“By clean technique we do not mean a rapid fire of notes, but an even, slow passing-over from one tone to another without a blur. For instance, in passing from B to C# two fingers must leave exactly together; if one leaves a hundredth part of a second after the other, you will hear a C natural in between. That is not clean. It is the same with all intervals where you have more than one finger to lift up, and this occurs in flute fingering more often than with any other wood-wind instrument.
André Maquarre Solo Flute, Boston Symphony Orchestra (1893 – 1918)
The best way to test a clean technique is to try the flute-part of a Mozart symphony; it looks easy, and must sound easy. Do not forget that, without a clean technique, it is impossible to become an artist or to play even the simplest melody artistically. Evenness and beauty of tone will improve with the strengthening of the action of the lips while playing these passages. After a while you will be able to forget the difficulties of the flute and to think only how the music should be phrased; then you will have entered the path leading to finished artistry.
In case any passage does not sound clean, change the rhythm. For example, practice even eighth notes and dotted eighth and sixteenth and then sixteenth and dotted eighth, each time repeat six or seven times. If the passage does not go over C above the staff, then play it first as written and then an octave higher.”
[From the Introductory notes from his Daily Exercises for the Flute, G. Schirmer, 1899]
- A noisy technique is a bad technique. Do not slam or squeeze fingers. It slows you down. Practice keeping fingers close to the keys with the left fourth finger held in at the ready to depress the G# key.
- Practice scales holding fingers close to keys and just opening the keys. Any additional movement or height is only wasted motion and will definitely slow you down and interfere with smooth technique.
- Be creative with your fingerings. If there is more than one way to play something, chose the most musical i.e. cleanest, fastest or best in tune choice.
- You are allowed to experiment with new fingerings, or harmonic ones, to clean up or speed up a passage. Remember to write successful ones down in your fingerings book. [I recommend A Modern Guide to Fingerings for the Flute by James J. Pellerite, Frangipani Press, 1964. Third printing 1982]
- The same experimentation permission goes for trills. You do not just have to use the ones in the fingering charts.
Finger Technique
William Kincaid: “To survive in this world of gymnastics, the flutist must be equipped with a formidable agility and dexterity of the fingers. In spite of the differences in endowment and aptitude, the instrumentalist, with patience and determination, can do almost anything with his fingers. Although there is a kind of onerous drill and routine required, it should be remembered that the professional athlete is likewise involved in the same repetitive situation of calisthenics. This practice and discipline is best done in the early, formative years of youth, for in later years the learning processes are slowed and the reflexes less amenable to conditioning. Older students can never quite recapture that effortless, rippling facility that might have been acquired in the early teens. Finger technique refined early in study is, so to speak, money in the bank.” Kincaidiana P. 22-23
“The tricky slides made by the little finger in the foot-joint action (C- Eb, C – E, etc) can be facilitated by discreetly lubricating the (little) finger with a little skin oil from the crease in the nose. “
Kincaidiana P. 25
“The difficult interval break from high A (G# to E) can be assured by lifting the right hand little finger and closing instantaneously as the E sounds.”
Kincaidiana Pp. 25-26