Neflac Day 3

Welcome to day 3! Today we warmed up by playing Estafette in three different groups. We lined up and passed the ball to eachother, over and under our legs. We then did some stretches, like the 'Neflac stretch' and the 'Skiier'. After this physical warm-up, we split into our two groups (NTK and YIP) to warm up with flutes. We all played a lot of different scales, and practiced our posture

While the YIP had individual lessons and rehearsals, the theme lesson for the NTK was posture, which involved us experimenting playing with bad posture. We also tried putting our flutes in different positions, which was very useful!

Both for NTK and the YIP'ers had individul lessons and masterclasses. YIP had two tech clinics, as well a visit from Jan Baggerman (who is a flute tehnician) so anyone could have their flutes checked by him.

NTK had ensemble coaching where we played and rehearsed some pieces in preparation for the concert this weekend. And then comes the flute orchestra!

For the flute orchestra we had 30 players, each playing all different flutes; C Flute, Alto, Bass, and Contra-Bass. We practiced some pieces for our upcoming concert this weekend, which will be super fun!

The workshop for tonight was with Glenn Liebaut, who worked with us on Dalcroze/Eurhythmics. This is when you use your body to make percussive and rhythmic patterns, together and in groups. He also got us to sing and move together in rounds and in circles. He then took us outside to make a performance from the rhythms we had learned, which was really, really enjoyable.

Today was a really good day, and we are looking forward to tomorrow!

Slaaplekker!
Nichaud, Rivka, Shanni and Judith

NEFLAC Day 2

Day 2 NEFLAC
We are quite tired now after this great long day, but we want to talk about our first real day of NEFLAC. There were some that were up in the early morning practicing for the day to come while the rest of us got up later and gathered to eat breakfast. Afterward, we all went on a walk and did some warm-up exercises with Weike, then had a breathing class with Jeroen. The breathing class reminded us of an Anatomy class, and was very interesting.

I, Dario, had my first lesson with Emily in the morning, which turned out to be a super useful session about technique and sound quality! The amount of information was a lot, so I'll really have to work hard in the next days (maybe also weeks, months...!).

I, Daniel, had the morning 'free', and while I had quite a few hours and the sun was shining, I decided to practise outside. It was really nice, but I still prefer inside-practise concentration- and practicewise. But loved those inspiring hours where everyone is making music and the lovely atmosphere to study in!

Then we had lunch, and it was good, above all because it kind of was the only time we had for a little rest and to be all together! After that YIPers went straight to the first ensemble rehearsal, experimenting with all kinds and sizes of flutes.

The YIPers attended/performed their first masterclass of the week, and it was a real eye opening experience for both the performers and also the auditors.

We all ended the night with a big dinner and a stunning concert by Matthias Ziegler. He demonsrated his own compositions and techniques using microphones, pedals, and many others that are too many to list. We can't wait to start again tomorrow!

By: Jordan, Dario, Daniël, Jade

Welcome to the Neflac summer academy 2015☆

As Roberta Alexander said during her inspirational speach this afternoon (we'll come back to that later) "The concert starts in your dressing room". We could apply that to NEFLAC as Neflac started in april when we all sent our recording. Today we finally met each other and everyone is so nice, plays so well and is so pretty (you should come to to the concert to see for yourself! :)
Today was a warm-up for a very busy week. We've first tried to remember the names with games. After the games we brought our suitcases to our rooms. Meera and Oriane discovered that they'd be staying in the bridal suite where the batheroom is see-through, that made the teachers giggle but don't worry they found a way to take a bath quietly!
After a delicious lunch, we met Roberta Alexander (we already talked about her earlier). She is a world famous soprano and as a superstar she had many tips to give to us about presentation on stage (you can't imagine how hard it is to bow).
After the workshop, the NTK (the younger flautists) did a presentation concert playing some flute repertoire and some duets. They were great! ☆ Then the YIP (the ancient ones) did their own presentation concert, divided into two parts by yummy food (don't worry we are not eating all the time). They did great too! ★ It was really nice hearing everyone and getting to know each other! It was a great day filled up with laughter (we are really funny), music and we are really looking forward to this amazing week! ☆★☆
Robin (NTK), Fleur (NTK), Meera (YIP) & Oriane (YIP)