Keeping my students motivated through this crisis
For a beginner book you need to write a ‘real’ piece of music, but only using four notes in the left hand. Some imagination in the accompaniment is required to carry the flute line along. A hint of the French impressionists and Durufle. See if it worked in French Dream, based on this picture in the National Gallery, London.
A marvellous BBC documentary about ‘The Shadows at Sixty‘…. -with some timely commentary from Brian May (Queen) about Hank’s Apache melody: – “He doesn’t just play notes. Every note has a beauty of its own. Every note starts in the right way, continues in the right way (with a certain amount of vibrato from his whammy bar or whatever) and ends in the right way.”
That’s what we’re aiming to do. We’re not just playing notes in the right order: every little element has an impact on the overall expression.