Ensemble

[remnantpark]

Ouch. I am in a woodwind ensemble with only 6 people (2 flutes including me, 2 clarinets, 2 saxes) And I don't think I have the guts to play in such a small group in only about 2 days (teacher told this to us about 3 days ago and gave the piece yesterday!!!)
The bad thing is that the pieces are extremely high, starting high and ending high.
I'm also having trouble with reaching that high when I'm not the /best/ high note player (I'm a lower note player rather) and I definitely can't play them with only 1 other flute player. (When the whole band plays, I hardly have trouble with them)
And the other flute player's tone is rather "pin-pointy" "compressed" and mine is more "light/hollow" and I'm having a really hard time trying to blend in...
Should I go for the ensemble or request to quit?
(I'm sorry, I have major issues with self-confidence)

[flutepicc06]

Well since you've only got a couple of days, it's really not fair for you to quit. What are they going to do without a flutist? And if they find one, is it really fair to that other flutist that they've now only got a day to learn the music? It's a good chance to challenge yourself with something that's difficult, but very worthwhile (learning to play in small ensembles of mixed instrumentation is invaluable). As for being a low note player, you need to be able to play equally well in any register, so since you know the upper ranges are among your weak points, start doing exercises up there to get more comfortable.

[shortandsilly]

Ouch. I am in a woodwind ensemble with only 6 people (2 flutes including me, 2 clarinets, 2 saxes) And I don't think I have the guts to play in such a small group in only about 2 days (teacher told this to us about 3 days ago and gave the piece yesterday!!!)
The bad thing is that the pieces are extremely high, starting high and ending high.
I'm also having trouble with reaching that high when I'm not the /best/ high note player (I'm a lower note player rather) and I definitely can't play them with only 1 other flute player. (When the whole band plays, I hardly have trouble with them)
And the other flute player's tone is rather "pin-pointy" "compressed" and mine is more "light/hollow" and I'm having a really hard time trying to blend in...
Should I go for the ensemble or request to quit?
(I'm sorry, I have major issues with self-confidence)

take it as a learning experience. as long as you follow through and try your hardest, failure or success won't matter. i doubt you will fail...BUT if you do, everyone has a snag in their performance life every once and a while..and i DO believe that it is essential to becoming better as a performer/player. You will win either way. Also people will admire you for working something up in only two days..challenging? i'd say yes. you will more than likely succeed and do better than you think..i have a self confidence issue with my flute too..just go out there and have fun. if you mess up, let it go and move on...it doesn't matter anymore. what is done is done..you only have room to improve!(: i say stick with it, you can do this

[fluteguy18]

Not trying to sound sarcastic but........... would you believe it if I told you that a lot of people enjoy forming ensembles and performing in less than two days? Even though these ensembles are usually honor symphonic bands that have auditions for all of these spots come from all over the state, in essence they are quite similiar to what you are doing. Take this as a good learning expieriance. It improves sight reading, and implementing musicality quickly. I myself have performed in large ensembles where we had 2 days to put together a 1 hour concert. It was always a lot of fun. So, even though this only consists of a few people, and everyone is from your school, consider it as an expieriance of the same essence as All-State honor bands.

So, I wouldnt be antagonistic to this oppuritunity, but excited. You were CHOSEN to be in this, not just randomly inserted. Consider it an honor and a good expieriance.

[atoriphile]

If after practicing as much as you can, you still can't make the high notes sound good, ask your teacher what you should do. She/he may suggest that you take the high parts down an octave or play a simplified version.

If you can hit the high notes fine while practicing, but when playing in the ensemble you get nervous, then that's another issue.

Good luck!

[Mark]

Go for it!..

Seriously, take it as a wonderful opportuninty and do the best you can
with the time you have.

Mark

[remnantpark]

If after practicing as much as you can, you still can't make the high notes sound good, ask your teacher what you should do. She/he may suggest that you take the high parts down an octave or play a simplified version.

If you can hit the high notes fine while practicing, but when playing in the ensemble you get nervous, then that's another issue.

Good luck!

It's a little bit of both. I can hit high notes during practice well if I don't think about it. If I do think about it during practice, ....

I get nervous easily, so my lips tense up very easily. So it's a little bit of both.

Actually, my friend flutist was supposed to get the oboe part which was one octave lower, but she can't play the low register very well so I offered to switch with her. But then later on my teacher said "_____(my name) Go back up to the top part again. I'm fed up with bottom right now" So both of us are going to play high.


Oh well, better suck it up!
But thanks everyone![/quote]

[Mark]

Then play on, friend..
and no matter how it goes, give it your best and let us know how
it works out.

mark

[remnantpark]

Yay! After having a little "chat" with myself, practice is going great! I hadn't heard one high note beak! Vibrato is coming along! I'm so happy!

[remnantpark]

Only...if I can do it in fron of an audience

[Mark]

Yay! After having a little "chat" with myself, practice is going great! I hadn't heard one high note beak! Vibrato is coming along! I'm so happy!

[remnantpark]

I messed up again during band; why do I get so nervous?

But this time, I get to drop an octave lower! Yay! I'm not a fan of high notes which made lots of other flute players look at me funny...but I really don't. I like low notes, they are more fun, and sound more beautiful in my ears.

[atoriphile]

That's okay for now, but keep practicing those high notes! If you plan to continue playing the flute, you will be expected to have solid high notes to go along with your beautiful low notes.

Composers write high notes for a reason, and playing down the octave won't always sound good or be appropriate for a particular piece of music.

[Mark]

I messed up again during band; why do I get so nervous?

But this time, I get to drop an octave lower! Yay! I'm not a fan of high notes which made lots of other flute players look at me funny...but I really don't. I like low notes, they are more fun, and sound more beautiful in my ears.

LOL

I understand, and would think that you would be a good cantidate for
playing alto flute someday..

IN the meantime, keep working the upper octaves so that should you wish
to play lower, it is because you want to.. not because you need to.



mark

[flutepicc06]

I understand, and would think that you would be a good cantidate for
playing alto flute someday..

Ability to play alto doesn't really have any correlation to the strength of any particular register. Alto is a different beast, with it's own challenges and strengths, and just because you have a good low range on C flute does not mean you'll be able to play alto well. That's not to say that Remnantpark will not play alto well...She very well could, but to make judgements about who would be a good candidate for alto based on something like this doesn't make a whole lot of sense, IMHO.