How do you care for your wooden piccolo?
    I have had some trouble in recent years managing my instrument through the extreme winters of Chicago and Milwaukee. When I was living on the east coast, I did not think about maintenance much at all because those climates are humid enough to keep the piccolo relatively stable. When I moved to the Midwest, it changed quite a bit. First I started keeping orange peels in my case for a little extra humidity, but one winter, with temperatures in the negative double digits, even that was not enough. The mechanism of my piccolo started binding during a concert, the whole right hand would not play at all. My repairman, Tom Peterson, recommended a fantastic solution. He told me to find a large glass or plastic bowl with a lid that would seal securely. It should be big enough to fit the piccolo laying lengthwise about halfway into the bowl; in other words, resting above the bottom, not on the bottom of the bowl. He told me to then place a damp cloth or sponge on the bottom of the bowl, not touching the piccolo at all, and seal the container overnight. It works amazingly well, restoring the moisture in the wood and resolves most weather related binding issues. I do this only in extremely dry, cold conditions, but still keep the orange peel in the case for most of the fall and winter. I have tried using tiny, 1/8 size violin dampits in the case (never place a dampit inside the piccolo as it can easily crack) but that was a little bit too much. For me, the orange peel is just right.

Do you wear one or two ear plugs?
    In extremely loud passages where the entire orchestra is playing and I am playing in the highest register, I use two earplugs. Normally, I wear one in my left ear, if at all. I have custom earplugs that are designed to allow musicians to hear enough of the timbre and intonation to be comfortable, but block the damaging frequencies. I still prefer to play without them but know enough musicians with permanent hearing loss to feel that the protection is worth the slight change in my perception of the sound.

What alternate fingerings do you use on a regular basis?
C, C#, and D above the staff can be tricky for blend and intonation. I use the alternate C# above the staff any time I double with the Eb clarinet, or something soft that is unison with the flutes.

0 2 3 0 / 0 2 3 4
Thumb

    The D above the staff is used for similar situations. Both fingerings bring the pitch up and smooth out the sound so it is easier to blend.

0 2 3 4/ 1 0 0 4
Thumb

    I also use an alternate C above the staff for things with trumpet, and occasionally oboe.

1 2 3 0/ 1 0 0 4
No thumb

    It is slightly higher but mostly makes the sound more opaque, and I find it often works better with those very direct timbres. For very soft B above the staff, I use the low D fingering without the thumb. It is very stable and in tune at a pp dynamic, but the color changes quite noticeably. I only use this when I am sure that it will not be apparent. With all of these fingerings, it is important to use them selectively. If you played these four fingerings one after another, any improvement in the intonation would be lost because the color changes would be so awkward.

How do you warm up?
    I usually warm up on flute first, so by the time I get to piccolo I do not do a ton of exercises. I like to play through a few quick technical etudes, like those in the Patricia Morris or Trevor Wye piccolo books. Some of them, like the first one in The Piccolo Study Book (Morris), are scalar enough to memorize and transpose to different keys. That is a great exercise to get the air flowing and cover all of the registers. I also love to play octave diminuendos or five-note scales in the high register, striving to keep my embouchure sensitive and focused, but relaxed.

Do you have any tuning tricks when playing in an orchestra?
    Unfortunately not really – you just have to listen. It helps to play confidently. Even if you are out of tune with someone you can better determine how to fix the problem if you are using your real sound and playing with musicality than if you are covering and pinching because you are afraid of sounding bad.

What are your thoughts on vibrato when playing the piccolo vs. the flute?
    As with the flute, piccolo vibrato should always exist within the sound. You never want to use a vibrato that overwhelms the tone and distorts the pitch. Generally speaking, piccolo vibrato should be narrower, and possibly faster than flute vibrato. This does not mean you cannot utilize the full range of vibrato speeds and depths as an expressive tool for the piccolo, but that the overall sense of the vibrato should be adjusted to fit the register and tonal capacity of the smaller instrument. Since intonation can be so touchy on the piccolo, it is important to remember that vibrato is, by its nature, a variation in the pitch. Therefore, make sure the vibrato does not disproportionately emphasize the upper part of the wave or else it will sound sharp and shrill. (Likewise, an especially slow and droopy vibrato on the piccolo can give the sense that it is flatter than it would be without any vibrato at all).

What are the top excerpts piccolo players should know well?
    They should know Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 4, Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra, Rossini’s Semiramide Overture; Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, Berlioz’s La damnation de Faust, Ravel’s Ma mère l’oye and Bolero, and the Shostakovich symphonies. There are many other important excerpts in the repertoire, but these excerpts are on every piccolo audition list, and many flute lists as well.

Which piccolo players have influenced your playing?
    I was fortunate to take Laurie Sokoloff’s Piccolo Excerpt Class while getting my undergraduate degree at Peabody. I learned how to play the majority of the orchestral excerpts in her class, and it was absolutely invaluable. I did not formally study piccolo with anyone but I have had the pleasure of playing for Jennifer Gunn occasionally in Chicago and have enjoyed working with Alyce Johnson in Lyric Opera.  

    Jennifer Bouton Schaub has played piccolo and flute with the Milwaukee Symphony since 2011 following three seasons with the Virginia Symphony. For the 2014/15 and 2015/16 seasons, she also performed as acting second flute with the Lyric Opera of Chicago. She has performed with the Detroit, Colorado, Akron, and Albany symphonies and has participated in numerous festivals, including the National Repertory Orchestra, Aspen Music Festival, Sunflower Music Festival, Arizona Music Festival, AIMS Summer Festival Orchestra in Graz, Austria; and the Internationale Meisterkurze für Musik in Zurich, Switzerland. In 2012, she was a prize winner in the International Piccolo Artist Competition at the NFA Convention in Las Vegas. Schaub received a Master of Music degree and Certificate in Advanced Flute Studies from Carnegie Mellon University, and a Bachelor of Music degree from the Peabody Conservatory. Her teachers include Jeanne Baxtresser, Alberto Almarza, Marina Piccinini, and Pamela Endsley. 

