March 2009 Archives - The Instrumentalist

Notes about Allegro Assai by Tromlitz

theinstrumenta — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 19:19:33 +0000

    Johann George Tromlitz (1725-1805) is one of the rare 18th-century flutists about whom we have considerable information. This is due to the fact that he was an extremely serious author about flute playing and contemporary musical style. Tromlitz was also very temperamental and easily offended. His writings include numerous negative opinions about other flutists and writers, including Quantz and Burney. These glimpses of personality make his views all the more interesting. He clearly set a goal to write a treatise even more complete than the considerable tome written by Joseph Joachim Quantz in 1752.
    Tromlitz was a virtuoso flutist and flute maker/designer, who spent much of his life in Leipzig and wrote a considerable amount of flute music, mostly in a modern “classical” style that was quite challenging. In 1791 he wrote his most important treatise, Detailed and Thorough Tutor for Playing the Flute, which he followed up in 1800 with his treatise The Keyed Flute. The treatises are available in excellent English translation by Ardal Powell (Cambridge University Press).
    The Allegro Assai published here is from the fifth Partita of a manuscript edition of Sei Partite per il Flauto Traverso Solo senza accompagnamento. The manuscript is probably a professional copyist version of the original printed edition from Leipzig. These Partitas were favorably reviewed in print in Leipzig in 1768, so obviously they were written prior to that date.
    The notation used is fairly clear. One exception is the sign on the half note in the next to last measure. We normally associated that sign with a mordent, but in this edition it should be interpreted as a trill with termination. Tromlitz does show both versions of the sign in his treatise. Tromlitz describes the tempo marking as a very rapid tempo.

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Piccolo Stands

theinstrumenta — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 19:31:10 +0000

    By our very nature, piccolo players are considered doublers; we are expected to play flute on most concerts as well. Because of this, there should be an array of options for safe piccolo parking when switching back and forth between the two instruments. Of course the instrument not in use can be placed in your lap. I actually prefer to do that for short periods of time or for very quick instrument changes, but leaving an instrument there for long periods of time is not very comfortable, and I have heard of piccolos sliding to the floor.
    An instrument should never be left on the floor, on the seat of a chair, or on the bottom shelf of a music stand. All three of these spots are courting disaster. As any experienced repairperson will tell you, many piccolos have ended up with major damage because they were stepped on, sat upon, or dropped from the music stand itself when the stand tilted.
    There are numerous options for safe, convenient storage when playing. My personal preference is an instrument tray.
These small trays attach to the stalk of the music stand with a clamp and provide a very stable surface for the piccolo. I can even place two instruments side by side with plenty of room to spare. You can purchase trays like this for around $50. The tray shown above is designed by RAT Stands.
    Doubling tables are small low tables that are placed in front or to the side of a player, so that instruments can be placed upon them for easy access. They are handy, but not very practical to transport. I have used these in some European halls but find that they take up a lot of floor space. This can be troublesome in close quarters, such as orchestra pits or churches.
    The product known as the Flute Saver is very innovative in design. It works for either flute or piccolo and attaches at the bottom of the typical metal music stand. A Velcro strap secures the wood block to the metal stand. Only one instrument at a time will fit on the stand. This particular peg style is extremely lightweight, portable, and takes up no floor space at all. Because it is not independent of the music stand, it is much less likely to be kicked or knocked over accidentally. The Flute Saver costs around $40.
    There are numerous kinds of flute and piccolo pegs that also offer portable solutions for instrument safety. Manufactured in various materials, they are available in acrylic, wood, metal, or a combination of materials, such as a metal base with wooden pegs, for example. Stands are offered as combinations, holding both a flute and piccolo. Some even expand to hold an alto and bass flute as well, with single pegs for each instrument.
    It is important that any instrument peg sits upon a stable base to prevent an imbalance and accidental tipping of the stand. If portability is your main concern, look for some of the collapsible peg styles. K&M makes a stand that is no bigger than the palm of your hand when completely folded up. The base just telescopes into the body for storage. These piccolo stands sell for around $20. Many manufactures make bases of varying sizes with optional pegs, so you can buy specific pegs to match your needs.
Clarinetist Herb Blayman created a line of instruments stands while he was working in the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra. The bases for the stands are the starting point, because they come in various sizes – for 1-2 instruments, 3 instruments, or 4 instruments in a price range from $45-$70. They are known for their stability, largely due to their weight. Pegs, which screw into the base and are coated with rubber to protect the bore of the instruments, are sold separately.
    The peg shown below is another style by K & M, which is very stable and portable. Its metal base folds up for easy storage and is quite lightweight due to its slender size. The pegs are made of wood and screw into the base.
    Most two piece base/peg combinations run in the neighborhood of $40-$50, regardless of the material from which they are made. Other manufacturers of similar stands include Hercules, Belmonte, Manhasset, Aracadia, Jewel, and Kohlert.
    These are some of the many options to keep your piccolo safe during each and every performance!

