•    The most comfortable exhalation point is in the middle, when the lungs are neither too full nor too empty. The supportive feelings from the intercostal muscles, ribcage area, and diaphragm are working naturally as the air is being expelled.

•    Towards the end of an exhalation, you are near the bottom of your lung capacity, running on empty as it were. You might even feel a critical need for another breath to replenish the air supply. A greater feeling of support is necessary to compensate for the now almost empty lungs. It is important to concentrate on keeping the air column steady as the end of the note is approaching. Maintaining control during the final seconds of any note also requires keeping the vibrato steady as the release nears.  
    While breathing is a natural bodily function that need not be overly complex when applied to the piccolo, air management or budgeting the release of the air, one of the key concepts for all wind instruments, is critical for piccolo players.

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Everyday we should work for
    •    A beautiful sustained singing sound with colors and nuances in all registers
    •    Correct and expressive breathing
    •    Tasteful imaginative phrasing
    •    Clear and expressive articulation
    •    Clean technique with a good sound in fast and/or articulated passages
    •    Nothing less than perfect rhythm
    •    Good intonation
    •    Expression, expression, expression!

With the music as our guide, future teachers and players will never be able to say what Quantz wrote over 200 years ago: “It seems as if the majority of flute players today have fingers and tongues, to be sure, but are deficient in brains, does it not?” (Johann Joachim Quantz, essay On Playing the Flute, 1752).

How should we practice?
    First and foremost, learn to listen to what you are playing. You will only be able to know your playing – your strengths as well as your weaknesses – when you practice with ears the size of Mickey Mouse. If you have not identified your weaknesses, you will never be able to tackle and destroy them.
    Second, do not spend too much time doing those things you can already do. “If it ain’t broke don’t try to fix it.” On the other hand, don’t let your weaknesses get to your soul and make you blue. They should not be a source of sorrow but a source of excitement because they are your key to improvement. As I learned from Guiot, nothing is ever impossible – difficult yes, but not impossible. He showed me that, by being optimistically stubborn about accepting each challenge and finding creative solutions, there are answers to every problem.
    Guiot’s technical training was based on two main books, On Sonority and 480 Scales and Arpeggios (Marcel Moyse, Alphonse Leduc, Paris). To practice from these classics, first, prepare yourself to work mentally and physically.
    •    Open both your body and mind.
    •    Start the day gently, kissing your flute hello.
    •    Find a naturally stable posture.
    •    Always sing, even when playing only one note.
    •    Think of the flute as an extension of your body that makes round, colorful, generous, and sensual sounds that are full of meaning.
    •    Look for the poetry in all exercises. When practicing them you should think of the music and styles of such composers as Bach, Gluck, Brahms, Mozart, Bizet, Mendel­ssohn, Debussy, and Ravel.
    •    Do not just play what is printed. Bring the notes to life.
    •    Caress the flute with air and fingers.
    •    Don’t clench your fingers on the. keys. Keep them light as feathers.
    •    Forget any desire to be the strongest, fastest, and loudest. If you want to do that, go shopping for a trumpet!

“Breath is the

of the flute.”
 (Paul Taffanel)

     Breathing and blowing without forcing the air column into the flute is of utmost importance when playing tone exercises. Blow through the flute aiming for roundness and resonance. Too much air pressure only makes the muscles tight and saturates the instrument. The throat should be open at all times to allow the a free flow of air. The lips only guide the air stream. Remember that sound comes from the air column, not from the throat, lips, or tongue. Good breathing is a must for a good sound and expressiveness.
    Now, open Moyse’s book On Sonority, Art and Technique to page 3, “Timbre and Homogeneity of Tone in the 3 Registers”.

    Right from the start, use this exercise to place your sound, just as a soprano would carefully place her voice before launching thoughtlessly into Mozart’s famous Queen of the Night aria. I believe that everyone has a “best placed note.” This is probably due to the physical constitution of both instrument and player, as well as the immutable laws of acoustics. Find this perfect beautiful sound first and use it as a reference point for the rest of the exercise. Proceed with the exercise and, as both Boehm and Moyse cleverly suggested, spread the beauty of that best note to all of the other notes. If a note is well placed and alive from the beginning, the next one will most likely be beautiful as well.

    When you are able to sing beautifully through all the exercises from pages 6-9, change rhythms and nuances. This will renew your interest and attention by personally designing exercises to help you improve and expand your expressive palette.
Follow with this set of variations, inspired by Guiot’s teaching.


