Flute Instruction by the Lake

Disaster strikes, along with lightning! I’ve managed to fry my external hard drive, and just when I was about to post a backlog of images and sound files on Urban Flute.

Long story short, I’m about to cycle off to Markaham with reassurances from Bill at CBL Tech that data from my hard drive can be salvaged — in the meantime, if it seems a little quiet from Urban Flute…

A day of auspicious thunderstorms rolled through Southern Ontario a few days ago, marking the transition from spring to summer. This photo is looking across Lake Ontario in the direction of Niagara Falls from the RCM’s historic Cawthra Adamson Estate location, where I teach flute in Mississauga.

When the weather is agreeable, I will on occasion move lessons out-of-doors, setting up a music stand under a nearby tree (student’s choice!) in the landscaped grounds to read duets or trios and enjoy a change of surroundings.

There is a different ambience when playing outside, as well as an immediate change of acoustics. Along with suggestions as to how best to deal with these potential challenges, discussions might also include the psychology of playing in a quasi-public setting, as well as solutions for dealing with music being blown off the music stand by breezes coming in off the lake!