I can’t start this first post on my “new” blog without acknowledging the long gap since my last post on my old blog. If you’re curious, you can find my old Google blog and do the math. Since my last post, I’ve gotten married and had two kids, so now I have a whole lot less time – for anything.
I actually started a post a few years ago when I was in the middle of Invisalign treatment. I was describing how I dealt with playing the flute with and without the aligners on my teeth, and how the “buttons” that were cemented onto my teeth affected my playing. If anyone reading this is interested in the process or outcome of Invisalign with or without flute-playing, you’re welcome to send me an email and I promise I’ll write back with details or answer your questions. In a nutshell, I don’t regret in the least – I’m very happy having straight teeth, and I can still play the flute. I got sidetracked and never finished that post.
Back to 2019: I’m doing less “creative” music-making now. The time and financial constraints of raising a young family make it impractical to spend my evenings learning complicated music and rehearsing until 11pm multiple nights in a row for a gig that doesn’t pay a fraction of the mortgage (not to mention preschool and day care), especially when the kids wake me up at 6:30am no matter what day of the week it is or how late I’ve gone to bed. So a good friend (child-free) and amazing flutist has taken my place in Palomar, and I’ve taken a hiatus from traveling around the tri-state area subbing in regional orchestras.
My primary professional focus currently is on my teaching and administrative job at The Chicago High School for the Arts (ChiArts). It has some perks: I get to put my kids to bed every night. I’ve been cutting my band director teeth by working with the smaller of the two bands at ChiArts. I work with a lovely group of young flutists in chamber music, technique, and orchestral excerpts. I teach music theory and design music theory curriculum at the freshman level for the school. I have taught the history and repertoire of wind music. I also help run the music conservatory under the Music Department Head, who is also a dear friend.
Outside of ChiArts, I’ve enjoyed some different musical challenges recently in my life as a flutist. I’ve played for some high-profile events in the past year at major venues (local to Chicago) with well-known artists. This type of work has been perfect for me – the time commitment usually involves one afternoon rehearsal and an evening show. The venue is local. The music requires less preparation than a classical or “new music” gig, but a high-level of sight-reading skills, focus, and adaptability.
At one of these shows, the orchestra was let on to the stage only 15 minutes before the rehearsal downbeat, and that was our first chance to see the music, which was not provided to us beforehand. Musicians flipped through the book as quickly as we could, looking for any tricky passages. As the only flutist in the orchestra, I had to scan for anything high and fast or anything that looked like a solo. After about 15 minutes, the musical director entered the stage and started giving instructions, including putting in the earbuds so we could hear the click track and any emergency instructions during the show. As a highly-trained classical musician, I depend on being able to hear the instruments around me in an acoustic environment. This helps me play in tune and in balance with the musicians around me. Having the earbud in one ear took away a little of my confidence playing in tune, but I quickly adjusted and figured out how to depend in part on the vibrations I felt on my hands from my flute. Aside from the adjustment in intonation, I loved the click track. There was no doubt as to where the beat was for every meter change and tempo change, and the orchestra was always in sync with the artist and the band. This technique allows for an artist to go on tour, hire a different orchestra in every city, and put the show together with minimal rehearsal time.
Another fun technological encounter I had at a recent gig of this type was discovering all the music was on an iPad instead of on printed papers in a folder. There were benefits to having the iPad, but definitely drawbacks, too. iPads can break and batteries can run out. iPads were clamped pretty securely onto the stands, but I did witness an iPad stand that wasn’t screwed securely together, and the iPad nearly crashed to the floor. We turned off the screens off after rehearsal and at intermission to preserve the battery charge, and by the end of the show, my iPad was still at a healthy 66%. Page turns on the iPad required only a quick touch on the screen, so there was no chance that paper would go flying off a stand if a page were turned too frantically. But if I had a difficult page turn (no rests in the music to allow my hands a second to touch the screen), I had to skip a measure of music just to reach up and touch the screen. With paper music, musicians can plan for page turns by spreading out pages of music so they don’t have to skip any music, and then slide the page over during a rest. The other drawback of reading off the iPad was that it was impossible to write anything on my music. It’s often necessary for musicians to make some pencil markings on the page to avoid missing a key change or an accidental, or perhaps a reminder to use an alternate fingering, or to write in directives from the conductor. So in this case, we had to rely on our mental notes, not pencil notes.
While I miss playing classical orchestral music and the challenges of new chamber music, I know those chapters are not history. As my kids grow up, I know it will be easier to take on that kind of work again later if I want. I’ve enjoyed the shift in my performance work over the last couple of years to include the opportunities I just described. If someone asks me to spend 20 hours learning an Elliot Carter piece for a free performance, I’ll politely point you toward a childless graduate student. I’d rather spend that time having a dance party in the kitchen with my kids.