My second flute teacher fired me.
Not because I wasn't practicing and making (slow) progress, but because of a change in his circumstances.
Now I have to decide whether to continue taking classical flute lessons from a fine teacher, who's been recommended to me, or whether I should work on my own. After all, I've been playing wind instruments for decades, and I've received the fundamentals of flute playing from two excellent teachers. Maybe I know enough to step out on my own.
With my teacher, I mainly played baroque music with occasional forays into the classical and romantic realms, and I love that music. I've learned a lot by struggling to master the Bach flute sonatas, and that learning has been valuable.
But I also love listening to jazz, and I especially enjoy playing standards, what people call the American Song Book.
I have no trouble playing blues, but I do have trouble sticking to the changes when I play standards. I'm generally too impatient to learn the chords of the pieces I play. I can read a chart and follow the written changes, and I can memorize melodies pretty well, but I've been too lazy to memorize the harmony up to now.
Today I decided to work on that. I worked on the chord progression of "All The Things You Are" and II-V-I patterns.
I think I can combine technical work on the flute - improving my tone and vibrato, for example - with work in music theory: examining the connection between chords and melody. I haven't decided against continuing lessons with a classical flutist, but I'm leaning that way.
Not because I wasn't practicing and making (slow) progress, but because of a change in his circumstances.
Now I have to decide whether to continue taking classical flute lessons from a fine teacher, who's been recommended to me, or whether I should work on my own. After all, I've been playing wind instruments for decades, and I've received the fundamentals of flute playing from two excellent teachers. Maybe I know enough to step out on my own.
With my teacher, I mainly played baroque music with occasional forays into the classical and romantic realms, and I love that music. I've learned a lot by struggling to master the Bach flute sonatas, and that learning has been valuable.
But I also love listening to jazz, and I especially enjoy playing standards, what people call the American Song Book.
I have no trouble playing blues, but I do have trouble sticking to the changes when I play standards. I'm generally too impatient to learn the chords of the pieces I play. I can read a chart and follow the written changes, and I can memorize melodies pretty well, but I've been too lazy to memorize the harmony up to now.
Today I decided to work on that. I worked on the chord progression of "All The Things You Are" and II-V-I patterns.
I think I can combine technical work on the flute - improving my tone and vibrato, for example - with work in music theory: examining the connection between chords and melody. I haven't decided against continuing lessons with a classical flutist, but I'm leaning that way.
No comments:
Post a Comment