Bach E Major Violin Prelude of Partita No. 3

    Then, fast forward seventeen years  to December of 1962 when Woodwind World magazine published a breakthrough article by the highly respected American flutist, John Solum – Bach’s Partita for Solo Flute: Forty Years of Discovery. Solum’s conscientious research, which included a visit to the State Library in Marburg, Germany where the only existing source manuscript of the work was located, proved beyond doubt not only that its title was Partita, not Sonata, but also that it was indeed an authentic work by J.S. Bach. (Many musicologists had heretofore harbored serious reservations about the authenticity of the work.) 
    Three months later the German publisher Bärenreiter issued the first printing of the now correctly titled Joh. Seb. Bach Partita a-moll für Flöte allein, BWV 1013, but regrettably neglected to credit John Solum’s pioneering research. Solum’s Woodwind World article attracted widespread attention at the time and certainly stoked my interest again in finding an appropriate tempo range and performance style for the flute allemande movement. I decided to do an in-depth survey of all of the Bach allemandes, of which there were two for violin, six for cello, and eighteen for harpsichord, to see if I could find some parallel models to the flute
allemande.
    Having sifted through all twenty-six allemandes, the one that came closest in style to the flute allemande turned out to be the first movement of Bach’s Violin Partita No. 2 in D Minor. The similarity of the phrase structure in this violin allemande to that of the flute motivated me to embellish many of flute allemande intervals by applying the characteristic sixteenth-note triplet and thirty-second note figurations of the violin allemande. The integration of these Bachian elements into the flute allemande (but only on the repeats) thus made it even more appropriate to adopt a stylish, unhurried, yet danceable tempo (quarter note = c. 63-66). My final embellished version of the allemande is on the following pages and is the one I have played in several of my performances over the years. A three-line sample of the violin allemande from the Bach D Minor Partita is also illustrated for comparison.

Bach D Minor Partita for violin, allemande

    Meanwhile, the wide array of recordings of both the Bach D Minor Violin Partita and the A Minor Flute Partita currently available on YouTube gives musicians an unparalleled opportunity to compare many interpretations of the allemande. My current favorites among the violin partita performances are those by Maxim Vengerov, Gidon Kramer and Itzhak Perlman. Hilary Hahn’s performance is interesting for her surprisingly spacious tempo – spacious enough to allow her to vibrate on virtually every sixteenth note. Among the traverso players, Kate Clark stands out in her performance of the Allemande of the A Minor Flute Partita. 
    The culmination of my explorations into the Bach A Minor Allemande came on August 12, 2006 when I actually learned how to dance the allemande – elegantly and without hurrying. This happened at the NFA convention in Pittsburgh where Betty Bang Mather and Elizabeth Sadilek presented an illuminating lecture and demonstration on “unlocking the performance mysteries of Bach’s flute allemande through historical dance, poetic delivery, and symbolic numbers,” and guided audience members through all of the dance steps. So enthusiastically received was Betty and Elizabeth’s presentation that their recently published book, Partita in A Minor for Solo Flute BWV 1013 with Emphasis on the Allemande (Falls House Press), deservedly became a quick sell-out at the convention, and to this day it remains a valuable resource.    

Bach Partita in A Minor for Flute
Allemande
Embellished Version by Walfrid Kujala

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    First, I would splurge and finally purchase the hardcover 1958 edition of the Methode Complete de Flute by Taffanel and Gaubert. I would do bits and bites of this each day, followed by some Marcel Moyse: 24 Little Studies with Variations, 25 Melodic Etudes, De la Sonorite, Studies and Technical Exercises, etc. I would choose this regimen to improve my coordination, intonation, breathing, tone, flexibility, and technique: no deadlines, no final exams, just for the pure joy of maintaining and improving my playing. I would spend about 20 minutes in this area.
    Next, I would treat myself to some etudes: Andersen Opus 15 and 63, with chasers of Berbiguier and Altes. I would renew my acquaintance with Jeanjean and Casterede and throw in some Piazzolla and Mike Mower to mix it up a bit. Etudes are a lovely way to play soaring melodies, find hidden inner parts, emphasize bass lines, and practice playing arpeggios, scales, and large intervals. My fondness for etudes began when I studied with Bernard Goldberg who was a student of Marcel Moyse. He taught me how to look for the melodies and to color my sound to make the phrases sing. He showed me how to come to a peak in the precise place, move the line through time, and make the player and the listener one with the music by respecting the composer’s wishes. Etude playing with him was never reduced to the “higher, louder, faster” category. They were to be savored and cherished. The player was to seek myriad colors and expression and bring out the inherent melodies and harmonies. This segment of my extra hour would encompass an additional 20 minutes.
    Finally, for the remaining 20 minutes in my dream extra hour, I would indulge and luxuriate in playing what I consider the world’s most glorious flute music: Poulenc, Faure, Bach, Mozart, Debussy, Prokofiev, Taktakishvili (2nd mvt), Martinu, Handel, Telemann, Flute Music by French Composers, Burton, Reinecke, Hanson, Widor, Mouquet, Rutter, and more. I also would pamper myself by playing great melodies from all genres, especially Beatles’ tunes (Yesterday, Hey Jude, Eleanor Rigby, Michele, and If I Fell), old Rolling Stones (Ruby Tuesday, As Tears Go By), Simon and Garfunkel, Peter, Paul, and Mary,  Mamas and Papas, and so forth. Moyse’s Tone Development Through Interpretation opera melodies also would show up regularly.
    I would end each session with the random tunes that stuck in my brain. These include Windmills of Your Mind, I’ll Never Find Another You, Theme from A Summer Place, Ralph Manuel’s Alleluia, Somewhere Over the Rainbow, What a Wonderful World, Young at Heart, Moon River, and King of the Road, plus songs from old Broadway Musicals including Sound of Music, My Fair Lady, Mary Poppins, Oklahoma, West Side Story, and The Music Man. This list is without end. . .
    This was a lot of fun. I encourage everyone to try this. After all of this dreaming and contemplating, I now am considering getting up an hour earlier each day!

