Sergei Prokofiev’s ‘Peter and the Wolf’ is a children’s story which showcases the family of woodwinds beautifully. In this composition (which consists of both music and text), the bird is represented by the flute, the duck the oboe, the cat the clarinet and the Grandfather is the bassoon.
The family of woodwinds, I feel, is a very versatile family. I liken them to the reliable family member of any family. Flutes, Oboes, Bassoons, Clarinet in Bb and Saxophones. They play solo passages, provide harmonic background for the strings, provide contrasting colour and can even double other instruments.
This week was pretty cool. During class, we had to write a 12 bar melody for the flute and it just so happened that one of my classmates is a flautist. So when the time came to review what we had written, my flautist classmate actually played my piece. It was the first time ever that I had heard a piece I’d written played by someone other than myself. I told my tutor this and she commented with a smile “It’s like a world debut.”
I know it was said as a little joke but still, I smiled.
I also learnt the importance of adding phrasing and expression marks in a composition. Prior to my classmate playing my piece, my tutor asked me to play it on the keyboard. And I did, adding in arpeggios in the left hand, con sentimen’to. Because I had written the piece, I knew exactly how I wanted it to be played but because I didn’t have time to write in any phrasing or expression marks, my flautist classmate played it note by note, exactly as written. No ‘sentimen’to’.
Still, I was pretty amazed. It was a world debut... even if it was just a mini one.. :)
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