NFA Recap: my 48 hours in Vegas!

It's hard to believe that less than two weeks ago, I gave my presentation at the NFA convention in Las Vegas. Since then, my days have been a whirlwind of travel and moving that has made it difficult to keep track. I thoroughly enjoyed my time at NFA. I wanted to meet so many people and attend as many events as I could while also making time for fun. Here's a brief recap of the events I attended:

I started the convention by briefly listening in on the High School Soloist Finals. I was able to listen outside the door to one finalist, and sat in the room to hear another. The level of playing was fantastic. I especially enjoyed the commissioned piece for the competition, The Black Swan by Leanna Primiani. This addition to the repertoire is very accessible while still including some extended techniques.

The other competition I was able to attend was the Piccolo Artist Competition semi-finals. I helped with this event, but I sat in long enough to watch eventual winner Zach Galatis perform. His first piece, the Allegro from Vivaldi's Concerto in C Major, was a delight to watch. Zach played with an ease that was very musical and inspiring.

I also attended the Graduate Research Competition winner Elizabeth Robinson's presentation on the solo flute works of Takemitsu. I have Itinerant and Voice in my library, but have not yet learned them. I was fascinated to hear Elizabeth break the pieces down based on theory and Takemitsu's own philosophy so that the pieces (at least, to me) are less intimidating.

The last presentation I attended on Thursday was Bonnie Blanchard's Jump-Start your Teaching and Get Paid What You're Worth! Blanchard has written two books that are excellent reference guides if you have a teaching studio. The presentation was intended to introduce people to the books so as someone looking for new nuggets of information, I was a little disappointed but given this was my first convention, this was a lesson learned for subsequent presentations.

I visited the exhibit hall for the first time on Thursday afternoon. My intent was to try a lot of flutes, but I only tried Mancke headjoints. My friend and fellow Andover Educator trainee Melanie Sever was helping at the booth, and she guided me through some choices to try. My favorite was a sterling silver head with a platinum riser and 14K gold crown. I tried the wooden headjoints as well as some of the metal ones and each one played well. My favorite one felt the most like my David Williams headjoint.

The Palazzo!

I tweeted up with a lot of people on Thursday. I met Cory Tiffin, Meerenai Shim, Megan Lanz, Jennifer Grim, Nicole Camacho, Fluter Scooter, Viviana Guzman and Daniel Dorff. These are all people I've interacted with regularly on social media, so meeting them in the flesh was quite exciting!

On Friday, I began the day with my presentation, Holistic Practice: Practicing for the Whole Musician. I had a full room which was awesome. It was the first time I had witnessed first hand how hungry flutists are for information about the body. Given how well the presentation went and the number of people that signed up for the slideshow and resource list, I felt like this was a confirmation that I am doing what I'm meant to and that was well worth the craziness to make it to the convention.

Fluter Scooter was my volunteer!

Later that morning, I attended Phyllis Louke's Begin with Excellence. I use the Flute 101, 102 method series that she co-wrote with Patricia George in my own teaching studio, so I was excited to meet Phyllis for the first time. I got some interesting tidbits in this presentation to try in my own teaching.

Continuing along a pedagogy focus, I attended part of FUNdamentals!, a participatory workshop led by Cassandra Rondinelli Eisenreich, Julie Hobbs and licensed Andover Educator Kelly Mollnow Wilson. The games and exercises presented were fun and interesting. I hope to be able to access the information on NFA's website when they post the handouts.

Jim Walker as Dean Martin with Marilyn Monroe

Cirque de la Flute was next on the agenda. This was an interesting networking idea that placed people in groups by interest and let people meet one another while being entertained with a variety of acts escorted by various NFA personalities in costume. The group that I chose included the "non-flutists" at the convention, and Nancy Toff's mother, Ruth, was in attendance. It was a delight to meet her and hear some stories about her daughter.

The next event I attended was the Open Amateur Masterclass led by Lisa Garner Santa who teaches at Texas Tech University. Lisa is very movement oriented, and I did a quick google search to see that she is a certified yoga teacher. When she incorporated movement into her instruction with the participants, their playing noticeably changed.

