Get re-excited about really listening to music

Dear Flutists,
Inspiring, enthusing and entertaining talk by a classical musician bringing excitement back to the listener.

http://www.cbc.ca/nxnw/

When arriving at the above link, first scroll down to Sat 24th for parts 1 & 2 of an interview with Rob Kapilow.
Then back up to the top for parts 3, 4, & 5 which are today's broadcast.


Made my day on a Saturday! I just jumped up and started practising with a huge new enthusiasm. Terriff!

Thanks to pal M. who recommended this five part (15 min. each) mind-expanding and very uplifting interview with Kapilow!

Enjoy!

Best, Jen

Marais to soothe the ancient ears

Dear Fluters,

Interesting to note that the music that I find so soothing today is almost 300 years old! This is a great 'bookend' to those seventies pieces I just blogged about.
This is what I'm listening to today!!

Folias Gallegas from the CD "Altre Follie" by Santiago de Murcia.
(and now I will go buy this whole album!! WOW!)



Marin Marais Le Bandinage


Marais Chaconne for solo viola de gamba


When I was in University in the '80s, many of my friends were cleaning their their 20th century (atonally attacked) ear canals by listening to Marais of the late 1600s, and early 1700s and other lute-viola de gamba-guitar pieces such as these.

If only there were more flute music like this!!!
I believe I shall have to write some, and then put together a band!!

Do you like this music? When you come home in the evening from the parking lots, highways and crowded stores and byways of the big cities, does this not welcome you into a peaceful world?
Then we pick up our flutes and play Marin Marais "Les Folies D'Espagne" and make like a viola de gamba! :>)

Best,
Jen

Blast from the past; flute music from the '70s

Dear Fluters,

What a blast from the past!!!
I met another Canadian flutist from approximately the same era as I come from (born the '60s, started playing flute at 11) and we discovered that we both used to come straight home after school and play and play and play along to this LP ( An LP stands for "long play" recording. A disc made of black vinyl) of flute and guitar/strings/voice/percussion music.

The 'formative years' album for us was the LP from a Quebec group called Harmonium and I have to say that aside from Beethoven,Brahms and Mahler symphonies (which my mum played on the record player every chance she got) that this flute music affected my love of music intensely throughout my formative years. When I listen to it now, I still sing along in phoenetic French, and have no idea what the words are, but just wail away happily.:>)

Yes, it sounds like simple music for flute (and even a bit breathy and out of tune), but this LP was responsible for at least TWO kids playing flute for hours everyday.
Back then, I recall, I jammed along with it until I knew it, and then wrote down the notes: F#, E, D....in big capitol letters.
Now that, my dudey friends, is inspiration!!

Harmonium Histoire sans parole
Note: Part two and three of this super-long composition brings the original flute theme back; and I recall that I used to pick up the tone arm, and drop the needle back down at the end of the piece (missing the terse, intense middle part of the piece when I wasn't in the mood for it; but it did help me learn to love clashing string chords!!)



Harmonium Vert


Harmonium Dixie (no flute, but a great tune if you have the blues!)



Would love to hear more from those of you who have similar formative-year albums.
More to come on this topic,
Best,
Jen

Defying gravity - flute keys that tilt backward

Dear Flute teachers,
It's a fairly rare sight to see in professional flutists, but some players do seem to manage to play well with their keys tilting backwards (!)

I actually wouldn't be able to do it myself.

Watch this video of the La Scala Orchestra playing Mahler 3rd, and see how unusual the flutist's hand position becomes when he rolls his flute backward rather than line up his headjoint more inward to the key centers.



The big flute-piccolo feature is at minute: 2 min. 10 seconds. And feel free to comment.
I've rarely seen such a good example of backward tilting key tops.

Now compare the above video of the La Scala Principal player's key-top angle to that of Pahud and Baker in these photos below. Notice how Baker, Pahud, and most professional flutists key tops are parallel to the ceiling. I've always thought that was the only way that really worked to balance the heaviness of the rods, and stop the flute from rolling inward while you play.




Interesting and, for a professional player, quite rare.
Normally, if a student flutist were playing like this, I'd simply have them gradually start to turn their headjoint in more and get used to having the key tops parallel to the ceiling, so that the hands and fingers could work a great deal less hard holding the flute level.
I sure would love to speak to this Principal at La Scala and find out whether he has problems controlling pitch on thumb-free notes like C natural and C sharp.

Opinions, insights?

Best,
Jen

Performing in a hall full of echoes

Dear Flutists,

As spring rolls around with its various music festivals and flute performances, we often talk to students about the difference between playing in a dry hall, vs. playing in an echo filled hall.
Itzahk Perlman sums it very well in a 20 second talk and demo:



For flute, it's much the same; the faster and smoother you play in a hall full of echoes, the more the notes blur together.
So when you pre-test the hall (which we can't always do, but should do whenever possible) you'll want to listen to what I call the "ring back" to hear whether you'll need to use less speed and more separation in order to sound with clarity.
This especially affects tongued sixteenth or eighth notes in rapid passages; a slightly slower tempo with added "Ha!" to each note is often needed, and therefore should be practised in advance.
If you practise in a very dry (non-echoey) space, you should remember that lack of resonance in a room may cause you to use "Du-Gu" instead of "Tu-Ku" and play more legato and smoothly.
But as soon as you enter an echoey practise space, practise your detache!

