What not to do (names changed to protect the guilty)

Three baroque flute players walk into a bar . . .

OK, it wasn't a bar, per se, it was a seafood bar in Seattle's Pike Place Public Market. And I suppose the only beginning more lame, in terms of gripping the reader with a sense that adventure is imminent, would be something like, "we were sitting in a bar drinking chardonnay," unless that is the beginning of people getting the stuffing beaten out of them ["We were sitting in a bar drinking chardonnay. It was a hot summer day and the wine was chilled. We didn't realize it was a biker bar whose local patrons thought classical music dorks would be fun to torment . . . "]. But I digress. There actually is something relevant to performing music and baroque flutes here.

Three baroque flute players step up to a seafood bar. A place well-known and well-loved and the food is well-enjoyed, and well, not often enough. Two of the players order the freshly made clam chowder. It looked and smelled delicious. The third player orders, in retrospect wisely, the grilled salmon sandwich.

The meal was enjoyed by all, and the gang was ready to continue the sightseeing before heading back to watch the finals of a tennis match, and then get ready for the concert. Priorities, you know.

On the way back home to watch said tennis match, player 1 notices that the inside of his upper lip is in distress. It actually hurts. As they get closer to home (and the TV) player 1 begins to panic. "My lip is cut on the inside!!! What will that do to my playing? Am I ruined for life? Will I need plastic surgery to correct this? What am I going to do??? I've got to get in the house and, tennis be darned, play a few notes to see if it has messed up my playing!!!" So the driving gets a little more reckless. Players 2 and 3 exchange glances ("what is he doing? Why is he driving like this??"). They get to their destination, player 1 dashes madly into the house, runs to the bathroom, turns on the light, washes his hands, grabs his upper lip violently, turns it inside out, and leans towards the mirror. *GASP*! He can SEE the cut. A hideous gash (about 2mm long). He runs out of the bathroom grabs a flute, and starts playing . . .

Everything is fine. The cut has absolutely no effect.

Player 1 says to the others: "I cut my lip with the plastic spoon at the seafood bar. I was completely panicked, especially after I saw the huge, enormous gash in the mirror. But once I played a few notes, I realized that everything was fine. Sorry to disrupt the tennis match."

Player 2 says, "I cut my lip too. But I just figured that if it was damaged, there was nothing I could do about it, so I stopped worrying."

Player 3 said, "the sandwich was excellent."

The moral of the story: watch what you put in your mouth. Protect your investment, especially on the day of a concert.

Smoke & Mirrors

Practice tip of the day: using a mirror.

1. Practicing in front of a full-length mirror will give you a good idea of what you look like when performing. It will also help you identify any "parasitic motion," that is, motions that you make while playing that hinder your performance. You may or may not be aware of these parasitic motions, and you may or may not realize that these motions hinder or disrupt your playing. But once you identify and address them, you'll discover that, for example, the little head bob or shoulder twitch you've been doing for years actually disrupts your flow of air, and you can stop blaming your lung capacity for not making it to the end of phrases.

2. Practicing in front of a wall-mounted mirror (bathroom, hallway, anywhere you find one) will enable you to examine what your embouchure is doing while you are playing. You may not realize that you are making more tension than you need, or that you are doing exactly the opposite of what you thought you were doing.

For both of these mirror experiences it will be helpful for you to memorize a short passage, or some exercises that take you through all the registers (slow or fast; doesn't matter), or a passage or exercise in which you have to articulate quickly, as in a Presto in 3/4 or something. You'll also notice just how efficient your finger technique is (if your fingers are moving too high above the instrument, you'll have to have a chat with them and convince them to move less, thereby making you more efficient, and therefore more relaxed, and thus able to play faster with less effort).

Practicing in front of a mirror gives you the added benefit of playing music with someone standing right in front of you. And that person in front of you just cannot stand still. This will help your concentration. And when you step in front of an audience, you'll be relieved that everyone in front of you is both sitting down and not right in your face.

Long Tone Exercises

From Janet See

Moderate(ly slow), steady 4/4 tempo

4/4 d’-a’-d’’--- d’-d’’----- d#’-a#’-d#’--- d#’-d#’’----- …etc…

Each measure is slurred. Inhale through nose before each two-measure group. At the double bar, wait before proceeding. Continue the exercise up to the G’s above the staff.

From Janet See

Slow tempo

4/4 d’’-d#’’-d’’--- d’’-e’’-d’’--- d’’-f’’-d’’--- d’’-f#’’-d’’--- d’’-g’’-d’’--- …etc…

(continue to high A), then…

4/4 d’’-c#’’-d’’--- d’’-c’’-d’’--- d’’-b’-d’’--- d’’-bb’-d’’--- d’’-a’-d’’--- …etc…

(continue to low D)

Each measure is slurred. Hold the last tone of each 3-note group. Slowly take in a nose breath after each measure.

From Janet Beazley

d’ – a’ – d’’ – a’’ – d’’’ – a’’ – d’’ – a’ – d’

d’ – g’ – d’’ – g’’ – d’’’ – g’’ – d’’ – g’ – d’

d’ – f#’ – d’’ – f#’’ – d’’’ – f#’’ – d’’ – f#’ – d’

d’ – b’ – d’’ – b’’ – d’’’ – b’’ – d’’ – b’ – d’

d’ – e’ – d’’ – e’’ – d’’’ – e’’ – d’’ – e’ – d’

d’ – c#’ – d’’ – c#’’ – d’’’ – c#’’ – d’’ – c#’ – d’

Each line is slurred; pick a tempo that would enable you to play each line in one full breath. This doesn’t take up that much time, so perhaps add a transposed version of this exercise—in the key of the piece you are currently practicing, or any other key that is more challenging. If you have a tuner, have it sound a drone on the tonic.

Variations on Kim’s ten-second long tones (See “Twenty-Minute Workout”)

1) diminuendo towards the end of each tone

2) crescendo towards the end of each tone

3) start soft, crescendo to halfway point, then diminuendo to end

4) paired instead of single notes, slurring to the second note; hold the second note of each pair (d’’-eb’’; eb’’-e’’; e’’-f’’; f’’’-f#’’…..etc…. to highest playable note; then…d’’-c#’’; c#’’-c’’; c’’-b’ ….. etc…. to low d’) (This is from Marcel Moyse’s de la Sonorité, and it is forever imprinted in the brains of modern flutists all over the world.)

5) (from Ingrid Crozman) – with each tone that is held, experiment with the shape of the mouth (e.g., “ooh” vowel sound vs. “aah”) and how that affects the sound, tone color, resonance

Sons filés – from some French flutist whose name I can’t recall

d’-d’’-d’’’-d’’-a’’ (each note lasts 2 seconds; hold the last tone of each set)

a’’-a’-a’’-a’’’-e’’’

e’’’-e’’-e’-e’’-b’’

b’’-b’-b’’-b’-f#’’

f#’’-f#’’’-f#’’-f#’-c#’’

continue through the circle of fifths