Watch embouchure on Baroque flute

Claudio Barile plays JS Bach bwv 1013 on baroque flute (video)

Yesterday I was teaching one or two flute students about the continuous flexibility of the lips.
When Claudio plays this antique style of flute, you can really see the flexibility of embouchure he has to use to tune the notes. Of course this is far more motion than we now need to make on the modern flute, because the modern flute is much much easier to play in tune.

Another thing to notice is about finger height. On a keyless flute it is necessary to raise your fingers out of the way, and not hover over the holes, or it flattens the pitch. On modern flute, this pulling the fingers high and away is not necessary, but it's interesting to see that the "high fingers" habit actually works, and that comes from the baroque flute. (High fingers on modern flute can mean blips and slowed down finger switches).

Claudio Barile's relaxed and artistic approach to embouchure flexibility on such a challenging instrument is very valuable to watch.




Enjoy, and comments welcome. I love this flutist's soulful artistry. It's well worth hearing.
 Best,
 Jen

Quick Tricks for flute playing

Hi Jen,

I am an intermediate level flutist and rely upon your articles very much as part of my ongoing flute education.  I play in a community band after many years of not playing since high school. 
I was recently told by an advanced flutist of a neat trick for hitting low C, which I occasionally have problems with when I need it.  This trick would most likely have to be used while playing a sustained note.  Anyway, the trick was to finger low C.  Put down all the keys except for the left ring finger. 
Then just as you begin to play low C, smack down the left ring finger.  Low C will blast out solidly. It works every time. 
I am wondering if you know of any other tips or tricks that might make hitting the lowest or highest notes easier?  My most difficult note is high C. I usually have to reach for the gizmo key.
 Anyway, I have not specifically seen a "Tips & Tricks" section in all of your awesome articles. 
I thought if you know some of these sort of tips or tricks, maybe you could compile a list of them within a special section.  I know that I run across very useful suggestions quite often in your articles. Needless to say, I'm continuously working on embouchure, airspeed and direction, etc. to make my flute playing better, but any other useful suggestions that would be a "quick fix" like the low C one would be greatly appreciated.  Keep writing your wonderful blog!  -- D

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Dear D,

As I'm listening to Seth Godin's "Akimbo" right now, the episode for this topic would be
 "Juggling and Bicycles" if you scroll down and listen (free) at:

http://hear.sethpodcast.com/?_branch_match_id=572842528156016125

He explains using audio only (!) how to juggle and how to ride a bike. No kidding.

The problem, he explains, is that most often the beginning learner has conceptualized the most difficult way to juggle.

Easy: learn to throw exactly into your other hand.

Hard: learn to catch wild and crazy throws that go in every direction.

But because the inexperienced learner most often thinks that catching is the skill they are supposed to be working on, they wear themselves out doing the whole thing backwards.
If they knew that the practice actually was hours and hours of accurately tossing a single ball to exactly where the catching hand already is, then they would waste less time and have more success.

Same with bicycle learning. The problem is really one of balancing the bike with your body weight from side to side; peddling is added at the beginning for no reason; peddling is easy and the beginner has no problems if they only had to pedal. So the newest way of learning to ride a bike includes providing beginners with special quick-learn bikes that have no pedals and are low enough that your feet are just within easy reach to the ground. With the right slant, and not too much speed, you just coast and can put your feet down anytime, in order to learn to balance while you're coasting. Apparently takes no time at all.
And boy howdy do I know about using training wheels from my own life; I had them for THREE YEARS!  But now I hear that the training wheels are merely a quick trick to ensure that you don't face plant, and thus injure yourself and extinguish your enthusiasm too early in a challenging game.

So what you're asking about "tricks" on the flute, for intermediates is very similar to the above topic. And it takes some thinking about, as to me, tricks are nothing but quick ways to get the student to be non-frustrated, until they have the patience to learn the true skill.

It's as though you're saying: "I'm learning how to mountain climb without an instructor, and someone has given me a good trick that really helps with one of my many situations, and now I'm wondering if there are other random tricks I could use for mountain climbing".

