Vicky Prothro Williamson:

Paula Robison: I had a similar experience. These guards were not so knowledgeable about Bach, however, they wanted to hear “La Cucaracha.” By the time I finished they were all dancing, and they let me through.

Steven Andre Dibner: I only had to play once, at the U.S. border coming back in from Canada. – Mozart and the Beatles as I recall.

Stephanie McGurren: There were about six flutists headed to Domaine Forget on my flight, and they all told customs they would only be in Canada for two weeks. I was staying longer, so, of course, I got pulled over for another, private interview with two Canadian customs officials. They asked me everything about the festivals, where I go to school, etc. They let me go eventually, but it was still annoying nonetheless.

Marina Piccinini: “I had to play the entire Bach Partita Allemande for a Munich security crew to convince them it was my instrument. Julie Baker couldn’t stop laughing when he heard about it.”   

Cyndi Dacey: One time when I was flying from Dallas to Washington DC (and this was pre-9/11), the security team had to examine what was in my bag. I told them it was a flute, but they had to open it and see for themselves. As they took it out, I explained that they were holding the case upside down, and I started to put my hands out to grab it. Well that was a bad move. They called more security, as if I was causing a scene, when all I wanted them to do was open the case the right way. Almost to spite me they opened my beautiful flute upside down and it came tumbling out – on to the flute gig bag luckily. I was livid, and I had no recourse for their behavior.

Dustin Cramer: While departing Chicago for Normal, Illinois, security scanned my bag and saw an item that wasn’t allowed. I told them my flute was in the bag, and the security lady responded ‘Honey, when does a man play a flute? And anyway, I know what a flute is. You don’t have to tell me twice.’ The culprit was a small tube of toothpaste.

Bree Mills: One of the first times I flew with my flute, I went through the security scanner, and they asked me to step aside. I got out of line while they took my flute out of the bag. After trying to open the flute case for some time, the security officer turned to me and asked me to take it out because he couldn’t figure out how to do it.

Lisa Napier: I had to demonstrate that my flute was indeed a working instrument at Miami International. I received a nice round of applause for my Mozart!

Nancy Simons Horowitz: I told a security officer that there was a piccolo in my backpack, just as it approached the scanner. She looked at me like I was dumb, and said, ‘Listen honey, we all know what a piccolo is.’ Oh, excuse me! I scooped it up and all was well.

Viviana Guzman: While sitting on the tarmac in Bombay for a flight to London, we were delayed for an hour. The person sitting next to me on the plane asked me to play something to keep the plane uplifted (no pun intended) so I proceeded to play a fiery tango, after which I received a standing ovation from the whole plane!

Paula Robison: A few years ago Romero Lubambo, Cyro Baptista and I had a stopover in Miami on our way to the Cartagena Festival in Colombia. By chance, my husband was arriving in Miami on another flight to work with the New World Symphony. I knew his gate and arrival time, so we hid behind a partition with our instruments and as soon as Scott came through the door we started playing “Tico Tico.” We got an ovation too.

Amy Likar: I purchased an alto flute at the Nashville N.F.A. Convention, at which I also taught a Body Mapping workshop. On the way home, airport security asked if I had a pipe bomb (the alto flute) and if I was carrying human remains (plastic skeletal models). There had to have been enough flutes going through that airport for it to obviously be a joke, but they made me take everything out of the carry on bag. Since then I always check skeletal models, and T.S.A. always leaves me a note stating that they have searched the suitcase.

Christina Bellotta: One time, I was traveling overseas to the U.K. and was flagged at the security checkpoint because the x-ray of my flute bag looked suspicious. They pulled out my flute peg first and asked what it was, and I explained it was a peg for my flute. Then, they pulled out my metronome and tuner (with dials and red lights) and asked me what that was. I explained that the metronome keeps tempo for me and the tuner tells me if I am playing in tune. Then, they actually opened my flute case to inspect my instrument, and they ran the explosive material detector over it! They didn’t seem convinced it was a musical instrument until I offered to play it for them. I didn’t have to, but it was a colorful experience.

Marco Granados: When I started traveling with my Venezuelan music band, I was often asked if I could play tunes for security. On several occasions we did serenade them to Venezuelan Joropos and merengues, and in several instances, when I noticed difficult immigration officials in foreign countries, I would have CDs ready to give to them so that they would see that in fact I was going to play for festivals and such.

Dolores August: After you have a baby, things change. For years, I was interrogated and searched, my flute  swabbed for explosives and opened upside down, and I endured my share of double glances from the x-ray inspector. Soon after 9/11 I had a baby. After that I went through security and, as usual, the x-ray belt stopped as they analyzed my bag. As they continued to look at me and my bag, I was preparing the usual explanation about my flute, only to have them say to me in a stern voice, ‘Ma’am, we are going to have to throw out your apple juice.’ Not a word about the large metal object.

Paula Robison: Once I was stranded in Dallas/Fort Worth by an East Coast blizzard. The only room was in a dumpy motel near the airport. I had to record the Hindemith Sonata in the following days, so I played it very, very softly in the bathroom with a towel over my head, hands, and flute, but all too soon there was banging at the door. ‘Stop that,’ a voice screamed. It gave me an interesting interpretive take on the piece, anyway.

Sungwoo Steven Kim: I was at Geneva International Airport for a flight to Boston that kept getting delayed due to weather. So I sat there for hours with my bag. Then for some reason, my metronome went off ticking…ticking…ticking…at about quarter equals 90. People started to look around and realized the ticking was coming from my bag. I tried to find it at the bottom of my flute bag, but it was difficult because I was in a panic. Finally I managed to turn it off. Since then, I make sure to take out the battery.

Mihi Kim: Right after 9/11, our flute quartet was flying, packed with alto and bass flutes. Our bass flutist was of Mediterranean origins. He had a 3-day beard and was wearing a a cotton headdress. He was asked by security guards with machine guns to open the black bass-flute bag. Finally, after the third check point in 120 feet, we decided that I should carry the big black case instead, and our situation got considerably better.

Marco Granados: I like to travel with most of my recording equipment:  high-end ribbon microphones, recorder, mic stands, cables, holders, camera, etc., and I always get stopped because the ribbon microphones have big transformers inside that make them look (on the inside) like some kind of bombing device. They always want to take them out, swipe them, and test them in their machines. I have learned to tell them that I have microphones as well as recording equipment before I even check in, and for the most part they now leave me alone.

