Live Recordings

Paul Hindemith: Acht Stücke - Gemächlich, leicht bewegt

Mon, 22 Aug 2011 00:49:40 -0500

Todays podcast consists of the first movement of one of my favorite pieces written by any composer. These pieces have been in my life for 20 years. I first heard these on a recording by Judith Bentley, former Professor of Flute at Bowling Green State University. I first studied these with Eleanor Lawrence during the summer of 1995. I then performed them on my Senior Recital at Wayne State University in January of 1996. I then studied them with Judith Bentley.

The performance you see here was a rehearsal that was recorded on March 16, 2011. I was invited by Dr. Mary Fukushima to be a guest artist for Pittsburgh State University’s Annual Flute Day. This was my last solo recording performed in the University of Tulsa School of Music’s former home, Tyrell Hall.

Thanks to the donors that have made the Lorton Performing Arts Center a reality.

Guo New Voice Flute

Sun, 3 Jul 2011 13:44:42 -0500

Today’s podcast consists of the first few sounds I made on my Guo New Voice Flute the day it arrived.

The Guo New Voice Flute is an interesting flute. It is made up from new materials, it has a new design, and is a complete rethinking of flute design.

I bought the flute after seeing them at the NFA Convention in Anaheim, CA in August of 2010. I have used it in Oklahoma on days where I have had out door performances. As it is made from a polymer it is very consistent. Also the pads are made from a material that is impervious to all of the pitfalls of modern and Straubinger pads. They are made form this material that resembles the spongey quality of a yoga matt.

I think that it is quite an interesting creation. Many years ago, before I played Altus flutes I was playing a Muramatsu flute. I never found a headjoint that worked for me until I came across this wonderful AD Geoffrey headjoint. Well, AD Geoffrey is the same company that makes the GUO Grenaditte and New Voice Flutes, Piccolo, and Bass Flutes.

So on this podcast you will hear some musical soundbites taken from my first play through the flute. This was on January 14, 2011. The tunes you hear are taken from ILYAS Mirzayev’s Dede Efendi Gülnihal and Ian Clarke’s Hypnosis.

Enjoy!

Update: 21 August 2011

Many people have sent messages wondering what color flute I ended up with. Well being that I am a classical musician by training, a jazz and funk music lover, and a music educator I decided to go with a grey flute. This way when I am using it on stage in an setting I will not get those what is that fill in the blank (orange, yellow, white, pink) thing the flute player is using. Yes, grey, just plain grey. But the flute is so cool and unique looking that I still get many questions from musicians and audience members alike!

Schocker Sonata for flute, clarinet and piano

Fri, 17 Jun 2011 18:27:19 -0500

Schocker - Sonata for flute, clarinet, and piano

This performance took place in the late spring of 2005. I was living in Cincinnati as a free lance musician. I was a member of a group that first began as Duo Delicato, then we became The Delicato Ensemble, and then this the final incarnation was Trio Delicato. I am performing on Flute. Marianne Breneman is performing on Clarinet and Philip Amalong is performing on piano.

I first discovered this piece that Gary Schocker had written during the summer of 2004. Marianne and I had just performed his duo for flute and clarinet titled “Airheads”. “Airheads” was such a great piece that I called him and ask for him to send me a copy of his score for his Sonata for flute, clarinet and piano. After the first reading we were hooked! And here is the result. This was from the first performance of the Sonata in the Spring of 2005. If you like the piece ask Gary and he will sell you a copy. I remember the first time we read the Sonata it was quite a chore. It was originally in manuscript form and some of the parts were quite illegible. We asked for Gary to put it into Finale or Sibelius, which he did and we had a much better go at it the second time around!

There are three movements on this one podcast.

Sonata for flute, clarinet, and piano by Gary Schocker

John Rush, flute
Marianne Breneman, Clarinet
Phil Amalong, Piano

On this recording I am performing on an Altus 1607rbsoe.

