Gunther Schuller’s flute concerto, which I premiered in 1988 with the Chicago Symphony under Sir Georg Solti, also calls for the soloist to alternate between flute and piccolo in the final movement. Schuller was very agreeable to my suggestion to include such a switch. (The concerto had been commissioned by my students and colleagues to honor my 60th birthday.)
    Later, when I was invited to perform the Schuller concerto with the Rochester Philharmonic under guest conductor Robert Spano, I also added the Vivaldi C Major Piccolo Concerto (RV443) to the program. This was a pattern that I had previously adopted when soloing with other orchestras: programming one of the Vivaldi piccolo concertos followed by the Mozart D or G Major flute concertos, or the Ibert or Nielsen concertos.
     If you are interested in performing pieces requiring flute doubling, I would like to recommend the following works:

Concerto for Flute (Piccolo) and Wind Ensemble or Orchestra, by Thom Ritter George. Published by Accura. There is a highly polished performance on YouTube by Phyllis Avidan Louke and the Oregon Symphonic Band conducted by Michael Burch-Pesses. There is also a recording on the album Ragtimes and Serenades by Mary Stolper and the DePaul Wind Ensemble conducted by Donald Deroche (Albany Records). (George has also composed another flute concerto with orchestra – this one without piccolo doubling – plus a flute and piano sonata.)
 
Drei Mobiles (Alto Flute Blues, Flute Novelette and Piccolo Waltz) by Klaus Wustoff. With piano, but also available with orchestral accompaniment, this work is published by Zimmerman and recorded by Leonard Garrison on Superflute  (Capstone Records).

La Belle Époque, Concert Fantasy in the Form of a Quadrille, for piccolo doubling flute, and piano by Jacques Castérède. Published by Gérard Billaudot and recorded by Roberto Fabbriciani on Piccolo XX, this recording also features a large number of excellent piccolo solos (without flute doubling) by Janacek, Castiglioni, Donatoni, Ferneyhough, Loeb, Isang Yun, Togni, Stockhausen, and a Bucchi concerto.
 
Sonata No. 1 for flute, doubling alto flute & piccolo, and piano by Alec Wilder. This is published by Margun and recorded by Leonard Garrison on on Superflute (Capstone Records).

Sonata for flutes and piano, flute doubling piccolo and alto by Paul Cooper. This is published by J.W.Chester.

Terzinen, for flute doubling piccolo and alto flute by Tilo Medek. This is published by Veb Deutscher Verlag fur Music, Leipzig. I discovered Terzinen at a music store in East Berlin, Germany in 1978 and performed it as part of a joint recital with Samuel Baron at the 1979 NFA convention. It is a demanding but highly rewarding piece that is 18 minutes in length.   

*Walfrid Kujala will be giving a lecture/demonstration on “Improving Your Phrasing Through Nuance Tapers” at the NFA convention in Minneapolis on August 13 at 9:30 AM.

The program for that first convention (First Annual Meeting) was only four pages. Each event was labelled with the name of the presenter followed by the name of the person who was introducing the presenter. My introducer was Harry Moskovitz.

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First and Last Notes
    There is an old saying – make sure the first and last notes are perfect because that is what the audience remembers. There is a lot of truth in that statement. The first note should have an excellent clean attach with the vibrato starting at the beginning of the note (unless the composer indicates something different). When the beginning attack is not clean, brass players refer to this as chipping the front of the note. This is also a good term for flutists to use.
    To ensure a clean attack, place the tongue in the aperture, build up air pressure, and then pull the tongue back to release the air pressure at the allotted time. This is using the tongue in a horizontal plane rather than a vertical one. This type of tonguing also prevents the pitch from being very sharp at the beginning of the note and then settling down as the note continues. Many flutists start the tone with a puff of air before employing the attack because the tongue is touching too far back in the mouth. This produces a hoot sound that is not attractive to listeners.
    The last notes are the final things the audience hears. There are two choices for the final notes: either they end with a big bang, or they taper to nothing. For the big bang, the problem will be tuning, and the notes will probably be sharp. Final notes like this are perfect candidates for alternate fingerings. Notes that are tapered also suffer from pitch problems but rather than being sharp, they are always flat. Marcel Moyse’s De La Sonorite, page 15, exercises 2 and 3 are perfect for working on tapers. Moyse’s instructions begin with the words, “With the tongue out…” which is exactly the use of the tongue described above.
    Another problem with tapers is vibrato. Often the vibrato is not continuous into the final note. Of course, the duration of the final note will determine how much vibrato can be placed on it. Since the diminuendo continues through the final note, there will be a place where the vibrato slows and finally disappears, and the flutist is playing a straight tone. To make beautiful tapers, flutists should practice making the aperture smaller. Checking this movement in a mirror is helpful. Using a coffee stirrer straw in the aperture can help students judge how to grip the smaller air stream that is needed for the taper.
    While the first and last notes of the piece are perhaps the most important, as students becomes more aware of how to play them, they can start to incorporate these ideas into the first and last notes of each phrase.

Interpretation
    When listening to a recording or a live performance, listeners hope the performer will tell a story with the performance. This means that there is a plan for each note and phrase in the piece. Many performers are eurhythmic, meaning they have great, coordinated flow between notes, but do not have a master plan addressing where each phrase is going and how one phrase relates to another. Teachers are happy to have a eurhythmic beginner or intermediate player, but at the next stages students need help to learn how to develop a plan. Marcel Tabuteau’s numbering system was one great performer’s attempt to share his thoughts on voicing a phrase, and then how one phrase relates to another. No matter what system teachers use with students, there should be some discussion about where the climax is in a piece and how the phrases get there.
    One idea is to take two blank sheets of paper and trace the dynamics of the first movement of Paul Hindemith’s Sonata for Flute and Piano. From the dynamic markings on the papers, it is obvious where the climax is and how to get there. This simple exercise shows the power of dynamics. From my experience, students feel like they are playing dynamics, but on listening to a recording they realize that everything sounds mf.

Vibrato
    When playing a solo composition, flutists can do what they wish; however, when playing with others (especially string players), a continuous vibrato is necessary. Remember there are various kinds of shapes and speeds of vibrato to select from. In the Baroque period, vibrato was used to color or intensify certain notes. Things have changed over the years. When I was teaching at the university, my studio overlooked an athletic field. I posed the question, “What if everyone in the school were on the athletic field, and there was one nude person out there. Who would you look at?” I coined the phrase “No Nude Notes” to remind students to keep the vibrato going because if one note has no vibrato, then it is that note that has been given significance.
    Another problem with vibrato is the tendency of flutists to place vibrato on the strong beats and have none on the weak beats. This type of vibrato usage is called every other note vibrato.
    The difficulty of developing a continuous vibrato has to do with separating the air stream from the movement of the fingers. Unfortunately, vibrato often stops when the fingers move. Practicing counted or measured vibrato on each note of a scale is a wonderful exercise to solve this problem. Another option is to ask a violinist to play slow scales with you and notice how the violinist’s left hand moves in a continuous fashion even while changing fingers. This is what flutists want to develop.
    Just as with dynamics, flutists should develop a variety of vibrato speeds and widths. Generally, the softer the passage, the slower and narrower the vibrato cycle. However, Joseph Mariano was a master of doing the opposite in an artistic manner. When I was studying with Julius Baker, he told me how excited the flute world was with the release of the 78 RPM recording of Mariano playing the Griffes Poem (1942). Baker said when he got a copy of the recording, he rerecorded it on a reel to reel tape recorder and then hand threaded the tape through the machine so he could calculate the number of vibrato vibrations Mariano placed on each note of the piece. He also noted the tone color Mariano used throughout. The most amazing part of this story is that this recording was made in one take. You can hear it on Volume 2 of the National Flute Association’s Historic Recordings Series.

