Flute Choir

Rehearsals will be held on Monday evenings from 6:30 – 8:30 pm. Musicians are expected to arrive and be prepared to rehearse 15 minutes prior to start time.

FALL QUARTER 2023 DETAILS

The Fall 2023 Parents Meeting will be held on Monday, September 18. More details will be emailed to all enrolled families in September, along with full calendar dates and venue locations.

Rehearsals Fall Quarter Dates
Mondays from 6:30 – 8:30 pm  Rehearsals begin on Monday, September 25
Rehearsal Location Drop Off/ Pick Up
Odle Middle School Parking in the school parking lot is available.
502 143 Ave NE Plan on prompt drop off and pick up to avoid
Bellevue, WA 98007 congestion.
Retreat Retreat Location
Saturday, October 14 Odle Middle School
10:00am – 1:00pm 502 143 Ave NE
Bellevue, WA 98007
Fall Concert Time & Date
Meydenbauer Theatre Sunday, November 19 @ 3:00pm
11100 NE 6th St Call time and more info will be posted here
Bellevue, WA 98004 closer to the concert.

Student Checklist

  • Bring a music stand
  • Bring a pencil
  • Print your sheet music prior to first rehearsal (using link at top of this page) and bring with you to rehearsal
  • Arrive 15 minutes prior to the start of rehearsal to ensure you are in your chair and ready to play at the start of rehearsal
  • Have fun!

About

Flute Choir is an advanced intermediate ensemble for flutes. This BYSO ensemble consists of flutists who were placed at the Sinfonia level after auditioning. Because orchestras need only a few flutes at a time, some of these students may take turns playing in Sinfonia during the year while also practicing and performing in the Flute Choir ensemble. The typical Flute Choir student has had some private instruction and school ensemble experience and is developing solid technical skills and musical understanding.

Flute Choir students develop orchestral playing skills in an enriching and unique chamber group setting, learning to produce rhythmic accuracy and clear dynamic contrasts while maintaining appropriate blend, balance and intonation. Since there are usually only one or two players per part in Flute Choir, these flutists gain valuable independence in playing. Past works performed include Castérède’s Flûtes Joyeuses, Adler’s Madrigals for Six Flutes, and the folksong Scarborough Fair.

Recent Flute Choir Performance

Conductor: Dr. Merrie Siegel Parmley

Dr. Merrie Siegel Parmley holds a Bachelor’s degree from the Eastman School of Music and Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees from Rice University. She won the New York Flute Club’s Young Artist Competition at age 19 and since then has performed with the Houston Symphony, Charleston Symphony, Spokane Symphony, and Mozart Society of Philadelphia, among others. Learn more.

Contact Dr. Merrie Siegel Parmley at flutechoir@byso.org

Messages from the Conductor

Dear Amazing Flute Choir Flutists and Families,

Welcome to our 2023-2024 season, including our Season Finale at Benaroya Hall!  I am so excited to work with you for the first time, if you’re new to BYSO, or to continuing our musical collaboration this year!  Thank you in advance for your kind attention, as there is a lot of very important information.

For some Flute Choir flutists, you will rotate through Sinfonia and play one concert this season with them.  Please note that Sinfonia rehearses at Overlake Church, while Flute Choir rehearses at Odle Middle School.  We’re doing our best to organize our rotations well in advance so that families can make appropriate transportation arrangements.

If you’re in Flute Choir all year, YAY! I look forward to us being together to both grow and hone our skills as both flutists and as chamber musicians.

Please note that each flutist will need a tuner and a contact microphone for Flute Choir rehearsal.  I have embedded links to some reasonably-priced options.  For both, the cost is @ $30 and can be used over the span of your flutist’s entire career. (No need to purchase if you already have them 🙂  These tools are vital to our work both during ensemble rehearsal and for individual practice.

