Leave a small space or articulatory silence after the triplet sixteenths to set up the passage after the double bar. While the piccolo doubles the French horn and the violas, this entire line is secondary in importance to the solo oboe. Play one dynamic level under the oboe line throughout. 

    Four measures later there is a delightful passage that intertwines with the principal flute. The flute plays sixteenth-notes on beat two each time, overlapping the first or last notes of the piccolo figure. Listen carefully to match the pitch and color of the flute. Play the first two measures with a leisurely feeling, while adding a bit of direction to the last four sixteenth-notes that lead into rehearsal 26 since the mood changes at the bar line. 

    The movement comes to a gentle close at rehearsal 41. The principal trumpet plays triplets on beat one and is muted. Mutes can make a brass instrument go a little sharp, so listen carefully to match the trumpet’s pitch in case the pitch rises. Taper or diminuendo the final A#’s in this figure down to absolutely nothing and allow the mist of the water to permeate your tone color. Keep vibrato narrow and understated so the sound has a dewy sheen and gloss.

    The third movement begins ominously and is quite turbulent as if depicting a storm. The piccolo has repeated figures with grace notes. The English horn is also playing the same figure on beat 2 (piccolo plays on beat 4), so play the grace notes in the same style as the English horn. Most players place the grace notes on the beat.

    The passage at rehearsal 60 is a prominent line, so keep the tone color very transparent on the piano version of this motive. Play a full and robust forte where it is indicated ten bars later. Notice these graces notes have a slash through them, so the grace notes should be played before the beat but as close to the beat as possible.
   The entire work lasts about 24 minutes and is one of the classic masterpieces to perform.

Claude Debussy
(1862-1918)

   Claude Debussy was born in Saint-Germain-en-Laye, but moved to Paris when he was 5. His father was a shopkeeper and his mother a seamstress. During the Franco-Prussian war, the family relocated to Cannes where the 7-year-old Debussy began piano lessons. At the age of 10, Debussy entered the Paris Conservatory studying composition, music history and theory, harmony, piano, organ and solfege.
    In 1880 he was engaged as the household pianist for Tchaikovsky’s patroness Nadezhda von Meck. Debussy won the Prix de Rome in 1884 which required him to live in Rome for two years. On returning to Paris, he struggled financially, but as his compositions became accepted he became financially secure. He was awarded the Legion d’honneur and appointed to the advisory board of the Conservatory.
    Debussy was influenced by the Symbolist poets and used their poetry in his song writing. His most famous orchestra works are Prelude a l’apres-midi d’un faune, La Mer, and Images. Chamber works employing flute are Syrinx (1913) and the Sonata for flute, viola, and harp (1915). Debussy is regarded as one of the chief exponents of French Impressionism in music although he disliked having his music described that way.

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Location 
    Wyoming is rather mountainous and also the least populated state in the country. As a result, I move the location of my Flute Day every year to accommodate different communities and promote my school, the University of Wyoming. I am continually amazed and humbled by the huge outpouring of support I receive from local band directors, flute teachers, and music stores. Creating a portable Flute Day is a little more work, but well worth it. It gives the opportunity to reach out to students I would not otherwise see because travel to Laramie is too difficult for many. For those more centrally located with easier travel options, your home turf may work better. It has the added advantage of bringing prospective students to the campus.

The Basics
    The elements of a successful event should include interesting programming for a wide range of ability levels, as many participants as possible, and the involvement of other flute teachers. I have devised a checklist over the years that should work for most small flute festivals.

1. Select a Date
    Consult with band directors and private flute teachers to select a date that avoids potential conflicts with athletic and musical events. In Wyoming the weather is more conducive for travel in the early fall or late spring, so choosing a date with the weather in mind may be important in some areas of the country.

2. Engage a Venue
    The event should have a stage for performances, a band room or other large room for flute choir rehearsals and to be used as a staging area before concerts, and access to a front lobby area or hallway near the band room for a registration table. These facilities are usually available at a university, community college, high school, or junior high school. Choose a location where the people in charge of the venue are excited about hosting the event. They can be of great assistance as you organize the specifics of the Flute Day. Ideally, they will help with communication to other music teachers, music stores, and performers in the community who can help promote the event.

3. Arrange for Equipment  
    I use a large table and chairs for registration, another table for lunch and reception food, and enough music stands to accommodate a flute choir. Your students may serve as stagehands for the rehearsals and the concerts. 

4. Create a Flier and Pre-registration Materials
    Be sure to include the day’s schedule on both your Flute Day flier and pre-registration materials. A good flier highlights the day’s events, includes short bios of the presenters, and collects information about participants. Be sure to ask participants when they will graduate from high school or college as this will help in future recruiting endeavors. You may wish to include information about your school’s music program and especially your flute studio’s activities. Include contact information for any questions a student might have. 
    Even if there is no charge for the event, make pre-registration a requirement. People who pre-register and order lunch are people who show up on the day ready to participate. You may distribute forms via an email to band directors (get on your state’s Music Educator’s list), private teachers, music stores, and former Flute Day participants. Your university can post the information on the department website.
 
