Start with the Sound You Want

Your goal is to have the first note come out with a fabulous tone, vibrato, liveliness, and color. The first note tells the audience what’s coming next.

We all know what we want to sound like when we perform. To get there, it’s important to start there.

But sometimes we think that the first note is too short to put on some vibrato. Perhaps we don’t consciously decide to not put on vibrato. It just doesn’t happen.

Always ON Vibrato

Here’s how to make sure that the very first note has presence:

Decide now, that every time you pick up your flute, it’s as if a switch has flipped and your vibrato is turned on. Your vibrato default setting is “ON.”

Convince yourself that your vibrato setting is always on. Then when you start a piece, the first note comes out with vibrancy and life. Your sound will be lively from the start.

If I start without vibrato, it starts off dead. There’s no life to that first note. But the quality when it has a liveliness is amazing.

When that first note is not long enough to have vibrato, you can still decide what you want to do with it. You can know exactly what tone you are looking for. You can play around with embouchure placement. You can move it around on your lip. You can adjust that angle of your air across the lip plate strike edge. Figure out where you get the best tone. Then every time you pick up your flute to play that again, you have the makings of a lively tone.

Lively Start

Then, even though it’s not long enough to hear vibrato, you’ll start with that tone having liveliness and vibrancy. It’s going to start alive. The audience can tell that you’re excited for something that’s coming.

Are there times where I might not want vibrato? Sure. The opening of Afternoon of a Faun. Most flute players start with no vibrato. Part of the reason in this opening is to conserve air. You know what I mean if you’ve played this piece. But it also gives you the ability to change the colors. You’re manipulating your vibrato and that opening note, but you’re doing it consciously. You’re doing it because that’s the color you want. That’s what you want to create.

You might also start the Fauré Fantaisie without vibrato, as many intermediate flutists often do. But it’s more often that it’s just not even thought about what you want to do with that note.

It just starts with no vibrato without any rhyme or reason. Now, I might want to start off with no vibrato, but I’m going to think about it. What if I were to start with vibrato?

We need to start with vibrato unless it’s a conscious thought to not. But I think it’s more often than not, we start with no vibrato, with no real reason, except that you just didn’t put vibrato on it.

Start with your vibrato going. Your motor is going right off the bat.

Because when you start with that vibrato, it has a life and movement, and it’s going somewhere right away.

Record Yourself

Record yourself when you’re practicing for a performance. Identify how you want to set up that first note for what is going to come. Determine whether that first note has a fabulous tone and vibrato and liveliness and color. Does it tell your audience what’s going to be coming?

The first note should make the audience sit up in their chairs, on the edge of their seats, excited for what is to come.

Listen to yourself. Plan that first note with just a little bit more thought. And it can change your whole piece. By doing that, it really can change your whole piece because you now have a different attitude about the whole piece.

Focus on that first note!

Have fun!
DoctorFlute

Watch me demonstrate this using:

Mozart Flute Concerto
Fauré Fantaisie
Jade from Ferroud’s Three Pieces

Playing the First Notes of Your Solo – FluteTips 186

FluteTips 84 Adding Vibrancy to Your Tone on the Flute

Producing a Lively Sound on the Flute – FluteTips 115

The post Playing the First Notes of Your Solo appeared first on DoctorFlute.

Move Your Fingers Up

We have three trill keys down here in our right hand, and each of those trill keys needs to be played with a different finger. So, when you are doing your trills, you need to move your finger up to the trill key.

When I first started learning flute, I moved my first finger up to the trill key and down to the trill key! Of course, for a long time, I did not even know what I would move my first finger up for. What was that key even used for?

But that is not a great pattern because that one finger has got enough to do. He has his own key and a trill. It is too much to ask him to play a third key.

Each Trill Has It’s Own Finger

So, we want to move up to trills. If we move up to trills, each finger has its own trill. Additionally, that gives each finger a chance to exercise its muscle.

I really think that you need to work on trills, not just for the fact that you are going to trill and that each time we trill we have to do it a little bit differently. But because when you work on trills, you work on weak fingers and their muscle control.

You know what I mean – when you trill with a weaker finger, that trilling is just not fantastic. So, the more you work on it with that finger, the stronger that muscle gets, and the better that trill sounds.

Plus, that finger then works better in all your technical exercises as well. So, it is going to be doubly beneficial for you to work on your trills.

