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.

By Heart - memorizing

By Heart                          

There's music in the sighing of a reed,  There's music in the gushing of a rill;  There's music in all things, if men had ears:Their earth is but an echo of the spheres. ~Lord Byron

Choose a part of your music to learn from memory each day. 

Make sure to learn your Major scales by heart. Then your Arpeggios. Next, your Minor scales in all 3 forms; Natural, Harmonic  and Melodic. Then  learn your Thirds in Major & Minor forms.

Learning these builds up your memory muscle.   It is a muscle you have to exercise it!

Next, select a movement or a piece of music to memorize. :

1. Listen  (Ear) to your piece while looking (Eyes) at the music. 

2. Map out a plan for memorizing each section. Use the Flash Card Technique.

 Flash Cards Technique

This is for any piece you are learning or wanting to play by heart, from memory. This is a great way to increase your practice efficiency, effectiveness and to learn a piece of music in depth. Use 7 Essentials of Artistic Interpretation.( ©musicians way)

Flash Cards Technique: 

1. Get to know your music and create a Flash Card by taking apart your music into puzzle pieces. Cut up the copy of your music (parts, phrases & sections) and put them on the front of a Flash Card.(I recommend that you number your cards)
2. Personalize each card by giving each part, phrase a name, character, feeling, color, texture, image... What is the musical idea you are practicing?
3. On the back of the Flash Card write down your practice ideas and how you are using your 7 Essentials of Interpretation!( ©musicians way)
4. Practice from your Flash Cards. Use them out of order so that you can put like parts together, or start at the end or middle... Lay them out in different ways on your stand, tape them to your walls or lay them on the floor.              Be creative and have fun!

"The path you take is your path and no one else’s , so welcome it "- the musicians way

Name, Character, Feeling, Color... of music on Flash Card?:

____________________________________

7 Essentials of Artistic Interpretation ©musicians way

Capture the Mood, Style and Tempo, Shape the Dynamics, Color the Tone,     Mold the Articulation, Contour the Meter, Drive the Rhythm, Express the Form:

Creative Practice Ideas:

1. 2.

3. 4.

 When do you need to have it memorized? 

How long will it take you?

3.  Play (Feels) the part you are learning while looking(Eyes) at the music, 3 times.  Focusing on:  1st, how it looks     2nd, how it sounds (Ear).  3rd, how it feels to play it. 

4. Now try it with your eyes closed. Can you visualize the music in your head? Can you feel it in your hands, whole body?  Do you know the sound of it clearly by heart? 

This takes a lot of focus and attention to all the details.

Be persistent & patient. Sometimes this comes naturally and for others it takes more time to learn by heart. One is not better than the other. Learn how much time you need to play a piece confidently by heart.     You can do it!

See great websites:

 at www.musiciansway.com - 4 Stages of Memorization

www.acousticfingerstyle.com/memorize.htm - On Memorizing by Jamie Andreas

www.melissacolgin.com - on Memory Mapping

Finding Inspiration!

Inspiration 

... I cast this spell: I know I can open this door and show you something unforgettable and transforming, and I’m determined to take myself there and to take you with me. –Jeffrey Kahane

To be inspired, to breathe in life... in a way inspiration is always a wonderful surprise that we are given. Just as we breathe in life every second, we have the opportunity to be inspired by life every second. How open are we to being inspired? How well do we know what inspires us? It is a good idea to know what inspires you and to continue to nurture that your whole life. We all need to find time for noticing and being inspired.  Let’s do it today!

INSPIRATION

What makes you feel alive and loving life?

What inspired you today?

A person, A feeling, A piece of art, A piece of music, A teacher

Are you in need of finding inspiration? Where can you find it?

Look in your Book to help you remember?

Find new ways to inspire yourself.

Ask a friend, family, teacher,mentor for guidance.

Is it?: Sound

Music, live performances, soloists, bands, orchestras, opera,  nature sounds, a voice, a poem being recited, chanting...  

Image

A painting, sculpture, photo, mountain, architecture, a beautiful color…

Kinesthetic

Writing something out by hand, the feel of silk, water, sand, a hug

Visual

Image of beauty for you, landscape, art, nature,person, the image of someone achieving something great. Making art...

Fragrance

Do you appreciate your sense of smell? Roses, perfumes delicious food, pine trees, the ocean …

Dreams

Do you have dreams you remember that inspire you?

Or dreams for your own life that you want to have happen in your waking life?

People

People that you love, that you admire, that motivate & inspire you, that you want to be like some part of them, that you see, hear, and like something about them? Interview people you want to learn about. See my article Dreams and Goals/ Inspirational Interviews.

A Book

Something you read, a quote, or a poem, or lyrics from a song...

More Ideas:  Collect inspirational, music, images and quotes and put them in a book, or your computer to look at daily.        

Listen: Jacqueline du Pre, Cello  CD:  Concerto, Elgar     

Look: Jacqueline du Pre - A Celebration of her Uniqueness

Practice Schedules - Work & Play

I keep reading about my students work out schedules... which is great :-) It makes me wonder about their Flute Work-out schedules? We all need to inspire and motivate our self to practice. I will write about that too... For now select a workout for your practice and do it! You can change it. Most important is that you give this time to your self!  Play with each work out you choose and bring your practice and music making to life!


A few Questions to ask are:

1. What is my daily schedule? How long am I going to commit to practicing?

2. Can I practice in 3 or 4 sessions, 2....? or do I only have the morning or evening? or early and late? 

3. Am I more of a morning or evening practicer? 

4. Do I have a lot of flexibility in my life schedule right?  

5. Do I just need to make a schedule and stick to it? 

6. What do I need so that I am practicing everyday in an effective and joyful, playful, productive way?

7. Am I thinking that I will get to this schedule stuff, but really I do not and need to do this now :-) ?

What kind of schedule do you use to help yourself? How do you devide your time?

Some of my favorites are in my Practice Ideas.  5 and 7 Part Recipes for Practice. 

5 Part Practice

  This Recipe takes 65 minutes of Practice :           Have more than 65 min.’s to practice? Yes!

                                                                                                 Practice on the part that needs it the most!

   1. Preparation: 5 minutes                                                  Examples are: a difficult piece, lots of 

                                                                                 music to learn, improving your tone, working

                                                                                                on a particular technique - like multiple tonguing:    

   2. Tone: 10 minutes                                                            then spend more time on that part of your Practice.

   3. Technique: 10 minutes Remember: A very important part of your musical

                                                                                                   education is to listen and study your music.

   4. Etudes: 15 minutes

   5. Repertoire: 30 minutes Great Practice + Great Musicianship =  Great Performance

 7 Ingredients -  Practice Recipe

  Creating a recipe for creative practice?

  Use Inspiration, Organization, Creativity & Action to create your recipes and maps.

  How are you going to divide your time to manage this?

  Create a practice plan and a motivational map.

  Remember: When creating maps and plans, begin with a goal that will have positive results!  &  Spice it up!

 1. Body - Mind - Spirit : Stretch and breathe -  organize and focus - be present and positive.

 2. Tone: Have a daily & weekly plan. Do not bore yourself! Work on something different & specific each day. 

 3. Technique: Create a daily & weekly plan. There are so many to choose from, do it... and invent your own too.

 4. Music, Solos, Orchestral, Ensembles: What are you learning? What is a priority? Divide your time wisely.

 5. Studying and Listening to your music: This is a very important and productive part of your practice time. 

 6. Record and Video your practice, lessons and performances: Do it at least once a week!

 7. Perform and play for people: Make a habit of playing for someone once a week. Share your love of music!