The big answer to this would be: Get an instructor, or else don't ever actually climb any real mountains, because the tricks might put you in danger; they're only for gymnasiums (and in the case of some of the flute tricks, only for loud band-tuttis), not for the incredible intricacy of actual mountains.

I guess that the big caveat for me, is that our lifelong quest for instantaneous "tricks" that help intermediate flutists is a good idea, in theory, but alas, not a noble quest. The noble quest would be to learn the straightforward foundation skills for REAL and really have the real skills to share among all of us.

But it's true that flute tricks can work to reduce frustration in the short term.
Mind, if you only use random tricks, you might misuse them, or over-use them only to find eventually that the tricks themselves are actually holding you back. (I just can't tell you the number of self-taught students I've had to tell to stop using their non-functional tricks so that they can get rid of the new problems that the very trick created! eek!) So tricks of any kind are not advisable unless you have a coach who can tell you when you should NOT use that trick or which tricks are the good ones for your particular frustration.

But for now, if a random trick (and they are rare) keeps you from chewing your own foot off, then go ahead, use a trick to reduce frustration, so that then you're willing to keep learning and moving ahead.

A year or two from now, when you're constantly improving your real skills to the point where you don't need tricks anymore, you too will realize the tricks were not really the true answer.

What's happening is likely that you have played the flute just long enough that you are now approaching the natural "difficulties of the flute" and of course you're hoping for a quick fix.

If you want a long-lasting and true skill-building-block, you would find that in weekly flute lessons.

Because every quick fix has its drawbacks.
For example: Rapidly closing the G key with the left hand, to get a low C to speak only works best when you're playing in a loudish band room, and the noise of the other instruments covers the sound of the whumping or clicking key going downward.

If you were playing a solo for flute alone, on a big resonant stage, tapping the G key to get the C to speak would add percussion to an otherwise smooth piece of music; so it wouldn't be the fix in other circumstances. But right now, you're not playing a flute-alone solo, so it's okay to use the trick.
The real answer is to send the air down to the footjoint, using a mental image that you have to blow all the way down an almost three foot long tube to the lowest pad that is down.
If you send the air down with that in mind, you'll send faster, more direct air.
But that's the fix that I used at University level, so I'm not sure how it works at your level.

But sure, be careful to try and get advice about what's a true quick fix, and what's a trick just to eliminate a typical intermediate flute frustration.

Flute Frustrations*:

Typical frustrations of the intermediate are:

Low register too quiet
Low register hard to tongue or do accents in without squeaking up the octave
High register too shrieky
High register too sharp
Cannot diminuendo in high register without dropping an octave
High E or high F# or G# or high B and C all too hard to get clear and wholesome sounding
Low C key tricky to get to quickly
Switching pinky from D# to C pinky keys hard to do cleanly
Slurring from high E down to A is hard to place
Low C (or low D or any other very low note) hard to tongue clearly or get to speak quickly if it is the very first note of a phrase.

etc. etc.

*for which the real cure is flute lessons**

**and honestly, it's not because I'm trying to get everyone to take lessons and thus teach all the students in the world and make a million dollars, no, quite the opposite. As a flute teacher, all day everyday you are telling people "But EVERYONE who plays the flute encounters this exact problem, so don't be so alone in the world....hey, welcome to the club.....gosh.....we're ALL playing the flute, we should all stick together! Come play with us!"

The above are all known areas of difficulty on the flute for all of us. There are known solutions which aren't quick, but do work over a series of weeks/months/years.

This is WHY people take flute lessons, so that they can truly climb the mountain and obtain the finely honed skills and then set out on their own.
Plus: I've written on many of these topics already on my blog.

