Flute choir members who play multiple flutes confront problems not experienced by those who play just one instrument. These include making quick and accurate embouchure adjustments when changing to another flute, being in tune immediately when picking up a cold instrument, adjusting to the size difference between instruments, transporting multiple flutes and their accessories, and finding lightweight, compact but sturdy portable pegs.

Embouchure
    Flutists who switch between piccolo, Eb flute, C flute, alto, bass or contrabass should strive to develop a good consistent sound on all instruments. A weakness on one instrument means it will take longer to adjust when changing from one to another. Developing a consistent tone takes a critical ear and a commitment to high standards. Practice vocalises with a limited number of notes, such as the one below, to assess tone color, evenness of timbre, and fluid vibrato. There is no shortcut to good tone; pay attention to each note. (This exercise is from page 11 of Trevor Wye’s Tone book.)

    Continue with this pattern down to the lowest note of the instrument. Practice between quarter note = 54 and 72.
    To practice changing between instruments, ask the conductor for the concert order and practice the repertoire in that order one after the other without stopping. This helps identify which instrument is the problem. Pieces that start very low, high, short or soft require a precise setting of the lips. For a piece with one of those troublesome elements right at the beginning, practice that skill separately to focus attention on the problem. Search for etudes that target this skill. Remember scales can be modified to address a particular issue. Once a weak instrument is identified, spend extra time practicing that instrument.

Size Matters
    When switching instruments, there can be an odd feeling in the arms and fingers when holding the new larger or smaller instrument. For example, when switching from bass to C flute, the C flute can feel like a toy. Avoid programming a flute piece with a difficult section at the beginning immediately after a bass piece. In a flute choir, pick up the new instrument as quickly as possible. With any luck, the conductor will have something to say about the next piece and there will be a longer adjustment period.

Tuning
    Tuning multiple instruments just takes longer and requires some advance planning. Rarely is there time to adjust three instruments well when the entire choir is tuning. Arrive early enough to tune all the instruments in advance and then check them when the whole choir is tuning.
    As a rehearsal or concert progresses, many choirs become sharper. In addi- tion, unplayed cold instruments will be flatter than the tuning note, exacerbating the problem. If the first entrance on the new instrument is low and soft, it might sound painfully flat. Work with a tuner to avoid the problem. Check what happens to that particular instrument if is tuned but then sits for a while. Play the soft entrance and check whether the pitch is consistently flat. If it is, anticipate the problem and push in so the first entrance is up to the pitch of the choir. After about 20 seconds of playing, pull back out again if it is too sharp. Be sure to take advantage of rests at the beginning of a piece to blow silently through the new instrument to get it up to performance temperature. Attentive work with the tuner will clarify intonation tendencies. This knowledge offers players a better chance to find the pitch of the choir.
    If the intonation is inconsistent when practicing an entrance, work on greater awareness of exactly where the bottom lip is in relation to the embouchure hole and on the consistency of the speed and angle of the air as it leaves the lips.

Transport
    Hauling multiple instruments around is tiring and there may be a better option available. A backpack style bag works well for altos and smaller instruments. Consider having a sturdy waist strap added to the bag to take the weight off the shoulders. A rolling suitcase or any bag with wheels can be useful, but stairs are more difficult to navigate. If a bass comes in a case with no handle, strap it onto a rolling suitcase where the rest of the flutes are transported. Wheeled luggage carts are readily available for suitcases whose wheels are inadequate for the job.
    For those with contrabasses, a very compact and lightweight case exists that accommodates contras and other flutes, but they are quite expensive. This case does work well if traveling by plane with a contra as it can go into an overhead bin. Most airlines are very accommodating with musical instruments but the bass case may become a personal item.

Pegs
    It is easy to find large, heavy bases and sturdy pegs that low flutes can be placed on while practicing at home. It is more difficult to find sturdy, yet lightweight and compact pegs and bases to carry back and forth to rehearsals and performances. Some styles feature fold up legs with rubber feet. These are light and compact for travel, but the legs stick out and can be more easily kicked by errant feet in group setting. Currently there is not a peg for bass flute in this style. Steel bases with interchangeable pegs are sturdy but heavy. Wood pegs and bases are attractive but can also be heavy and bulky. There is also an extremely light and compact wood product that has three screw-in pegs and two small press-in rods. It can be modified to fit five instruments (Picc, Eb, C flute, alto, bass) with a little help from a neighborhood hardware store, a drill and a larger bass peg from a different setup. Search under the accessories category at music stores and online using such terms as flute pegs and flute stands and see what is currently available.
    People with woodworking equipment might be persuaded to take on making flute pegs and stands as a project. A person attending my Alto and Bass Retreat made a bass flute stand adapted from a bass clarinet stand that doubles as a way to hold up the end of the bass. Just recently on the Low Flutes Facebook group, a drawing and photo of a simple yet elegant homemade contrabass stand was posted.
    Contrabasses frequently come with stands from the instrument maker, but are not always as compact or as light as one would hope. Jonathan Cohen describes how to make a contrabass stand from a camera tripod in the January 2013 Flute Talk issue, page 29. You can also search online for how to make a contrabass flute stand.

