Week 5 is coming to a close...

Okay, I admit it. I'm getting burned out already! It really sucks too because it's stress about other parts of life that's keeping me from being productive in the studio. I'm overloaded with concerns about money, jobs, interviews. I'm trying to keep my practicing going forward, and also trying to get and keep this blog up and going! Despite what seem to be endless stresses on the home front, I've managed to make a pretty significant leap forward this week.

"Roll out!" is phrase I heard quite frequently as a student. I always struggled with staying rolled out, even when I was really focusing on it. At first it's very unsettling, it feels like every note is going to crack, which is probably why I never fixed it before now. I just wanted to feel safe, even though it was really pushing me and my musical progress backwards! However, after spending a few weeks taking a hard look in the mirror (metaphorically and literally) I'm making the real effort to fix this problem, and it's working!

The first step was to watch myself in the mirror - but I mean REALLY watch myself. I needed to become familiar with what I was currently doing, how my lips were moving, check the shape of my aperture, etc. This led to a few realizations:

My aperture is too wide

In addition to being too wide, it's also slightly to the left of center.

I instinctively roll in and out at will, usually when I feel insecure, although it happens so often you almost wouldn't believe it.

These tendencies and habits are incredibly harmful for long term, successful playing.

A wide aperture wastes air. This means that not only can I play fewer notes per breath, but my sound lacks focus and a richness of harmonics which allows the sound to carry.

An off-center aperture isn't inherently bad, but not being aware of it can be. This is an interesting "realization," because I was already kind of aware of it...when playing piccolo. When practicing piano passages on the piccolo (and occasionally flute), I noticed a significant tendency to shift the aperture to the left. This actually worked really well and made a gorgeous pianissimo for me, but obviously it's not practical to shove the instrument to one side or the other while performing La Valse.

Sudden, haphazard changes to the air stream direction via rolling in and out is, not shockingly, very unsettling, even when I'm doing it intentionally so that I will feel more secure.

Once I noticed these characteristics of my playing, I set about finding ways to adjust and correct. I decided that I would stick with the off-center aperture, because it allows me a very consistent sound and response across the full range of the instrument. I've been working on forming a smaller, better controlled aperture as well. Obviously, rolling out (and staying there!) has also been a priority.

Now, I don't want to spill all the beans in this one post, so I'm going to go into more detail about these changes in a separate post. Despite the myriad frustrations this past week has brought, I'm resolved to stay optimistic and to keep moving forward! As I continue to work on these changes over the next week, I'll be sure to post updates and explanations about how I'm going about making these adjustments. Stay tuned, and happy practicing!

T-n-G, Patricia George Style!

Patricia George's bio on Powell Flutes' website gives a bit of insight on her, as does the website for Fabulous Flute, a store owned and operated by Patricia George and Phyllis Louke. As well as contact info.

And here's the infamous T&G Practice Guide I've been rambling about:

If you're not a flutist, you probably will have no idea what exercises are contained in the 17 Grands Exercices Journaliers de Mécanisme pour la flûte, but trust me: they're good. I'd post more snippets, but it's still under copyright. It would be worth checking out though. In fact, I'd recommend that you borrow a copy from a flutist friend and maybe consider buying a copy for yourself. These exercises are easily adaptable to most every instrument! If you would like to buy a copy, I'll put a link at the bottom of this post.

When you look over her document, you'll see some same or similar ideas repeated with various exercises, which is great for people like me who just can't stay focused. I also like the systematic rotation of key signatures from day-to-day.

As you can see, it's a twelve-week plan for working through almost the entire book (Ms. George omits exercises 3 and 17). I appreciate the slow working method that she encourages. For me, it's great because anytime I begin to feel rushed or anxious I can remind myself: “I still have x weeks to learn this. Plenty of time!” My favorite part right now is the space she suggests that you insert between chunks of notes.

For example, here's the first line of Exercise No. 1 from Taffanel and Gaubert's 17 Grands Exercices Journaliers de Mécanisme pour la flûte:

For this Ms. George recommends playing eight notes and then inserting a quarter rest, as such:

I should note that the original book suggests ten different articulations, but so far I've been slurring each group to make sure the tone is consistent. The addition of these 'mini-breaks' grants many advantages. The space allows you to relax and sort of step back and reflect on what you just played:

How was the quality of sound?

Were all the notes connected gracefully and naturally?

Were the notes of equal proportions?

Of course, this also allows you to listen to what your body is telling you – are you holding negative energy or excess tension? If so, where?

I hope some of this discussion helps you in your own practicing. Let me know what you think, or if you have any suggestions!

I really owe a lot of my 'take a year to practice' idea to Ms. George. I remember reading in a Flute Talk magazine (for which she is the editor) recently where she mentioned that she likes taking a little bit of time every year to just go back to the basics. Now, I'm probably paraphrasing at best (my magazines are still packed up), but if I remember correctly, she talked about going back to very simple exercises to unlearn any bad habits that had crept in and relearn good habits. I thought that was just the best idea, and that was probably the first step to getting me to where I am with this blog today. And for that, I am very thankful to you, Ms. George!

Purchase the 17 Grands Exercices Journaliers from the Flute Pro Shop by clicking here.

Practice Plans for Aug. 19, 2012

I've decided to go ahead and post my practice plans for today before I practice, then I'll come back later today and post some reflections on how it went. If this set up works, I'll draw up similar plans for the next two days and go from there with revised the Master Practice Plan.

Here we go:

Jim Walker's Harmonic Exercise

From the Patricia George Taffanel-Gaubert pages:

No. 2 1^st 8va

No. 4 – Group 1 (C major – g minor)

No. 5 – All Keys

No. 6 – Inverted 3rds, C major

No. 7 – E major

No. 8 – Variation 3

No. 9 – Variation 5

No. 12 – B-F#, two beat chunks

Then I'm going to get back to working on Bolero, maybe I'll be able to video record it and post the first and final versions on Tuesday.

Piccolo – Piccolo Practice Book Exercises 1&3 (pg. 6)

Practice Notes and Reflections, Aug. 18, 2012

Today's practice was a bit disorganized, and I was having some focus issues. Those issues stemmed from two sources: my lack of concentration and willingness to really focus, and the lack of a clear plan of action in light of the melee that has been my life.

Despite these issues, I still feel that today was a nice step forward. Here are some notes I took and some ideas I'm trying to keep in mind:

My goals were to keep working toward a smooth sound that maintains connection from note to note and the try and remove negative tension and energy from my body.

I've been noticing a tendency to roll in, especially when moving into the second octave. This isn't a new habit for me, but it's (thankfully) been from being an all-around problem to one that only arises in specific situations. It happens mostly when I ascend (as I mentioned before), but I've also noticed that I roll in when I'm feeling insecure.

I've dealt with a lot of insecurity issues surrounding my playing, which is almost ironic because I'm pretty obnoxiously 'hey-i'm-a-fluter!!!!'-y, but it's true. That's been brought to light recently because we now live in a middle apartment (neighbors on all sides) and our lease has a clause that basically says "Thou shalt not practice any instrument that annoys thine neighbors." As a result, I'm a little worried that someone will complain and then I won't have anywhere to practice. But I digress...

I'm also trying to work more slowly, and play smaller chunks for the many small successes rather than muscle through a technical exercise just so I can cross it off of my to-do list.

I'm really bad at this blogging thing still, but I'll get there. One day...maybe...