Flute Music

I play the flute.
I play the flute to relax.
I play the flute to calm myself down.
I play the flute to escape.
I play the flute to lose myself in the music.
I play the flute to feel a sense of achievement.
I play the flute to play with other people.
I play the flute to understand music.
I play the flute to challenge myself.
I play the flute to perform and feel proud.

I play the flute because I enjoy it. I love the pleasure playing an instrument gives me and I love conveying this pleasure to an audience through performing. I love listening to a lyrical melody and being able to play along so I become totally absorbed within its emotion and meaning. I love practising something difficult until suddenly I can play it with such ease that it sounds like running water. I love how different interpretations can make one piece of music suddenly dissipate into a thousand different pieces, each carrying a new emotion. I love how a musical instrument gives you the opportunity to no longer be confined to just listening to music - you can play the music, you can craft it yourself with your own emotion and make it a part of you. You can be the music.

I play different pieces of music depending on how I feel.

If I want to really challenge myself, I play the Bach flute sonatas. Bach was a pure genius and the mathematical style of his music is so satisfying to play, but also incredibly difficult in places with its fast runs and intricate ornamentation.

I often play slow French impressionist music when I feel stressed and want to relax. I particularly like Fauré and Debussy as there is no limit to the amount of emotion you can convey with intelligent use of vibrato and rubato. I also love the extensive use of the lower octave in Fauré's Pavane as it makes it such a thick melody, yet also beautifully elegant and haunting.

I'm currently working my way through the James Galway showpieces, which I got for my birthday. I mostly play these for fun, as the majority are well away from performance standard. They are a real challenge, but listening to James Galway's album 'Man With The Golden Flute' (on which all of these pieces feature) really encourages me to to work at them as they sound so impressive. My current favourites are Waltz by Godard and Adagio and Variation by Saint-Saens. Two other pieces that I am currently playing which I definitely deem as showpieces, despite them not featuring in Galway's collection, are Andante et Scherzo by Ganne and the final movement of the Poulenc flute sonata (Presto Giocoso). These are both incredibly difficult pieces but also ridiculously fun to play.

And finally, Mozart. I could play Mozart all day every day and not get bored. He is the absolute mastermind of music. The D major and G major flute concertos are just brilliant to play and the D major flute quartet will always hold a special place in my heart.

Being involved in music is such a special thing.