Another GOATee, another exam - Grade 3 Flute

I have written before that whenever I get asked to do something it has to fall into at least one of three catergories. 1. Be really well paid. 2. Provide top nosh or cake. 3. Be irresistably musically satisfying. Being asked to accompany Janet (2011 Top Flautist) for her grade 3 flute definitely falls into one of these catergories but I won't say which one!!

As with most musicians I know it is never enough just to do the bare essentials and in school on Friday Janet suggested we play her two pieces with harp accompaniment. Never one to turn down an opportunity to play my harp I instantly agreed. Did the exam board allow this sort of thing? I tentatively asked. Who cares! was the reply.

Chris and I were in Cambridge on Sunday so popped round to Janet's to pick up the music. I thought we had disturbed Janet's flute practise although seeing what was on the telly I think the Wimbledon final had already disrupted Janet's practise. However she was insistent that with the music perched on the shelf she could practise her Mozart and watch the tennis at the same time. We had a run through with me on the piano and Chris politely listened, awarding Jan 25/30 for La ci darem la mano from Don Giovanni. We then did Neville's Waltz from Harry Potter and the semiquavers were quite evenly spread. The staccatos lost a little sound on the way down but it was accurate and had some character.

Combining two great loves...Wolfgang and Roger!

Having already got the lowdown from Laura (Janet's daughter) who had heard her play just a few days earlier I was pleasantly surprised by the standard and apart from one or two little hesitations (and expletives!!) for the high notes it was all easily to a passable standard! ("And I've got a week. I've still got a week to go," Janet said.) Janet treated us to a ride in her latest love, her Morris Minor, and we clung on tight as we zoomed around the country lanes of Cambridgeshire!

50mph. In the wet!

We arranged a rehearsal for Friday as we will both be in school and Janet repeated her mantra "I've got a week!" but then remembered "ah, but I'm out all next weekend running my Workshop string orchestra course". I remembered I will also be at Janet's course, helping out on the Sunday (satisfies two of my conditions listed above!). I asked if she thought the participants might be interested in a concert? Janet said just before she did her Grade 1 she played her pieces to the participants at her Saturday Workshop and left a bucket out for donations so that raised awareness of the SIA charity and was a big help in performance preparation. Whether the participants are interested or not I think they are going to get a performance next Sunday!