German Dance

 Continuing with the first Trevor Wye book. Playing with the metronome. 

Two flute exercises

 Couple of exercises from the Trevor Wye book 1

Played slowly with the metronome. Instead of standing I'm sat on a stool with the music on a stand. Much easier on my chest. 

Flute practise

I was feeling a bit better today after some blood tests and in the afternoon I picked up my flute, playing some exercises from the Trevor Wye book. 

I need to practise long tones and air control. 

Back on the clarinet

 Back on it. The low F plays, but the E doesn't. Forget second octave yet

Using a noblet 2v mpc and Legere European cut 2.5

Clarinet redux

 Well I thought that once I'd got my Multiple Myeloma diagnosis that it was all over when it comes to clarinet, because I was constantly short of breath with really sharp chest pain (fractured sternum)

But after 4 weeks of treatment I feel tons better and I hope to begin learning again. But I'm going to start again, from scratch. No big tunes recorded, no jumping ahead, focus on doing it right. Embouchure, long tones, exercises, practise the break. 

But first...I need to buy some reeds.

See looking back 🔙 I pretty much gave up, and I donated my Windsor plastic clarinet to my niece's son Jesse who is learning clarinet at school but doesn't have his own instrument. Well he does now! 

Thankfully I kept hold of the Pedler. All it needs is a tweak to the lowest notes and we're good to go. And it is a beautiful and historical instrument. Made in Elkhart Indiana in the 1940s.

Darwall's 148th

 a hymn from the School Recorder book 1 played on tenor Sigo. I used Open Camera for a change on my other phone and an not happy with how it looks. Keeps going dark then bright again for some reason.

Sigo bass fun

 A couple of pieces on the bass, one of which is my own "composition" that I came up with on clarinet a few years ago. 

Something Blue:

A surprise recorder

 A Facebook friend kindly sent me a 3D printed stand for my Sigo tenor and along with it there was a surprise. A 3D printed copy of his 45 year old Hopf soprano. In gold plastic.

Looks and sounds great. Its single hole with a massive bore so is very clear and loud!

Sigo stuff

 So back in January before all this Myeloma crap came up I bought myself a Sigo tenor recorder, a new type of recorder made as a collaboration between the Kunath family who gave the world those weird giant wooden recorders, and Gerry Bollinger, a recorder designer. The internal bore is twisted back on itself and the outside bore is sort of square. As a result the tenor is about the size of an alto, but with finger holes closer together so its much easier to play than a regular tenor, although the low notes are a bit of a struggle; there's no foot joint. Just 2 pieces, headjoint and the body, is very lightweight, and is more versatile, giving the player more freedom to express him or herself.

Zoom forward to June and Jo Kunath heard about my cancer diagnosis and offered to send me a Sigo bass, for free. Like I'm gonna say no to that. I've long wanted to try a bass recorder and oh man is it good!

The instruments are 3D printed and made of something called Resona, which is basically wood particles suspended in modified vegetable starches. Pretty remarkable.

Here's the two side by side.

Anyway here's some videos of them. First the tenor

Now the bass. What a beast!

Guter Mond on clarinet

 Guter Mond (Good Moon) on clarinet. Its been a while but I got it set up, ran through some Rubank exercises and I learned that while clarinet is hard to play, its also hard not to play. So I thought I'd play this German song that I learned on recorder a while ago. Seems kind of appropriate with what's going on above us at the moment...

Recorder improv

 A little something I came up with ages ago when I was learning clarinet, played on my Aulos Haka alto recorder, bending a note by slowly uncovering a fingerhole.

Ronde by Susato

 A Ronde by Susato from the Brian Bonsor alto book I've been working through forever! Played on my Aulos Haka alto. Practising playing high A properly, changing a bad habit where I would lift the thumb and just overblow. Also I must look for more of Susato's music.

Minuet

 Got the flute out after a hiatus and worked through this Minuet from the Trevor Wye flute book 1

Aulos v Sigo

 A little comparison of my Aulos 211 tenor to my Sigo tenor. Big size difference yet the same tonal range.

Amazing

Happy Birthday Blavet

 Happy Birthday flutist and composer Michel Blavet. Born this day 1700

Sigo tenor recorder

 New year, new instrument...

I got this yesterday from The Early Music Shop. Its a type of recorder, but one that has not been seen before. Its basically a tenor recorder in an alto recorder body. Its small and light and achieves its small size through magic and witchcraft. Basically the internal bore is convoluted, rather than just being a tube, allowing them to produce a big instrument in a small body.

This seems like a new idea but its been around since the renaissance, when Table Recorders were made. They were small and fat cylinders that sounded very deep. The bore of those instruments consisted of tight loops. Like a switchback road.

Anyway here it is. I just need time to get to know it.

Carillon

 A song by John Williams and Sky, played on the silver wand

Ronde by Susato

 From the Brian Bonsor book

Aulos Haka alto

Rustic Dance

 Rustic Dance by Alan Ridout, from Trevor Wye 1. A bit tricky, its in F so has a Bb in it, but with most Bs as naturals.

Happy Bicentennary Strauss!

 A special anniversary today. On this day 200 years ago Johann Strauss II, the father of dance music, was born.

My mini tribute, on alto recorder.