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Become Aware of All Fingers
    Start with a childhood game in which a person touches the tip of each finger (1,2,3,4) in succession with the thumb. Next, practice fingering patterns 1,3,2,4; 4,3,2,1; 4,2,3,1 etc.
    Tear off about 14 inches of plastic wrap used for storing foods. Shape it until it is round and can be woven or laced around each finger. Practicing the flute with the plastic wrap woven between the fingers increases awareness of the distance between each of the fingers.

D Major Scale
    One of the most difficult scales for flutists to play evenly is a two-octave D major scale. The first notes D, E, and F# are awkward to finger because the F# finger is less sensitive than other fingers. After trying each of these suggestions to become more aware of the F# finger, play the first notes of a D major scale to assess if there is improvement.
    If the flutist plays an open hole flute, plug the F# key for practice. Remove the plug for lessons, rehearsals, and concerts. When plugging the key, do not push the plug flush with the key, but place it as high as possible without the plug moving when playing. Having the F# finger higher than the other fingers makes the flutist much more aware of this finger and its function.

    Another exercise to try is playing while wearing vinyl gloves with the F# finger cut out.

    Then try the reverse and play with the cut out portion of the glove on the  F# finger only. 

    Play with an overly sized ring to increase awareness of this finger. The oversized ring can be used on the left-hand third finger to increase the speed and evenness of the G to A trill.

A Little Pain for Gain
    In Mozart Concerto in G, K. 313, first movement, measure 60, the passage of ascending thirds always presents problems to flutists. The problem centers on the written G#.

Mozart Concerto in G, K. 313, first movement, measure 60-61

    Measure 60 is the first time the G# (or G# finger) occurs in the piece. Most flutists have forgotten they even have this finger by the time this passage arrives, and there is almost always a stumble or a hesitation centering on the G#. I suggest that flutists poke their left-hand little finger (G# finger) with their thumbnail for a few beats during the previous rest. The slight pain caused by the end of the nail reminds them where the little finger is. When they get into playing position to execute the thirds, the finger still will feel that sensation. Having a better sense of the finger’s position allows players to be more successful using it in the passage.

   
    Ladies in Victorian literature often tied a string around a finger to remember something. Gently tying a small piece of string or ribbon around the G# finger will also produce good results. Basically, anything you can to do heighten awareness of individual fingers tends to improve your awareness of them while playing.  

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Effective Metronome Use
    Musicians use a metronome to learn how to play with a steady pulse. However, many musicians have had the experience of practicing regularly with a metronome only to find that they still rush or drag when playing the same passage without one. There is a good reason for this: the brain works in a fundamentally different way when the metronome is on versus when it is off.
    In a study by Rao, et al., (1997), non-musicians tapped to a metronome and then continued tapping at the same tempo after the metronome was turned off while researchers looked at their brain activity. They found that entire areas of the brain that were silent while the metronome was on became very active when the metronome was turned off. Specifically, the supplementary motor area (SMA), the putamen (put.), and the thalamus (thal.) are only activated when the metronome is off. These areas together comprise the sensorimotor loop and are important for the internal self-timing of movements. It makes sense they would be active only when the metronome is off because the metronome provides an alternate external source to help time movements. Incidentally, it is these areas that are affected in Parkinson’s disease, which is why Parkinson’s patients have difficulty initiating and controlling their movements.
   What this means for musicians is that while practicing with the metronome, the brain is doing something fundamentally different than it will have to do in performance without a metronome. So in the practice room, it is imperative to make sure to practice what the brain must do in a performance situation, not just what the body has to do.
    Armed with this new information, here is a step-by-step guide to using the metronome to help improve the sense of pulse.
1. Play a passage perfectly steady with a metronome clicking on each beat. If this is a challenge, practicing conducting the passage while singing it, and walking with the metronome while playing until it is perfectly in sync with the metronome.
2. Play the passage with the metronome, but use the clicks as offbeats – the and of the beat. Because many musicians find this difficult try this exercise to trick your mind into feeling the clicks as the offbeats. Turn on the metronome and tap on the offbeats. Then count out loud (1, 2, 3, 4 etc) with the tapping – not with the metronome. Stop counting and tapping, and it should feel like the metronome is off the beat. If this is difficult, work at it until this feels natural. Struggling with this exercise is clear confirmation that the internal sense of pulse is weak and is reliant on external reinforcement.
3. Another exercise is to play the passage while the metronome clicks on every other beat. So, in 4/4, it should only click on 1 and 3.
4. Play it again and have the metronome click only on the downbeat.
5. Have the metronome click only on every other downbeat.
6. Continue to move the clicks further and further apart. A metronome app such as Tempo by Frozen Ape is useful because any beat can be manually silenced. For example, you could set the metronome to 12/4 and make everything silent except the downbeat. If the passage is in 4/4, the metronome will click on the downbeat of every third measure or every fourth measure in 3/4.
7. A random beat generator, such as the app TimeGuru, will randomly silence a certain percentage of the beats. It is very challenging to play with 75% of the beats randomly missing and then line up precisely with the metronome when it does click. This is the ultimate test for steadiness of pulse.
    This process gradually makes the brain increasingly responsible for generating the beat itself, while still having something objective to check in with. It is a great challenge, a lot of fun, and will dramatically improve the sense of pulse and timing.

