Preparing a Flute Solo: Are You Fighting Frustration?

Are you preparing a flute solo for a performance? Have you become frustrated? Do you feel like your tone has gone into the trash can, your technique out the window, and nothing seems to help? Are you discouraged and wondering if you’ll ever improve?

The first thing you want to explore is the source of your frustration. Mine is completely self-generated. I am motivated by performance. I want every performance to be perfect, and when I feel like I am not moving toward that goal, I get frustrated. It’s silly, I know, but that’s the way I work! Other people become frustrated because they are trying to meet the standards someone else has set for them. 

No matter where your frustration comes from, it does not have to be an on-going part of playing an instrument!  Nevertheless, if you struggle with it like I do, and if you’ve answered yes to any of the opening questions, then this article is just for you! I am going to share some tips that help me, including one I just discovered today, which was my motivation to write this article.

Techniques to fight frustration:  

First apply your scale study techniques–

• Before you start to play through your solo music, play the scale that matches your key. Play it from the tonic all the way up and down. 
• Next play it so that you cover the entire range that your music covers. For instance, if your music is in the key of D, and the highest note is a B, then start on low D, go all the way up to the highest B and back down to D.
• Work your way up and down the scale, staying in the key.
• Work your way up and down the scale, chromatically. ie: D to D, then D sharp to D sharp, now E to E, etc.
• Now play it in arpeggios.

Now use your theory: 

• Go through the music and identify scale progressions in other keys, and practice them.
• Break your music into short pieces, say 4-12 measures. Then practice ONLY one section a day. Use a metronome and focus on all aspects of that section, rhythm, dynamics, ornaments, finger patterns that trip you up.
• Go through the piece backward. Start with the last 2 notes. Play them. Make sure they work well together. Then the last 3 notes, then the last 4, and so forth. In doing this you will identify little spots where something is a problem. The fun thing is that usually it will be a surprise where those problems are!

AND HERE’S THE ONE I DISCOVERED TODAY: 

• Ignore your solo piece for a day, and pick up music that you played as a solo a year or two ago. Play it through, just like you were sight reading. Listen to yourself. You should be very pleasantly surprised and able to see how much more skilled you are, how much easier it is. This is especially effective if it’s something that you had to work at, or had frustration with at the time.

That’s what I did. I played a piece of music from a performance a year ago. It’s not an especially hard piece of music. It wasn’t terribly hard before, it’s just a piece of music I enjoy playing. I didn’t expect anything to happen, and what a surprise!

wow, Wow, WOW!! 

All of a sudden, my fingers flowed with ease.
My dynamics (always a struggle for me) were right on target.
I heard myself and the tone was lovely, full of the right expressions.
It was so much MORE in every way than the last time I performed it.
Best of all, I enjoyed playing it–no frustration, no struggle, just making pretty music.

So now I have a new tool for fighting frustration and discouragement: play something that I haven’t played in a while. When I do that, I re-discover the joy of making music. I see my own progress. Once I’ve done this, it is much, much easier to go back and work on the new piece because I know that one day I can come back to it and find it easy!

IN SUMMARY:

These are not all the techniques that exist to fight off frustration. I’m sure you have ones that work well for you. Write a comment and share your own favorite techniques!

New music: Hiking the NaPali Coast

Many years ago we had the opportunity to go to Hawaii. We figured we may never get another chance, so we made it a big trip. We stopped for a day in Oahu, then on to the Big Island for 8 days, and finished up on Kauai for another 5 days. It was a wonderful trip.

While on Kauai our friends who were traveling with us encouraged us to go hike a "short" distance along the fabulous NaPali Coast trail. Now, I am NOT a hiker, but my friend said it was well worth the effort, and we were only going to hike into the first beach area, swim a bit, and then back out.

Two grueling hours later we arrived at the base of the trail to find multiple signs that warned us that the currents in the water were so dangerous that even wading could kill you! I was pretty mad at my friend, because of course, we had to hike back out again! So I sat with my feet in a little stream that came down to the beach, the kids played in the sand, and explored a lava cave, and after a bit we headed back out. 

Here's the wild thing...it was the highlight of our stay on Kauai!!! I will never be sorry we spent that time exploring the coast. The views of the ocean were amazing, expecially the first overlook where you can look down onto the beach where they filmed "I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Outta' My Hair." If you ever get to Kauai, go at least that far, you won't regret it.