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Current Marching Band Position

Correct Standing Position

Side View with End of Flute Forward

    Susan Fain wrote in Flute Talk in , “Each year flutists across the country play their instruments while marching (and sometimes running) in intricate patterns, holding the flute out to the side and parallel to the ground. The right shoulder is lifted slightly higher than normal to raise the flute to this horizontal level, and the end of the flute is brought back to keep the instrument in the same plane as the body. The left shoulder is curled forward and around so that the left hand can reach the keys of the flute. In addition, marching band frequently calls for the head to be lifted, which in turn requires the neck to bend backward more than normal. Ouch! I ache just writing about it.”
    Flutists know this scenario all too well. During the fall marching season, students complain of aches and pains from playing the flute in this position and worry about the continuing worsening of their tone quality. As most teachers have known for years through having either experienced marching band themselves or with students, playing flute in a marching band has little to do with playing the flute artistically. Correcting this should be an obvious and easy fix. It may be one of the most important things flutists should do pedagogically as a group.
    The question through the years has been how did we get into this predicament? I asked a well-known marching band director and the reply was, “directors are looking for uniformity in the shows and forget that the flute is played off to the side and needs an asymmetrical set up starting with the feet, up through the torso, arms and head. However, I think if the situation is clearly and simply explained to them, there can be change.” Of course, the biggest benefit for the entire band program will be that flutists will sound better for concert season, and for flutist, that they can play pain free. 
    Some marching band programs solve this issue by having all the flutes play a percussion instrument or the piccolo. When marching with the piccolo, the slight deviation from the marching band position is less obvious to the adjudicators and spectators. However, unless flutists provide their own piccolos, many school systems do not have the resources to provide one for each student.
    To enact this New Year’s resolution, flutists should start at the grass roots level and work their way to the top. Since marching band season has concluded for most organizations, this is the time to take local band directors out for lunch or coffee. Discuss your concerns for flutists’ health and performance issues and solicit their help. It is the directors who go to district, area, regional and state meetings and will be able to get this topic onto the agenda. Once there is a commitment from each state, competition promoters hopefully will redesign marching band adjudication sheets to reflect how the flute is actually played well and healthily, and presenters will retrain adjudicators to evaluate flutists in a different way.
    So, I invite you, the flute community to make this New Year’s Resolution to help change the marching band world. Flutists have talked about this for years; now let’s do something about it. As a resource, Susan Fain’s article is available .

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Marching Band Guidelines for Flutists
1. The flute is played asymmetrically to the right side of the body. Unlike symmetrically-played instruments where the feet can be side by side, an asymmetrical instrument should be played with the left foot in front and the right foot in back as if serving a volleyball.

2. The flute is not held parallel to the field, but is held at a slight downward angle.

3. The flute is not held parallel with the shoulders. The end of the flute is forward. This is necessary because the embouchure hole is no longer an oval, but is an asymmetrically-shaped hole with upper- and under-cutting. Finding the sweet spot in the sound usually requires the air stream to hit the blowing edge slightly to the right on the embouchure wall.

4. Arms should be hung rather slightly away from the body. The elbows should be pointing toward the field.

5. The head balances on the spine. A slight nodding motion will help the flutist find this spot. When the head is in the correct position to achieve a good tone, the air will be blown toward the flutist’s left big toe when standing with the left foot in front and the right in back.

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Baby Steps
    The first thing to do is not hold on to the flutist you used to be. Concentrate on taking baby steps. I began by listening to recordings of flutists I admired and focusing on their phrasing. It brought back the memory of how I used to feel when I could play well and gave me the incentive to keep trying even through the times I thought I would never sound that good again. So don’t set lofty goals at the outset. Doing so will only result in frustration. Pace yourself, accomplish a little, and then reset your goals to accomplish a bit more.

Breathing
    By and large the most difficult technical aspect of playing the flute is breathing. I was surprised to learn that the flute requires the most air of any wind instrument. Playing long tones (or should I say attempting to) was helpful, and I constantly reminded myself that Rome wasn’t built in a day.

Fingerings
    I remembered the first and second octave fingerings and where the notes were on the staff. However, the notation of the higher notes above the staff was more difficult to remember, and something I did not want to attempt yet since the squawk I produced was anything but encouraging. So start with what you can play now.

Repertoire
    A really bad idea is looking at your old repertoire and thinking you should be able to play it. Playing this repertoire is not going to happen any time soon. Start simply. Realize that you are a beginner again; but a beginner who has the advantage of knowing that time and practice will produce results.

Take It Easy
    Once again remember that breathing is probably the most challenging hurdle. I found that if I played a simple favorite melody and enjoyed doing just that, the fingers and the breathing worked themselves out much more easily than when I played scales. Each practice session I played from a book of songs that included a CD accompaniment to help get a sense of flow back.

Find a Place to Perform
    One of the quickest ways to get your chops back is to play with others. Performing at church and retirement communities helps you as much as it helps the audience. Join a community band or flute choir. If you like jazz and rock, attend some open mics and meet other musicians.

The Flute
    Get your flute serviced – especially if it has been sitting unplayed in the case for years. Besides fixing your flute, a good repair person can be a good resource about flute activities in the area.
    Don’t blame your instrument as I did. I must have gone through three different brands of flutes in my first year of starting over. In the end it was very hard to admit that it was me and not the instrument. Sublimating one’s ego is never an easy thing to do, but under these circumstances, it is highly advisable. Remember your goals and stick to them.

Find a Good Teacher
After practicing for one to two hours daily for a year, I found a teacher to guide my progress. Finding a good teacher may not be an easy process; so don’t be afraid to change teachers if the first does not work out for you.