The post An Extra Hour appeared first on The Instrumentalist.

    Editor’s note: Hotteterre’s birth and death dates cannot be verified. Paul Marshall Douglas, the translator of his Rudiments book writes, “He died, according to most authorities, in 1760 or 1761, his birth date remaining to this day a matter of speculation.”

The post Jacques-Martin Hotteterre (1674-1761) appeared first on The Instrumentalist.

There is no such thing as first chair.
    First chair is an illusion. You are never truly any better or worse than any other musician. All musicians are  unique and have their own strengths and weaknesses. There is more than enough room for everyone.
    That being understood, healthy competition is one of the most valuable opportunities for musical growth available today. The preparation for and execution of a competition will sharpen all levels of your musicianship. Allow yourself these growing experiences as often as possible. The process is just as valuable as the winning.
    I have met many performers who struggle (or have struggled) with arrogance or insecurity. This is a self-sabotaging continuum for an artist. Remove all forms of arrogance and insecurity from your music making. Regardless of current roles, profession, or relationships, we are all in this together. Determined as I am to be the best at what I do, I am equally determined to enjoy the process. Make every attempt to have the time of your life while competing.

Nobody picks you until you pick yourself.
    Stop waiting. Stop dreaming. Stop wishing for a sudden magical discovery of your talent. Go to the practice room. Look in the mirror. Decide right now that you are 100% awesome. Speak this truth aloud to yourself. Believe wholeheartedly in yourself. Let go of anything that hinders you. Play incredible music right now. Your belief in your own greatness is fundamental to success. Understanding your true value will transform your musical career. Intentionally select the best thoughts possible. Pay attention to both your external environment and internal intuition. If you want others to believe in your success, you must first believe in it.

Your performance of music is a gift.
    Paula Robison once said, “It is your responsibility every time you breathe into your instrument to make the world a better place.” I completely agree. Perform as much as possible. Always be on the lookout for ways to connect with audiences. Take auditions. Give recitals. Record albums. Your audience may have heard a standard repertoire piece billions of times, but they have never heard you play it. Be original. You are the only one who can offer your unique gifts to the world.
    Demonstrate extreme gratitude and kindness in all situations. People may not remember what you played, but they will always remember how they felt while you played and interacted with them.

Style is everything in music.
    Your message and the inflection with which you deliver it are equally important. Develop a unique sense of musical fashion, a unique voice. Tone, timbre, and phrasing affect all aspects of your performance. Consciously choose how you will play each note. Consider that as a performer you are in a partnership with the composer – their musical ideas and your interpretation. In some instances, a wrong note executed with grace and style can be more welcome than a stale correct note. Be fascinating and tell a story through your music to captivate the  audience.

If you want to be a great musician, first listen to great music.
    Listening is a direct pathway to musical proficiency. Attend concerts. Consume masterful recordings. There is no substitute. Let the renowned musical masters of the past and present inspire you. Listen to soloists of your own instrument or genre, but also listen to performers of all musical mediums. Constantly expand your music library playlists to include new and diverse sounds. Listen to music that makes you feel alive.
    People learn by copying. We are by nature creatures of imitation. It is not possible to make a perfect copy of anything, so in this imitative process you will always be adding your unique flavor to the piece.

Music is a language. Learn to read, write, listen and speak it.
    To most effectively and efficiently communicate in a language, you should be able to read, write, listen and speak it. All four components significantly influence each other. A great deal of time in classrooms today is spent teaching music reading. This is a essential skill, but imagine your overall competency in a language if you could only read it but not speak or write using it.
    Understanding music theory increases sightreading skill. The moment students learn to improvise, their music reading skills improve. This is the magic formula that is missing from so many music education classrooms. I often share with flute students short, fun, improvisational games before teaching them to read music. 
    Music improvisation, at its most basic level, is not that different than the imagination of a child on a playground. Make up sounds. Imagine stories. We are all born creative geniuses. Jazz is a wonderful expression of musical improvisation, but it is not the only one. Improv can be an exciting addition to your personal practice and performance. Many of the greatest composers like Bach, Beethoven and Mozart, were known for their improvisational abilities.

Sing and play. 
    Singing and instrumental music are two sides of the same coin. To be a well-rounded musician you should explore both skill sets. Instrumentalists learn a great deal about music when they sing, and singers experience a greater understanding of the piece when they are able to produce the sounds on an instrument. I encourage instrumentalists to take advantage of sightsinging and ear training as well as opportunities to sing solo or in a choir.

Learning and education are not the same.
    Education is the responsibility of the teacher and school to create an environment where information is presented effectively. Learning is the responsibility of the student to absorb the information. This is a two-way street. There are many highly educated people who have not learned very much, and there are many people who have learned a great deal without much formal education. Take responsibility for your own learning and seek beneficial educational environments.
    Take an Alice in Wonderland approach. Be curious about everything. Look things up. Research pieces and composers. Ask powerful questions. Wonder. Be prepared in all settings. Remember that from day one of your career in music, someone is always listening.
    Realize that at whatever level you currently are, you do not already know everything there is to know. Be receptive and teachable. Make a conscious choice that you will be a lifelong learner. Open your mind, body, and heart to new experiences. 

