Flute – Essential daily flute lessons: Whistle tones and long tones

Posted on January 14, 2018January 14, 2018 by Cristy

Flute – Essential daily flute lessons: Whistle tones and long tones

Flute – Every player wants to have complete control over their sound and master the ability to make small adjustments and get a big effect. A well-trained flute embouchure is at the core of this mastery, but breath control also plays a vital role. All lessons should begin with exercises that strengthen these foundational skills on which to build.

Although “whistle tones” seem like a bit of a parlor trick, students of any skill level can use these to good effect when they learn to play the instrument. When I was sitting in the hallway outside the door of my flute teacher at Penn State, I would practice my whistle tones to warm up my embouchure.

The sound is very hard to control and by practicing them before my flute lessons, I was able to make fine adjustments and gain new muscle memory with these subtle changes.

A whistle tone is made by fingering a note, but not sounding that note fully. You blow a very small, delicately focused stream of air on the outer edge of the sound hole so that a slight whistle sound is made.

First, simply try to sustain that note without waiver or running out of air. Once you’re able to do that easily and with many different fingerings, move on to harmonics. Now try to adjust your flute embouchure to smoothly move from the first root note up to the next harmonic that will sound. Try to sustain that note, then adjust to the next highest note, back down to the second note, then down to the root note.

Jeffrey Khaner teaches “long tones” as part daily exercises for the flute. These four note chromatic scale phrases are repeated and played double forte at 80 bpm with a full rich sound and cover the entire range of the instrument. Each note is to sound the same as the prior and subsequent note in all octaves and all eight notes should be played in one breath with full measured vibrato.

The goal is to achieve a consistent full and rich tone by making embouchure adjustments with each note and completing the exercise in one breath. Each practice session and lesson should include a run through long tones.

Lessons for all skill levels can begin with an assessment of the flutist’s ability to properly play whistle tones and long tones. Consistent improvement with both exercises will help students have more control and mastery over their sound.

Flute – Flute Solo Advice from Jeffrey Khaner

Posted on January 1, 2018January 1, 2018 by Cristy

Flute – Flute Solo Advice from Jeffrey Khaner

Flute – The big flute solo from Beethoven’s 3rd Leonore Overture is almost always on orchestra auditions. The opening may not be, but when played, it requires good intonation on the high notes. It is very important to display perfect rhythmic discipline and metronomic control of tempo. Be sure to practice it very carefully with your metronome at every tempo, from much too slow to much too fast.

While doing this, try to memorize how it feels different at each new tempo – what you have to do ever so slightly differently in order to be perfect when the metronome has been moved only 1 notch. When you have done this, you will be able to play comfortably at any speed and accommodate any request for a tempo change at a flute audition.

Notice the dynamic of this flute solo. It should all be piano. The character of the solo is excited, even agitated – whispering! There is a heroic tone to the overture, but it is the trumpet that portrays it, not the flute! Playing it this way makes the notorious ‘sneaked’ breath right before the last group of eighth notes unnecessary.

In fact, you’ll find that getting a good breath way back before the high A, and then just a little breath before the G octave will take you easily to the end of the pianissimo D. Practice holding the D as long as you can (with your metronome) and see how many bars extra you can add. 12 or 16 bars of the D will soon seem easy.

Remember, the pp under the long D indicates just that you are no longer the solo and must “disappear”. It is not a subito dynamic change from forte to pianissimo.

Always consider carefully the character of the orchestral excerpts you play. The dynamic markings will give you clues to this and trying to really bring out the correct character will reinforce the correct dynamics.

For further guidance on flute audition solo pieces, orchestral excerpts and more information about online flute lessons with Jeffrey Khaner through Video Exchange™ go to www.jeffreykhanerflute.com.

Flute – Mastery Through Flute Scales

Posted on January 1, 2018January 1, 2018 by Cristy

Flute – Mastery Through Flute Scales

Flute – How can you find out for yourself where the imperfections are in your playing – the details that keep you from being the best player? If you’re repeatedly playing the same mistakes, more practice time won’t help much. Using scales to your advantage however will help you tremendously.