Intonation
    My flute choir, like many flute choirs, has suffered from intonation problems. We have been working on it the old-fashioned way – by listening. However, the level was not what I knew we could achieve. One night I asked how many had tuners, and every hand in the room went up. I asked how many had pickups for their tuners, and I was the only person who had one. We decided that everyone would have one for the next rehearsal. The advantage of a pickup is that it is clipped onto the flute and only picks up your playing. We started with whole-note scales beginning on C5, going up only. The goal was to keep the needle straight up and still. One person said, “the needle is all over the place. I am sharp on one note and then flat on the next.”
    At that point, I decided that we should tune the flutes. First, we checked the placement of the headjoint corks. Then, we played low C, pulling out or pushing in, until that note was in tune. Then we overblew to the next octave making sure the flutes were still in tune. Then we overblew once again to C7 and made sure all three notes were in tune. We then repeated this exercise on C# and D. C5 and C6 are difficult notes to play in tune because once the left thumb is removed there is a chance the flute will roll in because it is not well balanced in the hands. In this case, because of the design of the flute with more weight on the backside of the instrument, the flute rolls towards the flutist, and the note is flat. Learning to balance the flute at the place just above the left knuckle will certainly improve intonation.
    After tuning these three notes and their octaves, we returned to the whole-note scales. Still some were having difficulty keeping the needle still. Then we discussed air speed. Most saw improvement when they simply blew faster air. I said it was like driving a car where one minute you were going 60 mph, the next 45, and then 70. One member said, “That is exactly the way I drive.” Of course, the goal is to drive with cruise control on at all dynamic levels.
    After this exercise, half the flutists played low F for a whole note, and the other half entered playing a third above on count three. We continued up the scale for one octave in thirds and then switched roles. Each week we have added another exercise to tune intervals and eventually chords. At the last concert, several audience members mentioned our improved intonation. For most of the players, they had no idea how sharp they were playing. Keeping the pitch down is our new goal.
    In the May/June 2017 issue of Flute Talk, Sharon Sparrow mentions using the tuner when listening back to recordings. This is an excellent idea. With the use of the recording feature on most phones, recording has become easy and accurate. Using the tuner when playing back recordings shows players which notes or phrases should get more attention.

Floaters
    Floaters are those notes that float in when flutists are playing an interval larger than a major second in the lower two octaves. Generally, to play a second flutists add or take away a finger.  However, with larger intervals more fingers are involved, and if flutists do not put them down or raise them at the precise time, an extra note is heard – a note that floats in. This is a coordination issue that should be addressed.
    Putting the metronome on the smallest rhythmic unit (sixteenth notes in scales) helps flutists move their fingers in a rhythmic manner. Violinists refer to this as having articulate fingers. This works for flutists as well. Try thinking about touching the key with the same part of the fingertip each time and placing the tip exactly on the same place on the key. This will heighten the awareness to move the fingers in a coordinated, clean manner. The third octave offers more challenges because so many more fingers are involved in moving from one note to the next. Usually teachers tell students to keep their fingers close to the keys; however, in difficult passages lifting them slightly more than usual produces good results. Sometime merely thinking of the fingers being a little more curved rather than arched heightens the awareness and cleans up technique.
    Another possibility is to figure out what fingers can be kept down when going from one note to the next. This will act as an anchor and keep the flute steady. For example, when going from a C#6 to and E6, put the right hand second finger (E) down for the C#. This will not only help the pitch of the C# which is usually sharp, but will make going to the E smoother.
    When listening to the playback with students, mark places where the fingers are not clean. Create an exercise of these fingering combinations. Practice them in the mirror to discover which fingers are moving too fast and which too slowly. G to Bb in the first and second octaves can be a problem if the long fingering for Bb is used. Using the thumb or lever Bb can clean up this problem quickly. When selecting an alternate fingering though, do not compromise sound or intonation.

Rhythmic Notation
    Since most of the music flutists have played in band ends on a strong beat (in 4/4 meter, this would be beat 1 or beat 3), the tendency of students is to end all pieces this way. This can lead to ending a Haydn minuet with a long third beat. When listening and making a list of improvements for students, check to be sure that note durations match what is written and how they should be played.
    This list is a starting point for helping students develop critical listening skills. The goal is for them to learn how to assess their own playing without the assistance of a teacher. 

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Horizontal vs. Vertical
    There are two approaches to phrasing: melodic and harmonic. Melodic phrasing looks at the shape of the horizontal melody line to determine the beginning, high point, and ending of a phrase. Harmonic phrasing considers the chord progressions and harmonic tension and resolution to shape the phrase. Of course, there is another possibility: combining both melodic and harmonic and finding the connections between them.

Water Lilies on a Pond
    A good analogy for this method of phrasing is to imagine a pond with water lilies floating on the surface. The pond represents the piece of music. The leaves and flowers of the water lilies represent the important notes of the melodic line. Although they look like they are free floating, each lily pad has a stem connecting it to the soil of the floor of the pond. The stem represents the harmony, and the floor of the pond represents the bass line. Imagine gliding across the water and landing briefly on each water lily. This gives the phrase an entirely different feel than if you were only to skim across the water without ever landing. This roots the melody firmly in the harmony

Water Lilies by Claude Monet

Intervals:
Consonance vs. Dissonance
    Historically, intervals had various qualities or characteristics. Octaves and fifths are pure intervals and were used for stability and harmonic peacefulness. Thirds and sixths were also considered to have a pleasing nature and were often used in sequences. Fourths, which modern ears hear as consonant, were historically perceived as dissonant and needed to resolve to a consonant third (as in a 4-3 suspension).

    Seconds and sevenths were also dissonant and had their own rules of resolution. Lastly, there is the diminished fifth or tritone. This interval was known as the devil’s interval, which gives a glimpse into the importance that people historically put on the emotional power of intervals in music. Left unresolved, a tritone was said to drive the listener mad.

    Baroque composers played with these intervals creating tension and release in their music. They manipulated and crafted complicated puzzles full of dissonant intervals and their resolutions. For the performer, the road map of how to navigate harmonic tension and release is clearly written out in the format of figured bass.

Figured Bass
    Figured bass is a system of notating intervals above a bass line and was the method for telling the continuo player (harpsichord, theorbo, lute, cello, viola da gamba) what harmony to play during the Baroque era. There were no piano parts with the chords already written out for the performer. Part of the art of playing continuo is interpreting the figures and deciding which chord to play and what voice leading to use. These choices have both harmonic and emotive implications. Today, as in the Baroque period, two performances of the same piece could sound drastically different depending on the decisions that the continuo player makes.
    In figured bass, the numbers below the bass line refer to the interval above the bass that the note should be played. For example, in A major, if there is a C# in the bass with a 6 underneath, then the harmony must include an A. The 3 (E) is implied even if it is not expressly written out. So, a 6 below a note would indicate a first inversion chord. Figured bass conventions omitted notes that were clearly implied.
    Other common symbols that you will come across in figured bass are a slash through a note. This indicates raising the note in the figure by a half step. For example, 6/ under an E would mean to play a C#. This was useful in secondary dominant chords and modulations. Other ways of notating chromatic alterations are with a sharp, flat or natural sign. If a # has no number after it, it typically refers to a #3 above the bass.

