The book “17 Daily Exercises” (or 17 Grands Exercices Journaliers de Mécanisme) by Paul Taffanel and Philippe Gaubert is the flutist’s bible. Since its publication in 1923, it has become a standard method book for all flutists. Taffanel began writing this book, and it was finished by his student, Gaubert, after Taffanel’s death. I start my …
After reading Dr. Noa Kageyama’s excellent article on how much musicians should practice (“How Many Hours a Day Should You Practice?, www.bulletproofmusician.com), the question occurred to me: besides measuring quantity when it comes to practicing, how do we measure the quality of our practice? Dr. Kageyama begins to address this in his article. He makes …
Basic flute maintenance (from the flutist’s perspective) Having taught flute for fourteen years now, I’ve taught a lot of folks. I’ve decided to compile a basic maintenance checklist for flute students. I’ve found that, usually, each student has a few habits that could cause damage to their instrument. Any damage is going to adversely affect …
For me, the summer means working on flute technique. With a substantially pared-down teaching schedule, I transfer the time I would normally spend driving, preparing lectures, and grading exams into practice time. And while I do explore repertoire during this time, I primarily focus on technique. I normally don’t have recitals scheduled until the middle …
I recently had the opportunity to be on the committee that judged the flute choir portion of the National Flute Association’s Newly Published Music Competition. This competition includes several categories: solo flute, flute and keyboard, flute and guitar, flute and tape, flute choir, and flute plus one to three non-keyboard instruments. It also includes pedagogical …
My latest music acquisition is the Sonata for Flute and Piano by Beryl Rubinstein (1898 – 1952). I have only a passing knowledge of this work. I have never heard it performed live and have heard it only on Jeffery Khaner’s American music recoring. I became interested in the work after learning that Rubinstein can …
I was interested to read that Joan Tower has written a brand new flute piece. According to an email I received from her a couple of weeks ago, the work For Marianne was written for the retiring Executive Director of the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Marianne Lockwood. It’s a five minute work, and Tower is …
So many students ask me about proper concert etiquette. If you’ve never been to a classical concert before, I can understand your anxiety. Probably you’ve been to a popular music concert, so let’s start there. What’s the appropriate dress for a popular music concert? It depends. You probably wouldn’t wear cowboy boots to a Green …
If you’re reading this particular post, you’re most likely a student of mine, in some capacity. This blog is for you. The purpose of it is to add an additional perspective to the material we cover in class. Some of it is to help clarify lecture topics, and some of it is to give you …