Gabe Boldin: (a trombonist) I was recently on a regional jet with my compact hard case and prepared to gate-check it. A flight attendant told me she was a music lover and thought musical instruments should never travel underneath a plane. She found a spot for it in the crew’s locker. If I hadn’t been already taken I might have asked her to marry me right then and there.
    My teacher Ray Premru played in the Philharmonia Orchestra of London for 30 years and also toured with the Philip Jones Brass Ensemble. There was a time when European flight crews were supplied a list of instruments that were allowed in the cabins of planes. Ray knew this and whenever asked would tell them his instrument was an oboe. I guess that didn’t always work, because he was at least once told that he would not be able to carry his trombone on the plane that way. He said fine, took the instrument out of the gig bag, handed them the bag, and carried it on naked.

Lance Suzuki: Me: “Can I help you open that case?”
Security: “Step aside, sir.” (attempts to open case upside down!)
Me: “You step aside. What’s inside is probably worth more than your car.”

The post The Perils of Air Travel appeared first on The Instrumentalist.

    One of the many highlights, however, was the Piccolo Gems concert that featured six piccolo solos accompanied by the California State University Fullerton Wind Symphony. Retired Army Band piccoloist Nan Rafael, sporting a festive Uncle Sam hat, processed onto the stage with two drummers and presented Dick Hyman’s flashy  Piper Patriot of 76: Fantasia on Melodies of the Revolutionary War, arranged by Paul Murtha. This piece is characteristic of the Golden Age of piccolo music and is a fine patriotic piece, suitable for good high school players. It could be the centerpiece of a 4th of July concert.
    Boston Symphony piccoloist Linda Toote then played the beautiful and difficult Fantasia on Irish Airs by Fred Lax. This is another excellent piece to feature the piccolo in band concerts from high school to professional community bands that perform mostly in the summer.
    “Yankee Doodle” has been arranged for every instrument and is well known to band concert audiences. Lois Herbine chose one of the best versions, written by George Purdy in 1883. It is in the traditional form starting with an introduction followed by a theme and variations. A little known fact is that researchers can find no biographical information or listing of any other pieces Purdy might have written.
    Royal Flemish Philhar­monic piccolo soloist Peter Verhoyen left the audience breathless with Derek Bourgeois’ spectacular Piccolo Piccante. The composition is good, however the performance of Verhoyen is what sticks in the memory. His playing was flawless and subtle, with great dynamic variation, and wonderful intonation. He has produced three CDs of music that we have rarely heard. They are an outstanding guide for phrasing and musianship.
    Sarah Jackson highlighted both strength and beauty in piccolo playing with Eugene Damare’s Les echos de bois; Fantaisie imitative, Op. 220.  Unfortunately over the years about 80% of the parts have disappeared, leaving only the piano score, piccolo part, and clarinet and horn parts. Jackson had Randy Bass arrange the piece so we can all play it. 
    The concert ended with the Dean of Piccolo, Walfrid Kujala, performing Flash! Kujala convinced Daniel Dorff to make a band arrangement of his highly successful piece, and now young flutists can all show off technique in a band concert.

Piccolo Artist Competition
    Six players made it to the semi-final round of the Piccolo Artist Competition: Mackenzie Danner, Anke Lauwers, Lindsay Leach, Izumi Miyahara, Jenny Robinson and Thomas James Wible. The winners were announced prior to the Saturday evening Gala Concerto Concert: Third Prize, Jenny Robinson; Second Prize, Thomas James Wible; and First Prize, Anke Lauwers. All prizes for this competition were underwritten by a gift from Keefe Piccolos.

The Piccolo in Flim
    Known as the “Hollywood Flutist” for her more than 1,200 studio recordings for film and television, Louise DiTullio’s recital, entitled “All That Jazz,” was a gift to the convention lineup. She commissioned the final work, Ronald Royer’s Short Stories, for her CD the Hollywood Flute, which was released in 2010. Short Stories features the entire flute family – alto, bass, C flute, and piccolo – and displays the styles used in film music for these instruments.
    She states, “To be a studio flutist means to be proficient in all four instruments, and since I always played a group of pieces featuring all four flutes in my recital programs with great success, these pieces seemed the perfect solution. Short Stories has elicited more response than any of the other pieces on the CD. Listeners enjoy the colors of the various instruments.
    “Being able to read jazz and swing lines is also a necessity in the studios.  I thought it would be fun to demonstrate that skill, although I do not claim by any stretch of the imagination to be a jazz flutist. I also wanted to show the piccolo as an instrument of beautiful tone since there is a general misconception that it is a squeaky-sounding instrument.”

Noteworthy Concerts
    A recital titled “Music for Piccolo and Piano” showcased Nicole Esposito performing Katherine Hoover’s colorful Three Sketches, Lois Herbine playing Dorff’s Sonatine de Giverny and Mike Mower’s Sonata for Piccolo and Piano, and Verhoyen, who played Poulenc’s haunting Villanelle, Darius Milhaud’s Exercise Musical, and Robert Beaser’s Souvenirs. The Beaser showcases his love of American folk music and includes “Happy Face,” an original tune he wrote in Italy in 2001 when he was there to accept the Prix de Rome, “Lily Monroe,” “Cindy Redux,” “Spain,” which is based on Flamenco-like themes in the piano, and the haunting “Ground 0,” which remembers his native New York City.
    On “Strange Bedfellows: Music for Flutes, Piccolo, and Unlikely Partners,” Jan Gippo joined pianist Lorna Eder and contrabassoonist Shawn Jones, who learned his massively difficult part in less than two weeks, in a performance of Stephen Hough’s epic work Was mit den Traenen geschiet.
    Gippo writes, “Loosely translated the title means, Where do the tears go. Hough is a very serious composer and  wanted to explore the timbre of each pairing, especially the extremes of the contrabassoon and piccolo. It is a difficult piece, both in the speed of notes with awkward patterns and in the sustained high-B naturals, at a pp dynamic. Adding to the difficulty is the ensemble of meters. The parts have quite a number of compound rhythms and many times none of the instruments are accenting the same grouping.
    “The piece is in three movements with no pause between the first and second movements. The first movement takes a five-note motive and reworks it through all of its inversions, passing it along to each instrument. The second movement is a flurry of notes for everyone, with different meters and tempos, which has the effect of keeping the flow even, while the performers are busy lining up the tempos with the accents of the passage work. The third movement starts with the piccolo on a high B and sustaining it for four counts and pp, then moving very slowly down the scale. This is all in unison with the contra. The piccolo has a melody that is lyrical, and it is passed to the contra. The piece then ends quietly – the tears have gone away. This is an excellent piece, but hard to listen to. It is a great challenge and should be performed many times.”
    The centerpiece of the convention for piccoloists was the world premier of Eric Ewazen’s beautiful On Wings of Song, a Concerto for Piccolo and Orchestra. This piece is beautiful and unabashedly tuneful, quoting Mendel-ssohn’s melody throughout. Ewazen has also arranged it for band, so high school students can perform excellent music with either orchestra or band. On Wings of Song is a piece that will be performed many times. After one hearing, every piccolo player will want to have a turn at playing these stunning melodies.