The saddest thing is that I had a new camera, hadn't installed the film correctly, and when I got home, I discovered a blank roll where my pictures should have been. So all I have now is my memories of the trip, and pictures that other people haved shared.

A friend asked me to write a piece of music for piccolo and guitar. As I began to write for the piccolo, the tone of the instrument took me back to the experience of NaPali.  I've made a video, using photos others have shared, and Sibelius Music Notation software to create the music. It lacks the human quality, but I have not yet recorded it with real people...a CD is in the planning stages. Click on the title below and experience hiking the coast, or remember it, if you've had this opportunity. 

"Hiking the NaPali Coast"

Special thanks go to Armin J Hinterwirth for his photos that capture the hike as I remember it.

If you are interested in purchasing the score, please contact me by sending an email to: flutesolomusic@gmail.com

I spent the better part of a year preparing my flute solo music for my recent recital. This was a very big deal to me. After last years’ recital I bought a digital camcorder so I can video and post my performances on YouTube. I had a beautiful piece of music that I loved. I was prepared. Ready to go. Polished and confident. I played, as is usual for me, without being nervous.

And I was disappointed, which brings me to my thoughts for today. How often do we perform and then spend the next minutes, hours, days and sometimes more criticizing ourselves for every little thing that didn’t go as we wanted it to? Why do we do this to ourselves? Why can’t we just be happy with what went right, and move forward? I don’t have the answer.

In spite of my “after-thoughts” I am going to post the video for the world to see. It’s not my best performance of the piece. I started too slowly, and that left me gasping for air in the middle of phrases I KNEW I could play without a breath. Of course, that led to mental distraction. I forgot to maintain good posture in my arms and legs. I forgot to maintain a nice round inner mouth. I forgot to hold my shoulders back and stand tall. I got in a hurry afterward and didn’t take enough time to acknowledge my audience. I look at the video and see an old hunched lady (“why are my shoulders so round? and when did I get so old???–I don’t FEEL that old….usually”). “OW! that note cracked! Oh, dear, I KNOW I can play that phrase without fumbling my fingers! How can I be so BAD after almost EIGHT YEARS!?”

Yeah. If you’ve ever played in a recital, this should sound pretty familiar. The details may be a bit different, maybe it’s your hair, or your outfit….We can all find things about ourselves to criticize.

So what’s my point? It’s this:

1. Forget about yourself, get over it. It’s about sharing, not about perfection.

2. Be happy with the fact you had the courage to get up there and DO IT.

3. Remember there will be other opportunities, and every time will be different.

4. Be willing to accept praise from your listeners. They are looking for your success, not your failure.

5. Focus on what you did RIGHT, and then praise yourself for those things, even if it’s just that you walked up there and didn’t faint or quit!

So here it is, in all it’s imperfection and flaws….my performance of the “Hamburg Sonata in G major,”first movement, by CPE Bach. It’s a lovely piece of music which isn’t played often enough, and in my humble opinion, like the “Minute Waltz” – usually played too fast to let the listener enjoy.

Metronome: Monster or Friend?

I find myself in the midst of a diverse group of musicians who are active on twitter. We are composers and performers, students and teachers, amateurs and pros. Recently a conversation about metronomes caught my attention, which led to this collaboration of blogs on the subject.

I fall in the category of amateur. I am also a student and a composer. For this reason, I will tackle the emotional end of metronome use and leave the technical aspects of metronome use to the teachers and pro's to talk about.

My metronome is a source of love and hate; a tool that helps, or a beast to appease. I have been playing flute now for eight years, and was in my 50's when I started so it's quite a different experience than the child student.

My metronome is a merciless taskmaster, tick-tick-ticking and never missing a beat. One little falter of my fingers and I am off the beat--out of sync. And still it just goes on ticking. Pushing me to keep up and in doing so I tense, and miss all the more.

It took my teacher about two years to get me to stop complaining and resisting this beast-tool....and probably four or five years to get me to use it without being told to do so on any kind of a consistent basis. It is only in the last two years that I have come to see the good side, to actually begin to like it.

My current focus is the balanced placement of 4 notes fitting into a single beat. It is invaluable as a tool to make sure I hold a rest long enough. And don't forget those tricky places where the note is on the half-beat! I have found placing a note between the beats ever so much harder that it seems.