The final event I attended of the convention was a concert highlighting short pieces from a variety of performers. My sponsoring teacher for my Andover Educator training, Amy Likar, was on the program. Unfortunately, the program went longer than scheduled and I had to leave prior to seeing her perform. The program included two world premieres. Alba Potes' Evening Conversations for two bass flutes and Russel Scarbrough's Cylindrical Sea for flute and clarinet.

Since returning home and reflecting on my trip, I feel like I didn't particularly plan my convention experience well but I think that it's a result of the immense number of things on the schedule. There is something for everyone. The only thing I'll do differently next time is choose presentations on topics I'm not very familiar with since most seemed to be introductory in nature. It was disappointing to miss the last two days of the convention, but I did well for just 48 hours in Vegas!

Summerflute Thoughts, Part One

Summerflute 2012

Last week, I attended Summerflute at the beautiful Schwob School of Music on the campus of Columbus State University in Columbus, GA. The course was a week long immersion in the somatic fields of Body Mapping, Alexander Technique and Feldenkrais while integrating the work into musical performance. Amy Likar taught What Every Musician Needs to Know about the Body (the Body Mapping course I am training to teach), Adam Cole taught Feldenkrais Awareness through Movement (ATM) classes, Laury Christie taught group Alexander Technique classes and Meerenai Shim was available for private Body Mapping lessons and also held the entire week together with her organizational prowess. Finnish flutist Liisa Ruoho taught 12 performers through the course of the week in daily 3 hour masterclasses.

I attended as a performer so that I could have the opportunity to play for Liisa Ruoho. Liisa teaches at the Sibelius Academy, and is a licensed Andover Educator. I first read about Liisa when she was mentioned in Lea Pearson's book Body Mapping for Flutists. Liisa is a licensed Andover Educator, and her way of incorporating the Body Mapping information into her teaching is astounding. Her teaching is so integrated that it never feels you are focusing on just the body or the instrument. Body and instrument are one. For someone like me who is too intellectual in their playing, being exposed to this style of teaching was very beneficial.


I will spend the next two weeks describing my experience at Summerflute via the three times I performed during the week, and how the somatic immersion really changed my playing in the course of 5 days. The course confirmed for me that I am on the right track with my Andover Educator training. The immersion also paved the path forward for continued progress and integration.


So stay tuned for Part Two as I describe my first performance with Liisa.

Perspective: Abundance or Scarcity?

In my last post, I mentioned that I've been reading Rosamund and Ben Zander's book, The Art of Possibility. One of the first things discussed is the lens that people choose to view the world through.

Viewing life through a lens of scarcity means that nothing is ever good enough. There isn't enough work, too many musicians, your background isn't good enough, etc. This limits the viewer in an incredibly narrow way.

Open yourself up to abundance and (Zander is absolutely right on this) possibility begins to pour in.

I feel like I can be the poster child for scarcity since my life story began through what should be a lens of scarcity. I was born and raised in Southwest VA, culturally rich but not in classical music. Although I had a caring band director for the first three years as a flute student, I didn't necessarily have the opportunities that kids have living in urbanized areas...or did I?

Through this lens of scarcity, I began looking for opportunities. I began traveling 50 minutes one way every week to begin private lessons. I auditioned for the Kingsport Youth Orchestra, didn't get in, but kept trying anyway until I did. I entered local competitions. I went to music camps in the summer. I dreamed about Curtis, Julliard and Eastman. I began exploring the online message boards to learn as much as I could about playing the flute.

Regardless of my background, even though I had a whole realm of scarcity grounded in reality to contend with, I never stopped dreaming or trying.

When you view things through the lens of scarcity, your past hangs over you like a dark cloud. You never can seem to move past all the things that you blame for your lack of success. Self-doubt builds and your professional life continues to suffer.

If I chose to live my life in the realm of scarcity, I would not be doing the things I'm doing today. I wouldn't have the courage or confidence to step out. I only have a Bachelor's degree and it's not even from a major music school! What am I thinking?!

