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.

The Tapestry Record at Frankensound.

Roly Skender at Frankensound Audio Lab did a great job of recording The Tapestry's arrangement of Spanish Dance by Kai Stensgaard. Percussionist Callum Moncrieff also helped us out playing magically on the cajon. It was a really fun night and we were really happy with what we managed to capture. As Roly is so multi-talented he also managed to record it all on video! Check it out!

If you like what you see you can come and see us live at The Blue Room in Northbridge, Perth on Saturday the 14th of November at 7:30pm. The concert will feature with Indian, Japanese, Portuguese and Spanish flavours by composers Kai Stensgaard, Gareth Farr, Ravi Shankar and Piazzolla. It will be a relaxed evening of interesting music for flute and marimba.

The Tapestry at the Oxford St Markets - Leederville.

Earlier this year my very good friend/colleague/ex-housemate Holly Norman and I formed a percussion and flute duo named The Tapestry. Holly is an amazing percussionist and muso, playing a lot lately with WASO (the West Australia Symphony Orchestra). Although, when she plays with me there isn't so much of the timpani or crash cymbals but more of the cajon, djembe and marimba. I try to mix up my style a fair bit too using some ethnic flutes like the Bansuri from India. Our sound is one aimed at drawing on flavours from around the globe. We don't try to be authentic with our sound but more take traditional tunes and make them our own.

The Tapestry creates an improvisatory and relaxed vibe perfect for outdoor markets! Our first busking gigs were at the Fremantle Markets pub, which was great! The crowd often took a little bit to get going but once they did they were very responsive. After a few months we came to the conclusion that if we wanted to keep playing there and actually earn a bit of cash we were going to have to play some covers....which we really didn't want to do. So after a few quiet months we started busking again at the Field of Greens Fresh Fare Market which is an offshoot of the Oxford St Markets in Leederville, Perth. The market is held behind the Aranmore Catholic College on Franklin St, Leederville every Sunday from 8am till 12pm. It's a gorgeous dog friendly market full of delicious things to eat! Both times that we have been there the organisers have been so friendly to us, the kids have been great (thanks for dancing!) and we have made a lovely bit of money as a bonus. As Holly commented today playing at the markets is just like going out for coffee with a friend, a perfect Sunday morning treat.

The Tapestry will be playing at the Oxford St Markets again for sure!

FUJARA!!

I wanna play this!!!



The fujara is a Slovakian flute which uses overtones. It looks pretty simple to play and make! But the prices for these instruments over the internet seem a little pricey to me, the cheapest being 90Euro. If anyone has any ideas how to make this instrument, let me know!