Random Practicing
   All musicians have dealt with the frustration of being able to play something perfectly in the practice room, only to have it completely fail on stage. All teachers know the, “But I played it perfectly yesterday!” excuse. Some of this is performance anxiety, but it also can be attributed to the specific practice method being used, namely blocked practicing. Nearly all musicians are taught to practice this way. It involves doing something X number of times and spending a big chunk of time perfecting a particular piece or passage before moving on to something else. Random practicing is the opposite of this. The name may conjure up an image of a hopelessly unfocused practice session that could not possibly be beneficial. On the contrary, when it is done correctly, random practice is anything but unfocused, and research has shown it to be the most beneficial type of practicing for good performances.
   The bulk of the experiments on random practicing come from the sports world. One of the clearest experiments on random practicing comes from a study on baseball players that examined athletes on a collegiate baseball team (Hall, et al., 1994). Researchers wanted to see whether blocked or random practice improved batting performance more. They divided the players into two groups, and each practiced hitting 45 pitches. In the blocked practice group, they were thrown 15 fast balls, then 15 curve balls, then 15 change-up pitches. In the random practice group, they never knew what was coming, so they might get two fast balls, a curve ball, then three change-up pitches, then two curve balls, etc. They found that in the practice session, the players in the blocked practice group hit more balls than those in the random practice group. However, when they tested their batting performance at a later date, those who trained with blocked practice had gotten 25% better, while those who had trained with random practice had gotten 57% better. These results (better performance during training in the blocked practice group, but better performance in an actual performance situation in the random practice group) are found over and over again, in a variety of sports.
    In 2013, two researchers decided to test this in pianists (Abushanab and Bishara, 2013). In their study pianists had to learn a group of brand new short pieces. The pieces were hard enough that they were not easily sightread, but easy enough that they could be learned in a relatively short amount of time. All of the pianists learned all of the melodies, but some were learned using blocked practice, and some with random practice. The actual procedure was a bit more complicated, but an example of blocked practice would be 30 minutes on Piece A, then 30 minutes on Piece B, and 30 minutes on Piece C. Random practice would be 5 minutes on Piece A, 5 minutes on Piece C, 5 minutes on Piece B, 5 minutes on Piece C, 5 minutes on piece A, etc. until each piece had been done for a total of 30 minutes. Two days later, the researchers brought them back to perform some of the pieces. Just like the baseball players, the melodies they had learned using random practice were performed much better (measured in terms of note and rhythm accuracy) than those learned using blocked practice. Strangely enough, when they asked the pianists which practice method they thought was better, they said they thought blocked practice was better, even though they could see that random practice resulted in better performance. This finding is so common that psychologists have a name for it: the illusion of mastery.
    Understanding why random practice is so effective can help protect against this illusion. Like the baseball players, pianists did worse in practice when using random practice. This is because of something called the contextual interference effect and is the whole reason why random practice works so well. When doing something for the first time, the brain has to recreate from scratch how to do it. If it is done again right away, the brain does not have to remember how to do it, it simply repeats what it just did. This is why everything often sounds much better the second time through, even if no new learning happened in between the first and second time. It creates an illusion of mastery because it seems like the passage is fine, whereas in reality, the brain is just better at repeating something than figuring how to do it from scratch. During random practicing, the brain has to keep switching between different things, which interfere with each other (hence the contextual interference effect), forcing the brain to continually have to reconstruct things as if it is the first time. This is exactly what happens in a performance: the brain has to reconstruct everything from scratch on the spot to get it right the first time.
    Musicians often wish they could get a second chance at a particular passage when it does not go well in performance. This happens in the first place because, through blocked practicing, they have gotten very good at repeating something correctly, but not at playing it perfectly on the first try. Random practicing is the answer to that frustration. Studies of brain activity during random practice back this up. Researchers see greater sensorimotor activity during random practice. During later performance, they show activity in higher cognitive areas that are involved in planning and working memory. This is not seen in people using blocked practice; their brains have just performed the activity, so they do not have to plan or access memory to do it correctly a second time.
    There are, of course, an infinite number of ways to use the principles of random practicing. Here are just a few:

•    In order for random practicing to be effective, the passage has to be reliably correct when played X number of times in a row. If it is not, random practicing will never work. In fact, one study (with basketball players) found that the most effect way to practice is to do blocked practice (AAABBBCCC), followed by serial practice (ABCABCABC), followed by random practice (ACBCAABCCA). First, make sure you can play the passage at least five times in a row correctly (so, if it is correct twice, and then on the third try there is a mistake, you have to start over at zero). Then, pick several passages and put a small sticky note in the music by each passage. Play the first passage and if it is correct, put a tick mark on the sticky note. Do the same with each passage until you have done them all. Then, come back to the first passage and if it is correct, make another tick mark. If there is a mistake, erase the first tick mark and start over at zero. Continue through each of the passages until you have done each one at least five times in a row correctly in this serial way.

•    Get an interval timer app and set it to go off every X number of minutes (every five minutes, for instance). Go about practicing as usual (probably using blocked practice, which is fine), but when the timer goes off, immediately switch and play a passage that is difficult. It could be the very first note of a certain piece, an entire orchestral excerpt or solo, or a particularly challenging measure in the middle of a chamber music piece. Just play it once, and then even if it was awful, go back to whatever you were practicing. When the timer goes off again, play that tricky passage again. Keep doing this for the duration of the practice session for as many days as it takes. Eventually, that difficult passage will be perfect every time the timer goes off. When it comes time to play it in performance, you will feel confident, and the passage will be secure and reliable.