Scales are the first thing beginning students are taught when learning flute because they serve as a tool for learning all the notes on the instrument. But when used instructively, scales can also reveal the nuances and subtleties of playing that distinguish an outstanding player from a mediocre one.

Advanced students labor over their sound when playing scales. Scales are not seen as merely a warm-up exercise, they are a time to fine tune and carefully listen to your sound. As speed is increased when playing scales, slight mistakes in intonation or dexterity can get blurred or overlooked. By using scales as a tool, players can break down the very foundation of their playing and expose subtle imperfections that they may not have noticed before. Achieving a high degree of technical skill requires a discerning ear and disciplined self-awareness, and practicing scales are an excellent way to achieve this.

Any serious practice regimen should include rigorous work on scales for building strong technique. Students should practice all major and minor scales at the same dynamic and the same articulation. Sharp keys can be played on even numbered days, flatted keys on odd days. Scales should be played both staccato and legato with the goal of 104 BPM for advanced players.

Beginner and intermediate students should start their flute scale work at a pace where each note is played in tune and with the proper dynamic and articulation. Only after each element is perfected should speed be increased.

Listen carefully to the tonal homogeneity throughout the entire flute scale. For instance, the sound of a low G should have the same timbre and sound quality as middle D. The distance between each note should be seamless. The same dynamic should be played throughout the flute scales without any diminuendo at the end or when running out of breath. Even when playing scales, flutists should play musically and with attention to phrasing. For those more inspired students, flute scales can be approached with different styles in mind: vivace, animato, brillante. Lastly, five-tone flute scale patterns like “quitachords” can be played the full range of the instrument to improve breath control and to build a full rich tone.

Highly accomplished musicians inherently understand the need for mastering the basic fundamental skills of playing an instrument. Flute scales are no exception – they are fundamental and the building blocks for mastery. No matter the level of player you are, playing scales will reveal the imperfections and bad habits that prevent us from progressing.

Flute – Sir James Galway: He’s now silvery, but the flute’s golden – Part 2

Posted on December 10, 2017December 10, 2017 by Cristy

Flute – Sir James Galway: He’s now silvery, but the flute’s golden – Part 2

BY LAWRENCE TOPPMAN

Flute – Making his own way Galway had the second-best job in his world 40 years ago: principal flutist at the Berlin Philharmonic under Herbert von Karajan. He quit to take the best job, striking out on his own.

“I wanted progress,” he says. “Doing the same thing over and over is no progression. Swimming in uncharted waters breeds progression. I knew I could match my Berlin Philharmonic salary by freelancing, so I didn’t second-guess it at all. I told Karajan a year before I left that I was going.”

Reports say the maestro was irritated at a defection from the world’s most famous orchestra. Galway refutes that: “He said, ‘If you don’t try, you’ll never know if you could do it or not.’”

He was married at the time to Annie Renggli, and he moved to her native Switzerland. (He also recorded a hit instrumental version of John Denver’s “Annie’s Song” for her.) After they divorced, he moved near Lucerne with Jeanne, whom he married in 1984. They often play joint concerts now.

“I think I’ve changed her playing,” he says. “I think my wife sounds like me, and very few flute players sound like me. You get that by listening every day.

“My teacher at the Royal College of Music gave me a recording of (French flutist) Marcel Moyse playing a Hungarian Fantasy by Doppler. I used to listen several times a day, and I would try to play the piece the way he did. People said, ‘Jimmy, you sound like Moyse!’ I thought, ‘That’s better than sounding like a no-goer.’

“Then one day, I studied with Moyse. He told me he tried every day of his life to sound like HIS teacher.”

A life of instruction

Galway now teaches one-on-one, in master classes or through his online First Flute course. He gives people rules so those can be mastered, then set aside.

“A copy of me is better than no copy at all,” he says, laughing. “A copy of me will one day bloom like a flower into something that’s not a copy of me. …

“But there’s nothing worse than playing music following rules. Baroque (traditionalists) have a lot of rules by which they must abide, and it suits a lot of instrumentalists down to the ground. They don’t have any freedom in their playing anyway, so they’d like to be put in a structure.”