Open Piccolo Master Class
    Los Angeles Philharmonic solo piccoloist Sarah Jackson conducted the Open Piccolo Master Class, a true highlight because of the interchanges between participants. After performances of Hoover’s Three Sketches, excerpts from Bartok’s Concerto for Orchestra,  Beethoven’s 9th Symphony, and Tchaikovsky’s 4th Symphony played by Lauren Waide­lich Stephanie Miller, and Kathy Marsh, Jackson addressed topics such as dynamic contrast, alternate forms of articulation, and the extreme importance of protecting your hearing with regular earplug usage. All in all, it was a great convention for piccolo enthusiasts.

The post Spotlight on Piccolo appeared first on The Instrumentalist.

    I set a timer on five minutes and practiced each caprice as creatively as I could for five minutes and then went on to the next one. The first day was spent on Caprices 1 – 15, and the second day on numbers 16 – 30. Time-wise this created one session of one hour and fifteen minutes each day to practice half of the Caprices, each for five minutes. Some days I might be able to do all the caprices in two one-hour-and-a-half sessions. This was certainly possible. At the end of each day, I would play through the opposite day’s 15 caprices in a row to keep the music fresh in my memory. This took another 20 to 25 minutes. But once again, an additional 25 minutes was certainly possible.
    The first day of power practicing achieved better results than I would ever have dreamed. I was able to get into deep practicing quickly, over and over again. As I was assessing my success, I thought of Malcolm Gladwell’s book Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking. Gladwell is a staff writer for The New Yorker magazine and author of four New York Times best sellers.
    In Blink he discusses the quality of decisions we make in the blink of an eye. He says that it takes only two seconds to jump to a series of conclusions. The book is about those two seconds. The term he coined for this event is Rapid Cognition.
    As a society we have been taught over and over again that haste makes waste. We learn that it is safer and better to gather and compare information, and only after careful assessment, make an informed decision. Gladwell disagrees. He suggests “there are lots of situations – particularly at times of high pressure and stress – when haste does not make waste, when our snap judgments and first impressions offer a much better means of making sense of the world.” Moments of high pressure and stress are exactly what performing is all about.

Haste Makes Waste   
    In order to successfully use this theory in practice, a flutist should have several basic skills. First is the ability to play the flute on an advanced level. This includes understanding the set-up (body alignment, balance of flute in hands, and how the flute works), breathing strategies, articulation, vibrato usage, spinning a line, dynamic control, basic musicianship, theory, historical context, and a knowledge of each composer’s work.
    The flutist must also have an arsenal of practice techniques to plug into each practice session. If you don’t have practice strategies at hand, you will use up your five minutes just figuring out what to do. All these elements take years to gather and put into practice. So here the adage haste makes waste is still relevant. If these things are not in place, then the tried and true older practice style of breaking things down into chunks and practicing many repetitions in a variety of tempos and dynamics is the best choice.

Haste Does Not Make Waste
    However, if you play at an advanced level and have well-established practice techniques, it is possible to use what I call Power Practice. In performance we don’t play by reading one note after another; this sounds plodding and stodgy. A great performer glances at the notes and can immediately recall what he has spent hours on in earlier practice sessions. It only seems logical to practice this skill to replicate what happens on stage.

Fastforward Practice
    When I was discussing the Power Practice technique with Samantha George, Lawrence University violin professor, she mentioned that she uses Fastforward Practice a few weeks before an upcoming performance. The idea comes from the fastforward button on a DVD player, which speeds up the action so you may find a scene in a movie quickly. Fastforward Practice tests the Rapid Cognition. Practice chunks followed by rests at a tempo that is twice as fast as prescribed. If you have problems in fastforward chunks, you know where you might stumble in performance. It is in these passages, you should spend time re-examining and analyzing. This is a variation of the power practicing technique.

30 Caprices And Power Practicing
    Here are some practice techniques to use in Caprices 1 – 15. They are only suggestions, and as you experiment, you will have many more to add to the list. Remember, each Blink episode lasts five minutes. Set your timer, and when it rings, go on to the next Caprice. Your entire practice session will be 75 minutes (5 minutes x 15 caprices).

    Caprice 1: In tempo play the first three beats of each measure followed by a rest on the fourth beat. What do you notice about the motive? Is it used in every measure? What is the chord outlined by the motive? If the motive is not present, what is the characteristic of the material in the measure?

    Caprice 2: Play only the measures in which the notes are slurred by 2s. You should play the second note softer than the first. Chunk the entire caprice in hemiola (by two counts with a rest in between each segment).

    Caprice 3: Play only the palindromes followed by a rest or silence. (Webster’s: Palindrome: a word, verse, sentence, or number that reads the same way backwards or forwards. In music I use this term to indicate passages that read the same way backwards or forwards. If there are only three notes, the middle note is a non-chord tone called an upper or lower neighbor.) Often, bringing out the palindromes makes you sound more musical.

    Caprice 4: Play each measure followed by a quarter rest. In Baroque music, the implied rhythm of a 3/4 bar is either a half note followed by a quarter (long, short inflection) or a quarter followed by a half note (short, long inflection). The half note meaning is implied if the two beats are either four notes of a scale or a chord. Chunk the 5/4  and 3/2 measures by the note beaming. (Beaming is the line that connects the eighth notes.)

