• Good teachers have positive attitudes and dispositions.
    • Their flute skills and knowledge of the subject matter is strong.
    • They possess good communication skills and have the ability to explain concepts well.
    • Good teachers are patient.

    If you think you qualify, consider starting off on a small scale with one or two young students to see if you enjoy teaching.
    One of the things that I like most about teaching is the wide variety of students in my studio. Currently, my students range in age from 9 to 70 in all skill levels. Some are quiet and shy, while others have boisterous personalities. There is great satisfaction in watching their skills and love of music develop.

Flexibility is Key
    Effective teachers tailor the curriculum to the needs of individual students, who learn at different rates and often have a variety of learning styles. Tactile or kinesthetic learners respond best to activities they can feel; visual learners find it beneficial to observe; auditory learners learn by listening. Teachers should be prepared to diverge from a planned curriculum when students ask questions about topics outside of the day’s lesson. The perfect time to teach is when students become interested in something.
    Many years ago I had a 7-year-old student named Michael. At his first flute lesson, he asked about the mechanics of the flute, particularly the linkages between the keys. Rather than spending the lesson working only on tone production, I spent the first 10 minutes satisfying his mechanical curiosity by showing him three different ways to finger B flat. With his questions answered he was then able to focus on headjoint work and sound production.

One Size Doesn’t Fit All
    Students should be challenged but not overwhelmed with material that is too difficult. Change strategies and materials when students don’t progress as expected. I try to be flexible and creative and find fresh approaches for those who are floundering.
    Variations in hand size and finger and arm length make it impossible to have a one-size-fits-all hand position for all students; we should adapt students’ hand and body positions and embouchures based on their physical characteristics. Likewise, variations in face shape and the size and shape of the lips make a uniform embouchure impractical. Some students also blow naturally in the center of the lips, while others blow slightly off-center.
    Facial muscle strain can occur inadvertently when teachers insist that all students blow from the center of the lips. As flute pedagogue Patricia George states, “Students should play the flute with their natural face,” rather than in a standardized position. More than one approach to articulation, vibrato, and other basic skills is necessary.
    When she began private lessons, 16-year-old Sarah was struggling with a weak tone, and improving this became a priority. We worked on Suzuki tonguing (spitting rice) and developing a strong air stream, which greatly improved her tone for a while. Then, her sound became inconsistent, sometimes lovely, but other times weak, even with frequent reminders to use more air.
    Her lip position sometimes shifted laterally on the embouchure plate, which caused most of the air stream to miss the tone hole completely. Students with an off-center embou­chure should center the flute’s tone hole under the air stream, not under the lips, and they should tongue in the center of the embouchure.
    Once the problem was diagnosed, I asked Sarah to practice in front of a mirror, so she could position the tone hole under the air stream consistently and monitor that the tongue was in the center of the embouchure.

Strengths and Weaknesses
    With new students I make a numbered list of their strengths and weaknesses, looking at basics, such as hand and body position, tonguing, tone, note and rhythmic accuracy. I then chart a course of study for each student. I choose a maximum of three skills from the weak list to concentrate on during the initial lessons. As these skills improve, I introduce curriculum to improve other skills further down the list.

Be Positive
    While working on problems, remember to offer compliments on things done well so students feel successful. Positive reinforcement is an effective tool. I try to remember that I am teaching students and not the flute and sandwich a correction between two compliments: “You did a great job playing the notes and rhythms in that phrase. Now, let’s go back and work on the articulations.” After the repetition: “This time the articulations were much more accurate.”

Creative Ideas
    Some of my most effective teaching ideas coincide with holidays or other special events. For instance, in a band sectional last Halloween, I taught a group of beginners the first few measures of “The Addam’s Family Theme” to reinforce the F major scale. At the end of the sectional, they performed for the rest of the band, who happily provided accompanying finger snaps between the phrases. The entire band was able to share a fun activity, and the flutists learned a new scale.
    Despite our best efforts, students sometimes have difficulty grasping new ideas. This is when I switch to a different teaching style. For example, when teaching rhythm to auditory learners, I explain the concept verbally and then demonstrate the rhythm audibly. I show visual learners the rhythm pattern on the page and ask them to watch me tap or clap the rhythmic pattern. Tactile learners learn best by feeling the rhythm, either tapping it along with the teacher or feeling the teacher gently tapping the rhythm on their shoulder.
    You can also develop a new exercise for the rhythm. Dotted eighths and sixteenths remained difficult for one of my students, even after multiple explanations. To clarify the rhythm, I used mac-a-ron-i as a rhythm word for four 16ths. Then we used the first and last syllables of mac-a-ron-i (mac-  –  -i )for the dotted-eighth-sixteenth rhythm.