5. Plan the Day
    A flute day may feature a guest artist or the artistic talent from around your area or state. My Flute Day model keeps expenses at a minimum, so I do not use guest artists who charge a performance fee. 
    I prefer to highlight local teachers’ talents; however, there is no doubt that a recognized name on a poster attracts more participants. If you choose to hire a guest artist, inquire about funding from your department or school, as well as at the state level. Many states have arts funds that support educational outreach activities. Be sure to apply early. Read winning proposals from previous year’s applications if possible before completing your grant application. A special theme or area of interest involving another discipline may give you an edge in the competition. The Mockingbird Foundation (mbird.org) finances educational pursuits and has one of the easiest applications in the business. 
    If you hire a guest artist, there is a fee for teaching and performing, and you will have to provide for transportation and housing. Many flutists have special underwriting arrangements with flute manufacturers, so you may only be responsible for a small amount of the total cost. Some guest artists prefer staying with host families rather than at a hotel. Communicate with the artist about these options well in advance. Ask your department head if there is funding available. 
    Several months before the Flute Day, contact flute professors and private teachers to coordinate a flute choir concert and a teachers’ recital. Ask that each performer bring an accompanist or keep everything unaccompanied.

6. Keep it Simple
    The day should be fun and stimulating and leave students wanting a little bit more. Students should not leave exhausted or check their watches during the afternoon concerts. Allow local teachers a time to shine (professionals’ recital, morning warm-up, conducting individual pieces on the flute choir concert). Make sure you have plenty of time to meet with students and parents (masterclass, recital, and even the registration table). Give students opportunities to be active participants in masterclasses and include everyone in the flute choir concert. An efficient schedule keeps you from collapsing in exhaustion, and requires fewer resources from the hosting facility. 

 
7. Find Sponsors 
    Invite local music stores to participate. They may underwrite the guest artist, print and distribute fliers, exhibit music and accessories, or offer repair services. One music store donated pizza and drinks for the lunch. A reputable repair person in the area might be willing to attend and make small repairs the day of the event, particularly if you include that person’s contact information in your advertising and encourage students to call ahead and schedule appointments. Other local merchants may be willing to help as well. For example, a bakery might supply cupcakes and cookies for the after-concert reception. 
    Small towns tend to be supportive of events big and small; local hotels may be willing to offer a discounted rate for families coming from farther away. Just pick up the phone and ask. Local band directors and private music teachers can suggest friendly businesses as a starting point.  

8. Have a Registration Table
    The registration table is an important tool in the success of the event. If a flutist has not pre-registered, then have him fill the out the registration materials. Distribute name tags listing participants’ name, school, and home address.  

9. Plan the Flute Choir Concert
    Some students may be satisfied sitting passively all day listening to information, but nothing creates the sense of a big event like a concert. It is possible to find flute choir music to suit a diverse set of abilities. It may be helpful to have a short roster of pieces that rotate on a bi-annual basis. Require students to register at least one month before the event so that you can distribute flute choir music in advance. Rotate parts in each folder so that even less experienced flutists play first and second on a piece. A flute choir allows students from various schools to mingle and older students to mentor younger students.

10. After the Event
    A few days after the event, send a thank you note to everyone who helped. Letters to potential students should be printed on university stationery or come from your official school email. Include your contact information and a link to your page on your school’s website. The registration list may be used to send students and private flute teacher’s information about future concert events, masterclasses, honor bands, and audition dates for the university music program. This will help you create a relationship with high school flutists across the state. 
    After hosting my first Wyoming Flute Day, I was invited to three other communities who wanted to host future Flute Days. I met students whose names I had seen in the All-State roster for years but had never met on campus. I began to feel a stronger sense of community among the flute teachers in the state,
many of whom drove over 100 miles to attend and participate in the event. The result of this stronger sense of community in rural Wyoming is that teachers are able to do more to promote their private studios and a larger number of flute students are taking lessons. The overall playing level is improving in All-State auditions and music festivals, and I am seeing a larger number of flute students auditioning for our programs at University of Wyoming.
     On a personal level, strengthening my ties with private flute teachers around the state has been incredibly rewarding and has made all of us feel less isolated as we strive to grow as musicians and teachers. Running a flute festival is not just good for the recruiting business; it is good for the community.        