I could give you 50 more reasons why I shouldn't be doing what I'm doing if I operated this way.

The quote, "Life opens up with you do" could never be more true. Making a living in music gives you the freedom to take risks, explore life and learn things that a desk job will never teach you. We can return to our instrument every day and come away with a new awareness even if it is only just one tiny thing. That beats the daily routine where you're just counting your working hours down until you can go home.

Articulating the differences of the scarcity vs. abundance perspectives are key to letting go of those elements that hold you back. Life isn't fair, but we can make it more fair when we choose to live an abundant life full of possibility.

If there was an ever more important lesson I could teach to my 16 year old self, it would be this.

I'm ready for Moonstone!

I've been consumed this week with lots of last minute preparations for my first ever self-produced concert in Philadelphia at Moonstone Arts Center! This wouldn't have happened without a lot of help and support from friends and colleagues, notably Sharon Torello, Local Arts Live founder. Add to this the World Premiere of Museum Triptych by composer Peter Amsel and this will be an unforgettable experience.

This is a huge moment for me because it's my first full length concert as a professional flutist and I've never felt more excited about the future. I am taking control of my career and creating my own opportunities. I really do feel like after all the years of talking, writing and dreaming, I'm arriving into a new phase of my career. 2012 has been claimed as the #yearoftheflute and I'm excitedly staking my claim.

I have learned so much about all aspects of producing a concert and although I'm still very much in favor of accessible and affordable events, I have a better understanding of the factors that go into ticket pricing and that is valuable information for future concerts. Given my recent day job experience at a newspaper, I developed a better understanding of the media and it has renewed my focus as a columnist and blogger to highlight smaller local concerts that don't garner coverage. With that experience, I spent a lot of time publicizing and submitting my events to numerous online sites and again coordinating with Sharon to get my concert featured on Local Arts Live.

If you're not in the Philadelphia area and want to tune in via the live internet stream, please visit Moonstone Live. The show starts at 8 PM Eastern Time. I promise that you won't be disappointed.

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

Part Two: "...but I practiced!" A technique practice strategy

In Part One, I discussed strategies for learning a new piece especially if you’re a very detail oriented person. The suggested strategies should help you maintain the overall feel of a piece while working.

In Part Two, I want to discuss a technique practice strategy that B and I devised for them to cover more material while regularly rotating through every major and minor key. This is particularly useful for adults, amateurs and professional alike, who may be squeezed for time to cover everything. I tend to practice technique largely in only the areas I feel need attention. I do try to get through a larger technique practice once a week (a la Practice Like you Train), but sometimes I just don’t have this time. This strategy is a four week cycle, allowing you to visit all your go-to technical exercises once a month while rotating through all keys once a week.

The books B is using are The Flute Scale Book by Patricia George and Phyllis Louke, Marquarre Daily Exercises for the Flute, and the classic Taffanel and Gaubert 17 Big Daily Finger Exercises for the Flute. Since the Flute Scale Book is founded on the Taffanel and Gaubert, most of the work can be done from the Flute Scale Book. In the plan below, I will notate both the Flute Scale Book exercise title and the corresponding Taffanel and Gaubert exercise.

First, decide what you want your material to consist of. You may have a goal of getting through the practice plans listed in the Flute Scale Book or you may want to devise a strategy for getting through all of the Marquerre exercises. The point of this strategy is to devise a plan that will help you achieve your goal. This works because it’s breaking a long term goal into smaller manageable bits. The key to this plan is consistency. You won’t get bored practicing the same things everyday while you’re building or maintaining a strong technical foundation.

There are infinite possibilities when working with E.J. 4 (corresponding Tone Color Scales in the Flute Scale Book) so I keep these scales as a constant every week while rotating through the keys. This sample plan is good for an amateur flutist who only has 10-15 minutes a day to work on technique. This is based on a 6 day practice schedule, practicing 2 major/minor key pairings a day with varied articulations.

If you're more advanced, please adapt to fit your time constraints technical areas of weakness. Please feel free to share other plans based on your material. I’d love to see them!