Take care of your body.
    Eat, move and breathe consciously. These are fundamental components to musicianship. Your body is part of your instrument. Eat well and drink plenty of water. Include physical activity as a part of your daily routine. I love running, walking, yoga, cross-training, dance and kick-boxing. Include stretching, especially on long practice days to keep your body flexible. Be sure to get enough sleep. Attention to your general health as well as learning proper performance posture can also prevent potentially devastating injuries, especially given the repetitive motions musicians must make. 
    Playing a wind instrument or singing requires advanced breathing techniques. Breath is also intrinsically tied to human emotions. Slow, calm breathing engages the parasympathetic nervous system encouraging a relaxed, peaceful experience. Fear or anxiety induces short quick bursts of air, which can lead to a fight, flight or freeze response. The lengthening of breath can instantly allow the physical body to override perceived fear. 

Be intentional with practice time.
    Daily practice should have clear and reasonable goals. Practice in short blocks of time as frequently as possible to ensure both mind and body are fully engaged. Focus your attention and keep track of your progress. Be intelligent and kind to yourself when practicing. Notice errors and quickly fix them. No matter how talented you are, never rely on talent alone. Visualize your victory, then work hard to meet your goals.
    Music may very well be an extension of the soul, a portal to connect with emotion, but the process of learning music is a technical skill, an articulation of fine motor skills and coordination. This requires focused discipline, effort, and the proper tools. Start slowly, find the patterns, and work toward perfection. You should also have a pencil, tuner and a recording device handy. When frustration sneaks into your practice room, chase it out, and change things up. Instead of blasting through it, which rarely works, think of a new way to approach a problem. Adjust your speed, articulation, octave, or isolate a smaller group of notes. It is absolutely essential to stay in a positive frame of mind while practicing, and have as much fun as possible in the process. Accept that at times you will make mistakes. Learn from them and quickly move on.
    After mastering a new piece or skill, celebrate and evaluate what you have learned. This locks in your learning. Oprah Winfrey says, “The more you praise and celebrate your life, the more there is in life to celebrate.” After a successful day of practicing, reward yourself. You have earned it!

Explore new music technology.
    Keep up to date with technology that can help you. I have witnessed the development of Pandora, SmartMusic, Facebook, Napster, Myspace, Shazam, YouTube, TonalEnergy, metronome and tuner apps, virtual choirs, worldwide high-definition opera in theater performances, Kickstarter, TuneCore, CD Baby, iPad, iPhone, GarageBand, Signify, Dubsmash, Finale, and many others.

Observe others learning.
    Private music instruction from a master teacher designed specifically for one student is valuable. However, it can be challenging to absorb information during an individual lesson. You may be so busy thinking about what you are going to play next that you gloss over listening to what the teacher is really saying. It is wonderful when a student has the opportunity to take a lesson and observe a lesson.
    I encourage my students to arrive early or stay late to watch other lessons. A side benefit of having students observe each other is that the student in the lesson gains experience playing in front of others. Recording weekly lessons to watch later can also be helpful.

Create an inspiring, distraction-free practice space.
    To get the most out of your practice time, design a space that will both remind and inspire you to practice. It should be beautiful and relatively free of distraction. Decorate the walls or music stand. Find an innovative way to express your unique style. Make it a place where you love to play.
    In my studio, I have designed a blue, grey and purple wall near a window with natural light and four flourishing green plants. I have placed three magical tools nearby to inspire me: Thor’s hammer, Dumbledore’s Elder wand, and a Leonardo da Vinci collector’s book. When I am in this space, I feel centered, clear, and motivated.
    Turn off texting, social media, telephones, television and any other form of distraction. While I enjoy our current level of technology and its ever advancing capabilities, I am grateful that I did not grow up with them. Spend time off the grid each day, outside of your practice time. Walk outside. Play a game. A 24/7 connection to technology is not healthy. Allow your mind time to reset.

Remove complaining from your professional musical career.
    Make a conscious choice right now to remove negative thinking from your life. When people begin to complain around you, steer the conversation in another direction, leave, or take action to fix the problem. Complain-ing will rarely serve your performance well. A mental framework set on success will enable you to achieve much more. This also affects how people perceive you as well.

Keep studying in the summer.
    Younger music students who continue to take lessons over summer break make significantly more progress than those who do not. With no school work to interfere, summer offers extra time for practice and lessons, and students generally progress at an exponentially faster rate. It is also the best time to attend a music festival, camp or masterclass. As a child, I attended a summer band camp at Florida State University, a summer flute camp at the University of Central Florida, and Canon Summer Music Camp at Appalachian State University in North Carolina. These experiences reinforced the musical concepts I learned with my teachers and provided three fantastic adventures filled with new music friends and incredible opportunities. As an adult I am drawn to events like the National Flute Association convention where there are many opportunities to learn and collaborae with other artists.
    Even periodic summer instruction is worth its’ weight in gold. My studio has the option of a few summer video lessons to build consistency during summer travels, or students can electronically send in recordings of their pieces. With current advances in musical technology, a high-quality music education is becoming increasingly more accessible. While sometimes a short break away may be necessary to stay fresh, long breaks in study tend to impede progress.

Play music you truly love.
    When choosing music for a recital or special function, if you have a choice, select music that you love playing. Perform with other musicians whose work you truly adore. You should feel fun, clear, and centered when you are playing. Like children on a playground, jump and skip through your notes. Enjoy them. The audience will appreciate your love of the music you are playing. Decide which kind of music you want to specialize in. I absolutely love to watch James Galway play the flute, not just because of his tone and technical mastery, but because I see how much he loves playing every single note.
    Students who have not yet reached the place in their musicianship where they know what they truly love to play can benefit from the advice of a wise teacher. Be open to honest discussions with your teacher on the pieces you want to learn. It is also importation to learn pieces that show off your skills, and music that develops new skills.