Find Inspiration 
    My repair person suggested I attend a masterclass taught by Gary Schocker. His sense of humor and personable ways, combined with his beautiful playing, were an inspiration to me. Performing in a masterclass this second time around was very different for me. I was not flogged if I hit a wrong note. Schocker made suggestions, played the passage, and made it seem so easy to follow suit that I was soon doing just that. Before I knew it, I was able to play the Taffanel and Gaubert scales effortlessly once more and revisit some of my beloved repertoire. I began to put in even more practice time because I now had a glimmer of how I used to play.
    Practicing was no longer a difficult experience technically and emotionally, so of course I wanted to play more  and more. I discovered that all the pieces I had once memorized many years ago were still there under my fingers. Attend masterclasses whenever possible.

Record Yourself
    Recording practice sessions and performances provides a valuable yardstick to measure progress and discover what needs fixing to reach goals. You may be surprised that your playing is actually better than you expected.

Success
    After three years, I had my mojo back. It may take you more or less time. I now have been performing again for 23 years and have several students. Teaching them is rewarding and keeps me on my toes. I rejoined the musicians union, met many fine flutists in the New Jersey Flute Society, and have played in several area orchestras and bands including the Atlantic Pops and Ocean City Pops. I formed a jazz combo and a classic rock duo and sought opportunities to perform, often with fine crossover musicians at open mics. I also have performed as a smooth jazz soloist and stroller at several of Atlantic City casinos and in 2003, formed Magic Flute Wedding Music. I used the business skills I learned while working in the corporate world to build up my business and have established my presence as a professional flutist in the area.
    My final advice is to practice, practice, practice, and do what you love.  The rest follows.

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    During a recent practice session, I asked myself, “If I practice scales in all keys, then why not my pieces, too?” Truthfully, I have done that before, but only on a Baroque flute and not on a modern one. I had been mulling over this idea for a few days because I had just read an article in a string magazine that suggested this method of practicing as a way to develop intonation.
    Every key has its individual characteristics and qualities. We do not always notice this on modern flutes because they are designed for complete evenness and equality of timbre, but anyone who has dabbled with a Baroque flute knows that D major and Bb major have dramatically different feelings, both technically and emotionally. Flat keys on the traverso sound quieter and more intimate; sharp keys seem more open and extroverted.
    Practicing pieces in different keys might seem daunting at first, but after a little time spent developing this ability, the benefits quickly become apparent. Here are seven suggestions to get started with transposing:

1. Happy Birthday
    Play Happy Birthday several times;  each time start on a different pitch. The intervals of this song are so deeply imbedded in our ears that playing it in different keys should not be difficult. Enjoy playing the song in the various keys and discovering the qualities of each key. Do not worry about what note comes next; the ears will guide the fingers in what to do. Experiment with other well-known songs such as Yankee Doodle or Old MacDonald. Just have fun.
    As you gain expertise, take a piece that you know well (maybe even from memory, since this is an aural exercise) and play it up or down a half-step from the home key. For example start the Mozart G Major Concerto up a half step or down a half step, and then up or down a whole step. After a while, play the Mozart again in the key of G, and I guarantee you that you will have a new experience with an old piece.
    Music is made from intervals, not individual notes. When you practice a piece in a different key, you are developing and internalizing an understanding of the intervals of that piece, and thinking less about notes or the mechanics involved in playing the music.

2. Stable vs. Unstable
    Some notes on the flute are more acoustically stable than others. (For example C#5, C#6, F#6, G#6 etc. can be unstable.) Practicing repertoire in different keys, offers an opportunity to play a piece without having to worry about the stable or unstable notes. For example, if a piece has many unstable notes, and you transpose it to a key with proportionally more stable notes, when you return to the original key, a feeling of stability will naturally transfer to the unstable notes. This allows the flutist to play with a surer tone and technique. For example, all the G#6’s in the solo from Maurice Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloé are unstable notes. This can make flutists insecure about playing them in the top octave especially when the idea is to play softly and supplely. Start the solo on an Ab6. Now the main note is a G natural, a much more stable note. Explore the nuance and timbre possibilities of G natural. When returning to F# minor, the G#6 should feel more secure and musical.

3. Breaking-up Patterns
    Practicing a passage in multiple keys is akin to listening to many works by the same composer. If you are practicing Varese’s Density 21.5, but have not listened to his other works, you will not have a full grasp of his language or a full understanding of what makes this piece similar to or different from his other works.
    This same idea can apply to a passage in a piece of music. Return to the opening scale in the Daphnis solo. (See Flute Talk, April 2012, p. 16, “Daphnis in Depth” by Mark Sparks for a discussion on the validity of the notes of the opening scale. It could be played with D# and E#, or D natural and E natural, or D natural and E#.) In order to musically embody what each interval means in the opening scale, explore that scale by playing it in every key.  By having to find that famous augmented 2nd of the scale in every key, you will open your ears and get away from worrying about the particular fingering of that one scale.
    Use this concept for technically difficult passages in addition to melodic passages. Often after exploring the finger combinations or sequences in multiple keys, the original version becomes easier to perform. 

4. Engage the Ear
    Besides practicing the transposition technique, one of my favorite practice techniques is to put the flute down and sing the music. When singing, I find and feel the intervals with my ear rather than relying on the flute to find the notes for me. To sing I have to hear the note in my head. When I go back to the flute, the tone is more grounded and sure because my ear has been awakened by the singing.

5. Making the Basket
    In his book, Indirect Procedures: A Musician’s Guide to the Alexander Technique, Pedro de Alcantara quotes basketball coach and Zen teacher Hiroide Ogawa, who said: “The argument for not repeating something that is right may appear strange at first, but a human being becomes less human with identical repetition of the same action. Shooting from the same spot over and over again is no more useful than tightening identical screws from eight in the morning until four. A different stance. A different position. A different ball. A different player. Now it counts!” 
    Practicing a passage repeatedly in the same way is a little like trying to always make the shot from the same spot in the court. Being able to play a passage in any key means that you can make that shot from anywhere, and you will know that playing the passage in its home key is just one of many options that you have at your fingertips.