Week 1:
Flute Scale Book Tone Color Scales (T&G E.J. 4)
FSB Ascending and descending arpeggios (T&G E.J. 8 and 9)
Marquarre Exercises 1 and 2

Week 2:
Tone color scales
Scales in thirds (T&G E.J. 6)
Marquarre Exercises 3 and 4

Week 3:
Tone color scales
Broken arpeggios (T&G E.J. 11)
Marquarre Exercises 5 and 6

Week 4:
Tone color scales
Modal scales in 3rds and 6ths, flats on MWF, sharps on TRS (T&G E.J. 6, played in 6 note chunks)
Marquarre Exercise 7

*For more suggestions on technique books, read Flute Warm Ups

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.

Part One:"...but I practiced!" A practice strategy for learning a new piece

I have a student (we’ll call them “B”) who has dysgraphia, a learning disability. We have been working together for a year and it has been a very fascinating journey. B’s background is in special education, so I have benefitted from their expertise as I rise to the challenge in order to grow as a teacher and find new ways to teach music to those that process information differently.

Most private music teachers have a few strategies for helping dyslexic students since that "LD" is more common; however, unless the parent and student are up front, it can be difficult to realize you cannot teach in your usual manner with students who seem "lazy" or "don't try hard enough." Unfortunately, sometimes it isn't until the student gives up out of frustration and you feel like you’ve failed as a teacher that we realize missed opportunities. Since private music teachers are in no way trained or ethically able to diagnose a student, we must be patient, armed and ready with a variety of strategies and solutions for each problem that arises in order to customize a student's instruction.

I appreciate B for hanging in there with me. It has been a mutually beneficial path of discovery. Lately, we’ve had a series of lessons where we’ve been discussing practice strategies to help them systematically work on achieving a faster technique and ways to help them learn new repertoire faster. Thanks to a great conversation on twitter*, my own research and input from wonderful collaborative pianist and practice coach Erica Sipes, here is a strategic stepwise plan that I created for B in order to learn a new piece. I wanted to post this online for others that may have trouble seeing the trees for the forest.

What happens when you hit the wall and take longer than everyone else to achieve the same goal? What happens if you cannot use what we typically refer to as chunking (playing groups of notes with pauses in between to allow the brain to process short term information into its long term memory)? Use this practice plan to strategize and increase your chances of success in the practice room if you've tried other ways and they haven't worked so well.

I myself have been inspired to work in this new way especially with music that is out of my comfort zone. Going from larger to smaller details and back again creates a process that encourages confidence in the music.


Start with the big picture:

1) When learning a piece of music, outline the piece to get the big picture before moving on to details. Analyze the piece in order to determine its overall shape, phrase structure, range, key and key changes, and scalar and arpeggiated patterns. If you are able, analyze the piece's chord structure. Listen to the piece at this point to keep the big picture.

2) Play the piece through. Mark places immediately that you know will need attention, but don't get stuck on small mistakes. Stay focused on the big picture in this initial playing.

Begin learning and exploring the finer details of the piece:

3) Learn one musical idea at a time. Too often we get stuck on playing through the material until we feel somewhat comfortable. This way can be time consuming and inefficient. One idea suggested by Erica is to start from the end of the piece and work backwards on one musical idea at a time.

Working within the context of musical ideas versus chunks is one issue that I've encountered in my work with B. Because of the amount of time needed to learn a new piece, a chunk determined by number of notes and not musically becomes ingrained with the break that you take between each chunk. Practicing musical ideas keeps the phrases intact without arbitrary breaks in your final performance.

4) Practice by ear. Work with a recording to learn parts of music that is giving you trouble. I recommend this step especially if you're not a particularly aural person. B is visually dominant, and I suggested this step as a challenge. Practicing this way will help develop your ear and help you tune in to wrong notes and mistakes faster.

5) When you’ve worked through this process, play the piece through to find where you are. Mark any places that are still troublesome and work through the process again until you feel confident of the piece.

Ultimately, I think this process helps those who have trouble processing smaller details. Backwards chunking and practicing by ear for the smaller details help integrate these into the larger picture that you need in order to have a successful performance.

