Tchaikovsky competition & Underwood Classes

Dear Flutelovers,

The Tchaikovsky Competition just completed, with online broadcasts of all the woodwinds available in video replay.
I read on one of the flute groups:

"Of those who played yesterday, the Venezuelan Joidy Blanco, 27, was outstanding."


Hear Joidy's first round here: Joidy Blanco's First Round in Replay
Hear her semi-final round here: Joidy Blanco's Full Semi-Final Programme
Joidy's FINAL round here: Joidy Blanco's Final Programme

I listened to several first rounds, and in this player I hear PURE musicality and emotion which basically caused me to ignore the other competitors, and only listen to Blanco. Every phrase of the Bach unaccompanied Sonata in A minor is sung with sense of what it is saying and the joy and tumble of  the thoughts of the composer. The other competitors.....not so much. But hey, it's a huge stress being in such a competition. But what courage this Blanco has! Lovely! She goes from strength to strength. Check it out. This lovely player made it to second place overall, and the winner's Final round is here: Matvey Demin. And lastly, here is Matvey Demin's semi-finals, for comparison to Blanco's. Both are excellent in their own ways, of course!

See more flute video replays for this competition: all woodwind Replays

__________________________
Other insanely EXCELLENT flute stuff:

 Keith Underwood's Flute Classes at Lesson Face are amazingly fantastico!

Have a look at the index of the classes given from the past three years.

I purchased a whole year's worth of Underwood classes and watched them all ( I chose: 2016-2017).

Keith's teaching is the most insightful ever in the history of the flute, and I'm not exaggerating.
Highly recommended. You won't believe just how fantastic until you see them for yourself.

(I'm not related to this business in any way, I'm just a huge fan.)

I've previously recommended his "spit buzzing 101" (see previous blog post.) and since the newer classes have no preview, and you just have to take it on flutey faith...doh....do look at the blog links to spit buzzing at Ghost Valley Ranch, to get an idea at the neuro-flutistic/linguistic-mouthistic programming.
 Such a boon to know these quick fixes! ( Ex: Spit buzzing pulls your upper lip down so it hangs just a few millimeters below your front teeth. When you stop buzzing and play the flute, you suddenly have incredible control over pulling your upper lip down to form a better tone quality. Only takes a few minutes to learn, and brings your embouchure back after a gap in practicing.)

If you are an intermediate to very advanced flutist already, and want to improve quickly or revive your flute-playing, partake of these previously filmed classes, instead of travelling to a big flute convention or fair. It will cost the same (or far less!) than a flute-day, or say, 2-3 basic flute lessons, but you will stay home with your flute out and ready, the pause button at your fingertips, innumerable lifetime of replays of any of the videos,  and learn more quickly and be more inspired at your flutey progress than ever.
Totally worth it! An 11/10 rating from moi! :>)

 Keith Underwood's Flute Classes at Lesson Face  videos available in packages.

Only the best for my readers!

He also has individual lessons online for those who really need specific help:
Keith Underwood private lessons online.

Keith is very adept at teaching woodwind multi-instrumentalists/doublers too, for those who specialize in that.

Comment using the comment button if you have questions for me.
Summer is here!! Ask away. Your comment will appear after a short approval-delay.

Best, Jen