•    At least two weeks before a performance or audition, play through the entire program or do a mock audition at the end of each day. This will mimic what it will feel like to just play everything from scratch with no chance to play the hard spots first.

•    In doing scale and arpeggio practice, rather than going around the circle of 5ths (or some other systematic method), try incorporating random practice. Put little slips of paper in a plastic bag, each with a different key on it. In another bag, put different tempos, articulations, or dynamics. Each day, pick a slip out of the key bag and one out of the tempo (or articulation, etc.) bag to determine which scale you will play and how.

    There are many, many more ways to incorporate random practicing. The most important aspect of random practicing to keep in mind is that its effectiveness comes from forcing the brain to reconstruct how to do something from scratch with no preparation or warm-up.
    Musicians tend to think learning to play an instrument is about training the body to perform certain skills, but it is really the brain that is trained. Learn to structure practice sessions so the brain gets to rehearse and not just the body. When the brain becomes the focus of practice, performance feels effortless and reliable.     

Works cited:
Abushanab, B., and Bishara, A.J. (2013). “Memory and metacognition for piano melodies: illusory advantage of fixed-over random-order practice.” Memory and Cognition 41(6): 928-937.
Hall, K.G., Domingues, D.A., Cavazos, R. (1994). “Contextual interference effects with skilled baseball players.” Perceptual and Motor Skills 78: 835-841.
Rao, S.M., et al., (1997). “Distributed neural systems underlying the timing of movements.” The Journal of Neuroscience 17(14): 5528-5535.

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    The 2016 National Flute Association convention takes place August 11-14, in the San Diego Town and Country Hotel and Resort. There are a wide variety of activities, including recitals, competitions, masterclasses, workshops, and lecture/recitals.

New and Exciting
•    International Participants
    While the convention has always attracted international flutists, this year’s roster is extraordinary. It includes players from China, Japan, Taiwan, Mexico, Ecuador, New Zealand, Australia, Iran, Turkey, and many countries in Europe.

•    Piccolo Premiere
    NFA commissioned a piccolo concerto by Seattle-based composer Ken Benshoof. Jennifer Gunn, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, will perform the premiere.

•    Chamber Music
    There will be a strong emphasis on chamber music this year with concerts dedicated to music for flute and voice, flute and guitar, flute and harp, flute and percussion, woodwind quintet, and multiple flutes, plus flute and other instruments. You are guaranteed to find a new piece to love.

•    Jazz Music
    The convention will also focus on jazz artists. The Thursday evening gala concert features Jim Walker and José Valentino Ruiz performing Latin jazz, bansuri player John Wubbenhorst playing bansuri (Indian classical flute) with jazz trio in a bansuri-jazz fusion, and Nestor Torres playing salsa and Latin jazz. Other performers include Jamie Baum and her Short Stories Quintet, the jazz sextet Flutology with flutists Holly Hofmann, Ali Ryerson, and Bob Sheppard, and Los Angeles-based Damjan Krajacic bringing a Balkan folk-jazz fusion. In addition, there will be a great concert featuring crossover flutists playing bluegrass, rock, jazz, new age, and other mixed styles. The two winners of the NFA Jazz Soloist Competition will perform with a jazz trio (piano, bass, drums).

•    Youth Flute Day
    Continuing last year’s success, this feature continues with offerings on Sunday tailored to younger flutists. Presentation topics include improvisation and beat-boxing (Greg Patillo and PROJECT Trio), Piccolo for Kids (Belgian piccoloist Peter Verhoyen), a petting zoo for the very lowest members of the flute family, a flute quartet reading session (Kathy Blocki) and a flute choir reading session (Eileen Yarrison) for younger flutists.

Other Highlights
•    Performances
    The Saturday evening gala concerto concert features Walter Auer, principal flutist with the Vienna Philharmonic, performing the Reinecke Concerto, Swedish concert soloist Göran Marcusson playing the Mozart Concerto in G, plus American flutist Trudy Kane, former co-principal flutist with the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, performing Ellen Taaffe Zwillich’s new Concerto Elegia. Boston piccoloist Linda Toote premieres Martin Amlin’s new piece dedicated to the memory of Atlanta Symphony piccoloist Carl Hall, who passed away this year, and Adrianne Greenbaum plays a short Klezmer medley with orchestra. Friday’s recital concert features Denis Bouriakov, newly appointed principal flutist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Hungarian flutist Gergely Itzzés, Canadian flutist Robert Aitken, and Bonita Boyd, professor at the Eastman School of Music.
    Other special concerts feature the flute sections of the Los Angles Philharmonic and the San Diego Symphony and performances of the works of Mexican composer Samuel Zyman, Japanese composer Toru Takemitsu, Frenchman Jean-Michel Damase, and American composer Daniel Dorff. Tribute concerts will be performed by former students, friends, and colleagues of the two Lifetime Achievement Award winners, Katherine Hoover, and James Pellerite. Other highlights include a masterclass by Carol Wincenc and American composer Jake Heggie on his works for flute, plus masterclasses by Bradley Garner, Linda Toote, Denis Bouriakov, Carol Wincenc, Linda Chesis, Tadeu Coelho, Kathie Stewart, and Nicola Mazzanti.

