Article on practice tips

[fluteluversmom]

http://www.flute-net.com/flute-info/art ... luff-1.htm Getting "into"
practicing flute. How do I get myself excited about practicing? Answer:
Beautiful musical sounds are compelling to humans, and there''s no better way
to entrance yourself, and get your musical vehicle (your own body) in the mood
to play music than to focus on "freeing" passages and patterns that sound
gorgeous. Try some of the suggestions below to see which appeal to you most, and
remember the goal is to "sing out" and feel wonderful!!!! A) The Orange Juice
warm up by Paula Robison from her Warmups Book. ( These are two-octave chromatic
scales, all slurred, starting on "the most beautiful low C you can muster" says
Paula in the notes; then start on low C#, then low D etc.) Use a metronome after
establishing a flow in dynamic intensity and forward moving airstream. Really
sing out on the high register. B) De la Sonorite by Moyse (longtones) or
Bell''s Warmup, as it''s called in the Robison book. Moyse asks you to think
of each tone (starting with B2) to sound like a struck bell, full of life and
ringing. Also fun to try ringing objects in the room or projecting a distance to
a far wall or window. This releases the airflow. C) Pacing around, or loosely
striding all around your echoey spaces at home playing gorgeous sounds and
making up fragments of melodies that ''just come to you''. D) Playing, with
passionate feeling, some of the most beautiful slow movements you''ve got in
your repertoire (slow Bach or Vivaldi movements are also very good for this.) E)
Playing along with a favorite CD with matching sheet music if you have it,
and/or holding drone notes to a well loved recording, or just improvising among
the voices in the piece, (not worrying about whether you''re very good at
improvising or not.) F) Singing and or dancing. (to develop "body rhythm and
open throat/good pitch) All of these tend to get me started practicing because
they''re open ended starting points. I have begun to think that striding about
in a thoughtful manner while playing something you KNOW or are making up (like
improvised scale-patterns) e-balances the body, so it won''t stiffen into a
"locked posture". This is important in staying loose when returning to practice
after a hiatus. What to do to further your developmental practicing: What most
of us usually do after a sabbatical is take the hardest piece we *used* to play
last season, put it up on the dust covered music stand, and try and bang our
heads against it at full velocity. Why are we shocked when we''re assailed
with atrocious lack of control, tenser and tenser physique, and horrible results
of squawking and sputtering! Don''t we ALL just do that? And then one gets
really discouraged, and starts to despair about auditions or gigs coming up.
Well, this is NOT the way to scare yourself before relaxing and enjoying
yourself. *Believe* me. So, after warming up and getting the most "singing
sound" (previous ideas A thru'' E ) for a few days, here are some tried and
true suggestions for co-ordinate your playing *much* sooner. Fool around with
these ideas: Play through some well-loved melodies that have "soul" and "speak
to you". They could be slow movements of sonatas (as mentioned before). Or they
could be out of a collection of heart-breakingly gorgeous vocal or instrumental
solos like: "Sing!" by John Wion; "Tone Development through Interpretation" by
M. Moyse; or (especially for pre-college flute players): Karen Smithson''s
wonderful books in five volumes called "Playing the Flute". The folk melodies
and famous orchestral themes in volumes 3 to 5 are deeply moving, have a
profound effect on your intonation and phrasing (because familiar) and are
progressive in terms of sightreading increasing flats and sharps as you progress
through the volumes by key....they''re just great collections!!! If you have a
pianist friend, there are beautiful accompaniments too. If the Smithson books
are too rudimentary for you, remember that purchasing them will give you good
books for your future teaching of students. 2) DUETS: The One Flute Band! Use a
simple tape recorder to *discover* your duet collections. This makes you play
"as if" you are performing with another flutist. Here are the steps, and all you
need is a boom box cassette player that records with a mic. of some sort, plus a
blank tape. (and your metronome!) a) learn one voice of a flute duet (one
you''ve never heard before, or an old favourite) b) really sculpt the phrases,
and make it beautiful. c) set the metronome to a reasonable speed for that part.
d) record yourself playing the one part. Keep the metronome going throughout the
recording. e) play it back (up the volume until it sounds "live") f) play the
other flute part on top. You''ll soon find you''re so excited by being a
one-flute-band that you''ll want to re-record the original part to increase
the beauty of your phrasing and "singing" quality. What these two experiences of
"returning to your flute" have in common is that you''re inspiring yourself by
playing things that sound beautiful. And you''ll probably not feel as inspired
about technical practice until your heart''s alive and well from hearing
gorgeous melodies and tone colours.
******************************************************************* ADVANCED
PRACTICE: Once you''re well begun in practicing everyday (because it seems
like "real music" instead of like some technical grind....) start adding one of
the ideas below to your practice time, and continue to add yet another one (or
more) as you feel you are curious and inspired. The key to long and enjoyable
practice sessions is "wanting to play THAT music I adore" not "making yourself
do things you don''t really like". So try one or more, and keep adding, until
you develop a rhythm of "interest" in each thing. 1) Studies and Etudes: Get a
list of fabulous and highly recommended etudes, and work through one book at a
time with the goal of making an incredibly moving musical interpretation out of
each etude. The first stage is learning the notes. The second stage is playing
the study with a moderate metronome marking, gradually increasing it until a
week or so later you''re at a performance speed. When the study sounds
fabulous, try taping yourself and listening back to "hear yourself as others
hear you" (there''s a book avail. by that title that is highly recommended,
have a look for it.) Be on the lookout for great tuning, clear articulations,
gorgeously phrased melodies and a large range of dynamics. This method of
working etudes will give you incredible knowledge. Trust me. I''ve done it for
years, and this is the most fun and exciting way to learn flute technique!!! 2)
Great standard Repertoire: Choose a CD that you really think represents a great
performance of standard repertoire, and get the sheet music that goes with it.
One good one to start with is the Mozart Flute Quartets (Emmanuel Palhud does a
great job on these on his CD.) Play along with Palhud, pretending he''s giving
you a lesson on how to play the quartets. Really listen and discover why he''s
considered so fabulous. Open your ears to his every nuance and seek to recreate
it in your own playing. Perfect your playing to as close as you can get to this
performer/interpretation. Choose other CDs and other composers. You may develop
quite a collection of famous players who are teaching they know, without ever
charging you for the advanced lessons. 3) Great Orchestral Excerpts: Get Jeanne
Baxtresser''s CD and Orch.Excerpt book, and work on one excerpt at a time
following her advice from her website at: www.jeannebaxtresser.com The advice
may lead you to listen to the whole orchestral spectrum of the pieces and not
just the flute parts. This will develop your ear for orchestral composition,
which will make you a bit of a genius when it comes to performing with large
ensembles in the future. 4) Create your own rotational technique plan: Follow
the advice of great flute players everywhere and create a cycle of Taffanel and
Gaubert finger exercises that allows you to increase your speed each day with
the metronome. It''s impossible to play all scales and arpeggios and big
exercises everyday, so make a chart and work through them marking down your
fastest and most clear and accurate speed of the day. It''s better to be too
slow and perfect, then too fast and full of blips and blurps. Keeping a journal
of your work also makes you slightly excited and competitive about your own
progress. If you can see the speeds going up, it''ll inspire you to keep
coming back to the T&G and improving. 5) Go to flute concerts, listen to flute
broadcasts, watch flute videos. Nothing makes you find the next thing you really
want to work on like seeing another (or hearing) fluteplayer do something
stunning and beautiful. Expose yourself to these things, so that you''re aware
of all the "cool" things out there. Avoid "living in a practice room" instead:
take yourself to the practice room when you''re full of awe and inspiration
from the real world "out there".