Lots to blog about today.

The Fulbright rough draft is due today to FPU's campus Fulbright moderator (I don't actually know what her title is, but needless to say, she's amazing and in charge of the Fulbright process for us). So I'll ship it off to her, as well as to anyone who will look at it for me. It'll be nice to get it off my desk for at least a few days.

I played a traditional concert this summer where a certain bigger name Boehm flute player was trying to sell his new book of arranged tunes, complete with overdone piano accompaniment and staccato markings everywhere. The guy could play, and he was Irish, but he couldn't play the music. He even called Danny Boy the "unofficial national anthem of Northern Ireland." At which point I just sank into my chair even further.

Sidenote: I haven't ranted up to this point, because I sort of figure that's going to be the standard at an event like this--and that's why I go. Coyotebanjo once said, "This music saved my life." I know what he means when he says that. I go to the uber classical festivals because I think they need to know there are other musics to play, and I know somehwere there's other people like me thinking, "That. I want to play that.....but how do I learn to do it?"

Anyway, I belong to two of the more popular flute listservs. I mostly lurk, because I think these guys get hung up on insanely minute details about the music, and they rehash the same conversations year after year. Occasionally I will post something because I know more about classical flutes/flute playing than your average traditional player, and I know more about world flutes/irish traditional flutes than 95% of the people on the classical flute listserv. Well, recently a classical flutist posted a rather positive review of above book to both listservs. There are a couple of things you never want to bring up on the woodenflute listserv: 1) articulation and 2) classical arrangements of traditional tunes. Thus ensued the back and forth the same old fight. I agree with most of what the traditional players said, yet my name got brough up by another flute player and the insinuation was that I approved of the book, and that at said event, I played in a very traditional way, so that must mean traditional players should approve. I've thought about replying, but I've done what I usually do, and let it just go by.

Frankly, I wish we'd just all spend the time learning to play more tunes, or sharing tunes with our classical friends, intead of trying to beat them into being traditionalists or rehashing the same old arguments.

So there's that. Then there's the fact that five of us have been asked to play a masterclass/concert for a nearby university, and while we do stuff like that for free, I have gotten to a point where I don't want to lose money if I can help it (conference gigs aside). Unfortunately the person on the other side keeps going back and forth on if they're going to cover gas money or not. She's more worried about housing, when she has a house that we can crash in if necessary. Anyway, I bluntly told we had several people who couldn't afford to pay for gas to get there and back, so either gas money had to get covered or a large portion of us weren't going to come. Blah.

Anyway, this post is coming out late, but it's been a crazy week.

Peace, Love, and Tunes,

Mac.