For further demonstrations how resonant spaces and even microphones affect ones perception of a performer, witness these two videos of Tchaik 1 Concerto with violinist Sarah Chang.
In the first video the violin sounds mellow and incredibly blended with the orchestra:


In the second, because it's in a practise room with a roving video camera and scratchy sounding sound quality, this violin sound contains more imperfections, but is a lot more like what the player hears when they're practising.



Of course, when listening on youtube we're also hearing mega-distortion from the compression, but you get the idea.

By the way, I watched the documentary "Music from the Inside Out" for the first time on Knowledge-Network TV last night, and had about nine ephiphanies. Highly recommended!

There are several GREAT musicians stories in this film, and hearing them speak of "How I know I'll never reach the level of Sarah Chang" in the film (and how that's okay too.) reminded me once again just how much I enjoy Sarah Chang's ability to play so soulfully.


Best,
Jen

Karen Smithson's valuable flute method books

These are fabulous books for flute students and teachers!! (and no, I'm not related to the author or publisher...hahahaa! :>)
But I wonder if all our American and European flute teachers know about these method books?


You can view all six books here at the Catalogue page of Weisgarber publishing, or you can look them up at Fluteworld.

This flute method series seems to be very comprehensive in their pedagogy and each volume only costs about $15 U.S. The sequential five volumes go from complete beginner to advanced high school flute playing. There are work pages of music theory basics, and clear and concise practise suggestions.

Some topics covered are:

Volume II: Eighth notes - Dotted Quarter/Eighth - rhythms
E#, B# and Fb- - how to read enharmonic equivalents
Major scales (with sharps) and how to create the scales yourself using tetrachords. Sixteenth notes.

Volume III: Major Scales with flats -
Triplets - Cut time- Compound time (6/8, 9/8)-
Intervals and arpeggios - high register playing

Volume IV: - Staccato - Syncopation - Portato - Minor Scales - Appogiaturas - Grace notes - Trills.

Volume V: 32nd & 64th notes - double dotted notes -
2 against 3 and 3 against 4 - Double and Triple Tonguing - Dim and Aug triads - 7th arpeggios - Mordents- Turns- Harmonics-
Cadenzas - Modal/Pentatonic/Dim and Whole tone scales.

Now; read on for the musical material, which is the complete and utter BONUS!!!!

The Karen Smithson "Playing the Flute" method books also has a separate piano accompaniments volume (140 pgs. in score form $22 U.S.) contains folktunes and celtic tunes of all kinds, and almost an equal number of famous 'classical' pieces, many of which are famous and well-loved symphonic repertoire.

All the pieces are fairly short and the piano accompaniments for the series of five workbooks contains all the recital flute pieces in progressive order. There are just so many great tunes for young players all in one book series.

Plus among the many themes from great orchestral literature in the Smithson "Playing the Flute" volumes there are flute duets from the orchestral literature (ie: Beethoven's 7th Symphony, Mendelssohn's Italian Symph. etc.) And all of these flute works are part of the theory and practical lessons in each book:

All the Celtic and folk tune titles are listed on my webpage, if you click here. The folk tunes have lovely simple but effective arrangements for flute and piano.

Some of the well-loved classical themes and flute and piano arrangements are listed below:

Bizet - theme from Carmen
Bizet - Flute duets from L'Arlesienne
Bach - Chorales
Berlioz - Theme from Symphonie Fantasique
Tchaikovsky - excerpts from The Nutcracker & Swan Lake
Tchaikovsky - Theme from Romeo and Juliet
Grieg - Peer Gynt
Mussorsky - Pictures at an Exhibition
Mozart - Theme from Horn Concerto Eb+
Handel- Redeemer Liveth from Messiah
Bach - Jesu Joy of Man's Desiring
Puccini - Excerpts from La Boheme
Dvorak - English Horn solo from New World
Wagner - Opening of Tannhauser
Brahms - Cello solo from Piano Concerto 2
Brahms - Oboe Solo
Holst - Theme from "The Planets"

Playing the Flute' - Karen Smithson Volumes 1-5
"Piano Accompaniments" (in score form in piano book, full size flute parts in flute books) is the one single volume you'll definitely want if only purchasing one book to start.

Hope you get as much pleasure out of these method books as I do.

Best,
Jen

Adult re-starting flute on a budget

Dear Fluters,
A letter from a budget-minded adult flutist re-beginner:

I played the flute for a few years in high school. My parents had purchased me a used, open-holed flute which I no longer have. I am now returning to the flute. I no longer have the flute I used to play and so am looking into buying a new one. My budget is limited. I certainly can't afford anything more than $700. I know Yamaha flutes have very good sound quality and sound quality is a top priority. But they're so expensive! I want a flute that I could use for many years even as I progressed to a more advanced level. Should I buy a beginner Yamaha flute or a less expensive flute from another maker that has more advanced features (such as being open-holed)? For instance, I've been looking online at the Pearl PF 505RBE quartz flute. I had been leaning toward buying a new flute because I don't have a teacher at the moment (I just don't have the money) to give me advice on buying a used one. I'd appreciate any advice you could offer me.