I encourage you to try this for yourself and see what happens. Instead of getting by on innate talent, sometimes a little more focus or discipline is needed in the practice room for the results you want. Stay open to experimenting and adapting the suggested steps in a way that works for you. If you had to adapt any of this to fit your personal needs, I would love to know. Please e-mail me at adelpalazzo (at) gmail.com.

Part Two will be about devising a technique practice strategy. Stay tuned!

*Thank you to my colleagues on twitter for a useful and practical discussion of practice techniques when I asked for advice. Be sure to follow @quartertonality, @TammyEvansYonce, @ericasipes, @AnythingPiano and @hickey_kim!

*Photo credits: Psychologies and Arctangent

Twitter inspired gifts for the flutist in your life

A twitter friend of mine posted a couple of weeks ago that she was decorating her tree with flute angel ornaments and they were all gifted to her in some way. I responded that perhaps as flutists, we block out seeing anything remotely flute related on the shelves except when we’re bombarded with all sorts of goodies at flute fairs.

So if you have a flutist in your life that can’t bear the thought of receiving another ornament (as beautiful as they are), here are a few twitter inspired ideas for you:


Meerenai Shim’s Sometimes the City is Silent – this debut CD would make a great gift for all levels of flutists. I got the opportunity to see Meerenai perform at the Andover Educators’ Biennial Conference last June and her energy on stage is infectious. She preserves that same energy on her recording. Follow Meerenai on twitter as she continues to premiere new works!





Fluterscooter Flute Case Cover – I bought one of the new canvas bags earlier this year, and I love it. Stylish and roomy, this bag does everything I need it to. For flashier types, you'll love the patent leather and silver options while low key flutists will find the canvas bags attractive. Fluterscooter is on twitter, too!




Consider a gift certificate from Flute Pro Shop. Owner Joan Sparks is regularly seen at flute events in the Mid-Atlantic region with loads of flutes, music and accessories. My current favorite thing on her site is the Flute Resting Pad, a velvety soft cushion for you to place your flute when not in use. Follow Flute Pro Shop on twitter!




Body Mapping for Flutists: What Every Flute Player Needs to Know about the Body – this guide by Andover Educator Lea Pearson is a must have in every flute teacher or flute student’s library. If you have questions about balance, hand position, or breathing, this is the resource for you!

4) Fluteworld gift certificate – need I say more? Follow the store here.

Happy holidays from The Sensible Flutist!

Racing or Fluting, Performance Anxiety Exists

I’m running the Army Ten Miler for the second time this Sunday and I’m a little nervous.

I didn’t follow a set training plan, but I increased my mileage from week to week and ended things with a 7 mile long run. Now I’m tapering and resting and I’ve had to keep my easy runs from turning into a mad dash when I start thinking about last year’s excitement. My run yesterday was an easy 11:00/mile pace, which makes me hopeful that I can PR (“personal record” for you non-race folks) compared to last year’s broken toe time (1:59:14). That doesn’t stop the occasional butterflies when I think about Sunday morning.

It’s a lesson in dealing with performance anxiety. The race part is easy – I can use those nerves to my advantage since it’s a methodical sub-2 hour process. How do I cram those lessons learned over a 2 hour period into a 10 minute audition or performance?

The biggest thing that has helped me shake the nerves is to acknowledge them. I attempted this in the audition I took a couple of weeks ago, and it helped somewhat. I gladly welcome pre-audition nerves because it means less adrenaline in the actual audition.

We’ll see what happens in my race on Sunday. I think my nerves are coming from a worry that I didn’t train long enough or I didn’t strength train enough. I have to accept that I’m as ready as I can be at this time. Just as we worry that we didn’t prepare enough in the practice room, the lessons I learn as an amateur runner easily translate to music. All we can do is plan, discipline ourselves to get the work done and remain self-confident.

Regardless of my performance anxiety on the course or in the audition room, both experiences make me crave more and they reaffirm that I need challenges in my life. Let the excitement of the moment overshadow your momentary discomfort. Accept the challenges and grow.