See blog index

And, of course, all the quick tricks and tips I know illustrated on two easy pages are here:

Top Ten Secrets of Flute Playing

http://jennifercluff.com/secretsbw.pdf
_________________________

And some of the typical tricky flutey individual topics are here:


Trick to get your tone back quickly (spit buzzing tones your upper lip position for flute playing) if you're out of shape:

Spit Buzzing by Keith Underwood
http://jennifercluff.blogspot.com/2009/03/over-working-your-practising-try.html


Easier loud low notes by doing the Werner Richter octave smear crescendo exercise (sample pdf)
http://jennifercluff.blogspot.com/2007/02/new-video-on-embouchure-flexibility.html


Breathing more easily everyday
http://jennifercluff.blogspot.com/2012/01/teaching-breathing-easily.html

Dynamics: Big sounds come before small sounds when developing your flute dynamics:
https://www.jennifercluff.com/blow.htm


Problems with throat noises while playing flute
https://www.jennifercluff.com/throaty.htm

Help! I've suddenly lost my tone:
https://www.jennifercluff.com/toneloss.htm

How to get faster fingers?:
http://jennifercluff.blogspot.com/2012/05/how-do-i-get-faster-fingers.html

Why is my high register so awful and how can I fix it?
https://www.jennifercluff.com/interhigh.htm

What are the embouchure changes necessary for super-high altissimo notes like C4 (high C)?
http://jennifercluff.blogspot.com/2015/11/high-d4-embouchure-change.html

Getting High B to "speak": (F#3 fingering plus Trill Key 2)
http://jennifercluff.blogspot.com/2016/02/high-b-and-how-to-get-it-to-speak.html

How can I create loud low notes?
https://www.jennifercluff.com/tone2.htm

How do I tune my flute?
http://jennifercluff.blogspot.com/2008/08/how-to-tune-flute.html

Low C doesn't sound because keys are a tiny bit bent and my high register is also too shrieky:
http://jennifercluff.blogspot.com/2016/06/beginner-questions-bent-c-difficult.html


But if someone didn't ever take flute lessons, and had a slightly leaky flute, and only practiced once a week for twenty minutes, even these tricks cannot possibly work the first time, or possibly ever, if they are unprepared for that particular skill level, or don't have a coach.

So I'd love to know why taking lessons doesn't appeal to more people who play in community bands. (please use comment button below.)
It's like trying to learn sky diving by yourself in your garage, from looking at photos in a skydiving calendar, at least to me.

Finally: duh duh duh! :>)

The GIZMO.

Ever since the low B was added to the flute, that extra length of one inch of silver tubing creates a fracture in the sound waves for only one note on the whole rest of the flute. Yes, having a B-foot joint means that your high C has just been destroyed.
That's why the GIZMO is added to the flute; you MUST depress it to get a clear high C. If you had a C-foot joint, you wouldn't need a gizmo because the high C would not have been wrecked by that added inch of silver tubing.

Mind you, if you are fingering a really fast passage, and you have no time to get to the gizmo, you can try to play the high C without the giz, but it will sound muffled and be stiff to blow.
But Galway says he almost never uses the gizmo, and since his embouchure is really precise, that's fine, and it might even be less sharp without the gizmo. But it is definitely stiffer and requires quite a blast of air, which wouldn't work if you had to play high C softly.

However it will come out, if you really need to leave the RH pinky off in a complex passage; and I must ask; why is your band playing pieces with high C in the flute part?! That's a bit colourful for tuning! hahhahaha.

Also, often a good trick: one of the easiest high C fingerings, especially in a scale-run is to play high B and just take off the left thumb, to get high C for free. It's simply a trill-fingering for high C without anything other than opening your thumb while playing B3.

But under normal circs., your best high C will be from using the gizmo.
There are no prizes for un-gizzed C4s unless you're Galway and, of course, whatever works under duress (I'd like the piccolo to take all the high Cs, personally) for your band situation is fine. :>)


Hope this helps, and  comments welcome

Best, Jen
------------------------------
D responded:

Dear Jen,

Thank you so much for your very comprehensive response! I really do understand that I need to learn to "walk" before I can "run." Playing in a community band has allowed me to have access to some really excellent flutists with degrees in music who make everything seem so easy--yet I realize they have already put in the work and continue to build their skills. I look to them as mentors. While I would like to take private lessons, I am retired and on a fixed income, so that is not possible***. My skills have already surpassed that of when I was first chair in high school. I always wondered why I could play high C in high school with no trouble--and now I can't. I had a C foot joint in high school. Thank you for explaining that and for understanding all the issues that an intermediate-level flutist has. I'll be looking closely at everything you have written and all the links you have supplied and will continue to work on my skills as recommended. I appreciate your taking the time to respond to my questions. Your website is just a wealth of information for flutists!  You have no idea how much I appreciate and use your site.-- D
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*** Jen replied: Don't forget that flute lessons for barter, or other work-exchange arrangements can be made. Don't give up before you tried. If direct barter with the flute teacher is not feasible, think about another monthly payment you currently make for a hobby you don't enjoy anymore (cable TV? tennis club? psychotherapy night classes?) and make a temporary change to where you put your "fun" money. Could work if you record your lessons and take one year's worth to put you where you want to be. Hope so. :>)