Dear re-starter,

Your situation is very familiar, as I have many adult re-starters, or re-beginners each year in the same situation, so I hope this information is able to help many flute-loving folk out there.

Firstly, like buying any new "hobby item", you really need to find the time and experience the fun of it more than you need to find the money for the initial investment. Thank heaven. Time and fun are virtually free! :>)
As we all know, so many people buy bicycles, exercise equipment, new kitchen-gadgets, but end up not using them six months later.
They can't stick to it. They need friends and fun to make the hobby come alive!!
So, I'll explain all that I know on this topic. :>)

Being creatively satisfied with your hobby will come from 30 to 45 minutes a day of playing an easy-to-play, good-sounding flute, entrancing sheet music, and even, one day soon, playing music together with your wonderful new musical friends.
Music is truly one of the most satisfying hobbies on earth.
But to really do it easily, well and to do it on a budget, does in fact mean taking flute lessons, (even if they are two weeks apart and only 30 minutes long) and buying sheet music and practising every day too.

Why do I think lessons are a necessity to improving on the flute? Here are just some of the benefits to lessons:

a) the flute teacher can help you shop for a new flute or used flute that's a good quality item and test flutes for/with you.

b) the flute teacher can play-test your flute any flute you're currently using and let you know ("is it ME, or is it the flute?") when to send it for repair. All flutes need tweaking and oiling once a year. Many amateurs have no idea that they've missed that window and continue to play on leaking flutes and get frustrated because they think they've just lost their abilities.

c) your flute teacher will introduce you to sheet music that you will LOVE and CDs that will inspire you! They'll also play duets with you and make you feel that you're involved in real music making!

d) your flute teacher will introduce you to other music-making adults at your own level so you can form chamber groups or flute duets/trios and start getting music into your life from all around.

e) your teacher will let you know about flute events that are coming up which will inspire you, like concerts, classes and workshops.

f) And most importantly; your flute teacher will help you avoid the 2,017,257 common pitfalls of self-teaching yourself the flute and getting all frustrated.
Yes, there are 2,017,257 known pitfalls, and many of them start with an unknowing flute re-beginner playing on a flute that is not functioning properly, and they end with some common human flaw like not holding it properly, not blowing properly, not playing in the right musical style etc.

So how to go about this project the way that will avoid most pitfalls and lead to musical glorious happiness when you only have $700?

The wrong way would be to spend the entire $700 on an open-hole flute. The right way would be something like this:

1. Check out local music stores that rent good quality instruments (phone flute teachers in the area; they will tell you the best music stores in your area or mail-order stores they trust.)
You may find that you can rent Yamaha 300 or 200 series for $15 to $25 a month. This will keep costs low for the first 3 months while you assess your personal time devotion to this new hobby, and search for a good quality used flute to buy.
We had a local music store here in Canada renting brand spanking new Jupiter 511s that were terrific quality, for only $15 a month. What a deal!!

2. Sign up for at least four flute lessons with a highly quality flute teacher, even if the lessons are only 30 minutes every two weeks (for the ultimate poverty-stricken person). Of course, 45 minutes per week for one month would be far better.
Maybe you could even find another adult re-beginner who wants to share lessons and a flute teacher who'd love to take you both together for a lesson. That's possible too.

Now, having a flute lesson every week allows you to not develop too many strange posture or holding or blowing habits before your teacher can spot them and help you learn the best methods instead. You don't want "bad-habits" to become ingrained, and you want to avoid flutey frustration.

So, thus tiny far you have invested let's say $30 for each lesson x four weeks = $120.
And your rented flute (your teacher has checked it to make sure it's in good working order) has been, let's say $75 for three months of use.

Yes, you have spent a maximum of $200 for three months worth of exploring, but you are about five years ahead of the game, than if you purchased a $700 flute that wasn't working properly, became frustrated and let it moulder in the closet and said "I'm a failure" plus you still have money left over, and you've invested what you did spend on getting off to a tremendously intelligent start. Who can fault this plan so far? Fire away (comment button below.) :>)

Still trusting me? Okay, let's go to the next very cool part of this whole equation. :>)

3. During the first three months (when your excitement is fresh) you will have discovered whether you actually can practise every day where you live, whether you enjoy practising, and whether you needed any basic help with music reading or playing the flute easily and well. (even though you only took, let's say four lessons, you now can draw on that information for a month or two afterward, especially if you recorded the lessons and took notes.)
Now, after all that input, you're in a position to be able to play-test various used flutes that you might like to buy. You can take a flute-testing lesson or two extra, where teacher and you both can play-test flutes you're considering buying, and you can even compare side-by-side several used flutes and pick the best one.