    Just as I have heard him say “Thank you, Marcel Moyse,” I must say now “Thank you, Raymond Guiot.” Thank you for having opened so many doors for me to become a better music-maker!
    We should practice exercises and studies with our best personal vitality, concentration, and creativity – always striving for exquisite beauty and radiance. Exercises and etudes should sound like music, reflecting human emotions. Practice etudes with many moods: dolce or bitter, calmo or agitated, sotto-voce or a triumphal forte, tendrement or angrily, leggero or heavy, scherzando or serious, maestoso or fragile, joyeux or sadly.
    It takes commitment to go down the magic path of artistry. If you don’t give it all you’ve got, you will not enjoy yourself. Then any exercise will indeed become boring, long and painful, and ultimately useless. It’s up to you.

The post Let the Music be Your Guide appeared first on The Instrumentalist.

Alto Flute Audition Pieces
“What Goes Around” from Two for Two by Katherine Hoover (Papagena) High School Flute Choir

    The opening should be playful and energetic. The first measure tosses quarter-note trills back and forth between piano and flute, and the next several measures are all sextuplet 16ths. It is easy to choose a tempo that is too fast and quickly find yourself in trouble. There are many places in the piece where sextuplets are passed back and forth with the piano, so precise entrances are important. Practice with a metronome to keep the entrances strictly in time so you don’t lose momentum.
    The piano starts the dreamy middle section in bar 41. Ask the pianist to soften his touch and use the sostenuto pedal with delicacy. There are many opportunities for expressive phrasing in this middle section. Experiment with dynamics and slight delays and hesitations on notes to discover and develop what appeals to you. Again,  metronome practice will help you avoid getting  too slow.
    Maintain the accelerando in the short cadenza until its culminatation on the low C# in measure 86. The music gradually builds, and the opening trills magically reappear as you drive to the end of the movement.
    The two most challenging measures of the piece are 101 and 102. Like any difficult passage, begin practicing these measures with different rhythms and articulations right away so that they are ready when the rest of the piece is done.  I use harmonic fingerings to correct the pitch on the forte notes at the top of the run.

    After this flurry of notes, back off slightly. I imagine the next measures, 104-108, as sounding like hail on a metal roof. The music builds again and the tempo presses ahead, as the piano hands off its eighth notes to the flute. Be sure to honor the silence in the next to last measure and play the final two Cs with chutzpah. I have been known to stomp my foot on the last note. Add fingers to bring the pitch down.

“Music for Pan” from Solos for Alto Flute by Jonathan Bayley (ALRY) Collegiate Flute Choir

    This is a charming piece written in a Renaissance style. Listen to some Renaissance dance pieces in  3/4  or a similar meter to get the feeling of lightness and placement. Look up gioioso (joyful), which appears at the beginning, to understand the composer’s intent. Think about how a recorder would sound playing this and consider how much you might want to emulate that sound and quality of articulation. In a performance, a triangle or finger cymbals would be a colorful addition. There are few dynamic markings on the first page of the piece. Consider adding an echo at measure 37 because this material was just heard four bars before, followed by a forte in measure 41, where the melody becomes more adamant. Decrescendo in measures 47 and 48, which will bring you to just the right dynamic to make the marked crescendo in measures 49 and 50.
    On the second page, the Lento section has no bar lines and should be treated like a cadenza. The first and second endings are confusing until you realize that there are no repeat signs. Study the second page carefully to determine what to do at the first endings that have no repeat signs, and take note of the Segno as you pass it.

Sonatine for Alto Flute and Piano by Alexandra Harwood (Progress Press) Professional Flute Choir

    This piece was commissioned by Andrea Graves and premiered at the 2008 N.F.A. convention.  While through-composed, it has four sections.
    Mokusou-meditation: The slow sections of this movement emulate shakahachi flute playing.
    Recordings of this style will help you learn the sound you are trying to imitate. Pitch bending is easy on a shakahachi because of its open holes, but not so simple on an alto flute unless you have one with open holes. If you are one of the few with such an instrument, slide the entire hand on and off the keys rather than just one finger at a time.

    Those with closed-holes can bend pitches with the lip; the half step opening F to E is easy, but the slide up from F to A is more of a challenge. Depressing the F# key while playing F will help. From A flat to A, raise only the left-hand fourth finger, not both fingers as you would normally do. It takes a fair amount of practice to learn to ooze off the keys to create the desired effect. A diffuse tone during slides will mask the transitions. The first slide pattern is repeated many times, so get very good at it.

    Uta-song: Practice singing this section for ideas on how to use vibrato, shape phrases, and rubato. Pitch problems because of the high range in measure 95 and 105 will require special attention.