Speaking of beats, did you know that every beat has a beginning, a middle and an end? Even those really fast, close-together beats? Oh yes! If you lead the beat and your duet partner hits the tail of the beat, you will be out of sync, even though both of you are technically "on" the beat!

Another challenge, which may only apply to flutists, is the tone in which the metronome ticks. I find it almost impossible to hear over the flute, because the tone/tick is in the same frequency level at the flute range. I think the general tone of a flute contributes to this masking problem.

Here's what I think is happening: Back in "the good old days" of mechanical metronomes, the sound was created by the resonance of the wood casing. Today it is generated by electronics.

I have two metronomes: a Korg MA-30 and an app on my iPad, "Metronome Plus." The Korg is accurate, easy to tote around, has a visual representation of the swinging lever of a mechanical metronome. It has plenty of options for split beats, leading beats, and an earphone input. The iPad app has all of that, plus an option to change the tone of the beats. Even with several tones to choose from, I find it hard to hear. I am waiting for developers to give me a nice bass tone that I can distinguish from my flute!

Nevertheless, this beast-tool is an invaluable resource for anyone who desires to play an instrument. It is the only means to proper note placement. As a composer, when I put music into notation, I have a reason for every beat and portion of a beat. I don't want the performer to change my rhythmic choices. So I try to perform other composers work with as much accuracy as I can possibly manage.

Bottom line: if you chose to play an instrument, proper note placement is just as important as your tone, air, bowing technique, or fingerings. Yes, the metronome is an unfeeling, relentless little beast. Embrace it, love it, and get beyond the tension. It is your friend.

Read more on metronomes: I will be adding here over the next several days links to the other collaborators on this project. So check back for links! First up: 

• Erica Sipes Click on her name to go to her blog site: "Beyond the Notes"

Please note: links for the metronome and iPad app are offered for your convenience, not as a means to generate income for me. 

Practicing Toward Perfection: Part One

The Background, or "Why I Wanted to Write About Practicing."

A couple of years ago, I was faced with a new challenge as a musician. This challenge started me thinking about practicing in a different way. However, when I sat down to write this article, I realized that I needed first to explain my background as a musician. So if you are not interested in the story, and just want the tips, thoughts and links, that will be in Part Two, which will be along in a day or two.

There are advantages to learning an instrument as a child or teen. Children have time. They have someone to push them to practice. There are--(or used to be!)--opportunities to be involved in an orchestra or band at school. When the parents can afford it, there are--(from the students point of view)--free private lessons. By the time the concerns of adult life kick in, you have six or more years of practicing as your background. That's a lot of muscle memory! 

It's different when you start your music career as an adult. You have to fit in practice around the mundane: dishes, laundry, errands, yard work, spouse, a day job, family and more. That means making the most of your time.

I returned to the world of making music late in life, and had the good fortune to find a teacher skilled at teaching adults. I had been going along for a few years, learning music for annual recitals, and to perform at church..one or two pieces at a time. That all changed a couple years ago when my teacher said: "I think you should consider giving a full recital."

It sent chills down my spine! I'm don't have the energy than I did 35 years ago. My hands ache often, and it takes me longer to learn than it did when I was college age. I have people around me who depend on me to keep the household running. Cooking, cleaning, errands, yardwork all take my limited time and energy!

I couldn't imagine how I was going to be able to work on more than one piece of music at a time!! As it turned out, I learned the music, but after sliding the deadline back multiple times, I decided I didn't need to do the full, one-hour recital. It would have been quite expensive, by the time I rented a hall, paid an accompanist. Where would I find an audience? When you're in school the hall/accompanist/audience are all "built-in." 

I did get to perform all the pieces I learned, but not all at once. I enjoyed the challenge and learned a lot about practicing along the way.

So that's the background. I am an adult student, with arthritis in my hands, and a busy life. I've been working at playing the flute for 11 years. I have written and published 10 pieces of music for flute and piccolo, and am working on more. (Check back for details on purchasing "Musical Journeys" or "Aurora Borealis: A Trio of Solos for Piccolo or Flute.")

Practice is the foundation to being a good musician.

