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 Three

Masterclass with Liisa Ruoho (thanks to Meerenai Shim for taking this photo)

I continued through the week, enjoying the combination of Alexander Technique, Body Mapping and Feldenkrais while preparing for my next performance for Liisa Wednesday afternoon. On Tuesday, I rehearsed with collaborative pianist Yien Wang and WOW! I had chosen to play the 4th movement of the Reinecke Undine Sonata, and this sonata is a a beast for pianists; however, we ran the movement twice and I felt completely at ease with her by the end of the short rehearsal. She was a treat to work with, and I loved watching her perform during the classes and recitals as she has a wonderful ease in her playing.

The fourth movement is the climax of the Undine story. Hilary Bromeisl describes this movement as,

"The finale movement is the most dramatic and incorporates Hulbrand's scolding, Undine's vain pleading, and the anger and revenge of the water spirits. Despite her anguished appeals, Undine must herself be the instrument of Hulbrand's punishment. At the wedding of Hulbrand and Berthalda, Undine sadly appears and gives Hulbrand a kiss that kills him. At the knight's funeral, Undine secretly joins the mourners. She then vanishes and in her place appears a spring of water from which two small streams encircle the new grave. The return of the loving theme used for the love Undine first felt for Hulbrand creates a touching mood to end the sonata."

Having performed the sonata twice in its entirety recently, I felt that I was ready to take the piece to a new level and I was interested to get Liisa's feedback. When I learned this movement, I found the very dramatic nature of the movement caused old patterns of tension to return. My solution at the time was to find the point of least work at all dynamic levels, and play within certain volume ranges in order to approach this piece differently than I may have before. My goal was to find the "Goldilocks Effort" (Kay Hooper's Sensory Tune-ups) for this movement.

In fact, I had chosen not to really practice the movement at all. I wanted to see what emerged and in the rehearsal with Yien, I began experimenting with the sound to express the unfolding drama instead of only dynamics. Interestingly enough, Liisa's suggested the same path I was feeling.


In my second performance of the week, I noticed a new element. Where the Bach had felt small, I felt that I had a hard time trusting enough to give myself completely to the Reinecke. I desperately wanted to experiment, but my efforts fell flat because of a lack of confidence in myself. I was connected to the music and to the audience this time around, but I played it safe.

Liisa's direction was pretty simple. Give yourself completely to the music and all the emotions it expresses. For the fourth movement of the Reinecke, this is a big job and it meant playing a lot louder. If I had taken Liisa's suggestion at face value without any knowledge of my body, I would have simply proceeded to try harder which would have resulted in a lot of muscle tension. Instead, she had not only asked me to play and feel more emotion, but she was essentially having me translate her directions on the spot with her guidance.

Just like in my prior performance, I had changes in my sound happen immediately. I tried a few phrases and although I wasn't attempting to muscle my way through, I did notice a big difference in how I used my whole body.


One of the points Amy touched on through the week in What Every Musician Needs to Know about the Body was the need for translation. When a teacher tells you something, it is your responsibility to translate it onto the instrument. This is where Body Mapping can come in handy, and this is how I was able to apply Liisa's suggestions right away on stage.

For example, say your flute teacher asks you to support the sound more. What does this mean? Traditional pedagogy can sometimes be very vague and when discussing internal aspects of flute playing, students are left to decipher what something like "support" means. This deciphering is otherwise known as translation, and if you can translate musical instruction through the lens of Body Mapping, the results can be very positive and can lead to more expansive, musical playing.

Trust and translation. Two huge lessons all in the span of 25 minutes.

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.

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.

Skype Flute Lessons

Does your schedule prevent you from driving to a studio once a week for regular flute lessons? Why not take lessons via Skype? Skype lessons are a flexible and convenient option that works well for all ages and levels of students. 

I am offering a FREE 30 minute trial lesson for you to try out Skype lessons with me to see if it suits you. There is no obligation and no strings attached. If you would like to continue lessons after your trial lesson, I offer pre-paid lesson packages of 4 or 8 lessons that are payable via Paypal. You may e-mail me at adelpalazzo (at) gmail.com to schedule your trial lesson.

Prices:

Single lesson - $20/half hour, $40/hour

4 Lesson Packs:
Package of 4 half hour lessons - $80
Package of 4 hourly lessons - $160

8 Lesson Packs:
Package of 8 half hour lessons - $160
Package of 8 hourly lessons - $320

If the idea of Skype Lessons has you scratching your head, here are answers to some questions you may have:

Why study with me when there are so many other flute teachers offering virtual lessons?

I am a professional teaching artist with experience teaching all ages and levels. As a teaching artist, I perform regularly and take auditions and as a result, I’m able to coach my students through various performance situations and performance anxiety issues. 

Another exciting development to happen this year is that I am now an Andover Educator trainee studying towards becoming licensed to teach “What Every Musician Needs to Know about the Body.” The benefit to you in private lessons is that I can share my Body Mapping knowledge with you to improve your flute playing. 

Taking a sensible and whole body approach to flute playing (hence the name of this blog), I believe that the body is an extension of our instrument and we must move well in order to maximize our musical potential. Every student that studies with me is exposed to comprehensive and customized flute study with elements of Body Mapping and performance coaching included.

Who is The Sensible Flutist?

You can find information about me at my website and you can read more articles here on my blog to gain further insight into who I am. Here is a short bio:

Alexis Del Palazzo is an Andover Educator trainee, active performer and devoted teacher residing in the Central Pennsylvania region. She has performed widely across the United States including Virginia, Oklahoma, Texas and New York.

Alexis teaches many private flute students and has taught at Corning Community College. As a private studio teacher, Alexis’s students have consistently received superior ratings at solo festivals and have won competitions. Her passion for teaching and outreach has led to her work being published in Flute Talk magazine. She has presented workshops on teaching and practicing with extended techniques for the Rochester Flute Association and the Central Pennsylvania Flute Fest. She will be presenting “Holistic Practice: Practicing for the Whole Musician” for the National Flute Association’s Annual Convention in August 2012 in Las Vegas.

She holds a Bachelor’s of Music degree in flute performance with special distinction from the University of Oklahoma-Norman where she studied with Dr. Valerie Watts. Other teachers include Christina Jennings, Helen Blackburn, Patricia George, and Christine Moulton. She has performed in masterclasses for Carol Wincenc, George Pope, Jill Felber, Alexa Still, Keith Underwood and Liisa Ruoho. 


Why Skype lessons?

You don’t have to travel and they’re a great option for those who live in an area where there is no local teacher. Rather than try to accommodate lessons during my studio hours, Skype lessons are a flexible option since I am able to teach lessons at a mutually agreeable time.

Because I live in central Pennsylvania, you can take advantage of the cheaper lesson rate I am able to charge here versus a larger city. This increases your savings if you live in a more expensive urban area.

If you have any additional questions, please e-mail me. I look forward to working with you!

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.

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

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.