Ghost Ranch

I spent a week in August on Ghost Ranch in Abiquiu, NM. Aside from where I grew up in Southwest Virginia, it felt like the most secluded place I had ventured.

It was amazing.

Enveloped in nature and music, I performed for Keith Underwood, had amazing conversations with like minded people (now friends), hiked and ran and ate some great food. The week began with culture shock (4 years stuck on the east coast will do that to you) and by the end of the week, I felt at home and energized.

I had kept hearing about the effects of Ghost Ranch on its visitors, but it sounded a little mumbo jumbo to be honest. I'm a transcendant type but those experiences still sounded too spiritual.

But I understand now. I'm on the path to making some great changes in my playing because of Keith and spending a week mostly disconnected from the daily grind and technology helped release some emotional blocks. My week at Ghost Ranch combined everything I value - music, fitness, transcendence. Instead of having to fight to balance those values as I do in my daily life, they all combined effortlessly there.

On my way back to Albuquerque to fly home, my friend Allie and I stopped in Santa Fe. I was in search of turquoise, but instead I found a great bracelet. The artist who made it said the bird symbolizes independence and free spirit. I wear it as a reminder of my independence as a person and the type of free spirit I want to cultivate in my performances as a musician and artist.



It also serves as a reminder of that week. It was such a transforming experience that I have plans to go back next year if my schedule allows.

A Flutist's Self-Worth

A thread on the FLUTE list popped up that saddened me. The question of the distinction between amateur and professional players came up, and I read the thread with dismay. The original poster's intent was to ask the valid question why we flutists don't support each other more, but the resulting discussion didn't answer this question.

A certain flutist wrote who said that she is a "nobody in the flute world" because even though she leads a fulfilling musical life, the fact that no one knows her outside her own circle and she doesn't hold an orchestra or teaching position doesn't hold value in her eyes.

An unfortunate stereotype of flutists is that we're all catty, uber competitive, and self-centered. When I meet a new flutist, I always gauge the person to figure out their attitude. By the end of my time with them, I know whether they share the same philosophy of music making I do (if you've read the rest of my blog, you know how I feel about music) or whether they are purely career focused (i.e. constantly focusing on the orchestra audition circuit or teaching positions). When I pick up on the latter attitude, I usually come away a little deflated and questioning my own worth.

Seeking approval from others is a struggle for me. When I was in college, I constantly wanted the approval of my flute teacher. She was hard on me, and it took me years to realize that it was because she wanted the BEST for me. I wasn't in her studio to be told how good I was. I was in her studio to progress and become a better flutist...to better my chances of becoming a successful musician.

So what does "successful" mean? For a lot of flutists, this only means winning an orchestra or teaching job at a major school. Orchestra jobs are diminishing. The Philly Orchestra has declared bankruptcy, the Louisville Orchestra is no longer employing their musicians. Now, more than ever, flutists (and musicians everywhere) must be flexible and open to creating their own opportunities.

Your self-worth as a musician and as an individual should not be tied to what others are doing. We are musicians, with creative impulses and the ability to create opportunities for ourselves. This is what creative entrepreneurship is about. It's about taking control of your life and your destiny. It's about creating opportunities for yourself where none seemingly exist.

Do I struggle with self-doubt? Yes. But I struggle more with self-doubt when I find myself worrying about what others think especially those who have won those types of jobs we dream about in music school. My self-doubt dissipates when I stop worrying, and I start focusing on my own goals again.

If you have an idea for something great, pursue it. Don't let entrenched attitudes stop you. Winning orchestra and teaching jobs is the old way of thinking. Now, more than ever before is the time to seize on opportunities. The power of the internet and social media can take you from obscurity into something more.

Unfortunately, a lot of musicians don't know how to seize on these new opportunities. Instead, I meet a lot of flutists who had big dreams shattered by the harsh reality of the real world. Life often gets in the way of what we would like to have, but it doesn't mean that we should give up just because we can't win an orchestra audition or a teaching job.