Exercise the Weak Fingers

For example, our middle finger, our E finger is often fast enough. But he is often just inconsistent when trilling. It is similar with the first finger, where you use the side of your finger to trill. And remember that when you move up to this trill with your first finger, you do not play it with your fingertip. You could, but it is really awkward to move your whole entire hand to do this. So, you, you just use whatever side of your finger reaches over there and hits that trill key. That part of your finger is what you use to trill. There is no right or wrong as to what part of your finger that you use. You just do not want to bend your finger. If you bend your finger to use your fingertip, you have to move your entire hand up here to do that. And it is okay when you trill to get off the pinky key, your E-flat pinky, that is fine.

But when you work on your trills, you get your uncoordinated fingers to have a chance at trilling.

You Can Learn This

But you want to work on trills, you want to practice trills, and you want to move up to your trills. You can break old habits. You can change. I was probably in college when I learned this method of trilling. But I learned it. So, anybody can learn to do this. It just takes a little bit of thought to move up to the trills. Moving up to trills will make a lot of sense to you once you learn to do it.

This is something that is accessible. You can do this.

So, work on your trills, your fingers will be glad, your technique will be glad, and your trills will be phenomenal.

Have fun!
DoctorFlute

Watch me demonstrate this:

Trill Fingers – FluteTips 173

FluteTips 64 Trilling Faster

FluteTips 49 Every Trill Has its Own Finger

The post Trill Fingers appeared first on DoctorFlute.

There are some things that you can do to work on your low register and know that that is also helping your high register. Now, that does not mean that you can stop work at anything in the high register because your low register was nice and rich. You still need to be thinking about how you are playing and how your low register reaches that upper register, and even just taking the high register out all on its own.

Round & Full

But let’s just talk about the low register. So, what are some things that you can do to fill it out, to make it strong? Long tones, of course, down in that low register, just doing from B down to low C is a really good place to get started for building your low register. And what you are thinking about is how round and full can you make this low register. You are not thinking about playing softly. You want to fill it out, to make that low note really round.

You also want to think about:

The shape of your embouchure
Opening your jaw wider
Putting air in your cheeks

These are things that will help you make it rich and resonant and full.

You also want the sound to come from behind your sinus cavity. So, the back of your tongue should be down, and the roof of your mouth is arched up. This is how singers have the sound resonate. And then that sound can be rich and full all the way down.

Low to Middle to High

Now, if that is tenuous or if you crack a lot, or if it just does not stay there, you know that there is probably going to be something that is affected above it because that roundness, that fullness, that resonance can move into your upper register. This is why when you do long tones for the third octave, we actually start on middle B and we go up instead of always descending. Because if you can get a round full low register, then middle, then do long tones going up.

So, you keep what is full in the low, move it to the middle, and then take it higher.

Keep it really full. You are not trying to play really softly. There is a time and a place for doing your long tones with diminuendo and trying to play really softly. But right now you are not trying to do that. You are trying to get your high register to be rich and full and beautiful, just like your low register. So, you are going to work from a low note to a middle note as in those octave slurs, and then work to keep that resonance all the way up.

If you start with a good low note, you can match those registers and it becomes a beautiful sound that you can work with and build on all the way up.

A Word on Hearing Loss

If you are going to work your long tones in your third octave, wear ear protection so it does not damage your ears. You can just use those foamy things if you do not have real kind that allow sound in, but keep out the higher harmonics. If I am going to work in the third octave, I usually wear ear protection same as if I am playing piccolo.

So that is how you can fill out and strengthen and make your third octave be so much more resonant and beautiful. You start with a low register that is fabulous. That is the foundation that pushes up and holds up that third octave. Then you can make it just as glorious as your low register.

Have fun!
DoctorFlute

Watch me demonstrate this:

You Can’t Have a Good High Register Without Having a Really Good Low Register – FluteTips 172

FluteTips 66 Easy High Notes

Getting Spin on Your Third Octave Notes – FluteTips 171

Putting Air in Your Cheeks to Lower Your Pitch – FluteTips 32

Resonate to Improve Your Tone – FluteTips 178

The post You Can’t Have a Good High Register Without Having a Really Good Low Register appeared first on DoctorFlute.

How about you? Does that sound ever come out of your flute? I bet it does because it happens to everyone. What can you do about it? How can you fix it if it happens to you? Let me see if I can help you.