•    Flute Choir
    There will be performances by 23 flute choirs from all over the US and several foreign countries, playing in flute showcase recitals, noon-time lobby concerts, and pre-gala featured concerts. There also will be a tribute concert to Shaul Ben-Meir, who has transcribed dozens of great pieces for flute orchestra from the colorful standard orchestral repertoire.
    For those interested in playing in a flute choir, the Pacific Coast Flute Choir, conducted by Peter Sheridan, will perform at the opening ceremonies and is open to all NFA members. Martin Melicharek and Peter Senchuk will hold flute choir reading sessions. Sonidos Profundos returns for a performance and then a reading session of flute choir works specifically written for low flutes.
At the closing ceremonies, NFA President Zart Dombourian-Eby will conduct all NFA members in a performance of the Bach Air from the Third Suite – an NFA tradition.

•    Workshops and Lectures
    Learn about such topics as Moyse’s Tone Development Through Interpretation, Telemann’s Fantasias for Baroque flute, Bach’s Partita for solo flute, Gaubert’s numerous flute works, or Martin’s two Ballades. Try circuit training for flutists or Tai-Chi stretching and participate in a World Flute Circle. Learn how to incorporate Alexander Technique and Body Mapping into your routine and get a fresh start on practice habits or improving your technique. Try vocal warm-ups, tips for phrasing and developing expression, new ways to incorporate metronome practice, improving your tuning, and advice on developing business skills for a career as a freelancer or teacher. For those applying for a university position, get expert advice on your resumé, and cover letter, masterclass and interview.
    Explore other flute instruments and styles with workships on the basics of Irish flute, Baroque flute, teaching improvisation, beatbox flute, the fujara (a very low folk instrument from Central Europe), and the bansuri from Northern India. Other features include the pedagogical works of French composer Sophie Dufeutrelle and advice from a medical expert about pain and physical injury and how to avoid it plus many more exciting options.

•    Other Events
    Everybody loves the annual Flute Lover’s Luncheon. This year’s guest speaker is Göran Marcusson who will discuss why he loves the Mozart G Major concerto. The popular Teacher’s Breakfast features Bonita Boyd who will talk about how she develops the whole artist in a young flutist.
    Competitions always have a prominent place in the convention’s offerings. This year’s competitions include the Young Artist, Piccolo Artist, and High School Soloist. For the second time ever, there will be an Arts Venture Competition, where finalists present their innovative entrepreneurial projects to a panel of judges vie for a $2,000 NFA project grant. Winners of the Convention Performers Competition present pieces that have been chosen as winners of the NFA’s Newly Published Music Competition.
 
    It will be four exciting, exhausting, and exhilarating days of learning, listening, and enjoying. Perhaps most importantly, NFA conventions offer a wonderful opportunity to make new friends who share your passion for music and the flute.

The post NFA 2016 San Diego appeared first on The Instrumentalist.

What are some of the challenges involved in teaching at the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley?
    The school is located in Brownsville which is on the border of Mexico, at the southernmost tip of Texas. To give a perspective about how isolated this area is from the rest of Texas, it is nine hours south of Dallas, and the closest major city is San Antonio which is four and a half hours away. In addition to its remote location, Brownsville is also one of the poorest cities in the U.S. with a very high percentage of the population living below the poverty line. Ninety-five percent of the students in Brownsville are the first in their families to attend college and are often the first in their families to graduate from high school. 
    Access to the arts of any kind is very limited in this region. Although public school music programs are excellent and well-funded in Texas, there is almost no private teaching of any kind in this area, and students in the music program come to us without much formal musical training outside of their school band.

What were your goals for the flute studio and flute choir when you came to the school?
    When I arrived in Brownsville in 2008, I was the university’s first full-time flute professor. My students were bright and talented, and I quickly learned that they were not lagging behind their peers because of a lack of talent, but rather for a lack of opportunity. Since most of my students were first generation college students, I wanted to extend their horizons beyond the Rio Grande Valley, and it became a mission to provide them the opportunities to do so. I also wanted to establish a sense of community within the studio and for students to understand the relevance of music within their community. 
    All of my students are music education majors, and following graduation most become public school teachers in the Rio Grande Valley. My hope is that they take their flute and university experiences into their own public school programs to enrich the music education that students in this part of Texas receive.  
 
How did you implement these goals? 
    To develop a bond in the flute studio, I created service projects that would benefit the community. We started a student-run flute club to bring internationally-known performers and pedagogues to the campus to present masterclasses and recitals. Most of these events were open to area middle and high school flute students and community members. I wanted to teach my students the importance of sharing experiences and information with future musicians. We also took field trips to attend concerts, recitals, and masterclasses. We developed year-round activities to keep everyone connected and involved. Since 2008, we have hosted guests including Carol Wincenc, the Imani Winds, Leone Buyse and Webster Trio, and PROJECT Trio.
    One of my favorite outreach projects is Flutiz Navidad (Christmas Flutes), a holiday community flute choir and food-drive (pictured below). Area flutists with at least one year of playing experience are invited to attend rehearsals and present a concert of holiday music preceding the university’s holiday concert. Albert Lo, the director of the university bands, guest conducts the group. The university flute studio students lead sectionals for the younger students. The atmosphere is festive and fun complete with holiday costume contests and cookies. In order to participate in the community flute choir, performers are required to donate a canned good. Last year 93 flutists of all ages joined together for the performance and donated about 3,000 cans of food to the Brownsville Homeless Youth Connection Project. 

    I also wanted to develop a high-quality chamber music ensemble in the form of a flute choir. In 2012 fellow faculty member Michael Quantz, who heads an excellent classical guitar program, and I founded the Flautarra! Ensemble. This group combines our two studio chamber programs. In the past four years we have performed at NFA conventions in New Orleans and Washington, DC and were also selected to perform at two Texas Music Educator Conventions in San Antonio. Since most of our students have never been outside of southern Texas, I am enormously proud that so many of them were able to have these experiences as a result of their participation in these ensembles.
 