    Gugaku-Japanese Imperial Court Music: This section starts with a return of the opening pitch slides and should be even more dramatic. I had questions about accidentals in this section and Andrea Graves provided the following answers: All the Gs in measure 114 are sharp – not just the two that are marked. All the Es in measure 117 are flat, and all the Ds in measure 118 are flat. The Fflat at the end of 116 carries over to measure 117 and the Dflat at the end of 117 carries over to measure 118. Assume that accidentals carry through the measure.

    Buyou-dance: Keep this charming and rambunctious movement light and fluid, and honor the dynamic markings. Beware of pitch problems in the third octave in measures 147-150. Those players with curved headjoints might try harmonic fingerings a fifth lower in these forte passages to bring the pitch down. The trills in measure 167 and 215 should be from Dflat to Eflat.
    There is one measure of flutter tonguing in 214. Those who have trouble with fluttering can either play the measure normally or try double tonguing as a substitute. Growling or gargling works for some people, but it doesn’t seem to fit here.

Bass Flute Audition Pieces
“Tango” from Two for Two by Katherine Hoover (Papagena) Professional and High School Choirs

        To get the feel for this slow, sensuous tango, listen to recordings or find D.V.D.s to watch. The website (http://lcweb2.loc.gov) has videos of tangos on clip #80–82. Ask your pianist to watch and listen as well to understand the mood. Gliding, languorous movements interrupted by abrupt changes in direction typify the tango. 
     Dynamic contrasts are the key to a successful performance of this movement. Create gestures that are like the tossing of a head, long flowing arcs or sly glances. Do all this with extreme dynamic contrasts, by lingering unexpectedly on a few notes, or through sudden increases and decreases in speed. A sudden diminuendo on one note is like a haughty move of the head or a sigh. If there is a written accent, make the most of it; treat accents almost like a fp.

    Decide where you want to use your most passionate vibrato and where to be cold and distant. It is your job to tease the audience. Look for places to move ahead and places to hold back. I especially enjoy two spots where the flute is in parallel fifths with the piano–bars 44-46 and 117-118. I throw in a few glissandos from time to time to heighten the effect of sliding movements. The quarter-note triplets should be broad and lazy. There are many instances of repeated notes; record yourself to ensure that they are distinct.

    The piano ends the movement with a soft downward moving gesture. I find it heightens the suspense to delay this last entrance and to play it as softly as possible. In performance, be sure to hold still after the final piano notes to allow the audience to contemplate what they have just heard.
    Microphone placement will be important when recording this piece so that the bass flute can be heard above the piano.

 “Ophelia” from Eight Pieces by Lowell Libermann (Theodore Presser) Collegiate Flute Choir
    There are over 15 instances where the right-hand pinky finger slides between low C and Eflat. To smooth this exchange, prepare beforehand by rubbing the little finger behind your ear to put some oil on your finger.
    The indicated tempo is quarter =c. 63, and I suggest practicing with a metronome set on the eighth at eighth =126. When you are comfortable playing the piece at that tempo, you can decide where to speed up and slow down to honor the indicated Lento con molto rubato.
    The first three 8ths on line 2 are straight 8ths – each should receive one beat at  eighth=126. The 8th-note triplet patterns that follow should be spread over two 8th-note beats. At the beginning of the third line, start thinking in quarters rather than eighths. In the last group of line 4, notice the group of four straight 8th notes amongst the triplets. They should be played at the same speed as the triplets that precede and follow them. For extreme accuracy, set the metronome on 189 to the triplet 8th.
    Notice the numerous fermatas. Some are on breath marks, some on notes, and some are on rests. I understand a fermata on a breath mark to mean take a relaxed breath, but not more time than that. It is logical that a fermata on an 8th note or rest is shorter than one on a quarter note or rest. Be careful not to put in extra time where none is indicted. The rests without fermatas should be the correct length.
    Many notes have tenuto marks, which technically means to hold the note full value. Here, I think the composer is pointing out the melody. By lengthening or adding extra warmth to these notes, the listener will be more aware of the melody and its development.The last line starts piano and ends pianissimo followed by a diminuendo. To make a more effective diminuendo, I suggest starting a bit louder.
Remember to make the best quality recording possible because competition for the New York convention will be especially tough. Use a recording studio that has excellent equipment, soundproof rooms, and experience in recording classical music. Good luck!

The post N.F.A. Flute Choir Audition Pieces – A Performance Guide for Alto and Bass Flutists appeared first on The Instrumentalist.

