Week 2 Blog

Words of inspiration...

Breathe: As a wind player this word is the something I hear on the daily. My studio professor is constantly lecturing about how flute playing is just singing, but with a flute up close to our mouths. Not only does this word help me understand/play my instrument, but it also teaches me how to be a collaborative musician. Breathing is something we do without thinking, so I want to find out how I can connect that with performing music with other people. I love watching professional string quartets because, although they do not need to breathe in order to make a sound on their instrument, they breathe collectively as one unit and make beautiful music together. This is something I strive for when playing my instrument, as well as, playing with other instrumentalists as well.

Passion: This seems pretty explanatory, but it can be so complex. If you have passion towards something, it will obviously take most of your attention. So if I'm talking about my instrument, or music in general, these are two things that I have had a passion for for a tremendously long time. With this passion I have been able to perform all over the United States and study with the world's best teachers.

Collaboration: I absolutely love playing chamber music, or any chance I get to collaborate with other musicians and artists. At a young age I used to be a competitive dancer and belonged to a big studio in Southwest Michigan. We would compete every other weekend and usually sweep every category and age divisions. I never did any solo work, because I personally felt that I could not portray the emotions I wanted by myself. Now that I am more mature and a performing instrumentalist, I can definitely get across what I want, but again, I much prefer collaborating with other artists.


Negative words...

Flute vs Flautist:
I have despised the word "flautist" ever since I started playing the flute. This might be something petty to get angry about, but I just cannot stand when people say that word. I remember one summer while I was at Interlochen, I was reading about flute playing and came across a book that talked about the differences of the two words.  "Flautist" is the Italian word for "a flutist" and  "to flaut" is an old Italian word, meaning "to mock". I understand that the flute is usually the representation of birds in a lot of pieces, but I don't think that was meant as a way to "mock" birds. This is just something that I feel passionate about, personally, and I know a lot of American flutists who prefer "Flautist"