Poem by Griffes

wsFltePicmb09 · Post by **wsFltePicmb09** » Sun Oct 26, 2008 4:09 pm

I am a senior in high school and I am preparing for my college auditions in February. I plan on playing Kokopelli and Poem (I think these pieces are contrasting enough =]). Kokopelli I performed for solo and ensemble last year so I just need to dust it off a bit. Poem, on the other had, is a new beast!

I am doing alright on it and no one can really help me with it until I get the fingerings and rhythms down on my own, but i did have a couple of questions...

I have taken some lessons with the flute instructers at the schools I am looking at, but I am not sure if I am going to be able to get to all of them before I get to audition time. One instructer wanted me to treat the F as a fermata instead of playing ALL of sixteenth notes at on the third page during the runs (like play one measure on 16th notes F then one measure whole note Fkind of thing???). And then continue on with the rest of the run. If I were to do this for all of my auditions do you believe that would be alright? I dont know how much liberty I have with this during my auditions (and i am 99% positive i can't do that during solo and ensemble either).

Also, does anyone have any recordings they would recommend i listen to for these pieces? I listen to Laurel Zucker for both right now as well as Mark Sparks for Kokopelli for different ideas as well as how to play rhythms, etc.

thanks =]

fluteguy18 · Post by **fluteguy18** » Sun Oct 26, 2008 5:32 pm

The portion that you are talking about is supposed to be free and with abandon. You are the only one playing there, and the F trill doesn't have to be the exact notated length.

I highly recommend listening to Christina Jenning's recording of this piece on her 2nd cd. She has a website, but I am not sure the exact address. Just google her name and it will show up.

wsFltePicmb09 · Post by **wsFltePicmb09** » Sun Oct 26, 2008 5:51 pm

ok thank you =]

and if i do that, it will be ok??? for auditions and S&E, or just auditions??

fluteguy18 · Post by **fluteguy18** » Mon Oct 27, 2008 10:58 am

That is the common performance practice. The judges [whether audition or S&E] should acknowledge that this part is somewhat like a cadenza. I would play it this way. [In fact.... I did. A few years ago in a competition]. Anyway. Just listen to recordings and trust teachers. Do what you think is right.

pied_piper · Post by **pied_piper** » Mon Oct 27, 2008 2:04 pm

fluteguy18 wrote:That is the common performance practice. The judges [whether audition or S&E] should acknowledge that this part is somewhat like a cadenza. I would play it this way. [In fact.... I did. A few years ago in a competition]. Anyway. Just listen to recordings and trust teachers. Do what you think is right.

I agree and especially for an audition, be prepared to explain WHY you chose to play it in that way. They might ask you and if so, be sure that you can reference the recordings you listened to and the teacher's advice you followed. A lot of musical interpretation is subjective and can be changed. Other times, the interpretation should be guided by tradition - you play it that way because that's the way it is traditionally played by most performers.

wsFltePicmb09 · Post by **wsFltePicmb09** » Mon Oct 27, 2008 3:33 pm

Yeah i remember when i played Kokopelli for one of the instructors, she asked me why i played the piece the way i did. When I told her that I had listened to recordings and pulled pieces I liked out of them, she was really impressed. So that makes sense. Ok.. Thank you!