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Toronto: Robert Aitken
    My first stop was in Toronto in February 2012, before my actual sabbatical. The Canadian Flute Association invited me to present a master class and recital, and I arrived a few days early to study with Robert Aitken, Canada’s foremost flutist and recipient of the NFA’s Lifetime Achievement Award. He is former principal flutist of the Toronto Symphony, soloist on numerous recordings, former teacher at the Hochschule für Musik in Freiburg, Germany, and founder and director of New Music Concerts in Toronto. We worked on his two unaccompanied flute pieces, Plainsong (1977) and Icicle (1977), Takemitsu’s Voice, and Betsy Jolas’ Episode Second: Ohne Worte (1977). He was extremely generous and spent many hours with me.
    Aitken is a pioneer in extended techniques and likes to say that pieces using them are the only true flute music, as these works cannot be transcribed for other instruments. Icicle, his most popular work, is a perfect introduction to extended techniques for intermediate students and is required for entrance into French conservatories and featured in the Royal Conservatory/Carnegie Hall Flute Syllabus. Less than three minutes long, it uses nonstandard fingerings that result in special hollow sounds, glissandi, a melody decorated with tremolos and trills, and vibrato created by the tongue rolling inside the mouth.
    Plainsong is more difficult, employing multiphonics, finger vibrato, splatter tones (blowing forced air with special fingerings that create a jarring interference in the sound), whistle tones, patterns repeated as many times as the player chooses, singing and playing, and harmonics. There are two different editions, and Bob shared his manuscript to explain several details that are not accurately portrayed in print. He discussed his theory of changing registers on the flute; unlike many flutists, Aitken uses little lip movement but rather manipulates air speed and pressure inside the body. This approach stabilizes the simultaneous octaves and facilitates the quick registral jumps in Plainsong. He dedicated the piece to his close friend, Toru Takemitsu, who modeled some of the writing in his solo flute piece piece Itinerant (1989) on Plainsong.
    All serious flutists should know Takemitsu’s Voice, a ground-breaking, powerful, and elusive work employing a plethora of special techniques. Everyone with whom I worked had a different approach to Voice. There were major disagreements about which multiphonic fingerings to use, how to employ the voice, whether to use pizzicato or tongue clicks, whether to use flutter tongue or double tongue in certain passages, etc. 
    Aitken encouraged me to approach Betsy Jolas’s Episode Second: Ohne Worte as a French flutist would, with a warm sound, clear articulation, and light, quick grace notes. His technique of staccato is different from a standard American approach; he cuts each note off with the tongue, retaining the air pressure between notes.

Iowa: Harvey Sollberger
    In June 2012 I visited Harvey Sollberger in Strawberry Point, Iowa, northwest of Dubuque. He grew up near here and was one of Betty Bang Mather’s earliest students at the University of Iowa in the 1950s. He later studied composition in New York with Jack Beeson and Otto Luening. He founded, with Charles Wuorinen, the Group for Contemporary Music, that performed the American premières of numerous chamber pieces. He taught composition at Indiana University and conducted the La Jolla Symphony Orchestra at the University of California, San Diego before retiring recently to Strawberry Point.
    Harvey has been a true trailblazer, and his model was the Italian flutist Severino Gazzeloni, who he admired from afar before meeting him in 1977. Sollberger’s use of extended techniques became most extreme in his work for solo flute, Riding the Wind 1-4 (1974), inspired by the Japanese shakuhachi. In his more recent music, special techniques are a natural part of his language. I organized a retrospective concert of Sollberger’s music for the NFA convention in Las Vegas in August 2012, and to prepare for this event, he worked with me on his New Millennium Memo for solo flute, written for New York flutist Claire Chase. (This work is available from the American Composers Alliance in two versions, the original, 2000, and a new revised version, 2012.)
    Sollberger describes his music with poetic imagery, and New Millennium Memo juxtaposes jerky irregular rhythms, Italianate lyricism (he is the ultimate Italophile), bluesy languid melodies, and a processional. Extended techniques include harmonics, flutter tonguing, glissandi, key clicks, microtonal trills, whistle tones, and varied vibrato. The most interesting effect is the ending, similar to a passage in Berio’s Sequenza: a crossfade on a trill.  The flute tone diminishes while tapping on the keys evolves into an increasingly loud and slow key click.

Cleveland: Mary Kay Fink
    In July 2012 I had a lesson with Mary Kay Fink,  piccoloist of the Cleveland Orchestra. She masterfully premièred Robert Dick’s Gravity’s Ghost for solo piccolo (2007) for the NFA, which commissioned it for her performance at its convention, and subsequently for its Piccolo Artist Competition. The most ambitious work using extended techniques for piccolo, it employs multiphonics, wind tones, whistle tones, tremolos, and glissandi. Although Gravity’s Ghost was inspired by the Mississippi fife player Otha Turner, Mary Kay encouraged me to keep in mind Robert Dick’s fascination with Jimmy Hendrix and thus to exaggerate the dramatic contrasts of the piece, to play over the top.

Manchester: British Flute Society Convention
    Next stop: the British Flute Society Convention at the Royal Northern School of Music in Manchester, where I had been invited to give a presentation, Visualizing Vibrato, in August 2012. Having just attended the NFA convention in Las Vegas, it was interesting to compare the two events. The BFS gathering is much smaller than NFA, and one can rub shoulders with famous flutists such as William Bennett and Trevor Wye. I heard some great new music on recitals by Ian Clarke, Philippa Davies, and Wissam Boustany.

