Art of the Recorder

*Flute Full Score, PDF          Flute parts, PDF f&b      Cover

The parts and scores are letter size and suited for either paper printing or electronic music readers.

(for a good recording, see Art of the Violin under Music for Strings; 

the synthesis below is of recorders.)

I. Just For Fun

    Root'n Toot'n     [3:03]    Synth MP3 recording  

II. Elegy for Izabela
     Adagio            [2:50]    Synth MP3 recording     

III. An Original Traditional Melody

      Allegro piccolo jigolo [3:56]     Synth MP3 recording    

          In hopes of finding other performance opportunities, I wrote a large number of arrangements for other instruments; Art of the Violin, Art of the Flute, Art of the Double Reed, and Art of the Saxophone. However none found a happy home. (Part of the gag—forgive me for explaining a joke—was that this was an experiment in music that could be played by any instruments that fit the range, after suitable transposition and modification of phrasing or bowing. So it really isn’t the Art of any specific Instrument.)

          In 2004 I decided that the piece must be at fault, and I rewrote the first and last movements from scratch, keeping nothing from the originals. I made new arrangements for four flutes and four violins as before. Performers continued to shy away; the middle movement was one of the most atonal I had ever written, slow and very short (only one minute) and titled “So You Think I’m Too Old-Fashioned”. No one liked it, and I saw that it needed revision.

          On February 4, 2013, a fine local violinist, Izabela Spiewak, who had played on the memorial concert for my sister in 2010, died of leukemia. I wrote this new middle movement as an elegy in her memory. Now the whole piece is tuneful, gentle, and easily appreciated by many ears. Someday its day may come.