Podcasts for the Thinking Flutist

Dear Flute lovers,

If you are a flute teacher, a flute student, a self-employed musician, a self-entrepreneur, a promoter of your own chamber ensemble, or if you're just trying to figure out how to make your brain work well when you're practicing at home, or interacting with other musicians, I recommend two podcasts; they are both about how the human being's actual brain actually works!

Seth Godin's Akimbo

and

The Hidden Brain on National Public Radio

All of these brilliant audio episodes contain up-to-the-minute science on how our brains work and what we do with our little gray cells when we interact with each other in typical pecking-order or co-operative situations. All fascinating; all current; no firm answers (which might be good; stay flexible, ha ha!), but lots of psychological avenues to investigate with experts giving opinions. The podcasts are fairly short (and you can do your chores while you listen!) and the audio is soft-spoken and well edited.

This past summer these two shows represent some of the greatest hours I've ever spent listening to such brilliant ideas and insights about how to get back on track with your (weird but important flute) projects, how to deal with criticism and/or competition from the past, how to focus on your individual projects despite feeling lost about the point of them, how to prepare to be brave in public, how to deal with stressy colleagues who lean on you too much, etc. And I have never learned so much (while listening from home, actually knitting quite a few reams of yarn) about how we work as human beings, and then how to apply the newest psychological insights, when we're teaching or when want to co-operate as independent and democratic artists together.
It's great to have these two podcasts as a resource!
I suggest:
Scroll down when you arrive, and you'll see Load More, and keep going so that you can start right from the beginning of the podcast audio shows; you will find many episodes of interest, and there's much to learn in the earlier shows (especially with Akimbo by Godin).

For flute teachers the Akimbo early episode "I See You" is recommended. Akimbo by Godin

For flute students, the Akimbo early episode "No such thing (as writer's block)" is great; just change "writer's block" to "procrastinating on practicing flute".Akimbo by Godin.
Scroll down to see more titles.

Enjoy! Brilliant thinkers!

Comments welcome,

Best, Jen

Jen's ideas on scale tempi

Tiny sopraninoist: "Wait, I can play it faster, just let me Zen-out for a second..."

Dear Flute-lovers,

I had a very good scale-tempo question sent in the comments concerning my latest post, and the links that I had provided to free flute scale methods for novice to intermediate flute players:
_____________________
From the comments
Dear Jennifer,
These "Moyse E.J. scale pdfs" are great!! I downloaded them, but I don't know how fast I should start. I usually play T&G No.4 practice tempo is around 95. So what tempo do you suggest I start with? Thank you!!  J
____________________

Hi J!
That's a good question, and my ideas are written out below.
These ideas can be applied to any scale exercises, whether they are Taffanel and Gaubert, or Exam Scales (free pdf of melodic minors with articulations here. Free pdf of extended Major scales & Modes here.) or any of my free flute scales in pdf here, for novices and intermediates. They are all slightly different scale formulae, but my advice works with all of them.
_______________________

About Scale Tempos (tempi):

Play slowly, and experimentally, all-slurred for tone, putting easy-breathing pauses wherever you need them, so that you always play fresh with great energy and musicality.  Let the metronome click on while you rest and breathe until you're ready to start again. Play effortlessly and beautifully, not for speed.
In other words, break long exercises into really nice small chunks of music that allow you to be always fresh and easy with your air. What you are practising are ease and beauty, not speed, at first.

