Summerflute, Part Four and Reflections

So far, I've written about how each of my Summerflute experiences opened my eyes to something new. In this final post to wrap up the series, I had two more private lessons and a performance to finish the week.

Performing in a trio with Melanie Sever (C) and Kristin Hayes (R)

On Wednesday night, I had a private lesson with my twitter friend and colleague Meerenai Shim. As a trainee, I'm interested in taking lessons with licensed Andover Educators when the opportunity presents itself in order to see how each AE teaches. Meerenai approaches this work differently than I do, and it was great to work from a new perspective in our lesson. While I like to study and retain detailed information to get a better grasp of my body map, Meerenai uses and teaches the information in a very practical way for musical results.

I used the Allemande from the Bach Partita in the lesson, and we explored breathing and the space in the nasal cavities, which married well with Liisa's suggestions for me to resonate with my whole head including the mouth, back of skull and nasal cavities. At this point in time, I haven't really explored nose breathing a lot so Meerenai provided helpful suggestions on how to breathe in through the mouth and nose at the same time. Getting used to this type of breathing is going to be a process, but I have useful information to work with now which has the potential to make helpful and beneficial changes to my breathing habits.

On Thursday afternoon, I had my second private lesson with Amy Likar. I used the Reinecke in this lesson and Amy helped clarify any translation issues I may have had the day before in my performance for Liisa. At this point of the week, I had reached my saturation point for new information so this lesson contained less Body Mapping information and more integration with the information we had already talked about through the week.

Body Mapping wise, I am bringing into my awareness my tendency to thrust my hips and pelvis forward when I bring my flute up to play. This "hip magnet" action can be connected to a narrowing across my chest and shoulders as I play. Knowing that these movement patterns are connected is incredibly helpful when remapping these parts of my body in relation to my flute. It takes away the temptation to scan or focus on only one part of the body while trying to play, too. While being aware of these elements, Amy had me explore the opening phrase of the Reinecke using harmonic tones while noticing what was happening physically. Every time I played the phrase as written, I felt a more whole body-whole instrument integration.

Finally, Amy had me drape over a physio ball for a minute to think about the work I had just done. When I got up to play, it was AMAZING. The music poured out of me and the sound was unbelievably powerful and organized around my movement. It was a great lesson to help cement the trust and translation lessons from the previous day.

Friday was the last day of Summerflute. We wrapped up the morning with our final Feldenkrais ATM session (with a pelvic clock lesson, yay!) and the last hour of What Every Musician Needs to Know about the Body. The final event of the class was a student recital. I had opted to perform the first movement of Peter Amsel's Museum Triptych, the piece I premiered earlier this year.

My warm up for the performance was short and sweet. I played through a trio that I was also performing with two other students, and I then opted to warm up a little bit more and get some constructive rest in.

The performance was my best of the week. I felt more integrated, more aware, more comfortable. I felt more like myself, which was a positive note to end the week on. I had moments where I lost myself, but I did notice that as I felt myself gripping to control and return to my "normal" self, I could unlock my knees and the performance improved. This was a performance that I felt happy with, and I felt that it showcased my best work of the week.

I was meant to be at Summerflute this year. Not only did it reinforce that I'm on the right track with my Andover Educator training, but it helped pave the way for the next level. In the two weeks since, my head has cleared and I'm making some great improvements in my playing.

I came home with new strategies in my toolbox, and my teaching has benefited significantly. If you ever have the opportunity to attend one of these classes, I highly recommend it. It has the potential to change your life! Check out Summerflute's website and bookmark it for updates on the next class!

Karg Elert Caprice #1: Finger breaths and finding your effortless sweet spot

Here is my first podcast! One of the ideas I have toyed with is either live streaming my practice or figuring out a way to share some of my practice time with you to see how I do what I do. I have decided to go the podcasting route because I'm able to play and narrate my session. These episodes will have a stream of consciousness quality to them, so expect lots of "uhhhhs" as I articulate my thoughts.

Inspired by two pianists' work on the web, Erica Sipes and her current Pittsburgh Concerto Competition project and Jocelyn Swigger's Chopin etude podcast series, here is my first episode about the 1st of the 30 Karg-Elert Caprices. Since these studies get more difficult as they progress, I thought this would be a worthy project to take on. I've been wanting to study these in depth, but it's been a stop and go effort on my part. I'm hoping this podcast series will keep me accountable.

In today's episode, I talk about using finger breaths to determine the minimum level of effort you can play with to create dynamic contrast. After I finished recording and listened to my playing, I realized that there's very little contrast in my playing upon this initial performance. Being aware kinesthetically, I felt a difference in effort when I played forte passages compared to piano passages but there was no audible difference. This is something I will practice in not only the Karg Elert but also in my recital program repertoire. My plan is to re-record this first study over the weekend and hopefully have more convincing dynamic contrast.

Also, please check out Sensory Tune-Ups, Kay Hooper's book that I reference. It's a great resource to help you develop multi-sensory awareness and it gives you a place to record your observations as you explore.

Listen to this episode

The latest in my journey with managing performance anxiety

I was excited to play as part of Classical Revolution Philadelphia's monthly gig at One Shot Coffee. I've been wanting to hang out with them for a while and this was my first opportunity to come out and meet up with them. I was fortunate to have my husband be able to come so he could film my performance on my iPhone.

This was the result:



I'm OK with this performance, although I didn't feel in complete control and it is why I'm using these types of opportunities to sort out current issues before my Philadelphia and Virginia performances. My experience with performance anxiety has evolved into a delayed response that starts only after I've begun playing. Rather than mental chatter being front and center, it bubbles under the surface. Breathing becomes labored to the point it feels like I'm hyperventilating especially in softer passages.