Set the Stage
    Ideally, students should look forward to their lessons. A friendly, welcoming environment helps encourage this. Express an interest in their activities, and ask how their day or week has gone. Sometimes they arrive with wonderful or troubling news that may hinder concentration unless they get the opportunity to share it. Expressing an interest in opens the door to further communication and provides an effective segue into the lesson.

Be a Good Listener
    When students stumble repeatedly within a particular passage, ask them what they think the problem is. Listen carefully to the answer to find clues for a solution. Watch for comments or body language that indicate frustration, and adjust the lesson accordingly. On the other end of the spectrum, inquisitive students might ask in-depth questions about previously studied issues or new concepts. These questions show a readiness to learn. Be flexible enough to alter the lesson to explore these questions.

Continuing Education
There is always something more to learn about teaching. Over the years, my students have taught me a lot about thinking analytically and breaking concepts into step-by-step lessons. I have also learned from colleagues, who have been willing to share teaching techniques. This has raised the standard of teaching for all of us. Masterclasses, workshops, flute magazines, books, concerts, and recordings are also ways to enrich individual teaching skills and stay abreast of what is new in the field. 

Starting a Studio
    The logistics of actually starting a studio may be mundane, but to begin you need students. There are several ways to this. If you plan to teach outside of your home, contact local music stores and music schools to inquire about availability and terms for use of studio space. Some places rent space at a daily or hourly rate while others charge a fee per student. All generally provide referrals to help you build your studio, and some may even provide billing services.
    Advertising the new studio is also important, and one of the best ways to do it is through referrals from other teachers. Introduce yourself to local flute teachers, detail your qualifications, and offer to take any overflow from their studios. The local flute club, public school band directors, and music stores often keep lists of private flute instructors. Ask to be included on them. You can even offer to work with flute sections in nearby schools or give a free flute workshop. This will earn goodwill from band directors and may produce referrals. It also provides an opportunity to distribute information, such as a flyer or your business card, to potential students.
    Remember that enjoying what you do is perhaps the most important teaching tool you can have. Teachers who enjoy what they do usually have satisfied students who enjoy flute lessons.     

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The Tests
    An E.M.G. measures the electrical impulses of muscles at rest and during contraction. For the test a doctor inserted a needle electrode into the muscles. It hurt enough that I refused to have it done to the other arm.
    An N.C.V. measures nerve conduction velocity, which determines how well individual nerves transmit electrical signals. This test, done by placing electrodes on the fingertips and arm, was not painful. Both tests confirmed that I had developed carpal tunnel syndrome. When the doctor again recommended surgery, I requested a second opinion. After the second doctor recommended the same thing, I went through the summer with no real answers and little hope.
    In November a school professor recommended a doctor, whose patients were mostly musicians. While he agreed that I had carpal tunnel syndrome, he thought physical therapy would help. I left his office with a referral and new hope.

Helpful Therapy
    My physical therapy routine in­volved a paraffin wax dip, sensory re-education, light strengthening exercises, massage, and stretches executed by a therapist while I laid on a table. The therapist stressed that the more work I did on my own, the quicker I would feel an improvement.
    I took his advice and bought a paraffin wax machine and did the stretches. The sensory re-education devices were simply containers of rice and elbow pasta; I moved each hand in and out of them, eventually searching for small buried objects, such as coins and marbles. That may sound easy, but it was extremely difficult. Without sensation in the fingertips, it is hard to feel the difference between the smoothness of a quarter and the elbow pasta.
    By the end of the physical therapy, I had regained both hope and a little feeling in my fingers. However, I still practiced little, never more than five to ten minutes at a time. I continued to wear braces for practice, and when I was caught practicing at school without them, the teachers reprimanded me.
    To participate in piano class I practiced the music without a keyboard, which allowed me to learn the fingerings and get acclimated to the piano without physically straining my hands. A pillow helped me sit higher on the piano bench and relieved much of the pain.
    My flute recital, which included performing on flute, piccolo, and Baroque flute­ – all with braces – took place as scheduled. While thoughts of giving up ran through my mind, my love and passion for music kept me going. 