Be flexible, adaptable, and true to yourself. Your musical career might take a path you didn't expect, but the path least travelled leads to the most fulfilling work.

Go out and create! Here are a few resources to help you get past self-doubt and start or rejuvenate your career:

Jade Simmons' Emerge Already! Blog

Beyond Talent by Angela Myles Beeching

The Savvy Musician by David Cutler

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!

Flute Warm Ups

My favorite part of practicing is warming up. I love the routine and security of staying in shape, and having an entire hour to feel like I am "ready." But nowadays, I don't have that hour and more often than not, I have to jump in whether I feel good or not.

With my recent practice project, I realized I needed more time in my warm up to correct tonal deficiencies I was hearing in my sound. So I returned to my old Moyse De la Sonorite routine. I love using the low and high register long tone exercises, in addition to his interval exercises. The end result? A more open, resonant high register and more timbral control.

Fast forward to my current situation which seems to change daily, sometimes hourly. All of us experience times like these, where we may only have 30 minutes or an hour to practice and feel like we're moving ahead on our goals. While it's incredibly difficult to maintain within this time, I believe that with an efficient structure, you can still make progress.

1) Have a plan This is my goal. I'm in the process of devising various warm up plans that I can go to when I'm pressed for time, have a little bit more time, or for those rare days where time is not an issue.

2) Be flexible Some days, you are going to sound like crap. Fix it. You may spend all your time on long tones, but that's OK. Our obligations don't stop just because we're having a bad day with our instrument.

3) Have fun One of my favorite practice strategies is included in Burton Kaplan's book, Practicing for Artistic Success. Always plan out what you're going to practice, for how long, and for what purpose. THEN give yourself 10 percent less. You will surprise yourself with how you structure your practice to fit your time constraints. Interestingly enough, it frees your playing and allows you to relax into your session. Below are some great resources for tone and technique work.

Marcel Moyse De la Sonorite

Marcel Moyse Exercices Journaliers pour la flute (Daily Exercises for the flute)

Taffanel and Gaubert 17 Big Daily Finger Exercises for the Flute

Walfrid Kujala Vade Mecum

Trevor Wye's Practice Books for the Flute (Books 1-5 come in a nice omnibus edition and cover tone, technique, articulation, intonation and vibrato, and breathing and scales)

Peter Lukas-Graf Checkup (the whistle tones exercise in this book is to die for!!)

Robert Dick Tone Development through Extended Techniques (an excellent resource to pair with De la Sonorite or Wye's tone book)

Paula Robison Flute Warmups Book

Flutronix: Review

Through a chance meeting on myspace, a unique duo was born. Brooklyn based Flutronix is a classically trained pair of outstanding flutists that have made the crossover into a widely appealing electroacoustic fusion. Allison Loggins-Hull and Nathalie Joachim are combining their passion for the flute and composition and forging a new way, creating more accessible pathways for people that may not otherwise know about classical music and engaging new audiences as a result.

I was pleased to receive a copy of their Kickstarter funded debut album. Mesmerized from the onset by the layers of sound in Joachim's piece "Crazy," the album delivers a diversity of styles in each track from electronica to hip-hop to reggae. As a fan of Steve Reich, I particularly enjoyed the loops in "Stacked" which is reminiscent of Reich's "Vermont Counterpoint."

This album was arranged to showcase the duo's multiple influences without tiring the listener. The vocals in "Aware" and "Wander" further showcase the duo's compositional and multimedia abilities to produce two intriguing duets between flute and voice. I also enjoyed the more virtuosic flute pieces, "Bit of Everything" and "Pray." For flutists, the licks sound so familiar (like Taffanel and Gaubert familiar) but made cool by pairing with electronica.

As a classical flutist with a non-musician spouse, I am constantly searching for music that will appeal to my husband while also being able to appreciate it for its artistic value. He enjoyed Flutronix's offerings as did my brother-in-law. I was excited to share this with them if for no other reason than to give them an example of great flute playing within a context they could appreciate.

I hope that Flutronix will continue this project, and that their creativity will inspire others to pursue their unique projects. You can purchase Flutronix's album from their website (http://www.flutronix.com/) in addition to iTunes and Amazon.