    Caprice 5: Play (chunk) two beats and rest two beats. Follow the dynamic and articulation marks for each chunk. The silence will give you time to better organize the dynamics and articulation marks. Exaggerate the dynamic and articulation marks because in performance you naturally lose some of the effect. Play each chunk on one breath. Notice the variety of articulation patterns with each chunk. These varieties of articulation patterns are what I call the Magic 8s.

    Caprice 6: Let it swing. Play starting on the second eighth note of the measure, concluding on the first eighth of the next measure followed by a rest. (In this practice session, omit the measures that do not have six eighth notes in them.) Either make a crescendo to the first beat or a diminuendo to the first beat. There should be enough time to do each way.

    Caprice 7: Play each group of five notes followed by a rest as fast as you can. The second time through, tongue in the following pattern: TKTKT or TTKTK.

    Caprice 8: Chunk three beats followed by a rest. Be sure the first note of each mordent is on the beat, not before it. Play later on the beat to achieve this accuracy.

    Caprice 9: Chunk by measure followed by a rest. Notice the variety of articulation patterns used with six notes. The first time through use a T on the first note after a slur. The second time use a K on the first notes after a slur.

     Caprice 10: Practice the “Mannheim sigh” figures. Play in 2/4 time. The first note will be on the and of two, and the next two notes will be on the first beat. Rest for an eighth note and proceed throughout the caprice. Follow the tongue one, slur two indication as in lift, strong weak. If you wish, for variety, place a trill on the 1st beat (note indicated by strong).

    Caprice 11: The first time play only the double- or triple-tongued notes. The second time play only the slurred notes. Place a rest in between each group (chunking).

    Caprice 12: Play only the notes that are slurred. Rest on the tongued notes.

    Caprice 13: Play only the notes with the stems up. Then play only the notes with the stem down.

    Caprice 14: Chunk by four notes followed by a rest. Can you identify the chord in each group of four? Because of rhythmic displacement in measures 9 and 10, adjust to chunk by the beaming of the notes.

    Caprice 15: Play only the double stemmed notes forte making a rest where the single stemmed notes are. Then play only the single stemmed notes piano.

    Other general practice techniques you might consider involve practicing passages in different rhythm configurations. Check to see if the Caprice is in simple or compound time and use the chart below for suggestions.

    The final sentence of Karg-Elert’s “The Logical Development of Modern Figuration” concludes: “The author believes herewith to have given hints which should cover all the possible figurations which may occur in existing modern works.”
    For years I have thought that hints was a strange word choice for a scholarly treatise. I usually associate the word with a puzzle. Then it occurred to me that the 30 Caprices are one big puzzle. I had also wondered why he would chose to conclude the set with a Chaconne (a Baroque compositional device), when in the preface he states: “The present Caprices take the Classical technique of Bach, Handel, and Mozart as their starting point and pass rapidly to the style of today.”
    Today a chaconne is a rarely used compositional device. But, if this were a giant puzzle, then the chaconne theme of the four descending notes is the final clue for the player (if the flutist hasn’t already figured it out). The above practice suggestions will help you find the chaconne theme in each caprice. Karg-Elert either uses the four note chaconne ground ascending/descending by diatonic, chromatic or whole tone configuration. Some-times the four notes occur at the beginning of each beat or in some beat pattern as in the first and third beats of a two bar measure. I don’t want to spoil the puzzle for you – the joy is in figuring it out for yourself. These caprices were written for Karg-Elert’s friend Carl Bartuzat, principal flutist of the Leipzig Theater and Gewandhaus-Orchestra. What a wonderful gift for a professor of theory and composition to give to his friend and to us.     
 
Karg-Elert Caprices
    There are several editions of the Caprices, including Southern Music Co., Master Music, International Music Co., Cundy-Bettoney, and Kalmus, and Urmusik Edition. With the exception of the Urmusik Edition all of the other publication are printed from the same plates.
    The Cundy-Bettoney edition is noteworthy because it includes Karg-Elert’s Preface of 1919 and his 10-page guide “The Logical Development of Modern Figuration.” The Southern Music edition is part of The Modern Flutist, which also includes the 8 Etudes de Salon of Donjon and various orchestral excerpts.
    The Urmusik Edition was published in 2008, edited by the assistant professor at the University of Minnesota in Duluth flutist and scholar Lorie Scott. It includes the Preface and the Guide to modern figuration, as well as a short bio of Karg-Elert, Scott’s analytical notes, and a short bibliography. Each caprice has new typesetting, is printed on a separate page, and Scott has corrected many of the wrong notes, although there remain several questionable notes.
    Scott writes, “often characterized as technical repertoire, I hope that you ultimately come to love the Caprices for their inherent musical value, bringing them to the performance stage more frequently. A selection of caprices functions beautifully as a set of short character pieces for unaccompanied flute within a recital.” I totally agree. The Karg-Elert Caprices and the Telemann Twelve Fantasias are always on my music stand.

The post Power Practicing appeared first on The Instrumentalist.

    It really pays off to sing all the notes, especially the first six, as if they were slow, because the difficulty comes from the connection of the tone between notes, even if they are fingered perfectly. With concentration, not force, this run flows naturally, like a “river runs through it.” Other passages, here and elsewhere, (I am thinking of the opening page of the same Ibert Concerto) should have a somewhat biting staccato, even if the general character of this movement is of a lighter vein than most flutists think.
    As an artist, even before tackling a demanding piece, the first thoughts should be: “Where is this music going? Is it aggressive? Is it tender? Or joyous, or serene, (see below), or open (Allegro aperto of Mozart D Concerto)?

     Consider this idea in Bach’s Partita. This page is often considered easy. Yet its simplicity and serene feeling are better served by phrasing with loving fingers and good intonation than by tone effects and excessive vibrato. And that truly is its real difficulty. The three notes C, E, G# repeated many times, along with its parallel B, D, F#,  are an example of smoothness that should be thought out and played with love and sensuality. There are, of course, countless other examples such as these, both fast and slow.
    Even scales and daily exercises, so often perfunctorily tossed off, provide the means of perfecting one’s playing. They are music, first and foremost. Thanks to them, an ambitious flutist can develop articulation and speed without jeopardizing tone quality, have a living perception of intonation, perform fast passages with a sense of tone and play slow phrases with a feeling for perfection and smoothness of fingers.
    Develop speed with a consciousness of sound; play slow phrases with a beauty of gestures. Playing an instrument involves the whole player. John Ruskin wrote: “Fine art is that in which the hand, the head, and the heart of man go together.”