Evenness of tone quality, and evenness of the fingers is more important than speed. Otherwise, you are fast but sound fuzzy and every scale is uneven for different reasons none of which you know.
You are looking for areas where tone suffers, or combinations of pairs of notes where you hear finger "blips". These blips are usually: C to D, or E to F#, or the very often challenging high register cross fingerings with many fingers changing places at the same time. Flute stability is often the problem here. But finding these typical "blips" means you are working on the true problem instead of just repeating and ingraining the problems.

Fix your "blips" with your teacher's help, if necessary. Look at your fingers while your headjoint is on your shoulder; determine which individual fingers are too high and which are too slow, and release tension and curve the fingers, letting them behave slowly together with lightness, touching the keys lightly before experimenting with depressing, and sensing the split-second of clean action with accuracy, (ALL before you put the flute back up to your lips again) and allow the fingers to become lighter and the hands to become more balanced and stable, as you gradually speed up the tempo, and eliminate un-needed extra pauses that you used to have when you played more slowly.

The best way to eliminate "blips" when you're playing, is to simply change the rhythm from long-short, to short-long, to triplets, to sixes, to fives, to whichever division you can think of, and back to long-short, short-long again, to make every finger that used to be slow, fast again, and every finger that used to be too-quick, slow and measured and gentle again.

click on picture to enlarge; use backbutton to return.

Changing rhythms is key to ironing out un-evenness. And it is TONS more fun than just repeating the standard "even-steven" pattern that is printed in most scale books. "Even-steven" absolutely even sixteenth notes will be the result of all the rhythmic changes you make. Finger evenness arrives after much "fooling around" , at least in my scale system. :>)

And....of course:
Keep a beautiful tone. Always. No matter what the speed.

If you lose your tone, quickly fix it using chromatic longtones and from your best note, slur note by chromatic note to the problem notes and fix the tone quality before proceeding.

You are trying to produce not one single fuzz ball. :>)

Allow the fingers to become lighter and lighter as you speed the tempo more. (No downward pressure means fingers lift effortlessly).  Work in short, focused sessions. Eliminate any more pauses you used to have as you gradually speed the now perfectly even, beautiful notes.

Play fluidly and musically, with and without the metronome, to determine the individual cleanest speed for each individual scale you're working on that day.  Play slowly, stopping on different pitches with and without the Tuning CD. Find out which notes don't afterall require an embouchure adjustment.
Be creative and at ease.

Don't try and do too much.
Stay fresh! Break often so when you come back you can really focus again.

You will learn more while you're resting in between, than by tiring yourself out. (new research has determined that the mental neurons do the final work of musical and physical accuracy while you are resting! So don't play too long before you rest and listen back to your practice recording.)

When the tone, speed, and lightness are there, (and are delightful and effortless), add articulations and dynamics to vary the exercises from day to day.
I find adding articulations too soon makes them heavy-sounding.

Accuracy, tone quality and evenness win the day, and musicality is the overall goal.
Clean and clear wins over speed, because speed is only one single element of clear, beautiful playing.

Quote from a dancer:

“The only reason for mastering technique is to make sure the body does not prevent the soul from expressing itself.”    --  La Meri

Hope this helps,
Best, Jen
____________________________
More helpful links:

1. How to learn scales (if you've never played them before):

http://jennifercluff.blogspot.com/2006/07/how-to-learn-flute-scales.html

2. Printable pdfs of simplified Moyse "Exercise Journaliers":
Scroll down to find Book 1, Book 2, Book 3 etc:

http://jennifercluff.blogspot.com/2011/09/creative-scale-practice-for-flute.html

3. All my free flute scales in pdf are here.

Comments welcome.
 (Comments are "approved" individually, so may take a few minutes/hrs. to show up here. I read them all! :>)

How to practice when you have two weeks between lessons:

Hint: don't just stare off into the afternoon, waiting  for tea to be served with your mangoes. :>)

Dear Jen,
 How can I make the most of my two lessons monthly?
I have difficulty staying focused in my practicing, for the two weeks between lessons. H.
--------------
Dear H.

There's a great illustration in Burton Kaplan's book: Practicing for Artistic Success.
The Pi-graph shows four parts: Expression, Tone, Intonation, and Rhythm. You listen to yourself (record yourself!) and decide where you would shade your pi-graph. What is your weakest skill today?

