The BIGGEST flute in the world!!

Was doing some research on amplifying flutes actually, but stumbled across this great video and had to share it with you! I'll let you know when I've figured out the best solution for amplifying a flute, it's a tricky one!

This is possibly the silliest and most amazing instrument ever invented, the subcontrabass flute! ENJOY!

Melbourne International Jazz Festival

Melbourne...what a great place to be living! It's a never ending festival! There's never a shortage for something to see and do, to get inspired and to see some good live music. From May 1st the Melbourne International Jazz Festival starts, going for a full week. Being a flute player myself, I'm always on the look out for jazz saxophonists who also play flute. They are always an inspiration to see, with their amazing improvisatory skills and awesome technique. One concert I was particularly interested in seeing was 'Sangam' with Eric Harland, Charles Lloyd and Zakir Hussain. As you may have already read, I have a particular fascination with Indian music and Zakir Hussain is someone I have been wanting to see in concert for a long time. He is one of the most famous tabla players in the world, playing with a whole variety of musicians. Charles Lloyd is a multi-instrumentalist, and a great flute player.

Here is the Charles Lloyd Quartet with Charles on flute in 1972, unfortunately there is no video footage for this one but the music is great.




If your interested in the Sangam trio check this out. It's a bit of a doco on how the trio came about and includes some beautiful performances.

Jarrah Thompson Band at Sunbury.

Last weekend Jarrah Thompson Band was invited to perform at the Sunbury Backroad Music Festival, just on the outskirts of Melbourne. Back in the day this was an iconic festival attracting an average of 45,000 people each year. Sunbury was Australia's Woodstock. Bands included Chain, Madder lake, Billy Thorpe and the Aztecs, Max Merritt, Skyhooks, Spectrum, Deep Purple and Sherbet. This year the festival had tried to be re-created with the return of legendary Australian bands Madder Lake, Spectrum and Chain plus some newer acts. Unfortunately the scene this year was not anywhere near the 45,000 mark, nevertheless we had a great time on stage. This was our first live performance of a whole pile of new songs and after being in a rehearsal room for months it was a welcome change. We finally had a chance to let all that energy out, it felt great.

Here's some videos from the night:

Johnny Heartsman

Not many people seem to know of Johnny. I was introduced to him by one of my teachers that had an awesome recording of him playing the flute in a Roland Kirk/Ian Anderson kind of style. I was totally inspired! The sounds he created were like nothing I've heard the flute do before. I wasn't interested in the rest of the CD, but Johnny was also a very talented vocalist, bassist, organist and guitarist.

Here's Johnny busting out some awesome blues flute.

Music in Melbourne

Since moving to Melbourne, VIC I have been doing a lot of internet research for music society's, community orchestra's etc. I'd like to share some of these with you. Perhaps it will save you a bit of time!

Lyrebird Music Society> Includes links for events, Orchestra's, Chamber group's, Competitions and Festival's all in Melbourne.
http://www.lyrebirdmusicsociety.org.au/links.html

Victorian Flute Guild. A great resource for flute players in Melbourne.
http://www.victorianfluteguild.org/home.html

Flute Society of NSW. Although the site is currently under construction, it provides some useful information and links.
http://www.flutesocietynsw.org.au/links.html

The Virtual Flute. Not a Melbourne specific website but a great resource for flute players, especially those interested in extended flute technique: multiphonics, alternate fingerings etc.
http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/music/flute/virtual/main.html

Enjoy!

Looking forward

In a weeks time I will be driving in our Toyota Camry across the Nullarbor on the way to my new home....in Melbourne. Moving can be a really scary thing for a musician. Any artist understands the number of years and hard work it takes to gather enough contacts to sustain a career in the arts. Perth has served me well. I have made some great contacts and feel as though I will always be welcomed back into the scene when I return (one day). Although I was completely content and secure with the work I gained in Perth, there never did seem to be quite enough excitement. Whether or not this will change in Melbourne I don't know but as everyone says, it is the musical capital of Australia. I'm excited to discover what Melbourne can offer me. Long awaited bansuri lessons for one! I have always wanted to learn the bansuri properly but could not find anyone in Perth to teach me, but Melbourne is home to a few! It's fantastic! I'm very excited at the prospect of learning new things I would never have the opportunity the learn in Perth.

I am working hard already at trying to secure some work before I arrive in Melbourne and already I have landed a position with Jarrah Thompson's blues/rock/fusion band. I played with the band when they came to W.A for a tour through the South West and have since played a show with them on The Blues Train in Melbourne. There's exciting things happening for the band this year with another South West tour in April, 2010 and a tour/recording in Brazil in July/August 2010. It's set to be a great year already! Check out the tour website....

http://jarrahinbrazil.wordpress.com/

Expanding Horizons

During my years as a flautist I have realised that being put into the Classical flute player box was definitely not where I wanted to be. I want to be versatile and creative with my playing, try new techniques and learn new instruments. So this is what I now set out to be. I still love playing Classical music but I have interests in so many other style of music I don't want to stifle.

I'm currently striving towards this goal by playing with a blues rock band, Jarrah Thompson and band. It's the most fun I've had on stage in ages and I get to express myself in a way I thought I might never get the chance! I will post some videos with Jarrah soon but in the mean time check out my performance of Ravi Shankar's L'aube Enchantee. In my Honours year at WAAPA I studied Indian and Japanese inspired flute music for the Western flautist. This piece by Shankar is a great way to introduce yourself with Indian melody, form and rhythm. This was played at my 2007 Graduation Recital with Tony Maydwell on harp.