The post The Artist as Technician appeared first on The Instrumentalist.

 1 quarter =1 beat   2 8ths = 1 beat  4 16ths = 1 beat   3 triplets = 1 beat

     Other students respond to traditional methods of counting rhythms. Foot tapping to a steady beat with evenly spaced down and up movements helps with note values that are divisible by two. In the following example, the down arrows fall on the beat numbers and the up arrows on the and of the beat (the upward stroke of the foot). Foot tapping also introduces a gross motor (large muscle) element into the counting, which is helpful for students who are tactile learners.

     The basics of subdivision and counting notes with rhythmic values less than one can be a challenge to teach. Rhythm words that replicate rhythms can help students count rhythms with eighth notes, sixteenth notes, triplets and other note values smaller than one beat. I have several students who have great difficulty with traditional counting, but are able count rhythms quite accurately using rhythm words such as

    Even with more complex combinations of rhythms, many students find success using rhythm words. Teachers and students can create their own word combinations for rhythms or use the examples below.

Dotted Rhythms
     Traditional ways of counting dotted rhythms may leave students confused or learning the rhythm by rote without understanding. As a teacher, I have found myself abbreviating explanations to long – short which gives a short term, quick fix, but does not help students decode the rhythm in the future.
     One of the most effective methods to teach students to play dotted quarter and eighth rhythms accurately is to ask them, how many eighth notes are in a dotted quarter? If they have difficulty answering, explain that the dotted quarter is the same as a quarter, plus half the value of a quarter (i.e. an eighth note). Then ask, “How many eighth notes are in a quarter note?” As you work through the answers to these questions with the student, write down the following:

Dotted quarter = quarter + eighth = eighth + eighth + eighth

     This looks very mathematical, which will appeal to some students and scare others. Explain that a dotted quarter equals three eighth notes and can be counted by saying (or thinking) eighth eighth eighth. To find the speed of the eighth note, have them tap their foot down and up evenly to the desired tempo, thinking down-up, down-up, down-up, down-up as was done for quarter notes earlier. This divides the quarter into eighths, one for the down and one for the up. Counting the dotted eighth and eighth rhythm will become eighth-eighth-eighth and.
     The type of explanation also works for dotted eighth and sixteenth rhythms.

Dotted eighth  = eighth + sixteenth  + sixteenth  + sixteenth

When students understand the subdivisions they are ready to use words. The rhythm is eventually counted

Counting Tuplets
     Rhythm words can also be used for odd-numbered tuplets. Traditional methods of counting odd-numbered tuplets have the student dividing the number of notes roughly in half, with the smaller number on the down-beat and the larger number on the up-beat.
     For example, 5-tuplet notes are played 2 + 3, and 7-tuplet notes are played 3 + 4.

    Using words makes these rhythms easier and less intimidating to many students. For 5-note tuplets try: Philadelphia, university, or hippopotamus. Any five syllable word will do. Possible words for 7- note tuplets are: autobiographical or peanut butter sandwiches.

     Tuplets with even numbers, such as 6-note tuplets, are usually easier to understand because the same number of notes are played on the down-beat and on the up-beat. Thinking of 6-note tuplets as a twice-as-fast triplet is helpful to some students. Three notes are played on the down-beat and three notes played on the up-beat and can be counted 1-2-3 1-2-3. I generally use the rhythm word: dee-dle-dee dee-dle-dee, but any six syllable word works.

    There is a lot of room for creativity in teaching rhythms. Creating rhythm words for particular students or specific to your area can be fun. Use students’ names, food, local cities, schools, sports teams, universities, or shopping malls.  Be creative and flexible in designing lessons to help your students understand rhythms.      

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Selecting a Contrabass Flute
    Currently, there are quite a few contrabass flute makers in the world. Online research about the different makers is a good place to start. Compare materials, tubing size, options (trills keys, instrument stand, etc) and artist comments. After you learn some basic information, talk to contrabass and bass flutists. A flute choir director who has contrabass flutes in the ensembles will also have some good insights. Find out what contrabass flutists like about their particular instruments and what they would like to see designed differently. Some instrument makers are willing to work with you.
    Next, determine your budget for the instrument. Contrabass flutes can be made from precious metals or more affordable PVC piping. Obviously the two materials sound very different, and there is a wide range of prices. Factors such as durable and quiet key mechanisms, scaling, trills keys, headjoint cut, tube diameter and tube thickness all make a significant difference in the tonal quality of the flute. Some key mechanisms can be quite noisy. Thinner tubing makes a tonal difference and affects the durability of the instrument. All headjoints are cut differently. Instrument makers may include an instrument stand in the price as well. When working with flute makers outside of the U.S. make sure you clarify if the pricing includes shipping and import duty tax. This can add a significant amount to the base price.
    Most importantly, try to play as many different types of contrabass flutes as possible. This can be a challenge. Your best option may be to attend local, state, or national flute conventions. Talk with the various contrabass flute makers to determine if there might be a contrabass in your area. If you have never played a contrabass flute, it is wise to have an experienced contrabass flutist test the instrument you are considering.
    Pay careful attention to the tonal quality of the instrument in the lower register. If this is good, then notice how well the instrument plays and projects in the middle register, as this is often a very difficult register to manage on contrabass flutes. Some middle registers on contrabass flutes can sound thin and do not project well. Play major scales and check pitch tendencies, and also determine how easily you can move between the lower, middle and upper registers of the instrument. Don’t be afraid of the upper register and certainly don’t discount it. When you become comfortable with your contrabass, you will enjoy the upper register and look forward to repertoire which includes these passages. Check to see how well the instrument articulates, especially in rapid passages. Notice if the key mechanism is quiet and even. It is also important to try slurred intervals or passages.