6. Intonation
    Too often flutists’ idea of tuning is affected by how they perceive the scale of their flute and tendency notes (“My middle C# is always so sharp.”). When practicing a passage in multiple keys, you get away from preconceived ideas about where notes lie on your instrument and start to hear where notes should go in relationship to the intervals that surround them. Flutists tend to get into a pattern of pre-setting for a particular note. This encourages you to respond to what a note requires at any given moment, and the focus shifts away from the tuning tendencies of the particular flute. With a return to the original key, the embouchure is naturally more attuned to the intonation requirements, and intonation is more secure.

7. Get away from the page
    Classical musicians often express trepidation at getting away from the written note. One can witness this fear when a classical musician is asked to improvise a melody or to play something from memory. I have a jazz musician colleague who takes every tune he is performing and practices it in all twelve keys, or he might take some lick and work on that in every key. The benefits of this way of practice are boundless. He frees himself from getting locked into a preconceived pattern. He focuses on his ears and understanding of intervals. He improves his understanding of the underlying structure and harmonic progressions of the piece. Most importantly, he does this  not by endless amounts of repetition, but by knowing all the ins and outs of every interval of the piece.
    So, have fun with transposing. Take pieces, exercises and excerpts and get to know their every turn and nuance by playing them in different keys. I guarantee you will open up a whole new world for your ears, fingers, and brain. Even if you never actually perform the Mozart G Major Concerto in E flat, being able to play it in any key will bring a deeper understanding of the music to the final performance.

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    Each December, thousands of performances of Tchaikovsky’s ballet, The Nutcracker, take place worldwide. Probably more people have seen a performance of it than any other ballet, opera, or symphony. Large companies present the work thirty or more times each year, and ticket sales from The Nutcracker subsidize the rest of the ballet season. Its enduring popularity is due to the charm of Tchaikovsky’s music, its holiday theme, and above all, the participation of young dancers as parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles flock to see their little Snowflakes. We can thank Tchaikovsky for providing musicians with plenty of employment, at least where live music is used. Unfor-tunately, some companies perform with pre-recorded accompaniment, and others use reduced orchestrations.
    I have played the full ballet, mostly as first flute but also as second flute or piccolo (doubling third flute), hundreds of times with several ballet companies, orchestras, and conductors. I have performed the two orchestral suites, each with several numbers from the ballet, many times more. I still find the flute parts, prominent throughout the score, challenging and start preparing every November. Typically, students do not study excerpts from the ballet, as it rarely shows up on orchestral audition lists and is absent from most orchestral excerpt books (an orchestral score and parts are available at imslp.org). Many symphonic musicians have little experience with the full ballet. Furthermore, since ballet orchestras know the work so well, there are usually only one or two rehearsals. Here are some suggestions for preparing the challenging flute parts.
    Many numbers in this ballet are performed at extremely fast tempos. Fortunately, most of Tchaikovsky’s music is based on traditional scales and arpeggios, so regular practice of basic technique is perfect preparation for The Nutcracker. As with any music, musicians can develop fluency by recognizing scales and arpeggios, in other words reading groups of notes rather than individual notes.
    For quick and efficient learning, employ a varied arsenal of practice techniques, including:
    •    Beat-to-beat: working all the way through a passage by practicing from the first note of one beat to the first note of the subsequent beat.
    •    Rhythmic variation: long-short and short-long pairs of notes, or lengthening the first, second, third, or fourth note of each beat.
    •    Expand the circle: find the most difficult note in a passage, and then add the notes immediately before and after that note; on each repetition, add more notes before and after the problem spot.
    •    Working back method: play only the last beat of a passage, then play the last two beats, last three beats, etc.
    •    Metronome: practice with the metronome on a slow tempo and gradually increase speed. A common problem is practicing too fast and embedding mistakes, so a solution is to set the metronome to the performance tempo but practice half speed, as many times as desired. When the flutist feels secure, one and only one full-tempo performance may be attempted before returning to half-speed practice. Alternate full- and half-speed renditions as many times as necessary.
    Performances of ballet music are dependent on tradition, as dancers sometimes rehearse with recordings before the final orchestral rehearsals and are used to those tempos. Still, pit musicians should keep alert and flexible, as conductors constantly adjust to the dancers. Companies presenting many performances often have several casts whose timing varies.
    One general adage pertaining to playing in a pit: as tempting as it may be to enjoy the show, don’t watch the stage. You have a job to do, and you cannot miss an entrance.

Act One
Overture: Allegro giusto
    Tempos in this number vary widely from one conductor to another, and there is no metronome indication in the score. The indication of giusto or strict implies a conservative pace, about q=112, but some conductors propel the tempo to a frantic 132. Substituting the right-hand ring finger for the pinky facilitates the opening solo:

No. 1, Scene: Allegro non troppo
    The score says quarter note =126, but some conductors go as fast as 138. The tempo is flexible at poco più sostenuto; this solo section usually starts hesitatingly and picks up steam. Near the end of this scene, the accelerando from Più moderato to Allegro vivace poses a challenge. Some flutists prefer to work this out with regular fingerings. In a pinch, I realized, thanks to Bruce Bodden, principal flutist of the Spokane Symphony Orchestra, one can finger the E flats in the fourth measure of this passage as A plus both trill keys.