I have some FluteTips on how to tongue your middle Eb, D, C sharp and C and how to get a good tone on those. But I want to get a little bit more specific today, and that is how not to let those notes crack. We have other notes that tend to crack. But right now, I want to concentrate on these middle register notes.

Middle D (4^th line on the staff) is a note that wants to crack especially if we have that D or we have a couple notes that are in that very middle narrow range of C sharp and D and E flat where our first finger is up and we have come to one of them from a high note or the opposite has happened and we have come up from a low note. They will tend to crack.

By cracking, I mean that there is an actual cracking sound where it just flips from one octave side to the other – high to low or low to high. Often, we call that kind of cracking sound a “caught in between” sound. Caught in between is that you are getting a low sound and a high sound simultaneously.

One reason why that caught in between sound happens is because your airstream is probably too high. And then related to that is we don’t have a nice open embouchure. The embouchure is too small. If I have a small embouchure, I can maybe get an edgy sound. But the chances of cracking go way up with that small embouchure especially if I have to tongue quickly and I have a firm tongue. Then if I’m playing really low, what is going to happen is this is going to be airy as well.

When you are dealing with a tricky area in your solo and you tend to crack, analyze your air and your embouchure. Where should the airstream be blowing, how high or how low, hard and soft. That will really help you to figure out where to get the best tone quality. It is tricky when you are playing a Bach or Mozart solo. These genres of solos often have much that is in that second octave that cracks.

That is what my advice to help you figure out how to get those middle register notes. Your embouchure and your airstream are the places to look at to stop cracking.

Sometimes you don’t even know you have been cracking until you record yourself and then listen to yourself playing in the middle register and realize you are cracking! So, grab a piece that you are working on and record yourself playing through some middle register runs. Then listen for cracks. If you find them, analyze the cause. Is it your embouchure? Is it your airstream? Is it the two of them mixed together? Then make sure that your embouchure is oo shaped and your jaw is out slightly to raise your airstream is up just a bit. I think you’ll be able to fix those particular pesky little notes that you don’t want to crack or get caught in between.

Have fun!
DoctorFlute

Watch me demonstrate this idea:

How Not to Crack on Your Middle Register Notes – FluteTips 164

Getting a Better Tone Quality on Your Middle Notes C C# D Eb – FluteTips 161

FluteTips 77 Getting a Good Tone in Your Middle Register Specifically Ds & Es

How to Form a Great Flute Embouchure – FluteTips 132

The post How Not to Crack on Your Middle Register Notes appeared first on DoctorFlute.

Sometimes you can go over and over a section and never get anywhere. You may just need a fresh approach to help you fix it. A new method of cleaning up a spot can oftentimes be the answer you are looking for. So let me give you a few pointers about how I work on those spots that just cause me problems, the things I concentrate on, the things that I know stump me, and there are more than one.

Pesky Problems

Let me pick one spot from the Fauré Fantasy and show you how I work on it, and how I have my students work on that spot. Let’s look at measure 192. If you have your Fauré Fantasy, go get it and let’s look at the Allegro in measure 192. If you do not have it, download a free copy of it here: DoctorFlute.com/downloads. Then you can take a look at it yourself and see what I am talking about.

This spot has got so many accidentals and it moves quickly. It is arguably the most troublesome spot. It’s certainly a little bit tricky. When I have my students work on it, I show them that section and tell them to start working on it right now. It is not the only difficult spot in the piece. But this one can be a stumper.

The first thing that you’re going to do is just learn the notes. This means woodshed! If you don’t know my practice process method I’ll just give a short little rundown on that practice process. It is how I practice all of my etudes. It is how I practice all of the really tricky, fast fingering sections. I would use a modified approach to slower, more melodic sections, but this is how I practice finger technique.

The Practice Process

The first thing I am going to do is find a tempo on my metronome that I can play the section accurately. It does not matter how slow you go. You go as slow as you need to as long as you do not make a mistake.

Then you use different articulations to practice this. I like to go through all of Taffanel and Gaubert’s 10 different articulations: slur-three-tongue-one, tongue-one-slur-three, slur-two-tongue-two, tongue-two-slur-two, slur-two-slur-two etc. I will not go through all of them because you can find them. Keep the same tempo while you play through all the articulations and then slowly move the tempo up still using those articulations.

Some people think that this is a long process and well maybe it is. But let me tell you that you learn that technique cold.

