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Hey. This is a real issue, I've taken notice to, in the flute world. Whether it be because you're too young and the people given solos are just older, whether it be because people just can't handle the fact that you're more skilled than they are, whether it be flute teachers fueding against other teachers and students against other students... it's all a big problem. Man, you'd probably never last in my stupid world of flute politics. I almost didn't. stare My co-flutist in orchestra always gives me the first part first, then he weasels it out of me into playing the piccolo and he claims to be principal flutist, then I just went to fricken second part already... he can't make up his mind about piccolo or first flute. -sigh- Grrrrrr! And about the teachers against teachers s**t... ugh... it's so... irritating. But yeah, you can let out your wrath here and we'll all help you and we'll all be helped in return. It's such a crappy world to play such an awesome instrument -sigh-

Ah.... I'm glad the two teachers who teach most of the kids at my school are like good friends.... Though in our area I've heard of a really scary teacher, yet she somehow got a bunch of her kids to state.

Has Anyone had to play Klarg-elert's etude in B minor I think? It's in the Mary Karen Clardy Etude book, and has a lot of chromatics in it. Well on a part near the end she forced her students to slow down a ton right before the last passage, when you should only slow down a little... I thought it sounds horrible like that yet those people ended up going to state.

I feel you on that teacher against teacher s**t.
Like, the flute judges for all state here are just school music directors who teach privately on the side, and all of the people I study with play all over the country with major symphonies, and so my teachers refuse to be in my state's music educators association, and they look down on the all state flute judges, so then the judges hate my teachers, and that equals them hating me. Like, they actually make up things to take points off at auditions just because of who we study with. It sucks.

Man do I know what you mean. Like, all of the best flute players in my state, we all hate each other. But it's that kind of hate each other where we're nice to each other, but behind each other's back's we're awful. There's this one girl who is SO bitchy like that. She thinks she's SO much better than me, even though I beat her at everything. So when I told her that I got principal flute at all state, she was all "happy" for me, but I'm sure the minute I was gone she was talking s**t.

So this weekend I found out why this one teacher's (she's like the best teacher in the state, besides my teacher) students never to well at all state. Apparently one of the all state judges was the flute faculty person at the University of Southern Maine School of Music, and then this teacher was hired, and the two of them co-taught for a year, and then they fired the all state judge one, because they like the other teacher better.


Goddamn I hate flute politics...

I don't have problems with my teachers, but our first & third chair flute are the worst. See, on this peice we play (Encanto, if ya know it) we have this 16th note run that happens to go at an fast speed. Pretty much no flutist can play it completely becuase she nevers goes over it with us (even though she makes everyone else play something over and over again if they're slightly out of tune...sorry, it buggs me that she doesn't work on the things that REALLY need to be fixed). So one day, she decided to pop test us on it randomly. I was the only one who managed to play it, even though I did it a little slow. So our teacher threatens jokingly to the 1st chair that she'll give me first chair instead. I grinned, and the 1st and 3rd chair gave me a very, very dirty look. Like they wanted to split my spine in half.

I played that piece in middle school, the runs become extremely easy when you tongue them for practice

Do any other instruments have such unfair and stupid politics like the flutes. I wasn't given and not allowed to play a solo for solo & ensemble this year because my section leader, who's in charge of things like this, thinks I'm too "childish" to play one. That has nothing to do with my playing! I was so sad cause I was looking forward to playing a solo.

We are playing encanto in symphonic band right now! I'm so confused about whether I'm supposed to be playing the song on clarinet or oboe tho... I know what you mean by the whole competition among chairs. I'm so annoyed because the 2nd chair thinks she's better than me even though I'm WAY better than her. Even the third chair is better than her yet she's always trying to show off. It makes me laugh. My friend says I'm being a b***h by saying that the third chair is better than her but its so true! The third chair has a WAY better tone than her and can play the more difficult passages than her. I think the third chair was having an off day when we had chair tests but she really doesn't care about band. I dunno. It just really annoys me that we have such crappy sounding flute solos because the second chair gets them all because my band director makes the first chair be on piccolo.... I even tried asking if I have to play piccolo on every song. Grrrr....