No. 2, March: Tempo di marcia vivo
    Woe to the flutist whose conductor goes 168 to the quarter. Expect at least 144, and make sure your double tongue is in tip-top shape.

No. 3, Petit Galop des enfants et entrée des parents (Little Children’s Galop and Entrance of the Parents): Presto
    The score says quarter note=168 and one can expect this briskness. The repeated patterns in the transition to the Andante are awkward. The first and second flutist can survive this passage by splitting parts as follows:

No. 4, Scène dansante: Andantino
    The Allegro vivo is another exposed and rapid passage for two flutes:

    At the end of this number, the Presto is extremely fast, quarter note=168. Project the entrance in the low register.
 
No. 5, Scène et danse Grossvater (Scene and Grandfather’s Dance): Andante
    The most difficult passage in this number is an almost chromatic scale; mark brackets over the whole steps to call attention to them:

No. 6, Scène: Allegro semplice
    The flute entrance at Moderato con moto is marked pianissimo but should be played with as much projection as possible, as the strings can overwhelm the low-register flute solo. At the next entrance, the principal flutist scrambles to play all of the notes of the D major arpeggio:

    The tie on high A hardly has any rhythmic value; instead of a group of nine notes, think of eight thirty-seconds starting virtually on the beat, but infinitesimally late. Crescendo into the low register to retain projection. Almost every December, someone asks a question on the FluteList (an e-mail LISTSERV) about the fingering of high G-A sixteenths on flute and piccolo in the Più allegro and later in No. 7, Scène:

If flutists have a C# trill key, finger G and trill with both the C# trill and first trill keys; otherwise, finger G and trill the left-hand pinky and both trill keys. For piccolo, Jan Gippo proposes the following solution:

    T 1 3  1st tr3 (trilling Thumb and L1)

This fingering is resistant and difficult to play softly. As an alternative, finger G and trill the left-hand pinky and first trill key, which results in a slightly flat but dependable A.

No. 7, Scène: Allegro vivo
    Many of the sixteenth figures in this number can be fingered as trills. The last passage in this number is another difficult high register passage:

No. 9 Valse des flocons de neige (Waltz of the Snowflakes): Tempo di valse, ma con moto
    In the transition to this scene, watch the conductor like a hawk. Due to the lack of continuous rhythmic underpinning, the tempo is difficult to establish, and the flute part is key to rhythmic integrity. The tempo is typically 72 to the measure, fast for a waltz. The end of each three-note slur must be clipped. Play the E in measure 5 as a harmonic of A plus the second trill key. Note that much of this number uses hemiola rhythm, with phrasing based on two- rather than three-beat units. The Presto goes very fast, quarter note=168 or more. In the Poco meno coda, flutes and piccolo must tune and blend carefully with each other and with the other winds.

Act Two
No. 10, Scène: Andante
    The E major scale gets a real workout here. Practice it to make it on time to the high B on beat 2, without leaving out any notes.

No. 11, Scena: Andante con moto
    This number is often omitted. It features one of the earliest uses of flutter tonguing (Flatterzunge).

No. 12. Divertissement
    This section of the ballet departs from the main plot and features several exotic scenes. One of the most prominent for flute and piccolo is Le Thé (Tea). Although the eighths are marked with tenutos, they are always played staccato. Early in my career, I played long eighths, and conductors would always correct me. Unfortunately, trilling on F with the thumb results in a flat G, so some flutists have proposed alternate fingerings. I find these solutions awkward, so I trill as rapidly as possible and seek a compromise intonation, playing the F slightly sharp so the G is less flat.

    Another big moment for all three flutists is Danse des mirlitons. A mirliton is a type of toy flute. This dance is a particular challenge for the third flute, who has been playing high notes on the piccolo for about an hour by this point and suddenly must play light and short low notes on the flute. Daily practice in switching from piccolo to flute will help develop a flexible embouchure.
    La Mère Gigogne et les polichinelles features unidiomatic writing. The descending octaves are impossible to play slurred at a rapid tempo, so tonguing these notes improves rapid response. The passage is covered by other instruments.

No. 13, Valse des fleurs (Waltz of the Flowers): Tempo di valse
    For the many neighbor-tone figures throughout this waltz, use trill fingerings. Later in this number, Tchaikowsky again uses hemiola figures, groups of two beats against the triple meter.

No. 14, Pas de deux: Andante maestoso
    One difficult passage is the following written-out accelerando, which is in rhythmic unison with the rest of the winds:
   

    This phrase usually demands extra rehearsal because of the staggered entrances. Write cues for the rhythm before the flute entrance. Use triple and double tongue here. The Coda is very fast, q=168. There are no special tricks, just lots of intelligent practice.

No. 15, Valse finale et Apothéose: Tempo di valse
    The thorniest passage here is for two flutes, with piccolo in harmony:

    I advise using regular fingerings; practicing a D major scale in thirds is great preparation. The delicate melody shared by all woodwinds in the Apotheosis presents an intonation challenge:

The piccolo needs to be sensitive to the flute’s intonation in the high register and anticipate having to raise the pitch of its second-leger-line C. In turn, the two flutes should use special fingerings to prevent the B-flat from being flat and C from being sharp:

Alternate B-flat

Alternate C

    This wonderful ballet contains many other demanding flute parts, and it takes an incredible amount of concentration and stamina to play well. Hopefully, these suggestions will prepare you to survive a lifetime filled with Nutrackers.