This puts you in a knowledgable position and a much more independent and well-researched position. You are not just guessing anymore. You have your flute-teacher and their level of experience to corroborate or query your findings about each potential flute to buy, and at a flute-testing lesson you can hear the flutes actually played by someone who plays at the much higher level, the level that you will eventually reach if you keep going.

This is like having a professional mechanic test your used car. Much better than testing it yourself as a novice driver, as you wouldn't know what to look for.

4. Also, very important, during the first three months of re-beginning the flute, you can be using an Escrow service and www.usedflutes.com or other used flute source to shop for a good quality used flute. You are at liberty to try out and send back several instruments as long as you plan on having a little money spent for shipping and escrow fees,

Your new flute teacher might even be able to help find you an inexpensive but good quality used flute from another student in his/her studio who has kept their flute in great repair and is now selling it on. This is far more common than most people think. It takes about a week or two for the flute teacher of 30 students to ask them all if any of them want to sell their used Yamaha to an incoming student.

5. Now, you have about $350 or $400 left to spend on a good quality used flute. And if you save a little extra, you could have more. (Save $5 a day for three months by taking a brown-bag lunch for example and you have an extra $450 to add to your flute saving account.)
And that's plenty for a used Yamaha.

You can find this kind of price on decent Yamaha flutes in "Buy and Sell" newspapers all the time. One of my students found one for $375 that needed $150 worth of repair, but it lasted her for 10 years and was open-hole, solid silver headjoint Yamaha 300 series. What a deal!

And of coures, remember to put a little extra money aside for a high quality flute technician to tweak any used flute up to perfect working order. And trust a quality technician. If they say "This used flute has been bent, straightened, dented and badly repaired, and I don't recommend you buy it" then listen to them.

Naturally you won't want to purchase any used flute that needs such extensive "over-hauling" that the repair costs would have put you over budget and might cause future problems.
(Note: finding a quality flute teacher almost guarentees you'll find a quality flute technician.)

6. In the six months or so that all the above took to happen you may have also found a way to put a little more money aside, or scrimp and save a little (pay less for another hobby during that time, because you'll be busy playing the flute everyday instead of watching cable TV etc. :>)
And in that same six months you'll have done all these things:

- rented a good quality beginner's flute that was easy to play and made the whole thing easy and fast to do

- gotten 'catch up' lessons to set you off on an easy and fun route to playing better, faster

- met with a font of flutey information who introduced you to music-friends, flute-sellers, sheet music you like and concerts to go to

- tried out some used flutes and learned about what makes a good/bad flute and how to judge for yourself

- started to practise every day for 30-45 minutes so that suddenly you have BECOME a flute playing adult, not just an adult who wished to do so, but has actually done so.

When I first received the question at the top of this post, my original answer to the email we started out with above was this:

I would still stick with Yamaha (or Pearl if you personally prefer) as Yamahas just last and last, and keep their re-sale value, and don't worry about open-holes.
What do the open-holes actually do? They allow you to play avant-garde music where you half-hole. ( this is called "extended technique"). I personally play an off-set G open-hole with plugs in all the holes.
Apart from enabling you to half-hole for very advanced music styles, open holes physically do nothing to the sound. The sound comes from the quality of the headjoint and the quality of the leak-free padding job.
There are plenty of under $700 flutes on www.usedflutes.com
I even saw $50 Yamaha there today. (Although at that price, it may have indeed spent a certain amount of time in a driveway looking flattened by a car tire, so buyer beware! :>)

Take the flute you are considering buying to the best technician in town and ask for a repair estimate before you make up your mind absolutely about any used flute. And before you even do that, phone the best flute technician in town to see if THEY have any good quality used flutes. They often do.
See article on buying used flutes here.

If buying from an unknown source, always always use escrow.com or other escrow service.
Have the flute professionally assessed by a teacher and technician before finalizing the deal with escrow and the seller. Give yourself ten-day trials. And find a quality flute teacher.
Even one lesson every two weeks for 30 minutes will save you MONTHS of frustration later.

....but I wanted to say WHY!!!

Happy fluting adults one and all,

Best,
Jen

How to tune a flute quartet or flute ensemble

Dear Readers,

This is another topic from the search box on my website which I thought really deserved some helpful tips.

"How do you tune flutes together in a group?"

Firstly, there are some teacher's tuning aids shown in this youtube video.
I'm an enormous fan of the Tuning CD, the shiny-surfaces marking pen, and it has been proved time and time again that with these two items you may never need to "Tune your flute players" again when rehearsing in flute groups.

Here's what you do:

1. Teach everyone in the group how to use their cleaning rod to check their cork, and have the teacher move those corks that are out of correct placement. Make sure students know not to twist the crown, and where to get repairs if their cork is sliding due to shrinkage.

2. Teach everyone in the group to set up their flute with the headjoint drawn out 1/8th to 1/4 inch and to blow warm air down through a closed tube (all keys down) until the silver reaches room temp. before tuning and during rests in pieces played in cold rooms.
Often flutes are flat when they're cooled down even after a bar or two rest, so teach them to be aware of the pitch drop caused by cooling tubes.

