Flautista, compositor y director / Venezuela

WOODWINDS WORKSHOPS

In thirty two wonderful years of experience playing with the Simon Bolivar Symphony Orchestra, the most important group of the world renowned El Sistema, the Venezuelan orchestra system, I have learned the Woodwind section's language from inside. The wonderful parade of hundreds of conductors through the podium, their different points of view and the treatment that composers of all musical periods give to this small but powerful group of instruments have given me many invaluable tools that I can now share with young people in training and professionals.

Basic aspects such as tuning and acurated attacks as a whole, the articulation and management of the dynamics together with other more complex concepts such as phrasing and style, all these topics are addressed in my workshops with specially designed exercises and examples of orchestral excerpts.

My work also focuses on the irrefutable learning of teamwork given by the practice of chamber music in multiple combinations and ensembles.

The workshops are adaptable to orchestral groups of different levels and ages from children to professionals and are suitable in number of sessions, with concert and recital programming at the end of the event if it's required.

WORKSHOP TOPICS

The Tuning: individual, referential and collective.
Breathing as a starting point for our sound - Individual versus collective sound - Breathing as a team
Dynamics as a tool in favor of music - building our power and shaping our tenderness
The Articulation: how to achieve the ideal articulation for the ensemble
The Phrasing: How much we know about the music that we're playing? Where the phrase is going to?
Musical identity: What place do I occupy in the ensemble, in the orchestra, how do I integrate with the collective sound?

IDEAL FOR CHILDREN AND YOUTH ORCHESTRAS BASED IN EL SISTEMA PHILOSOPHY

Each topic can be done in workshops lasting 2 to 3 hours. Also includes exercises specially designed for each content and a selection of orchestral and chamber music material. If it is a single workshop, the contents will be adapted according to the time available. If the activity is distributed over 3 or more days we suggest ending the activity with a concert or recital of chamber music with different combinations of ensemble.