Now let’s say you’ve done that. You have gotten it up to, you know, the tempo is 144. So, let’s say you have really done it well, and you are at 144… and you still have some problems. What now?

Sometimes you still have one run that just sticks, and you just can’t get it. You know, sometimes you get it right, and sometimes the next time you play through that section, it is wrong. And then the next time it is right, or another section is wrong. But you are sure that you now that technique.

Problem Solve

It can mean you have to relearn it, re-woodshed it with all those articulations and work it up again. One thing to remember is that if you have it worked up one day to a tempo, that does not mean the next day you have got it at that tempo and you do not ever have to work at it again. Over a long period of time, you are probably going to redo all those articulations. Because if we do not keep that woodshedding going and all those articulations with that metronome, we can still lose it. There is a point where our brain just stops learning. I do not know what the term is but we have to sort of take it apart and relearn it. But when you do that, you learn it better than you knew it before.

There can be other issues. Sometimes it is a glitch issue. When you take that run apart, that particular section of technique that you are having trouble with, you need to analyze: is there a glitch that is causing that problem? A glitch means that some fingers are not as fast, or they are faster than other fingers so that when you move from one note to the next, you are causing a little clunk in there. And when you do it fast, it does not really sound like a wrong note, but it just doesn’t sound smooth.

For example if you are going from a G and then you have to go to a B you have to get that thumb on. So, you are going from a high G to a B. G to a B and that thumb is not working properly. Maybe it is the thumb that was slow or the fingers coming off. Sometimes it is coming off and by analyzing what that is, you have discovered the problem. Now you can fix it. Fixing it is all about concentration. Going slow just in that little section, going very slowly, really concentrating on moving those fingers. It is a mind over matter thing. Yes, you are training your muscles. But it is also you are thinking about it that is going to fix it. Thinking about how fast they are moving.

There are times when your fingers come off too fast and they pop the sound. You want to bring your fingers up fast, but not high or jerky. Keep your fingers close to the keys, keep them touching the keys and just lift up. If we jerk them off the keys, we move them really fast, it makes the sound pop. And that is the same as having a glitch. So, unless you are doing extended techniques, that is not the sound that you are looking to get.

One other area that I think is a strong area of why we have problems, once we have learned the technique, is sometimes we are rushing. So, when I analyze, I figure out what note is rushing through, or maybe I am landing on that note ahead of the beat. I have to find out where I’m rushing or where I’m anticipating the next beat? Then I usually put maybe a tenuto line over the note so that I make sure I land on the beat. Or I’ll put an arrow going that direction so that I know that I am rushing through that run. And that helps me to remember that I need to go at tempo, not slow down. I just want to use that arrow to not rush. If I just make my eyes concentrate on that one note, I will get the rest of the run.

Concentrate

When we play our fast 16th note sections, we are not really looking at every single note. We are looking at the whole group. It is like when you read, you read the words not each letter. If I look at the word friend, I am not reading F R I E N D. I look at the whole thing and I know the word spells friend. I think that is the same way with your runs. We have learned the whole run. I know it. I do not need to read each note C D E G B. I do not need to individually think what those notes are. So, when I am playing that run, sometimes there is one note that I do need to think. I need to make sure I land on that G. Because I am looking at the group of notes as this big clump of notes. And there is one note that I am rushing through, or one note that I am not landing on.

These are just some of the areas that I use to work on difficult spots in my solos and how I have my students work on these difficult spots to make sure that when I play that solo, when my students are playing that solo, they have got that technical aspect down.

So, when you are working on your technique, find those difficult spots, use these techniques that I have just talked about and how to make sure that your runs are steady and smooth and effortless. You will be very happy that you did.

Have fun!

DoctorFlute

Watch me demonstrate this idea:

Working on those difficult spots in your solos – FluteTips 163

Fauré Fantaisie Op 79 for Flute and Piano Dr Angela McBrearty flute, Dr Gretchen Hull piano

How to Practice Etudes

Fixing the D to E Glitch – FluteTips 160

FluteTips 96 Are You Rushing Here’s How to Fix it

FluteTips 17 Finger Positions

The post Working on Those Difficult Spots in Your Solos appeared first on DoctorFlute.

Let me give you a few pointers on what I wish I’d known in my younger years about how we can work on this area of performing. I used to think that it was really something that you just had to do. It was just a matter of willpower. And while it is a matter of willpower, there are ways that we can work on that self-control and that will, to achieve better results.

