sheffieldflute.co.uk

  • Home
  • Flute Lessons
  • Music Theory
  • Sheffield Flute Choir
  • Events
  • Performances
  • Research
  • About me
  • Blog
  • Sound and video
  • Contact
  • Student Login
  • Home
  • Flute Lessons
  • Music Theory
  • Sheffield Flute Choir
  • Events
  • Performances
  • Research
  • About me
  • Blog
  • Sound and video
  • Contact
  • Student Login

Lakeland, Moorland, and the Steel City

8/6/2016

0 Comments

 
Picture
Last week I found myself on the way to Leeds, twice. On Saturday I played with Yorkshire Wind Orchestra in the lovely surroundings of 'Arts@Trinity' - a hub of music and other artistic activity right in the busy centre of the city. We had a lively flute day with lots of visiting flute players, followed by an equally lively concert of 'Music from the Americas' inspired by the Rio Olympics. On Sunday, I felt as if I'd taken part in the Olympics (if flute playing was an Olympic sport, which after a session on the bass flute I felt it should be)!

A few days earlier, I headed over to the Yorkshire College of Music and Drama, an amazing community centre for music and drama lessons, headed by principal Tim Knight. I met Tim some time ago through the wonders of the internet, but we first worked together when he wrote the fabulous 'Steel City Shuffle' for Sheffield Flute Choir. We worked on the piece over a few rehearsals, then Tim came to workshop it with us - him telling us about his inspiration for the piece, how he intended it to sound, and us advising him on what is really quite hard to do on a bass flute! The result is this tremendously fun piece for flute choir. The flute choir will be joining one of Tim's (singing) choirs, the Heritage Masterworks Chorale, for a concert in Rotherham Minster this September, and I expect the 'Shuffle' will get an outing there.

This week I visited YCMD in Leeds to play through and record some of Tim's works for flute and piano. The College was a hub of activity, being the local ABRSM exam centre - and such a buzzing, welcoming place. I lost count of how many different music groups and lessons they have going on every week!

Lots of Tim's work seems to be inspired by the British landscape - we played Celtic melodies, his Lakeland Suite and Moorland Suite amongst others. Being a Scottish person who spent many happy holidays in the Lake District, and now enjoys a wander out of Sheffield to the moors, this felt a bit like a musical journey through different stages of my life. The Lakeland Suite in particular makes me think of childhood holidays with my grandparents, sadly no longer with us, and of my grandad's paintings of the scenery of that area (one pictured above).

You can hear some of the results of a really enjoyable morning over on Tim's YouTube channel and copies of the sheet music are available from Spartan Press.

0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    BLOG

    Flute player and teacher blogging about playing, learning, teaching and researching music.

    The Reliable Musician - a series of blog posts on the skills that make the sort of musician people want to work with!

    Archives

    June 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    November 2017
    October 2017
    July 2017
    January 2017
    October 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015

    Categories

    All
    Adult Learners
    Clarinet
    Composition
    Ethics
    Exams
    Flute
    Linguistics
    Low Flutes
    Music
    Music Education
    Music Theory
    Page-turning
    Piano
    Practising
    Reliable Musician
    Research
    Talent
    Teaching
    Technology
    Writing

    RSS Feed

Proudly powered by Weebly