Malaga: Wil Offermans


    I left Manchester before the end of the conference to attend the 21st annual Wil Offermans Summer Course near Malaga, Spain. The city is on the Costa del Sol, the Spanish equivalent of the French Riviera, and upon arriving at the airport, I took a cab east along the coast and then up a twisty mountain road to the village of Sayalonga, where Wil and his wife Junko met me for a harrowing ride down a narrow dirt road to a former olive oil mill, a gorgeous spot for our course.
    Dutch-born flutist and composer Wil Offermans, now a resident of Spain, is endlessly creative, well known for his Honami (1994) for solo flute. He first learned extended techniques as a young player but later realized that these new ideas were actually an older tradition practiced by performers of the Japanese shakuhachi, the Egyptian nay, the Indonesian suling and others. A formative experience for him was his project RoundAbout 12.5 in 1985-86, when he circumnavigated the globe to explore flute traditions of many cultures.
    My fellow students came from Belgium, Germany, the Netherlands, Poland, Slovenia, and Sweden, but Wil taught in English. One of his tenets is that we should play the flute with our whole body. The course focused on his excellent collection of etudes, For the Contemporary Flutist (Zimmermann, 1992). Like all good etudes, these are suitable for public performance as well as study, and Offermans has recorded them on his CD, Daily Sensibilities. He offers detailed explanations of the techniques at , including not only how to practice them, but theory and background. For instance, he explains the acoustics of bamboo tones (with “a certain warm, covered or windy tone quality”) and how to create fingerings that result in them. He emphasizes that exploration of extended techniques improves a flutist’s command of basic technique, expands boundaries, and above all, creates pleasure from the process of learning. Among other ideas, the course emphasized circular breathing.
    Offermans is dedicated to teaching students of all backgrounds and has developed many materials for young flutists. He demonstrated his invention, the Thumpy, a simple cross-blown flute with open ends that one can open and close with both thumbs – a good tool for beginning flutists.
    Each day started with tai chi sessions with Junko Ueda, Wil’s wife and musical and business partner. She is a Japanese-born singer and satsuma-biwa player. She also prepared food for the course, and we enjoyed many delicious meals together.
     We learned several of Wil’s solo pieces (including the evocative Luna y Sierra for solo flute with drone accompaniment) and works for multiple flutes. In Labyrinth, flutists work their way across a mat playing bits of music marked in each square. Dance With Me is great fun; flutists play in unison and must memorize simple material, containing a few multiphonics, pitch bends, and wind tones, while following dance moves accompanied by a hip-hop-inspired electronic track. Everyone performed on the final recital, and Wil amazed everyone with his piece Ilios, that originated in an extended improvisation and used every imaginable technique.
    After the course, Wil and Junko generously took me to their home in a beautiful village just east of Granada, where I basked in the view that inspired Luna y Sierra. We shared tapas in Granada and enjoyed a view overlooking the famous Alhambra.
 
Cologne: Helen Bledsoe
    What a shock to arrive in green, cool, and rainy Cologne from hot and dry Spain. Cologne is one of Germany’s great cultural centers and boasts several major orchestras, a world-class opera, and numerous new music and early music groups. Its main attraction is the huge cathedral, built over many centuries. In World War II the allies bombed most of Cologne to rubble but deliberately saved its cathedral. The city is modern and sleek, and I had several wonderful meals here, including typical German fare such as Sauerbraten and, since many Turks live in Cologne, a fine Turkish dinner.
    My first stop in the city was the impressive facility of Ensemble musikFabrik, a well-established new music ensemble. The largesse of government support of the arts is evident, with state-of-the-art rehearsal rooms, piles of technology, innumerable percussion instruments, and grand pianos. Here I met Helen Bledsoe, an American who serves as flutist for the group. Having studied with Bernard Goldberg, Peter Lloyd, Kate Lukas, Harrie Starrveld, Robert Dick and Aurèle Nicolet, she now teaches at the Hochschule für Künste in Bremen, Germany. Helen has a large repertoire of solo flute works and an excellent website dedicated mostly to new music. In two long lessons, we covered most of my program, and she had cogent advice on general interpretation and specific techniques.     For instance, she gave me useful quarter-tone fingerings for Jolas’s Episode Second: Ohne Wort (1977) and suggested focusing the air more for wind tones. She also shared several useful exercises for double stops, including repeating them in various rhythms to establish a consistency of attack. She has a real dedication to respecting the composer’s directives, multilayered in these scores.

Cologne: Camilla Hoitenga
    The other American ex-pat I visited in Cologne was Camilla Hoitenga, who welcomed me enthusiastically and celebrated my arrival with a party where I met her friends from all walks of life. Having graduated from the University of Illinois, Camilla has lived in Germany for decades. Many composers, including Kaija Saariaho, have written works for her. Hoitenga and Saariaho met many years ago at the summer program for new music in Darmstadt, and their careers have been tied ever since. We focused on Couleurs du vent for solo alto flute (1998), one of Saariaho’s many pieces for flute, most of them written for Camilla. At ten minutes, Couleurs is rather long but was originally much longer. At an early performance, Camilla turned too many pages, skipping several minutes of music. Saariaho liked the effect and subsequently made cuts. Camilla shared her ideas about the general form and character of the piece as well as practical tips on many special effects, including wind tones, pitch bends, varied vibrato, aspirated articulation with the consonants Sh, T, V, S, R, F, and H, and singing and playing. She also discussed “double trills,” using two alternating fingers on one key, to produce an extremely fast trill.
 
