The Art of Playing the Flute!!! The Book

Update Feb. 7th, 2012
Amazing response from so many readers! Thankyou everyone!
Still sending out Roger Mather's books with over 200 copies sold.
Can't believe how friendly everyone in the flute world is!
Such terrific feedback! Thank you again!
The Art of Playing the Flute will continue to be available through my website in
perpetuity. All best, Jen
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Dear Flute Lovers,

Here is the long awaited fantabulous flute book event of the year!
This is to announce the newest flute publication,
an ebook/pdf version of the amazing book
The Art of Playing the Flute, by Roger Mather.

(video)



This new edition is the entire three volume set of books (first published in the 1980s, and originally sold as three individual books), now combined into a single volume, and emailed to you as a pdf attachment for use at home, studio or for the practice room.

View the incredibly comprehensive Table of Contents as well as a biography of the author.

Note: Use the BACK button to return here after seeing the Table of Contents.

The Roger Mather "Art of Playing the Flute" book is so many things: it's brilliant, it's easy to use, it's the most helpful flute book I've ever found, it's concise, it's the only one of its kind, and it's priced very low so everyone can afford it ($22 Canadian dollars) and it is useful to any intermediate or advanced flutist, and of course an amazing resource for flute teachers.

Each copy arrives engraved with your own name, (if buying as a gift, please give the name of the recipient when you order) and you can view it on any ebook reader, or print it out (250 pages) and spiral bind it for your music stand, or simply hole-punch and put it in a binder.

Seriously, this is the all time BEST book for flutists to own, for working with and without their teacher (over the holidays etc.)! The book is full of experiments that really work to improve breathing,flute embouchure, tone colours, tonguing and every facet of the art of flute playing.
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ORDERING:

To order, send a paypal for $22 to jen(at) jennifercluff (dot) com or email me at the same address to check first, if you like.

Just click on this button (or any donate button on my site), use Canadian dollars, put a "message" to me on it, giving me the name of the book recipient. (You can send me an email if you can't find the "message" button).



I usually send out orders the same day.

And if you don't use Paypal but a friend or colleague does know how, just pay them, and let them pay me on your behalf. (be sure and send a message giving the name to be inscribed on the book.)

If you wish to use the phone to read a credit card number, call in a gift certificate to a flute store for me. Thanks so much!

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PRINTING:

The pdf file is 2.4 megabytes, and can be saved onto your computer as an attachment and printed at your leisure. You can also take it to a copy shop to be printed (double-sided) and bound (spiral binding good for music stands).
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SAMPLE PAGES:

One of the benefits of having these workbooks as pdf files, is that you can navigate by using the left margin thumbnails.



Note: Click on samples to enlarge, then use the BACK button to return here after viewing these jpegs.

You also can jump to any point of the book with the hyperlinked table of contents:



And all internal references (such as: go back to page 93) are also hyperlinked! (you can click on them to jump to where you want to go.)

And you can read the whole book wherever you are on your laptop (view of two-page spread) or reference any page in lessons using an ipad or any kind of e-book reader:



Note: Click on samples to enlarge, then use the BACK button to return here after viewing these jpegs.

My huge thanks to both Roger Mather, for allowing me to become the "publisher" of this updated and affordable version of his workbooks (volumes I, II and III) and to Betty Bang Mather, who helped at every step of the way.

This is a thrill, and I'm almost completely speechless.
What a wonderful project. Huge thanks to everyone who helped: The Mathers, my husband, and my fellow flute professors and proofreading flute friends.
This is one of the most incredible projects I've had the chance to take part in, and I'm just in love with this book!

Lots of related and topical blog posts to follow (and more on upcoming pdf sheetmusic too.)