What other projects have you developed to enhance the musical education in the Rio Grande Valley and at the school of music? 
    Since Brownsville is not within easy driving distance of any major cities, I quickly realized that I would have to find ways to bring excellent guest artists to my students. I do not feel there is any way to replicate the inspiration you receive from hearing live performances by world-class artists. Shortly after arriving in Brownsville, I started formulating plans to start a large-scale flute festival on campus. The Brownsville Flute Festival debuted in 2012 with about 270 participants. 
    In 2014 Jonathan Guist, clarinet professor at UTRGV, and I created the South Texas Flute & Clarinet Festival. This is a full day of masterclasses, clinics and recitals for flutists and clarinetists of all ages and ability levels. It also includes flute choir and clarinet choir reading sessions for intermediate and advanced players, a high school masterclass competition, a student-run junior high woodwind olympics event, and exhibitors.  This year we had over 600 participants from across Texas attend the festival. Guest flutists have included Denis Bouriakov, Bonita Boyd, Marianne Gedigian, Alexa Still, and Jim Walker.
    The collaboration between the flute and clarinet studios has continued with other new programs such as the Woodwind Chamber Ensemble Outreach Program, Honors Woodwind Choirs including an honors flute choir for high school flutists and a student-run junior high All-Valley Clinic and the junior high Woodwind Olympics. These student-run events allow our students to develop their teaching and practical skills in the real world from their first semester in college, and it provides a way for them to give back to the community.  
    These activities have created stronger ties between the university’s music program and local school districts, teachers, and public school students. Studio events draw large numbers of participants of all ages to the campus, which has also been helpful for recruiting. My studio has grown from three majors in 2008 to fourteen in the fall of 2015. For younger flutists I worked to bring Floot Fire, a Dallas based summer flute workshop, to Brownsville.  

    When I started working at the university, my first Department Chair told me that I was free to do whatever I liked to build the program as long as it did not cost the department any money. Early on, students sold many, many BBQ chicken plates to fundraise for activities, and I offered obscene amounts of extra credit to students in my music appreciation courses to attend the annual flute studio benefit concerts. In addition to student efforts and our guest artists’ generous corporate sponsors, I have received grants through the National Endowment for the Arts Challenge America Fast Track Grant program, the Brannen-Cooper Fund, and other university sources to fund these events. 
    As a result, the studio now has a warm, supportive sense of community, and students are open to new ideas. They have grown into confident and articulate public speakers and expanded their critical and creative thinking skills. Their ability to work independently and cooperatively within a group has improved, and they are stronger ensemble performers. In addition, through the process of developing and implementing their outreach programs, students have learned how to tailor their teaching to efficiently and effectively present a lesson or activity. This knowledge builds on itself from semester to semester and provides a good foundation that they can take with them when they begin to student teach and beyond.
    The most exciting part of this work is watching how alumni from the studio have begun to implement creative ideas with their own students. Former students now teach in public school band programs and have developed fun activities to motivate and prepare their flute students for regional Honor Band and All-State auditions. Their activities run the gamut from an annual Flute Fit Lock-In, where students do a series of exercises inspired by Crossfit interval training to practice honor band etudes, to a PJs & Etudes event in which high school students meet early on Saturday mornings during marching band season to practice All-State etudes as a group in their pajamas. The added benefit of these activities is that alumni from the studio have begun to reach out to my current students to invite them to help out as teaching assistants in these projects. Over the last few years, seeing my former students mentoring my current students and watching them working together to inspire young flutists has become one of the most rewarding parts of my job. 
    It is so rewarding to see students who were the first in their families to go to college go on to complete graduate studies outside of the Rio Grande Valley and bring their experiences back home when they begin working in the public schools. It is also a joy to watch students who come in with little training, work hard, and flourish – going on to participate in competitions and summer programs that provide experiences and opportunities that expand their perspective of what is possible. 
    Teachers often see students whose lives were changed as a result of their participation in music programs. The lessons in perseverance, commitment, self-discipline, creative problem solving, critical-thinking, cooperation, and overall appreciation for the creative process and humanity that students learn will serve them well in all aspects of their lives whether they continue in music or not. My goal is to provide students with opportunities that will help them to develop these skills so that they will become their own best teacher and then become more engaged and productive citizens through the lessons they learned studying music.

