Practise Routine

[zummerzet_lou]

I need some inspiration .... I try and practise for an hour 5-6 nights a week (7th night is Orchestra rehearsal, and sometimes life gets in the way for the other night).

I work full time, and have children so an hour is about my limit.

So ... from getting my flute out of the case what should I be doing?

I think this is what I do currently:

5 mins long tone exercises
10 mins expressive scales
Study book:I'm working through the Kohler Opus 33 studies
Approx 20 mins on this
Rest of time - other pieces / orchestra piece.

I'm also thinking about build up some solo repertoire - ideally to play at weddings etc maybe. Any suggestions of pieces?

[fluteguy18]

I think it might be a good idea to make sure you've got some time somewhere in your schedule for you to play things just for fun. For me these are my warm ups. While I still play my harmonics and various tone exercises I also thoroughly enjoy playing old jazz ballads and things of that sort (Nature Boy, My Funny Valentine, Time after Time, etc.). They're great for interval practice, intonation work, and to put it simply... they're beautiful!

As long as this regimen looks good to you and looks fun, then by all means go for it! Just make sure that it stays fun and that you don't beat yourself up when you deviate. Music should always be that fun escape that wipes away the dust of everyday life.

[evrmre]

I think it might be a good idea to make sure you've got some time somewhere in your schedule for you to play things just for fun. For me these are my warm ups. While I still play my harmonics and various tone exercises I also thoroughly enjoy playing old jazz ballads and things of that sort (Nature Boy, My Funny Valentine, Time after Time, etc.). They're great for interval practice, intonation work, and to put it simply... they're beautiful!

As long as this regimen looks good to you and looks fun, then by all means go for it! Just make sure that it stays fun and that you don't beat yourself up when you deviate. Music should always be that fun escape that wipes away the dust of everyday life.

I agree. Inspiration mostly comes from that moment when your soul creates the music with barely a passing nod at your instrument. While all the exercises and drills are vital, there has to be some time where you play stuff just because you want to.

One exercise I do is pick something I've heard and liked, and try playing it by ear. If it's pretty easy, then I add variations to it. Also speeding it up and slowing it down to add different feeling to the piece. Good for ear training, and allows the creative skills somewhere to grow...

[zummerzet_lou]

Thanks ...

I don't have much time to practise each day, so I really want to get the most out of my time. After too many years, I'm only just learning to practise the few notes that I fumble on in a piece, whereas before I would practise the whole phrase.

I've found some different scales to practise ... well, same ones but full range scales. So, I need to work out how to cycle those to ensure in a week I can practise them ALL. Within the scale practise, I'm also going to focus on tone, and articulation so that's 3-for-1

As for repertoire, any suggestions?
I'm slowly working through the Kohler studies, and after many months I have made it to the "medium difficulty studies"

I've got a few pieces on the go ... but I probably need to focus on polishing them all before adding more
- Telemann Fantasia in Bb
- Hindemith Flute sonata (movements 1 and 2 ... haven't managed movement 3 yet)
- Blavet
- Louillet

Any suggestions of other pieces I could add .... ideally unaccompanied as I don't get many opportunities to play with a pianist etc.

[cflutist]

Bozza Image and Ibert Piece are flute alone.