A dynamic student-teacher partnership is essential for success.
    Find a music instructor to light the pathway on your musical journey. There are three main qualities that I suggest you search for in a prospective teacher. The first and foremost quality of a great teacher is that they are friendly and encouraging and genuinely want to offer their wisdom. Not that every moment of every lesson is entirely fun, but in general the teacher is should inspire you. A good teacher also will care about your success and growth. The teacher should also be knowledgeable enough to lead you where you want to go and be able to explain ideas in a way you will understand. When you have found a music teacher you truly want to learn from, move heaven and earth to study with him or her. Make the effort to travel for lessons or connect through the internet if the teacher is not in your area. I have studied flute with Linda Votapka, Ruth Gudeman, Karen Adrian, Judy Pierce and Shauna Thompson. To this day I am beyond amazed at the depth of their knowledge and generosity in sharing with me.

The post Lifelong Learning appeared first on The Instrumentalist.

Warmup
    Most musicians have a perfect warmup routine that they intend to do daily. Unfortunately, things happen and no day offers the luxury to do everything as planned. Take a look at your warmup routine. Ask what is really necessary to keep your playing topnotch. Make a new list. Then with the things that remain look for ways to practice them in a different way. For example, scales are usually played ascending and then descending. Have you ever played them descending and then ascending? This is an excellent exercise to work on changing the air speed from a faster to slower and then faster again. This idea works well on thirds, sixths, arpeggios, and seventh chords. Make a template of tempos, dynamics, and articulation patterns, so each day offers a new challenge. Or pick a composer and play the material in the style of that composer. It is a challenge to play like Mozart one day and Wagner the next.

Etudes
    Find a new etude book. Denis Bouriakov, principal flute in the Los Angeles Philharmonic, suggested in his July/August Flute Talk interview that he likes the Etudes de Concert by Vladimir Tsybin (1877-1949). Tsybin, who is considered to be the founder of the Russian flute school, taught at the Moscow Conservatory between 1923 and 1949. These challenging etudes for flute and piano may be downloaded for free at . Every three years in Moscow there is a flute competition that bears Tsybin’s name.
    Borrow some etudes from other instruments, such as the 48 Studies for Oboe, Op. 31 by Franz Wilhelm Ferling (1796-1874). They were published in 1837 and written in a Romantic style. The etudes are paired by tempo and alternate between fast and slow. The slow etudes offer challenges in counting in a subdivided manner. Ferling was a German oboist, composer and clarinetist. Saxophone players have borrowed these works for years with great success, and they work well on the flute too.

Beginning Book or Treatise
    Start at the beginning of the book pretending you are playing these exercises for the first time. Try to play as well as you can paying special attention to the attacks and releases of the notes. Read all of the instructions carefully and apply them in your practice. Use the tuner and try to keep the needle still.

Solo Repertoire
    Select music for a 30-minute program to present at a senior citizen center. A suggested program could include one of the twelve Telemann Fantasies for Flute or, if you have played these too much, consider transcribing one of his Twelve Fantasies for Violin (1735). These works are strong musically and offer opportunities to work on lyric playing, ornamentation and playing fast movements in a dance style with some two-part voicings.
    Another choice might be the Sonata in C for flute and piano by Italian opera composer Gaetano Donizetti (1797-1848). This work is also known as the Concertino for flute and orchestra. It is a wonderfully lyric work with delightful interchanges between flute and piano. Audiences love this work for its melodies, drama, and light-hearted allegro.
    To round out the half-hour program select some show tunes from the 1930s to 1950s. Residents in senior assisted living facilities will enjoy the music of their youths, and this will provide an excellent finish to your presentation. Make the transcriptions yourself and don’t forget to consider changing from C flute to piccolo, alto or bass flute. Playing classical arias and popular songs are excellent works for work on tone, color and phrasing.
    Commit to presenting this concert at several locations. The tour will invigorate you as well as entertain others. Since the holiday season is just around the corner, you might select a program of holiday favorites. Everyone likes a good sing-a-long.

Start an Ensemble
    This could be anything from a flute duo or flute choir to a mixed group of instrumentalists. Playing with others is social as well as educational. For duos, practice warmup material as well as etudes. Ping pong practice, where you play four notes of a scale and the other player answers back with the next four notes, will help with sound, timing and intonation. Another option is to join an existing ensemble such as a community band or orchestra. Playing repertoire from another genre will broaden your horizons.

Playing with the Famous
    Pick a composition you love and play it with as many different artists on CDs as you can. Don’t stick with flute players. Play Camille Saint-Saëns’ The Swan with a cello YouTube video to learn how string players use the bow. This may give you new ideas about how to use your air or vibrato.
     Select a favorite Baroque, Classical or Romantic symphony and download the first flute part from . Pretend you are principal flute and play along with the recording. Start with Mozart Symphonies Nos. 39, 40, and 41 before moving on to the nine Beethoven symphonies. Not only is this some of the most glorious music in the world, but by playing along with various flutists you can study why they made their musical phrasing choices. Flutists preparing for auditions do this type of practice. It really works and is also quite entertaining.

Practice in a Different Location
    Most people tend to practice in the same location day after day. Changing to another venue, whether larger or smaller, has its benefits. Also, if you practice in a room with carpeting, drapes and upholstered furniture, playing in a space with more echo may help open your sound because you will hear more ring. A room with a good view is necessary for me to have a creative practice time. A room without windows offers no inspiration at all.

Go to a Concert
    Go to a concert of a different genre than flute such as a voice or piano recital, musical comedy, or ballet.  Look and listen for how this genre relates to playing the flute. Perhaps the grace of a ballerina will inspire seamless octave slurs, or watching an ice skater calculate time before a jump or triple axel will teach you something about timing. No art is created in a vacuum, so try something new.

Equipment
    Vary what you play on. Switch to your old flute or use a different headjoint. Exchange the crowns from one flute to another for a difference in response and tone color. Warm up on an alto or bass flute rather than the C flute for a different feel.