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Borrowing Vocalises from Singers

theinstrumenta — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 19:22:13 +0000

    Like a packrat collecting shiny treasures, I look for teaching ideas in many places. It seemed a good idea to borrow vocalises from the studios of vocal teachers, because they need only a little adapting to be suitable for the flute. Similar to our long tones, singing teachers often begin lessons with vocalizations that consist of short melodic patterns that are repeated in chromatic sequence. The teacher usually accompanies the vocalises with simple supportive harmonies.
    This opening routine allows the teacher to assess a student’s vocal health and readiness to sing other repertoire. It is also a good time to address basic technical matters, such as posture, breathing, and breath management, before working on music that has the additional complications of rhythm and diction. An especially appealing aspect of vocalization is that it is a dual effort, a collaborative introduction to the lesson that sets the mood and energy level for the work to come. Because I like to begin flute lessons with a brief activity that allows both musical and conversational interaction with students, I simply added a second part to the melodic patterns of the vocalises on the following page so that two flutists could play them; I call them “duo-warmups”.
    When used to teach fundamental skills such as breathing, hand position, and posture, the duos can be played without the lower part, so that attention can be given to the student’s performance. I find that these warm-ups are especially helpful as intonation exercises when both parts are played. Sometimes I ask students to identify unisons, fifths, and octaves between the two parts. We add fermatas to those notes, so that we can pause to listen to the intonation.
    We also observe how intonation is affected by the key. Keys with C# or D flat as the tonic or dominant, for instance, require special care. In collaborative music making, compromise is sometimes the best approach. Working with a tuner is an important and necessary skill for students to learn, but playing with other musicians requires flexibility and sensitivity, not to mention tact. Those skills can be learned only by playing with real people, not machines. The duo-warm-ups provide an opportunity to listen attentively to a partner while matching pitch, color, and dynamics.

Recently I added a new twist to the duos and asked my students to compose their own. Those who had not notated a musical idea before learned to write the transposed versions of their duos with clearly marked accidentals and a legible manuscript.
Students with access to a piano wrote a lower part for their duos, and I helped the others add a satisfying second part. Then I compiled the students’ duos into a set and distributed them for use in our lessons. As we incorporated the new duos into lessons, the students experienced the pride of knowing that their compositions are now part of the communal studio duo repertoire to be enjoyed and studied by their peers.

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Teaching with Extended Flute Techniques

theinstrumenta — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 01:51:11 +0000

Over the past 20 years extended techniques have become a fundamental skill for aspiring and established professional flutists. College students cannot escape studying at least one piece with extended techniques, and professional flutists encounter them on a regular basis. Despite their prevalence, contemporary techniques are largely ignored by teachers of young students. They address them when students ask but often fail to explain how they also apply to traditional flute playing. Teachers of all levels should incorporate these techniques into their curriculum.

Pedagogical Benefits
    Contemporary techniques can improve the primary fundamentals for good tone production. Many materials are available to help teachers use extended techniques as pedagogical tools (see appendix). Students will appreciate the quick progress that results from using these techniques.
    They also break up the tedious routine that often occurs when working with beginning students. Many beginners grow frustrated when progress is slow. When students explore and experiment with something fun like throat tuning (singing and playing or vocalizing) or harmonics, they see the expanded possibilities of the instrument.
    Finally, familiarity with extended techniques at a young age is tremendously beneficial for flutists who will pursue music as a career. Students who only learn traditional repertoire are more likely to reject extended techniques when they encounter them later. Teachers should work to create well-rounded musicians through exposure to various types of music, even for those students who may not choose a career in music.

Tone Development
Harmonics, throat tuning, and whistle tones help develop the embouchure and create a focused, resonant sound. They can be introduced to beginning and intermediate students, either as part of the regular curriculum or as particular fundamental problems arise. For example, harmonics develop lip strength and focus in the low-mid registers. Various exercises, regardless of their perceived level, can be useful in solving students’ problems.

