So within a week or so we were sent via dropbox (another new thing to me!) the audition piece.

As expected, there were several flute players (we are such a common breed) who had shown an interest, so the idea is as well as the main orchestra there will be a flute choir piece too and other chamber ensembles in due course.

So I cracked on learning the audition piece which was fun. I play a lot of contemporary music so the strange rhythms were not unusual to me. So I recorded the audition piece and sent it off. Chip then contacted me and said what did I use to play the click track, as by the time I got to the end it wasn’t in time! Click track? oops! That was in the dropbox folder too! (I am SO great with technology)

So take 2 happened with the click track. I love click tracks and have played a lot of contemporary pieces so am used to playing with one. It is just like playing with a metronome I suppose except the click track does “bring out” the important beats in the bar, the only problem I had was getting the click track loud enough to hear it over the flute as the tone is quite similar in pitch to that of the flute. Well the husband did some jiggery pokery with some gadget or app or something and made it louder for me.

We then emailed our recordings off to be judged and also to see how well they fit in with the sample that was sent to us and decisions were made and we were informed if we were successful or not.

Well on 30th March I got an email to say I was going to be part of the crazy but yet exciting project that is Twtrsymphony.

Since then, lots of us have been tweeting with the other members and getting to know other musicians from around the world. A great thing I think.

All the parts were sent out this week for the “The Hawk Goes Hunting” the 1st movement from the Symphony for everyone to start practicing and recording. I don’t have to record this piece, but can if I want as I am playing in the flute choir piece. I have had a look at this piece over the last couple of days and have enjoyed it so far. I will submit a recording just as much as to give me something to work towards and focus my mind on,and also that is a change from a lot of the repertoire I am currently working on.

This project is a serious amount of work for all those involved, but especially for Chip Michael the composer, who is having to compose this piece and all the parts and I think the ball has well and truly started rolling and am sure there will be many other pieces in the future. Not only does he have to compose and do the admin for it all, he then has to “fit” all of the recordings together to make up the final symphony. PHEW!

A month on, Twtrsymphony is being talked about all the time on twitter and has created a real buzz.

I feel very lucky to be involved with such an unusual and groundbreaking project.

My flute has given me many years of happy service and I love it today as I did on the day I discovered it.

So, why is it that when I have a trip to London and go to Topwind to have my flute serviced I can’t help myself trying out various different headjoints??

Well once again the same thing happened.

I had a birthday trip to London, a very nice treat to go down there and not be working, but took the opportunity to take my flute in for a service.

I am fortunate that the barrel of my flute is quite narrow and that immediately rules out lots of headjoints as they won’t fit in. I have thought about having the barrel made bigger but have always changed my mind as then the original headjoint won’t fit.

Anyway it certainly helps narrow the choices down.

A couple of years ago I tried a very lovely Sheridan headjoint that was made of stainless steel. It was great, but  just as I was trying it out at home, my husband got made redundant and just could not justify spending the money as we had no idea how quickly he’d find work.

I asked if they still had that headjoint, sadly they didn’t, thought it was a long shot that such a great headjoint was still there. Oh no was that “the one that got away?”

Well this time, I had narrowed my selection down to an Arista, a Sheridan and a Sachs head joint. The Sachs is really unusual, it had a wooden lip plate and made a more “woody” sound but still with the power of a metal headjoint.

I couldn’t make a decision and in fairness the husband is probably not the best judge of a flute tone, so decided I’d wait until my flute was serviced and go back and try them then the following day.

The following day, we arrived back after trudging about London and played my flute that was playing like it was new again. I decided that the Arista and Sheridan headjoints weren’t the ones but the Sachs I was intrigued by so it came back up North with me to give it a proper try out.

I like the way it plays, very responsive although it is weird adjusting to a different headjoint. Well I was thinking about getting the credit card out and a flute friend of mine on twitter suggested I record myself playing on both and send them so she can give her opinion. A flute player’s blind taste test sounded like a sensible thing to do. So I sent two versions of two pieces, playing on my headjoint and the potential new one.

Well her feedback was very helpful and interestingly she preferred the sound on my current headjoint hands down. Well I thought as I’d made the recordings I might as well send them to another musician but non flute playing friend for his opinion. Weirdly he said virtually identical things to my flute friend. Hhmmm. I was not expecting that.

So I then sent the recordings to my very good friend and accompanist who confirmed what the other two had said. It really got me thinking that maybe the headjoint wasn’t as good as I thought and maybe in my head I was wanting or almost willing it to be better than it actually was.

HHHmmmmm.

I have a very good flautist friend who has 8 different headjoints and I have often thought and told her, she is mad. She uses one for this, one for that and one for the other! I have always been of the school of thought that you got to be able to play what you have got and that the perfect head joint does not actually exist. It can’t possibly be out there, everything is a compromise surely?

So why do I keep trying out head joints, when I know that what I have is already good and suits me well? I think it must just be a musician thing, the quest for the head joint, the bow, the mouthpiece, the this, the that, that might transform us into the best player in the world.

The only thing that will transform us into the best anything is, as we all know practice and hard work!

So with regret in some ways, but the opening of eyes in another, the head joint is going back.

