been focusing less on how I haven’t gotten a grasp of keeping time in my song, or that my embouchure doesn’t consistently support low and high notes that I “need” to play. I’m still playing a lot. Even when my arms get very, very sore and I rest them on a chair each while I play.

Behold, an update to my scale work: trying to honk out C, Bb, and Ab major.

GIF, video overlays, and poor-man’s “cameo” c/o powerpoint

And here is a gallery of my final copy of Enfant, transcribed and edited.

brought to you by your friendly neighbourhood noteflight

Lastly, I’ll build on my previous practice and show you how I’m learning the notes. Apologies for this last one: it is still rough!

I would highly suggest watching on 1.5-2x playback speed (or at least toggling) – there are long-ish periods of rests, but I had to keep to a tempo of 25 in order to feel confident moving through sixteenth notes. That said – even though it is hard to see, especially with my flute placement on camera, apologies – I feel like I am really getting the hang of transitions in this song.

my main area to work on with this piece now is 1) keeping my left hand engaged: i find that during runs that ascend up to / past B or C, i often forget to replace my left hand (essential) when my right hand goes down. i’m sure this will quickly come up when using breath because the sound will be instantly off; and 2) working on my B B D B pattern in bars 31 and 35 – this is a specific case of my last point where my fingers come off and not all of them make their way back onto the flute.
i’m actually surprised to be able to fairly well get through the whole song without pausing!!! my confidence level with this song has really gone up and i’ve gotten past being annoyed at hearing the tune so much.
in general, as you will tell through my scales, is i have a pretty weak/airy sound at the moment. i’m planning to tackle that with the help of an old friend of mine who reminded me that she pursued the flute semi-professionally in her teen years, and offered to lend me a hand with my practice. i wonder if i’ll be able to get her on a podcast or something similar to get her thoughts and instruction. until then ~