June 2021
At the moment I am taking flute lessons on a more regular basis. Due to the various lockdowns, no lessons were possible for a long period of time and I had the feeling that I wasn't really making any progress. The stagnation is not comparable to learn how to play the piano. Unfortunately, that is very difficult for me. I just mean that I lacked the additional impulses that a teacher can give a student to feed him with new material and to motivate him.
It doesn't feel entirely bad, though. Because this way I move quite confidently in the musical sector that I have got to know so far. And the regularity and security is good for me. But I want to move on forward. To be able to play the Bouree, for example, one day.
My ambition has been awakened.
In the meantime, I can see for myself that often the first or second note in my little practice pieces don't sound nice. The following notes usually sound a bit clearer or purer. I don't know why that is so. I occasionally record myself while practising and that's when I first discovered this phenomenon.
I actually enjoy recording my attempts now and then. And don't feel that intimitated anymore. I posted a video of myself on Instagram. I play a very simple African children's song in four quarters time. Once the first voice and then the second voice.
I filmed myself playing the two voices and managed to merge both recordings with a video collage app (not sure if that's the correct term for it). With a little help of my husband and all the technical equipment I bought in the spring, I recorded both voices external and then added them to the video. My husband pimped the melody a bit with the DAW and highlighted the basic rhythm very intensly. That's how even I strapped it and therefore played it more or less correctly. I got quite confused during the first attempts without the beat and the two voices were never in sync in the end. Rhythm is just my big issue when making music.
It didn't turn out perfect, you can see that well at the end. But it was my very first time and it doesn't have to be worthy of a prize. Besides, recording and deleting, recording again and deleting again to record it a second time was a strain on my husband's nerves and mine. At some point it has to stop.
Now I have had to play and check it so often that I don't want to hear it again for the rest of my life. The melody is also very simple and really not very exciting.
Nevertheless, a few Instagram users were kind enough to "like" this attempt and some even wrote encouraging comments.