Instrument Case and Stand
    There are quite a few ways to transport a contrabass flute from compact tube cases to protective cargo cases. Some contra flute makers do not have case options while others will help find one that works for you. I suggest a compact case that can also be used with a luggage cart on wheels although  I have three different types of cases for my contra flutes: single tube; two compact cases meeting airline carry-on baggage requirements; and a protective cargo case. All can easily be put on wheels for transporting. My mantra for cases is “I’d rather roll than lug.” My rolling cases are my favorites.
    I have seen three different types of contrabass flute stands: collapsible carbon fiber stands, custom-made contra stands, home-made modified tripod stands. A contrabass flute is a large instrument to carry so I prefer lighter stands.

Breathing
    One of the most common questions asked about playing the contrabass flute is “How do you have enough air to play that instrument?” It’s not simply a matter of enough air. Breath control is also critical.
Assuming normal lung capacity, most people can improve their breathing by paying careful attention to some basic deep breathing techniques. The goal is to utilize all of your lung capacity well. Flutists, can learn much about breathing from yoga. Be careful not to overdo breathing exercises to avoid dizziness, headaches and nausea. It is best to build upon these techniques over the course of several weeks.
    Begin by sitting with good posture, in a relaxed manner. Your stomach, abdomen, chest and shoulders should be relaxed. Align the back of your neck with your spine, again keeping your face and jaw relaxed. Inhale slowly and steadily with your mouth closed, filling the bottom part of your lungs first. Let your diaphragm and rib cage expand out and sideways, keeping your chest and shoulders motionless. Try breathing in for four counts, holding for two counts and exhaling for four counts. To maximize your exhalation, pull in your stomach, just a bit, to push out any remaining air. As your capacity expands, you can increase your inhalation and exhalation counts beyond four to accommodate all of your breath capacity. Repeat this process a few times daily. This should be relaxing and feel comfortable, not forced.
    Next, breathe slowly with your mouth open in a yawn position. You should feel cool air deep in your throat as you inhale. Remember to remain relaxed, avoiding the common pitfalls of raised shoulders and clenched teeth. Now it is time focus on breathing through your mouth, not letting any air escape through your nose. Remember all of the building blocks of good breathing; fill the bottom part of your lungs first; keep relaxed with good posture; yawn position allowing cool air deep into your throat.

Refining breath control
    Several factors contribute to effective breath control: proper breathing, embouchure size, air speed, and relaxed mouth cavity. Determine the best embouchure placement and size to produce the most clear and beautiful sound. You will need to experiment, finding the sweet spot on your flute. This spot is the exact center area on the far side of your flute’s tone hole where the air stream is split. Depending on the register in which you are playing, your embouchure size and shape will be different. Although the contrabass flute requires a larger embouchure size, if your embouchure is too large, you will lose some of your precious air.
    Keep your airspeed steady and fast. Your mouth should be relaxed; think of dark vowels such as uu or aw. Think vertical, not horizontal when forming your relaxed mouth cavity. Bright vowels, such as ee and aa, are too horizontal, causing potential tension in your embouchure and throat. A good mental image is a pear-shaped mouth cavity, with a larger opening toward the back of your throat than at the front of your mouth.

Developing Intonation
    Begin refining your contra intonation by popping octaves on your instrument. Play whole note octaves with your tuner. Once your octaves are stable, then work on playing a fff low note and popping up an octave to a ppp high note. Use this same approach with intervals of a perfect 5th for a great warm up. Develop all registers on your contrabass. You should experiment with alternate fingerings in the upper register to achieve the best results.
Pitch mapping is an extremely helpful tool as you continue to refine your intonation. To do this, simply start on the lowest C (or B) of your flute and play a comfortable long tone. Keep track of your pitch tendency for this particular note by writing it down. Don’t rely upon your memory. Notice whether you are you a little flat or a little sharp. Then go to C# and repeat. Do this for each note of your contrabass, all the way up to high C. You will find that some notes pull a little high, some a little low. Knowing the tendencies of each individual pitch will help you make quick adjustments. This is a wonderful exercise for all of your flutes, as each flute plays differently, based on the scaling of the instrument, the headjoint, and your individual tendencies.

Articulation
    With articulation, I say “live on the edge!” Too often low flutes are afraid to articulate. Crisp articulation is wonderful on the contrabass. Develop a whole palette of articulations from a gentle breath attack to crisp French tonguing. A dropped, forward tongue works well for contrabass. Again, think dark vowels sounds and a pear-shaped mouth cavity. Very small tongue motions are best.
    Articulation and focused air stream should work together. When developing articulation, be careful so that your tongue does not interfere with your beautiful, clear sound. Focus of your airstream is critical for a vibrant healthy sound on the contrabass flute and you don’t want your tongue to detract from this. Keeping this in mind, you can use your tongue not only to articulate, but to assist in the focus of the airstream.
    Try this exercise. Without your flute, put the palm of your hand in front of your mouth, a few inches from your lips, and say the syllables teh, teh, teh, teh, teh. You should not feel much air on your palm. Do the same thing using the syllables tu, tu, tu, tu, tu, remembering to keep your tongue forward in your mouth. With the syllable tu, you will feel air on the palm of your hand. Focus your embouchure even more to produce a focused airstream bouncing on your palm. Pick up your contrabass and try the same thing, listening for the difference in your tone and articulation with teh, teh, teh, teh, teh and tu, tu, tu, tu, tu.
    For short, articulate passages, don’t be afraid to use your tongue to help propel note beginnings, remembering the syllable tu. Once you have mastered this, try achieving the same beautiful focused tone with the syllable ku, ku, ku, ku, ku. This obviously sets you up to double tongue on your contrabass flute. In all articulations, use as little tongue motion as possible to achieve the desired articulation.
    Sometimes on contrabass, I use a more percussive attack. This can range from a sound similar to chiff on a pipe organ for bright, Baroque music, to a completely percussive sound in contemporary or jazz music. For this type of articulation, think of brighter, more horizontal vowel sounds. It’s a great time to try tee or tah. Another wonderful exercise is to try and achieve your most beautiful, clear, supported sound with a breath attack.
    I like to set-up articulation. Try slightly shortening the note before an articulated note or notes, drawing even more attention and sparkle to it. A little space before an articulated passage can be very effective in many instances. It is important not to begin the articulate notes late, but rather to slightly shorten the rhythmic value of the note before.