What are your thoughts about curriculum for a four-year degree program? 
    Most of the students I work with in Brownsville are very talented but arrive without a great deal of training. Regardless of a student’s level, if a student is open to new ideas, has a positive attitude and is willing to work hard, I am committed to helping them in any way that I can. Since every student is different, we work together to tailor the curriculum to meet individual needs. 
    In general my work with students over four years is focused on developing strong foundations in the fundamentals of tone, technique, and musicianship. We also spend a great deal of time learning how to practice. We cover each of these areas in lessons on a weekly basis. The first part of each lesson focuses on developing ease in the body with a balanced posture and hand position and relaxed embouchure to allow for freedom of breathing and flexible use of air to create a resonant, expressive tone. My favorite materials to use for the development of tone, phrasing, vibrato, and intonation include Fiona Wilkenson’s The Physical Flute, Marcel Moyse’s De La Sonorite, 24 Petite Etudes and Tone Development Through Interpretation, Trevor Wye’s Practice Books for the Flute, Robert Dick’s Tone Development Through Extended Techniques, and Chris Potter’s Vibrato Book.
    The development of a fluid technique, consistent freedom of tone, clarity of articulation, beautiful expression, and solid intonation is a regular part of weekly lessons. Each week a portion of the lesson is devoted to work on memorized scales and arpeggios, supplemental technique exercises, and a variety of etudes including Drouet, Berbiguier, Altes, Andersen, and Karg-Elert. 
    There is a wealth of fantastic material available to build technique, and the materials I use vary for each student. For students in their first year of study, they spend time memorizing scales in all forms, arpeggios, and 7th chords with a variety of articulations, while working to keep the tone beautiful and consistent with expressive phrasing throughout the full range of the flute. Most of my students have not worked on technique or scales consistently before entering the program, so during the first two years I like to use Lisa Garner Santa’s Flute/Theory Workout Book and Patricia George’s and Phyllis Louke’s books The Flute Scale Book: A Path to Artistry and Advanced Flute Studies: The Art of Chunking to build a good foundation. After good habits are established, we move on to other books such as the Taffanel & Gaubert 17 Big Daily Exercises, Andre Maquarre’s Daily Exercises, M.A. Reichert’s Seven Daily Exercises, Op. 5 and Walfrid Kujala’s The Flutist’s Vade Mecum. Work on technique is not separate from work on tone and phrasing. As students progress through the program, these supplemental technique materials develop a range of tone colors and dynamics while improving technical facility at the same time.
    Over the course of four years, they should learn a variety of repertoire from Baroque to Contemporary. It is important to me that all of my students learn how to perform repertoire using extended techniques by the time that they graduate. This year, the UTRGV Flute Choir memorized Brandy Hudelson’s Loops No. 1 for Beatbox Flute Quartet for their performance at the Texas Music Educators Convention in San Antonio. None of the 14 students in the group had tried beatbox techniques when we started, and only a few of the upper classmen had experience with extended techniques. The process of discovering how to make the sounds and then how to do it as a group with parts doubled and tripled proved to be a great learning experience. They all rose to the challenge, and their final performances were excellent and rewarding to hear.
    Since many of my students have not played very much solo repertoire before entering the university, we start with Baroque works by Handel, Telemann, Quantz, and Pergolesi, and easier 20th century works such as Gaubert Madrigal and Bloch Suite Modale to get them started as they work to establish good playing habits. In subsequent years, they move on to standard repertoire such as J.S. Bach sonatas, Mozart concertos, and French repertoire from the collection, edited by Louis Moyse. Although the repertoire is different for each student, the goal is to expose them to as much of the standard Baroque, Classical, French, Romantic, 20th Century, and Contemporary repertoire as possible by studying and playing representative examples from each style period before they graduate. After students’ first year of study, they work on orchestral excerpts as part of regular lessons. Most of my students have never listened to classical music before, and learning excerpts has been a helpful way to get them to listen to and make connections with this music.

What types of performances do you particpate in outside of your teaching?
     I believe my playing is integral to the success of my teaching. As much as I love working with students, it is making music that feeds me, and I work to continue to grow as a flutist and an artist every time that I pick up my flute. I feel that it makes me able to relate so much more with my students.  
    Playing chamber music is my favorite thing to do, and I am fortunate to have a number of long-term collaborators who enjoy the process as much as I do. I met pianist Kevin Chance, assistant professor of piano at the University of Alabama, in graduate school at Louisiana State University, and we have been playing together for over 15 years. Together, we have performed most of the standard repertoire but also follow whims into lesser-known works. There is nothing better than being able to make music with your best friend.  
    I have had the chance to work with several excellent guitarists, including my duo partner, Jonathan Dotson, of the Texas Guitar Quartet. I also perform as a member of the Frontera Chamber Players with my UTRGV colleagues and friends. In my playing, I always want to explore more possibilities for character, sound, and nuance, and I feel it is should be a lifelong goal to build the widest palette of tone colors that we can.

What are your goals for the future?
    In my playing and teaching I am very interested in how musicians can use their bodies more efficiently to improve their performance. Recently, I have begun to delve more deeply into exploring and improving this area of my own playing. Over the next few years, I plan to complete training in Body Mapping and become a licensed Andover Educator.    

* * *

Overcoming Setbacks

    In 2005, I won an audition for a flute/piccolo position with the United States Navy Band in Washington, DC, the Navy’s premiere band. Unfortunately, shortly after entering boot camp, I was medically disqualified from the military and was not able to join the band. The two and a half years following the loss of that job were a very difficult period in my life. After working for so many years to follow the plan that I had in my head, I was suddenly unemployed and had nowhere to go. For the first time in my life, there was no plan, and more unsettling to me at the time, there were no indications of a plan materializing anytime soon. As a very driven and goal-oriented person, I did not know what to do with myself and stopped playing for a long period of time.
    Although I could not see my path moving forward at the time, that period proved to be a positive turning point in my life and career. The person I was before that experience was very different from the person I grew into during the years following it. My life expanded beyond the music bubble, and great personal growth resulted from the experience.
    Despite my hiatus from the flute, all of these experiences, good and bad, helped to improve my playing and approach to the flute and teaching. Professionally, with no job and no prospects, I was forced to get creative and explore and develop the entrepreneurial and administrative skills that have become invaluable in my work today. More importantly, after living through what I perceived as an epic failure, I developed greater resilience and fearlessness in the face of rejection that continue to serve me well.