Galway doesn’t. At 75, after a lifetime of playing, musicology, the creation of international flute festivals (including one in Athens, Ga., this May) and even a bit of conducting – which he says doesn’t entice him – he looks ahead.

“There are quite a few things I’d like to do. I would like to record Handel’s flute sonatas, but I don’t know of a record company that would sell them. Just making a record for yourself is like having a visiting card printed and handing it out.

“There’s another thing: the works of Carolan, the blind Irish harp player. That would require a tremendous amount of digging and arranging. So maybe I’d just rather sit around, play chess and smoke Havana cigars.”

Sir James Galway: He’s now silvery, but the flute’s golden

Posted on December 10, 2017December 10, 2017 by Cristy

Sir James Galway: He’s now silvery, but the flute’s golden

BY LAWRENCE TOPPMAN

Flute – Jimmy Galway’s father played the instrument. So did his grandfather. His uncle Julius made money playing one at Belfast’s Grand Opera House. Protestant bands marched past his home in Northern Ireland after World War II, projecting their bold anthems.

So he took up the fiddle.

“A lady on our street gave me a violin that was suffering from a great infestation of woodworm,” he recalls. “Gradually, the woodworm won the race, and I gave up the violin. My uncle gave me my first lessons on the flute, and I never stopped.”

Nearly 70 years later, he’s the best-known – many people would still say the best – flutist on the planet. (He also plays penny-whistle, which he first tootled at 2.)

Sir James (who was knighted in 2001) once worked on a repertoire as wide and deep as the Irish bay that shares his name: classics written or adapted for flute, Celtic music, adaptations of pop songs, international tunes, film scores. (He did the solos on the Oscar-winning soundtrack to “The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.”)

Nowadays, he focuses on pieces such as Mozart’s Flute Concerto No. 2, which he once called his favorite concerto for that instrument. That’s his solo spot in Tuesday’s gala concert with the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra; afterward, he and Lady Jeanne Galway, his wife and a virtuoso herself, will play Domenico Cimarosa’s Concerto for Two Flutes in G Major.

“When Mozart went to England (in the late 18th century), one person in 10 played the flute,” Galway says. “It was so popular that Mozart’s publisher prevailed on him to arrange six violin sonatas for flute, and he made arrangements for amateurs. He always said he hated the instrument, though the last three symphonies have great flute parts in them.

“The flute Mozart knew was a baroque flute that came in three pieces: head joint, middle joint and foot joint. That construction played havoc with the natural scale. If he’d lived until 1840, he could have heard the instrument I play. Maybe he’d have liked it better.”

James Galway made me hate flute, but Emmanuel Pahud made me love it

Posted on December 3, 2017December 3, 2017 by Cristy

James Galway made me hate flute, but Emmanuel Pahud made me love it

Flute – So it’s been less than two weeks since I started playing again. One thing I forgot to mention is that James Galway made me hate flute for decades.

The bottom line is that I never liked Galway’s distinctive vibrato and sound. Unfortunately, for some reason, I kept on seeing him on TV and hearing him on the radio, and so he sort of represented to me “flute”.

(Update of 2013-08-23)

I have periodically received comments from people very unhappy with my dislike of the playing of James Galway. I mean no disrespect: everyone has different taste. I should add that I actually love and respect James Galway as a musician and as an educator. I will write a detailed blog post about that at some point.

Revival through jazz

Interestingly, I started to enjoy hearing the flute again mainly from getting into jazz. I loved hearing Herbie Mann on flute, for example, and others as well. In fact, my original intention when buying a flute several years ago was to get into jazz flute: I had sort of lost interest in playing classical music by then.

Discovery of Emmanuel Pahud

Syrinx

Just a couple of years ago, I was driving and listening to the local classical radio station, WQED, when I was put totally under a spell by a performance of a work for solo flute. Being completely unfamiliar with the classical flute repertoire, I didn’t know what the piece was, but the announcer said it was “Syrinx” by Claude Debussy, and performed by one Emmanuel Pahud.