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A Holiday Tradition
    It seems like The Nutcracker has always held a central position in world culture, but the ballet has a surprisingly short history. In 1890, when the Russian Imperial Theatres commissioned Tchaikovsky to compose a double-bill of a ballet, The Nutcracker, and an opera, Iolanta, he had already enjoyed great success with his full-length ballets Swan Lake, Op. 20 (1875-76) and The Sleeping Beauty, Op. 66 (1888-89). He initially showed little enthusiasm for the subject of The Nutcracker, based on a short story by E.T.A. Hoffmann, but composed the score in time for a première in December 1892 in St. Petersburg. The work was not a critical or popular success at that time and was not mounted outside Russia until 1934. The San Francisco Ballet presented the first complete American production in 1945, initiating the modern popularity of the work in the United States.
    The ballet begins on Christmas Eve with the Stahlbaum family and their guests gathered around a Christmas tree. The children’s godfather, Drosselmeyer, gives presents, including a nutcracker, to the children. Clara is disappointed when her brother breaks the Nutcracker, and the children are sent to bed. Later that night, Clara returns and witnesses a battle between mice and the Nutcracker, who leads other toys and gingerbread soldiers. When the Nutcracker triumphs, he is transformed into a prince and leads Clara into an enchanted wintery landscape. In Act Two, Clara and the Nutcracker Prince are in The Land of Sweets and witness a procession of dances featuring delectable items from around the world.

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    Mary Kay Fink became the piccoloist of The Cleveland Orchestra in 1990. Previously she was a member of the New Jersey Symphony, Madison Symphony and New York Philharmonic and has also performed with the San Francisco Symphony, the Minnesota Orchestra, and the Seito-Kinen Festival Orchestra of Japan. In addition to soloing with The Cleveland Orchestra, Fink has performed as soloist with the Bismarck Symphony, Concert Artists of Baltimore, Madison Symphony, Milwaukee Symphony (as youth soloist), New Jersey Symphony, the New Mexico Symphony and the Ohio Chamber Orchestra.
    In 1986 she won the National Flute Association Young Artist Competition. She continues to be a frequent piccolo soloist at the NFA Conventions, performing Gabriela Lena Frank’s composition, Will-O-The-Wisp: A Tone Poem this past summer in Chicago.

What led to the commissioning of Will-O-The Wisp?
    About 10 years ago the Cleveland Orchestra agreed to commission a piccolo concerto for me. I was really excited, not only because it was such a great honor, but because I believe the piccolo needs more great solo repertoire. We began the composer search and first considered Kaija Saariaho, who wrote several orchestral works for the Cleveland Orchestra that included some wonderful writing for piccolo. She turned the project down because she was too busy. Several other great composers turned us down, and I suspect some did so because they did not want to write for the piccolo. We eventually ran out of ideas. I was searching for a composer whose musicianship appealed to me, not just composers the orchestra was interested in promoting. I was almost ready to give up on this dream when I attended a recital of a former student, Katie DeJongh. She was presenting a program of all 20th century music including a piece by Gabriela Frank that knocked my socks off. She had been quietly building her artistic success during our search process and was now considered a new major talent on the scene. Gabriela was initially not sure about writing for the piccolo, but she enjoys the challenge of writing for instruments that need more repertoire and decided to accept the commission. We corresponded before she wrote the piece. I wanted her to write something really different and to avoid all the usual stereotypes: no bird calls, no excessive use of trills, no marches, also no unison passages with the Eb clarinet. There was not much more communication until the piece was finished. Once I received a copy of the piece and worked on it for a while, I suggested a few small changes and we worked back and forth a bit. When she came to Cleveland for the premiere we both felt like we had known each other forever. I was so thrilled to have the opportunity to play the piece again so soon at the NFA convention, and happier still that Gabriela could be there to hear it. It looks like I may be performing it again with other orchestras. It took a long time but things could not have worked out better.

What led you to study the piano and then the flute?
    I began piano lessons at age five and the flute when I was ten in the public school system. Our general music class instructor used to play recordings of the various band and orchestra instruments. I was especially enchanted by the alto flute and asked to play that but was told I had to begin on the C flute. I still love the alto flute and find it ironic that my specialty ended up going in the opposite direction of the flute family’s pitch spectrum. Our band director was a woodwind player and competent with the flute. One of my friends excelled on the clarinet, so he had us play duets together in addition to giving us both individual instruction. I started private lessons in high school with Robert Mueller, who also owned a small music store and woodwind repair shop. Lessons with him were not very intellectual but they were joyful. He nurtured my self-confidence and a simple love of playing, and he never let on that playing the flute well could be difficult. All of my siblings took piano lessons and some played other instruments as well, but I was the only one who stuck with it. There were no professional musicians in my family, and my parents were not sure that pursuing a career in music would be a wise choice.