Harmonics
There are many harmonic exercises that are easy to learn and memorize. As Robert Dick explains in Tone Development through Extended Techniques, harmonics occur “when low octave regular fingerings are overblown through their overtone series. The flute produces pitches in the overtone series for pipes open at both ends, called natural harmonics.”1
Here is the harmonic series when C is the fundamental (or first partial):

His book also includes exercises that extend from the most basic to alternating between harmonics and regular fingerings. The basic harmonic exercise, #1, in Dick’s book is a good place to start with young students.
Young students should also try Patricia George’s harmonic exercise. It starts on low D as the first fundamental and overblows to the octave (the first partial) and the fifth (the second partial). The fundamental notes ascend chromatically to middle C#. “See, Sue, Pooh” are words that accompany the exercise to guide the shape of the lips.2 These words naturally open the oral cavity to produce the embouchure shape and air speed necessary.

Whether you create your own exercises or use the ones here, the ultimate goal for practicing harmonics is to find and develop an awareness of the best embouchure position for each note.3

Vocalization
    Because most extended techniques enhance tone production and embouch   ure awareness, a second technique to incorporate for tone, resonance, and tone color is singing while playing (throat tuning or vocalizing). Throat tuning can only be mastered by simultaneously singing and playing, but the benefits are tremendous.
    Robert Dick includes an excellent explanation of the benefits of vocalizing. He says that flute sound comes not only from the flute but also from the player, and because each body is different, players’ sounds differ. His analogy of comparing a vibraphone’s resonating tube to the throat provides a visual image of what vocal chords can do. “To understand this sensation, play a note on the piano or other fixed-pitch instrument that is comfortably in your vocal range. Then, prepare to sing it. Before the note is sung, there is a change in the throat when the vocal chords are brought to the correct position to sing the pitch. When the vocal chords are held in position to sing a given pitch, the throat is in position to resonate that pitch best.”4
    It takes time to develop the skill of singing while playing, but once players are aware of their vocal chords, the following exercise is excellent. It is identical to Exercise No. 1 in Taffanel and Gaubert’s 17 Big Daily Exercises. Play the five-finger pattern normally at first, then sing it without playing while fingering the pitches, then sing and play together, and finally play normally but with the sensation of singing.5
    Students should choose a starting pitch for the exercise that fits most comfortably within their vocal range. As they become more comfortable with it, they can expand their range. When traditional teaching fails to help students produce a resonant sound, vocalizing while playing generally produces positive results.

Whistle Tones
    Whistle tones, sometimes called “whisper” tones, help relax the embouchure. Although difficult to produce initially, whistle tones produce an immediate effect and create a freer, more resonant sound; lip flexibility is increased, and the lips naturallymove forward, creating more space between the front teeth and lips. As William Kincaid said, “This little calisthenic makes an excellent warm-up exercise for embouchure placement and breath control. It is an excellent discipline to try to isolate one note from the whistle series and sustain it for 10 seconds. The slightest change in breath support will flick you to one of the adjoining whistle notes.”6
    Whistle tones are produced by gently blowing a very slow air stream across the edge of the embouchure hole. As Dick points out, players should experiment with tongue position when practicing whistle tones. “When the tongue is positioned correctly, the loudness of whisper tones can be greatly increased, although they always will be a relatively soft sonority.”7
    Whistle tones can be a challenge for young players, because they require great tongue and lip control. First ask students just to whistle without the flute. Then have them maintain that whistling position as they add the flute and blow a slow, steady stream of air. The high register is usually the easiest and least frustrating. Help younger students finger the proper pitches if experimenting in a lesson.
    Once they can produce a few whistle tones, many exercises can be used. The best that I have found is in Peter Lukas-Graf’s Check-Up, which has an exercise that combines normally-played pitches and whistle tones. Not only is this more challenging (and interesting), but it immediately improves the quality of the normally-played notes.

    There is a practical approach to daily extended technique practice that can be incorporated into traditional practice to expedite progress. The practice chart on the previous page is for intermediate to advanced students that shows a standard daily warm-up that includes all these techniques. Also included are Marcel Moyse’s long tone exercises from De la Sonorite and Patricia George’s Ringing D’s exercise, both of which are good for finding the sweet spot in your tone.

