Hi! Is there a theme for August intros? I don't remember seeing one.

In Improv Games the other night, we did improv with Mary had a little lamb. This exercise reminded me of an arranging workshop I did over the summer at the Creative Strings Workshop using the same tune. We only had 10 minutes to create the arrangement, so it's basically all improv and we really had to listen to each other. Even though it's not on flute, I am hoping you will enjoy the arrangement!

Sunday Improv Games will be starting in just under and hour! Check the calendar for your local time. Mondays now two hours earlier at 5pm CT! Can you join us? Regardless of if Sunday or Monday works for you, want to tell us a little about your practice plan for the coming weeks? How & when will you incorporate improv? You can always play games virtually too and share your progress in the 🌊Improv Waterfall post category! Remember, you can always start with something simple like "Anyway up" a scale or playing a few notes with a drone tone!

Okay, I know flute is a hobby for pretty much all of you! But what else do you like to do? And is there an element of improvisation in it too? When I was a child at the circus I saw fire poi and was entranced by the the beauty & danger of the performance! In high school I had a few friends who spun glow sticks like fire at dimly lit dance parties! I wasn't much of a "raver" but there were a few dancers who were really smooth with the lights and I loved watching them. I started spinning the "figure 8" pattern with my drum major whistle whenever I had it in 10th grade! We also learned to spin our mace as drum majors, and now I have a staff (an old broomstick I think!) that is good for spinning. Later I shoved some tennis balls into tube socks and started practicing poi with them - poi is a performance art that involves swinging weighted objects attached to tethers in rhythmic, geometric patterns. Frequently lights or fire. There is definitely an element of improvisation to poi. It is very rhythmic, so getting the timing right feels very similar to tapping your foot to music or playing a run perfectly rhythmically. But there is also the element of the unknown, unexpected, and making mistakes. Like when I bumped against the stairwell, how could I recover my timing? I find that having a variety of potential "answers" in my mental movement library helps me find the groove again, just like have a variety of potential musical answers in my mental musical library helps me navigate a route back to being in the groove. A friend gave me these purple flags for my recent birthday. They have weights sewn into the corner edges, so it feels like poi. I love them! I like to observe the sound they make while trying to solve the tiny problems of how to make them move with the music without getting tangled. Purple has not always been my favorite color, but after someone told me it's the highest vibration color and that I should consider adopting it for Flutarians, I've really embraced it. After I saw @Jodie Mesler's beautiful new purple lighting in her little flute studio I set an intention to get some purple on the walls in my studio... and then my friend Sone gave me these flags!

I sent my silver Pearl flute off to Luke Penella for an overdue COA, so you'll see me playing my purple flute for a couple weeks. I was reflecting on the purple flute story today and realized that I've shared this story on Facebook, but not yet here. 🌠🌠🌠 Someone asked me, "Can you actually play that Purple Flute??" Funny Story... I had a 𝘧𝘭𝘶𝘵𝘦 𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘤y one day in 2020... Tragically, during a rehearsal with the COSMIC BUTTERFLIES band, my flute fell... Off a table!!! Can you imagine how clumsy and disappointed I felt at that moment?? Do you agree that a Flute is simultaneously POWERFUL and FRAGILE - Like us? The flute that fell was my Pearl flute - the flute that went with me to the All State Band - and UNT- the flute that my parents bought for me, before my Dad died… And, at the time, the ONLY flute I had!! I rushed it to the nearest “Emergency Room” for instruments! Little did I know… That music shop was about to close its doors for COVID, and a few months later, Forever… The well-spoken-for repairman my flute went to was about to come down with long COVID, and his wife too… What started as a couple of weeks of expected waiting time turned into months… and months... Of no call backs. Of no text backs. Of no signs of activity. What would you do??? The day after, hoping all would be well in a few weeks, I gambled $100 on a flute from AMAZON. I needed a flute PRONTO! The show must go on! Right? Here’s a question: If you could buy a flute of ANY color, what would you buy? Seeing that for only $100 I had several color options… I chose purple: because it’s Royal! And high vibrations, Right? I found out when it arrived YES, IT PLAYS!!! I was so impressed that right out of the box all of the notes played!! The lower register even had a kind of edge & “pop” that’s different from my Pearl! Honestly, I was just glad to have a flute in my hands – It reminded me of the Yamaha 300 flute I learned on… I remembered the way it felt vibrating in my hands. I felt grateful: for all the progress I’ve made since then!