Flute 360 | Episode 45: “Competition Repertoire Guides with Amy Porter” (40:41)

In today’s episode, Heidi talks with Amy Porter (University of Michigan) about the piece, “East Wind” by Shulamit Ran and Telemann’s Fantasie in A Major. Both pieces are repertoire requirements for TFS’ Myrna Brown Competition. Amy goes into great detail about these flute solos and gives excellent advice on how one could approach these works. Check out today’s episode to hear all the details!

Episode 45 – Main Points:

• 0:25 – William S. Haynes Co. Website
• 1:37 – Competition advice from Amy.
• 1:47 – Amy’s lecture: Competition Repertoire, Research, and Rewards.
• 2:02 – Why are you doing the competition?
• 2:20 – “Competition is a great way to expand your repertoire!” – Amy
• 2:46 – “Play repertoire that best suits you.” – Amy
• 3:15 – Check the editions.
• 4:18 – “You are representing your work, your heart, and your knowledge.” – Amy
• 4:50 – “The rewards...who is anyone to judge us in the end? When what we are doing is beautiful.” – Amy
• 5:17 – “Never give up and keep leaping.” – Amy
• 5:40 – Flutists: Galway, Baxtresser, Rampal, and Baker
• 6:40 – Ran’s East Wind for solo flute.
• 7:02 – Amy Porter as 2010’s Texas Flute Society’s Guest Artist
• 7:19 – Seth Allyn Morris, flutist
• 9:28 – The opening of Ran’s East Wind.
• 9:48 – Articulation suggestion.
• 10:05 – Bridge the breath.
• 10:45 – The first two lines of East Wind.
• 11:09 – Biblical references.
• 11:55 – Correspondence between Professor Ran and Heidi.
• 12:26 – The different sections of East Wind from the composer.
• 13:17 – Flute 360’s Composers Series
• 13:59 – Telemann’s Fantasie in A Major.
• 14:09 – “The G# key is meant to mess you up!” – Amy
• 15:09 – “I call it defense playing: put your boxing gloves on.” – Amy
• 15:31 – “The word ‘yes’ is super powerful!” – Amy
• 15:47 – Amy’s DVD on Telemann’s Fantasies
• 16:47 – Telemann ended all of his fantasias with a dance.
• 17:06 – Keith Underwood’s suggestion about trills.
• 17:34 – Italian and French ornamentation.
• 17:48 – French ornamentation: essential, light, and quick.
• 17:57 – Italian ornamentation: florid and scalic passages.
• 19:05 – Kuijken, Brown, Beznosiuk – Baroque flutists
• 19:46 – “I’m ‘going to’ is the wrong vocabulary. I ‘will’ do the ornament here.” – Amy
• 19:58 – J. J. Quantz, flutist, flute maker, and composer
• 21:04 – Amy’s DVD: 30 Caprices by Karg-Elert
• 21:25 – Amy’s DVD: Anatomy of Sound
• 21:43 – Vibrato and Telemann
• 23:18 – Amy’s exercise with her students – listen here!
• 25:33 – Amy’s physical trainer, Larry.
• 25:57 – Yoga
• 27:27 – Flexible Mind, Flexible Body
• 28:46 – “The heart is a muscle. It has to be taxed, trained, and pushed!” – Amy
• 31:00 – Survival of the physical flutist.
• 31:40 – Reverse aging.
• 33:16 – Picks!
• 37:27 – Flute 360’s Series 1: Health (Episodes 1-4)

Picks:

Amy

• My Pinterest Boards!
  • Over My Shoulder
• VogueBooge Candles
• Marco Polo App

Episode 45 – Resources Mentioned:

• Amy Porter’s Website
• Amy Porter’s Teaching Website
• Amy Porter’s CDs, DVDs, and more!
• Amy Porter’s CD: The 12 Fantasias for Flute Without Bass, TWV 40:2-13
• Amy Porter’s Instagram
• “East Wind” for solo flute by Ran – purchase here!
• Shulamit Ran’s Biography
• Texas Flute Society’s Myrna Brown Competition
• William S. Haynes Company’s Instagram
• William S. Haynes Company’s Twitter
• Heidi Kay Begay’s Website

Episode 45 – Sponsors:

• Gold Level: William S. Haynes Co. Website
• Silver Level: Contact Heidi for more details!
• Bronze Level: J&K Productions’ Website

Program Notes:

EAST WIND (l987)

EAST WIND for solo flute was commissioned by the National Flute Association for its annual Young Artists Competition, and was first performed by the six semi-finalists at the l988 San Diego NFA Convention.  The work’s opening motif is a slightly varied treatment of the simplest of ideas – a single note which is then encircled in a flourish-like gesture by its neighboring tones, consisting of a half step above and whole step below.  It is this varied treatment, though, immediately conveying a hint of ecstasy and abandon, that imbues the motif with its distinctness and recognizable quality, maintained throughout the journey undertaken as the piece unfolds.

EAST WIND’s central image -- from within its ornamented, inflected, winding, twisting, at times convoluted lines, a gentle melody gradually emerges...

The work is dedicated to the memory of Karen Monson, a writer, critic and friend, who died in February 1988 at the age of 42, after the work was already fully composed.

-Shulamit Ran