    
    Align the footjoint so that the pinkie finger can easily play the low C when moved or slid sideways to the right. For most students, this means that the footjoint rod is turned slightly farther out than it would be when aligned with the center of the D key.

The goal is to align the footjoint for a low-C fingering rather than a low-B fingering, because in real life, students will play many, many more C#s and Cs than Bs. They should be able to finger the C# and C with the least amount of change or interference to the right hand’s normal position.
 
When Students Grow
    As children grow during elementary and middle school years, certain adjustments will be necessary and the footjoint alignment will require change. Monitor the student’s shoe size, which is about the same length as the distance from the left elbow to the wrist. If this length is longer than a women’s size 7 to 7.5 shoe, the left wrist will need to be slightly bent (think palm under the A key), so that the aperture, embouchure hole, and crease in left elbow (with both arms hung) align with the center of the music stand. The left-hand thumb should be straight and point toward the ceiling.

Many students play on the tip of their left thumb.

When the hand is small this is fine, but in order to prevent future injury, most students’ left  thumbs should touch the key closer to their first knuckle. This will prevent an outward arch at the wrist.

Stance
    If there is enough room in the classroom, arrange the chairs so that students may easily stand during class. Many middle and high school students lack the ability to focus for great lengths of time; alternating teaching curriculum between standing and sitting help them pay better attention. 
    Because the flute is played off to the right side of the body, it is considered an asymmetrical instrument. That means that the left foot should be in front and the right foot in back with about a foot or more between them. Some teachers call this the 12:00/3:00 stance. Players shouldn’t feel stuck in this position. It is merely a baseline position or returning point. 
    Likewise, when sitting, turn the chair about 45 degrees to the right of the music stand. Align the left knee to the center of the music stand. The upper body faces to the right with the head turned slightly to the left.

Marching Band or Artistry
    The position discussed above produces the optimum flute performance. Unfortunately, it has nothing to do with how flutists are instructed to stand in marching band competitions. This is something to clarify with the students and band director when teaching in the public schools.
    Hopefully, one day the artistic world can convince the marching band world that the flute, along with many other instruments, should not be played symmetrically and that this should be reflected on the football field. In masterclasses for band directors I often alternate from the marching band stance to the artistry stance several times. When they laugh, I know that they understand the difference.

Flute Malfunctions
    Most flute damages occur when students are taking flutes out or putting them in the case. Because students will assemble the entire flute in this masterclass, take a few minutes to illustrate how to remove and assemble a flute properly. This small discussion can save many dollars spent in repair shops replacing pads and straightening key work.
    With the flute in the case, I begin by placing my left-hand index finger in the end of the footjoint to release it from the case. Then hold the footjoint at the very end where there are no keys. Next, release the body of the flute with the right index finger and thumb. Holding the flute body with the right hand on the barrel, carefully join the footjoint and body so that the footjoint tenon is not bent in any way.  Slowly twist the footjoint on and align it.
    Then hold the flute body/footjoint combination at the barrel with the left hand and slowly place the headjoint into the body. Once again, avoid bending the headjoint tenon. For good performance the headjoint must fit well into the body. Push the headjoint all the way in and then back it out about a quarter of an inch. Align the headjoint by looking down the flute from the D, E, and F keys. For a classic line up, draw an imaginary line through the center of the D, E, and F keys and the center of the embouchure hole. Custom adjustments can be made to reflect individual needs. You may want to mark a small line indicating the correct lineup with a permanent marker or finger nail polish. Then the student can refer to the mark when practicing at home. At the end of the class, teach students how to swab out the flute without scratching the inside of the tube.

Add-a-Beat
    This exercise teaches students to use their air in a relaxed way. I like D for this exercise because it is one of the most incorrectly fingered notes on the flute. By starting the class with the correct fingering each time, students eventually begin to finger the note correctly. Remind them that the jaw and arms should hang and that the keys should face the ceiling.
    With the students sitting, ask them to extend their legs out in front with their heels off the floor. With a metronome set on quarter =72, ask them to tap their feet in the air to the tick of the metronome. When all feet are tapping together, play D in the staff for a quarter note followed by a quarter rest. On each repetition of the exercise, hold the D one quarter note longer than before, followed by a quarter rest. Repeat until the D is held for 12 counts. 
    This exercise has many benefits. First, when the feet and legs are extended off the floor, the abdomen has the correct amount of relaxation/tightness for good air use. Also, students must count – not just feel the pulse – but actually count the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4 to play the rest correctly.