Take a Trip
    Go to a regional or national flute convention or flute fair. Attend workshops and listen to other performers to discover new ideas to include in your playing and teaching. Go to a specialty flute store to try flutes and look at the sheet music, books, and new accessories. Talk to the staff about what is going on in the flute world.

    Exploring new ideas, locations, music, and sounds will help jolt your playing out of the boring sameness that can come in late fall. Send your ideas to get rid of the fall flute blahs, to editor@flutetalkmagazine.com.     

* * *

In the Studio

    In addition to the other ideas mentioned above that can benefit both teachers and students, try the following suggestions at lessons to keep students interested and engaged.
•    Start lessons by playing a duet with students. Duets are a fun first step for students to learn how to play in an ensemble. 
•    If you have a collection of crowns, let students try each one on their headjoint. The lesson will turn into one of listening for timbre and calculating the response.
•    Have students play part of the lesson on the piccolo, alto, bass or contra.
•    Have two or more students come at the same time for a longer lesson. You can do a scale game, play trios/quartets and ear training games. There are also orchestral excerpt books that are written in a quartet format with one person playing solo and the others playing the accompaniment. Learning the accompaniment makes playing the solo easier, and students will have a greater understanding of the work as well.
•    If you play the piano, have a lesson where you and the student sightread simple flute and piano compositions.

The post The Fall Slump appeared first on The Instrumentalist.

Answer: For those who have had braces, you may have been taught by the orthodontist that you have two jaws – the upper jaw and the lower jaw. The upper jaw moves with your skull, so you can also think of this as the upper teeth. The skull balances on the spine so the lower jaw is the easier bone to move to take a breath
    From a freedom of movement perspective, I advocate moving the jaw because it creates less tension than moving the skull back. The jaw hangs off of the skull and is very mobile. The flute rests against the chin which is also part of the jaw. Permitting the lower jaw to open and allowing air to enter the mouth is the fastest way to get a quiet breath. The mouth should open just enough to get a decent breath quickly, but not enough to place tension in the neck muscles.
    If you choose to stabilize your jaw against the flute and move your skull back when you take a breath, strain is placed on the muscles at the back of the neck and skull and in the front of the neck. The backward movement of the skull can also put strain on the upper back muscles which makes it harder to move the arms and fingers.
    This movement also seems to cause students to bring their head to the flute rather than bringing the flute to the head. Many teachers call this turtlenecking and don’t want their students to do this.
    It can also cause tension in the tongue, the front of the throat, and the front of neck, which makes it more challenging to breathe in a longer passage. Have you ever noticed that your first breath felt easier than the following ones? Your teacher may also tell you to open your throat because of noises you may be making when you breathe.
    All in all, it is a much easier movement to keep the skull free and easily balanced on the spine, and then permit the jaw to move and allow air to come rushing in.

Try This:
    Experiment with a long tone exercise. As you need a breath, take the time to permit your jaw to open and the air to rush in. Notice what your tongue is doing when you inhale. Make sure you are letting your tongue be very free and easy. Many wind players move their tongue back, as if they are trying to inhale their tongue along with the air. Let your tongue be and permit easy movement of the jaw. Notice the ease with which you can get a quiet, full breath.   

The post Moving the Jaw appeared first on The Instrumentalist.

   Katherine Hoover, composer, flutist, and poet, is the recipient of a National Endowment Composers Fellowship and many other awards and commissions, including the prestigious Academy of Arts and Letters 1994 Academy Composition Award, and a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Flute Association. Her works for orchestra, chamber groups, and soloists have been widely recorded and published by Theodore Presser and Papagena Press.  Her Kokopeli for solo flute has sold over 12,000 copies and been performed world-wide. Her flute concerto, Four Winds, was premiered by Mark Sparks at the NFA convention in 2014. Her Requiem for the Innocent was recently recorded and presented by the New York Virtuoso Singers, with brass, organ and percussion at New York’s famed Trinity Church. As a flutist she has given concerto performances at Lincoln Center and performed with leading ballet and opera companies in all of New York’s major halls. She has played numerous recitals, live and on radio and television, and recorded solo and chamber repertoire for Arabesque, Leonarda, CRI, Grenadilla, and Opus One. She has taught flute in the Juilliard Preparatory Department.

  

photo by Alexander George

    Composer/pianist Carter Pann has written for and worked with musicians around the world including the London Symphony and City of Birmingham Symphony, the Tchaikovsky Symphony in Moscow, many Radio Symphonies around Europe, the Seattle Symphony, National Repertory Orchestra, and countless wind ensembles. He has written for Richard Stoltzman, the Takács Quartet, Antares Ensemble, the Capitol Saxophone Quartet, the West Coast Wind Quintet, the River Oaks Chamber Orchestra and many concert pianists. Pann has received a Charles Ives Fellowship, a Masterprize seat in London and five ASCAP awards over the years. His numerous albums encompass solo, vocal, chamber, orchestral and wind music and have received two Grammy nominations to date. In 2016 he was a Pulitzer Prize Finalist in Music. He lives and teaches in Boulder, Colorado.
    Last summer, these three celebrated composers, whose notable works for flute continue to grow in popularity, shared their thoughts in a conference call. All three are active composers, but their professional journeys have taken different and fascinating trajectories.

All three of you began your musical lives as performers. How did this affect your craft as composers?

Katherine Hoover: I started as a flutist when I was quite young, and then I started to compose a bit later. Back in the 1950s and 60s, things were not the same as they are today. Women were not expected to compose. Even when I enrolled in a composition course at the Eastman School of Music, I was the only woman, and the teacher never bothered to look at my work. The other thing was that the flute repertoire was really quite limited back then, and there was a prescribed set of pieces we all learned. In the end, the person who taught me the most about music and about composing was William Kincaid. He gave me many of the basic skills that are still with me every day. I began to write for myself and my friends in my late 20s, and the minute I got to putting pen to paper, I realized that I was never going to leave that, and I am still writing now.