    For the flutist, learning to read figured bass is essential to convincingly portraying the dramatic tension and release inherent in Baroque pieces. Learning to internalize the function of melodic notes and to play the melody expressively with and against the bass line leads to a higher level of phrasing and expression, and ultimately more musically moving performances.
    Reading figured bass is easy to learn. Once you have learned the basics and can begin to think in this harmonic language, you will see how useful this hands-on method of expressing harmony is in your own performances. After all, if you were playing the top note of a tritone against the bass line, and you played it as sweetly and innocently as you might play a third, then you have lost a great opportunity for expression.

Affekt
    Writings from the Baroque period, such as Johann Matteson’s Der Volkommene Kappelmeister (1739), indicate that composers and musicians from that time period were primarily concerned with affekt and moving the passions of the listeners. Affekt is a German word that refers to the emotive quality of music. Known as the Doctrine of Affections, composers and performers (often the same person in the Baroque) tried to affect the listener’s emotional state. This could be done in many ways, but harmony was arguably the most important. Even the choice of tonality was important for the character of the piece. For example, the key of D major was considered to have a sharp and stubborn quality for noisy, or warlike movements, while E minor was considered pensive, profound, expressive and sad.

Putting It Into Practice
    There are many ways to hear and understand the harmonic function of melody notes. You could play the bass and melody notes on a keyboard, or have someone sing the bass line while you play, as Wilbert Hazelzet suggests. Kate Clark, a Baroque flute teacher at the Royal Conservatory at the Hague, teaches her students to play each bass note just before each melody note as a kind of grace note. Doing this, they can have the bass note in their ears while they play the melody. All of these methods help the performer to know which notes to lean on, pushing against the bass, and which notes to relax on. For a solo piece without a bass line, make one up. For example, begin with the Telemann Fantasies and write out a possible bass line for each one. Telemann’s music is so well and logically crafted that this is not too difficult a task.

Breathing Implications
    Playing the melody while reading the bass notes also gives you a wealth of information on where to breathe and where not to breathe. Breathing between the resolution of dissonances to consonances destroys the harmonic tension and so opportunities for expression are lost.
A wonderful example of the challenge of recognizing dissonances can be found in J.S. Bach’s aria, Aus Liebe, from the St. Matthew Passion. Here, there are a chain of tied-over notes indicating suspensions. If the peformer plays the melody without regard for the harmonies in the oboes da caccia, the result is rather like a floating head without the grounding of a body with feet. By looking at the score, a flutist can take the dissonances into consideration and make informed choices about where to breathe and avoid unknowingly ruining the tension. A good exercise to try is to play the aria from the score without breathing on dissonances. You will find that the phrases, as so often in Bach, are just a little longer than comfortable.

Play from the score
    Harmony anchors music and provides its foundation. The tension between dissonant notes and the subsequent resolution to consonance is the main harmonic building block of the entire repertoire. Regardless of the composition or time period, to squeeze out all the emotive possibilities of a piece, learn by playing from the score, not just the flute part. This works as well for Prokofiev as for Bach. If your concept of each piece is informed and includes the harmonies and their melodic implications, your playing will have a much greater impact on the audience.

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Performances for Every Interest 
    Recitals feature tributes to Ervin Monroe, Laurie Sokoloff, and Linda Mintener. Other concerts include the annual Remembrance and Healing concert, retrospectives of the music of Keith Gates and Timothy Hagen, several early music concerts on period instruments, Colorado flutists, African American and Latin American composers, American Women composers, “Virtuosity and the Modern Moving Flutist,” and flute and film.
    Competitions include High School Soloist, Orchestral Audition, Piccolo Orchestral Audition, and Young Artist, and convention attendees can enjoy performances of the Newly Published Music Competition’s winning works performed by the winners of the Convention Performers Competition. 
    Chamber concerts feature flute quartets, trios, and duets, duets for flute and other instruments (including voice), woodwind quintets, and any imaginable chamber combination. More than 20 flute choirs from all over the U.S. and Taiwan perform in showcase recitals, noon-time lobby concerts, and pre-gala featured concerts.  
    Cabarets feature Greg Pattillo and Project Trio, charanga flute legend Art Webb, and the NFA Jazz Flute Big Band with Billy Kerr. Steve Kujala leads the NFA Jazz Flute Masterclass, and Sarpay Özçagatay gives an additional jazz flute class. A “Jazz Meets Classical” concert explores the intersection of these two genres with music by Uri Brener, Nikolai Kapustin, and Peter Senchuk. 
    Besides the gala concerts mentioned above, the piccolo figures prominently at this convention, with a tribute to Laurie Sokoloff and three full programs of solo piccolo music including a recital by Jean-Louis Beaumadier. At the other end of the spectrum, low flutes are equally represented with programs of solo and ensemble music.
 
Participatory Events
    The 10,000 Lakes Flute Orchestra, conducted by Pamela Youngblood, will perform at the opening ceremonies and is open to all NFA members. Christine Beard, Danielle Breisach, and Julie Sooy will hold flute choir reading sessions, Paige Dasher Long conducts a low flutes ensemble reading session, and Ali Ryerson leads a Jazz Flute Big Band reading session. Wendy Kumer and Uwe Grodd offer a flute choir conducting masterclass in which the demo choir is the audience. A volunteer adult amateur flute choir performs at a local church service on Sunday. At the closing ceremonies, NFA President Kyle Dzapo conducts all NFA members in a performance of the Bach Air from the Third Suite, an NFA tradition.
    Each day begins with one or two sessions on yoga, tai chi, pilates, or other warmups and stretches. Other participatory workshops cover Irish flute, Native American flute, an open masterclass for amateurs, jazz flute, historically-informed performance of Baroque music for modern flutists, teaching beginning flutists, college teaching, performance health and injury prevention, chunking, free improvisation with Robert Dick, and nuance tapers with Walfrid Kujala.
    With the many panels, workshops, and lectures, there is much to learn in the four days. A distinguished panel of Jeanne Baxtresser, Stefan Höskuldsson, and Jim Walker relate how to get along with colleagues, conductors, and contractors in an orchestra. Others cover recording a CD, teaching a masterclass for a college interview, connecting with communities of color, commissioning new works, playing second flute in the orchestra, doubling on flute and piccolo, charanga, and writing program notes. Lectures and workshops address the music of Ian Clarke, extended techniques, teaching and performing the Copland Duo, the development of the flute in 19th Century France, Dalcroze eurhythmics, world flutes, and performance health, Winners of the Graduate Research Competition present their research on the flute in 18th-century Scotland and the prepared flute.
 
Masterclasses
    Denis Bouriakov, Jim Walker, and Nina Perlove present solo masterclasses, Ervin Monroe holds the orchestra audition masterclass, Sarah Jackson leads the piccolo orchestral audition masterclass, and Jed Wentz presents the NFA Baroque masterclass.

Youth Flute Day 
    The young and young at heart are invited for a fun-filled Sunday, attending sessions on extended techniques with Ian Clarke and piccolo with Zach Galatis, a petting zoo for flutes of all sizes, and performances by the Fourth Wall Ensemble, Diane Schultz, Maxim Rubitsov, the National High School Flute Choir, and the winner of the NFA High School Soloist Competition. 