Harmonic Basics
    With the right hand on the barrel, play a quarter note followed by a rest on each of the following notes: low-octave G, A flat, A, thumb B flat, B, C, and C#. Repeat an octave higher and then lip up to the third partial, which will sound D, E flat, E, F, F#, G, and G# above the the staff.

    This exercise not only helps students learn which octave they are in, but it also develops the embouchure. The embouchure setting for the first octave is similar to saying the word see. For the second octave say Sue, and for the third partial say Pooh as in Winnie the Pooh. The lip opening or aperture becomes smaller as flutists ascend in this exercise. Once students are comfortable finding these pitches, slur from first octave G to second octave G and finally to the third partial D. Repeat on each of the above notes. You can create variations on this exercise by using counted vibrato on each note or various articulated rhythms.

Balancing the Flute
    To play the flute well, the hands have to be equal. The keys on the flute are arranged in what repair craftsmen call stacks. The upper stack includes the notes of the left hand and the lower stack those of the right hand. This exercise alternates between the two stacks, and when students are successful in playing these two trill sequences without any flute movement, they have found how to balance the flute between the two hands.
    Play a three count trill in the second octave from F to G followed by a rest on the fourth beat.  Move the F finger from the third (or hand) knuckle. Keep the finger as close to the key as possible for economy of motion. The third knuckle should be at the same height as the key for optimum speed. After several repetitions of the trill, repeat the exercise using G and A.  Then alternate between an F and a G trill and a G and an A trill.
    If there is someone in the class with a fast trill, have the other students watch the player’s finger. We have mirror neurons in our brain that can help develop great technique. In a nutshell, it is similar to “monkey see, monkey do.”

Minute of Tonguing
    Obviously, most flutists cannot tongue 16th notes for a minute or more because they run out of air.  However, tonguing for a longer period of time helps students build strength and perfect attacks. When the brain realizes that you are going to tongue for a long period of time, it finds the most practical way for the tongue to work. 
    Set a metronome at a comfortable speed, such as quarter = 80, and have students single tongue eight counts of 16ths  on a second octave B; then rest two counts before repeating the sequence several times. Encourage students to increase the metronome marking each week along with the number of counts of tongued 16th notes. Most of my students find the greatest benefit with the metronome set at 96 and tonguing five sets of 16 counts of 16th notes.  Practicing this exercise just twice a week provides enormous benefits.

Minute of Vibrato
    Players should control their vibrato, and not be controlled by it. Practicing counted vibrato twice a week keeps your vibrato under control.
    Generally we calculate vibrato with a metronome setting between 60 and 80. For beginner students, practice three pulsations per tick on low D for eight to 16 counts with a rest in between each set. Strive to increase the number of vibrato cycles from four to five on each metronome setting.  Finally, with the metronome set on 60, practice six vibrato pulsations – 1 pulse, then 2, and then 3 pulses. Be sure that each cycle is a clone of the previous one.

Five Note Patterns

Rather than launching into a long discussion about the construction of scales, keep the class focused by using the first five notes of each scale to lay down a foundation for scale study. These note patterns will be the pitches on which we do many variations. Hand out a sheet with these patterns written in alphabet letters rather than music notation. I always teach note-reading with alphabet notation first and then music notation. You would think that this would help poor readers best, but I have found that it actually helps the brighter students the most. I speculate that this strategy provides two pathways to learning rather than just one. 
    Notice that the patterns start on D rather than C. When teaching tone or technique work, begin with the right hand in the functioning position. This means that the lowest note should be a D. If you begin on low C or any other footjoint note, then students are working outside of their normal playing position. Until that normal position is set in their hand, they will progress more slowly. Note that Daily Exercise # 1 from Taffanel & Gaubert’s 17 Big Daily Exercises for flute starts on D rather than C.
    With each masterclass, focus on teaching these notes in a one octave span only. Teach the low octave, then the middle, and finally the high. For the first variation on these notes, have students place three vibrato pulsations (hah, hah, hah) on each pitch while slurring the nine notes. Not only will this improve their vibrato, but vibrato pulsing helps students learn to subdivide each pulse. This process also improves note connections because the subdivision in the counting controls when the finger moves.

Challenge
    At the end of class play the five note patterns fast and slurred 16 times. Challenge each flutist to be able to play many repetitions of these patterns slurred on your next return. Encourage them to start slowly by learning to play one repetition very fast and then adding two repetitions, and so forth.
    As before give each student a one-page handout to take home. Remember to include your name, contact information, and a short biography.  

The post Add the Footjoint appeared first on The Instrumentalist.