Strasbourg: Mario Caroli
    I next went to Strasbourg, France, which, considering its location in Alsace, territory disputed for centuries between France and Germany, has a remarkably preserved medieval center. Its main attraction is a cathedral, distinguished by red-tinted stonework, gargoyles, and a complex astronomical clock. Alsatian cooking mixes French and German influences, and I enjoyed excellent local dishes.
    The teacher at the Conservatoire Supérieur in Strasbourg is Mario Caroli, an amazingly fluent young Italian who performs numerous works from the Baroque to the present. I worked with him on pieces by Jolas, Saariaho, and Takemitsu but was especially interested in his approach to Salvatore Sciarrino’s Addio case del vento for solo flute (1993). Sciarrino’s music is all the rage in Europe. He is a mostly self-taught composer who has written two collections of solo flute music, the first dedicated to Roberto Fabbricciani and the second mostly to Caroli. Unbelievably, Sciarrino does not play the flute despite having invented many novel techniques.
    Addio case del vento (Farewell, houses of wind), from the second set, is the shortest of these pieces. It juxtaposes wind tones (with the flute in normal position and also with the embouchure hole covered), jet whistles, almost inaudible high harmonics (solo sibilo), and louder clusters of high harmonics. There are many ways to produce wind tones, but this piece calls for a specific technique. In normal position, the lips are very open (about an inch of vertical space), but the upper lip focuses the air. Also in this piece, the embouchure is hole covered, the flute is kept in the normal position without rolling in, and one drops the jaw to create as big a chamber as possible.

Paris: Betsy Jolas
    In Paris, the pulse of human life beats with a rare intensity, equalled in my experience only in New York, London, and Tokyo. I basked in the treasures of the Musée d’Orsay, the world’s best collection of impressionist art. One can eat better in Paris than anywhere else, and I especially enjoyed Tartiflette, a gratin of potatoes, onions, bacon, cream, and Reblochon cheese.
    Betsy Jolas welcomed me to her Paris apartment, looking out on a verdant garden. A revered French composer with mixed French, German, and American heritage, she graduated from Bennington College and studied with Olivier Messiaen and Darius Milhaud at the Paris Conservatory, where she taught for many years but is now retired. Jolas has several excellent pieces for flute and wrote Episode Second: Ohne Worte as a morceau de concours for the Conservatoire in 1977. Well known in France, the piece uses spatial notation with occasional metric sections, quarter-tones, harmonics, varied vibrato, multiphonics, portamenti, and glissandi. It derives its material from Arnold Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire, and Jolas explained her fascination with Schoenberg’s Schrechstimme, a cross between speaking and singing (thus the portamenti). She was thorough, working out every detail and insisting that I repeat each phrase until it was perfect. She was especially concerned with achieving an expressionist character, respecting the relative length of notes in spatial notation, exact tempos, clarity of technique, phrasing, tuning, and the pacing of a section marked constamment fluctuant. She insisted that the tempo changes be gradual and not sudden.

Paris: Kaija Saariaho
    In Paris, I also met with Kaija Saariaho, possibly the most famous composer of her generation in Europe. She comes from Finland but has lived in Paris for decades. She was originally associated with IRCAM, the world’s most advanced electronic music studio. She is soft-spoken and expressed appreciation for my playing of Couleurs du vent. Her comments were general, and she encouraged me to exaggerate contrasts between characters but also to achieve continuity, keeping a forward-moving flow. She says that the wind tones in her music always have a bit of tone in them to define the pitch. One of the most challenging aspects of the piece is the use of aspirated articulations (Sh-T-V-S, etc.) specified in the score, and she said that the player is free to improvise syllables as long as they are varied.   

Note: In the March issue, Garrison’s journey continues through Europe and back to the United States.

The post An Extended Journey, Part 1 appeared first on The Instrumentalist.

    The following is a list of goals to consider, as teachers and as performers, about the role of competition.
•    Celebrate being able to play for your own enjoyment.
•    Prepare students who aspire to be professional performers to face competition in a mature, healthy way.
•    Teach students to recognize and understand the difference between necessary and inappropriate uses of competition as a motivator.
•    Equip students with the skills and self-awareness they need to practice effectively and to participate in musical events without resorting to inappropriate competition or the negative attitudes it fosters.

Thanks to Alyson, Deanna, Gina, Morgan, Alicia, and Meghan for their help with this article.