Meals 
    Reserve your seat now for the NFA Gala Dinner honoring Lifetime Achievement Awardees Ervin Monroe, longtime Detroit Symphony principal flutist, and Laurie Sokoloff, longtime piccoloist of the Baltimore Symphony. The Distinguished Service Award recipient is Linda Mintener, NFA pro bono legal advisor. This year’s Flute Lover’s Lunch features three guests for the price of one, beatboxing flutist Greg Pattillo and his Project Trio colleagues Peter Seymour and Eric Stephenson. Guest speaker for Food for the Day’s Journey (formerly the Teacher’s Breakfast) is Leone Buyse. On Thursday, meet new NFA friends at the Myrna Brown DineAround in which flutists sample local restaurants. After the Saturday gala, attendees are invited to mingle and share a refreshment with our world-renowned soloists.
    This 45th annual convention is guaranteed to inspire you. You will grow as a flutist, make new friends who share your passion for the instrument, and provide the energy, knowledge, and skills to propel you through your next year of flute playing.

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Answer: “Fruitcake? Nobody likes fruitcake!” That was my reaction to being told that I was now part of a Fruitcake Drive. It was my first year of teaching and not one of my college classes had prepared me for fundraising. In the years to follow, I was involved in hawking candy, pizza (make your own, kits, frozen, coupons to pick up at local vendors, you name it) pies, cheesecake, wrapping paper, gifts catalogs of all sorts, Avon, greeting cards, stationery products, candles and accessories, soaps and cleaning products, spices, cookie dough, fruit, cheese, sausage, plants, Tupperware, jewelry, raffles for Las Vegas trips, raffles for cars, lightbulbs, magazines plus participatory events such as Practicing for Pennies and sponsored events such as Ice Cream Sundae Night and silent auctions. The most profitable and successful products we sold had elements in common: useful to the purchaser and good value for the cost. The products that best met these two requirements were pizza (good pizza), soap and cleaning products, and spices.

Getting Started
    Determine how much money needs to be raised. Decide if the fundraiser will cover all of the flute choir member’s expenses (registration fees, food, lodging, and transportation) or if each member will be responsible for a portion of the expenses. Make a list of the expenses and decide if the goal can be met by your chosen fundraiser. Depending on distance of travel, consider using a university bus rather than a commercial rental. Check to be sure that this trip will be covered by the university’s insurance.
    Meet with your administration to be sure that they are on board with your having a fundraiser and that it meets all university guidelines and will not compete with existing fundraisers. Be prepared to present a plan of action with projections of the cost of the project and the expected profits plus a timeline of when the event will be held.
    Set up an account with the school or department of music so you will have a place to deposit the money and pay for the products you sell. Each school has different rules and procedures to handle this so be prepared for just about anything.

Delegate
    Once the plan has been decided upon, delegate the responsibilities among the flute choir. This project can be a useful experience for students especially for music education majors who will be faced with doing this in their first year of teaching.

Constructing a Team to Assist You
    As the leader of the flute choir, you will work closely with the co-chairs in each area of responsibility. I have found that it is useful to appoint co-chairs to handle the following areas:

•    Paperwork and dealing with the fundraising company.
•    Receiving the money from the orders. You should oversee deposits and the paying of bills. It is best to have customers pay when they order rather than during delivery. Payment by check reduces the liability of flute choir members.
•    Advertising and working with local media to get promotion for your fundraiser.
•    Sorting (cheese pizza, pepperoni pizza, etc.) and delivery of items.

    Everyone in the flute choir should participate in the selling and delivery of items. Delivery can be made more efficient by having specific dates and times for order pickup. If you decide to have a pick-up location only, ask several flute choir members to play duets, trios, and quartets in the background. It adds a nice touch to the event.

Safety
    The time when students could go door-to-door has past. If students go door-to-door in dorms or the community, they should follow the buddy system and sell in groups of twos or threes.

Incentives
    For some groups having incentives for the person who sells the most product is necessary, but for a flute choir trip without cost, the goal should be incentive enough.

    Now about those fruitcakes. The event turned out much better than I expected. The fruitcakes had been sold before and were an excellent product. The project lasted for three weeks in late October and early November. The cakes sold themselves due to reputation and an annual reordering system, and we actually saw an increase in sales from the past year.

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What were your experiences at the Moscow Special Music School?
    At the end of April 1991, when I was 9 years old, I went to Moscow to audition for the famous Special Music School there. The flute teacher at this school, Dolzhikov, was known as a superstar flutist and teacher. At that point I had been playing for just about one year. I played for Dolzhikov, but he did not seem too impressed. He asked what else I could do musically, so I played piano for him, including one of my own compositions on the piano – a piece about a spider and a fly. Years later, Dolzhikov told me that when he heard me play the flute he thought, “Oh that’s terrible, but I think he has musical talent because he can play the piano and compose.” Of course, I was a new student at the time, so it was difficult to know how I would progress, but at least I did have fast fingers. When Dolzhikov held auditions, he accepted all of the students he was interested in teaching. Then if the students did not progress, he gave them to other teachers, so essentially, the other teachers were given the students he chose to leave behind.
    Studying with him was tough. It was a different kind of time and teaching philosophy everywhere in the world, but especially in Russia. Once when I came for a lesson I was told, “this flute playing is horrible. It is the worst thing I have ever heard. You have absolutely zero talent. I am going to buy you a train ticket back to Crimea with my own money.” At the time, I was ten years old. I was so devastated by what my teacher had said that I stayed home for three days and practiced all day long – seven hours of actual practice each day. My father was with me at least half the time trying to figure out how to improve my embouchure and breathing. Other times my teacher would be incredibly enthusiastic and complimentary and tell the professors down the hall from his office, “I’ve never heard anything like this. This is amazing!” He would call the oboe professor in and say, “Have you ever heard the flute sound like this?” Sometimes I would leave my lessons feeling so happy and full of energy, but other times I felt as if I should quit.
    In general, stronger-spirited people survived in Dolzhikov’s flute class. Some who were more sensitive to the criticism and teaching approach would quit flute, and some voluntarily changed teachers. Despite his shock therapy, Dolzhikov was a very good teacher and emphasized some important flute techniques. For instance, he talked about playing with harmonics being in tune with the flute tone, which William Bennett talks about as well (and in a lot more detail than Dolzhikov), and he told students that they needed to open the throat. He had some ideas which he could not connect completely for his students. For instance, Aurèle Nicolet said it was important to move the jaw forward, so Dolzhikov said the same thing but could not always say when and why. He had some gaps in his knowledge, but he was very creative and invented many things himself.
    In the Soviet Union at that time, there had been little tradition of flute playing. Dolzhikov was ahead because he had studied with Rampal for a year. There was a special travel program that the Soviet Union had with several music professors that enabled Dolzhikov to study in Paris for just under a year. He mostly learned from hearing the flutists there, as he did not speak much French or English. I think listening to such good flute playing by itself pushed him to find ways to improve his playing. In fact, I can sort of relate to this. When I went to study with Wibb (William Bennett), hearing him play in lessons was sometimes more informative than words, even though he explained things in amazingly great detail. Listening to him, it did not feel like the flute. It sounded like another instrument to me. By the time I had studied with him for a year, I sounded like an imitation of William Bennett (except that I still could not control the speed of my vibrato, and it was too fast).
    Dolzhikov obtained many recordings of flutists during his year of study in Paris that were not available in the Soviet Union and would copy breathing and other ideas from them. He would not talk in lessons about musical concepts – for instance, ideas like leading a musical line to the top of the phrase. He would sometimes sing phrases to demonstrate very musically, but he would not talk about musical principles. “The main thing for a flutist is the school,” he said. “If your heart is in the right place, the music will come by itself.” By the school, he meant all of the technical basis of playing the flute. Even at the age of twelve, I understood this was not true, and I and his other students would take lessons from other teachers in the music school who were not flute teachers. One of my most important music mentors in Russia was the piano accompaniment professor Aristotel Konstantinidi, who played in our flute class. He would talk about phrasing, the importance of harmony and its role in phrasing (for instance, strong chords that resolve into weaker chords), and other more abstract musical concepts. Some of them were hard to understand, but it was a good preparation for my future. I still remember a two-hour long lesson on the first movement of Bach E Minor Sonata. This was in some ways very similar to a five-hour lesson I later had with Wibb on the Bach Partita.
    It helped that I had started kindergarten one year early. When my family moved to Moscow, this proved helpful to my transition. I repeated third grade so that I could really focus on the flute. I basically already knew all of the other subjects for that year, and almost did not have to go to school. I had a tiger dad who helped me excel. While we were in Moscow, my dad did a lot of different things to make a living. His main job prior to our move to Moscow was working on the big fishing boats, but he worked as an electrician, plumber and in whatever way he could in Moscow. It was a very difficult time economically in Russia. I graduated from the Moscow Special Central Music School in 2000 when I was eighteen.
 