    Even traditional, early 20th-century flute repertoire includes some of these techniques, such as the harmonics found in Debussy’s Syrinx and the flutter tonguing in Darius Milhaud’s Sonatine. Information about these techniques was scarce for a long time. Today there are many resources available to help advanced students develop their contemporary skills. Educational material for beginning to intermediate flutists, on the other hand, remain scanty.
    Reworking advanced material, such as that in Tone Development through Extended Techniques, for young players is a nice solution. In addition, many of Dick’s pieces, such as Lookout, have accompanying lesson tapes with tips and guidelines. Lesson time can be devoted to teacher-composed exercises for young students or to the extended technique series of books by Linda Holland, Easing into Extended Techniques. For additional teaching ideas, the best resource is Dean Stallard’s website (). Also, Phyllis Louke has composed a set of short duets, Extended Techniques: Double the Fun, in which students can actually use extended techniques musically without being over challenged or intimidated. These duets also work well with a flute choir.
    Using extended techniques as teaching tools is an important and exciting progression for serious teachers. Their effects on audiences can be tremendous, and students gain an understanding of contemporary music – a beneficial preparation for successful college auditions. It is our responsibility to provide them with that understanding.

Extended Techniques Resources and Repertoire
For Beginners:
Richard Rodney Bennett. Six Tunes for the Instruction of Singing Birds (Novello)
Linda Holland. Easing into Extended Techniques, Volumes 1-5 (Con Brio Music Publishing)
Phyllis Avidan Louke. Extended Techniques—Double the Fun (Alry Publications)
Dean Stallard. First Journey to the Beyond (Norsk Noteservice)

For Intermediate:
Joseph Diermaier. Five Images after paintings by Arnold Schöenberg (Universal Edition)
Robert Dick. Lookout (Multiple Breath Music Company)
Robert Dick. Flying Lessons, Volumes I-II (Multiple Breath Music Company)
Kazuo Fukushima. Requiem (Suivi Zerboni)
Linda Holland. Easing into Extended Techniques, Volumes 1-5 (Con Brio Music Publishing)

Advanced to Professional:
Robert Aitken. Plainsong (Universal)
Luciano Berio. Sequenza I (Zerboni/Universal)
Elliot Carter. Scrivo in vento (Hendon Music)
Robert Dick. Tone Development Through Extended Techniques (Multiple Breath Music Company)
Toru Takemitsu. Voice (Salabert)

*for a more exhaustive graded list:

1 Dick, Robert. Tone Development through Extended Techniques. St. Louis: Multiple Breath Music Company, 1986.
2 George, Patricia. Flute Spa. No Publisher.
3 Meador, Rebecca Rae. “A History of Extended Flute Techniques and an Examination of their Potential as a Teaching Tool.” DMA thesis, University of Cincinnati, 2001.
4 Dick, 9.
5 Ibid.
6 Krell, John. Kincaidiana: A Flute Player’s Notebook. Culver City: Trio Associates, 1973.
7 Dick, 26.

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The Warm-Up: Eight for the Day

theinstrumenta — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 01:31:28 +0000

    This masterclass focuses on a basic warmup for students of all levels. The exercises that have been discussed in the previous three masterclass articles (October 2008, November 2008, January 2009) may be inserted as needed in the following warm-up.
    Repetition is good. Never be afraid to ask students to repeat something from a previous session. A review of these exercises will help players remember how and why to practice certain things. Your goal as the masterclass teacher, is to help students develop proper, informed flute playing and begin to lay the foundation of basic musicianship.
    Keep the class moving at a fast pace. Most students will stay with you better if you keep going. Play more; talk less. However, a masterclass plan is necessary so that students feel that one exercise builds upon another. Do play along with them as they progress through the warm-up. You are subliminally teaching by the way you stand, align your body, move, give cues, breathe, and of course by the sound that you make.

