Recital Time!

I can think of very few activities that build confidence and stretch students' abilities as musical recitals do.  Friday night, January 16, five of my students participated in a recital at Musical Innovations.  For many of them, this was their first opportunity to share their music publicly! I was very pleased with their poise and performances.  Each student first introduced himself/herself and the selected piece, played well, then took a bow and acknowledged the accompanist (Alexandria Ensley).  They showed professionalism, even though some are still in elementary school!

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For Ryan M., this performance opportunity was a trial run before he auditions for scholarships at 3 different colleges over the next 8 weeks.  He played the Bach Partita in A Minor Sarabande, a solo work for flute.


Ryan has studied with me since August 2013.  He attends the Fine Arts Center in Greenville and is involved in such organizations as the Fountain Inn Symphony Orchestra and the Greenville Youth Symphony.  He also freelances as a musician.

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Several people asked me about Aravind's flute, which is short and has a curved head joint.  This flute is sometimes called an Eb flute because that is the lowest note it plays (instead of a low C which is common on a student flute).  The head joint is curved to allow his arms to reach the keys with ease.  It won't be long until Aravind grows big enough for a regular C flute, but for now, he is making outstanding progress on a flute that is just his size without undue strain, tension, and the development of detrimental habits. Aravind has studied with me since last fall.

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