Who did you study with in college?
    Some might disdainfully call me a teacher hopper, but I feel so fortunate to have had such a variety of mentors and a wealth of inspiration. As a teacher now, I often quote them or share a story from a specific lesson from my past. After high school, I attended UW-Madison for two years and studied with Robert Cole. I remember that we spent time working on legato, articulation, scales and all the nuts and bolts in greater detail than I had before. There were some things he tried to teach me that I was not receptive to at the time and have made much more sense to me in later years. I wanted to attend a music conservatory so I transferred to Oberlin where I studied with Robert Willoughby. He was perhaps the biggest influence on me. He opened up my sound and had me use vibrato more intelligently. He also made me really think about the music. We had to be familiar with the piano parts and understand context and harmonic structure. He had a no-nonsense way of asking questions in lessons that made me realize just how clueless I was about so many things. This taught me how to teach myself, which is perhaps his greatest gift to all of his students.
    After Oberlin I attended Juilliard to earn a master’s degree and studied with Julius Baker. He was very encouraging but also pushed me quite hard. I found my low register simply by watching and listening to him play. I greatly admired Baker, but his teaching style combined with the competitive atmosphere at Juilliard left me feeling burned out by the end of the school year. I made the switch to study with Paula Robison. My time with her was just the inspiration I needed to regain my love for playing. Her musical creativity and passion are infectious. She has such a generosity of spirit and joy in her music-making. I wanted to study with her longer but her schedule was too demanding for me to continue after graduation.
    Robert Dick is another mentor. I first heard of Dick while a student at UW when Robert Cole played a recording for us and assigned us each a page of Afterlight to learn. I later heard him perform live in Cleveland while I was a student at Oberlin, and I was hooked. I worked with Dick when I could, learning his music and performing his pieces on my recitals. I have since had the honor of performing with him and premiering works he has written for me. This has opened up a whole different world for me.
    I did not consider graduation as the end of my learning, and continued to learn from many more teachers including Keith Underwood, Tim Day, Michael Lynn, and Sandra Miller among many others. I never had a piccolo mentor, however, and actually came to the piccolo quite late because I avoided it as much as possible when I was in school. When I decided to take a piccolo audition, I had a great foundation upon which to draw and mostly figured it out on my own. I first became interested in the possibilities of the piccolo when the Philadelphia Orchestra played Daphnis et Chloé at Carnegie Hall. Kazuo Tokito played that solo in the opening so beautifully. Much later I had one piccolo lesson with him and spent much of it on that solo. I did not yet have command of the piccolo, so it was frustrating. However, I still think of what I learned in that lesson when I play that solo.

Did you enter competitions?
    I entered all the solo and ensemble contests in as many categories as I could, even playing a saxophone solo one year. I performed the Griffes Poem with my youth orchestra and the second movement of the Nielsen Concerto with the Milwaukee Symphony after competing in the concerto competitions for each. I also competed in college and performed the Frank Martin Ballade at Oberlin and the Nielsen Concerto at Juilliard. I always saw competitions as a way to motivate myself and to open the door to more opportunities. I did not always do well. Sometimes bombing was very painful, but I did well in competitions also. These experiences enriched my life and helped me get to where I am today. I encourage my students to compete and I am surprised to find that many of them are so resistant. The most important competition of my career was the NFA Young Artist Competition, which I won in 1986. This was a pivotal time in my life as I had recently won my first orchestral audition with the New Jersey Symphony. At that time, the NFA sponsored a debut at Carnegie (Weill) Recital Hall for the winners, which was an amazing experience.

What have you gained from your orchestral experiences?
    My first full-time orchestral position was second flute/piccolo in the New Jersey Symphony. It was a two-person section and Sandy Church (now in the NY Philharmonic) was the principal. We hired subs to fill out the section as dictated by the repertoire, and I played the more important parts. My job also included playing principal when Sandy took time off. I loved the variety and learned a great deal playing with Sandy. Since I had not played much piccolo before, there was a fair amount of learning on the job. This orchestra traveled around a lot by bus to play at different venues in the state.
    I also played with the NY Phil both as a sub and a sabbatical replacement for Mindy Kaufman. That was an exciting time for me; sometimes almost too exciting. The first time I ever played Tchaikovsky Symphony No. 4 was with Leonard Bernstein on the podium, which was pressure packed because the concerts were all being recorded for a commercial CD. I was young and still fairly inexperienced. I felt so fortunate to have the opportunity to play with that orchestra and its wonderful flute section.
    After these two orchestras, I joined The Cleveland Orchestra where I have played for 25 years. In the very beginning, my colleagues were Jeffrey Khaner, John Rautenberg, and Martha Aarons. Before long, Khaner left for Philadelphia and Joshua Smith joined us as principal. One of my favorite memories of playing with this section is our performance of Aspirant Variations, a concerto, written by my husband Nicholas Underhill which featured the four of us as soloists. When Rautenberg and Aarons retired, we were joined by Marisela Sager and Saeran St. Christopher.

Who are your favorite composers and what do you listen to on your days off?
    My favorites are Shostakovich and Ravel because I love their music, and they wrote great piccolo parts. I also enjoy Mahler, particularly the slow movement from Mahler Symphony No. 5 even though I don’t play a single note. Just sitting there being surrounded by its beauty is always a highlight for me.
    In my spare time, I listen to alternative folk/rock, but I also enjoy Motown and the blues. If I were on a desert island and could only bring along the works of two composers, I would choose J.S. Bach and Joni Mitchell. Bach’s music has a perfection and beauty like that found in nature, and I believe Joni Mitchell to be one of the greatest songwriters ever. Her albums Blue and Court and Spark will always be classics.

What is it like to travel so much with the orchestra?
    We usually go to Europe each year, Miami about three times a year, and New York City once a year. We have also travelled to Asia several times. We just concluded a tour of London, Lucerne, Berlin, Linz, Vienna, Paris and Amsterdam. The orchestra provides travel trunks for our concert clothes and instruments. On this European tour we had three flutes, three piccolos, an alto flute and a bass flute. I usually bring one piccolo in my carry on and let the management handle the rest of my instruments. On this trip because of new government restrictions on ivory and other materials found in bows and instruments, we had to have professional descriptions prepared for each instrument, listing all the materials used and the date they were made. Management had professional photos taken of all the instruments to be transported by trunk. More string players than ever opted to put their instruments in the travel trunks to avoid TSA problems. Many left their best instruments at home and brought their spares on this tour, which was unfortunate since we were making recordings.