1. Stretching and Focus
    Stretching is one of the most overlooked areas in flute performance and is the first item on the “Masterclass #4 – Warm-up” sheet. Flutists of previous generations thought very little about stretching or exercise, but they help flutists avoid pain and injuries. The physical therapists that I know recommend Bob Anderson’s book Stretching, which has been their golden reference for more than 20 years. Anderson takes each part of the body and offers a series of stretches that require only a few minutes. Choose several of these exercises to teach at each masterclass. The ones involving the arms and shoulders are especially beneficial.
    At the National Flute Association Convention in Kansas City, George Pope, University of Akron Flute Professor, suggested drawing the alphabet with your shoulders before you begin practicing. I often have students draw the alphabet using their index fingers with the arms stretched out in front of the body. The right hand draws the alphabet correctly, and the left hand draws it in a mirror image. This exercise has two benefits: one, the arms are lifted out from the body and two, the mind has to concentrate for the left hand to draw a mirror image of the right hand. To prepare for this exercise, ask students to draw a valentine or heart-shape using their two index fingers, one drawing to the right and the other to the left. Then have them draw a pumpkin and a Christmas tree. Once the students get the idea of drawing in a mirror fashion, then the alphabet is much easier.
    Concentration also must be taught and worked upon in daily practice. The current thinking is to practice for 25 minutes followed by 5 minutes of rest or stretching. Another way to concentrate is to reboot the brain. Look up at the ceiling for three seconds and then look down for three seconds. Repeat two more times. When you do this with a classroom full of students, the room will become so quiet that you will be able to hear a pin drop. This works because when you look up at the ceiling, the head rests on the nerve part of the spine – a position that briefly stops the nerve flow from the brain to the body.
    One conductor told me that he centered or calmed himself when he was standing on the podium waiting to begin conducting by looking for a straight line on the back wall of the stage. Once he found the straight line, he traced the line with his eyes until he felt balanced and calm. Experiment to find what works best for you.

2. Headjoint Octaves
If you are busy and have no time to practice, the one thing that you can do is play octaves on just the headjoint. It takes very little time and produces the best results. I like to slur the octave (the lower note sounds like a sharp A and the octave above sounds a little flat) and practice counted vibrato so that I am practicing two things at once. Before teaching this exercise to the class, check the headjoint cork placement on each flute so that the group will be in tune. Several repetitions of two, three, or four pulses per note will produce great results later in the class.
Use the orbicularis oris muscle (the circular muscle around the lips) to change the air direction from the lower to the higher note. Page 46 of Wynn Kapit and Lawrence M. Elson’s The Anatomy Coloring Book offers a page where you may color each of the muscles used in facial expressions. For some students this is an enlightening experience.

3. Bell Tones
Play each note with a ringing, rich sound, remembering that the beginning of the note is the strongest part. The vibrato should begin immediately and continue throughout the note.
I chose D for this exercise because it is the most incorrectly fingered note on the flute by student flutists. The left hand index finger is off for this note. By starting the warm-up with this note and its correct fingering, students will more quickly fix this problem fingering. This D is also one of the most easily produced notes on the flute. It is good to begin a warm-up with the easy and progress to the more difficult. Remember that the jaw and arms should hang. Repeat this exercise until you have the sound of the note that you want.

4. Harmonics
Play three notes with one fingering. The first or lowest note is called the first partial; the second note is the second partial or harmonic, etc. The small circle above the note indicates a harmonic. Students should place the right hand on the flute barrel to help position the flute against the chin, spread out the lower lip across the embouchure plate, and bring the end of the flute forward.
Sometimes I practice counted vibrato on each note; other times I slur the three pitches up and down several times. Note that all these notes are fingered with left-hand fingerings, so using the thumb-Bb fingering is necessary. Also, the left hand thumb should be straight and point toward the ceiling.

5. Octave Variations
    The octave is the one interval that is found in every culture around the world. Practicing the octave for tuning purposes offers great intonation benefits. Most middle school flutists know and understand the fingerings from low F up through the third octave E flat because of the way that band method books are written. Unfortunately, each year more demands are placed on flutists to play quickly and easily up into the fourth octave. This exercise will help them play octaves up through the fourth octave D, E flat , E, and F easily.
    Note that in the first two measures (octave Cs and C sharpss) the fingerings remain unchanged between octaves, but the D octaves require that the right hand fingers be raised while the right hand pinky presses the key. This takes coordination and practice for good results. For the E-flat octaves in measure 4 players must add the left hand first finger and fourth finger (1 and 4). Because the first finger is stronger than the fourth, finger #1 tends to go down before finger #4. Encourage students to place the fingers at the same time or even the fourth finger slightly ahead of the first finger. For the E octaves, players lift the G finger; they lift the F finger for the A. For the upper G the left hand thumb is lifted.
    This exercise works on the problem of weak fingers and third octave fingerings by teaching students to focus on which finger moves, as opposed to working with a fingering chart. As students become proficient with the octaves through high G, you can add another note in each following masterclass visit.