That is what has led me to write about practicing. How does anyone work on more than one piece of music at a time?  How do I keep track of it all? How do I use my limited time effectively? Those are the things to be addressed in Part Two.

Looking for new music?

I have written some nice 3-4 minute recital pieces for intermediate flutists.

"Musical Journeys" is a collection of 7 pieces with piano accompaniments.
"Aurora Borealis: a trio of solos for piccolo or flute" is a suite of 3 unique pieces, designed to be played without accompaniment, allowing the piccolo or flute to show it's singular beauty on its own.

You can hear samples of the music on my Youtube Page

Interested? Email me at flutesolomusic@gmail.com

QUOTES ON PRACTICE

I just ran across a sheet of paper in my files and thought it worthy of sharing. It's from readersdigest.com 3/10

"If I've learned nothing else, it's that time and practice equal achievement." 
         - Andre Agassi, Open: An Autobiography

"Talent is only a starting point." 
          - Irving Berlin

"One day of practice is like one day of clean living. It doesn't do you any good."
          - Abe Lemons, basketball player and coach

"There are no shortcuts to any place worth going."
          - Beverly Sills

This final quote is attributed to "Tim Duncan, basketball player, quoting his mother" - but I am sure I have heard it elsewhere as well. No matter who said it first, it is still a valuable thought:

"Good - Better - Best.
Never let it rest, 
until
Your Good is Better,
and 
Your Better is Best."

Now, go practice!!

About Spit and Air..part 1

Recently I have been corresponding with a flute friend about getting enough air into my lungs, and dealing with the spit in my mouth during a solo. I had recently played Massenet's "Meditation" from "Thais" and she was preparing to play it. I found myself thinking our conversation was worth sharing. So here's Part 1.

Question: How do you get enough air in your lungs to manage a long phrase?

Answer: I break phrases an awful lot to breathe. It seems like no matter how much I practice bit, when it gets to performance, I put so much more air into things, that I end up breathing more frequently. My teacher keeps reminding me what one of her teachers told her: "the only ugly note is an unsupported one, better to breathe in the wrong place, than to run out of air."

I have worked a lot on developing the ability to sneak bits of air between notes and not breaking the phrase while I do so. Some of the time, I am able to pull air in through my nose between notes. Like so many things, it takes practice! 

I guess you could say I work at having good supported notes, and maintaining the Essenes of the phrase at the same time. 

Hope this helps! Part 2 will address the spitting part of breathing! And Part 3 will explore other breathing styles, like "circular" breathing.

Tests!! Thoughts on my first-ever music theory test!

This year I am taking the Music Teachers' Association of California Certificate of Merit test.

I have completed the written exam, which included ear-training elements, and will be participating in the performance element in a couple weeks. The performance part doesn't worry me. I am one of those rare individuals who does not get nervous. Lucky me!

I have nothing to which I can compare my experience taking this test. I certainly wasn't prepared to be in a room with students of other levels, and other instruments, and hearing a boom box play all the different ear-training tests the entire time! (Our classroom had 8 students: 2 flutes, 4 violinists, 2 cellos.) It was terribly distracting.

I found it almost impossible to concentrate on writing Dominant 7th chords (my nemesis!) while a voice was instructing the violinists to determine what era a musical example came from, and then playing the sample twice. (I wanted to stop and listen to the music!)

I also found myself distracted wondering why the violin ear-training offers music on a violin, but the flute has to identify intervals, etc played on a piano? (I have to admit, I am easily distracted.) It just seems odd to me to spend so much time learning the sound of intervals on a piano when I play a flute.

When I began to play the flute, I would have said that I had close relative pitch, from all the years I spent playing piano (never instructed, I just played for the joy of it). It was very surprising to me that my "relative" pitch disappeared when I listened to the flute! The notes sound so different to me! (Maybe this is just a "me" thing?) Anyway, this is why it seemed odd to me that my ear training was linked to a piano sound...especially when I discovered that the violinists were tested on a violin sound!

I also wasn't prepared to wait weeks until the scores would be made available. The written test and the performance portions are scheduled 4 weeks apart, so maybe we have to wait for the results after both portions are completed? I don't know.

Well, it's a journey, after all, and I must say that preparing for these tests has been a great tool to push me forward in my studies as a musician. It has been well worth it, (in spite of the craziness of how the test was administered). 

