Back to school...

Finally, I have moved back to Indiana. My room is sans air conditioning and the price of my books exceeds my credit limit, but aside from that I couldn't be happier to be back. Now, I'm just eagerly awaiting the temperature's dwindling. Mmm, sweater weather...

The September issue of Vogue is on newsstands right now. Anyone who knows me personally or has followed my earlier blogs knows that it is, for me, a tremendously important publication. I love the fashion, the articles, the sheer class. Even women and fabulous men who don't subscribe to the magazine buy the September issue. In this particular issue, however, Vogue has gone above and beyond by publishing a sparkling profile of Gustavo Dudamel, the new conductor of the Los Angeles Philharmonic: "the conducting boy wonder who's making classical music not just cool but hot." Naturally, I sent in a thank-you e-mail this morning. I'm just thrilled that classical music will be reaching everyone who picks up the September issue this year. Younger people have been hearing that classical music is dying out for decades, but to millions of people, even those under 35, this music is life.


So, thanks, Vogue, for proving your awesomeness once more.

I win.

I finally got a new headjoint. My teachers had been bugging me about it since middle school. I'd always tried to go along with it, trying out new headjoints at various festivals, but I never really felt a difference with any of them. Despite what everyone says, I kind of thought that the importance of the headjoint was a load of crap.

Then, when I was at Gary Schocker's masterclass in upstate New York this summer, Dave Williams came with a new batch of Foster Headjoints--there are only about nine of them, and they aren't up on his website yet since they're so new. The cut of the hole is slightly squarer than that on my Brannen headjoint. Anyway, I tried it out and I was in love! It made my D7 so much easier to get out, and it just tweaked my sound enough so I was able to just soar more on phrases, and relax my lips when I play.

Again, I can't find a picture. In fact, Google image search "williams foster headjoint". The combination of images that come up are bizarre and somewhat unsettling.

One month later, that exact same headjoint--not just the model, but physically the exact same one--is mine. And it's like I'm in love with playing again! I didn't practice a lot this summer, but the past couple days, I've just been playing and playing! Also, I went to Flute Arts and they repaired three ripped pads--I didn't even know anything was wrong. So I sound better than I've ever sounded and I'm just ready as can be to go back to school.

Also, yesterday I found out that for my 20th Century Musical Lit class, I already have the main textbook--Alex Ross's The Rest is Noise--and already read it for fun two years ago. (Mr. Ross's blog is on the blogroll to your right! Check it.)

So I win.

it's a blog about flute. it's a flug.

I'm excited. Why am I excited?

1. I've been at my first National Flute Association convention since Wednesday. It is fucking ridiculous and I recommend it to any flute players.

• Being at said convention has allowed me to spend lots of money buying music for the competitions I have coming up, let alone the entire school year. Also, a new Protec bag. I used to have a Protec case in middle and high school. It was forest green and thus heinous. Now they're making bags in the spirit of Harajuku Lovers.
  

• After attending a freelancing workshop, I now want to have more of a presence on the internet. Unfortunately, this also means I should get Twitter.

2. I'm moving out of New York tomorrow! This means I can go back to school, resume regular practice and see my boyfriend. I win.

I'm going to mainly reflect on flute in this blog, and my experiences and observations as a flutist. However, I'm going to make it a blog about music in general, so it won't be so lame.

A last thought: I love Mimi Stillman's sex-ray vision the second she stops playing. Attempt a YouTube search.

-Sarah