I went and found CDs by Pahud at the library. Great stuff! He is definitely my hero.

Read another related story here: The one thing Abby Gieseke wanted most from her fifth grade year at First Baptist Denton in Texas was to join the band and play the flute.

“My mom had played the flute and my friend is playing the instrument too,” said Abby.

Fifth grade was finally her first chance to take up the instrument as well, but for Abby it would be a bit more of a challenge. Abby does not have a left hand. “She was born without her left hand which is called Symbrachydactyly,” said her mom Julie Gieseke.

According to the American Journal of Medical Genetics it’s a rare disorder only affecting about 1 in every 30,000 to 40,000 births. It causes a child to be born small or completely missing bones or fingers in one hand, or, in Abby’s case, a completely missing hand.

It’s something Abby says is just a part of life for her and her mom says it’s never held her back.

“I find my own ways to do things other people can do,” said Abby.

Flute – Tips for buying a new flute – pt 2

Posted on November 22, 2017November 22, 2017 by Cristy

Flute – Tips for buying a new flute – pt 2

Bore size

Flutes – Low flutes are made at different bore sizes, and it is important to know the differences between them in making your choice. In general, a big bore instrument will have a stronger low register and a weaker high register than a small bore instrument. Bigger bores also tend to have a slightly slower response and more difference in tone between registers. Big bores are ideal for playing in flute choirs (especially for the bass) but can be heavier and need more air. Small bores are ideal for solo repertoire, where the demands can require more agility and a stronger high register.

Tone

I am a firm believer that low flutes should sound like low flutes, and not just an extended range of the C flute. If it’s your first alto or bass, remember that you won’t have adapted your playing techniques to low flutes yet, so be wary of going for the instrument that feels the easiest to play straight away. You’ll find as you develop your low flute playing skills that you can get more out of an instrument, so look for the potential for a deep, rich tone in the low register.

Response

Response can vary considerably according to the cut and style of the headjoint. Try different makes, and even different instruments of the same make, to find a headjoint that suits you

Materials

Materials make less of a difference on low flutes than on C flutes. If your budget allows it, a silver headjoint or lip plate will make a difference to the tone and response, but the rest of the instrument can be silver plated without making a difference to the sound. Lighter-weight materials, such as brass, can even be preferable to precious metals.

Other options

Bass flute – Vertical or horizontal?

Upright bass flutes are beginning to appear on the market. A good quality vertical instrument, such as those made by Eva Kingma, is ergonomically designed for comfortable hand positions. Upright instruments need careful key placement (ie not just a standard bass with a modified headjoint) and well-designed hand rests and supports. Remember you need to be able to play sitting and standing, and avoid anything that involves needing to support a bass flute with a neck strap.

Open holes?

Open holes can be extremely useful for playing contemporary repertoire. The holes can be positioned to suit your hands, and being able to operate the keys directly, rather than through additional levers, can make the mechanism lighter. Open holes can also improve the response of the instrument.

B foot

B footjoints are a useful addition to low flutes, and several makers offer them. Although they add a little extra weight, the additional key can stabile the balance of the instrument and give a richer low register.

Flute – Tips for buying a new flute – pt 1

Posted on November 22, 2017November 22, 2017 by Cristy

Flute – Tips for buying a new flute – pt 1

Budget

Flute – Budget is usually an important factor choosing a low flute. For many people, low flutes are secondary instruments and a limited budget might be available. The good news is that there are good instruments at all levels and entry level instruments can usually be sold second hand without too much trouble if you find you’re ready to upgrade (feel free to contact us if you’re interested in buying or selling second hand instruments – we might be able to help). No matter what your budget is, it’s important to find the right instrument for you.