Best, Jen

P.S. The music for the opening of the video is one of the pieces I'm putting together as sheetmusic. Our Delphinus Trio performed an arrangement I wrote; The Lark Ascending, for Flute, Cello, Piano by Vaughan Williams. It's taken from the original 1914 violin and piano version by the composer. Soon to be coming to this blog!! Thanks for asking. :>)
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RAVE REVIEWS for The Art of Playing the Flute
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Micah Layne wrote:
Dear Jen,
Thank you so much for the e-book. I have been looking forward to studying Roger Mather's teachings for some time and this format is exactly what I was looking for. I believe this resource belongs in every flutists library. In my opinion, so much of the experimental work that needs to be done by developing flute students can be found in these "pages". By allowing students to have a resource like this, we encourage people to take flute study into their own hands and discover what really works for them. I know too many people who are passively waiting for their flute teachers (if they have teachers) to give them the secrets of the flute that will solve all of their problems. The only secret I know of is that everyone has to find their own path and live it.

In this digital age, the transfer of information in electronic mediums is necessary to get the information to people who need it. The digital format and distribution of this text is exactly what is needed in today's world. Isn't it amazing that technology allows people the opportunity to hear performances of world class flutists for free? This same technology allows us to share the wonderful information that is contained in Roger Mather's flute book.

I have also been an avid reader of your flute materials and would like to thank you for your tireless enthusiasm and dedication not only to the world of flute, but to music education. By sharing knowledge, you have touched the lives of countless people across the world that you have not met. Some people aspire to be famous, but I aspire to be like those who have helped me and others in this life. You are one of those great people.
Mahalo Nui Loa, (Thank you very much - in Hawaiian)

Micah Layne
http://www.hawaiianflutist.com
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Dean Stallard wrote:

IMHO Mather's "The Art of Playing the Flute" is one of the most important pieces of literature written on how to play the flute. Basically any question ever raised on one of these forums on the technicalities of flute-playing could be answered by a reference to Mather's work-books. His thorough analysis on the differences of every aspect of poor, mediocre, good and outstanding playing, along with experiments to help apply the knowledge to each individual should make these workbooks an essential part of the library of anyone serious about the flute, not least the serious teacher.
How can you help a student find solutions if you don't understand the root of the problem? This set-up as an e-book takes the work to another dimension as the
ease of finding things makes it an excellent reference for the working teacher and not just a work-book for the serious student. That it is now available as an e-book means that it is now affordable to the serious student too!

Dean Stallard - flute teacher and performer, Oslo School of Fine Arts
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PPS. Thankyou so much Dean! Jen

The Mistral Fanfare - Lots of Excitement!

Dear Flute Lovers,
It's possible that those of you who know me well wonder why I've been so quiet for the past half year.
Well actually I've been making some exciting and joyful noises and working together with truly great musical people.
And you're about to find out all about these projects.

To wit:
Here is a new flute work that is a perfect fanfare!!!

(video):

Mistral for Flute, Cello, Piano Trio by Julia Bowkun



I wanted to present a great piece of fanfare music to introduce my new fall projects here on this blog. (and one of them is offering the sheetmusic to Mistral and other Bowkun works on this blog!)

And do plesae use the comment button if you just LOVE this composer.
The story of her compositions to follow!
(I'll send your happy composer comments on to her!)

And there's even more to come!
I'll tell you the whole story about flute authors and flute composers right here as the weeks unfold.
This musical fanfare is the beginning of even more exciting announcements yet to come!
Lots of excitement.

So stay totally tuned.
Happy days!! :>)

Best,
Jen

The Wiggley Road to Success

Topics:
Recording your Practice & Outlining

Dear Flutey Readers,
I had a student who suddenly became aware of her progress, and began to worry about how her efforts so far on the first ever year of flute lessons now measured up to all the other University flutists around her.
I responded that the entire trick of it is to only compete with yourself.

I would also heartily suggest: Self-recording
Record your lessons, record your rehearsals, and defintely, record yourself at the beginning and then again, at the end of a week of practice, and actually analyse for yourself what you're doing right and what you need to improve.