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    It makes the phrase sound so easy-going and cheerful, yet it is so hard to do really well, with good intonation and rhythm. I try to concentrate on raising the air column by moving the lower lip slightly forward as I ascend, keeping a small embouchure aperture and good air pressure. Also it is important to not rush the eighths and use just a little vibrato here and there. This week is about getting back to basics. After playing at the extremes for the last week during performances of Mahler’s monumental 3rd Symphony, I want to focus on relaxation, quality of sound and proper intonation. I decide to make every note for the rest of my practice session as beautiful as possible, no exceptions allowed.
    It is the morning of the first rehearsal. Our conductor for the week is the venerable Rafael Fruhbeck de Burgos, a Spanish musician who brings great commitment and vision to all works he takes under his baton. He can sometimes be a bit dictatorial and grouchy. Entering my studio in the hours before the rehearsal, I feel a tiny twinge of trepidation. There is a fear of playing a wrong note or of remembering a passage incorrectly or playing inappropriately. My survival instinct sends me a little reminder not to be lazy about anything this week.
    I warm up carefully with some slow scales, maybe some long tones, testing the dynamics and then look over the music carefully. Sometimes it is important to put the flute down and go through things mentally. I realize that my colleagues rely on what I do, as I rely on them. A passage carelessly played or unprepared in rehearsals brings the whole group down.
    I head over to the Powell Symphony Hall. It was renovated for the St. Louis Symphony in the seventies and has a special place in my heart because I played in the St. Louis Symphony Youth Orchestra and attended concerts there as a teen. Every time I enter the building I am flooded with memories from the sight, smell, and atmosphere of the old building. I like to arrive early; there is a mysterious energy on the empty stage. The hall is supposedly haunted, so maybe that is what I feel. Sometimes I play in the hall alone, contemplating the history of the place, and just enjoying the warm sound. As I go through a few passages, I recall my teacher and predecessor in this job, Jacob Berg, an artist of great integrity. I remember his thoughtful and gentle approach to the music, and his consummate knowledge of the score, and his absolute respect for the sound. (You can hear Jacob Berg on all of the recordings by the St. Louis Symphony from 1969-1999).
    Finally the orchestra is gathered and the Maestro appears. After a short introduction, we launch into La Mer. At the first rehearsal, the orchestra is like a giant sponge. We learn the conductor’s nuances and read his style. After playing through a large section he goes back, working efficiently, sometimes pushing hard for a certain effect. On this visit he is very gentile in his style. His beautifully accented English and great charm hold sway over the orchestra, and right away, a feeling of artistic kinship arises. Wonderful things can happen in this environment. Thousands of decisions are made instantaneously, millions of compromises, accommodations, and negotiations over pitch, sound and rhythm occur without discussion. It is the miracle of true music-making.
    In the rather awkward and heavily-scored moment at rehearsal 33 in the second movement, the flutes take the theme in unison but usually are covered by the rest of the orchestra.

Debussy La Mer, Mvt 2, Fl. 1, 2, m. 33-34

    Maestro is eager for us to emerge in the texture and asks the rest of the orchestra to play softly, a rather rare occurrence at this spot in most performances. Second flutist Jennifer Nitchman and I joke: “It is fine if the flutes are always covered, because there are no flutists in the world who can make this passage sound beautiful.” It is difficult for sure. The D# has to be resonant and clear, and flutists must work to clarify the articulations, which tend to be blurred in this register. I practice it slurred, developing the most resonant tone possible, then try to match the articulated quality to that. I tongue the notes somewhat further back in my mouth, just behind the hard palate. We belt it out as best we can and the director seems satisfied.
    Jennifer Nitchman is my flute soul-mate. It is a great luxury to sit next to such an aware and skilled player. We do not discuss many things about playing. She seems to channel my playing and understands what I am going to do, and what she should do to fit in. I also understand what she is going to do. Good chemistry, I suppose.
    In the famous passage for the flute and oboe at rehearsal 54 in the final movement of La Mer, the conductor wants some very special things to happen. As we approach the passage I can tell it is going to be an ordeal. “This is the climax of the entire piece,” he says and glances towards the heavens. “What an inspiration this passage is! It is so imaginative! It must be… perfect.” He stretches the tempo to the breaking point, his beat giving a mere impression of the actual rhythm. What he wants is challenging for the breathing, and I feel as if my ribs will crack with the exertion. He rehearses the passage quite a few times, first, to make sure that we can repeatedly do it the way he wants, and next, just to make sure we really get the point. On any given day these moments can occur in rehearsal. Suddenly you are tested to your limits, and all the training pays off. This moment in the concerts will take both mental and physical preparation. Interestingly, by the third concert on Sunday, it has become fairly easy.

La Mer, 3rd mvt., 7 measures after #54
   
    After a coffee break and a quick game of pool in the lounge, we rehearse the Pastorale Symphony of Beethoven. What a simple and pure joy to hear this uplifting opening phrase played by the strings. Then there is the familiar thrill of traversing the exposed solo at the end of the first movement.

Pastorale Sym., mvt. 1, fl. 1, m. 498-502

    It is so deceptively simple yet so treacherous; ten different ways to mess that one up. I wonder how a brief moment could contain so much focused attention, but that is really the essence of performing a great work of art. The whole world in a single flash. Staying in that moment is so important yet so hard.
    At the end of the second movement we play straight through the Nightingale bird calls (shown below), carefully gauging all aspects of the ensemble with the clarinet and oboe parts. It is easy to go flat in pitch on the f-natural trills. Just before the passage I always push my headjoint in just a bit to get an advantage. My colleagues and I push each other’s skills as far as we dare, while still accommodating one another. It is great fun. I try to read the Maestro’s reactions to my playing, but get nothing from him. Maybe he is thinking things over. Then we are on into the rest of the piece. 