A New Practice Regimen
    Using beginner-level materials, I started practicing for five minutes a day and worked up, minute by minute, to 10 minutes. After staying at 10 minutes for a week, I worked up to 15 minutes, and so on. Some days were better than others. I also kept a practice log, and the first time recorded in it is 14 minutes. It was tough to see my practice time diminish from six hours to 14 minutes, but I was on the road to regaining those longer practice sessions that I missed so much.
   I added a minute a day until it felt a little too much. Then I stayed at that practice time until I was physically comfortable. It took eight months to work up to an hour, and the practice time remained at an hour for a year and a half. I believe that this progress was largely due to the 30-40 minute daily physical therapy routine and a stretching routine that I had been doing for several years before the diagnosis.

Five Years Later
    Today I begin every morning with a  30-40 minute stretching routine, and I practice two hours – on good days perhaps three. Without surgery, I no longer suffer from carpal tunnel syndrome, although it tried to creep back during graduate school. I re­turned to physical therapy, and it worked wonders.
    The therapist stressed strengthening this time. After I reported that my neck felt as if it were bearing all the weight of the flute, we focused on my neck. Traction, which stretched the neck, and ultrasound treatments helped tremendously. The routine and care she provided helped me heal completely.
    During the first few years of this saga, I didn’t understand the initial cause of the carpal tunnel other than over-practicing. Now I realize that concurrent with the onset, I had changed my posture, completely defying a natural playing position and at the same time neglected my stretching routine. It was a big mistake. During long practice sessions, I took few breaks even though the repertoire was difficult. While it was enjoyable, there was nothing relaxed about my practice routine.
To help other flutists prevent injuries such as carpal tunnel syndrome, I offer the following suggestions:
 
1. Develop a stretching routine to use before practice. Musicians are athletes and should not ignore their bodies.
2. Take frequent breaks during your practice.
3. Refrain from practice when you are tired or ill.
4. Learn to practice without your instrument.
5. Make practice time enjoyable and stress free.
6. Drink eight 8-ounce servings of water every day.

    To flutists experiencing similar difficulties, I offer this bit of advice. If you love music and playing the flute, be persistent in seeking solutions to your playing problems and find the patience to work through them.   

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Flute Students Today
    Today, developing flutists in middle and high school are more knowledgeable about flute literature, and they have the chance to hear marvelous playing and teaching at flute festivals and summer workshops. However, even with such awareness, opportunity, and rising performance standards, I realized that I was not the only one confused about the subject of etudes. This became evident when I was asked to participate as a master teacher in a pedagogy session called “Etudes: What’s the Point?” at the 2007 National Flute Association Conven­tion in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
    Teachers don’t question the necessity and value of scales and related daily exercises. The solo repertoire often follows standard developmental paths that result from competition lists at local and national levels. Although teachers may differ on which solos they teach and when they introduce them, our top ten lists are probably similar. Etudes are the one practice area for which there are questions about their value and purpose.

Purposeful Etudes
    One of the best ways I have found to make our multitude of etudes meaningful is to link them to the repertoire, whether it is solo, chamber, or orchestral. As soon as a teacher relates a specific etude to solving a technical problem in a solo piece, the etude has a perceived purpose and importance.  Finding the right etudes to tackle the problem at hand is the challenge, and it takes enough experience with both repertoire and etudes to know where to look. The point of etudes, in this sense, is to turn them into active aids for learning repertoire.
    Instead of dutifully heading through all 12, 18, or 24 etudes in a collection without any critical response, we should use our intelligence and ears to pick out the best ones for the purpose at hand. No composer of etudes provides 100% inspiration and the solutions to all the technical or musical concerns he sets out to solve, and no flute student at any level is receptive to every etude in a book.
    I believe we can save time and learn more effectively by being attentive to the etudes that address our particular weaknesses. Carrying this concept a step further, I would like to examine a major piece in our repertoire using etudes and daily exercises that highlight its uniqueness from a technical point of view.
    Robert Muczynski’s Sonata for Flute and Piano, Op. 14 is a masterpiece of terse energy and compact, efficient structure from beginning to end. Without wasting a single note, he manages to convey a surprisingly large emotional spectrum within an often driving rhythmic setting and a harmonic/melodic centering on chromatic, minor pentatonic, and blues scales. With much of the flute line in the low to middle registers, one of the first considerations for a successful performance is focus and projection of sound in this range. The question is how to achieve the forceful energy that Muczynski demands and do it with incisive articulation and a compact sound.