It won't stop me from pursuing it again next year, that's for sure!! Onward!

My "Internal Brace"

Nothing is new under the sun, and so neither is this, but that doesn't make it any the less exciting to discover. After years of effort to build my air control and sustain it, I have finally discovered what my singer friend always talked about as "support" ... And which never made sense, and looked ugly as her belly pooched out when she sang.

My internal brace supports not only my air control, but my spine and internal organs. I learned it from my physical therapist whose goal was to strengthen my posture to protect my "new" knees and my hips from the deterioration of arthritis. (Check out my blog on Partial Knee Replacement - an awesome surgery that has restored my life!)

This brace is the area below the diaphragm, starting just below the waist, downward to just above the crease where your legs begin, and into the lower back. It is hard to describe, but I'll try, because maybe it will help. 

1. Lying flat on a firm surface, place your thumbs on the top of the hipbone, fingers pointing down. Now slide your hands toward the center of your body, about 1 1/2-2 inches.
2. Push inward with your thumb and index finger. Push pretty hard so that you are poking yourself. (It should hurt a little.)
3. Now take a breath and try to expand into your fingers and thumbs without allowing the belly to push out. Try to create the sensation of a balloon within your body that pushes against the muscle walls, both front and back. It pushes on your backbone and supports it.
4. Try to hold this balloon solid and breathe in and out. You will feel like you can't exhale without letting go.
5. As you practice and get better at it, you will not need to poke yourself so hard. Eventually you don't need the fingers at all.
6. This is an exhausting exercise! Easy does it!  Only do it for a maximum of 5 minutes each day. These muscles exhaust very quickly, and once fatigued it is counter-productive to keep working them.

It takes quite a bit of practice to master this technique. But it's worth the work, and eventually you should be able to hold the bace without a lot of conscious effort. As you feel more confident in the lying down position, try it sitting, standing, and even while walking about the room. For ladies, make sure you are lifting the pelvic floor before you brace so that you will not be pressing downward. This is an expansion out to the sides, not up or down. (An upward thrust will just push the belly out and give you that ugly look.)

I have been working at this for just a few weeks, and the other day when I was practicing,  it occurred to me to "put on my brace" at the same time I took a big breath for a long passage, and all of a sudden I could play it all the way through without losing the note! 

Give it a try and good luck!

Do, Re, Mi...

It is a whole different world to study music on your own as opposed to taking a prescribed course of study in a college setting. It is easy to simply focus on the art of performing the music and never go beyond that. 

Lucky for me my teacher loves music theory! Once I was finally ready to explore it, we have worked together. Sometimes I would like to put my flute away and focus entirely on theory for a while. 

This year the opportunity to participate in the Certificate of Merit program as an adult student has pushed me to a more focused study. When I realized an element of it is testing on ear training, I began to freak out a bit. This brought about a discussion of focusing on scales as "Do-Re-Mi" -- I was resistant. I didn't see a need to apply silly names instead of note names, (C-D-E..).

Enter a new app called EarBeater. As soon as I discovered this app, I was thrilled. Here was a way to work on ear training, anywhere, anytime I have a few minutes. Here I can create tests that narrow in on exactly the things I need to work on. And here is where I changed my mind about "Do-Re-Mi."

I started working scale identification: Major (Dorian),  Natural minor (Aolian), Melodic Minor and Harmonic Minor. I quickly realized I needed to focus on the intervals between the notes, or rather, the whole and half steps and where they are in the scale. 

This led me to make a little card which gives me a visual representation. With the focus on the relationships of the notes, hearing all different keys of scales...the only answer was "Do-Re-Mi"... And now I see why my teacher advised me to explore it. 

Here's my card: 

The vertical lines are the space of a note. 
Two note names within a space indicate half steps.
Above the lines are "W" and "h" - indicating the scale degrees. For example, a Major scale is W, W, h, W, W, W, h

By looking at the card it is easy to see that Major and Melodic minor will sound the same except for the half step between Re and Mi. Also, Melodic minor and Natural minor are the same except for the half step between So and La, and the whole step between Ti and Do.

A friend of mine just showed me another trick for learning to use Do-Re-Mi.. Curwen hand signs...cool. The senses you can involve in learning, the better!

Air, more air, more air!!