What flutes and piccolos do own?
    I have quite a collection of piccolos, and some even call me a piccolo hoarder. I have five old Powell piccolos ranging in serial numbers from 824 to 1410. I also purchased a beautiful old Haynes piccolo that previously belonged to Jack Wellbaum. I had a Keefe headjoint made for my old ring-keyed Bonneville piccolo when I was learning Robert Dick Fire’s Bird, a solo piece I commissioned that makes use of open holes. I have two old silver Powell flutes and use a gold E.V. Powell headjoint that I bought at a pawn shop. I love the sound of the older instruments, and I especially prefer the timbre of the older piccolos. I also have an old Haynes alto flute, two Baroque flutes, a recorder, an old wooden flute, and a purple metal piccolo I purchased on eBay for $40 because I wanted to see if it really worked – it didn’t. I also have panpipes and various ethnic flutes and whistles which come in handy when we perform the music from Lord of the Rings.

What is your teaching philosophy?
    I love the balance of teaching and performing. Teaching helps my playing, and performing enhances my teaching. I began teaching younger kids when I was in seventh grade, volunteering in the summer school music program. When I was in high school, the girl next door took regular lessons with me, and I taught during my college days and as a freelancer in New York. My first professional teaching position was as a flute professor at UW-Madison in 1987. I held that post for one year before I went back to orchestral playing.
    I currently teach undergraduate and graduate students at the Cleveland Institute of Music. Other than trying to make sure my students are well-prepared for their juries and performances, I do not follow a strict regimen or lesson plan. I do try to play duets with my freshmen at every lesson. This provides an opportunity to work on rhythm, phrasing, and basics, but it also opens the door to musicianship, ensemble playing, intonation, and blend. Some students learn very well by hearing and observing their teachers.
    As far as repertoire goes, I like to follow the interests of the students whenever possible. If they are excited about a piece of music, they will work harder. I see my role as helping them acquire the necessary tools to become accomplished musicians and excellent flutists, not as someone who must make sure they are familiar with all the Anderson etudes, etc.
    I generally do not know how a lesson will unfold until I hear a student perform the prepared material. People learn differently and need different things. For the perfectionists, who are tied in knots and may lack expression, my goal is to draw them out. Another student who is musical might lack attention to detail, so I become a taskmaster. As a teacher I can at times feel like an acting coach, a motivational speaker, or a mechanic looking under the hood trying to fix a problem. If one approach does not work, I try something else. By the end of four years, my role should change to be more supportive than formative.
    One new trend I see is that more and more students shop around to find the right college flute teacher. They are wise to do so since the right chemistry in this relationship is important.

What are the challenges of managing a career and a family?
    I have been married for 26 years and have one daughter who is 15. My husband is a pianist, composer, and teacher, so he also has odd hours. For the most part this has worked out very well for raising our daughter. Several years ago I served on the orchestra negotiating committee and worked very hard to make some changes in our contract to make it easier for mothers. Now women in our orchestra have the option of staying home from the frequent tours until their children are past age one. Balancing career and family is a challenge for every working mother. To make things easier, I quit my teaching job at Baldwin-Wallace Conservatory when Jane was born. Having odd orchestra musician hours has had its advantages and disadvantages. I was usually available to pick her up from school, but due to working in the evenings, I had to miss many school events. Now that she is older and in school all day I am happy that Josh Smith asked me to join him on the faculty at CIM. I missed teaching and am happy to be back in that environment.
    I believe that I was fortunate to be well settled as a performer before I had a child. When I first joined the orchestra, I was often nervous and obsessed with my preparation. Having a child gave me a whole new perspective on life. When I was pregnant, we were performing a Shostakovich symphony. I remember thinking how much more important it was for my daughter to be born healthy than it was for the next solo to be perfect. Like magic, I stopped getting nervous nearly as often. We all play better when we are not nervous. Even though I had less practice time, I performed better because I was a parent.

What advice do you have for students?
    My advice varies a lot, but I do find myself giving one talk frequently, which is whether or not to pursue a musical career. Some students go through a period of doubting their abilities or motivation and second guess their choice. I let them know that music is a very competitive field and many students who study music will not get a job playing in an orchestra. I ask if they have other interests or passions they could see themselves pursing instead and remind them that music can still be a big part of their life. If it seems like they absolutely cannot imagine doing anything else as a profession, I encourage them to follow their dream. They may deeply regret never giving it a try, and this can be a pain worse than failure. Then I tell them to work their tails off.

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    Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Fink attended University of Wisconsin-Madison where she studied with Robert Cole from 1979-81. In 1983 she graduated from the Oberlin College Conservatory of Music with a Bachelor of Music degree where she studied with Robert Willoughby. She earned a Master of Music degree from The Juilliard School of Music, studying with both Julius Baker and Paula Robison. She has also studied with avant-garde flutist/composer Robert Dick, with whom she recorded a duo titled Recombinant Landscapes for the disc Venturi Shadows (O.O. Discs, 1989).
    Fink has taught flute and piccolo at the Cleveland Institute of Music since 2006. She has also served on the faculties of Baldwin-Wallace College Conservatory of Music, University of Wisconsin-Madison and Oberlin College Conservatory of Music. She teaches flute and piccolo masterclasses at colleges and universities throughout the United States.

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