3. Whenever a flute student or member of your flute group plays absolutely in tune with the teacher for a chunk of minutes, take your shiny-surfaces black magic marker and mark their headjoint tenon with a tiny line which will then become their set-up line for the next few weeks. This line can be removed by rubbing or by swabbing with alcohol. If this headjoint marking is used and continues to work well, you have found their "headjoint draw" on that flute for that player at that ability level. It may, of course, change as they develop, but they can buy their own marking pen and mark it themselves next time they discover the perfect headjoint position. This marking can also double as a headjoint rotation alignment if you make two "tick marks" on the barrel on either side of the tenon-draw line. See video.

4. Use The Tuning CD in your flute lessons and in ensemble rehearsals. Teach the students how to use it. Full instructions at the website that sells them.
Totally fun to use for all sorts of etudes, scales, exercises and chord building. Best invention since the thumbport!!! As I say in the video. Still true.

Hope this helps, and after four years of using the above steps I now have three flute ensembles that just set their flute to their markings and GO!! No need to tune. Everyone just starts exactly in tune already from minute one.

Hope this helps,

Jen the softhearted-search-box-report-reader

Comments welcome from other teachers and students with flute group tuning tricks!

In the search box, question on how to get high B

Dear fluters,

Each week I receive a report that basically tells me what people looked for by searching using the tiny white search box on my website.

It's touching and a bit hilarious to read attempted searches at one minute apart each that say something like:

SEARCH STRING
hitting the high B
getting high B to come out
how do you play high B?
what is wrong with high B

Truthfully, I'm too soft....doh...
My heart starts to break. :>)

So before I get to another touching topic which will be:
"How do you tune a flute quartet?" and in the search box just one minute later:
"Tuning a few flutes together", let me help High B person.

To play high B (in the top octave) you need several tools,and no, they are not the tools such as sledge hammer, needle-nose pliers or three cups of espresso and a screwdriver.

These are the high B tools:

1. A fingering chart
2. Longtones
3. A helpful flute teacher
4. Good quality air flow
5. Some tricks for those awkward days.

Here's a breakdown with some pointers on each one.

1. A fingering chart:
There are plenty of student flutists out there trying to guess at fingerings.
High B is on this fingering chart. Study it carefully. If you have the right fingers down go to next tool.

2. Longtones:
There are also plenty of flute students who put the right fingers down and just blast out high notes without warming up.
Warming up means doing gradual, incremental longtones, chromatically up from medium-octave B natural.
As long as every single chromatic note going upward (slowly) from B natural sounds fabulous in tone quality, then high B will eventually arrive in good working order.
If you're just hitting high B like "BLAM!- BLAM!!!- BLAST!!!" you may find it to be earsplittingly elusive (!)
Spend a week or two just adding one perfect-tone-quality higher note a day, and be patient.
The magical embouchure and perfectly guaged air support and air-speed will arrive as if by very slow chromatic longtone magic. Trust me. Dude! :>)

3. A helpful flute-teacher:
One of the things flute teachers can do is "spot" you like a coach spots a gymnast.
The teacher can see if you're accidently standing on your tip-toes, throwing your shoulders up to your ears, jutting your chin out jarring the mouthpiece, or whacking the keys down so hard that the flute bobbles on the chin.
Ask the teacher to spot you while you ascend to high B and let you know if you're unconsciously doing anything physical that is making high B harder than it already is. (and yes, it's a heck of a special note; one that requires much coaxing on bad days. I admit that.)
If your teacher is unavailable and you're learning to self-spot, use a mirror or video camera.
Look for accidental horrendous spontaneous gargoyle-gymnastics that are not helping the flute stay level or the fingers be gentle. Stay calm, be brave, wait for the signs....etc.
And yes, you will have a 78.2 % better rate of high B success if you walk up to the note using slow chromatic longtones as discussed above. Compare the two methods in the mirror. Gargoyles only win by being horrible. :>P

4. Good quality air-flow:
Low notes need slower air, and higher notes need faster air that's well "supported".
You can get the air to speed up by gargoyle strain-face method (pinching the lips together to create raspberry, saying "Eeee" with the tongue suddenly trying to assist, or blasting really loudly)
but the best method is to gradually increase the air supply in the notes ascending up to the higher ones. And you want the air to be steady and sure, always creating the purest possible, glorious, ringing tone on every note.
In my flute teaching I call the air speed "Miles per hour" as in: "You need about 30 miles per hour for a low D played softly, but at least 90 miles per hour to play mezzo above high G."
The best tone in the high register always comes from fast air, well supported, and a somewhat poised yet loose and flexible embouchure.
This will take time to develop over weeks of daily practise. But if your high register is sounding pinched or breathy generally, for sure get your teacher's help to spot what you're doing, and to re-learn the steps toweard creating good air flow and abdominal support for the high register.