Phrasing
    Phrasing on the contrabass flute is quite a bit different from the concert flute. Approach long phrases with well-planned breathing, as you will need to breathe more often. Whenever possible, take as big a breath as you possibly can. Also breathe whenever it makes musical sense, even if you do not need it. Try to find places to breathe before you run out of air. This thoughtful breathing will translate into beautiful phrasing. You will find this air helpful and you will play in a more relaxed manner.
    For ending phrases with a soft diminuendo, try using the syllable oohm. This naturally pushes your lower teeth higher, keeps your tongue low, and maintains that pear-shaped mouth cavity.

Ensemble skills
    Contrabass flutists are the foundation for an ensemble and support the rhythmic, pitch and dynamic base of the group. As such, they serve as the rhythm section. Too often, we focus on solo playing or flute technique and neglect to develop a sense of ensemble. Strong ensemble skills can not only improve our solo playing, but also make us much better musicians. An attentive, musical contrabass flutist can help to shape and musically encourage the entire ensemble.
    Precise rhythm is critical for all musicians, but even more important for the low voices of an ensemble. You should have not only a precise ability to keep an internal beat, but also be able to play cleanly with those around you. Think of both an internal rhythm and an external ensemble rhythm. Subdividing beats should be as natural as breathing. When counting measures of rests, continue to listen carefully to the ensemble pulse. Hopefully this pulse is the same as the conductor’s pulse, but sometimes not. An attentive contrabass flutist can help keep the rhythmic integrity of the ensemble solid. The flip side is that you can also pull down an entire ensemble. Slight rhythmic inconsistencies in your solo playing can become disastrous in ensemble playing. Your metronome is invaluable for developing and maintaining precise rhythm.
    Another technique that is very helpful as a contrabass flutist is to keep the downbeat clean. A lot can happen in a measure. Some voices might be unintentionally broadening lines, while other voices might be racing ahead. Study the score to know how your part fits in rhythmically. Place rhythms very carefully within a measure, and never be late on a downbeat, unless indicated by the conductor. Listen carefully to match your rhythmic line to other voices with parallel rhythms. As the lower voice in the ensemble, you can help in moving along a sluggish line or pulling back on a rushing line.
    On a related topic, a contrabass flutist must prepare the beat sooner than on the concert flute. The response time of propelling a focused airstream through that large amount of contrabass tubing takes more time. Think ahead of the beat to play on time.
    Everyone loves to hear a finely tuned ensemble and no one wants to hear one that is out of tune. Precise tuning begins from the bottom and that is the contrabass. Once you have developed solid intonation on your contrabass it is important to bring that into ensemble with you. It is so very easy to creep or race out of tune in an ensemble setting, especially when you are playing an inner or lower voice. In an orchestral setting no one ever says “That trombone is sharp.” They say “The piccolo is having a bad day and is out of tune.” The person at the top of the ensemble always gets the blame for poor ensemble intonation, when in fact an inner or lower voice could be the root of the problem. Intonation is an ensemble event. Sometimes ensembles pull sharp; sometimes flat. As a contrabass flutist, listen to the top of the ensemble and try to lock in the pitch at the bottom. Everyone else will have no choice but to fit in between. If you pull sharp, then the ensemble has significant pitch problems, and only encourages everyone to pull sharper.
    One very helpful tool I have found for ensemble playing is using a tuner pick-up with my tuner while rehearsing in ensemble. The tuner pick-up is a devise that has a padded clip on one end of a sound cable with a mic jack on the other end. This clip attaches to your instrument (any kind, size or type of instrument). The other end of the sound cable, with the mic jack, plugs into your tuner. It picks up vibrations of your instrument rather than acoustical sound, enabling you to play in ensemble while using your tuner. What you see on the tuner is all you. Obviously you still use your ears, as the whole ensemble might be a little high or low, but the tuner pick-up provides valuable pitch information. A tuner pick-up is inexpensive and can be found at most good music stores.
    A good ensemble musician understands what the conductor expects musically from the ensemble. Dynamics, articulations and phrasing are all critical to fine ensemble playing. Since the contrabass is the lower voice of the ensemble, a good listener can easily hear your voice on the bottom. If you carefully play your musical line in the manner that the conductor wants, the ensemble will be able to build from your foundation. If you are inattentive to the musical nuances of your part, the ensemble will suffer.
    Every year there are more opportunities for the contrabass flute. During the 2010 N.F.A. convention, there was a low flute workshop, a low flute reading session, and a concert that included a premiere of an exciting new extended work for low flutes, Voices From the Deep  by Alexandra Molnar-Suhajda. This wonderful new piece is scored for alto flutes 1, 2 and 3, bass flutes 1 and 2, contrabass flute and optional sub contrabass flute in G, and/or double contrabass flute.      

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Oberlin
    When it was time to choose a college, Barth did what most high school seniors do. “I auditioned at a bunch of schools and took short lessons with each of the teachers. My lesson with Michel Debost at Oberlin was wonderful. I knew that he would be good for me.” She chose Oberlin, although she had some reservations about coming from New York to such a small community. “From day one there it was fabulous. Debost was a wonderful teacher, and I learned so much from him. The amount of motion that I had in my embouchure was a problem, and we really worked to correct that. He brings such an awareness to every note that a person plays. Every note that I play, I hope, has intention, from when I am alone in a practice room playing long tones to when I am on stage in a performance, I want every note to count. When I was in high school, I practiced six hours a day. It was valuable I’m sure, but I didn’t have the same intention and focus that I gained when I first started studying with Debost.
    “At the first lesson he asked, ‘How much do you practice a day?’ I said about six hours, and he responded, ‘Don’t practice a minute more than four hours.’ Here I was at my first lesson at Oberlin, and he told me to practice less. His point was that you can get just as much done in less time, and you should use that time to do school work, have a life, and get to know people, all important parts of the music business as well.
    “He taught his flutists to play fundamentals often. His Scale Game is something I do to this day, and I have my students do it as well. His four-hour regimen for practice is an hour for fundamentals, an hour on etudes, an hour of orchestral excerpts and chamber music, and an hour for solos. That is sort of how I divide my day.

eighth blackbird
    In 1996, Oberlin also became the birthplace of eighth blackbird – a chamber ensemble of six members that commissions and records new works from such eminent composers as Steve Reich, George Perle, Frederic Rzewski, and Joseph Schwantner, as well as works from a younger generation, Jennifer Higdon, Stephen Hartke, Derek Bermel, David Schober, Daniel Kellogg, and Carlos Sánchez-Gutiérrez. The group’s name comes from the Wallace Stevens poem “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird.” The eighth stanza reads:

    I know noble accents
    And lucid, inescapable rhythms;
    But I know, too,
    That the blackbird is involved
    In what I know.

