Meet Olivia, Kaitlyn, Nathan, Kaliopi, Alan, Grace and Alexis. These are students who I really connected with in so many ways and I invited to be with me for their degrees at UMICH SMTD. I'm so happy to see their lives unfold. They are distinctive and very much themselves. Go Blue Flutes!
I answer these 10 questions: How do you deal with adrenaline during performance? Do you get sweaty hands during a performance and what are some remedies? What are some remedies for excess spit during performance? Do you have any pre-performance rituals? How should I warm up before a performance - Flute warmups, mind and body work? How do I stop overthinking or hyper-fixating on perfection? How do you keep up momentum when you’re close to a performance but exhausted? In what ways can you practice to feel prepared “enough” for performances? Does positive self-talk really work and when should we use it? What do you think we need to give a significant experience to the public through our performance?
Alison Young is The Blissful Hiker, former professional flutist "The solo, female, middle-aged, titanium-reinforced, neurological-movement-disorder-manager, cancer-thriver and long-distance-backpacker, Blissful Hiker. With over 12,000 miles logged as a backpacker on six continents and a background as a world class professional musician and nationally syndicated radio host, Alison Young offers a unique perspective with engaging programs that connect us with the natural world and ultimately help us grapple with life’s challenges. Alison Young is an expert at reinvention as well as tapping into creativity for success." .
It's my 100th Episode so, in the spirit of moving us forward in our flute pedagogy, I'm asking how best I can serve our flute community. What is the future of elementary classical flute music? What will music students be playing when this generation of students are teaching? PorterFlute Pod producers Isabella Carucci and Ella Hursh are flutists creating the Flute Pedagogy Project and I asked them to be the co-hosts of this special anniversary podcast. Happy 100th episode! I'm so grateful for you!
Adam Eccleston talks all about his "wild and interesting journey as a musician, educator, radio host and a slew of other wonderful things..." and we share a lot of laughs. I met Adam at ARIA Summer Academy 15 years ago ? at Mt. Holyoke College and he really had an impression on me. We've managed to keep in touch - I heard him on WQXR Radio in NYC and I just had to have him with me in the pod.
This podcast features interviews with the newly minted Dr. Brandon Lepage whose DMA dissertation Queer Excellence through Musical Activism is one that propels us forward. His recitals surrounded the subjects of Flint, Michigan: Repertoire and Gun Violence: and LGBTQ+ representation in "flexible" instrumentation in chamber music for intermediate players . Also featured is Alexis Phinney, our new Graduate Student Instructor for 2024-25. She is the assistant for My Breathing Buddy studies and is focusing in on all the resources available to her. She cant' wait!
Meet Noniko, my UMICH SMTD alum I deem "My Disney Princess" destined for a life in film and music. She's a digital media specialist on the high seas, bringing her music to the expeditions to Antarctica. Listen in and learn about her path from Taiwan to Antarctica after I met her at age 15.
We loved our time as Fellows at Tanglewood! Alison Young (The Blissful Hiker) and Regina Helcher Yost (Charleston Symphony) are my guests in the pod as we remember the inspiring spirit of Leonard Bernstein from our time working with him in 1987. He has left an indelible impression upon our music making - and yes, we'll weigh in on Bradley Cooper and the movie, "Maestro"
How do others make it look so easy in their career and on stage? I delve into some of the reasons that might be behind some of that look of ease. Welcome new producers Isabella Carucci and Ella Hursh into the Pod from the UMICH SMTD Flute Studio. And check out the new video format!
It's 2023 in review. The top 7 Episodes, our stats from Spotify, YouTube and Amazon as well the Meta data. Thanks from the bottom of my heart for your listenership.
I have always had this idea that I’d go into my grab bag of advice– actually two grab bags I have - and this episode is called My Grab Bag of Life. I recorded it in case you hear something that helps. Word of caution – it will be random. Some life things some flutey things and you'll hear about Sarah. I chose some Christmas Nativity music – this time my arrangement all played by me – of Morten Lauridsen’s O Magnum Mysterium
Last season I didn’t do a podcast during the holidays so I thought I’d end this season with advice for getting through it all. So I chose the most obvious of titles. – A Musician’s Winter Break. Yin? Or Yang? Yin being restorative and yang being filled with power. Both will be productive, believe me.
Lots of things are up - so I'll update you! Go Blue Flutes, where I'm playing next and some new recordings being released in 2024.
I’m happy to be coming to you with some prescriptions for naturally healing your fear of being in the hot seat during those pre-screening and live auditions for music school. Let me tell you, I don’t like being judged any more than you do so let me tell you how to best be yourself, how to think, who to listen to when it comes to your playing (hint: it’s not you) and what is expected of student’s in an audition for schools, both undergrad and grad. With me in the pod, several of my unnamed alumni, in order to show you that they all are looking for a lot of the same things. Stay tuned to find out what those concepts and hard truths are.
I learned the flute before the computer was portable and I’m often asked how I did it. After asking “did what?” and “what are you asking about?” How I made a career before the ease of information and accessibility. I realize you all want to know how we got by without the internet or computer for gaining wisdom about classical music and how to play it. Sit down and listen. There's a lesson here.
NFA Lifetime Service Award winner Penelope Fischer turns 80! Listen to our conversation in 2020 about and feature 3 of the works on the Phillipe Gaubert Study Guide we created together in 2017. Amy Porter, flute; Tim Carey, piano. Penny Fischer and AP discuss Nocturne & Allegro Scherzando, Madrigal and Sonata in A,
We review new ways to warm yourself up with two wonderful flutists! Discover Modal Flute Warmups from Laura Lentz in Rochester, NY and Daily exercises and Rubank duets online with Detroit Symphony's Amanda Blaikie. PLUS exciting news about a new method on the horizon from a very respected pedagogue. Listen in!
Listen in as distinguished professor Dr. Dowling teaches about how he quantified my sound for the audience at my 2019 Anatomy of Sound workshop. Apparently people wanted to know why I sounded and how I sounded like I sound! Dr. Dowling specializes in underwater acoustics, hydrodynamics, hydro-acoustics, structural acoustics and has worked for the Navy so - I trusted him in this study but it took some convincing on his part as to why I needed to see the Anatomy of Sound! Featuring Gaubert Sonata in A from Amy Porter's recording "Ballade".
My coach from 1988-1990 was Trudy Kane. Ms Kane was Principal Flute with the Metropolitan Opera 1976-2008 and is Professor Emeritus at the Frost School of Music, University of Miami. She received both her BM and MM from the Juilliard School. She is active in the commercial recording field and can be heard on the soundtracks of many film scores including The Untouchables and Beauty and the Beast (original). She can be heard and seen on many Met videos including Il Trittico, Manon Lescaut, Peter Grimes and three different La Bohemes. Her solo CD In the French Style includes Sonatas by Franck, Fauré and the Gieseking Sonatine.
What's up Amy? Featuring surprise guest Gareth Davies, Principal Flute, London Symphony. Plus updates on Trio Virado, Brevard Music Center and AP's summer reading list.