Big flutes

Today I had another great musical experience that I was lucky to be invited to.

A flute teacher I know (the one that lent me the contrabass flute for a week) flew the big flute specialist Peter Sheridan over from Melbourne the other day. She flew him over with the intention of him giving a bass flute lesson to her and her friend. She contacted me by email about having a lesson, too.

She decided that, while Peter Sheridan was over, she may as well put on a concert, too. She also asked in the email if I'd be interested in playing on my own, in an ensemble and in a bass flute quartet that we were going to put together on the spot. I agreed to do everything.

My 60 minute bass flute lesson that went for 1.5 hours was amazing. Peter Sheridan is a gifted teacher and I learnt heaps. He could also actually teach me how to play the bass flute, something most teachers can't do. I couldn't thank him enough for all the wonderful things he'd taught me.

My performance was pretty good. The audience consisted mainly of people that were playing or their spouses and totalled no more than 18, so I was barely nervous.

It turns out that I wasn't needed in the ensemble, so I just listened to them. They had Peter Sheridan play the contrabass part and the contrabass player filled in for the absent first player.

I then performed with Peter Sheridan, the woman that flew him out and her friend in a quartet. I can now cross playing in a low flute quartet with a world famous flautist off of my list of things to achieve in my lifetime. Not only did I play with him, I played his solid silver contrabass worth more than I'd like to imagine. He played his sub-contrabass. The other 2 played contrabass and bass. I'm going to guess none of you have ever seen any of those flutes in real life, let alone all of them playing together.

I also met some more of the big flute names in Adelaide. I'm really privileged to get opportunities like this.

Expect some photos in WDYLL soon.