32nd note run in solo

[nomusicnolife]

okay, in my bands marching show, theres a flute solo...in the solo there is a 32nd run of the Aflat scale, starting on Eflat in the staff and ending of F above the staff. the tempo is 154. ive found alternate fingerings to "fake" notes and i basically know how to work it out, starting off at a rediculously slow tempo and then speeding up each time i become comfortable with a tempo, buti still need more advice. is there anything else i might need to know, is there something i can to do speed up the process without "faking" the whole run? my first performance of it is in three weeks and i need help

[flutepicc06]

If it's a solo, you should not be faking any of the notes. Solos are meant to be exposed, and these "fake" fingerings generally have a different tone quality or are questionable pitch-wise. It's quite possible to play that without fake fingerings. If you feel that you MUST do it, however, there are only a couple of things I can suggest to help you get in 3 weeks. First, practice early in the day, then again 6 hours later, and if there's time, 6 hours after that. These intervals will help your muscle memory grasp the notes faster, and the increased amount of practice never hurts. You might also try simplifying the run for the first performance if you're not feeling ready for it. Talk to your band director and see what he would want you to do to simplify the part. Other than that, it's just up to you.

[c_otter]

For practicing, try the following rhythms:
Repeated dotted-eighth sixteenth
Then switch and use repeated sixteenth dotted-eighth
This should speed things up a little.

I do use alternative fingerings. While it may be ideal to use the traditional fingerings, the vast majority of the audience will not notice, particularly for something that fast and outside. Last spring I cracked the first trill key on an eflat to make it easier to match pitch with an english horn during duet.

[fluteguy18]

My current flute professor has many different methods for this sort of problem. She likes the movable fermata (play the notes, but hold out the ones that don't "speak"). she also says that changing the rythm helps. I prefer her method of learning the run backwards (start with the last note, and play the notes in reverse order). This method helped me learn a 32nd note run that jumped in thirds the day of an audition, and because of it, I was the piccolo player.

Best of luck!

[ick27]

I have been waiting for someone to suggest the obvious answer here... Scale practice! I you are able to play all your scales well (cleanly and at fast tempo) then music made up of scales will be no problem at all.

If you don't practice scales every day yet, start off by memorizing all your major scales. It's best to start working on slurred scales at a comfortable tempo, making sure all the note transitions are clean. Then, playing along with a metronome, you can work on speeding them up.

All this may not seem particularly relevant to your current marching band show, but regular scale practice does dramitically improve one's flute playing in the long term.

[Sleeping Turtle]

All music is made of scales and arpeggios. Learn to love scales

T

[flutepicc06]

All music is made of scales and arpeggios. Learn to love scales

T

Not all music is...Contemporary, atonal pieces come to mind. But, often, scales in all their different forms (or at least pieces of scales) do form the basis for a lot of music.

[Sleeping Turtle]

I thought someone might say that, but didn't want to make my first post long. By scales and arpeggios I mean normal up and down, as well as scales in 2nds, 3rds, 4ths, 5ths, 6ths, 7ths and octaves, as well as all the broken arps, dims 7ths, whole tone scales etc... If you practice these in all keys every week, along with the Moyse tone exercise that starts with a semitone interval and works up to the whole 3 octaves, then you will cover just about every interval you will ever be asked to play in a piece, regardless of when it was written. Anyay, I was being hyperbolic

T