Focus and Sound
    In the low and low-middle registers, the embouchure and throat positions are crucial in order to center the sound successfully. Taffanel-Gaubert’s Daily Exercise #7 is excellent for embou­chure positioning and strengthening.

    Because it targets the range between middle B and A, it is necessary to even out the inherent disparities between the open B-C-C# and the denser D-E flat-E. Three key factors are required to tackle the problem: a proper airstream angle, a strong upper lip, and a fast air speed. The angle, determined by the upper lip position, must be down enough to focus the C#, the flakiest note in this range. Be sure to move the upper lip forward before lowering the angle of the air stream to ensure greater embouchure flexibility and freedom of sound. Bearing down with the upper lip muscles that surround (but do not include) the center and sending fast air through the flute will allow you to penetrate the stuffy E flat and E natural. Those pitches should be the focus for this part of the exercise.

Here is the sequence:
1. Take a good breath and hold it, feeling the abs firm and the pressure of air in your lungs.
2. Set the lips in a fairly wide opening and send the upper lip out over the blowhole and then down, feeling the side muscles around the center bear down. You are setting the position for the C#. 
3. Release the air at a fast rate, being sure to keep the abs firm the whole time; do NOT let them relax as you release the air. The air speed should be gauged to handle the stuffy E flat, no matter what pitch you are playing. An immediate improvement in all the other notes will be evident as well.

    Practice the exercise slurred and very slowly at first. When you have gained lip strength and a consistent  tone quality, you may add the tongue as long as it doesn’t interfere with the lips or airstream. The next step is to play the opening of the Sonata’s first movement in this way: all slurred, very slowly, and with great concentration of air and embouchure.

    Play other sections of the movement in this range the same way. Then try it with articulation, being careful to maintain strong and even sound. The combination of embouchure strength (to cut through the low middle register) and an overall focus into the low register works well for much of the Sonata.

Singing the Notes
    The other exercise I suggest for finding the best embouchure position for the opening of the first movement, as well as the fourth, is to sing and play the pitches. If you have never attempted this before, I refer you to Robert Dick’s Tone Development Through Extended Techniques, page 9 and onward. He explains carefully how to set your throat so that it resonates in the optimal position for the note you are playing. Throat tuning, as he calls it, is one of the most effective ways to find the best resonating position for a particular note in the mouth and throat.
    Play the note first, and then sing it with your flute in playing position. Next sing and push your lips forward into a long funnel with a small opening, blowing air up over your singing (this is what it feels like to me) and through the lips. You will have a buzzy, airy sound that should approximate the pitch you are singing. With practice, this becomes natural and opens the sound greatly. Try just one pitch at a time at first; singing even one note in tune with your playing will make a significant difference in the openness of all the notes in the range.

Articulation
    Now that you have a centered sound and good definition with a strong embouchure, it is time to address articulation. This is extremely important for clarity in all registers but especially the low and middle. Moyse’s 24 Little Melodic Studies, # 18, is a staccato exercise in the first octave of a C# minor scale.