6. Low, Low, High
This exercise takes its name from the order of the notes. On the flute all notes between low E and middle C sharp have the same fingering in the lower and second octaves. Most students are unaware of this association. I like to add counted vibrato to this exercise because it develops the playing of single notes well. On the first quarter note, vibrate three times and rest on fourth sixteenth of that quarter. Do the same on the second quarter, and vibrato at least eight times on the half note. Marcel Moyse calls this quarter note vibrating a vibrating pizzicato in De la Sonorite.

7. Run the G
This exercise uses a one-octave scale fingered with the left hand only and regular fingerings in the first and last measures and harmonic fingerings in bars two and three. The warmup is even better when the right hand is placed on the barrel of the flute. Once students can play the scale up and down slurred, encourage them to play it up and down several times on one breath. This develops and strengthens the embouchure because when students flow from regularly fingered notes into harmonic notes, the embouchure (orbicularis oris) must be forward in a pouting position.

8. Chromatic Scale
     I use this warmup to develop skills such as single tonguing (T), the back syllable of double tonguing (K), throat staccato (Hah), double or triple tonguing (TK) (TKT), and vibrato. Practicing each of these pitches with T, K, Hah, TK or TKT, and vibrato prepares students for what they will find in music. You might choose to uses these notes for a “Minute of Tonguing” or a “Minute of Vibrato” exercises from Masterclass #3. You could also use a variety of rhythms. The added benefit of this exercise is that students learn the chromatic scale very quickly.
     After you have explained the warm-up routine, play the entire page through from top to bottom. You will find that these exercises take only a few minutes yet provide many valuable lessons for artistic, musical flute playing.
    Students should understand that, when they are at home, the natural progression is to follow their warmup with a practice session. A time honored adage about practicing is that “a set practice time each day will help you remember to practice.”

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Composer and Flutist Ian Clarke

theinstrumenta — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 01:20:46 +0000