French Flute Podcast

Sat, 4 Jun 2011 19:11:17 -0500

The subject of this weeks podcast is my old French flute. I bought this flute back in 2003 from a friend. He had done some restoration of flutes in the past and thought that he would get to it, but he never did. The flute is very unique, well unique by todays standards. It is made of Maillechort, which is a mixture of nickel, brass, copper, and silver and it is silver plated.

The flute is roughly 100-120 years old. The flute came without a headjoint. The flute has no maker mark on the flute whatsoever. The only markings on the flute is a number 8 on the rib of the footjoint and the body of the flute. There are no markings under the keys, in the key cups, or any other place where you might find them on flutes from the period.

The flute has an inline g key, which is to be expected. It is open hole and has the pointed keys. It has the cutest shaped D# key. It is tear drop shaped. At first I thought that it would make things difficult as it is rather small and would make transitioning down to low C# or C difficult. On the contrary, it was actually easier than on a modern flute with all the fancy extra rollers.

Altus Handmade Flutes made me a wonderful headjoint that works extremely well with this flute. I do not know if it is the flute, or the headjoint that I am in love with! I think both. I will experiment with the headjoint on all of my Altus flutes and at a later date post the results of that fun experiment!

So here are the first sounds of the flute, out of the box. I used my TASCAM DR-03 recorder. One of the best recorders you can get for under $100.00. Sometimes they are on sale at the Woodwind and Brasswind for $50.00. Amazingly affordable and useful for all musicians.

I then transferred the file to Garage Band and just cut some of my ramblings. There was no enhancement to the sound what so ever.

The music you hear on this podcast is selections by Debussy.

1. Debussy - Syrinx (first line)
2. Debussy - Claire de Lune (first half)
3. Debussy - Pour invoquer de Pan (major portion)
4. Debussy - Arabesque No. 2 (major portion - stopped just before the recap)

I would like to send much thanks and gratitude to Duane Hewson. He is my repairman at Altus. He did an amazing job with this flute. He had the flute for 2.5 years and took such care of it. I do not have a name for it, but expect one soon. Duane, thank you for taking such loving care of this flute and proving my right that there was/is something special there.

Syrinx at the Club

Sat, 14 May 2011 17:38:36 -0500

This little podcast is a creation of a few sleepless nights that I have had this past week. Since I was unable to sleep I decided to learn to use a few new acquisitions. The first is my new MacBook Pro. This is an amazing computer, it really makes my old iBook G4 look like an antiquated machine. Another item that I wanted to experiment was my new microphone. It is a Blue Yeti Microphone. It really is an amazing piece of work.

The piece that is the main subject of this work is Claude Debussy’s piece “Syrinx” or originally titled “La Flute de Pan”. This piece has been in my life for many years. I remember the first time that I heard it when I was a student in high school in the late 1980s.

I decided to take the piece and create something new. I remember hearing Hubert Laws recording titled “The Best of Hubert Laws.” On this recording he performs Debussy’s Syrinx with about a 2 second delay of reverb. It is very reminiscent to some of the Paul Horn recordings in the Great Pyramid, at the Taj Mahal, etc.

I want to thank my neighbors for putting up with my late night recording and mixing. Most of this was done while they were away, but I am sure a few of them got a little tired of hearing some of the same phrases played repeatedly ad nauseum.

As usual I am performing on an Altus Handmade Flute. This time I am performing on an Altus 907rbsoe.
The 907rbsoe has a Britannia silver (.958) handcute headjoint, silver plated body, footjoint and keys. It has open hole keys, drawn tone holes, stainless steel springs, a b footjoint, and an offset g key and a split e mechanism. I am using the headjoint that came with the flute which is the Classic cut - with its oval shaped embouchure hole, produces a sweet sound with flexibility and penetrating projection. Renowned for producing the trademark Altus sound. For more information on Altus flutes please visit their webpage.

http://www.altusflutes.com

So enjoy “Syrinx at the Club”.

Johann Strauss II - KaiserWalzer (arr. Arnold Schoenberg)

Sat, 5 Mar 2011 16:19:20 -0600