    As in many parts of Muczynski’s Sonata, Moyse requires a firm embouchure that does not move during a series of short notes in a forte dynamic occurring in the low register. First play each staccato note slowly and without the tongue, using only the impetus of your abs to send an “air shot” for each note. Try to maintain a firm lip position, which is more difficult with extra air coming out but very instructive in making you aware of how much articulation has to do with airstream. When you can get through a couple of lines, go back and repeat with the tongue, trying to keep everything else the same. At this point, you are still exaggerating the movement of the abs and the amount of air produced, but using your tongue should make the sound a little clearer and release the air more cleanly. Keep the tongue stroke light at the tip and let the air support do the hard work.
    The lesson to learn is that the most incisive articulation comes from strong abdominal pressure, strong lips to funnel the fast air coming through the lips, and a consistently light tongue. If this is a new concept, you will be surprised at how the sound leaps forward with energy and clarity and how the initial ictus of the tongue sounds much cleaner than one with a heavy stroke and lots of tongue. Armed with this new technique, you can play the Sonata’s opening accented section (see previous example) by using the abs to produce the effect and the tongue simply to release the air on its way out.
    The next stage of Moyse’s exercise is to control the abdominal movement and avoid lurching on every note while playing with the same firmness and articulating from the abs. This allows you to move faster. The ability to play fast and light in the low register will provide better focus and less air in the sound. You will feel lots of pressure propelling sound and articulation forward with more air behind the sound. There are two Moyse variations to add at this point – one with 16ths in fours and the variation of sextuplets. In the sextuplets, I suggest the double-triple articulation, if possible, for fastest and lightest effect: t k t k t k.
    Two etudes helpful in increasing endurance and strength for this kind of articulation are found in Andersen Op. 15 and Soussmann’s 24 Grand Studies. Andersen’s Op. 15, #18 in F minor begins with precisely the same range and note patterns as the opening of the Sonata.

    Practice the eighth-note measures with both single and triple tongue; the latter is useful for the Sonata’s Scherzo movement. The etude’s middle section is a melody with very fast, fleeting articulation underneath. Although this tonguing is not directly relevant to the Sonata, the feat of playing the entire etude with light, fast, and clear articulation will pay off in stamina as you work through the Sonata.
    Soussmann’s excellent Grand Studies, available separately as Part III of his Complete Method, are a truly advanced set of etudes that represent one of the best lesser-known collections.

    Etude #2 in A minor deals with the muddy range around middle E and uses a repeated-note staccato motive throughout. His instructions imply a forward tongue placement, “without touching the palate.”
    This is the other critical articulation element for clarity in the Sonata. The tongue should be forward with just the tip touching the back of the teeth, so there is a minimum of movement and maximum of response. A single-tongue exercise as dictated by Soussmann, you can also practice #2 with double tongue and strive for the same evenness as with single.

Melodic Lines in the Sonata
    Muczynski’s melodic lines, both short motives and long phrases, are predominantly constructed of major and minor seconds and thirds and chromatic patterns. Some passages have a harmonic minor cast to them due to the combination of minor seconds and minor thirds, which can be found in the first movement five measures after #13,

the fourth movement in measures 4 and 5 of the cadenza, and from #47 (the 5/8 bar) to the end.

Muczynski’s use of the jazz blues scale is evident at the start of the second movement in measures 1-9. The first six notes spell out the blues pattern 1, 3, 4, diminished 5, and 5 (with a diminished 4 – the E flat – thrown in as passing tone).
    The demands for facility and speed in all but the third movement sent me searching for exercises with minor and chromatic writing as well as complex interval structures. The most cut and dried of these is #6 in Reichert’s 7 Daily Exercises, which is a very fast, double tongued, chromatic series in all keys.

    The key sense comes from the arpeggio at the end of each scale. The exercise is very taxing when you tongue it all. In the beginning start by alternating with slurred scales. The finger-tongue coordination required in #2 in Reichert’s will be very helpful for numerous passages in the Sonata’s fourth movement, including the opening bars and much of the cadenza to the end of the piece, where intense sound is also needed. I suggest using a large and forceful airstream in these scales, whether tongued or slurred, and going for as much power as you can and still maintain a focused sound. I describe this sensation of massive air as a whoosh of motion through the flute.
    For the fingering patterns that are not quite chromatic and not quite minor scales, there are two exercises in Geoffrey Gilbert’s Sequences. This is a book of patterns based on scales and chords that Gilbert was working on while I was a student at his master classes in the 1980s. (He tried out ideas with the class to see if we approved.)
    Etude #6 in Gilbert’s book is a series of leading tones (half steps) and major chords. The perfect fit for the Sonata would have been minor chords, but this is still very close to many patterns in all the movements – a minor second followed by a skip of a third followed by more minor seconds. This exercise is easy until you push the tempo and try to do all the articulations that Gilbert suggests. The goal is to play the pattern until it is almost second nature.
    Exercise #9 includes sequences on chromatic scales and is a dizzying series of downward and upward seconds and thirds.