     Ian Clarke, together with longtime friend Simon Painter, composes, produces, and performs music for film, television, and concerts under the name of Diva Music. His published flute works are quickly becoming entrenched in our flute repertoire, as they are embraced by flutists around the globe. Zoom Tube and The Great Train Race are excellent examples of his popular compositions that explore the flute’s capabilities in a fun way. He is also professor of flute at the Guildhall School of Music & Drama.
    Clarke was in Memphis, Tennessee as the guest artist at the March 2008 Flute Festival Mid-South, when an unseasonable cold snap and an unexpected six inches of snow dropped on the city. This created some free time for him to talk about his music, training, and teaching.
    Born in Broadstairs, England in 1964, he grew up in a house full of music. His mother was a music teacher, and he started to play the recorder when he was five or six. “I just loved the recorder. It created a great foundation for me. I started piano at eight or nine and the flute at 10. I had been asking for a flute for some time and was quite possessed by the idea. Unbeknownst to me, my parents came up with a secondhand flute that cost 20 pounds for my 10th birthday. It was probably a pile of junk, but I was just in heaven and couldn’t put the thing down.”
    Clarke started flute lessons with clarinet teachers and acknowledges this beginning “laid the foundation for lots of bad habits. I didn’t really have any good flute teaching until I was about 16 or 17, when I began studying at Guildhall, briefly with Simon Hunt and then with Averil Williams, who was my main teacher.” Later Clarke also took a few lessons with Kate Lukas.
    “I also had a great piano teacher, Joyce Clarke (no relation), although I didn’t really realize how good she was at the time. She had studied at Juilliard, and she was quite a character who had some very talented students. She seemed to have this misplaced idea that I might become a classical pianist. I think she soon realized that I wouldn’t, but she was a brilliant teacher. It was through piano lessons with her that I learned quite a lot of theory. She encouraged me as I began composing a few very basic things – she didn’t squash me.
    “When I was about 16, several of my friends took up the guitar. That’s when I started listening to groups like Pink Floyd. Until then I had listened predominantly to classical music. My friends and I did some jamming, and they assumed that I would be able to improvise because I could play the piano and flute. Of course, our classical training doesn’t necessarily teach us to improvise.”
    Clarke began composing in his late teens. He was playing in a rock band with friends and decided to write for the group. “Some of the songs were probably pretty bad. I had written compositions for school – you know, bits of serial compositions – but I wasn’t desperately writing down music from age 7½, saying, ‘I want to be a composer.’
    “I was, however, fascinated by musicians: my piano teacher, my father, who had been in the National Youth Orchestra, my mother and her sister, who was a child prodigy pianist but didn’t play anymore, and my grandfather, who was an organist, pianist, and professional musician.
    “Being creative with my mates started to push me outside the normal classical track; it was through them that I discovered what a blues scale was. Looking at their guitar books got me interested in jazz and rock harmony, and I began to seek out and read any jazz books I could find. All the while I played keyboards and flute in the band and wrote more and more songs. We began dreaming of stardom.”
    Despite his interest in rock-and-roll, Clarke continued to study classical flute and attended a school that included musicians who were also studying at London junior music colleges. He auditioned and won a place in the county youth orchestra at the age of 13. “That is where I met my future wife, Carrie, who went on to study flute at the Royal Academy of Music. Emily Beynon also came through that orchestra.”
    When it was time for college, Clarke went to the London School of Economics to get a math degree. “After my first year there, I decided to take a year off from school, during which I stayed in London and practiced the flute and piano, taught flute, worked in a bar, and continued to play in the band.” Throughout that time and the rest of his college years, Clarke continued to study classically, part-time at Guildhall.
    “After the year off I transferred to Imperial College, London. It is one of the top math colleges in the U.K., and I hoped I would have a better experience there. While completing the math degree, I played in the London University and Imperial College Orchestras and became more serious about my rock band. By the time I graduated, the band was offered the opportunity to record.
    “We had been doing lots of gigs in and around London, and one of the pieces we played was Hypnosis, which at that time was a quasi-structured improvisation. The interest generated by that piece and the gigs we were playing led us to recording an instrumental album for a music library company. It was sort of new-age with lots of flute.
    “Ultravox was a very famous band at the time, and we made the record in their keyboard player’s studio. We thought we had arrived. We soon learned how hard it is to succeed in the music industry. We had had a breakthrough, but we hadn’t made it yet. To make a long story short, the band eventually evolved into Diva Music. Simon Painter, with whom I still work, was in the band, and over time he has produced a #1 pop album in the U.K. and a number of Top-30 singles with a band called Carter the Unstoppable Sex Machine or Carter U.S.M..
    “Diva Music came to be because we were having success writing instrumental music for other people; we obviously had some ability in that area. As we wrote more and more, we built up a portfolio of music that began earning royalties.” Their music has been used on television and in other media. To hear the various types of music that they produce go to the Diva Music website at . Click on Audio ShowReel and then on More Tracks.

The Birth of a Flute Style
    “A recording studio is a natural place to be creative with sound. In addition to using synthesizers and various bits of gear, I would experiment with my flute. The producers would request a flute track, but when I played something, would respond, ‘Well, that just sounds like flute. Can’t you do anything cooler than that?’ Because I was playing with guitars or synthesizers that are capable of pitch bending, I began looking for something more interesting to do. Our breakthrough came with Hypnosis.”
“We had played Hypnosis on gigs–when I just felt free to play whatever I wanted. I’m sure some times were more successful than others. When improvising you just do it, and then you begin to connect to your inner self. I feel very powerfully about it, but it is difficult to explain. When improvisation works, it just feels good.
    “On the other hand, I’m sometimes slightly suspicious of improvisation as performance art. I wouldn’t want that to be taken out of context, but the very best bits of music for me aren’t necessarily improvised. In the case of Hypnosis, I am pretty sure that the early improvisations were not as good as the later ones, by which time the term improvisation becomes increasingly tenuous.
    “Nowadays when I play Hypnosis it isn’t improvised, although it should sound improvisatory and spontaneous. I often use improvisation as a means to an end, rather than an end in itself. On the other hand, great improvisers are exciting to watch. I wish musical training today included elements of improvisation and creativity and exposed students to more musical styles. In all fairness, this is beginning to happen.”
    When asked how he notates his compositions and discovers the necessary fingerings and techniques, Clarke responded, “I figure out the techniques through experimenting and by exploring the music of others. There is a lot of music on the periphery that is outside the traditional flute repertoire.
“I love music – traditional music – Bach, the French music, and Taffanel and Gaubert – but to an extent, it takes the limelight away from newer music. In The Great Train Race I explored basic multiphonics for the first time. The fingerings are from Robert Dick’s, Tone Development Through Interpretation & The Other Flute. They are also included in other treatises that go back to 1825.
    “I assimilated the fingerings for Zoom Tube, a work that was heavily influenced by Stockhausen. When I wrote Orange Dawn, Robert Dick’s book provided some fingering ideas, and I fiddled around with them a bit more. Did I invent it, did I modify it, does it matter in the end? It is a challenge to notate these pieces. I often don’t think music sounds as it looks and find it quite constraining to write it down at times. My latest challenge has been Touching the Ether for flute and piano, which was published in 2008. The piece explores “man’s relationship with the natural world.”