“His sound in person was not the same as on that Bach record, of course. In those days he didn’t do much live playing. He was freelancing, mostly doing jingles in recording studios. The only place to hear him live was at Bach Aria concerts. He had a golden sound that just floated out of him.
    “When I arrived in New York, I didn’t really have an embouchure. I produced  C above the staff  and notes above that C by closing off my throat – just squeezing them out. Baker began with the Berbiguier C-Major etude, the one with the jump from C in the staff to high E. I played it, and he said, ‘No, John. Like this.’ I went home and stood in front of a mirror trying to play the passage like him, hour after hour, trying to stand like him, to look like him, to sound like him. Then I would go back for the next lesson
    “The process would repeat. I played, and he would say again, ‘No John, like this,’ and then he would play it. I just couldn’t get better. Baker taught only by demonstration, which wasn’t working for me, so on Weatherly’s advice, I went to Claude Monteux. After playing for five minutes, Monteux explained what I was doing and how I had to change it. In a sense, it was the first flute lesson I ever really had – someone telling me how to play the flute, as opposed to someone encouraging me and talking about the music.”
    Other teachers would include William Kincaid and Marcel Moyse. “Kincaid gave me solidity. He took me through a routine. My work with him was towards the end of his career. He had it all down pat. I used to buy new copies of music, such as the Griffes Poem or the Bach Sonatas, so that I would have only his markings in them. He also took me through Anderson’s Op. 33, up the octave, and the Maquarre Daily Studies. He made me learn the first C major-A minor sequnce from memory, and then transpose the rest by ear. Moyse, by contrast, was a great teacher of music and did not actually discuss flute playing with me.”  
    As a result of these experiences, Wion feels that he teaches much more by way of explanation than by example. “It was never my goal to have students who sound just like me. Too often I observe that teachers, who have clearly solved playing problems themselves, believe that their way is the only way to play the flute. I never quite understood that attitude. I’ve always believed that it is best to point out to students what I’m hearing. If they are seeking advice, I can suggest the kinds of things they should try.”

The New York City Opera
Wion had some opera experience before coming to New York, and as a freelancer he gained more. “My first Carmen was done without rehearsal. There were no excerpt books in those days, so I went to the library, took out a recording, and listened to it over and over. On the day of the performance, I went to the hall an hour early with the intention of looking at the part. When I arrived there was nobody there, and the music wasn’t there either. During the next hour, musicians began to arrive, but still no music. We were told to enter the pit at about 8:00 p.m., and five minutes later the conductor walked in through one door, while the music was passed in through another. He gave the downbeat and we were off. I was saved, literally, by the second flutist, Oreste DiSevo, a very experienced elderly, Italian gentleman, who knew everything about opera, inside out and backwards.
    “There are traditional cuts made in Carmen, but not all of them were marked correctly in the part. We would play along and come to one of the cut places, and he would say ‘No Cut!’ and then we would go on a bit further, and he would say, ‘Cut, cut!’ He turned my pages and pointed to the appropriate starting place.
    “In 1965, two flute positions opened up in the New York City Opera – principal and second. I have no idea how many people auditioned, because auditions were not advertised in those days – they were either by invitation or word-of-mouth. I played flute and piccolo in the first round and was called back for the finals the next day. I was working with a woodwind quintet at the time, and that next day was completely full with out-of-town concerts, so I told the contractor that I couldn’t do it, to which he replied, “Well, it’s up to you.”
“In the end, I got a substitute for the quintet job, took the audition, and won the first position. I was astonished. When I started, we worked six days a week with two services a day. The weekend consisted of Friday (a rehearsal – often a dress – and a performance), Saturday (2 performances), and Sunday (2 performances). Getting through the first season was tough, because we performed 16 operas, and I had only done two or three of them before. My introduction to the N.Y.C.O. was a Mozart season in Palo Alto, California. We had a Los Angeles season as well for about 20 years. Once we went to Taiwan and once to Mexico, but mostly the rumors that we heard about going to various places came to nothing. Touring an opera company is very expensive.” Wion’s 37 years in that opera pit culminated in his nine-volume series of opera excerpt books (Falls House Press/Theodore Presser) to help flutists prepare for auditions and performances.