Beethoven, Pastorale, Movement 2, m. 129-135 in 2nd mvt., fl. 1, oboe 1, cl. 1

    After the rehearsal, he approaches me with a rhetorical question. “Is it necessary to make the solo so complicated? Why do you change the dynamic so much?” Then says, “Of course, you are the one who must play the solo and be comfortable and I do not want to get in the way.” I get the message, however, that he wanted to deliver privately, and not in the context of the rehearsal. That explains the poker-faced reaction on the podium. His message is “It is simple music so play it straightforwardly and stop messing around with it.” I like this approach. I had clearly over-thought the solo in this case. I responded that “it is not necessary to play it any particular way except the way you want it. I will play it more directly, and then we will see where we stand.”
    At the next rehearsal I receive a little smile with a wink and a nod for approval. In the end, it is not this which is so satisfying. It is the experience of all three performances and rehearsals. The feeling came as the orchestra settled deep into the pieces, playing our best and not afraid to test the limits. This challenged me and made me reach for something deeper. It is about living with the pieces. It is the way the conductor’s interpretation and the orchestra’s performance developed throughout the week into a grand, natural, and beautiful statement of the works. The sheer joy of playing this music will stay with me always.
    These sentiments are not unusual. They have been experienced by myriad musicians over the years. In the midst of all the gloom and doom about the decline of symphony orchestras, and the difficulties awaiting young flutists after college, I would simply remind you that you can live the dream. It is alive and well, and young musicians need to carry the torch forward.
    I suppose the essential question is whether “your goals can match any version of reality?” The answer is yes, but it is not always easy. It is what you make it to be. Certainly there is repetition, orchestra politics, and plenty of pressure. Relationships with colleagues can be strained for any number of reasons, and at times the chaos of life, illness, personal difficulties, money concerns, and fatigue, all can conspire to obscure the dream and make the job feel like a chore. These things fade, however, in comparison to the greatness of the art form. It is a rare and fragile privilege to make a living playing great music. Try to remember every day that the simple joy of playing the flute, crafting a phrase, and playing some of the best music ever created can be a solid foundation for a joyful and fulfilling artistic life.         

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How would you define simple meter and compound meter?
Answer: Simple meter is when the individual beat is divisible by 2’s as in 2/4, 3/4 and 4/4  meter. Compound meter is when the individual beat is divisible by 3 as in 3/8, 6/8, 9/8, and 12/8.

Teaching Idea: On land or by sea?
    A good way to explain the difference between simple and compound meter is to ask, “Is it on land or by sea?” Our bodies work on the principal of two’s. When we walk on land, we alternate the feet – left, right, left, right. The eyes open and close and we breathe in and we breathe out. We are in two.
    Yet when we ride in a boat on the sea, the boat does not float up and down in two, but floats down, up, up in three. Jacques Offenbach certainly got it correct when writing his famous Barcarolle from The Tales of Hoffmann which is written in 6/8, a compound meter that is based on threes. Asking the question “Is it by land or by sea?” helps most students understand the practical difference between simple and compound meter.

What is the time signature?
Answer: The time signature, which indicates meter, is located at the beginning of a piece. There are two numbers, one above the other. The top number indicates how many beats there are in each measure. The lower number indicates what kind of note or unit of measurement represents one pulse or beat. Choices for the lower number might be: 2 = half note, 4 = quarter note, 8 = eighth note, 16 = sixteenth note, etc. 

Teaching Idea: Rather than quizzing students on common time signatures start by asking about some they have never seen before (or may never see) such as 57 over 1or  22 over 64. The 57 over 1 indicates 57 beats in a measure, and each beat is represented by a whole note. So, each measure contains 57 whole notes. Working with the unusual helps students remember the order of the thought process in dealing with the time signatures in common usage such as 4/4 and 6/8.

As a performer, how do you show the meter?
Answer: Generally, meter is shown through inflection following the strength of the beat rule. In 2/4 meter, the first beat is played strongly, and the second beat weaker. In 3/4 meter, the first beat is strong, the second note less strong, and the third beat is the least strong. In 4/4 meter, the first beat is strong, the third beat is weak, the second beat is weaker, and the fourth beat is weakest. The same relationship occurs in compound meter. 

What is the most obvious difference between the two notation trees shown below?
Answer: The compound notation tree employs the use of the dot. A dot after a note increases the value of the note by one-half.

A notation tree for simple time.

Three Rhythmic Examples
    Have students sightread each of the following examples without any coaching from you. 

moderato

    Time in music is designated by a tempo marking, a time signature, and the rhythm of the individual beat or pulse. In this example, the tempo marking is moderato, so the three measures should be played at a moderate speed. The time signature is 3/4 indicating there are three beats in each measure with the quarter-note receiving one beat or pulse. Many novice and not so novice musicians have trouble playing the first dotted-quarter note accurately. Even though the student knows the dot after the quarter lengthens the quarter by one-half value or an eighth note, when counting aloud the student has little idea of where the + after 2 occurs. Rather than counting 1 + 2+ 3+, try having a student count “1 + DOT + 3 +.” This shows the student exactly where the dot occurs and its length. Since most middle and high school bands play very little music in 3/4 meter, practice nine-note scales in this rhythm to learn to play dotted quarter-notes accurately. Experienced teachers often call the dotted quarter-note a three-eighths note to highlight its true value.

Nine-note scale


Rhythm applied to nine-note scale

    When working on this exercise, introduce additional activities as well. For example, if a student is sitting down while playing the example, have him lift his right leg on the + of 2 or on all the first beats. Repeat lifting the left leg. Alternatively have students clap rhythms on their legs or laps as they count aloud. This combines aural and tactile sensations and helps students learn the concept more thoroughly.   
    This tempo marking of this exercise is Vivo. The 6/8 time signature indicates six beats in each measure and the unit of measurement is an eighth-note. Since the tempo marking Vivo is played quickly, the six beats in each measure are played in two groups of three eighth-notes. This is sometimes referred to as playing fast 6/8. The strong beats are the first and fourth eight-notes. Notice the second note, a C4, is a weak note in the previous rhythmic example in 3/4 and a strong note in this one.

