VALE Prof. John HOPKINS OBE
R.I.P.
Yesterday I received the very sad news of his passing away. The Australian Music Industry owes him much more than it gave him credit for especially in the last few years! He helped launch many successful careers and for me personally he was the maker of my success as flute teacher and performer and ultimately responsible for the success of my own students and “grand-students” many of whom are now in leading positions in Australia and in many other countries. He started a brilliant institution from scratch (The Victorian College of the Arts) which has produced a very large proportion of the musicians of several generations. It was his great talent to allow his staff to do what they were best at and used this with great wisdom to the ultimate success of all involved. It is a great pity that those who succeeded him did not have any such wisdom and managed (with the help of the politicians and musically illiterate papershufflers) to practically destroy the brick and mortar part of his achievement. Yet the effects of his educational genius are all around us in those who were lucky enough to have worked with him or studied under his guidance. We, who lovingly call him “Hopi”, are mourning one the most important drivers of Australias musical culture since Nelly Melba. Let us try to save as much of his legacy as possible and make Australia a nation of culture with more great music, less noise but full of artistic excellence and innovation!

E-Flat Flute wanted

If you have a spare E-flat Flute that is reasonably in tune and want to sell it please contact me on info@magicflutes.com.au

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Magic Flutes Blog

Truly Magic Flutes that sing. You can now buy the top model with all options at a ridiculous price but only until March 17!

Check this out:  http://www.magicflutes.net.au/index.cgi?act=news

You will also find and amazing deal on our Bernhard Hammig Gold Flute!

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MATEKI THE ROLLS ROYCE OF FLUTES

Truly Magic Flutes that sing. You can now buy the top model with all options at a ridiculous price but only until March 17!

Check this out:  http://www.magicflutes.net.au/index.cgi?act=news

You will also find and amazing deal on our Bernhard Hammig Gold Flute!

OBOES, BASSOONS and CLARINETS FOR VERY YOUNG CHILDREN

Overcoming a Major Problem

For many years now there has been a shortage of oboe and bassoon players both on professional and amateur level.

The main reason for this is that not enough children can take up these instruments at the same early age, as it is possible with other instruments, simply because they are too heavy and/or too large or there is no specific “childrens’ size” available like for string Instruments. These other instruments have had  special children’s programs for many years such as the Suzuki Method. The three instruments that the Suzuki Method does not inclulde are: The Clarinet, the Oboe and the Bassoon. This is where the Kinder Harmony Instruments are able to fill the gap and furthermore we have developed a Program that allows a teacher to start off kids at a very early age when they are still able to learn much easier than as teenagers.

This program features both a “fun” approach to music making and incorporates the vital aspect of “playing together” and creating “harmony” both in musical terms as well as on a human level in interacting and cooperating with the other kids.There is an abundance of repertoire available which can be used and this allows schools to offer a totally new Program of “Harmony Music” leading up from early Baroque and Classical works to the famous and much neglected Serenades of Mozart and even Richard Strauss and Strawinski. This is a much better alternative for gaining experience in ensemble playing than the Wind Bands and other groups typical for Schools, and it is a superb preparation for the experience required to play in a the Symphony Orchestra.

The other reason for the shortage of players of these instruments is the fact that, when they become old enough to actually cope with the weight and size of these instruments, they are at an age when kids have other priorities and the teenage mania breaks loose with all its peer pressures and demands from a change in the” hormone household” of their body.

There are many benefits of starting to learn in instrument at an early age. The most obvious is the well documented fact that children learn much easier before the age of seven. But equally important is the fact that they will become proficient enough, well before the teenage mania, to allow them to even stop playing for a period without loosing their abilities and virtually pick up where they left off!

Another very important effect is that the kinder harmony programmakes ensures the availability of a full set of woodwind players who are well experienced in playing together in groups and subsequently professional, amateur and school orchestras will not have to struggle, as they do now, to find oboe, and bassoon and clarinet players.

The result is an improvement for everybody!

—
Thomas Pinschof

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