Symphony vs. Opera Orchestra
    “After joining the N.Y.C.O. I played occasional freelance orchestra jobs that performed concert versions of opera; it always intrigued me how badly they did them. Playing in an opera orchestra requires skills that the typical symphonic player doesn’t have the opportunity to learn.
    “There are three main differences between symphony and opera orchestra playing. In an opera orchestra you follow the singers most of the time. Instrumentalists can joke about singers and say they have terrible rhythm. In some cases it’s probably true, but the real truth is that singers’ phrasing is extremely expressive. Even a great, well-trained singer does not sing metronomically. They always sing with rubato. As an opera instrumentalist, you develop the skill of subdividing in order to stay with singers. For example, in Rigoletto there is a passage in which the soprano sings quarters while the flute plays arpeggiated sextuplets. If you play those sextuplets metronomically, you will inevitably arrive at the next beat before or after the soprano.
    “The skill required is what Marcel Tabuteau started and William Kincaid continued – the concept of grouping notes from the second note of a group to the first note of the next group or the next beat. This idea is particularly useful in opera. Take our Rigoletto sextuplet, for example; as you hear the soprano move to the next beat, you make a slight accelerando through the last five notes of the sextuplet to that next beat. If she does not move to the next note, you make a slight ritard. That is a skill that is not easily taught, because you almost need a singer to practice it.
    “The other big difference between opera and symphonic orchestra work is the recitatives, which are usually printed in a type of short hand. Ta – ta.  They are like exclamation points, and how you play those two notes depends upon the musical circumstances. An experienced opera conductor with an experienced orchestra can make a great variety of exclamation points.
    “Another major factor that musicians have to cope with is one of ego. Because opera musicians are accompanists most of the time, opera orchestras are not great outlets for those who think they are God’s gift to the music world.”

Teaching at Hartt
In 1977 Wion started teaching at Hartt College. The oboist in Wion’s woodwind quintet, Bert Lucarelli, taught at Hartt and was also Chair of the Wind Department. “He called in September to say that they had been having trouble tracking down their flute teacher, John Wummer, and then learned that he had died while visiting out on the West Coast. Would I come and teach? I really didn’t want to do it. I didn’t own a car, and Hartt was 2 ½ hours outside the city. I had been having some hand troubles and was already teaching at two schools. I would be in Los Angeles for a month with the N.Y.C.O. in November. Every argument I put forth, he countered, even saying that I could be away for the Los Angeles tour. Finally, I agreed to do it as an interim, thinking I could back out if it didn’t work.” Wion’s interim position at Hartt lasted 30 years.
    “I took over Wummer’s class of nine students as an adjunct. Hartt had two assistant professors of flute – Carl Bergner and Stanley Aronoff – the two flutists in the Hartford Symphony. Stanley was the older of the two, and years later, the dean said that when Stanley retired I would have the position, which is just how it happened. I was appointed an Associate Professor in 1986 and professor six years later.”

Alexander Lessons
    Wion’s hand problems continued to escalate. The original injury was the result of a fall on the ice, but the left-hand disfunction persisted. After a decade of various medical treatments, none of which helped very much, he met Judith Youett, an English clarinetist and Alexander teacher. Of her he states, “She was the best flute teacher I ever had. At the first lesson we did some basic Alexander sitting and standing exercises, and then she said, ‘Why don’t we go to the flute.’
    “When I went to pick up my flute, she said, ‘The moment I mentioned the word flute you tightened up.’ The lessons all started from there. I really felt it was like psychotherapy, because we gradually peeled away the layers. She never said I was doing something wrong, but rather observed what I was doing physically, such as, ‘When you play a high note, you raise your shoulders.’ I responded, ‘I do? I always tell students not to do that kind of thing.’ As I became aware of one thing, that realization led to a deeper layer of awareness.”
     During his career Wion appeared as soloist in New York’s major concert halls and at prestigious U.S. summer festivals. He played recital tours with pianist Gilbert Kalish and guitarist Lisa Hurlong, and performed with the Tokyo, Emerson, and Manhattan String Quartets. With an aging mother living in Australia, he traveled there every year for a visit. On those occasions he performed as soloist with the major orchestras there and also played recitals.
A founding member of Leopold Stokowski’s American Symphony, Wion played the orchestra’s first three seasons. His performing career brought him into contact with all the major singers, from Luciano Pavarotti and Placido Domingo to Joan Sutherland and Beverly Sills to Julie Andrews and Liza Minnelli. He performed under conductors such as Leonard Bernstein, Pierre Boulez, Georg Solti, and James Levine. In addition to opera and symphony, he performed with the Royal Ballet, New York City Ballet, American Ballet Theater, and Bolshoi Ballet. He also produced various editions and publications, some of which have won the N.F.A.’s Newly Published Music Competition. In 1985 he also served as that organization’s president. He is married to Victoria Simon, a former soloist with the New York City Ballet, who now stages the ballets of George Balanchine for companies around the world.
    Wion retired from the N.Y.C.O. in 2002 and from The Hartt School in 2007. His life is chronicled  extensively in his memoirs, Wood, Silver and Gold, a flutist’s life. He maintains a website (http://johnwion.com) that is a treasure trove of thoughts on teaching, an index of orchestras around the world and their principal flutists through the years, published flute music errata, timings of various standard repertoire, and recordings. 