What was it like studying with William Bennett?
    Shortly after my high school graduation, I moved to London. I had become interested in pursuing my studies in London the year before when I attended the Bennett summer school. My pianist mentor in Moscow encouraged me to go. One of his students, who was British and temporarily lived in Moscow, had gone to the Royal Academy in London and picked up leaflets for all of the summer courses while he was there. I applied for William Bennett’s summer school and was given a grant from the George Soros Foundation to attend. At the time of the class, I was seventeen, and it was the first time I traveled alone. It was a little scary because I did not speak much English. I could understand more than I could speak, but the British accent was very hard for me to understand.
    When I arrived for the class, Bennett kept talking and talking, and I had no idea what he was saying. He was trying to explain some point about flute playing and sound. When he put his flute together and started to play, I almost jumped. I wondered, “Is he playing with a microphone? The tone is so round and seems to be coming from everywhere at once!” It was such a different sound from how I thought of the flute. By this time in my musical career, I had started losing interest in the flute. During ninth and tenth grades, I had started to focus more on other subjects. I would bring the same flute piece into lessons for three months, and every week seemed boring for both me and my teacher. In London I was required to bring in a new piece every week. For my second lesson with Wibb, I brought the same piece again, and he seemed surprised. “Didn’t we do this last time? Don’t you have another piece to play for me?” I realized that I was expected to work hard and to learn a new study and a new piece every week. After that summer, I told Bennett I wanted to study with him when I finished school in Moscow. I applied to the Royal Academy of Music, which was a difficult process, but in the end, it worked out.
    I lived in London and was affiliated with the Royal Academy of Music for five years. Figuring out how to pursue these studies took some effort. The original offer was that they would give me £2,000 as a scholarship, and tuition was about £10,500. I thought they were going to give me that money on top of tuition but learned that is not how it works. When I made this discovery, I wrote to Wibb and said I did not have the finances to come. Bennett talked to the Academy principal, and they came up with a special affiliated course, which would not give me a diploma but allowed me to take flute lessons and choose music history and other courses to attend. This meant that my scholarship paid for the course and gave me £2,000 for living in addition. I took that affiliated course for one year and then again for an additional year, which the school called “year in,” and was essentially same thing. So many students had decided to do affiliated courses that the Royal Academy decided to give it a name. You cannot survive in London with that sort of money, so I ended up playing in the London underground a lot to pay the rest of my living expenses as my parents were not able to help much. After two years of affiliated courses, I asked the school how I should continue my studies. I was almost 21 and asked if I should apply to become a full undergraduate student. Due to my age and experience, and also competitions I had been doing, everyone felt that was not a good fit. They allowed me to go directly into a post-graduate diploma program. So officially, I have no degree.

2016 rehearsal in London with William Bennett.

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Most Unconventional Orchestra Audition

    While I was still living in London, I had a private audition for principal flute with an orchestra based in China. The conductor was in town for a concert, and was really too busy to fit my audition in around the orchestra’s scheduled activities. The orchestra finished a rehearsal at 6:45 p.m., and their concert was to begin at 7:30. The conductor met me in his dressing room between the rehearsal and concert and just said, “Play.” He was taking off his shirt and putting on his white dress shirt and bowtie to conduct the concert while I played. Since he gave me my choice about what to play, I started and got through the first page of Fantasie sur le Freischütz by Taffanel. It starts very dramatically and needs a big flute sound, and that is what the conductor was looking for. He did not tell me anything at that time, though; he just said, “Great! Great! We’ll be in touch!” A month later, I received a call from the orchestra personnel manager to offer me the job. I asked for details of the job and the trial period and was told, “there is no trial. We are offering you the job.” I almost took it, but then the Tampere Philharmonic Orchestra principal flute position in Finland audition came up, and I won it. I really wanted to stay in Europe, so I decided to accept it.

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What did you learn from doing competitions?
    I did a lot of competitions while I lived in Moscow. My flute class was very competitive, but not international in scope. When I was 15, I went “as a tourist” to the Kobe competition. During the first round I was required to play the Takemitsu Voice by memory. While I was preparing for the competition, I asked a lot of teachers at my school about this piece, but none of them could tell me anything about how to play it. It just looked like a piece of artwork to me, not like sheet music, and as it turned out, all of the teachers felt the same. The first thing I did at the competition was to listen to other people play. I ended up listening to the whole first round. I still had many questions, as I had never heard whistle tones and other extended techniques, and most of my questions were not answered by listening. I did win many competition prizes in Moscow but only started to participate in international competitions seriously when I was in London.
    My first big one was the Kobe competition in 2001. At this point my playing was almost a complete imitation of Wibb, or as close as I could get to it after a year of studying with him. The jury members told me, “you sound so much like William Bennett,” and it was the biggest compliment for me. I won the Fifth Prize, and a special prize for Ichiyanagi’s In a Living Memory, which was the obligatory work. Looking back, I believe I took preparing that piece much too seriously. I spent so much time practicing it – maybe half my entire practice time for the whole competition. My teacher in Moscow had said that when you compete in an international competition, if you play one wrong note, you will be kicked out. That information stuck in my head. I could not play it without any mistakes at all, but, to my relief, when I arrived at Kobe and listened to other people, I realized that nobody could. I worked so hard that when Wibb heard me play it in lessons, he said he believed that nobody would play it better. Wibb hates competitions, and never forces his students to do them. He would say that it is “always the player who plays the sharpest and the fastest who wins. It’s nothing to do with music.” He supported me doing competitions but never specifically encouraged it. In every competition, as with orchestra auditions, you learn something new. It is a bit like the Groundhog Day movie. Every time you correct one mistake and get a bit better. For me it was mainly learning how to handle nerves and still make music with all the stress and learn how to make the style a bit more objective.
 