So I certainly don't think it's a coincidence that I heard Alexander Technique teacher Jessica Wolf mentioned by Keith Underwood in his class I attended last Friday or again in another circle. What I wasn't aware of is her post graduate training course for Alexander teachers titled, The Art of Breathing.

As I reflect on yesterday's performance, I realize even more now that physical and mental stress is affecting my ability to breathe without interference while I'm performing. Essentially, performance anxiety induced tension is interfering with my ability to breathe well. Once I stop playing, muscular tension subsides and my breathing returns to a normal state.

I see improvements in my playing that I'm happy with but I'm on a neverending journey to produce the best musical product that I can. Focusing on one thing alone isn't the solution, but I want to continue bringing awareness to my breathing in my daily practice.

Here's a couple of great articles I've come across recently that have helped put things back in perspective for me so that I don't begin to overthink all the delicate complexities of playing a musical instrument:

Thinking vs Awareness by Jennifer Schneiderman

Frank M Sheldon's thoughts on consequences of End-Gaining

One of the greatest joys of playing music is the lifelong learning that accompanies it. Constantly learning, constantly reflecting, constantly sharing. Here's to the next one.

How I warmed up with a phrasing study and a coffee stirrer

I took some time to read the February 2012 issue of Flute Talk over the weekend. I was overjoyed to see Phyllis Louke recap a class (“A Fresh Look at Breathing, Tone, Articulation and Dynamics”) that Keith Underwood gave in Oregon recently. After reading this article and Patricia George’s Phrasing Study on Barret Melody No. 1, I was ready to play with a hefty dose of motivation.

The Barret melody looked vaguely familiar. I pulled one of my old copies of Mrs. George’s Flute Spa handouts (I have handouts from 2002 and 2003 when I studied with her) and there she had included first four of Barret’s Forty Progressive Melodies. I credit Mrs. George for teaching me so many of the phrasing ideas that now have become second nature to me. I felt inspired to explore these melodies again so the phrasing study and a coffee stirrer became my warm-up.

The week I spent with Keith at Ghost Ranch became a week with the coffee stirrer. This is a great way to figure out where you are placing articulations inside the mouth. It also encourages you to open up behind the embouchure rather than moving your jaw and lips with every note. Using the coffee stirrer to practice tricky rhythms and articulations maintains the most efficient embouchure so that you do not overshoot the notes. It’s a great, inexpensive tool to improve your tone, breath control and articulations.

In order to practice on the coffee stirrer, place the stirrer inside the mouth (with the tip above the top teeth) at a 45 degree angle. Blow into the stirrer, take the air back and play. The challenge is to take in your air through the coffee stirrer when you need a breath. Since the stirrer doesn’t change size, practicing on the coffee stirrer addresses embouchure size changes between registers and makes the breath more efficient. A three step process to practicing with the coffee stirrer is to play a passage on the coffee stirrer, then without and finally with the flute.

As I practiced, I stayed inclusively aware to recognize tension as I played. I practiced the phrasing study within the context of contour and stayed aware of the places where I felt less efficient and began trying harder to achieve the sound and shape I wanted. I practiced those specific phrases on my coffee stirrer in order to feel how I could open up behind the embouchure while breathing with less effort and movement. By the end, I felt like I was beautifully contouring this first melody with efficient, organized movement.

With this smart, efficient practice, I felt an ease that usually doesn’t happen until after a good warm-up. With a little creativity and inspiration to try new things, I feel that I’m arriving into a new level of practice. Quite simply, it was nice.

Rethinking the Breath

Flutists are athletes. It isn’t uncommon to see flutists on stage impressing the audience with their huge sound or distracting physical movements as they try to take large enough breaths to sustain the musical phrase. Flute playing can be approached not as a physical task that must be conquered, but instead a physically freeing MUSICAL experience. Play music, not the flute.

Here are a couple of tips to free yourself from the physical ideas of “supporting” and “bracing:”

1) Focus on your spine when inhaling and exhaling the breath. The spine GATHERS on the inhale and LENGTHENS on the exhale. This isn’t how most flutists think about their spine. What happens when you start running out of air? You start squeezing the torso. If you play in opposition to the way your body naturally works, it will be harder to play.

2) Improve the quality of your inhalation. Picture yourself taking a sip of hot cocoa, and how you try to cool the warmth of the drink by sucking air in through your lips. This is how the breath should feel when you inhale. The lungs naturally expand, and energy is conserved because you aren’t forcing air into the belly. Practice this type of inhalation with slow scales such as Taffanel and Gaubert E.J. 4.

3) Tounge position really does matter. Most are taught to keep the tounge low in the mouth to allow the air to move freely. What happens when you place the tounge high, wide, and forward in the mouth and then play? If you do it correctly, you should feel that you use less air to get the volume and quality of sound that you want. Experimenting with this French style of tounge position really gives a remarkable ease to playing extremely soft.

Even if these tips go against all that you have been taught in your studies, experiment. If you struggle with breathing, what if one of these ideas gives you the “a-ha” moment you’ve been desperately looking for? Happy fluting!

Active Breathing

I have just recently began exploring the concept that Nina Perlove discusses in the video above with the help of Dr. Christine Moulton, who teaches at Mansfield University. I had never heard of this way of breathing prior to Dr. Moulton discussing it with me, and I find that this way of breathing is much more natural and frees the sound and the player.

This method of breathing is a little controversial which is why so many of us flutists haven't heard about it. I worked on breathing a lot in college, and exploring this new method has actually improved things in my playing that have always driven me nuts.

I find the concept extremely interesting. I'll post more in the future as I do further research on the topic. For now, enjoy the video and please comment with any thoughts you may have!