News from the Flute at Scotch

Three Scotch flute students recently accepted an invitation to perform at the Perth Concert Hall with the WA Youth Music flute choir.

Tedrick Au (Year 9), Ben Pentony (Year 5) and Luke Beeson (Year 3) enjoyed joining with over 60 players from across Perth to perform Zig Zag Zoo, a new piece by British flautist and composer Ian Clarke.

Scotch flute teacher Wendy Garrity, and WAYMA flute choir director Jan Holdsworth, had the privilege of workshopping with Clarke when they were in New York recently to perform with the Fisenden Flute Ensemble, and although the piece has yet to be published, Ian kindly gave Jan a copy to use with the WAYMA flute choir on her return.

Ian Clarke is a crossover player, who is involved in jazz, contemporary and classical musical circles. He employs extended techniques usually found in avante-garde music in his works which are written in a very accessible style, and even the youngest player, Luke, was able to use flutter-tonguing and other techniques that are not usually introduced until university level. Having heard some of Clarke's music on CD, the boys were already fans of his style, and had already tried some of the techniques they had heard to produce train whistles, alien voices and whale calls on their flutes.

The boys said they had a great time preparing and performing Zig Zag Zoo, and it was wonderful to see them so enthused about extending their abilities on the flute in order to participate. We look forward to the next such opportunity.

Wendy Garrity