Know it Cold

One of the ways to work on this is to make sure that you know your piece cold.

Probably the first thing that I’ve had to learn in my career is to know a piece better than I think. Because the moment that you are nervous or the situation that you’re performing in is not optimal, then your concentration is affected. And if you don’t know your piece absolutely cold, then that’s going to invite disaster – flubs that you don’t necessarily need to have in your performance. But if you know your piece cold, you know the tempo, you know it faster than you want to play it, you know it slower than you want to play it, then you’re going to take that little bit out of the equation.

Play Through Difficult Spots

The second thing that I would say is learning to play through your difficult areas. And I mean, play through them. Oftentimes we take our difficult spots that cause us to flub up when we’re performing, and we just work on those flubs.

We do what I call the practice process which uses all the different articulations with your metronome on. I practice this way until I’ve learned that spot cold. But guess what? As soon as I do a play through with my piano player, that spot falls apart (at least it used to for me). The reason why that spot then falls apart, when I know it, I’ve learned it, I’ve done all the things that I need to do is because I haven’t learned mentally that I know it. So, in my mind, it still is a difficult area. What I must do is to erase the fact that that’s a difficult area from my brain and learn to play through that difficult spot without flubs. Then I will make new paths from my eyes to my brain, to my fingers saying, “oh no, it’s not a difficult spot anymore. I can play that spot.”

How Do I Play Through?

So, I learn to play through difficult spots. What this means is that I will add a measure before and a measure after the tricky spot – thus playing through it. However, you cannot start this until after you’ve done all your wood shedding, and you know that particular run or those particular measures that are tricky. Know them cold, then add a measure before and after. Then learn to play through.

Now you must play it through with your metronome on, because you don’t want to allow yourself the luxury of slowing down in those spots. When you have the metronome on it forces you to play through, hopefully up to tempo.

Plat at Tempo

And so I can put my metronome on the tempo and I can play the measure before the measure after, and I can play through that and I can do it again and again and again, and I can do it tomorrow with my flute cold, not having warmed up and I can play right through that spot because you’re teaching your brain a new path through that section because your brain learned the path that was wrong, that it was a flub area that you had problems now you have to learn that is not a problem area.

What you want to think about is that your brain no longer says, “that’s my tricky spot.” Your brain now says, “I’m just going to play because I know this piece, I can play it all the way through.”

Play Through a Section

After you’ve done that, played through with a measure before and a measure after, then I would go with a line above and a line after. Now you might want to say, well, what does it mean to play after? Because if I’ve gotten through that section successfully then I’m good right? Well, again, it’s teaching your brain how we think and how we learn. That section is no longer a problem. I no longer have to fear it and I’m going to erase that little niggly fear that comes in when I’m performing that says that’s a tricky spot.

Play Through a Page

Now’s the time where I might want to do the whole page. I want to play through the whole page with the metronome on. If you put that metronome on and you can play through that tricky spot, maybe another spot is revealed to you where you flub up and then you can mark that area and come back to it and start working on that. But it’s playing from top to bottom that is going to teach you how to concentrate all the way through and not allow yourself to have those flub areas. The areas that you’ve learned are tricky spots are more strongly erased and now we have no tricky spots.

Etudes Teach Concentration

Now the best place that I’ve learned to really work on that concentration and really stamina as well, meaning I can make it through a tough piece, keeping my brain on track and keeping my concentration is through etudes. The longer the etude the better. The Anderson etudes for example, get trickier and harder and more difficult as you go along. So, if you can make it through them concentrating, you can make it through a solo that will have measures of rest and places where you can put your arms down.

I am a big fan of etudes. But not just for technical skill and not just for learning music, but also because it really helps you to learn concentration and build stamina, when all the way through your metronome is on, you’re playing straight through. You are not allowing yourself to stop on those tricky spots because you’ve learned them and now your concentration is taking you through the whole piece.

Go get out a tricky etude and begin working on your stamina and concentration. It’s good work, it’s solid work, and you’ll be happy that you’ve done this kind of wood shedding and this kind of concentrated work.

Have fun!
DoctorFlute

Watch me demonstrate this idea:

Concentration and Stamina in Your Playing – FluteTips 162

The post Concentration and Stamina in Your Playing appeared first on DoctorFlute.

