Action Moves People United

By  Lois Herbine

Last month, I recorded a single solo flute track as a contribution to the Action Moves People United project, sponsored by the United Nations, UNESCO.

I played an improvisation realized by pianist Catherine Marie Charlton. Both the flute and piano accompany a poem entitled I Cried by Karelle Wade, which is about war and unity, spoken in the perspective of new parents.

Action Moves People United CD

This project is a CD compiled of poetry and prose tracks, read by spoken word artists and accompanied by musical instrumentation. The central message is world peace through a call to action to promote positive change. Catherine’s improvisation was influenced by the text. The music starts remotely and builds in strength and resolve as the poem first laments the problems in the world and then finds hope in the future. It is read in Cuban/ Spanish by Kenya Autie and in English by Alex Metnick.

My Preparation

Catherine recorded her piano contribution separately and then uploaded her audio file onto a sharing service so I could download both her part and the spoken word file and play through my computer and speaker while I practiced.

As a classical flutist I prefer to read a part instead of improvising it, so Catherine composed the flute solo by recording a separate track, and then I transcribed it using music writing software.

Following the flow of the text, I began the flute softly playing triplets against the piano’s duplets to provide an unsettled feeling. Then as the voice become more confident, so did my flute by getting fuller in sonority then popping the octave while the piano part filled out by adding chords in the left hand. I practiced in the style of an improvisation, sometimes using rubato to pull away from and then rush to sync up with the piano.

Recording Day

I spent an hour at Eastroom recording studio where recording engineer Drew Taurisano placed the piano track through the one sided headphone and recorded my flute playing against it. Using the headphones in this way allows me to hear my part clearly, while fitting it in with piano. This gives me the ability to assess subtle color changes in the sound. After Drew submitted the raw flute file that afternoon, one of our producers, Rupam Sarmah of India, compiled the music tracks and sent the recordings back to the spoken word artists to rerecord, as the music will naturally propel the expression of the voice.

You might be wondering why the producers selected a classical flutist to play an improvisation? One of the plans for the album – and eventual film – is to pair up artists from different genres and around the globe for collaborations that go beyond politics, religion, and borders. Other flutists that will be joining me on this musical journey for peace are new age flutist Wouter Kellerman from South Africa and Powell artist and rocker Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull fame.

Live Concert and CD Release

The album is available for pre-sale during the Nelson Mandela International Day festivities in Washington, D.C., July 15 through 18, 2016.  As part of this celebration, I will be performing with an African band, Sharon Katz and the Peace Train, and an American Roots artist, Grant Maloy Smith, at the Washington Monument on July 17, 2016.  For concert information, visit Lois Herbine’s blog http://www.piccolois.com/blog/2016/6/28/sharon-katz-and-the-peace-train or events page http://www.piccolois.com/events/.

Some of the other collaborating artists on this project are Julian Lennon, Kathy Sledge, Annie Haslam, John Wetton, Patrick Moraz, Dan Aykroyd, Tony Levin, Steve Walsh, Ricky Kej, Amy Otley, and Janice Ian. Action Moves People United is produced by Kevin Mackie, Krista Wallhagen, and Rupam Sarmah.

A Winning Choice

Anushka Malhotra

For flutist Anushka Malhotra, a junior at Germantown Academy in Fort Washington, Pennsylvania, the choice of a new flute was most definitely a winning one.  Anushka has been studying with Powell artist Lois Herbine for just over a year, and within the first three months of 2016, her accomplishments are certainly something to celebrate!

Anushka's family purchased her new Powell Sonaré PS-705 with KT headjoint from Windworks Studio of Philadelphia in October 2015.  In December, Anushka placed at the Pennsylvania Music Educators District 11 audition.  Jeremy Correnti, Anushka's band director at Germantown Academy, was present for the sight-reading portion of her audition and commented, "I was particularly impressed with her sound, which gave her an incredible presence in the audition room.  A tone like that will definitely get the judge's attention."

Anushka performed in the Pennsylvania District Band Festival on January 28, 2016.  In March, success came once again as Anushka placed first in the senior division of the Flute Society of Greater Philadelphia's Young Artist Competition.  Lois Herbine shared, "Anushka has developed a beautiful tone over the last few months since getting her new Sonaré flute.  She is a quick learner with a lot of potential, and she absolutely loves her flute.”

Powell introduced the KT headjoint in August 2015 as one of two new professional options for the Powell Sonaré PS-705 model (a C# trill key was the other new option). The KT headjoint is a Powell Signature headjoint made of 9k tubing with a sterling silver wall and Aurumite 9k lip plate. Powell's patented Aurumite material consists of one layer of gold and one of silver.  Aurumite 9k, specifically, has an outer layer of 9k rose gold and an inner layer of sterling silver.  Clickhere to read more about the KT Aurumite 9k Signature headjoint on our Flute Builder blog.

