2. Musical Line - Outlining & Breath Energy

Dear Flute lovers,

Here are two pictures from Kincaidiana (the flute teachings of William Kincaid) by John Krell.
I mean, good heavens, these pictures say a thousand words for all flute players.

Look at the way he depicts breath energy; in miles per hour!

From Kincaidiana: pg. 40 (click to enlarge)

And see the sustained direction and releasing energy of the swan dive!
This shows the direction of your air-speed and breath intensity, and it depicts the resulting forward motion and freeness of line in the music.

From Kincaidiana: pg. 40 (click to enlarge)

Increasing the air speed before you leap up an octave.

Jen adds:

Note: Kincaid depicts 10 miles per hour going to 20 miles per hour.

As I use "miles per hour" as an imaginary air-speed range in my teaching I use more degrees when I discuss this with students. For example, you could say  up to 110 miles per hour (for a high C) and down to only 30 miles an hour for a good quality low note. The range of air-speeds can be much broader when you use this as a method of catagorizing all possible sensations in projecting a given flute note with full tone.

And here's what William Kincaid said about flute playing: 

From Kincaidiana: pg. 40-41

Quote is paraphrased and edited:

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"Interval slurs resemble a swan dive, from the spring board of the onset of energy to the soaring glide, over and down again.

Or you can visualize this kind of energy as the torso strength and agile changes made by the weight lifter.

The same procedure applies to all intervals, no matter how large or small.

The intensity is raised or lowered on the preceding note. (play warmth of tone quality between the notes)

Avoid the scooops and slurps of a bad vocalist.

THINK this motion don't actually do it.

 Thinking it is enough."
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And here's how I teach the above using outlining:

Outlining for energetic phrasing:

Telemann (easy):

A simple way to practice musical line is to simplify a piece of music into its basic outline.
Play the outline with good energy and tone, and then fill in the original notes.
Practicing this way gives you so much goodness, with very little effort.

Here's an example from Telemann.

(click to enlarge)

If you practice the simple melodic outline, and next practice the original music,  all slurred, you will hear an immediate musical improvement. Everything can be practiced this way; first in outline and then as written. When you simplify and slur you naturally will use dynamics to shape the phrases, giving them energy, movement and life. Then when you return to the original the musical line is already learned.

Bach Outlines:

For intermediate flutists, here is an outline that first shows you the underlying harmony notes, those that are most common, and then adds in the melody created out of the main notes in each bar.
When you are practicing the basic drone notes, make your tone warm, inviting, lovely and consistently gorgeous. That will set up your air stream and embouchure for adding more notes to the common notes.


Like breaking an alphabet code, first of all you have to discover the most common note in each bar.
It will either be the longest, the most often repeated, or it will SOUND like the principal note.

                                                                                        (click to enlarge)

Playing only the main notes of each bar gives you the melodic shape of the phrase.
The above simplified drone of a long B and a long E allow you to center your tone and add dynamic motion.


Then, since you've already practiced the above to get your breath moving and shaping, you look for the melody that's created from each of the main beats in a bar.
All you're doing is leaving out the decorative notes, and outlining the main tune.

                                                                                (click to enlarge)

When you finally play the melody as written, your shaping and energy and motion in the musical line is already established, and the music is just so much richer (and so much easier to play smoothly and with intention.)

(click to enlarge)

I just love this easy way to start creating gorgeous phrasing and line.

Let me know how these samples sound to you, as you play them.

Does it work for you?

(It works for my students, but they are also hearing it, from me playing it,  at the same time as looking at the outlines and imagining the energy of their own air moving forward.)

Comments welcome.

Jen

Read Part 1 of Understanding Musical Line