D to E 4^th Finger

In order to fix this glitch, you need to create an exercise for yourself. Play (high) D E F D nice and slowly. Do you hear any glitches or pops (when your fingers make a popping noise when they come down on the keys)? If so, we’ve got something to work on. If not, then increase speed slightly and listen again. I guarantee that you will hear a glitch at some point. Remember the faster you go the more you hide these problematic areas.

This D to E is really on the tricky side. Fourth fingers are notoriously weak, and because they’re weak, when we have to move one or both of them up or down, they can be a little slower than the other fingers.

Brain Power

The key to working on these fingers and these glitches is really brain power. You have to think your way through them. My ear has to be intently listening to what I hear and analyzing what is happening. I have to analyze what fingers are late, what fingers don’t go up or down at the exact time. When I know what is happening then I concentrate on moving those particular fingers very precisely. It takes time and effort and can be very tedious, but it works.

It is amazing that the more you think the better these get. You can make those muscles work better. You can make that finger go down or lift up at the same time that another finger does the opposite. Thinking your way through makes it happen.

You Can Fix This

If you hear a pop sound when the fingers go down or lift up, then that can be cured by thinking about how gently or quickly you put down/lift up your fingers. Or it’s possible that you slam your fingers on the keys. If you are one of those people that play with a heavy hand then you need to learn how to place quickly but gently. It’s amazing how much that can help.

I have to say that this is why a professional model flute is so phenomenal. Professional model flutes are not always all about the tone. They do offer a great tone but also, it’s about the finger action. When you have a handmade flute the finger action is just phenomenal. If you have a step-up instrument you can still work on glitches, but a professional model flute will make it just that much easier.

Makeup any kind of movement between notes that will create a difficult finger problem. Add some bigger jumps and work on those as well.

Carry Over

This is very, very tedious kind of work. I remember I had a teacher that gave me a whole bunch of patterns to work on with these glitches. I thought I was going to die when I worked on them. But the dividends they paid were amazing. Sometimes when you work on a run or some difficult part of your solo, it helps your fingers and your muscles altogether. But a lot of times it really helps only that passage. When you work on glitches, you’re working on that muscle control, and it carries over to everything that you do. It’s a really good exercise. So, the dividends are big, they pay off.

Work on these glitches. It will be great for your technique and your muscle control. It’s hard work but it will pay off.

Have fun!

DoctorFlute

Watch me demonstrate this idea:

Fixing the D to E Glitch – FluteTips 160

Practicing with Reichert’s Seven Daily Exercises Opus 5 – FluteTips 85

The post Fixing the D to E Glitch appeared first on DoctorFlute.

Hopefully you have watched some of my videos on a fast-but-thorough-warm-up. We always need to warm-up before practicing no matter how limited our practice time. But what do you do on your solo?

Running through solos when you are short on time is more of a panic move than a helpful situation. When you are not ready to play that solo, going through large portions can actually do more harm than good. It can cause you to make unusual mistakes that are now part of your playing. You then must take time on another day to correct these mistakes.

If you’ve watched some of my FluteTips videos, you will see that I have videos on using short periods of time to get a solid practice. Videos such as using 30 minutes to practice everything in your solo, and to practice your etudes while doing your tone, technique, etude and your solo practice. It can be an all-in-one.

What Do You Practice?

That is kind of what I’m talking about today. But I want to zero in on when you have very limited time for your solo, then what do you practice?

My college students are very busy, just as we all are. College students think they own the “really busy” schedule. They have no idea what busy really looks like. But, when they’re going from class to class plus have extra rehearsals because they are in the pit orchestra for the musical at the college, and they are preparing for recitals, preparing for concerts, preparing for other people’s recitals that they’re playing in, etc. – practice time becomes a real problem.

So, what should you practice in your solo if you only have 15-minutes? You need to zero in on where the problems are in your piece. For example, if I were to practice the Cantabile et Presto by Enesco, and I have very limited time, I would take some 16th note passage that I know my fingers do not get easily and perhaps that is all I would do in my 15 minutes. It will be all the practice I can get in. I am not even going to worry about tone. I am not going to worry about anything other than what can I do with these 8 to 10 measures in 15 minutes. This will make me move forward and allow me to learn, but also give me the freedom to not worry about all the things I cannot do.