Check out these other links:

http://www.facebook.com/flutronix

http://www.wqxr.org/blogs/q2-blog/2010/jun/02/brooklyns-darmstadt-flutronix/

http://www.myspace.com/flutronix

http://www.youtube.com/user/flutronix

A glimpse into the future of classical music as seen during Alexa Still's Summer Flute School

I attended Alexa Still's Summer Flute School over the past weekend. I jumped on the opportunity while looking for other classes to attend when I was applying for the Ithaca Flute Institute.


While the Ithaca class I attended was comprised of serious students, the competition was fierce. I wanted that type of environment to reacclimate even though I don't entirely agree with it. That type of competition was the primary reason I ventured out into the real world. I didn't want to feel pressure to practice anymore. I wanted to practice because I love playing the flute. It took about 2 years, but that passion has returned with full force.

For me, Alexa's class was like coming home and I was completely taken with the concept of the masterclass. I teach all my students with the same kind of honest supportiveness. Alexa accepts performers for the Summer School on a first come, first serve basis with an application process intended to screen and select only those enthusiastic about the flute and a kind, supportive attitude. She does a fantastic job selecting the performers for such an intimate class setting.


Everything about the class was exactly as I expected it to be. We ate lunch and dinner with Alexa, and she was always around and always willing to answer questions after the class was done for the day. This type of class and how it was such a unique experience for me brings me to my point for this post - musicians that give their time to professionals and amateurs alike says so much about who they are personally and professionally. This is the way of the future. Musicians must be approachable and must engage their audience. Alexa embodied these two principles during the class, and setting a great example for all of us.

Alexa treated us all with respect, and provided insightful comments during each performers' session that could benefit the entire class. All of us came into the class knowing the ground rules. We all respected those rules, and as a result, there was some really great discussion about the flute all while being supportive of one another. I am interested in seeing if there are other flute masterclasses, or even masterclasses for other instruments, that approach learning in this way. To think of all the implications stemming from such a unique masterclass experience is exciting. I hope that I can make my own small contribution in passing along the knowledge and perspective I gained from attending a intense 2 day class.

The Boom Stand

Tight hips and hunched shoulders are instant killers to a great big resonant flute sound. Practicing hip openers in yoga and constant attention to opening the shoulders and chest to stand straight is a constant pursuit; however, why do hunched shoulders occur? It seems that putting a music stand in front of you could present a problem. Because you can only adjust a stand's height and the angle of the music holder in a vertical plane, the music will remain a static distance away from you and you will inadvertantly hunch your shoulders and head towards the music to be able to see (and not have the stand so high that no one can see you!).

Here's where the Boom Stand comes in. It's a regular mic stand with a music holder attached to the end. In addition to adjusting the height and angle, you can also bring the music closer to you while the base stays stationary. What an idea! I mentioned this quandary in @DTClarinet's practice group (http://blog.davidhthomas.net/groups/), and was actively thinking about what changes I could make to a traditional music stand when I found the Boom Stand.

The only downside to this side is the price. If you visit http://www.theboomstand.com/, they have a special internet price of $90. In the search for more ergonomic tools to improve our practicing and how our bodies feel, I think that if you have problems with neck and shoulder strain, it's worth the investment.

I'm also interested in hearing from you - do you use a modified music stand? If so, what changes did you make? Let me know!

Yoga Breathing & Warm-Ups : Yoga Three-Part Breath

The immediate effects of yoga are noticable--a more relaxed state, more energy, and a feeling of openness. Many flutists begin their yoga practice in a quest to improve breathing technique and to learn relaxation techniques to ease performance anxiety. Watch the video linked below on the Three Part Yoga Breath. This is a good place to start if you're new to yoga and would like to see how your breathing technique might benefit from yoga breathing.I highly recommend finding a local teacher to begin your practice.

You will gain the greatest benefit by having a guide. I started my yoga practice almost 7 months ago in a quest to destress, but now I'm on a quest to see how continued practice can benefit flute playing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YumVsAhcGEU