5. Some tricks for those awkward days:
For those flutists who usually can get a good high B, but occassionally have mysterious B-failure, here are some quick tricks.

a) Uncover the blow hole an extra millimeter (roll out). If the flute has rolled in, or your lower lip has crept too far forward, this can instantly improve your overall blow-hole lower-lip ratio for all notes. But B will be the defining test.

b) Raise the center of the upper lip a tiny amount. Often the upper lip gets pulled down too tightly. Creating a microscopic arch in the center of the upper lip can release the high notes in tone.

c) Finger high B but instead of playing high, play the lowest note you can get with that fingering (a ghostly weird harmonic.) Then, starting at this ghost under-blown note, slide up the harmonic spectrum loosely and by just a small amount of increased air-speed until high B sounds effortlessly.

d) Use a stabilizing fingering. For example, play high F# and while continuing to play it, add both trill keys with RH (right hand) index and middle fingers while still fingering F#3. This will pop out a very easy high B. When you change to the real fingering, keep the same embouchure and air "feel".

e) On piccolo, check the placement of the cork in the headjoint. Sometimes high B only comes out if the cork is moved a tiny amount in either direction. Consult your teacher.

f) Blow from low in the body; be sure you are using the abdominal muscles to blow, not unconsciously tightening anywhere else. Push down against the floor with your feet to activate the floor of the diaphragm and the Psoas muscles.

g) Sing while playing: This can loosen overly tight lips and create resonance, better air use, and a more singing tone even when you are no longer singing-while-playing. Consult your teacher for "how to sing and play" to get better tone.

h) Dont start your practise session with high notes. Work up to them. Get a fab low register and floatingly gorgeous middle register first. Be patient. Once everything else is finally in order, the high notes may just magically appear. Do your other exercises first and stay calm and observant. You'll soon find your own best plan on ascending to exquisite high notes.

Fellow flute teachers, do please add your own tips and tricks if you feel so moved by clicking on the comment button below.

Best of luck and hope this helps.

Jen

What are some good flute pieces?

Many a time and oft, flute teachers receive one of the following email questions:

1. Do U know of any good flute songs?
2. Does anyone know any good flute pieces?
3. I have a student who's x years old who needs more bouncy & Baroquey? Any ideas?
4. I'm entering a competition or doing an audition and I need an "X" type of flute piece, can anyone suggest titles?
5. I need some free flute music. Help?

Here's some help for each.

1. Do U know of any good flute songs?
This type of email is not worded well enough, I'm afraid. It's a bit like asking a professional baker if they got any 'wunder-bread'.

Firstly, "Songs" are sung by vocalists and have lyrics.
Flute pieces are called flute "pieces" or flute "works" or "Flute solos with piano accompaniment" or "Flute Solos that are Unaccompanied". Printed pieces of music on paper are called "sheet-music".
Ahem.....hahhahahaha........
You is spelled "you".

Additionally anyone who answers this query who is over the age of 14 may want to give a really good answer, and not just say:
"Hey, play this really difficult piece that I'm trying to play right now. It's called The Great Gooshiesmooshie..... and I love it!". An answer like that is probably just another student, not someone who actually knows all the best pieces or the most appropriate pieces for each individual flute student.

Flute education specialists who are in the know about good flute pieces will also need to know what style of music you are seeking, what titles of flute pieces you can already play well, and what kind of music for flute is suitable for your upcoming performances. (Do you need a Concerto or a Duet for flute and Clarinet? Do you need a Modern, Romantc, Classical or Jazz piece? Do you want something happy, sad, pensive, melodious, barn-burningly exciting? Do you need it by tomorrow, or for next year's big show? Can you afford to wait six weeks for it to be delivered from a specialty publisher?)

Please tell more about yourself and your needs when asking a VAST and HUGE sheetmusic question like this. It is indeed like asking a top-chef baker for a good bread recipe. The baker needs to know exactly what kind of bread and what ingredients, what kind of oven, what other foods will be served, what are your time-limits and skill levels you'll be using to make the bread? etc. Otherwise he/she might just write back: "Get a bread book from the library and try them all." :>)

It would be far far better to write:

Hello, I'm hoping to get some help in choosing some new flute pieces. I've just completed Telemann's Sonata in F in my flute lessons, and I enjoy this happy Baroque style.
Could anyone recommend a piece similar to the Telemann at just a slighly more difficult level?

Or:
Could you suggest a piece that's fun, uptempo, and would suit my flute students who are in their third year of private lessons?
Is there a book that contains an assortment of these kinds of pieces that would give me several in one book? we're all on a budget.

The next thing to do would be to double-check also with your private flute teacher for their recommendations. No two flute students are alike. Your own flute teacher is your best asset in choosing new music.

If you don't have a private teacher, the next step would be to find one. Why waste money on a sight-unseen published flute books or various flute pieces that may not be right for you? Spend your hard-earned money on private lessons and Eureka(!) the "right music for you" will likely start to appear. :>)


2. Does anyone know any good flute pieces?
This type of email sent to an online flute discussion board may get you 50 different answers. Good luck knowing which ones to believe in. :>)
You'll be sifting through about 5 to 50 miscellaneous answers and you'll still be wondering what half the email-senders were talking about.
It's far better to consult some basic flute repertoire lists, and even better, look for GRADED repertoire lists so you can figure out what level of difficulty you should be tackling.

And here's how to do it:
Firstly, find out approximately what grade or level your flute playing currently is, in order to narrow down the huge number of appropriate flute pieces that might suit you.
You can ask your flute teacher what level of playing you're at, and you can consult a flute chart of levels.