Jennifer Higdon: I started playing the flute in high school. I was self-taught and joined the high school band. I decided to major in music and went off to Bowling Green State University to study with Judith Bentley who was the most incredible teacher. She studied with William Kincaid, too. There is a real connection here to Kincaid.
    I was a flute performance major, but Mrs. Bentley was also one of the most astounding composition teachers I have ever had. I still think of her as probably my most influential teacher, and she had the greatest effect on my composing – and that is quite a tribute because I also studied with Ned Rorem and George Crumb. Those flute lessons taught me so much. Every day when I write, and I do write pretty much every day, I think about things that she said. I think she could probably teach anything.
    I was a late starter for composition as well, starting in the middle of my undergraduate years. Judith Bentley was the first person to ask me to write something. Many years after finishing school, composing just kind of took over. As commissions started coming in, I began playing the flute less and less. I often make the joke that my flute license has been revoked because I haven’t been playing for the past 12 or 13 years. I still love the instrument, however, and use it a lot in all my orchestra pieces. I am scheduled to write a new work for the National Flute Association in a few years.

Carter Pann: That sounds so familiar to me, but switch the instrument to piano. I grew up in a suburb of Chicago. I went through high school and did some sports, but really the carrot in front of me was the canon of ultra-famous pieces for piano from the past. I wanted to be a pianist, and as I grew and my hands grew, I really started hitting the big repertoire and practicing confidently.
    My private teacher in high school was pianist Emilio del Rosario. He may be my greatest mentor, period. That, again, is over William Bolcom and all of these other big names you have heard of. Emilio could have taught anything. He knew music like I never thought anybody could, in detail. He would say to me, “You could write your own impromptu. Have you tried that?” From my childhood, I was an artist and loved to draw. It was that tactile love that got me interested in trying out some things on staff paper very early on. These were little piano ditties, like music box pieces, to play or show off to my friends. I remember they happened to all be in C minor – I don’t know what that’s about. 
    I attended Eastman and double majored in piano and composition. I had a great piano teacher, Barry Snyder, who was incredibly influential on my composing. I also studied with composer Sam Adler in my first year at Eastman. This man somehow knew my thoughts. He was very sage and such an inspiration.

How did particular musicians, opportunities, or even lack of opportunities contribute to the inspiration behind your writing? What are other sources of inspiration?

Katherine Hoover: I started writing for the flute because it was the instrument I knew best. I submitted a piece to a contest for a local flute club, and they liked it. The flute community was wonderful and always wanted interesting new pieces. Obviously, I have branched out quite a bit from there, but that was the backbone of being known and my work being accepted for years.
    The first big piece I wrote was Homage to Bartók (1975) for our wind quintet The Windbag, and the one that made my reputation was Kokopeli, op. 43 (1990) which has now sold 12,000 copies. I have ten pieces, more than anyone else, that have won the NFA’s Newly Published Music Competition. I have stuck with flutists because they have stuck with me!

Jennifer Higdon: I first wrote for flute because my friends were flutists, and we played in flute choirs together. They were the people who were asking me for music. I am so thankful that I played an instrument. When composing, I seriously consider what it is like to be on the other side of the music stand and what performers are experiencing as they look at the page. My earliest successes were because flute players were so enthusiastic about new music.
    In June 2002, the Philadelphia Orchestra premiered my Concerto for Orchestra, which had been commissioned in 1998, to celebrate the orchestra’s centennial in the newly built Kimmel Center. My life started to change almost overnight after that premiere, and I only played flute for a couple more years. I could tell that composition was the direction my life was supposed to go, and it felt like putting on an extremely comfortable pair of shoes. I was never aware that composers could have one concert that would actually change their lives. I had heard of that with conductors and performers, but never with a composer. It was completely terrifying.

Carter Pann: You had a Bernstein moment!

Jennifer Higdon: Leonard Bernstein was exactly the person I thought of when it happened. I teach at the Curtis Institute of Music, and Bernstein went to Curtis. We are all very aware that he had that New York Phil moment. It was shocking and fairly scary how quickly everything changed. There was no one I could ask, “How do I handle this?” “What happens now?” I am lucky it all turned out well because it could have gone the other way that night and ended my composing career.
    When the Philadelphia Orchestra commissioned the work, they did not know my piece would be programmed on the lead concert, which was the opening concert for a conference they hosted for the League of American Orchestras. Perhaps they heard the Curtis Orchestra perform the premiere of my piece Blue Cathedral (2000) right before that, and it gave them faith to program the Concerto for Orchestra on that particular concert. This meant that the world premiere was in front of about 3,500 orchestra managers. It was a very gutsy move because I was the only composer who was a complete unknown. My piece was the first half of the concert, and Richard Strauss’ Ein Heldenleben was the second half. It worked to my advantage that I was unknown, because expectations were not high. 
    They had asked for a 35-minute work using all the forces of the orchestra. Because I was local, there were a lot of other composers around town who were wondering how I got this commission, and I was wondering the same thing. I took a long time to write the piece because I thought it might be the only time I got a chance to write a big piece for a big orchestra. Now I kind of laugh about that, but at the time I had no idea.

Carter Pann: I am going to echo what Jennifer said about the enthusiasm that flutists possess for new music. It is funny to be in conversation with three flute players here – flute works are by far the pieces that took me into composition the most.
    Bonnie Boyd is the flutist on faculty at Eastman, and when I was in school, she had a huge flute studio – one of those incredibly deep benches of students who were all approachable and enthusiastic. The composition department was rather large at that point as well. I called them the seven astronauts: Samuel Adler, Warren Benson, David Liptak, Robert Morris, Christopher Rouse, Allan Schindler, and Joseph Schwantner. It was a great fusion for me as a student and really fertile ground for me to start composing, especially for flute.
    At a very early age, I shed all of my trepidation about sounding derivative. I wanted music to be free-flowing out of me, but obviously crafted and honed. I wasn’t trying and I’m still not trying to break new trails, and I wasn’t trying to scammer around trying to find a voice. Somebody gave me the freedom, or at least I felt it, to think “if you’re going to write a Dixieland rag, do it, and let’s go all the way with it.”