CONTACT MICROPHONE $15

Chromatic Tuner

In addition, I highly recommend that you invest in a portable music stand that is sturdier than the wire ones.  We spend a considerable amount of rehearsal time wrestling with those when they can’t be either raised or lowered (we play both seated and standing), when the music falls off and/or they’re knocked over.  There are many sturdy and portable models available on amazon.com (I did a search for “sturdy, portable music stand”) and they appear to be in the $30 range.  Again, this is an investment in your flutist’s playing career.  The link below is an example of a $30 stand where the top part of the stand is solid so that the music won’t fall through, but there are many other ones that are similar:

Music Stand

The following students will rotate into Sinfonia for the concerts listed.  Please be sure to check Sinfonia’s specific ensemble page for all pertinent information.  Remember: when you’re in Sinfonia, you’ll need to download music from Sinfonia, not Flute Choir. In addition, Sinfonia will have its own sectionals and part assignments may shift.

FALL (NOVEMBER) concert in Sinfonia:

Fl 1 – Matilde Vergara

Fl 2 – Shachar Shapira

Fl 2 – Arnov Vishwakarma

Fl 2 – Pia Sheth

WINTER (MARCH) concert in Sinfonia:

Fl 1 – Jackie Hsiao

Fl 1 – Chloe Cao

Fl 2 – Haen Kang

Fl 2 – Crystal Qu

SPRING (MAY) concert in Sinfonia at Benaroya:

Fl 1 – Lucia Liao

Fl 1 – Alice Zhao

Fl 2 – Varshini Hari

Fl 2 – Suri Barnett

Fl 2 – Eunsoo Han

Here are the part assignments for Flute Choir.  Please note that BYSO is currently in the process of uploading all ensemble music.  When it is ready for download, you will receive an email indicating as such.  Please note that I will not have copies of music at rehearsal, and that it is each individual flutist’s responsibility to print out their parts and practice them for our first rehearsal 🙂

Chloe: you will need to make arrangements with natalie@byso.org to check out the alto flute.  Aaron: you will also need to make arrangements with natalie@byso.org to check out the bass flute. Since the Adler has two alto flutes, Aaron: you’ll play my alto flute and Chloe will play BYSO’s.

Opposites – Samuel Adler

Fl 1 – Jackie, Haen

Fl 2 – Eunsoo, Jeri

Fl 3 – Crystal, Suri, Nithila

Fl 4 – Karthika, Elizabeth, Suah

Fl 5 – Yogitha, Ember, Siyu

Fl 6 – Medha, Yiling, Sam

Alto – Chloe, Aaron

Simple Gifts – Traditional (arr. Louke)

Fl 1 – Jackie, Haen

Fl 2 – Eunsoo, Jeri, Crystal

Fl 3 – Suri, Nithila, Suah

Fl 4 – Karthika, Elizabeth, Ember

Fl 5 – Yogitha, Siyu

Alto – Chloe

Bass – Aaron (on bass flute); Medha, Yiling, Sam on regular flute.

Shenandoah – Traditional (arr. Molnar)

Fl 1 – Haen, Jackie

Fl 2 – Eunsoo, Jeri

Fl 3 – Crystal, Suri

Fl 4 – Nithila, Ember, Suah

Fl 5 – Karthika, Elizabeth

Fl 6 – Yogitha, Sam, Siyu

Alto – Chloe

Bass – Aaron (on bass flute); Medha and Yiling on regular flute.

Part assignments for Handel and Sleigh Ride for the Caroling Tour, available on the Flute Orchestra music downloads:

Fl 1 – Jackie, Haen

Fl 2 – Jeri, Crystal, Suri,  Eunsoo 

Fl 3 – Nithila, Ember, Karthika, Elizabeth  

Fl 4 – Yogitha, Siyu, Sam, Suah

Alto – Chloe 

Bass – Aaron (on bass flute); Medha, Yiling (on regular flute)

Thank you again. I look forward to an amazing and “flute-ful” year together!

Regards,

Dr. Merrie

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