    The tempo marking of this exercise is Largo. The 6/8 time signature indicates there are six beats in each measure and the unit of measurement is an eighth-note. Since the tempo marking Largo is played very slowly, each of the six beats in the measure receive one pulse. This is sometimes referred to as playing slow 6/8.The strong beats are still the first and the fourth eighth-notes.

What is the difference between these last two examples?
Answer: The difference between these two examples has to do with the tempo indication. The time signature and the note pitches and rhythm are exactly the same, yet one is played in two and the other in six.
  
Drill
    Novice teachers are often afraid of having the students drill a concept day after day. Seasoned teachers know that students should drill concepts daily. Never be afraid of teaching the simple and the obvious. While it may be obvious to you, it may not be to students. Each week select a rhythm of the week, and alternate between simple and compound meters. Practice this rhythm on unison notes, scales, arpeggios, seventh chords etc. Not only will you be developing theoretical knowledge, but you will be enhancing the rhythmic performance of your students when they are playing their solo and band repertoire.     

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What aspect of flute playing did you focus on most when teaching?
    For developing students I worked on the basics of flute fundamentals to fix any gaps in their instrumental playing. I prescribed scales (Taffanel & Gaubert No. 4 Scale Game) with all kinds of articulations. In this exercise the eighth bar or modulation bar between keys was played slowly and slurred with great attention to musical phrasing. If I taught anything specifically (vibrato, tone, hand positions, staccato, rhythm, posture etc.), I demonstrated it myself. I found that students who have sightreading problems make most mistakes from careless reading. For more mature students, I worked on poetic content, images, style, dynamics, control, endurance, and of course, more flute fundamentals.

Is there an aspect of flute playing that you find incoming students consistently need to improve?
    Students often lack a succinct knowledge of the historic and stylistic circumstances of a piece, a varied approach to dynamics and interpretation, and a thorough acquaintance with the total score in flute repertoire, orchestral excerpts, chamber music and operas.

What are the strengths of a student who has been with you a few years?
    I would hope a professional attitude and proficiency and the tools to improve and assimilate criticism from colleagues, teachers, conductors, and oneself.

How much do you demonstrate versus use descriptive language?
    I played as much as I could, but maybe not enough, based on whatever my instincts and imagination commanded.

How many hours per week did you expect your students to practice?
    Some people are fast learners, some not so much. On average, 20 hours per week should cut it. Some days will be long flute days while others will be shorter. More than 4 hours on any one day is not optimal, unless pleasure and love of the flute request it.
Cramming for lost hours is only a way of dealing with guilt, but laziness, love affairs, socializing in general, and the occasional missed day without any excuse at all, are vital parts of life. So an (honest) weekly average of twenty hours spread over five or six days, should be fine for performance majors at the university level.

What are your criteria for measuring progress?
    A good sign is the ability to put together a piece for a performance or gig in a few hours or days. A bad sign is a student who consistently wants to move his lesson time in order to be prepared. Frankly, a couple of extra days won’t help much. 

Did you allow time in lessons for conversation about topics unrelated to flute playing?
    Definitely. Art appreciation (painting, sculpture, architecture, literature, history of art) and general culture, even scientific topics, are not sidekicks to performing. As Malcolm Forbes said, “Minds are like parachutes. They only work when they are open.”

How did you use praise and encouragement in your teaching?
    I used to be a reluctant task master. If someone deserved praise for work well done and for honest work on my assignments, I would certainly show my appreciation.

How did you use criticism?
    I tried to help students find and verbalize their own self-criticism. I wanted them to fix their own assessment; and learn to hear themselves as if they were a listener.

Should lessons be structured so that each student completes the same material or did you allow students to pursue their own curriculum?
    Before the end of the school year, I gave every student of my studio and the new admits the same list of repertoire. After consulting with me, each flutist chose his repertoire. Aside from the biggies (Mozart Concertos, Prokofiev Sonata, Bach Partita, Schubert Variations, Widor Suite, Boulez Sonatine, César Frank Sonata, etc.), which require the maturity of upper classmen, I believed that most pieces have something for everyone, especially the new students. These elements include reading and playing the proper notes; tempo and rhythm; dynamics and phrasing; and concentration and endurance.
    The list changed every year except for Bach and Mozart, so after four years, about 100 pieces would have been played or at least heard.
    I assigned the usual 20 orchestral excerpts (rotated by ten’s every other year for specific issues. For example: “Eroica” for rhythm, “Faune” for breath management, “Daphnis” for colors, “Midsummer” for low staccato, “Classical Symphony” for fake fingerings, “Leonore III” for articulation, “Bolero” for pp, “Stravinsky’s “Petrushka, Nightingale” or Bartók “Concerto for Orchestra” for cadenzas, etc. I used to think, actually still do, that there was neither a valid interpretation without a reliable understanding and control of flute fundamentals, nor a proficient and convincing instrumental playing without a musical project.

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