Do you have any competition experiences that stand out to you?
    I had a disastrous experience in my first Kobe trip in 1997. I had not finished memorizing the Takemitsu until I was in Japan. I always trusted my memory a bit too much as a kid and would often not finish memorizing things until a couple of days before performances. I wish I could do that now. When I was in the middle of the performance in the first round, I got stuck in the middle of the second page. I was following the line of music visually in my head, but then I arrived at end of line, and it was suddenly blank. I did not know what was coming next. So, I went back two lines and repeated those two lines three or four times. I thought, “Oh no, this is the end for me in this competition.” Looking back, I believe that probably some of the jury members did not even notice it and probably even slept through it. Many judges did not take the contemporary works seriously. It is easier to tell how a person can play with Bach or Mozart or other standard repertoire pieces. One of the competitors who won first prize in one of these big competitions told me once, “they never really judge you based on the contemporary pieces too much. Don’t waste your time overpreparing them.” I am not sure if that is always the case, but there was some truth in that advice.
 
When did you start doing orchestral auditions?
    I had also been taking orchestra auditions during my London years, and at first had no idea how much practice you should put into an audition. From the time of my second year as student in London I would travel to take auditions. In terms of preparation, if there was an audition at the end of February, I would start to look for the required excerpts a couple of weeks in advance. It would take me a couple of days to find the excerpts. I would then practice them for a couple of days, and then felt I was ready to go do the audition. Taking auditions in Europe is easy; it generally only costs a couple of hundred dollars for the flights and hotels. I quickly found that I lost a lot of quality in my playing at the actual audition because I was way too nervous. Every time I did an audition, I practiced better and more to prepare for it. I had taken about ten auditions before I won the first position in Finland.
 
What were your positions like in Finland and Barcelona?
    I think it was with a lot of luck that I won the position in Tampere in 2005. It was not until my next audition that I realized just how much work you really have to put in to do well at an audition. I liked the position and the teaching I was doing in Finland, and was satisfied with my life. However, Erin, my best friend at the time – and now my wife – finally became my girlfriend. That made me realize that if we ever wanted to get married and start a family, we did not have sufficient income to do it. I started to worry about it a little, and told her so one day. She told me not to worry, and “even if it takes you two years to get a better job I’ll wait.”  I must confess, I panicked a bit at this statement. What is two years for winning a flute job? That is nothing. That was at the end of 2007, so I decided that during 2008 I would take every audition there was for better job. In January of 2008 I auditioned for the Barcelona Symphony Orchestra. This time, I practiced every day for four hours for a full month before the audition. It paid off. The practice you put in does not feel much different while you are playing at home, but it makes your skin thicker for the actual audition somehow, and you play much better. They asked for a lot of excerpts: twenty minutes for the first round and a half hour for the second. I felt nervous, but it was a good nervous, like a concert nervous. That kind makes you feel alert and play better. I could still control myself well with that kind of energy. When I practiced for the Met audition in December 2008, I again practiced a lot more to prepare.
    The Barcelona position was supposed to start in September 2008. I had won it in January. However, there was a lot to sort out to get my work permit, and they were not in a hurry and really disorganized. It was much more complicated to arrange to work in Spain than Finland where all you need to do is submit a one-page work visa application. Finally, my first day at work in Barcelona came on October 16. I started playing there and was already hard at work practicing for the Met audition at the same time. That was held at the beginning of December, just a few weeks later. Since I won the Met audition, I never officially finished my trial with the Barcelona orchestra.
 
What was it like playing in the Metro-politan Opera Orchestra?
    I started working at the Metropol-itan Opera in August 2009. I have many favorite memories and experiences from playing there. The Met trains you really well as an orchestra player. I felt like I had never played with an orchestra before because there was so much material to learn, and so little time. It is tricky to follow the singers while playing in unison from the pit – very far away from them. Sometimes, you can be playing, and then suddenly everyone stops in an imaginary rest fermata – and you keep playing. Everyone else knows how it goes, but it is not indicated in your part. You learn the style, and sort of expect things to happen in a certain way after a few years of playing operas. There are four different staged shows every week with a total of seven performances. There are two principals in each section, but it is still a lot of work as we played the stage bands as well.
    Everyone in the orchestra told me that they all felt the same as I did when they started their jobs there, It is like a hurricane for the first year, and it gets easier every season after that – a lot easier, because operas repeat. The hours are hard, and it is a lot of work. They probably work double hours compared to most symphony orchestras, but there were many wonderful shows.
    I learned a lot from things Levine said to us. He sometimes would stop the orchestra in the middle of a rehearsal and give us a ten-minute lecture. The orchestra musicians who had been there for thirty years probably were not paying much attention, but some of those were really informative for me. One good example is that pianissimo for singers is not about sound, it is about color. These kinds of things were important; it is the same for flutists.
    Playing Lucia with Natalie Dessay and Diana Damrau was one of the highlights for me. We also took it on tour to Japan in 2011. The flutist has to come stand by the conductor. These two sopranos had very different voices and stage manners, and I learned a lot from seeing both of them sing this role.
    The schedule in New York did not leave much room for teaching privately, and there were no teaching jobs open. I taught at the Tampere Conservatory while I lived in Finland, but not in New York City. Commuting from New Jersey was already enough to do on top of the busy Met schedule. This is one of the things I am really excited about right now. Beginning in September 2017 I will start teaching at UCLA.
    There were pros and cons with the schedule at the Met. You start working in the second half of August, and then do not have much personal time until May. You have one week off during the season and can only take it during certain parts of season that can be worked out with the company. You only have five personal days. After about four or five years into the job, I realized that I should really use whatever time I had off for vacation and recovering, not for traveling around to play solo concerts and concertos, like I did during the first two or three seasons. I would travel a lot and perform with my flutist wife Erin during the summer. Now I have a more normal life and schedule. I can do professional projects besides playing in the orchestra throughout the year, and I no longer have to put them all in a big lump together during the summer. At some points during my time at the Met, there would be times when I would not see Erin and my son for up to two months. Obviously, that is not good for a marriage. We would both get tired of it, and she would get upset. Having a child makes it all harder for everyone too. We are all very happy to have the new work schedule.
    I continue to perform together with Erin in recitals and double concertos. We want to start a summer school together in the next couple of years. She is an amazing flute player and teacher, and we have learned a lot from each other. Even though we met in London in Wibb’s class, we came from very different traditions of flute playing and appreciated different things for a while. Now however, we feel sort of merged together a bit, and our sense of style is a lot closer to each other. Many people ask me if it is difficult being married to a flute player, but I think it is a wonderful thing. There is practically nothing we cannot talk about to each other, and it is fun to do the same thing together.

How did you decide to apply for the L.A. Philharmonic position?
    Even though I was very happy with my job at the Met, there were several reasons I was interested in taking the Los Angeles job. The very obvious reason was the crazy schedule at the Met. Also, playing in a symphony orchestra on stage is very different from playing in the pit. In the pit, no matter how great the music is, you are still accompanying the action on stage. You pace yourself differently as well. You have to last four hours in an opera pit, so you cannot have the same mindset as you do for an orchestra concert.
    I like playing on stage. Every time we did Carnegie Hall symphonic concerts with the Met, I felt that I enjoyed being on the stage much more. In the pit, people bring magazines, water bottles, phone chargers, all kinds of things. You may think I am exaggerating, but I’m not. Of course there is also the weather. I just loved Los Angeles when I came to audition. I thought it was paradise. I also enjoy the culture of politeness that I find in L.A. My son had so many friends in New Jersey, and that worried us, but at kindergarten age it is still easy to move. Julien turned seven in May and just started piano lessons a couple months ago. We are all much happier now.     