KT Aurumite 9k Signature headjoint

I Had To Go Down In The Mines To Climb Up To The Sky

By Lois Herbine

I Had To Go Down In The Mines To Climb Up To The Sky is an aural memoir for solo piccolo with a ghost choir of 16 recorded piccolos, performed as an accompaniment to an exhibition of photography. Howard Hersh composed the work for me based on the life of my great, great grandfather who perished in the pit in the great coal mining explosion of 1867 in Wales. His widow remarried and traveled to Pennsylvania with their two small children and another on the way. The music is in service of the bravery and anguish of America’s great immigrant experience. This living history connects two worlds for me- my love for the piccolo as a solo instrument, which involves reaching new audiences outside the orchestra, and my love of ancestral research.

While uncovering more information about my ancestry, I have also been busy this winter in the studios of East Room Recording, located in Kensington, Philadelphia, recording Howard Hersh’s score one piccolo at a time. Side by side, the eleven-minute solo and accompanying parts are the equivalent of three CDs worth of music. This is the largest work I have ever recorded. During these sessions, I read from a score that is two sheets tall, attached to a sheet of poster board; this allows me to stand in one spot and not have to turn pages. I find it best to read from the score so I can view how the part I am recording fits with the other parts, both dynamically and musically.

The sections sometimes blur from tonality to atonality, as I picture the miner facing peril trying to get out of the mine or trying to escape the anguished echoes of the lost miners’ voices. Hersh’s composition sometimes pits the soloist against the other voices that group in cordial clusters or beat a driving rhythm. At other times, all is at peace as I imagine a quite acceptance ensues and envelops the soloist as the accompanying voices are in chordal harmony. The act of blending multiple piccolos reminds me of voicing and tuning an orchestral string section. Listening back to the recorded tracks is a unique experience- the timbre and ensemble is reminiscent of the flute stops of an organ.

Sound engineer Drew Taurisano records, mixes and balances the 17 voices. A soundscape installed at the Anthracite Heritage Museum in Scranton, Pennsylvania, is currently in the design phase, placing all 17 tracks through speakers that surround the room. This will be accompanied by a visual presentation of images from the museum’s collections. I am very excited about this and for a future live performance at the Lackawanna County Anthracite Heritage Festival!

*For more on Lois Herbine, click here to visit her website and here for her Powell Artist Profile page. 

The Studio Recording Session– Part 1

By Lois Herbine

When recording for commercial radio or television, a recording artist goes to the studio with no advanced preparation, other than being in top playing shape with sharpened reading skills.  That might sound surprising, but it is a high level of musicianship required to be hired for this type of work and often the professional studio musician can sight-read the first run through at performance level.

The artist is usually asked to play along with a click track, which is fed into one ear on a set of headphones. Sometimes pre-recorded music is piped into the one headphone alone or in combination with the click track. This is often done when laying tracks to be dubbed with voice, winds, brass or strings that are recorded during separate sessions when space is limited, as it is a rare recording studio that can accommodate an entire orchestra at one setting.

I personally love working in a studio-recording setting. It is often an intense performance workout without a typical audience or jury listening. The recording engineer acts like another set of ears and their feedback is often edifying, analyzing the studio musician’s performance and suggesting changes. Another pass at the music is a joint effort, combining concepts on how to improve the performance, and the result is captured on digital recording.

When I arrive, I look over my music and read it through while the recording levels are set and the mics are adjusted. When it comes time to record, a first pass is already then completed, which is followed by one or two more at the discretion of either the conductor or recording engineer. The best take or combination of takes is then selected (or “in the can,” as it is sometimes called). It is not unheard of to have a 10-minute recording session for a 30 second commercial spot. Then if you are lucky, you might stumble unto your recording while flipping stations on the radio or television.

Repertoire recording sessions are a very different experience. They might last anywhere from three to six hours and the music can be prepared well in advance of the session, pending on the difficulty-level of the music. I often call for that adrenaline rush to kick in and help sustain me through hours four through six, which tend to be the most strenuous.

I have recently been working with recording engineer Drew Taurisano in weekly recording sessions at his East Room Recording Studio in Philadelphia on a new work by composer Howard Hersh for 16-recorded piccolos accompanying a piccolo solo. Drew offers his views on the recording experience:

Maintaining a consistent quality of sound from phrase to phrase, instrument to instrument and section to section during sessions which span over multiple days is where most of an engineers’ attention is at the beginning of the recording day. Oftentimes the techniques for capturing great sound quality for a solo instrument are not the same when capturing individual instruments that are part of a section.

During the recording, the artist is, of course, primarily focused on their specific instrument and the line being performed. The role of the engineer is mostly in maintaining a macroscopic focus during the session. Especially when multi-tracking a performance one instrument at a time, the engineer has a dual role evaluating the line or phrase being performed and evaluating its efficacy in the piece as a whole." 

Our newest project is very different from anything either of us has done in the past and the largest single work that I have ever recorded. We will be writing about our experiences recording Howard Hersh’s I had to go down to the mines to climb up to the sky in part two of the “Studio Recording Session.