Le Tombeau de Roland: "Per aspera ad astra"

Dear friends,

The family of Roland Lietzenmayer has asked me to share the following statements together with his official death announcement with Galway Flute Chat members, Roland's YouTube viewers, and his other internet friends.

From Ina (Roland’s sister):

“Would you please do me a favour and just tell them in the name of the family how touched we are and how much they help us in our sadness.

When people do get together in their spirits it is like the most beautiful piece of music, the most beautiful painting in the world because in these moments GOD is present in all of us.

And this will help us to overcome our sorrows and pains because we are all part of the whole; then we don´t have to be afraid of death because it doesn´t exist any longer; it is only another dimension...

My brother… had a lot of friends in the whole world and this fact makes me so extremely happy.

I would ask all members of the GFC who would like to do this, to light candles for Roland and to play with their flute a piece of music in his remembrance.”

I was honored that Roland’s family asked me to help select music for the service. In addition to a solo flute performance by GFC member Stefan Heymann, the family had a local flute quartet perform.

I commissioned Galway Flute Chat member Rick Arnest to compose a piece for flute quartet to be performed at Roland’s funeral: Le Tombeau de Roland- "Per aspera ad astra." This work is licensed under the Creative Commons and will be available for download at my website soon. I’ll make another announcement when it is posted.

I have posted Roland’s official death announcement for all of you, at the family’s request.I invite you to light a candle and play a piece of music in Roland's memory.

Sincere best wishes to all,
Catherine

Sir James Galway at the Texas Music Educators Association Convention

I had the pleasure of meeting Sir James Galway after an "informal conversation session" at the Texas Music Educators Association Convention yesterday.

He delighted the many attendees with his witty responses, personal stories, and opinions and advice in response to questions on flutes, recording, warm-up routines, and flute pedagogy.

Here are a few of the things I learned:

• Sir James uses top-of-the-line Neumann microphones for all of his audio and video recording.
• In response to a question of maintaining physical flexibility, Sir James proudly announced his age, 68, and suggested shoulder stretches for range of motion, forearm and hand self-massage, and, when nothing else works… just keep playing and enjoy the music!
• He practices studies regularly from the Moyse’s De la Sonorité and advocates practicing scales and patterns always with the best tone and musical expression and style. He pointed out an obvious, but seldom considered, fact: if you practice scales and patterns in a boring, unmusical, way, not only is practicing boring, but you are actually practicing to play boring and unmusical music (music is largely created from these patterns)!
• He also advocates practice of the Boehm Caprices and Andersen Etudes, in particular, to develop a fluid technique and legato while maintaining tone and musical expression.

I encourage you to join to Sir James online forum, Galway Flute Chat (Yahoo group) and to watch the videos posted at http://www.thegalwaynetwork.com/ for access to Sir James’ teaching and thoughts.

Many thanks to Sir James for reminding us that joy and expression give meaning to music-making--and to life!


I also attended the fine Valentine’s Day evening concert performance by Sir James and Lady Jeanne Galway with the San Antonio Symphony. They performed the Cimarosa Concerto in G Major for 2 Flutes and a lively encore, an arrangement of “Rondo Alla Turca” from the Mozart Piano Sonata, K. 331. They clearly had great fun together on stage!

After intermission, Sir James performed “The Pied Piper Fantasy” by John Corigliano, attired in festive costume and joined by dozens of local young flutists performing with Sir James while parading on stage and following him out of the theater. Quite a spectacle!

Sir James’ final encore, Badinerie from the J.S. Bach Suite in B Minor, BWV 1067, brilliantly played, was a rousing ending to an evening celebrating the love of music-making and flute-playing—perfect for Valentine’s Day.

I will post more notes from other clinics and events I attended at the TMEA Convention later this week in the LeGrand Virtual Studio.

Best,
Catherine

Happy Valentine's Day!

Valentine's Greetings from the Texas Music Educators Convention in San Antonio, Texas!
Catherine

"Duel" - Artist : Wouter Kellerman

Hello,

This is Fantastic!

Enjoy,
Catherine

Flute Duo Chopstick Exercise

This video has been reposted under a different account name.

Bravo to both members of this duo who have studied the buzzing and chopstick via Skype and ichat.

Wow! What impovement!

Congratulations! Catherine

Jerome Callet Master Superchops DVD

Greetings,

I have just finished watching (for the second time) the new 2-DVD set by Jerome Callet, advocate of the tongue-controlled embouchure and author of " Trumpet Secrets, Volume One."


The DVDs include

• 3 lessons with Jerome
• 6 testimonials, demonstrations, and round table discussion by professionals on trumpet, trombone, French horn and flute (Keith Underwood)
• printouts of images, exercises, and more

It is very interesting to see and hear how each professional has used the information learned from Jerome.

For more information, or to purchase your own copy, visit Jerome's website.

Best,
Catherine

Aralee Dorough, Principal Flutist of the Houston Symphony Speaks on Buzzing, Chopstick and Finding your Sound

Greetings,

The following video interview was recorded in the Houston studio of Aralee Dorough, Principal Flutist of the Houston Symphony, on September 22, 2007.
Aralee talks about:

• benefits of practicing and teaching "buzzing" and "chopstick" (from Keith Underwood)
• embouchure lessons she learned from Robert Willoughby --and from her horse!
• finding and sculpting your tone

Many thanks to Aralee for sharing her experiences and her wisdom. You may visit her at her website, www.araleedorough.com.

Aralee, her husband, Colin (Houston Symphony oboist), and her father (famous jazz pianist,Bob Dorough), recently put out a CD, "The Houston Branch," with terrific Houston jazz sidemen. I enjoy this album often. You will find it here:

• http://cdbaby.com/cd/dorough
• iTunes (search for "Houston Branch")

All the best,
Catherine