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Warm-up and Practice Routines
I always try to vary my warm-up and practice routines, because I think it is more effective than staying with the same routine for years. The things I do most frequently are:
•    Note bending for flexibility and finding the focus
•    Harmonics
•    Practicing Moyse’s 24 Little Melodic Studies
•    Reading through books of studies
    With harmonics, I practice the whole range of them, up and down, based on the lowest few notes on the flute. Then I practice them in pairs of two notes with loud-soft dynamics, broken arpeggios and any melodies which come to mind in harmonics. It is a great way to remind your embouchure of the real speed of the notes. Lastly, I play a relatively high harmonic (such as the 5th harmonic of the low C, sounding E3) and play it going from a comfortable forte dynamic with a diminuendo completely to nothing, lifting the airstream at the end and making sure there are no other harmonics audible (meaning that the air speed is consistent). I focus on the moment when it gets to a very soft dynamic, to get finer control of the air and the lift of the note. You always have to lift the endings of the notes beautifully, whether it’s a ff or pp dynamic, dramatic or sad.
    I love reading and sightreading through books of studies, and my favorites are all of the Andersen books, Altes, Karg-Elert, Tsybin and Drouet. I want to make special mention of my latest favorite book, which is Robert Winn’s Articulation. It is organized very cleverly, working on various problems in all the registers. It is like a combination of Moyse’s melodic studies, Taffanel and Gaubert books, some virtuoso studies and Tone Development through Interpretation, all in one. So, the last few times I missed a day or a few of practice, I just read through the whole book and then always felt and sounded much better – especially on the next day. I would highly recommend it as a great way to practice, especially when you are slightly out of shape and do not know where to start to recover.

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    The 30 Caprices, opus 107, composed between 1915 and 1918, were inspired by Sigfrid Karg-Elert’s regard for Carl Bartuzat, principal flutist with the Leipzig Theatre and Gewandhaus Orchestra. The composer’s intent was to provide a series of studies that were technically more difficult than the music being written by Richard Strauss, Mahler, Reger, Schönberg, Scriabin, and Stravinsky. Karg-Elert’s premise was that the difficult always grows easier by overcoming the more difficult.
    Prepare each of the Caprices by playing slowly and deliberately at first. Because the composer did not supply metronome markings, they have been added to serve as a guide and goal. Don’t feel frustrated if you cannot perform immediately at the tempos indicated. Many of the Caprices will take weeks of constant effort before they are mastered.
    Mastery of the technical difficulties isn’t all that is required. As you begin to gain technical control of a Caprice, make an all-out effort to analyze and understand the motives, phrasings, and implied harmonies that the composer used in its construction. Proper intonation will then become easier to attain. Remember, intonation is a consideration whether you are playing alone or in an ensemble. For example, have you ever played a scale on a piano that is out of tune? You must listen to the intervals in arpeggios, scales, and leading tones, and adjust them for proper pitch relationships.
    Finally, we come to the most important task of all, and that is to express the composer’s musical ideas. The 30 Caprices offer an amazingly wide spectrum of tempo and mood indications. We are told to play at various times the following ways: precisely, gently, brilliantly, not brilliantly, with daring, passionately, coquettishly, pointed, with humor, extremely fast, strictly in tempo, like a cadenza, spitefully, needle-sharp, frivolously, relaxed, gracefully, hurry-scurry, and with irony. It is a great challenge to be called upon to plumb the depths of our emotions as in Caprice 22, and, in contrast, to skim lightly over the surface, as in Caprice 12. Work hard to learn these 30 Caprices. Nothing that is worthwhile is ever easy to attain.
    Each Caprice begins with explicit instructions in German. These words have been translated into English, and should be transcribed on to your copy of the opus, along with the suggested metronome markings.
Caprice 1: Moderate speed, with precision. quarter =88. Begin with vigor, but make the contrasts between the loud and soft passages sudden, both in volume and in character. The soft passages should sound light and gentle, compared to the hard-driving loud sections. M. 13: leicht means “lightly.” M. 22: breit means “broaden.”
Caprice 2: Lightly moving, but without brilliance eighth =160. There is a seeming contradiction in mm. 9-12, where diminuendos are indicated over a four-measure crescendo. The composer’s intent can be realized if m. 9 is played mp dim., m. 10 mf dim., m. 11 f dim., and m. 12 ff dim. M. 17: lieblich means “sweetly.”
Caprice 3: In the style of Handel, quick but not brilliant. quarter =88. This Caprice should be a trifle pompous in character. Make the dynamics black and white in contrast – no in-between shadings, except for a steady crescendo over the last two measures. Observe carefully the length of the double-dotted trills – students invariably play them twice too fast. M. 1: mit breitem Ton means “with sonorous tone.” M. 14: zierlich means “gracefully.” M. 16: ohne Nachschlag means “without grace note.”
Caprice 4: Very fast and sparkling,
dotted half =72. Keep an equal quarter note pulse no matter what the meter changes indicate. Even though there are wide and awkward leaps to contend with, concentrate on maintaining good finger coordination.
Caprice 5: Fast and precise. quarter =92. Notes with double stems are meant to be emphasized by playing them a bit longer, louder, and slightly more accented than the three notes which follow them. M. 2: quasi Echo means “like an echo.” M. 22: brilliant means “brilliant.”
Caprice 6: Fast moving, with fervor, an entire measure at a time. dotted half = 66. The words “stormy,” “turbulent,” and “troubled” apply to this Caprice. The first section surges and heaves like ocean waves in a gale. The second section also suggests wave motion, but more in the nature of a slight respite before the storm returns.
Caprice 7: Perpetual motion Equal, as fast as possible,  =116-126. The idea of this Caprice is to play as quickly and evenly as possible, with absolutely no change in tempo from beginning to end. This would be a good one to memorize, because if it is played as fast as required, it is nearly impossible to read every note.
Caprice 8: With great spirit and vivacity. dotted half= 69. The mordants (m) are like quick single trills, played on the beat, starting on the printed note.

is played:

is played:

Caprice 9: Very quick and glittering.   = 76. Maintain equal 16th notes, no matter what the grouping  happens to be. There will be a tendency to rush the triplets. Despite the fact that the articulations are wildly scrambled, make a determined effort to play them perfectly.
Caprice 10: Light, quick, in a frivolous manner.  =132. To achieve the lightness required here, scale down the dynamics. Where double piano is indicated, play triple piano, and make a mezzoforte the loudest volume. Also, in the triplet groups, where the first two notes are slurred and the third note is staccato, clip the second of the slurred notes and play the staccato note very short and light.
Caprice 11: Extremely fast, but loose and relaxed. dotted quarter =63. The speed of this Caprice is limited only by the rapidity with which the repeated triplet notes can be tongued. Set a beginning tempo that will not force a slow-down when the repeated triplets are encountered. M. 31 feurig means “fiery.”
Caprice 12: Light, graceful, and fast. eighth =112. Play this one with no more weight or importance than that of a dragonfly darting about over the surface of a pond. M. 1: durchweg pp means “always pianissimo.”
Caprice 13: Very light, with grace and charm. quarter =76. Here the composer asks for an imitation of two flutists playing alternately. In the beginning of the dialogue that ensues, both voices seem to be feminine, although the upper voice is more gentle and agreeable than the lower. Toward the end, however, the tables are turned, and the upper voice has the last word, with emphasis. M. 1: wie 2 Floten means “like two flutes.”
Caprice 14: Perpetual motion. eighth = 108. As in Caprice 7, maintain a constant tempo throughout. The 32nd rest over the note in parenthesis in the fifth measure is a breathing place, suggested by the composer. Note that mm. 8 and 15 are in 68, extended by the composer to accommodate lengthened phrases. M. 19: Flatterzunge means “fluttertongue.” There are two ways to fluttertongue. First, by rolling the tongue on an R configuration: T-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-. Second, glottally, as though clearing the throat. The flutter effect is then superimposed on the tone.
Caprice 15: Very light, floating.  = 112. As a supplement to the first printed edition of the 30 Caprices, Karg-Elert wrote a lengthy treatise called The Logical Development of Modem Figuration. This Caprice, which seems to be filled with contradictory and confusing articulations and groupings, is meant to illustrate the composer’s ideas on harmony and phrase structure, as outlined in his treatise. Thus, the eighth notes trace the melody, the double 16ths outline the chord structure, and the single 16ths are suspensions and passing tones. The long slurs indicate the length of the phrase to be tongued and sustained, while shorter slurs within the longer slur indicate internal phrasing and nuance.
Caprice 16: Somewhat lively, with humor. eighth = 200. Humor is often conveyed through exaggeration. Overdo the accents and dynamic markings. Some notes are marked with a tiny arrowhead over or under them. Play these notes staccato with a slight accent.
Caprice 17: Very quick, light and playful. dotted quarter =66. Except in mm. 6 and 8, where some angularity is called for, strive for the smoothest legato possible. Extend phrases to their fullest length. The first phrase is four measures long, and repeated; the second, like a long sentence with many clauses, is seven measures long; the last phrase covers the final six measures.
Caprice 18: Slow, in the style of a cadenza. eighth = 52. Except in mm. 11, 16, 17, and 18, the notes with stems pointed upwards are the melody, while notes with stems pointed downwards are the accompaniment. Sixteenth rests above the accompaniment are not suggested breathing points, but indicate breaks in the melodic line. The last four eighth notes in the third measure before the end are rolled chords, played like arpeggios starting on the lowest note on the stem. M. 17: con fuoco (sehr heftig) means “with fire” (impetuous). M. 17: lebhaft means “lively.”
Caprice 19: Extremely fast, bubbling and sparkling. quarter =96. This composition might have been titled “Badinerie” or “Badinage” during the Baroque period. The impression is that of spirited lighthearted conversation at a champagne party. M. 17: spitzig means “pointed.” M. 36: sehr spitzig means “very pointed.”
Caprice 20: Daring, capricious, impudent, and fast moving. q =92. Observe all of the dynamic, tempo, and mood markings with care. The changes in character occur rapidly and with striking contrast. Bring out the differences by emphasizing the composer’s indications. M. 9: keck means “bold, impudent, cheeky.” M. 10: humorvoll means “full of humor.” M. 12: geschwätzig means “loquacious.” M. 15: boshaft means “spiteful.” M. 16: streng im Takt means “strictly in time.” M. 22: immer hastiger means “ever faster and faster.” M. 23: sich überstürzend means “press on recklessly.”
Caprice 21: In waltz time, coquettish. quarter = 126. Flirtatious, graceful, and charming are the characteristics of this little waltz. Triplets connected to an eighth note can be rushed slightly, and the eighth note gently clipped to achieve a buoyant effect. Play the staccato notes with a light, bouncy articulation – never short and dry. M. 9: zierlich means “gracefully.” M. 18: locker means “frivolously.” M. 36: neckisch means “in a teasing manner.”
Caprice 22: Agitated and passionate. eighth =96. The darkest elements of the human psyche are allowed to find expression in this ominous and frightening essay. Repressed hatreds and frustrations bubble and rise to the surface of consciousness, culminating in an outcry of rage. Even though emotions are displayed, the proper effect can only be achieved if the technical difficulties are thoroughly mastered. Work hard on this one.
Caprice 23: Slow, with fervor. Free, like a recitative. quarter =60. Karg-Elert stated that in some passages of the Caprices, he was influenced by typical forms of violin and piano techniques. This Caprice is obviously violinistic in its concept. For instance, the portamento 16th notes in mm. 4 and 8 should have the same quality that a violinist produces by bouncing the bow on a string. In passages where two notes share the same stem, play the lower note first, then the upper, with both notes sounding intense and vigorous, as though bearing down hard with a bow. M. 1: mit vollausladendem Ton means “with fully projected tone.” M. 6: leidenschaftlich means “passionately.” M. 10: drängend means “push forward.” Mm. 1, 2, 3, 5, 21, 23, and 24: r… a… means to broaden and hold back at first: then accelerate, hurry. Mm. 11-20: r… a… aa… means slowly at first, then press ahead urgently, finishing very fast.
Caprice 24: As fast as possible, with sharp pointed tone throughout. =54. Keep the 16th notes equal; the groups of three should not be played faster than the groups of two. This is an exercise in tonguing, perhaps inspired by the section in Richard Strauss’s Ein Heldenleben, which portrays critics spitting and snapping. Make the articulations very short, dry, and metallic in character, like a series of pinpricks. M. 11: nadelscharf, mit ironischem Ausdruck means “needle-sharp, with irony.” M. 26: ironisch means “ironically.” M. 30: scharf means “pointed.” M. 34: verhallend, doch straff im tempo means “fade away, but strictly in time.”
Caprice 25: Rather spritely, agile and capricious. eighth = 96. Play the grace notes rather quickly, but not so fast that they sound blurred. Make the eighth notes to which the graces are attached sound light, compared to the 16th note triplet phrases, which should sound rather heavy and ponderous. In the two measures marked “capricious,” imitate a heavy person trying desperately to appear dainty. The dotted bar lines are an indication that the composer intended to convey a feeling of a  3/8 pulse within the 6/8 measure. M. 8: resolut means “resolutely.” M. 14: kaprizziös means “capricious.”
Caprice 26: Coquettish and capricious. quarter = 104. In mm. 15 and 23 there are T marks under the slurs. They divide the 16th notes into groups of four over and above the groups of five indicated by brackets. The groups of four should be emphasized, and the groups of five outlined by slight accents on the first, second, third, and fourth beats. The result is five groups of four 16th notes combined with four groups of five 16th notes – a passage that leaves the listener (and sometimes the performer) completely baffled.
Caprice 27: Softly moving (but distinctly phrased). dotted quarter = 100. In order to achieve the distinct phrasing called for by the composer, take care to differentiate between notes marked with tenuto dashes, dots under dashes, staccato dots, and accent marks. Tongue lightly but clearly, so as to produce an immediate response. Clip the ends of slurs lightly, except where the end note is marked with a dash or an accent.
Caprice 28: Fairly quick, flowing and elegant. eighth =66. There is no doubt about it: this Caprice is tremendously difficult. The key signature, awkward intervals, and wide range of dynamics present a real challenge. One device that is helpful is to locate chromatic passages and bracket them in pencil. Isolating pre-learned patterns in this manner allows the attention to be focused on more complicated passages. M. 16: heftig means “impetuous.”
Caprice 29: Extremely fast and piquant. = 108. Keep the 16th notes equal, no matter what the groupings happen to be. Make the tonguing sound short, prickly and stinging, but not harsh. The German word prickelnd, which appeared in the original manuscript, implies a tickling sensation.
Caprice 30: Chaconne. (See music for metronome markings) Elements from many of the preceding Caprices appear in the Chaconne. Although each variation is rather short and an entity in itself, all are related to each other by way of the basso ostinato. Make a smooth connecting transition between each variation and the next, so that all flow smoothly and logically to the culmination in Variation XVII.

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