Click on jpg to enlarge; use BACK BUTTON to return here.

The above "Pie" or pi-graph  helps you analyse what needs working on in your playing everyday.
You can also record your lessons (on your phone or mp3 recording device) and listen back to the entire lesson, listening closely. Or you can simply take notes immediately after your lessons, and read back over them, and/or email your teacher for help or more direction, if you need clarification.
For example:

What volume of work will you be covering?

For a weekly lesson, most flute teachers expect you to prepare and polish:

A Solo piece (for flute and piano, or flute alone), or single movement of a solo work.
This is repertoire that teaches skills. The accumulated learning of solo repertoire is vital for any developing flutist, so your teacher is likely to expect dozens of flute solo works covered in a year. (note to highschool flutists; this is not three pieces per year like in your band, this is dozens of works per year; be prepared to learn quickly as you may only have 2-3 lesson on each work, or less!)

An Etude (from your grade or level) per week, that shows a constrasting technique to your last week's etude or an improvement of the techniques of your last etude. If the last was about staccatos, this week's should be about a different skill (wide leaps all slurred for example.)
 A flute teacher will expect you to cover some two dozen etudes in a year, or more. Often preparing two contrasting etudes per lesson is considered normal etude coverage.

Technical exercises
Perhaps you're working on double tonguing, or dynamics, or wide interval slurs concurrently?
Every grade level has it's skills that will need to be experimented with and brought into your playing.

There are lots of interesting flute skills that will come up through your etudes and solos.

Examples of technical flute skills areas are:

Tone (getting amazingly beautiful tone in all musical circumstances.)
Tone Colour as it relates to Expression
Smooth Slurring between ever widening intervals
Keeping the tone during demanding breathing
Breath use in accents: Staccato, legato, martellato, accents, breath pulses etc.
Dynamics (playing dynamics as the composer intended/acoustics of space demand)
Tone & tuning in dynamics
Note endings; tapers, shimmer, feathering off etc.
Vibrato use choices, blending with unlike instruments, accompanist vs. soloist, tuning chords.
Articulation (playing articulations that suit the composer's style & fellow musicians.)
single, double, triple, combinations
combining articulations with breath accents effectively
Special Effects (Contemporary sound effects or extended/tech)
Finger position and action (finding the easiest way to achieve finger fluency)
Super smooth legato fingers
Fast and rhythmic fingers
Crossed fingerings worked carefully for relaxation and co-ordination
Unusual fingerings (trill fingerings/aternate fingerings)

_______________________
You may also be preparing:

Formulas
Finger Pattern Familiarity for Sight Reading/Arpeggio & Scale Fluidity
If there is time in a lesson you may also be preparing to play for your teacher:
Scales, arpeggios and other basics-of-music. (see flute scale info here and here).

Ensemble Music or Orchestral Excerpts:
You may also have: Chamber music, band music, and your trio/quartet/duet music.
Serious flutists will also be interested in Orchestral Excerpts.
_______________________

So be sure on work on each of those items that your teacher has given you, in turn, preparing slowly and carefully for:

Tone,
Rhythm,
Intonation (use The Tuning CD) and
Expression,
as shown in the Kaplan diagram above. Listen for distinct and self-directed improvements everyday.

Expression:
 Expression includes the musical ideas, the rhythmic vitality (speed up, slow down, stay steady, stay light and bouncy? stay martial and detached?), the printed dynamics, the chosen dynamics, the phrasing, the energy, the mood, the architecture and design of the musical work and of course, the musical message that the composer is conveying. Obviously our musical expression can always be slightly improved. :>) But not all at once. Listening back to your own playing is key.

The absolutely most straightforward way to work is to use  pure audio.
Seriously. I kid you not at all. :>)

Record yourself when you practice at home, and quite seriously listen back and make notes about what you hear. Then you will honestly be your own best teacher in between lessons.
Practicing is most effective in focused 20 minute sessions, followed by listening back and taking notes. Use the metronome, AND the Tuning CD for a really accurate point of view.

You will get more done by listening back and taking notes than you think, because it will laser-focus what you want to change in your playing, and you will engage with your own developmental successes.

