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!

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 Two

Liisa Ruoho and Me

I arrived at Summerflute on Monday and jumped right in. I had a private Body Mapping lesson with Amy Likar, who is my sponsoring teacher as I undertake the Andover Educator training. Since she is also a certified Alexander Technique teacher, we did some table work. This put me on the path for greater learning for several reasons.

After having only gotten around 3 hours of sleep the night before and since I had just spent the morning travelling to Georgia from Pennsylvania, my playing was quite disembodied which didn't surprise me at all. I was still carrying an incredible amount of tension in my neck from carrying both laptop and duffel bags. I also had an enormous amount of personal stress to contend with as well, which happened to come spilling out during the lesson. This clearing helped me feel less like 2 persons, and more like myself and ready for the week ahead.

The lesson centered around basic Alexander principles with Amy encouraging my tactile awareness as I laid on the table. She encouraged me to accept what I was feeling and thinking, while tying it to my freedom of choice (inhibition). At the end of the lesson, I played the portion of the Allemande of the Bach Partita again and this time, it felt freer and more like myself.

I feel it's worth mentioning here that since seriously undertaking this work in the past year, I have gone through transition periods where I lose my sound and lose how it feels to play. It's an odd (and sometimes tear inducing) feeling that I have to patiently work through. I was very hopeful that the week would help me return to a new and better place.

Later in the evening, I got my first opportunity to perform in the first masterclass with Liisa Ruoho. I eagerly volunteered to play first since I had gotten such little sleep. I played all of the Allemande for her, and what I noticed most was how small I felt in relation to the hall. The Schwob School of Music at Columbus State University has beautiful performance spaces. Legacy Hall was no exception.

In addition to feeling small, I also felt disconnected from those sitting in the hall. Because I have never performed the Bach and I'm still figuring out what I want to do with it musically, my inclusive awareness was narrowed. I missed several notes because each time I wanted to connect with the audience through visual contact, I would lose my place in the music.

Liisa offered suggestions that provided immediate results. She first had me play the first note of the movement, which is an E2 asking me to play in the space around myself with more space in the mouth and thinking of the space in my nasal cavities to increase resonance with less effort. Listening behind me also helped open up my sound, and I produced a more musical and resonant sound that filled the hall.

From here, she asked me to play leaning against the piano as if I were having a beer and talking with a friend. This time, I really played the Bach like I wanted and was quite surprised. Shifting away from "good flute player" stance and into a relaxed position helped me access the music much easier. Since then, I've returned to this position in practice and while I always return to my regular position, I find that it's easier to access what I want. I like to think of it as a modified monkey (please comment if you don't know what monkey is and would like additional explanation).

Liisa encouraged several of us performers through the week to play with the composer as a partner. This mindset makes something as intimidating as the Bach Partita much more enjoyable to play. Although I wasn't looking forward to playing on the first day knowing how tired I would be, the lesson with Amy and performance for Liisa went hand in hand.


No matter what we're dealing with in our lives, professionally or personally, accepting ourselves and the baggage we carry is essential to performing with freedom and joy. At this point, I'm happily and slowly making my way and I'm happy for the downtime I have as I figure the next level out for myself. While performing is incredibly important to me, I feel that I have nothing to prove to anyone. Was the Monday night performance my best ever? Not in any way, but that was the best I could offer at that moment in time and I accept that.


Even though I didn't feel secure in my initial performance of the Bach, Liisa's teaching instantly inspired and motivated me to jump into the practice room to figure out a solution. My mood lifted as my motivation returned and even though I didn't have much time to practice during the week, I was able to explore enough on my own to keep making discoveries through the week.

In my next post, I'll talk about my second masterclass performance and what the fourth movement of the Reinecke Sonata brought to the surface.

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.