Katherine Hoover: I agree with you.

Jennifer Higdon: Yeah. You’re right, absolutely.

Carter Pann: I wanted to write minuets like Maurice Ravel. This is coming from a pianist’s perspective as well. Now, I feel an appreciation that I might not have had if I started writing like Morton Feldman at the age of 21, or doing something extremely didactic that is a remnant of the 50s. I get slashed a little bit for that, “This is whipped cream; all this kid writes is whipped cream,” but I don’t place any stylistic constraints on myself at all.

Jennifer Higdon: Do you think it is because we started out playing an instrument? I sometimes wonder if people who started out playing an instrument approach their musical language in a different way.

Carter Pann: Oh absolutely. I gravitate towards certain composers over others. I got into the flute world to the degree that I did partly to get away from the piano, and the flute was my first escape. What about you? You probably didn’t grow up on Chopin preludes?

Jennifer Higdon: Yes, I listened to rock and roll. My dad was an artist who worked from home, so I did not grow up around classical music. I often think that probably means that my brain is wired to make musical changes at a different speed. What a composer hears when they are growing up is kind of their entire sound world as they go through life. This also meant that I had to do a lot of catching up on standard repertoire too. My childhood was filled with music that is quite different than the world I work in now. I feel like in some way that has to have filtered through.

Carter Pann: You bring up a great point. My parents were hitting the Beatles and classic rock all the time, and that is why I am such a Steely Dan junky.

Jennifer Higdon: Yes, the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Bob Marley, and early reggae. And I listened to all of the late 60s folk rock like Peter, Paul and Mary.

Katherine Hoover: The pop music of my time was Frank Sinatra, Nat King Cole, and Ella [Fitzgerald].

Jennifer Higdon: I am listening to that now!

Katherine Hoover: Big bands and all of that – I grew up listening to anything and everything, especially at night when I was supposed to be asleep. I also listened to all of the classical music I possibly could – I was just a hound for that.
    In the 1970s, a number of women composers began to meet each other and get together. In 1977 I began work with the Women’s Inter-Art Center in New York and organized Festivals I through IV of Women’s Music which presented music by fifty-five historical and contemporary women composers with first-class performers. We received a lot of publicity and got a lot of recordings made and played. It drove the guys in New York nuts. It was a terribly difficult time. You should have heard all the names I was called.
    Because I did not have a famous composition teacher to go to when I had questions, I did a bit more exploring of ways of writing music. That took a while, and the flute community was my base the whole time. I would try writing things that sounded more contemporary because if you tried writing anything else, heaven help you, it was not accepted. Then, I went out west and heard the way that the Native Americans were playing the flute, and I found new material that really moved me. I began to write for flute using that as inspiration, and that made a big difference. I began to say “the heck with it, I’m going to write what I want.”

Jennifer Higdon: I have to say you are a real warrior, Katherine. I am so impressed by your ability to hold up under what sounds like impossible circumstances and difficult people. I feel like you kicked open a lot of doors for us.

Katherine Hoover: I did not realize how much at the time, but yes, I think I did. It was rough. Among other women my age, you will hear the same story. I don’t think I came into my own sense of what I wanted to write easily or well, but flute helped with that. I knew the flute, and I knew what I wanted to do with it. I love the fact that you are both writing what you please, and no one can tell you any differently. It is beautiful, and I am so pleased for both of you.

Carter Pann: Jennifer said something that resonated with me – the idea of thinking about the player on the other side of the stand. I remember being so inspired when I saw The Capitol Saxophone Quartet perform. I was suddenly like the actor hounding the director saying, “I want the part!” I ran back stage and said, “Let’s do something! I really want to write a saxophone quartet, and I really want to write it for you guys!”
    I never do that, but this was too attractive to me. I knew a couple of them already from different contexts, and I knew their playing. I basically tackled them. I just want to be a “player’s composer” a lot of the time.

Jennifer Higdon: A player’s composer is a great way to put it. I always want to know who I am writing for, like when I wrote my Violin Concerto (2008) for violinist Hilary Hahn. She said “I want a major work,” so I had to get her to define what she considered a major work. Hilary kept saying, “make the piece harder,” and that pushed my imagination.
    Flutists are game to try anything. I remember when I wrote rapid♦fire (1996) for flutist Peter Brown. He just said, “I want something that is really hard.” When I wrote a flute piece called running the edgE (2001) for Claudia Anderson and Jill Felber for their group ZAWA, they were very specific about what they wanted. I love tailoring pieces to what the performers want in terms of the language, form, and what is going to happen in the piece.

Katherine Hoover: My experience is a little different. The first piece I wrote for flute was Medieval Suite. I felt like I could not find a single piece that had anything but sweetness and niceness – with the exception of the second movement of the Hindemith Sonata for flute and piano, which I adore. I wanted to get into different emotional territory with the flute. With Medieval Suite, I wrote about five stories of people from the 14th century from a Barbara Tuchman book. I wanted the flute to express things that had not been expressed before: a heroic, angry black knight who died by age 19, a drunken friar, a French princess engaged to marry at age 6, and afflicted people dancing the Demon’s Dance to ward off the black plague.
    When I went to the southwest and heard what I heard and wrote what I wrote, that was another new direction for the flute. I have played with freelancers here in NY, on Broadway, in ballets, operas, jazz, churches – all kinds of music. My inspiration sometimes comes from literature or visual art. Writing for specific people is quite wonderful, but it is not something I have done as much as Carter and Jennifer. For example, for years I tried to get a commission for a flute concerto, but finally decided that if I am going to do this, I need to do it on my own and do it now, so I wrote The Four Winds Concerto in 2015.