Flutists are an airy bunch: we lose more of the air we put out than other wind instruments. Other wind players blow into their instruments, but we create our notes by bouncing the air across an into the instrument. In fact, part of the skill of playing flute is to direct the air into it as well as across the hole.

As a flutist air capacity has been one of my problems from the very beginning. My teacher would stand there and say "more air, out more air into it!" and I would push,but there was nothing to work with. I have improved, but putting enough air behind a note is still an issue. I am forever running out of air in the middle of a phrase.

My teacher has a new exercise for me: pick an easy note, play it very softly, for as long as you can, until the air is fully exhausted from your lungs...goal: 1 minute. Sounded easy until I tried it. I thought I was blowing for at least 30 seconds....nope. Only 17. Sigh. 

I just had a partial knee replacement (second knee, now both are fixed!), and part of my time in the hospital was breathing into a bottle. The bottle is called an "incentive spirometer." It's purpose is to expand and oxygenate your lungs. Your goal with this little tool is to breathe in through the tube and keep the markers in the right place. It is surprising how difficult it is! I thought I had good deep breathing technique, but not so good as I thought. As I used this tool, I also focused on making a flute embouchure and blowing the air out as long as possible. 

I haven't picked up the flute since my surgery, and all my breathing in the bottle (10 breaths very hour!) but I am eager to see if it is any better.

There are other ways to work on air, so check back to see what I come up with!

Body mapping and balance.

I just spent 90 minutes learning about arm and shoulder pain. It was an excellent webinar presented by Lea Pearson. Lea gave me a whole new way to look at my shoulders, neck and arms. I am eager to try out what I have learned, and hope to come back here and share some helpful insights.

During the seminar I found myself remembering a principle I learned a long time ago. It's so simple to apply, and I have found that many people will automatically experience an immediate benefit when directed correctly. So try this on yourself. It is (in my personal opinion) the foundation of the Alexander Technique. (Learn much more about this from others more experienced than I!)

So, don't try to DO anything, but rather ALLOW your body to follow through. Here's the guideline: "Let your neck be free, with your head floating softly and gently upward, and your shoulders lengthen and broaden".

As a fitness instructor, I have watched literally hundreds of students release tension out of their necks while lifting weights, simply because I said this words to them. Cool, huh?

As a flutist, this principle is just as important! Let your neck be free and balanced on your spine!!!

This is JUST THE TINIEST PART OF THE WHOLE CONCEPT! My intention here is to inspire you to look for more detailed information. I know a great deal about the body, but Lea (and others) know more. Go to the link and start learning!!!

The "other" side of performance: your accompanist

There is nothing new under the sun. Most likely everything I will say in this post has been said before. However, I feel it is something that isn't put forward enough for amateur and new performers.

YOU are not the ONLY one on stage! Your pianist is your team mate. She has worked just as hard as you have to learn your music. She also much be constantly aware of what nuances you bring to a piece of music. There is a real art to being an accompanist, and not all pianists can do it.

There is also an art to knowing how to rehearse with your accompanist. As the soloist, you need to be ready to communicate various details to you accompanist:

• You must set the tempo.
• You are not a metronome, and shouldn't play like one. Music ebbs and flows, and you need to know where you want to speed up or slow down.
• Are there places where you just need a fraction more time to get through the notes? This must be addressed, too.
• You need a clear idea of where you are going to take a breath in passages without rests.
• Dynamics! How loud, how soft, when do you start your crescendo? Are there places where it changes suddenly?

In addition to all of this, there is one more step you need to take: familiarize yourself with the piano part. Don't just listen to it, but sit down with the score and read it through. I wish I could take credit for this final thought, but I can't. I have a recital in 2 days, and my accompanist just said this:

"Music is a conversation between the flute and the piano. Analyze the score so you can understand when each instrument is talking."

Ever heard of "Body Mapping?"

If you have been around in the music or fitness world very much, you have probably heard about "body mapping." I have heard of this tool many times and in different ways for years. It is similar to other disciplines like Physio Synthesis, Pilates, Alexander Technique, Feldencrais in the sense that it is a way to align the body and get things working well.

The thing about body mapping is that every article I have read doesn't really give me an understanding of what it is or how it can help me….until now. I got lucky enough to listen in to a webinar on arm and shoulder pain for flutists and violinists presented by Lea Pearson. I learned sooooo much!