Lots of advice on how to practice flute here, if you haven't found all these articles before:

How to get back into flute after a long break
http://jennifercluff.blogspot.com/2008/06/how-to-get-back-into-flute-after-haitus.html

How to practice flute
https://www.jennifercluff.com/practice.htm

Technique with a Purpose
https://www.jennifercluff.com/techpur.htm

Soul Satisfying (summer style) practicing
http://jennifercluff.blogspot.com/2008/06/soul-satisfying-summer-flute-practising.html

What do I do about very short amount of practice time?
https://www.jennifercluff.com/shortprac.htm

Just one lesson: How much can the teacher hear in just one lesson?
http://jennifercluff.blogspot.com/2009/11/just-one-flute-lesson.html

How to Warm-Up, before practicing flute:
http://jennifercluff.blogspot.com/2014/10/how-to-warm-up-to-practice-flute.html


And one more pointer, I know it's hard, because we love to socialize, but:

Be sure to keep chatting to a minimum during your lesson as you'll be needing to cover double the normal amount of items in half the amount of time. Chatting can be done anytime, but lesson time is kept for playing and hearing the flute.
In the same way, prepare your presented work with the minimum of fuss. Have your books well marked with sticky notes so you can quickly place the music on the stand and be ready to play in seconds. Your teacher will have alot of help to give if you're well prepared, and have already observed your own playing, and done your best. Be prepared to make the most of each lesson and it will spur you on by becoming more and more inspiring and fun.

Comments welcome.

Best, Jen

How to get ready for a first rehearsal

Dear Flute-Lovers,

 Top quality ideas for "Preparing for the First Rehearsal" from Mark Nuccio, principal clarinet of the Houston Symphony and former associate principal clarinet of the New York Philharmonic. Such fantastic advice!
Read his entire article here.
(Photo at left: a local bird perhaps mistakenly, prepares from inside his instrument.)

I'll just add some quick pointers for intermediate flutists who haven't yet encountered professional-level rehearsals yet:

Premiere piece of advice:  Study the written music score, learn the piece by listening to it (via youtube or other mp3/cd recordings), and feel free  mark your score in pencil so that you understand important features that will affect your part. Be familiar with the overall architecture and lines of the piece of music. If you own the piano part, play through the piano part. If you are playing a flute duet/trio/quartet, and there is no score available, record your rehearsal, or learn all three parts and record them on your multi-track recorder, if you have one (I have a Zoom H4N as do several of my adult students.)
Note: You probably already know this, but, er, semi-sight-reading at a first rehearsal, unless specifically a "sight reading fun-hour", is not the thing at all.

For Intermediate Flutists:

Take a photo-copy of your parts, and leave the originals safely tucked away, so that you can mark up your own personal copy to your heart's content. You can even three-hole-punch it (I know, I'm so analog! :>) and put your parts in a binder. That way when the performance arrives, you'll be used to reading the whole show, in order, out of a thin black binder, and can take those parts home with you again. Brilliant right? Do not overmark the original sheetmusic that has to be handed back in and ONLY mark in pencil, lightly if you have found note-errors or truly important changes to the part.

Now, here's how to start preparing:

From listening to several recordings and studying the actual score (if available):

1. Mark the typical tempo for the piece of music in pencil on your part (and you can mark and erase which tempi you are currently working on if you are learning everything slowly, as you should always do.)

2. If you have a tricky entrance: write penciled-in notation cues into your part (from listening to recordings) that tell you which instruments are playing, audibly, just before you re-enter after your rests. Example: "Fl,1 - and then in notation: "three eighth notes pick up" written before your next entrance will cue you to enter correctly. Practice entering tricky parts along with the recording until you're sure.

3. As you listen to recordings, take note of whether your parts are melody, or harmony parts.

I'ts likely that in an ensemble, you will increase one dynamic level if you are the melody from the printed dynamic.

If in a given section of music, you are the harmony part, you will likely play down one or even two dynamic levels so the melody is clearly heard. But be supportive in your sound quality, so that you enrich the melodic soloist's tone quality.