For example, can you dance to the rhythm of your recorded etude or solo?
Or does your rhythm make you groove, or do you find you have to hop skip and jump and even stumble a bit as you dance to your playing?

Does that tell you something about your need to work on the meter or rhythm?

How about intonation? What do you hear when you listen back?
Why not record your etude or piece with the The Tuning CD playing the tonic drone for each section?

And even if a piece isn't quite up to speed yet, you can still record it as an outline, playing a simplified version of the piece, even at full tempo.

Here's an excerpt from my own description of Outlining:
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What is outlining?

Outlining is playing only one (or more) notes per bar of music, in order to simplify it.

This is a very useful technique when the music demands large intervals
and fast fingerings.

It still outlines the basic motion of the melody, but it simplifies it
down to a more manageable practice routine.

In this way the flutist can simplify their embouchure, their air use,
and their phrasing.

Often when a flute player is trying to practice or learn a new piece, they:

- use too much air (get out of breath after a few bars)
- use the wrong tone quality for the piece
- have flying and flapping fingers because the note reading is complex
- use far too many over-estimated embouchure changes
- get tired and start producing a tense or constricted tone quality
- make mistakes in the same places due to rebalancing the flute
wrongly during finger switches
- keep going back to the beginning over and over again, when the
problem area is NOT at the beginning.

Outlining allows simpler embouchure, great tone, comprehension of
breathing spots, allows faster tempos from the start, and allows the
finesse of the piece to be begun right away, even before learning all
the complexity of the "fast notes".

It's the musician's greatest invention.
Plus it allows the musician to understand the piece in depth since
only one facet is worked on at one time.

Outlining Example

At first, you can outline any piece by just playing only the main notes, and leaving everything else out, but in time, and rhythmically. Later fill in the missing faster notes bit by bit.
Here are a few bars of the Andante of J.S. Bach's C Major Sonata:



Click on jpeg to enlarge. Use back button to return.

The circled notes in the sample are the notes used to create the outline
for easier and more comprehensive practicing.

Later the outline can be made to include every eighth note, instead of
every quarter (2nd outline in sample above.)or every first and fourth note of four sixteenths, for example.

Or you could outline only low notes, or only highest notes.
Each outline creates a variation on the main melody; all are valid.

You can hear me outlining Chaminade's Concertino and other fun recording experiments in coversation with author/pianist James Boyk in a 2009 interview here: Outlining explained on Jen's Fluteloops radio show no. 10.
(James Boyk Interview)

And one more thing to help us all feel better when or if we get the blues ( :>), check out what a wonderful quote I just found today.
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Quote - Artistic Success
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Nobody tells this to people who are beginners.
I wish someone had told me.

All of us who do creative work, we get into it because we have good taste.
But there is this gap.

For the first couple of years you make stuff,
it's just not that good.

It's trying to be good, it has potential, but it's not.
But your taste, the thing that got you into the game, is still killer.

And your taste is why your work disappoints you.
A lot of people never get past this phase; they quit.

Most people I know who do interesting, creative work went through years of this.

We know our work doesn't have this special thing that we want it to have.

We all go through this.

And if you are just starting out or you are still in this phase, you gotta know that it's normal and the most important thing you can do is do a lot of work.

Put yourself on a deadline so that every week you finish one piece.

It's only by going through a volume of work that you will close that gap, and your work will be as good as your ambitions.

And I took longer to figure out how to do this than anyone I've ever met.

It's gonna take a while.
It's normal to take awhile.

You just gotta fight your way through.

Ira Glass
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And here is the source of the quote:
This is also oh so so true about music studies, as in any art form.

We don't want to compete with others, but wish to find the best quality of work that completely engages us in our creativity and understanding. And when we find that, we can reach out and engage with other musicians, and then the growth becomes exponential.

It was serendipitous that I found this quote through David Cutler's excellent "Saavy Musician" blog, where he had addressed a similar topic for young musicians in a blog post entitled "The Best in the World".

You just have to see that it's the more squiggly line that is the true line of success.

