Awesome!

It is too bad your husband does not like the sound of the flute... My dad doesn't either. He's been around flute players his whole life.

I do not know if my sense of pitch is good enough to call it perfect pitch, but I have great relative pitch. I can always hear an A or a Bb in my head and I judge other pitches based on the interval between. It's something I practice at random, so perhaps I will be able to say confidently that I have perfect pitch. For example, I will be in a room and hear the Air conditioner, someone's cell phone, a beep, etc. I will relate it back to A or Bb and determine what it is.

I also love Alto and Bass flutes. More Alto than Bass though... Bass is big and heavy and I am small. I borrow my professor's alto often though. Do you have any good recommendations for unaccompanied alto flute solos? I'd like to play alto in one of the recitals here. I play it for little flute quartets for gigs and dinners and what not here, but I want to do something a little more serious on my own with it.

We didn't have music theory in high school, but I was just interested in it... So I started reading up on my own and using sites like Dolmetsch and GoodEar. I'm very much into jazz improv too, so I wanted to know more in depth jazz theory and how to use the less common modes. I'd love to be able to realize figured bass on piano one day- but I'm not that good at piano yet... I think it would be cool to start an early music club here and put together a baroque Basso Continuo ensemble.

It is too bad your husband does not like the sound of the flute... My dad doesn't either. He's been around flute players his whole life.

Yeah, my husband is also a musician, a tuba player. His band had notoriously out of tune flute and oboe players and I think it permanently damaged him.

I do not know if my sense of pitch is good enough to call it perfect pitch, but I have great relative pitch. I can always hear an A or a Bb in my head and I judge other pitches based on the interval between. It's something I practice at random, so perhaps I will be able to say confidently that I have perfect pitch. For example, I will be in a room and hear the Air conditioner, someone's cell phone, a beep, etc. I will relate it back to A or Bb and determine what it is.

Relative pitch is still pretty handy. I once had a flute solo that opened on g, so I can sometimes hear that....but not always. My sense of pitch isn't strong enough to be able to hear the pitch in non-musical instruments though. Four of the ten people in our Music Theory class had perfect pitch and the rest of us were pretty jealous. One aspect of the class is to listen to a selection of music and notate it without having ever viewed it. Instead of needing to listen to the distance between pitches they would just hear each pitch.

Do you have any good recommendations for unaccompanied alto flute solos? I'd like to play alto in one of the recitals here. I play it for little flute quartets for gigs and dinners and what not here, but I want to do something a little more serious on my own with it.

I wish I did. Like you, I know of alto parts for flute ensembles. My only performance of it was a solo part in a wind ensemble piece called Inchon (Which, btw, is a GREAT piece of music, especially for a high school wind ensemble.) Alto was my favorite besides flute and piccolo. Have you ever seen the contrabass flutes and such??



We didn't have music theory in high school, but I was just interested in it... So I started reading up on my own and using sites like Dolmetsch and GoodEar. I'm very much into jazz improv too, so I wanted to know more in depth jazz theory and how to use the less common modes. I'd love to be able to realize figured bass on piano one day- but I'm not that good at piano yet... I think it would be cool to start an early music club here and put together a baroque Basso Continuo ensemble.

You're above me here as I am horrible at improv and I don't have the spirit for Jazz. Baroque is also one of the classic eras I know least about besides a love of the harpsichord. But, it would be very interesting if anything becomes of it!

Oh in England, we use crotchet, minim, quaver, breve, semi-breve and all of those. :)

Oh in England, we use crotchet, minim, quaver, breve, semi-breve and all of those. :)

I'd never heard any of those terms! I always thought musical terms were fairly standards amongst the english speaking nations.

I used to play the clarinet from when I was 7 until I was about 13, I never took any examinations in it, and although I haven't touched it in 5 years I'm sure I could still whack out a few songs on it. Luckily I can still read music, and I've pottered about on the guitar a bit, but I really need a teacher because I'm shit at teaching myself...and I know a littttttle bit of keyboard, but nothing miraculous.

I'd love to learn guitar, I WANNA BE IN A BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAND!

Calliope, at least based on music, you remind me a lot of myself 5 years ago! It's good to know there are other crazy flutists out there. Most of the flute players I knew were either snobby or played flute because they thought it was cute. They never really undertsood just how awesome flute is.

Have you ever tried composing music of your own?

I only dabbled in it outside of msuci theory class. All of my compostitions were for flute. I had one I loved which was "Variations and Themes on Pop Goes The Weasel for two flutes and a clarinet" It had an awesome chase sequence were the first flute and clarinet played the main theme (signifying the weasel and the monkey respectively) and the second flute played a chromatic-based line signifying the "round and round" motion they took around the mulberry bush. I had waaaay too much fun with it

^ I agree! No one seems to realize how completely awesome the flute is. We are the minstrels of a new age! They need to embrace the possibilities! Like James Galway, Ian Anderson and Greg Pattillo!

I compose a little, but I am never happy with anything but my melodies. I always think my use of harmony is too bland. My room mate is the only one who has ever heard any of my full compositions. Melody is what I am best at. I am good at writing little ear-pulling hooks and motifs... I usually end up just writing some roman numerals/ pop symbols on my scores... I basically write lead sheets most of the time. I'm so lazy about good harmony... Sometimes I will determine a chord progression first, then compose a melody from that- but the melodies are never as memorable as the ones I wake up to/ pull out of nowhere.

Currently though, I am working on a score for a small "ensemble" that is going to be set to a short film that our cinematography society is producing. It will be for a variety of flutes and piano. I will write, play, record and produce all of the music myself. Since it will be a one girl session endeavor I will be recording each track separately and then editing them together. It will be the first written piece of mine to be heard by the public.

^ Calliope, that sounds ever so exciting! I'd love to hear the track once it's recorded and edited. SQUEEEE! :D

i play bass, mostly self taught. can't read music, i just play by ear. i was in an all girl punk/goth band for awhile last year, but we had trouble keeping a drummer and then scheduling conflicts caused us to pretty much stop playing together. we're hoping to be able to again at some point but i don't know when. i still play at home when i have free time but i haven't written anything in awhile.