Zen (Head Joint) Master, Lindsey McChord of Powell Flutes

When I visited the Powell Flutes factory in the summer of 2014, one of the highlights was meeting the chief head joint maker, Lindsey McChord. Henceforth, I have thought of her as a "Zen Master" in the art of cutting head joints, because it really takes that kind of patient, sustained attention to detail to make the fabulous varieties of head joints on offer by Powell. She radiated that calmness, and it shows in the incredible consistency of the head joints Powell produces.

At that time, Lindsey was developing what would become the Signature II style head joint, and I was able to try a prototype—it has the larger lip plate like the Custom Philharmonic and Venti style heads, and the cut of the embouchure is slightly different from the original Signature (still on offer). To me, it was a winner, and indeed has been in production for the last year or so.

Now Powell has just launched the Lumina style head joint for its Custom and Conservatory flutes, and I'm dying to try one out. As soon as I get some here, I'll let everyone know. But coming from the workshop of Lindsey, I suspect it will be another winner!

Lindsey McChord, Chief Head Joint Maker at Powell Flutes

Syrinx : XXII - It's a wrap! (HOT!!)

Global warming has arrived, in case there were any doubt! After ten days of Syrinx : XXII rehearsals in the sweltering heat of Lisbon, we escaped to…more heat in the north! Not all was lost; the rehearsals were fantastic—fun and creative as always, and the north was beautiful beyond our (already very) high expectations!

At the end of the last day of rehearsals, we relaxed for a photo shoot in the elegant Lisbon Opera House. Like the rehearsals, the shoot was entertaining, entirely due to my patient and cheerful colleagues, Raj Bhimani, piano and António Carrilho, recorders. We extend our most grateful appreciation to the Opera House for their support, and to photographer Rita Delille, for her talent and good humor!

Syrinx : XXII, with Raj Bhimani and António Carrilho

ESART - Line Up Your Ducks!

Dear prospective students of Superior Courses in Music: this blog entry is FOR YOU! In English we have an (odd) expression: "lining up your ducks". This means getting all the preparation you need organized BEFORE the moment of an audition or applying for a course of study. 

I cannot stress how important this is for those trying to enter into Superior-level Music Courses; these have become highly competitive in recent years, and aside from preparing your playing audition, you ought to prepare to the best of your ability for the written exams, especially including the REQUIRED NATIONAL EXAM(S). Take note: these requirements can and DO change with some regularity, and it is NOT EASY to keep up with the changes. However, you simply must, or you risk being accepted and then not being able to matriculate for lack of an exam or lack of passing an exam. 

This may seem unfair, but at the same time, you should realize that all University-level courses are highly underwritten (i.e. paid for) by the government, and so it would be normal to expect incoming students—"even" in music, art, etc.—to be functional in Portuguese and so forth! So, practice, yes, indeed, but also: LINE UP YOUR DUCKS!

ESART - Flute class, c. 2015

Art, Humanity and Progress

On my excursion to the North of Portugal, I was finally able to visit the Museum of "Arte Rupestre" (Prehistoric Rock Art) of the Valley of Foz Côa. This remarkable archeological site was discovered during excavations for an eventual dam, that luckily was never built, due to the importance of the site, named as World Patrimony in 1998. I remember all this excitement but had never gotten around to visiting.

Well, what a treasure trove of art! Spanning thousands of years during the Palaeolithic ages, dating as far back as 25,000 years B.C. and encompassing an extended area, the drawings (engravings) show changes in style and technique and are notable for their profusion—like a musical fugue: one drawing overlaps with several others. The archaeological work done in the last 20 years is astounding.

In the Museum—a handsome architectural monument—this quote, from a famous French archaeologist resonated: "The history of art and humanity are indissociable". To be artistic is to be human. The drawings to the left of the quote are from Picasso (1946, far left) and from the Foz Côa rock art (c. 22,000 B.C, near left). With all due respect for Picasso…so much for progress in art! 

From the Museum at Foz Côa

Postcard from Portugal

Since Beethoven if not much earlier, the beauty of nature has been an inspiration for composers and musicians, and here in Portugal there's no lack of natural beauty to take one's breath away! It's always good to occasionally recharge one's batteries, breathe deeply (without exhaling through a flute!), and drink in the beauty that is all around us.

On a short holiday in the northeastern area of the country, between discovering many enchanting villages and churches—photos coming soon—I am finding the landscape to be gently divine, and remarkably pristine. Here's a photo from near Torre de Moncorvo, something to hold in my memory whenever a piece of unspoilt nature is the remedy for urban ills…

Rolling hills, cork and olive trees in the North of Portugal

Low Flutes: Purcell Redux

For the Professors' Recital on the first day of the Summer Flute Academy, I got a chance to perform a contrabass flute duo with Stephanie Wagner, and Jonathan Ayerst on piano. This was a sort of second baptism of my new Eva Kingma Contrabass Flute, which is as fun to play as it is cool to look at! (At the 1st Summer Flute Academy I played 3 notes on Stephanie's Contra and it was love…what can I say?)

We played an adaptation I wrote for contrabass flute duo and piano of the famous aria "Dido's Lament" from Purcell's opera "Dido and Aeneas". Gloriously noble, sad music. I thank Stephanie for playing the harder part, and Jon for being the top-notch "backup band". Soon I hope we'll have all our Academy videos online—I'll let you know here as soon as they're up—but for now here's a photo! 

Two Kingma Contrabass Flutes at the 4th Summer Flute Academy