Mark your part in pencil with instrumental cues. For example, if you are playing together with a clarient, the short hand is "w clr."
Everyone playing together is, in shorthand: Tutti.
If you're together with Flute 3 and it's important to note that, you write: "w Fl3" over that section of melody.

Then at the first rehearsal, you have a pencil marking that tells you listen carefully to the melody instrument, so that you will be able to follow the style and tempo of that melody instrument as a terrific support person in terms of sound and style.

Mind you, this is providing you can hear them clearly in your rehearsal space.
If you cannot hear them clearly, likely everyone is probably playing too loudly. (exhuberance can equal cacophony, doh.)
 Room acoustics also play a role. Sometimes you can be defeated by them. (more on this at the original article). Asking everyone to play at half-volume until they can hear properly is a suggestion that conductor's would make under these circumstances.

4. Very very long rests can have intrumental counting cues penciled in by you, in advance, from listening to recordings, that tell you which instrument you will hear clearly at a specific place in your counting of long reams of bars-rest. It's always corroborating to be counting "53-2,3,4" and hear a French Horn in that very same bar when your fifty-eight-bar-long rest says "Horn -53-".

5. Listen to the quality of sound of the instruments on the recordings, at the points just before you enter after a long rest and make a point of learning to join in their style, colour, timbre, dynamic, tuning and tempo when you join in and play along. Prepare your part with the knowledge of the interweaving of different voices, and where your voice fits into the entirety, in terms of quality of your sound and the style at that exact point in the piece.

(Note: Just facially glazing over and then suddenly/alarmingly blatting your way back in like Hercules the Insane Destroyer, is not a great way to re-enter after a long hiatus where others have woven intricate, delicate otherworldly filmaments, ....ur......ha ha. :>)

6. Pre-tune all your home practice by using The Tuning CD.
 (Amazon/itunes has mp3s of these 'open-fifth-octave' three minute drones for tuning. My own Tuning CD blog-article is here.) I actually own the CD!!! That's how long I've been using it: nothing like it for developing your ear in a truly real and useful way.

7. Play everything you're preparing with a metronome. Make it come alive with the metronome. No one truly realizes how un-rhythmically they are warping it until it's too late. Be well-prepared to play accurately at several different tempi. And hey, honestly, don't think others won't notice what you don't notice about your wonky rhythm. eek. Best possible preparation would be play along with the Tuning CD and the metronome! Then record it! Then listen back!
What do you hear? Ah ha? Ah ha, ah HA???!!   :>D

8. Match the style of articulation to your fellow players, and practice various note lengths (how short should the staccatos be? How liquid the legato? How bouncy the accents? How forceful the sforzando?)
You can preview the style by listening to a variety of recordings, and then be ready to match what your fellow musicians have chosen instantly when you hear them at the first rehearsal.

9. Get your page turns sorted out before the first rehearsal. The cutting of copied-pages to reduce page turns is nothing new; scotch tape and scissors are often faster than computer-image-cut-and-paste. But since you're using your own copies, and not cutting original printed music, you can place the pages how you best need them (three across, zig-zag folded/book folded etc.)
With careful forethought, oversized pages can be reduced to fit a binder, with all page turns made easily.

The best tape for the spines of pages being made into booklets is masking tape for the spine, clear tape for the inside folds.
Don't leave page turn problems any later than first rehearsal if you can clearly see a way to preprepare your part to avoid sheetmusic mishaps.

And my wisest advice for a first rehearsal:

10. Be gracious under pressure; listen more, say much much less. Listen listen listen. :>)

See more: https://auditioncafe.com/article/practice-techniques-in-preparing-for-rehearsal-1/

Comments welcome.

Bach Sarabande Hilary Hahn

Dear Flute Lovers,

Getting ready for September?
Need a thrilling way to warm up and play all inspired-like?
Here's what I found fun:

Play this piece of gorgeousness: (free pdf Bach Sarabande)
And play this youtube at the same time:

Hilary Hahn plays Sarabande in D Minor by JS   Bach (video)



If you play in unison with the violin you are approaching greatness. :>)

A thrill to have private lessons in how to do it at home, in your own living room.

Enjoy,

Best, Jen getting ready for September