About Tuesday August 8

We started the day with a lovely fresh morning walk in the woods. When we reached the top of what is probably the only hill in the Netherlands, we began our morning warm ups with Wieke. After some physical warm-ups, we began to work on a 'Neflac Yell'. Some of the NTK had designed their own which they showed to everyone. However, Wieke found this one to violent so showed us her own. No decision has yet been made as to what this years 'official' Neflac yell will be. It is very likely that we may have to vote on it as a matter of urgency. We will keep you posted with the result. 

Gareth who we had the wonderful contemporary techniques class with yesterday was kind enough to stay behind a day and bring along a selection of lovely Haynes flutes for us to try. Sadly all the shiny new flutes left with him, but we did all receive free Haynes pencils COMPLETE WITH AN ERASER!! No lack of pencil excuses allowed in rehearsals anymore! 

In the afternoon we had a workshop on breathing with everyone's favourite, Jeroen. The class was very useful and it was really great to learn about how the body's system of breathing works. However, some people didn't quite understand straight away and this has to be the quote of the day:

 Jeroen: How does the diaphram work?

Anonymous: By coming out of the body

Emily: Well you better run and get it back!

We all picked up valuable breathing exercises and techniques which we will be incorporating into our playing so prepare to be quite literally blown away in the upcoming concerts. They're guaranteed to be breathtaking. 

In the evening, we had a workshop with Otto de Jong from 'Musicians without Borders'. I think everyone would agree that the class was very fun, yet it was also very moving to hear about his work in conflict zones. We all partook in rhythmic games, singing activities and then transferred some of these ideas on to the flute.

We've all had a lovely day!

Peace and Love,

Fleur, Erika, Robin and Epsie