What extended techniques, tonal language, and notation do you gravitate towards in your music?

Jennifer Higdon: My musical language changes from piece to piece, and I use extended techniques often. Flutist Peter Brown commissioned rapid♦fire for solo flute while I was studying with George Crumb. I remember I was walking down the street in Philadelphia and saw a newspaper headline about an incident in Boston where a stray bullet from the street killed a young lady in an apartment. I wondered if there was some way to capture the random violence of this act on the flute. That is how I came up with the idea to use extended techniques for rapid♦fire.
    I remember asking Crumb, “How much do I actually notate here? Do I use box notation to allow the performer to come up with things?” He cautioned me saying, “If you use box notation, you are not going to get the effect you want most of the time. If you actually write everything out and notate the effects you are after, you are more likely to get what you want after the initial performances.” If you cannot coach the piece yourself, and the performer is halfway across the country, the piece will be more accurate to what you are hearing in your head if you write everything out.
    I really had to think about this because some of the techniques I wanted required a new method for notation. I considered what we normally notate in the musical line: breathing, articulation, fingerings. Sometimes these things are not as coordinated as they may look when you are doing a Bach Sonata. I came up with a method that sometimes created several layers of notation for each line. For example, I created a symbol for overblowing that looks like a cardiogram, like an EKG. The player is fingering something separately from the random overblowing. That piece is from 1996, and it is amazing that it has held up so well. When I hear the piece performed, the shape and everything is still there. It is to George Crumb’s credit that he advised me to notate things meticulously, much like he does when he is writing.
    Many people are not aware that Peter Brown died about six months after he premiered rapid♦fire. Not long after that, I was asked to play the piece. I thought, oh boy, now I have to learn this thing. While composing, I tried a lot of the things I was attempting to write, but I was not physically able to execute them because the piece is so hard. You have to train and build up your ability to withstand that much air going through your larynx. It is the most physically challenging piece I have ever played, but once I got it down, people were asking me to play it. I recorded the piece five or six years after the premiere. [I Virtuosi – IVR 501, 1995]

Katherine Hoover: With Kokopeli I was trying to write something like the flutes I was hearing. I got through the first line of it, and I had so many strange fingerings. I thought to myself, I can make it sound exactly like what I was hearing, or I can write a piece that flutists can play on their own instruments. I thought and thought and finally decided to do the second. Now I have written three more pieces like that. My latest piece is called Spirit Flight, and I have a few more of the things that I have heard and the unusual things that the native flutes do. People are much more used to extended techniques now, and they know my style and what I am doing.

Carter Pann: I just saw Robert Dick at UC Boulder – I hosted him with my colleague, flutist Christina Jennings. This was the first time I got to see, in the flesh, this extended techniques master really go for it in a very small room like a private concert. These are techniques I rarely use no matter what I am writing for. I mean, what are extended techniques on piano? You stand up and do something inside of it. Other than that, it is really a woodwind, string, or percussionist thing. I use it very sparingly. I am still entranced by straight ahead musical expression. There is no other way to say it.

Katherine Hoover: Somebody asked me years ago what the difference is between what I am doing for the flute, and what Robert Dick is doing. I was thinking about it. He is interested in the language of the flute, and he is trying to establish a whole new language on the instrument. For me, it is all about telling some kind of story.

Carter Pann: You are absolutely right. He is a pioneer of the new. He is a real trailblazer in that regard.

What are your upcoming projects?

Katherine Hoover: I was very involved with the Colorado String Quartet and knew them well; I wrote two quartets and have recently done a piece for their first violinist Julie Rosenfield. I am also writing a new choral work. I got to know the New York Virtuoso Singers, a fabulous group. They recorded my Requiem for the Innocent (2001-2002) and some other pieces, and now I am writing more for them. I have also written a book of poetry, This Way About. I care a lot about the relationship of words and music, especially in my writing for chorus.

Jennifer Higdon: I am writing a low brass concerto for members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and it is kicking my butt! My brain tends to be attracted to higher sounds because I was a flute player. Tackling the low end of the orchestra – three trombones and a tuba – is a lot to balance. It gives me a different angle for looking at what is going on in an orchestra. I like those kinds of challenges. Normally I say yes to the projects that scare the daylights out of me. I met with the players and asked them what they would like, and they all mentioned “Could you give us something soft and melodic?” That was interesting and not what you would expect them to say.

Carter Pann: Staring me in the face is something a little less frightening: A new, Third String Quartet and a work just signed, sealed, and delivered for wind ensemble called At Her Ladyship’s Request. I was into the show Downton Abbey and love that era. I also have three upcoming premieres. SDG Music Foundation has commissioned a new trio for flute, cello, and piano titled Melodies for Robert to be premiered by Jennie Oh Brown, Kurt Fowler, and Jennifer Blyth in October 2017. Christina Jennings will premiere a new encore for flute and piano called, Double Espresso, and the Flute New Music Consortium has commissioned a new work titled Giantess for flute and piano to be premiered at Indiana University of Pennsylvania by Terri Wacker, flute, in March 2018.

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    Katherine Hoover was the recipient of the 2016 NFA Lifetime Achievement Award.
    Pulitzer Prize winner Jennifer Higdon’s music can be heard performed by the world’s leading orchestras.
    Carter Pann was a 2016 Pulitzer Prize finalist and looks forward to three commissioned premieres for flute in the upcoming season, including Giantess for flute and piano written for the Flute New Music Consortium.

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