Advice on Improvising
“The skills of improvising and extended techniques are changing rapidly. There are an increasing number of good books on creative skills, such as improvisation, as well as other media tools that include C.D. tracks for pieces with either accompaniment or special effects. Working with other improvisors is great whenever possible. There are also some great pieces available for children now that use extended techniques. When players have good pieces, they figure out how to play them. It has to do with confidence. Many teachers are not confident with extended techniques, but students are coming out of college able to sing and play at the same time. I think these skills will continue to evolve and more literature will be written for their use.”
Clarke’s compositions often require various extended techniques, and he has advice on how to acquire the skills. “You can practice blues scales and octatonic scales – the scales that jazz guys use. I find traditional exercises are often narrow in scope; they can easily switch off creativity if we are not careful. I believe that flutists’ harmonic awareness is not what it could be. I think that it is important to practice technique holistically and efficiently, as well as learn to enjoy the music. Musicians have a lot to learn in order to become really good, and all too often we teachers kill freedom and imagination during lessons by forgetting to be positive and experimental. I try to create technical exercises for my students that encourage creativity, development, change, and modulation. For me, it is not that they practice scales so much as it is that they practice something with scales.

The Compositions
    “I’m curious about the flute’s extended language, and am always asking ‘What else can we do with it?’ In the end, however, I want to make a decent piece of music. I’ve got a toolbox of things I may or may not use because not every piece I write has extended techniques. They are tools to make a piece of music more expressive; the music has to sound good on some level.
    “People often ask how I write pieces. The process begins with improvising, recording, and thenpulling out the good bits onto a manuscript. I don’t usually compose at the computer. I think it’s very important for flutists to go beyond just playing the notes; we need to be more fluent in the variety of things we do.
    “Flute playing is changing, and it is a great time to be a flutist. We have flute icons, such as Jimmy Galway and William Bennett along with Robert Dick and a new generation of players. Perhaps diversity is more celebrated now than it used to be. The orchestral path isn’t the only way.
     “When I was invited to teach at Guildhall, I almost fell over because everyone who’s invited to teach there plays in a top orchestra. The invitation was like an acknowledgement of what I do on the instrument. While I teach orchestral and the traditional repertoire there and love doing it, I also believe that musicians can make music without feeling that they have to be an orchestral performer. Classical music is small compared to the rest of the music industry, and I don’t think that traditionally-trained musicians have fully come to grips with that fact yet.”
    Clarke’s compositions seem to be seriously silly at times. For instance, you can hear the train passing the carnival in The Great Train Race. To this Clarke responded, “Well you know, in that piece the audience isn’t supposed to sit there passively and listen. They are supposed to smile and giggle. The Great Train Race is, in some ways, about how not to play the flute. Let’s split the thing, let’s sing, let’s bend a note, let’s just do it all wrong.
    “Zoom Tube is in a rhythm-and-blues style with attitude, and it’s surprising to some that the flute can do that. Orange Dawn is about trying to conjure up another world. Touching the Ether is a personal piece. Hypnosis is a pure connection between the instrument and the music. Mad Hatter is supposed to be fun, humorous, zany. They’re all about something or have something to say.
    “Unless music has a character, or imagery, or has some angle on the human condition, what’s the point? If you go to see a film, it’s trying to say something; I think that music should do that as well. If something I write doesn’t, it won’t see the light of day.
    “Our flute shops and music stores are full of music, but trying to write a piece that stands out and makes people gasp because it was fun or touched them is difficult. To really engage us now in this fast-moving, over-stimulated world, music has to connect on a human level. It’s very basic to us and therapeutic, and I love trying to share that.”

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