Secondly, once you know your approximate skill level, then cross-reference it with the various online graded repertoire lists. They may be grade 1 to grade 10 or they may be A to J. They might be I to III or A to D. Figure out the grading system and then choose titles at your current level or just slightly higher.

And, hey, there's no point playing the most difficult pieces in the world if you don't have the tone, the tonguing or the fingers.
Suit the pieces to your own level. Your flute teacher will explain that to you too. :>)

So here are some basic repertoire lists for flute.

There are some straightforward flute repertoire lists online, including those from the United Kingdom that have some great graded selections to choose from.
If you require "flute with band" or "Flute concertos" use the search button on my site.

Also, there is a $7 booklet that lists very high quality "Selected Flute Repertoire" that has been compiled by a fine group of flute experts. Each entry is cross-referenced with a list of flute skills appropriate to that level of piece.

Also, here, if you scroll down on arrival, is a Flute World "send me a catalogue" button that you can click on to have a full, detailed, graded flute cataloque to be sent to your door that grades every piece of flute music from 1-5 in difficulty.

Here is an online Alry catalogue of contemporary and folk-based flute pieces that aregraded from I to IV (1-to-4) in difficulty. And here is the Fluteworld catalogue online with a composer search button. Each Fluteworld piece is graded from 1-4 and they use 5 to identify pieces using "extended technique".

Here is an "Editor's Choice" feature from the great U.K. store called Just Flutes where quite a bit of really good sheetmusic is reviewed by a knowledgable flute expert. You can search by pop music with playalong CD or music for four flutes, whatever suits your fancy.

If you are in University and studying flute performance, Leonard Garrison's graded flute repertoire list uses the same A to J grading system that the NFA booklet of selected flute repertoire does.

If you're in highschool or first year University, you may want to see My Fave Repertoire, where the most popular pieces for that age group are listed and graded.

Flute Magazines such as Flute Talk or Pan Magazine also publish lists of newly published flute music and give reviews of each title. Keen flute players might wish to subscribe to one or both of these publications. They have terrific articles as well as flute CD and sheet music reviews!!

Go ahead and bookmark all of these sites, and read about various pieces of flute music on concert reviews and "new publications for flute" reviews online. Google the flute work's titles and add the words program notes to find online descriptions and reviews of the various works. You will become knowledgable, and you might even get very excited about how MUCH good music there is out there.

But once again, ask your private teacher about which pieces are best for you right now. Above all other methods, your teacher will be your best resource to finding appropriate skill level pieces for you to play next.


3. I have a student x-years-of-age who needs more bouncy baroquey? Any ideas for whole books?
This email I received from a grade 10 student of mine who now teaches children. And smart flutey-dude that he or she is, they had first consulted the Canadian music exam syllabi (or syllabuses) that have published lists of flute works and ordered them by grade and style. (Baroque, Classical, Romantic, Modern etc.)
My answer was:

Forty Little Pieces for Beginners is a standard grade 2 flute book. Edited by Louis Moyse, published by Schirmer.
I use it with almost every new Beginner just to cover all the bases. Almost every single piece bouncy and Baroque or smooth and classical, but EASY enough for small children.
They are short, they are recognizeable, and they are appealing.
Totally worth having as a basic all around book for grade 1+ to 2 to 3. I don't necessarily ADORE every single piece, but each one teaches well while being fun and basic.

There's also quick and easy guide to inexpensive or "good-buy" flute books for each grade level and a "Favourite Repertoire list" for older students on my website.

But by far the best book I can imagine for the student you describe (bouncy baroque) is this one by Schirmer. It has a playalong CD plus full piano parts in the book, and a separate flute insert.
So many the pieces are bouncy Baroque-esque.
I bought a $7 booklet called "Selected Flute Repertoire" from the NFA website (National Flute Assoc. in U.S.) which is available under NFA Store at their site: nfaonline.org
When the booklet arrives by mail, scan levels C and D which correspond to grade 3 and 4 for Canadian exams. The NFA also has another little booklet of etudes as well.
Having these two guides is really useful!!!
I also always check the ABRSM and other U.K. repertoire lists by
grade. You can link to the U.K. flute exam repertoire lists here

4. I'm entering a competition or doing an audition and I need X-style or type (Baroque, strings and flute only, Romantic, full orchestra Concerto, is a 5 minute showpiece...etc.etc.) of flute piece, can anyone suggest appropriate flute pieces for this?

This question is asked well, as long as the qualifying descriptions are made very clear. This is the kind of question that usually gets intelligent answers from knowledgable flute-repertoire experts.

If you ask this way on FLUTElist, Flutenet or Galway-Flute-Chat you will sometimes get very helpful advice, so go ahead and practise being precise in your descriptions.

Often you'll find out which pieces are:
- least expensive
- currently in or out of print
- most successful in recitals or flute competitions
- have the most audience appeal etc.
More on this topic in the future. But let's get to....