Curved or Straight Head

For alto flutes, the type of headjoint is an important consideration. I have often seen advice that suggests a minimum height for playing on a straight head, but my experience is that these suggestions are not necessarily helpful, as body proportions can vary! I’ve taught short people who can handle straight heads easily, and tall people who need to play on a curved head. Curved heads can sometimes be more difficult to play in tune than straight ones, and the response can also be less good, but shop around as they can vary between makes. When choosing if you need a curved or straight head, remember that the alto flute needs more physical strength to play, and be careful not to confuse muscle weakness with an inability to reach the keys. You can expect some fatigue at first (I did 6 months of weight training before my first hour long alto flute recital) but be careful not to cause physical strain by overdoing it. Gently build up practice time as you become stronger, and remember to adapt your hand positions to playing a bigger instrument.

Ergonomics

The positioning of the keys can be an important factor in comfortable playing positions, and different people will need slightly different key placement, so pick an instrument which suits your hands (taking into account the need to modify hand positions from C flute). Make sure the instrument is well balanced and that you can move relatively easily around the foot joint keys. There’s no sense in having a great sounding instrument that you can only play for a few minutes at a time because of key placements that don’t suit your hands.

Bass flute crutch

Many bass flutes come with a hand support crutch for the left hand. If this is not ideally suited to your hand, try playing without it, or use a lump of blu tack instead, moulded to suit your hands.

Flute – Musician makes young flutist’s dream come true – Part 2

Posted on November 13, 2017November 13, 2017 by Cristy

Flute – Musician makes young flutist’s dream come true – Part 2

Flute – Clarence Jefferson Wood Jr., or Woody as everyone calls him, is a long time Denton resident and life-long musician. He says he got his first Clarinet at age 9 and has been playing and repairing instruments nearly all of his life. He is now 88-years-old.

When the Giesekes brought their proposal to Wood, a one handed flute, he says it was one of the more challenging requests he’d heard.

“I’ve never done anything that expansive before, but I said I would give it a try,” said Woody.

So he set out to make the flute. Over 3 weeks he went through several versions, many of which were far too complicated for anyone, especially an 11 year-old, to operate.

Finally though, Woody had created a flute that he believed would work just for Abby.

He mounted the instrument on an old cymbal stand and completely reworked the tone holes and keys so they could be operated by Abby.

“It was complicated,” said Woody with a laugh.

Abby’s band teacher admits she’s not even sure how to play the creation. It came with an all new set of fingerings Abby has to take-on, but only five days after getting the flute, Abby was already playing at the level of her fellow students.

“I can play the first five notes that everyone else has learned and I can play the first song,” said Abby proudly after practice.

Julie says she cried the first time she heard her daughter play a note with the new flute.

“It was amazing,” she said. “It was something that we wanted so much and Mr. Woody, and God, and our prayers, and all the prayers of our friends, it worked.”

It was quite a triumph for Woody as well who had created something from scratch that he’d never taken on in his 88 years.

All he asked in return for the creation was to see Abby play it. So he sat front row with his wife at a Friday afternoon practice and smiled as Abby kept up with her classmates.

“It makes me cry when I see her play her instrument,” he said. “And I love to see her do something that’s unusual.”

Abby says it’s just one more thing she’s learning to do “her way,” and one she can actually take on thanks to the kindness and innovation of Mr. Woody.

Flute – Musician makes young flutist’s dream come true – Part 1

Posted on November 13, 2017November 13, 2017 by Cristy

Flute – Musician makes young flutist’s dream come true – Part 1

Flute – The one thing Abby Gieseke wanted most from her fifth grade year at First Baptist Denton in Texas was to join the band and play the flute.

“My mom had played the flute and my friend is playing the instrument too,” said Abby.

It’s something Abby says is just a part of life for her and her mom says it’s never held her back.

“I find my own ways to do things other people can do,” said Abby.

However the flute posed a much bigger problem than most of the other activities Abby had worked through. After all you can’t even hold up a instrument to play it without two hands.

“That’s what was hard with this flute is we wondered if this was going to be the time where we were going to tell her, ‘Abby, we don’t know if you can do this,'” said Julie.

That’s something the Giesekes have always tried to avoid, so they searched far and wide trying to avoid it again by finding a way Abby could play the flute.

“We talked to a guy in Amsterdam, Switzerland, nobody knew how to do it,” said Julie.

The Giesekes were about to lose hope until a friend at the school brought up a local man named “Mr. Woody.”