I won't try to share what I learned, because that would not be a service to you. Instead I offer a link to Lea's website and hope you will go there and learn something valuable.

So here it is, check it out:

Click HERE for Lea's website.

Click HERE to share your discoveries on my facebook page.

When a note doesn't speak well.

A common problem for flutists is the note that wheezes or doesn't speak at all. Our lowest and highest notes are usually the ones that challenge us, but others can, too. 

Today I had an experience that reminded me of a very important point: the note that doesn't speak isn't always the culprit! The problem may be the note before or after it, or even several notes away! 

Consider today's challenge: first octave, middle C. The preceding notes were moving donward: A-G-E flat; then the C began a scale moving upward, C-D-E flat-F-G-A ....

When the E flat was wheezing, and the C not speaking at all. Of course my first thought was to focus on C, which is always a challenge. But upon slowing down and playing the preceding notes, I discovered that my left hand fingers were not covering the holes well, and although the G sounded, it wasn't a good note, and as soon as I fixed the G, I no longer had problems with either the E flat or the C. 

So, the next time a note is giving you trouble...take a good look at several ones leading to it and following it. Good luck!

Holding the Flute in Balance

Recently I ran across something talking about "the Rockstro Grip." I had never heard of it, so went digging around on the web. The result of my research is this excellent article.  Go ahead, read it, or at least skim down it, save the link and come back to read it thoroughly later.

It has changed my position! There isn't really anything in this article that my teacher hasn't told me before. But it's all together in one place, and maybe I have come to a point in my development as a flutist to apply it.

I started playing flute with tendinitis, or maybe arthritis, in both thumbs. My hands would often ache, and that had nothing to do with playing the flute. So I have struggled because it seems my hands just don't go the way they should. 

But today they did. My balance was lovely, my tone was awesome, and I felt a freedom in finger movement that I have never had before. Wow.

Now, go check out "the Rockstro Grip," revolutionize your performance!

The Summer Challenge!

It has been a while! I have been focused on healing from knee surgery for the past 3 months. You can read all about that in my blog on that subject: PartialKnee.Blogspot.com

Now that I have two strong legs to stand on, I am back working on my flute performance. I am going to be taking the CM Test, Level 7 next winter, so there is work to be done!

My teacher has decided to focus on daily practice (for herself) this summer, and I like the idea, so am taking up the challenge. We each post our daily progress on her Facebook Page: Stephanie's Students

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On another front, I am working on music theory again. We have been going through "Basics of Keyboard Theory" by Julie McIntosh Johnson. I am doing Levels 5 through 9 simultaneously. Sounds funny, doesn't it?

Here is why and what I am doing. These are really just workbooks. Each book is arranged in the same order: Key Signatures, Scales, Intervals, etc. I worked all the way through book 4, and when I opened up 5, it was frustrating to me to go back and re-learn everything. I felt like I was getting a sample of each subject area, then moving on without really learning it.

So I took Book 5, Key Signatures, did the worksheets, and then moved onto Book 6, 7, 8, and 9. By that time I had actually learned the key signatures, and felt confident with them.

It is really working well for me, except with intervals. My slightly dyslexic brain just rebels at grasping intervals!!!

Since I have been not working on much of anything music-wise for 3 months, this is a good time to step back and attack intervals again. I found a website with great exercises, all very customizable. I first found this site when I wanted a way to quiz myself on key signatures. 

Now I discover they have an app which I can keep on my iPad, so I don't have to be at the computer, or internet connected to study! Sweet.

Now I have the app, and am doing daily practice on intervals. This website is really terrific, and the app is a good deal at $3.99 so I recommend you check it out!

Click here for the website.

Articulations

Whether you are a beginner or advanced flutist, good articulation is key. It is important to understand the different techniques, and learn them correctly to begin, and later on it's a good idea to be sure you haven't gotten sloppy.

Click here to go to an excellent article on articulation.

Now get out your flute and PRACTICE!!

Learning from the Masters

From time to time I run across a YouTube video that offers an opportunity to learn from a Master Flutist. I discovered Emmanuel Pahud a few years ago when I needed a recording of a piece I was learning. I fell in love with his sound, so the other day I was wandering around on YouTube and found this clip from a Masterclass he gave: watch and learn!