All State Flute Etudes - Texas

It is that time of year again - All State Etudes are out!!! I enjoy teaching these Etudes as there is so much potential for the students to learn about music and grow as flutists, musicians and people. Because they are so challenging and the process of learning and performing them is so intense they have the opportunity for great growth. So for me the HOW of how they learn these is so important. Well, the HOW in how we learn in general is so meaningful and important to me as an educator and as a person who genuinely loves to learn and teach. So, each year I give a series of Master Classes using these Etudes as a means to learn about music, flute and the unity of Practice and Performance. The classes start in Austin, Texas the last week of July and continue to Houston, Texas the first week of August. I also give a class for the Houston Flute Club and at the University of Houston as well as for various other organizations in Texas. 


Below I will post a few of my hand outs on these Etudes.  If you would like to purchase a set of my practice parts please contact me. The cost is $15 and I will send you the pdf of them. 
All the best to the students learning the Etudes this year! 


~ Happy Practicing
 Jennifer

All State Etude #1

Caprice no.29 in F# Major by Karg-Elert

1. Capture the:

Tempo: e. = 108-126   - Work up your tempo slowly. Use Metronome Motivation Chart. Practice short chunks of music at high and turtle speed.

Mood:  With Velocity, Extremely Swift, Tingling, Sparkling. This is an Effervescent, Popping, Electric piece that is a little Mischievous too! Get into character and create this mood with the sounds you are making.  The unique sound of the key F# Major contributes greatly to the mood. Get to know and become great friends with this “yellow key” F# Major. 

Style: 2Oth Century with Late Romantic and Expressionistic Style.  Karg - Elert loved  J.S. Bach’s music and this influenced his style and composing. 

1. Shape the Dynamics : There are extreme dynamics from pp to F. Play what is written and also shape your Dynamic Design between written Dynamic Markings. Practice playing the pp in mf and f too to always create a great tone on each note. 

1. Color the Tone : In this Etude think of your tone color as central to the bright sunny yellow of F#. How you color your tone on the accents and slurs is essential. Use vibrato and vowel shapes to help you color and bring life and importance to special notes and high points in the your phrasing.

1. Mold the Articulation : This is key to making this piece coming to life. Remember that the staccato notes need to have a consistently great tone quality on every note. The beginning, middle and ending of every note matters even when it is short! Practice all slurred and when you tongue it make sure that at slower tempi you allow the notes to be full length. As you increase the tempo the notes will become shorter. Most people focus on the start of the note, which is important, but also consider how you are releasing each note too. Use your “Breath Builder, Flow Master” to create light moving fast air for your tongue to move through and articulate. 

1. Contour the Meter : This is in 6/16. It can be counted at first in 6 and then felt in a big 2. The notes are metrically displaced over the bar line which look sort of strange at first. However notice that the accents keep the sound of a more traditional meter. It is quirky and fun to play in this 6/16.

1. Drive the Rhythm : The rhythm of the 16th pulse is constant creating a constant foot on the gas pedal, yet the slurs show us the the scenery we need to enjoy the drive. Remember finding the heartbeat, pulse of any piece is essential and is the life blood of the music. Music exists in time. 

1. Express the Form: There are 5 basic Motives in this Caprice. You will see these revealed in each of the Practice Parts. Enjoy the great composing of Karg-Elert and how he so exquisitely composed this piece. Take apart the puzzle, discover and explore the parts and put them together again to see the  Motives and the form of this Caprice.  

1. Say rhythms out loud and over exaggerate the accents and articulations. Notice all the sharps and enter the land of F#Major.

2. Practice each part 3-7 times as directed in number 3. 

3. Practice very slowly with metronome on sixteenth note Subdivided 2 on each an unaccented sixteenth note. Leave accented notes single tongued so that you can really notice the accents. 

4. Use the 7 Levels of Learning, 25 Practice Ideas and your Metronome Motivation Charts. 

7 Ways to Create Long Lines

We were talking about this a lot in Master Class this week. Here are some of my thoughts on :

____________________ Creating Long Lines___________________

The journey of a thousand miles, begins with one step. ~ Lao Tzu

Where are you and the music taking us on this musical journey?

1. Intention = Know where you are going! 

2. Breath =  Flow. Using your Breath is the most important factor in creating a long musical, line. To create more flow between 2 notes, make a small crescendo as you move between them.

3. Dynamics = Create a gradual growth and fading. Make a colorful and shapely dynamic design.  Use numbers for guiding your dynamics. 1 = softest dynamic.                                                                                 The higher the number the greater the dynamic volume.

4. Rhythm =  The steady heartbeat of a musical line, with organic rhythmic movement, creates a flowing line.  No sudden changes of tempo and no rhythmic bumps in the note groupings.

5. Vibrato = As Mr. Kincaid said, “vibrato can be a direction indicator.” Listen to your vibrato and use it to give direction, color and movement to your musical line. Direction by varying the speed and width. Color by adding a shimmer of vibrato to special notes in the phrase. 

6. Smooth Finger Movement = Check to see that your fingers are moving as a mirror to your musical line.   Finger movement is: lyrical, legato, gliding, graceful, smooth, silky...

7. Balanced Body = Supported Sound =  ease of breathing and body and long musical lines.