5. I need some free flute music. Help?
Once again, wording this email politely and informatively (write about yourself as in no. 1 above) will likely get you better assistance from the flute teachers and players who are speed-reading your email.
So do please spell out actual words (Please use whole sentences and real english!:>) and give plenty of details about your flute playing and your musical interests when you email a big group of flutists.

Otherwise educated flutistic specialists who would normally have tried to help you may instead suspect that you likely need private lessons more than you need "free music" or "music notes" for your fave pop songs. Plus the more details you give, the more likely you'll meet another student flutist with similar likes and dislikes in flute music.
Finally, here are some additional helpful facts to consider in your hunt for free music, or "popular" music:

- There is very little free and good music on the internet. Most high quality sheet music for flute has to be purchased from a music store, sheet music outlet, or publisher.
Free pieces are usually simplified, short, incomplete or pirated.
If there was a treasure trove of honest-to-goodness great free sheetmusic on the net, all the flute players would already know about it. See my own list of findings here.

- Some students are disappointed when they go to a local store to find "Pop" music books, such as Disney movie flute books or popular song collections written out for flute.
Many of these Disney and Pop books are actually very poorly written for flute, and are simply mass-marketed without any thought to how to play the notation that's printed. You may be dismayed by overly difficult rhythms, strange key-signatures (that don't work when yo play along with your "Lion King" DVD), and strange approximations of tunes that don't quite work.

If you want popular music for flute, read about these books in advance, or look for the "editor's choice" flute sheetmusic reviews about the best ones.
Better yet, consult your flute teacher about which books of music are high quality from the "pop" genre.

- If you want to play the flute well, the fastest method is to take lessons with a qualified flute teacher who will assist you in all the special skills of flute playing as well as finding appropriate sheetmusic that you enjoy.
One of the side-benefits to lessons is the likelihood that your new flute teacher will be a font of knowledge about great flute sheetmusic and can show you the published pieces so you can preview them during your lessons.
They will also be able to suit your tastes and likes and dislikes after they get to know you better, while keeping the level of skill appropriate.

And finally:
If your current flute teacher does not seem to find much music for you to play there may be a reason.
An email the other day on one of the email discussion groups stated:

"My flute teacher doesn't give me much music to play and I need orchestral excerpts for a youth orchestra audition. Which ones should I get?"

then perhaps this young flutist either...

a) needs a more knowledable flute teacher (try the University flute teachers in your area if you want someone who really knows their stuff) or

b) may need to communicate more clearly with their flute teacher (I really want to learn orchestral excerpts and do the audition. Can you help?) or

c) needs to learn the current level of pieces their flute teacher has already asked them to learn before ambitiously seeking "new pieces" that the teacher doesn't know about.

Sometimes a combination of all the above things may help a student match themselves with a teacher who clearly understands the student's needs.

Hope this helps,

Best,
The weary repertoire-list advisor to the flute groups,

Jen :>)

Historical timeline for choosing Flute Repertoire

Dear Flutists,

Often flute students are a little confused about composer's dates and musical styles, especially when asked to prepare "two contrasting pieces from two musical eras".
In competitions or auditions, flute students may also have to "Choose a Baroque/Classical piece, and then choose a Romantic or Modern piece". They then turn to the internet for help, and get lost in lists of repertoire and cross-referencing the dates, or get lost in a discussion of whether Beethoven is Romantic or Classical, only to find there's very few actual flute pieces by Beethoven.
You can enter a tiny flutey coma after this kind of confusion.
But fear not. I'm here to help. :>) hahhahahaa!
To start:
Here is a useful chart from an old book from the 1950s.
(Almost)Everything you want to know about which musical era your piece or composer comes from.



Isn't this a great little chart?
You can download a PDF version here too.

Download it and print it, then, as you gradually learn your flute pieces and look up their composer's dates you can add those composers to this chart (in tiny black ink as I do! :>) or make a new one up based on this template.
Very useful.
Enjoy!
And more about choosing flute repertoire in the next post.
Best,
Jen

8 year old Emma's Recital

Dear Flutists,

Young Emma has done it again; jaw droppingly sophisticated flute playing, performed by memory, from 8 year old Emma Resmini. I think that the youtube video of her performing the Faure Fantasie is particularly stunning:



The things I like about this video:
a) she looks as if she truly loves playing and performing
b) she keeps her pitch well in tune, and doesn't blow sharp
c) she plays by memory
d) she proves that some people are just exponentially faster learners than others.
e) she quite possibly proves that reincarnation of musicians really does happen and that's where prodigies come from...from the past!!ahhahaha! :>D

If you'd like to comment using the comment button below, you can guess as to whether you think she is reincarnating: Rampal, Moyse or other flutist from the last century?
Please do comment if you can get your face to work after it dropped open in awe. :>D

The Pan Magazine on young Emma states that she:
- started at the age of 3 after hearing a flute concert
- took 20 minute long Suzuki Flute lessons to start
- took 2 months to produce a reliable sound
- at the end of one year of lessons was up to 60 minute lessons and had completed four Suzuki flute books
- comes from a non-musical family

A complete inspiration to those of us who have been playing for almost four decades.

Best, Jen