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    It was 1979 and I was a young flutist, out of music school only a few years, and lucky enough to have moved to Burlington, Vermont. Little did I know that I was about to become even more fortunate. I soon learned that the world-renowned French flutist, composer, and teacher, Louis Moyse also lived in Vermont.
    After days, if not weeks, of reluctance (downright fear, actually), I finally mustered the courage to call Louis at his home in Guilford. His wife, Janet, answered the call and then handed the phone to Louis. I introduced myself, saying that I was new to Vermont and asked if he knew of a reputable flute teacher in the northern part of the state. Louis’ answer, in a thick French accent, was, “I know a good teacher in Guilford, dear!”
    Guilford was in southern Vermont, easily a three-hour drive from my home in Burlington. Winter was also approaching, and this Florida native had great trepidation about driving in snowstorms. I had just weathered the famous Blizzard of ‘79 in Chicago, but that was sans automobile. I had gotten around on foot or by public transportation during my two cold years in the Windy City.
    More to the point, however, I had simply called Louis Moyse for a referral. I wouldn’t have begun to assume that he would accept me as a student. Accept me he did, however, and that was the beginning of my nearly 30-year friendship with the person who quickly became my mentor.
    When I asked Louis if he would be willing to begin my private lessons as early as the following month, his answer was, “Why wait? Let us start together next week!” So we started right away, and I made the six-hour round trip drive every other week for the following few years, narrowly escaping a major snowstorm or two.
    Throughout our long relationship, my flute playing improved dramatically. Most notably, he patiently worked to completely reconfigure my embouchure, which resulted in a tone that I am immensely proud of to this day. We also worked diligently and painstakingly on articulation and various other aspects of flute technique and, of course, on interpretation of the flute repertoire.
    When Louis and I began working together, little did I know that I’d be receiving much more than just a post-graduate music education. Louis Moyse was a master communicator, musically and otherwise. He had a special gift for relaying hidden messages to those astute enough to recognize them. His teachings were riddled with advice, not only about the music or the flute, but also about life in general.
    Many of his pearls of wisdom, cloaked in language seemingly pertaining to the music, are still fresh in my mind today:

    “This is your territory – mark it, dear!” Translation: Find your place in the world, and make the most of it!

    “Start from nothing. Then, allow yourself to grow.” (Bach C-Major Sonata, mvt. I) Translation: We all begin not knowing, but we should be on a lifelong quest for knowledge and self-improvement.

    “Don’t be a flutist; it’s much more important to be a musician.” Translation: Look at the details, certainly, but don’t forget to focus on the broader picture. Think strategically in life.

    “It may be marked ‘Grave’ but it’s not necessarily about death, dear!” (Handel E-minor Sonata, mvt. I) Translation: Don’t make things out to be worse than they really are.

    “You must learn to be your own teacher.” Translation: You are responsible for your own destiny. Learn from your mistakes and move forward with your life.

    “You need to suffer, dear!” (Gluck’s Minuet and Dance of the Blessed Spirits) The first few times I worked on this piece with Louis, I was probably too young to understand it. Translation: With suffering and life experience comes understanding.

    “Be more free, like a sheep. Sometimes it helps not to have too much brains.” (“Pan” from Roussel’s Joueurs de Flute) Translation: Trust your instincts.

    “There is no such thing as instant flute’ You have to work at it!” Translation: Nothing worth having in life comes easily.

    “Sometimes, the most difficult thing is to do nothing.” (“Rückblick” from his transcription of Schubert’s Die Winterreise for flute and piano) Translation: Some things in life are better left alone.

    “Make it sound simple.” (“Sarabande” from Bach’s A-Minor Partita) Translation: Clear straightforward communication has a power all its own.

    My memories are filled with so many meaningful words and teachings from my long relationship with Louis Moyse. What began as flute lessons quickly became life lessons. Even today, whenever I’m tempted to postpone some important task, musical or otherwise, I recall his French-infused “Why wait, dear?” Usually, that’s just the nudge I need to accomplish my goal.
Louis Moyse passed away July 30, 2007, two weeks short of his 95th birthday.

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