Samuel Baron
Flute Talk Magazine, February 2016
Practicing is essentially repeating things over and over.
- Don’t practice mistakes
- Don’t practice bad playing
Patricia George
Flute Talk Magazine, February 2016
“Listening should be a part of every musician’s daily practice routine.”
Patricia suggests that you have a notepad at hand when you are listening to write down what you hear and describe things you would like to incorporate into your own playing. She feels that developing critical listening skills will help you become an expressive performer and better teacher.
When you are working on a piece of music I suggest that you listen to two or three different performances. Be critical about what you like and what you don’t like about the performance. Soon you will have certain flutists that you go to because of their tone or style of musicality. You will trust them when you go to learn a new piece.
This time taken for listening will definitely help with your tone development and in identifying components of dynamics, articulation etc. which create what we hear as musicality. It used to be that you had to buy the record, but now YouTube will supply all you need.
Remembering the performances you do not particularly like will also give you things to check for and eliminate in your own playing.
Richard Hahn
Richard Hahn talks to flute students about practicing: Distributed by Gemeinhardt of Elkhart, ID.
He divides a practice routine into six basic steps. He feels that it is extremely important to follow these steps in sequence.
Step 1: HARMONICS – This warm up exercise increases the suppleness of the lips.
Step 2: LONG TONES – Simply stated, you should find what you believe to be your own best-sounding note, and then try to match the quality of that sound in every other note you play. Most flutists believe that their own best notes are between A and C. Remember, this is a tonal exercise, not a rhythmic exercise. Your emphasis should be on the comparative quality of the different tones. Also, be sure to listen carefully in order to keep the pitch constant.
Step 3: ARTICULATION – Include double tonguing (du-gu), triple tonguing (du-gu-du gu-du-gu), staccato tonguing, and sforzandi.
Step 4: FINGER CALISTHENICS
a. The fingers should always be close to the keys.
b. Include exercises in all ranges of the flute.
c. All patterns should be slurred until mastered. When lips, tongue, and fingers are thoroughly warmed up, you are ready for etudes.
Step 5: ETUDES – The etudes (studies) that you perform should focus on your particular weaknesses. For instance, if you are having trouble with large leaps, you should select an etude that includes these. The same can be said for different articulations, etc.
Important points to remember when practicing are:
a. The etudes should not be excessive either in terms of length or difficulty.
b. Etudes should include a variety of key signatures.
c. Certain portions of solo or orchestral compositions can be used as etudes.
Step 6: SOLOS, ORCHESTRAL STUDIES, AND CHAMBER MUSIC
A few general rules to remember:
- Always move from the simple to the complex.
- Focus on one problem at a time.
- Tone is all important; technique without a beautiful sound is useless.
Other suggestions:
- A metronome is very helpful for the technical phases of your practice.
- Several short periods of concentrated practice per day are often more productive than one long session.
Practice = repetition i.e. thoughtful, analytical, experimental repetition
Use a recorder or recording app if you can find a good one, to listen back over your practice. Not only will this help with tone, but in choosing a speed, the best alternate fingerings, intonation, volume changes and you isolate any musical component needing work.
For Advanced Students –
“Practice what is most immediately useful. For example, a disproportionate amount of music is made up of scale and arpeggio passages. Since scales are almost exclusively made up of minor and major seconds and the arpeggios of thirds and fourths, concentrate on these. The Taffanel Gaubert Daily Exercise calisthenic catalogues these basic formulas very well and constitutes a bible of technique for the conscientious flutist. The numerous and assorted etudes, frequently deplored by the student, are also essential. It is conceivable that through practicing enough melodic and harmonic patterns, we program them into a subconscious reservoir of technique so that we do not really have to read new music, but rather to recognize and call up what we have already played and perfected.” Pp. 24-25
“Thoughtful repetition is the key to facility. Isolate the stumbling block in troublesome passages, superimpose repeat marks around them, and make exercises out of them.” P. 25
William Kincaid Kincaidiana