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A life changing moment, a new website and a competition for composers!

This is a post from the weareoca.com archive. Information contained within it may now be out of date.

For the last few years, I’ve been working on a PhD at the Royal College of Music. My research has been practice-based and has focused around Kingma System alto and bass flutes, their technical capabilities and their repertoire.

The Kingma System has been referred to by many as ‘the flute of the future’. I think I’d beg to differ – I think it’s very much the flute of the present. First designed in the 1990s by Dutch flute maker Eva Kingma, this incredible instrument has keys for all of the quartertones across the range, from low D upwards. Versions of the system exist for C flute, alto flute and bass flute, and for me, it has completely revolutionized the flute and its possibilities for composers.
My first Kingma System alto flute was made in 2000, and to say it changed my life is not any kind of exaggeration. Before that, the alto flute had closed holes, which meant a very limited number of extended techniques could be played on it convincingly, and the repertoire seemed to focus largely around unadventurous works which didn’t fit into a contemporary music idiom (except for a few notable exceptions, such as Takemitsu’s Toward the Sea for alto flute and guitar and Boulez’ Le Marteau san Maitre). The Kingma System instrument suddenly made the alto flute interesting to composers, and the repertoire has grown considerably in recent years. In 2007, Eva Kingma made for me the first ever upright Kingma System bass flute – another revolutionary instrument which meant the bass flute could be held vertically and supported by a peg on the floor rather than by the player’s arms, which makes a huge difference with breathing and stamina. Once again, composers were fascinated by the new upright quartertone bass flute, and have been writing some wonderful pieces for it in the last few years.
My PhD thesis has taken the form of a discussion of ten case studies, exploring the composer-performer relationship and how that expands our knowledge of the instrument’s capabilities and develops its repertoire. The discoveries we made while working on these pieces have been compiled into two new websites, outlining the instrument’s capabilities for composers and performers, which can be seen online at www.altoflute.co.uk and www.bassflute.co.uk
A new version of the Kingma System alto flute is being launched in the next few months, and I am extremely lucky to be the recipient of the first one. Itself a collaboration, the instrument is being made by Eva Kingma and Bickford Brannen, who is one of the undisputed world leaders in flute making. To celebrate the new instrument, the launch of the websites and my ensemble rarescale’s Tenth Anniversary this year, we’re holding a competition for composers.  There are categories for students and professionals (and all current OCA registered composition students qualify for the student category) and composers are invited to use the information in the new websites to help them to write for Kingma System alto and bass flutes. The full competition information can be found on rarescale’s website at www.rarescale.org.uk and the closing date is 15 July.
We’ll also be holding a gala concert at Shoreditch Church in London E1 on 5th October, with two new concertos for the new instrument. I hope to see some of you there, and very much look forward to receiving your competition entries!

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Posted by author: Carla

One thought on “A life changing moment, a new website and a competition for composers!

  • A very informative and interesting article. It must be very exciting when new instruments with ever expanding capabilities are developed, opening up fresh horizons for performer, composer and listener. We are so used to our settled instruments these days, but consider the impact of adding keys to woodwind instruments and valves to brass – it must have been equally exciting back then!
    I will be visiting the websites and learning more, and hopefully trying a bit of composition, too.

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