terminating

Today, my female owner did something she normally would struggle to do and hence, not do – tell her flute teacher that she wants to stop flute. She had told Fated Guy about her struggle in this area of terminating relationships and he had firmly pointed out the absurdness of her thoughts, that she did not need to feel bad or guilty about stopping class, that she had the ultimate power to decide and if she is not happy in the process of learning, then it defeats the purpose.

Then he proposed that she do it asap and offered to buy her dinner if she does it today during flute. His point was that if she was going to do it eventually, why not now? Why procrastinate?

My female owner wasn’t motivated by the dinner per se, but she knew this was something she had to do. Hence, she decided to tell her flute teacher at the end of class. With a heavy heart, she attended class and her flute teacher could tell that something was wrong. However, my female owner kept mum, coz she had only psyched herself to tell him at the end of class (classic procrastination). Class ended (finally) and the next student and his mother came in before she could broach the issue! Ordinarily, my female owner would have given up and left without saying a word. However, she knew she could not face herself or Fated Guy if she left passively and dinner would have been meaningless. Hence, she just spoke up from where she was and informed him of her decision, to which he said “I know you are busy, let’s talk about it next week”.

My female owner left in a shaky state, upset. However, Fated Guy was elated on hearing that she did it. He kept grinning and congratulating my female owner. My female owner couldn’t make sense her success until she calmed down. She then realised that firstly, she had done what she said she would, despite the fact that the situation was turned unexpectedly awkward and unconducive. Secondly, it didn’t really matter how she did it, coz the focus was on her standing up for herself and thirdly, really, there is no right way of doing something like that. A behavioural experiment done well. My female owner knew she could have never done it if Fated Guy had not been supporting her through her internal conflicts.

On his part, Fated Guy kept his promise and cooked a yummy Hongkong-style dinner for her housemates and her (talk about immediate reward!). They also did a little role play about what might happen next week when she attends class and my female owner was promised another yummy dish if she sticks to her decision. My female owner reckons she would stick to her guns next week, but knowing that “someone is watching” helped her muster up enough courage to speak out.

focus

My female owner says she almost cried during flute lesson today. She has been stretching herself this week with RA work – endless editing and proofreading – to the point where she feels nauseated. She also had to deal with her own thesis and her endless ruminations about what’s next, after graduation?

Her flute teacher was harsher than usual and of course, that made my female owner more anxious and less fluid in her playing. She was accused of not paying attention to dynamics and other musical features. While partly true, the main reason was that her cognitive resources were channelled largely to getting the notes right.

Anyway, her flute teacher always says how a student plays reflects his/ her personality. Today, he commented that she lacked focus in her playing.. the way she probably lacks focus in her life. He actually verified his hypothesis by first asking her (before making that comment) what her plans are, post-graduation. My female owner’s response (no prize for guessing) was “I don’t know”.

duets

My female owner woke up with a vengeance today. She was determined not to let her emo-ness get the better of her. After all, if God is for her, who can be against her, right?

She did an extra-long quiet time, struggled her way through three songs (new chords and all that) and read an obscure book in the bible.

Then, she went off for her first flute lesson in 2 years! Some readers are familiar with her horror stories with her former flute teacher who, although was a nice man, was the typical eccentric musician where you never know if it would be a good day.

This teacher was markedly different. He came from a sound theoretical base, infusing theory into practice, tying in science with art. He was able to do what she always wanted her flute teacher to do – identify her flaws and show her ways of improving. Even with the first note she blew, he could pick out the issues. It was certainly the most fruitful flute lesson she ever had. Rather than just learning to play the notes, she was given clear directions on how to improve her techniques.

The funny thing he pointed out was that her right hand was slower than her left hand in pressing the buttons. It was strange, considering that she is right-handed. My female owner reckons the greater dexterity in her left hand was due to her guitar playing since chords are formed with the left hand. Hmm… so natural weakness can be trained to become better. Good news for her.

Alas, he didn’t come cheap. My female owner really needs a job, if she hopes to continue learning under him. Actually, she’s not sure why she is investing so much time, money and effort into flute. She’s just drawn towards it (hopefully she will find a guy who can play the guitar or piano well, so that they can do duets together!).

service

My female owner has been playing her flute more often these days (thank God she’s out of range of the Balcony!). She only plays the flute during the day and when no one is at home. That’s a small window of opportunity isn’t it?

Anyway, she was just surfing the internet when she chanced upon an Australian website for Flutes and Flutists. How apt, coz she has been wondering whether it is time to service her $3000 (?!?!) flute (like cars, instruments also need to be serviced regularly) and if yes, where she could do it. The company claims to be “Australasia's leading specialist flute supplier, offering a large range of student, intermediate and professional flutes. It also offers a leading edge flute repair service, all under the direction of David Leviston.”

For her flute, which is a Yamaha 500-series and classified as a”handfinished flute”, a general service will cost $340, repeat service, $280 and overhaul, $995. Quite exhorbitant prices, considering that she once sent in an intermediate model for servicing (or was it an overhaul?) in Singapore and the bill came up to $200+.

Whats in a service?
Replace missing corks and felts,replace up to 4 pads, general pad work& shimming,clean polish oil adjust, remove minor dents, 3 month warranty

Whats in an Overhaul?
Replace all corks & felts, remove scratches & dents, complete polish of body & keys, clean oil adjust, remove wear from mechanism 6 month warranty

Hmmm.. like it or not, the flute is assessed to be still in good condition..

flute festival

Guess what? There’s going to be a Flute Festival in Singapore next year. My female owner is definitely not able to attend.

Such a shame, coz I’m sure she will benefit from the experience. After all, she trained under one person all her life. It would be good to hear and learn from performing musicians. The programme looks exciting – performances, masterclasses, workshops and even a competition! So cool!

sheet music

My female owner had a pretty fruitful day doing nothing much at home. She went around surfing for free flute sheet music and stumbled upon this website www.virtualsheetmusic.com

To her, it was the best website offering sheet music ever. The website offers instant download of sheet music in PDF files and music files. What’s more, each song comes in different kinds of arrangement. For example, piano solo, piano and flute, flute and clarinet, string quartet, violin and piano etc etc. And each arrangement has its own midi recording! So you can just play along with the music and pretend that you have a live ensemble! It is relatively cheap too. For a year of membership at USD$37, you get to download as many sheet music and midi recordings as you want. Otherwise, you can purchase by the score. You can also sample the score and listen to the music before deciding whether that’s what you want.

My female owner was so happy when she found this website. Inspired by the sample, she bought a flute solo for Canon in D (she wasn’t ready to commit to a year’s membership… ), her all time favourite classical piece. And had a merry time trying out the piece. (I’m so glad I wasn’t around to hear her trying!! 3.5 years of bad flute playing is enough for me).

Anyway, it's good that she's finally playing some pieces other than her exam pieces...