At the beginning of this month we had our first summer course of the year in The Netherlands. It was the first out of three and it was a lot of fun. I always bring a selection of my sheet music with so participants can browse and get inspired. This year I limited myself to two big boxes of sheet music, about a third of my whole collection. It’s nice to browse through the music and see all those pieces again. Some of them I played during my studies and after that never again. It’s impossible to play it all, regularly, let alone during concerts.
It feels like professional players (and advanced students) should be serious all the time. But I have a confession to make…. Sometimes when I have a spare moment I go to the closet with all my sheet music, I pick a couple of pieces, go to Youtube to find a play along track and then I start playing and having a lot of fun imagining a full concert hall and an audience out of their minds because of my performance. I love that.
I feel it is important to play around sometimes and just have fun without expectations. It shows your growth. Most of the time we are working on the edge, play exercises and pieces that are a bit too difficult. They make you grow, so that’s a good thing. On the other hand, we sometimes forget we’re getting better flute players because we don’t tend to look back.
I want to encourage you to play ‘old’ pieces. Especially when they were difficult when you studied them for the first time. You will probably notice they are much easier now. Then you get aware of your growth and that is very encouraging.
There are more and more good accompaniments to find on Youtube. Sometimes even in different tempi. Lot’s of pieces can be found. I always search at ‘title piece, composer’ and ‘accompaniment’ or ‘karaoke’ or ‘play along’. If it’s there, you can find it that way. You will find your favorite chanel soon.
So, I encourage you to get all your sheet music out during summer and have fun!