Using this limited time in this way is much better than taking the day off and then picking back up where you left off two days ago. It keeps the piece in your mind, and in your fingers, and may even help you work through a tricky spot.

Don’t let the fear of not getting anything accomplished to make you not get anything accomplished!

So, when you only have a tiny bit of time, do not let yourself think that you cannot get anything done. You can actually get something done. Find a spot that needs work in your solo. Even if it is only two measures, work on that for those 15, even 10 minutes. You will be so happy that you did because you will make progress. You will have practiced a little, your head will feel good because you actually practiced rather than skipping practice.

So, let’s use our time wisely because we know it’s fleeting. We get busier and busier as time goes by. And it’s very hard to get that practice time in, but if we use it wisely, we can progress.

Have fun!

DoctorFlute

Watch me demonstrate this idea:

Using Your Practice Time Wisely – FluteTips 156

How to Warm Up in 15 Minutes – FluteTips 152

What to Do in a 30-Minute Practice Session – FluteTips 119

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The post Practice Articulation to Improve Your Tone appeared first on DoctorFlute.

This is how I get a full warm up for my practice session even though it will only be 15 minutes long. You really can cover all that is necessary in 15 to 20 minutes. When you do have the time for a longer practice session, this is still a great warm up routine. It will get you going, and get you ready to practice whatever else you have on your agenda.

But for today, 15 minutes is all I have. So, let’s get started.

Scales

The first thing I’m going to do is to practice my scales with Taffanel and Gaubert – the love of my life (my flute life!) Because I don’t have a lot of time, I’m only going to practice the flats today using Taffanel and Gaubert’s #4. If I had extra time, I would play all the way through flats and sharps, but that will have to wait until tomorrow. I am going to play #4 at a tempo that works for me but pushes my fingers. Using the metronome is always a great way to keep me on tempo.

Now, even though I’m doing this in a truncated period of time, I still must make sure that I am playing correctly and listening to my fingers. I always use all those articulations when I play Taffanel and Gaubert. It is very important that we wake up the tongue. The tongue is a muscle. Playing all those different articulations makes that muscle work.

Arpeggios & Tone

After scales I like to move into arpeggios. Today I’m going to play through Reichert’s 7 Daily Exercises #2. Now I like to practice Reichert by tonguing all the way through. Strangely enough, when I practice this arpeggio exercise like this, I count it as tone practice as well. Why? Because I think that when I tongue really short focused ta’s, then I have to make sure that the tone is focused in a tiny little package. It forces me to get a fabulous sound in a short period of time.

The longer you hold a note, the more you adjust your embouchure, and you fix things, and it can sound better and better. But if you can tongue and make that tone to be the tone you want in just a split second, then you know you are on the right track. So, I will tongue all the way through all of these.

Harmonics & Tone

Next, I want to work a little bit more on my tone. My next exercise is for the lip playing harmonics. I am going to play Reveille with harmonics only. In this exercise I only finger the low C, and I play the tune with that fingering. This makes my lip be in motion. I can concentrate on making the lip do all the work. It is a great way to work on flexibility with the lip.

Tapers & Long Tones

For the last few minutes of my short but important practice session I will work on long tones with tapers. I think if I am out of shape, my tapers are rotten. So, I like to consciously practice tapering all the time. Because I want this to be a 15-minute warm up I am not going to play from a high B, all the way down to low C. I will only play one octave. But I want that taper to be as smooth as silk. I want to taper down to nothingness.

Now there are reasons to do short tapers, and to learn how to do them in one beat. But right now, I am going to do long tone tapers as if I have all the time in the world to taper that note.

I have just finished my 15-minute practice and I feel nicely warmed up. In only 15 minutes I am not going to progress in my repertoire. But my lip will not go backwards! Then when I do have the time for a full practice, I will be ready to make good use of that session because my lip is in shape still.

If time is a problem for you, do not skip practice. Keep yourself on that 15-to-20-minute warm up schedule. You will cover everything necessary from tone, to articulation, to your fingers. This a fantastic way to get warmed up and stay in shape.

Have fun!

DoctorFlute

Watch me demonstrate this idea:

How to Warm Up in 15 Minutes – FluteTips 152

Always Warm Up Musically – FluteTips 144

What to Do in a 30-Minute Practice Session – FluteTips 119

30-Minute Practice Session Using Mozart Concerto in G

The post How to Warm Up in 15 Minutes appeared first on DoctorFlute.