    Ballatori completed the Doctor of Musical Arts in Flute Performance, Pedagogy, and Literature at the University of Colorado at Boulder. The recipient of a Rotary Foundation Ambassadorial Scholarship, she received a postgraduate diploma from the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, England where she studied with Peter Lloyd, retired principal flutist of the London Symphony Orchestra. She earned performance degrees at Louisiana State University (M.M.) and George Mason University (B.M.). Her major teachers include Alexa Still, Katherine Kemler, Judith Lapple, Diane Smith, and Jeanne Coonan.
    Recent performance highlights include a recital in the Atelier Concert Series in Paris, France, “Live from Hochstein” Series on WXXI, public radio in Rochester, New York, and artist residencies in Spain, Costa Rica, and Mexico. Upcoming appearances include recitals in Argentina and China. She regularly performs throughout the country as a guest artist and has been a featured performer and clinician at many flute festivals and conferences including those of the National Flute Association, Mid-South Flute Society, Rochester Flute Association, Mid-Atlantic Flute Fair, Florida Flute Association, College Music Society, National Association of College Wind & Percussion Instructors, and International Double Reed Society. She is flutist of the Semplice Duo, with pianist Kevin Chance, Duo Sacromonte with guitarist Jonathan Dotson, and the Frontera Chamber Players.
   

Article photos and cover by David Pike

The post Creative and Innovative Teaching, An Interview with Cristina Ballatori appeared first on The Instrumentalist.

    In his comprehensive compendium of flute fingerings, Alternative Fingerings for the Flute (2003), Nestor Herszbaum lists an astonishing 33 basic and modified fingerings for C7. It is ironic that in spite of the fact that there are probably more fingerings for this note than any other on the instrument, many players habitually cling to this standard default fingering which, even in the pianissimo range, is very sharp. I believe that players simply grow used to the sharpness and do not notice it after a while. Except for rudely awakening sleeping dogs, I cannot think of single use for the noise produced by this fingering.
    While no high C fingering may be declared the best or easiest; with so many choices for playing this note, we need not strictly adhere to any particular fingering. Think of yourself as a master builder; each task has a specialized tool for the job. So it is in this case; having the right fingering for each situation makes you a master high C artist. In no particular order, here are just a few options with some practical applications.

B Trill Fingering

    This fingering is what I call the B trill fingering. Think of it as high B without the left hand thumb key. It actually tends to be a bit flat if played with insufficient support. Useful for loud dynamics and notes of shorter duration, play it by rolling the flute out a fair amount (uncovering more of the blowhole), and blowing very hard. The embouchure should not be constricted. With practice, this fingering is quite useful. Use it at the top of a chromatic scale, such as this section  in the Ibert Concerto.

    You also can make a passage a bit easier technically where arpeggios are concerned. Because of the scoring in the following passage from the Brahms Symphony #3, using the B trill fingering in measure 66 not only lowers the pitch of the C7, but is an easier fingering sequence in terms of coordination for the passage.

Brahms Sym. #3, Mvt. 1, m. 63-68

    In the following example, avoid the usual embarrassment that occurs when ending on high C. This fingering is also technically easier.

Prokofiev Sonata for Flute and Piano, Scherzo

    Loud staccato Cs have a strong tendency to be sharp, as in the following passage from Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet Suite, The Death of Tybalt. Here the B trill is the ideal choice. Note that the B trill fingering can be played just as well without the trill key.

Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet Suite

Long Fingering
    Another very good fingering is what I refer to as the long fingering, because it utilizes nearly the whole tube.

    This fingering is a bit sharp, but has perhaps the best tone of all. Since it is not overly resistant, it can be played rather easily with vibrato, so use it for longer, singing notes. Technically, it can be somewhat cumbersome and takes some practice, but it is well worth the trouble. I have found that in orchestral works with passages where the flute is doubling the violins, it sounds particularly good.

Brahms Sym. #4, Mvt. 1, m. 412-418

    Tech Tip: Having played the E6 in m. 416 without the right hand pinky, simply play the next A using the gizmo. The pinky remains there for the C7. It takes some practice but soon becomes a natural decision. The same works well for singing the softer high Cs as in the Christopher Rouse Concerto.

C. Rouse Flute Concerto

    Keep the vibrato going on the C. Roll the flute slightly towards you to aid tone production within the soft dynamic.

Modified Long
    Sometimes, use the long fingering without pressing the left-hand pinky down (G# key). This lowers the pitch a bit and is useful when trying match to the pitch on the piano, or approaching from G6, as in the following passage. Make sure to roll the flute outward and blow down, with plenty of support when playing this note.

H. Büsser, Prélude et Scherzo, op. 35

    Simply remove the right-hand pinky on the preceding G and depress the gizmo on the C. If you are not sure about the intonation, do not worry; you will soon be checked for the accuracy of your pitch because the piano has a C at the top of the arpeggio in the following beat.

Modified Default
    Try this modification of the default fingering.

    This fingering produces a very strong forte high C and is only very slightly sharp. Try it in the Dutilleux.

H. Dutilleux, Sonatine

    Tech Tip: Play the G# which precedes the top B# without the right hand pinky. You can also use this fingering with the right hand high C facilitator (gizmo) and it produces nearly the same result.
For cases in which the C7 is part of a diatonically ascending scale, use this modification:

    It can be very helpful to know that notes preceding the high C can often be played with the right hand pinky depressing the low C and C# keys. The following is a difficult and appropriate example:

Shostakovich, Sym. #10

    Tech tip: Playing the high C and the notes before it with footjoint keys activated allows not only for better intonation, but less technical fuss if ascending to high C# or D.

Roll Out
    Even for advanced flutists, playing the C7 in tune can be difficult, especially when performing with other instruments. Even in a solo flute piece, the high C should be in tune with the rest of the instrument. Since flutes vary in intonation, find the fingerings that best suit your instrument. Contrary to what may seem natural, do not roll the flute in to play high C except to create an extreme soft dynamic. It is generally better to actually roll out and blow the air column further down. This allows for freer tone production, better tone quality, and when used with the right fingering, better intonation.    

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