The Holy Grail maybe is out there, but sometimes we have to realise that we might not have the need, energy or time to go searching for it and we need to realise and appreciate more what we already have.

Lydia will be continuing to play in the Halle Youth Orchestra as well as the NCO so will have a very busy year ahead.

A real achievement and I hope you have a very busy and good flutey year!

The weather forecast looked grim but thankfully the weather wasn’t anywhere near as bad as I was thinking it might. I was quite tamely dressed compared to most of the women in the event today, I had my Race for Life T-Shirt and Hoody with black bottoms. No tutu, pink wig, wings, deely boppers or any other weird outfit. I am not a fan of the sign you pin on your back with the “I race for life for…..” I know some people may get some comfort from it, but although I have lost some family members and friends from cancer, it is just not for me. I don’t know why, it just makes me a bit uncomfortable.

I was taking part on my own this year, as my cousin who was supposed to be doing it with me, has broken two toes!!

Arrived at at the event venue and had cunningly missed the majority of the warm up! Eventually the race started and it was good, weird being on my own and harder than I thought, I hadn’t realised how much easier it is with someone else doing it along with you. It was about half way through I had really wished I had brought my ipod, a bit of We Are Scientists might have spurred me on a bit more.

The Race for Life is a great event and  so well organised and really fun. I cannot thank everyone who has sponsored me I was hoping to raise £150, but have raised £175 so far with some people promising me some more money!

Cancer Research UK is a fantastic charity and I hope that the event made their fundraising target of £127436.

Click here to see the article on the Huddersfield Examiner’s website.

As I work in York on a Friday, it was just too convenient not to go.

I have not seen Deacon Blue play live for years and by years, I mean probably close to 20+ years or so. I loved this band and listen to their albums fairly regularly still. (All cassette’s now replaced by CD copies!) I felt this gig would either bring back fantastic memories from my youth or completely shatter them! No middle ground.

We arrived at the Opera House ( a typical old theatre) and had a drink in the bar. It was a nice surprise to be in the younger demographic at a gig, as at most gigs we usually feel quite old!

So we take our seats! Again, a weird experience as we always stand at gigs. Then a keyboard player and guitarist come onto the stage and then 5 girls dressed in white. The support band! They were called “Angels in White” (Nope, I’d never heard of them either!) they were a 5 piece vocal harmony type of group. In fairness to the girls, they could sing but that kind of music does nothing for me. I find it all a bit dated and sorry to say a bit cheesy, but good luck to them.

Then it was the interval, there was ice cream sellers! Another bizarre gig experience. Beer and ice cream just do not go together.

Well the lights go out and Deacon Blue came out. I wanted to stand up yet everyone else sat down!! The set was amazing and soon the crowd got into it and were up on their feet clapping, cheering and singing along loudly. they played all the old favourites “Dignity, Chocolate Girl, Raintown, Real Gone Kid, When Will You and When Will You and I was not disappointed at all, Ricky Ross’s vocals were still as good as I remembered and Lorraine McIntosh was as superb as ever and looked exactly the same age as when I saw her last all those years ago. I was also impressed that she still wore “nightie” style dresses and Doc Marten boots! I knew I wasn’t too old to be wearing Doc boots still!!

When the band played slower songs, the audience sat down! Maybe at their age they needed to rest their weary legs or something.

All too soon the set was over and they went, but came back to do an “encore”. The crowd were going mad and the encore included really good singing in “I’ll Never fall in Love Again” and the last song was “Fergus Sings the Blues”. It was fantastic!

It was the weirdest gig experience I have ever had but it was one of the best gigs I have ever been to. I am a big supporter of Keeping Music Live and that was one of the best live gigs I have ever been to. Great songs, great musicians, great atmosphere and absolutely great singing!

I will be keeping an eye out to see them again, if you get the chance, go and relive your youth. You will have a fantastic night.

Deacon Blue – Dignity

Please click on the widget below to donate.

Nikki xxxxx

Entry to the Orchestra is by audition only, including the performance of some very difficult orchestral excerpts. This will be a real experience for her being coached by the Wind Players of Northern Sinfonia (based at The Sage, Gateshead) There are weekend rehearsals and residential courses, which will be hard work but very rewarding and fun.

Imogen has worked SO hard and is well deserving of all her success, it has been a great year for he,r including being awarded the Music Scholarship at Huddersfield Grammar School and many wins at The Mrs Sunderland Festival and The Festival of Music, Speech and Drama at Huddersfield Grammar School.

WELL DONE Imogen, I am so pleased and so proud of you!!

We will be arranging the day for sometime in the first half of the new academic year.

All the details to follow soon and we look forward to seeing you there.

T in the Park is a fabulous festival and has an amazing line up this year including Arctic Monkeys, Foo Fighters, Coldplay, Chase and Status, Pulp, The Strokes, Beyonce, Jessie J, Beady Eye, Manic Street Preachers etcetc.

I only want to cover what I have spent not rip people off so am willing to sell the tickets for what I paid.

The festival is at Balado Airfield, Kinross, Scotland 8th July – 11th July 2011.

If you are interested, please get in touch

Nikkk