    “Tim Weiss put us together. We were all in his Contemporary Music Ensemble, and he wanted us to form a group that would rehearse more frequently than the C.M.E.. We met at 7:30 in the morning and 10 at night. It took a little time to morph into the six members that eventually became eighth blackbird, but then we took off. We won the Fischoff Competition in 1996. We had not intended to stay together at that point; we just thought it would be fun to enter a competition. After we won, which was in May right after school let out, our percussionist was going off to Yale to graduate school. We thought, ‘That was fun, but we are done.’
    “However, the judges encouraged us to continue as an ensemble. So we got together at a dive of bar in Oberlin the morning that all of us were scheduled to leave on our summer journeys and decided to give the group one year and put individual plans on hold. Because the percussionist was at Yale, we met there during school holidays to rehearse. We really devoted ourselves to developing as a group that year. We put a concert tour together for the following summer.”
    Barth stayed with eighth blackbird for ten years, during which they recorded four C.D.s, one of which won the 2008 Grammy for Best Chamber Music Perfor­mance. They won the 2000 Naum­burg Chamber Music Award, first prize at the 1998 Concert Artists Guild International Competition, and CMA/ASCAP Awards for Adventurous Programming in 1998, 2000, and 2002.
    “I resigned in 2006. I am very happy that they have continued their ambitions to tour more every year, but I did not want that life. They are currently on the road about nine months of the year. I wanted a bit more balance and stability in my life, to be there for my husband and to have a family. (I now have a one-year-old son.) I also wanted to pursue many musical interests. I love playing in orchestras as well as playing more traditional chamber music.
    “A catalyst for the change occurred when I won an audition for the Cincinnati Symphony in March 2006, although I did not ultimately get the job when I went there for a trial week. I was so excited about the opportunity, that even though it was not carried to fruition, I realized I wanted to resign from eighth blackbird. I had talked about it with the other members of the group before, but I knew I couldn’t stay in that job while looking for another one.”
    The group auditioned a handful of people that they thought might be a good fit and chose Australian flutist Tim Monroe, who also went to Oberlin, although after the group members had graduated. “I think Oberlin had something to do with how well he has worked out, just by virtue of the common background they all share. It is fun to see their success continue, and I haven’t regretted the decision to leave the group for a moment.”
Her decision to leave had been made, but she had no real idea of where she was going. She and her husband, percussionist Phillip Patti, sold their house but had made no plans about where they would move. “Although my husband is a percussionist, he is also passionate about the wine industry, so he wrote letters to people all over the country saying that he wanted to work for them during their grape harvests. The first company that answered was Amity Vineyards in Oregon, so that is where we went. 
    “It was mid-July when he found the job. We had both given up good jobs to move across the country so he could take a job for $10 an hour for three months. I wrote to everyone I could think of, and Nancy Andrew replied with the information that there was an opening at Willamette University. The flute teacher there had decided to move to New York, and Willamette needed a flute teacher before September. It was an adjunct position, but I flew out there to interview, found  a little house, and also interviewed for a job at a health food store, just in case.”
    She did get the position at Willamette and held it for two years while her husband got a degree in vineyard management and worked managing biodynamic and organic sustainable vineyards. Then the job at University of Oregon opened up.
    She applied for the position and got it, and is now starting her third year there. In that time she has started a new music project called Beta Collide. “I founded it with trumpeter Brian McWhorter. In every concert we combine new improvisatory works with some of the more traditional contemporary music, and we usually pair a concert with something like a visual artist, dancers, and even twice with a theoretical physicist. We have played in traditional concerts and clubs, mostly in the Pacific Northwest. We have plans this year to travel to Korea and New York, and we just released our first C.D. through Innova records, titled psst…PSST!”

Teaching
     Barth credits the influence of Debost as well as Brad Garner, Randy Bowman, and Mary Stolper with shaping her teaching style. "“Preparing effectively for a first rehearsal is very important. I learned that from Michel Debost, and even more through eighth blackbird. To learn a score, not just your own part but also everyone else’s – before the first rehearsal. That is also true in an orchestral setting. Before the first orchestra rehearsal you have to know that score and what everyone around you is doing. This is something that I definitely teach my students. Even working with pianist, this holds true. You don’t want to waste a pianist’s time and your money by relying on the pianist to teach you the score. You need to know both parts.”
    “A week in my studio includes an hour-long lesson as well as a Flute Studio Class, which meets twice a week. Tuesdays are performance classes; I have two students play during an hour-long class in which I and other students provide feedback. That is something I got from Debost. He had students write comments to one another, but I also ask students to comment verbally. I think it is very important for students to learn to speak publicly and learn to articulate.
     “For that reason, on Thursdays my class is organized around topics relating to the Business of Music. We hold classes that address topics such as organization of press materials, public speaking, orchestral audition procedures and protocol, and the research of subjects such as alternative venues, repertoire, music-related books, competitions, effective job interviews, and developing skills to teach flute at all levels. This year I will give them questions that they have to write essays on about the meaning of music today. It makes them think about how they will fit into this challenging field, and to articulate that passion to their peers in a verbal presentation. Last year they had to choose an orchestral excerpt, perform it, and then talk about it for five minutes.
     “I have about 15 students, and I teach undergraduates, as well as master’s and doctoral candidates. Although I do not teach core music subjects such as history or theory, I have developed a class that I am teaching with an art professor this term. We are putting together a concert and lectures on subjects like synesthesia and the Dadaist movement. The culminating event will be a concert that melds art and music and will include improvisatory elements, with student musicians, electronics music majors, composers, and visual artists as the performers. I have taught a sight-reading class for music majors and a flute techniques class for the music education students. I also often coach chamber musicians. The University of Oregon is not on the radar of many prospective students, but it should be. The faculty and students here are a tremendous inspiration to me. I am extremely lucky to have landed where I am now.”

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