Sunday, July 29, 2012

Plan for Year 1, Quarter 1

Here's the master plan of the first quarter:


(hopefully you can click on it to make it bigger...?)

I've got a pretty busy practice schedule coming my way, and I plan on posting the first weekly plan on Monday (July 30th). That one will map out my practice goals and plans for the first week. There are a few codes to explain:

1 and 2 8va Exp. Int: Expanding interval exercises. The 1 8va begins on a low G: G-Ab-G-A-etc.. up to the next octave, then back down. Repeat the process on each chromatic tone until you're starting on middle G going up to high G. Great to do with a drone.
JW: Exercises from a packet I received at masterclasses given by the fantastic Jim Walker. There's a lot of emphasis on harmonics, especially slurring to the second partial (i.e. - Low D, slur to harmonic middle A, without changing the fingering).
Wagner: Exercises from Ernest F. Wagner's Foundation to Flute Playing. I especially like the exercises found in the 52nd lesson, "Embouchure Exercises."
Moyse Tone Dev. and De La Son.: Tone Development Through Interpretation and De La Sonorite
TW PB 1: Trevor Wye's Practice Book 1
Jill Felber: A packet of information and exercises I got from attending one of Jill Felber's masterclasses. I think it's called 'A 40-Day Flute Make-Over' or something like that. It's packed up right now, or I'd pull it out.
PG: A great practice method from Patricia George, available on Larry Krantz' website. I'm doing my own thing for the first week using #3 and #17 because her method is only a 12-wk program, it doesn't use #3/#17, and I'm moving during the first week.
TWP: These are from the Wye/Morris 'A Piccolo Practice Book.' It's currently packed up, but I'll list the page numbers for each exercise later.
The Koehler etudes are from Op. 33, the Bitsch are his Douze Etudes (which are fan-TASTIC!), and the Boehm are from his 24 Etudes, Op. 37.

I have a lot to do for flute, but I hope that it will be a bit easier than it looks because I've worked on most of the repertoire at least a little in the past. I'm doing five excerpts, but they're all familiar as well. Tone and technique are the most important to me.
For piccolo, I'm mostly going to be focusing on sound, pitch, and flexibility. I am doing a couple excerpts and a little rep., but nothing too terribly substantial. The second movement of the Vivaldi is important, but that's why it's at the end. By then I plan to have a good foundation of piccolo chops for such a delicate and expressive piece. I may add another solo work, but I'm not sure as of yet. We'll see how things pan out over the first few weeks.
Alto flute is obviously not that important, it'll just be fun to pull it out for that week. Maybe I'll add a solo work later. Maybe.
The plans for recorder are the most vague, and that's partly due to my lack of knowledge of any recorder methods that are geared toward a serious recorder player, as opposed to a 5-year old, or 75-year old (not hating, just an observation). I intend to do lots of long tones, working with a drone, articulation, etc. Basically, I'll refine this category as it goes along and become more familiar with the instrument and my abilities.


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