So hopefully my very artistic student will feel more relaxed knowing that we all go through this stage, and the answer is to create your own artistic standards for yourself.

My gosh, I remember that stage extremely well from my own stages of flutey challenge.

So, glad to share, and happy to help.
(updated Jan 22nd 2012)

Best, Jen

Jazzy Dudes - Modes & 7th chord free pdfs

Dear Flutists with a jazzy beat,

To continue on with the series of scales and arpeggios from this month's morning scale class, here is an additional free 18 page pdf (288 kb) for you to download that features full extended range major scales for flute to B3, all the scale's modes by name (dorian and mixolydian are the most used in Jazz I do believe), followed by the super jazzy seventh chords used by our first year jazz flute majors at the University in which I teach.
Please help yourself.

Extended Major Scales, their Modes, and all jazzy 7th chords pdf.

These are the basic finger patterns for jazz improvisation, and I'd like to help out by providing them to students and teachers. To easily remember the mode's names try this little trick:

I Don't Play Like My Aunt Lucy.

The first letter of each word above reminds you that Ionian is the first mode, Dorian is the second, etc. (ha ha, that Aunt Lucy played le jazz hot! :>)

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And in case you missed the earlier posts on scales and arpeggio books for free, link ahoy(!) to download whole books of scales and chords in a fun and easy to use format:


Part 4 - Creative scale practice - samples of variations for scales

Part 3 - Morning Scale Class (free pdf - III - Scales in Thirds)

Part 2 - Morning Scale Class (free pdf - II - Chords of all kinds)

Part 1 - Morning Scale Class (free pdf - I - Chromatics, Whole Tone, Major, Harmonic Minor Scales.)

Best, Jen

Flute Pedagogy Notes

Dear Flutists,

There is a wealth of great flute pedagogical information going up on the internet which you might like to know about.

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Flute Nodes Diagram

Firstly, above is a diagram of flute nodes for the three octaves (shown above - click on it to enlarge), created by Joe Butkevicius, master flute technician, who was answering the question:

"Why, when you overblow the harmonic series on the flute, is the fifth interval so much more difficult?

Well, the very kind Mr. Butkevicius has provided us all with an excellent diagram and made it freely available to all. Thank you Joe B!

And now for a veritable cornucopia of flute pedagogical materials:
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NFA Convention Highlights and Handouts:


The National Flute Association has opened up its website to include all kinds of handouts and reports from past flute conventions. You are freely allowed to download as many handouts as you wish. (see below for links.)
These are great starting points for book lists, outlines for learning new skills as a teacher, and even include stretching exercises and teaching tips of all kinds. A huge thankyou to the NFA for making these resources free to the public!

NFA convention handouts:

2007

2008

2009

2010

2011
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NFA Repertoire Guide

And finally, many people write to me asking for repertoire and etudes and ask "What grade is that?"

Well, unfortunately I cannot possibly recommend pieces for each person who emails me. I have to meet and hear the student flutist to make recommendations, and even then, the student may wish to try out dozens of works, before choosing, with the help of their private teacher, the best next thing to work on. So much depends on what level they are at, what type of music they need to work on, or wish to work on, and which skills they are currently learning. Graded repertoire lists are useful, but a "best of" book is even more useful.

Well, to help us all out, the NFA has created a book that lists all the top-picks for Solo repertoire and Etudes that is easy to order, and very useful for all teachers and students. So go ahead and order your own copy. I truly believe that every flute teacher and student would benefit from owning their own $15 graded guide to flute music. It's a terrific resource for finding the basic materials that teams of teachers have all agreed are some of the most enduring and valuable.

National Flute Association's Graded repertoire & flute etude guide
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Happy October everybody, and thanks to all those who email me with such lovely things to say about my site and publications.
There is HUGE news afoot here, with a new flute publication coming out at the end of October. You're going to be thrilled (as I am!). So stay tuned!

Best to all,
Jen :>)