    Again the patterns require time to assimilate and play rapidly. Passages in the Sonata that benefit from these two studies include the ones already cited from the first and fourth movements. Almost all 16th-note passages in the three fast movements offer some form of altered chromatic or minor pattern. The few regular scale passages include the E-major runs on the first page of the second movement, the B-major scale towards the end of the third movement, and the B flat-major run in the opening of the fourth movement, which becomes a D-major run in the cadenza.
    For that special painful moment in the Scherzo at #24, when the right pinky can develop serious cramps in four short measures from the repeated low C-D flats, there is an extremely effective pinky exercise in Trevor Wye’s Practice Book vol. 2, Technique. Twelve patterns sliding from low C or C# in various excruciating combinations will strengthen the pinky finger with short sessions daily.

    The pinky’s position makes a significant difference in comfort and ease of movement. Angle the entire right hand slightly down towards the foot joint, so that the pinky can curve and rest on the key toward the outside edge. This position offers more maneuverability and takes off much weight and pressure which allows faster sliding.
    The Sonata’s moments of legato, sustained lines are few. The third movement offers relative calm, but even the opening sinuous melody has more unrest than resolution. I think that the fewer breaths in the first 11 measures the better, in order to preserve the tension of the long phrase.

    If possible, try to make it to the middle of measure 3 in one breath. Breathe again in the middle of measure 5. At this point the phrase keeps being extended, so try to make it to the downbeat of measure 9 for your last breath.
    To play the opening expressively with additional breaths is acceptable; to play it with the breaths I suggest takes the music to a more rarified place. To extend your breath capacity, try practicing the solo from Afternoon of a Faun. The super breath that I take in two parts before Debussy’s solo – one big inhalation to the lungs, another while holding the first one to the upper chest – serves me well in these first three bars of the Muczynski. The same goes for the absolute evenness with which we must parcel out the air in Faun. Interestingly, the range of notes is almost exactly the same in the Muczynski as is the smooth-as-glass texture of the line. You will extend your breath capacity almost immediately for the Sonata by gearing up for it the way you would for the Faun solo.
    The other legato writing occurs mostly in the final movement at 38 and 41. Here the smoothness of the line is at odds with the tension, and our job is to make that point by playing extreme legato with little expression, as though trying to smooth over the underlying emotion. These phrases have large dropping intervals, always more difficult to execute than upward ones. We must keep the air going, drop the jaw, and change the air angle at just the right moment. To practice this, #21 from the Bach Studies is perfect. Originally a keyboard piece, this G-major Prelude uses a broken-chord figure that is natural for hands on the piano but unidiomatic for flute.

    Here lies an answer to one of my early questions about playing transcriptions: they stretch our limits precisely because they were not written for us. Master the smooth downward jumps of a sixth, seventh, or an octave in this study and you will have no trouble with the jumps in Muczynski.
    Learning Muczynski’s Sonata with the help of these etudes will give you more insight into the true nature of the piece’s technical makeup than you would have from simply practicing the piece on its own. This approach does take more daily practice time; you may wonder, “Can I afford to spend the hours to learn three etudes, four daily exercises, etc., when my degree recital is coming up in three months?” Time is always of the essence in recital preparation, and managing time is one of the lessons you should develop. I have found that the time spent working out technical problems in the repertoire through exercises and etudes that specifically target those problems actually saves time in the long run. Instead of sweating it out over the passage in my recital piece – which has much at stake – I can redirect that pressure to an innocuous etude and focus on the purely technical issues without injecting my recital angst into the mix.
    I learn faster when I detach playing problems from emotions. When I go back to the recital piece, I have new  confidence that often surprises me. The research into my etude collection has made me a more effective teacher. I may still place the entire Andersen Op. 15 on a student’s stand, but we no longer set forth on the page-by-page trek to the end. We may cover all 24 etudes by the time we are done, but the journey will have lots of detours, side roads, and U-turns along the way. The triptych will be designed for that student’s stage and playing qualities and for the solo music she is learning. It turns a seemingly dry and irrelevant practice experience into a vital part of the success of a concert performance. 

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Class Length
     Most band classes are from 50 to 70 minutes long. Find out how much time you have to organize and pace the class correctly. The curriculum should in­clude information about the flute, musicianship, practice techniques, and something fun in conclusion.

Start with the Headjoint
     If this is your first time teaching in the public schools, you may be shocked to see where the performance level is and what the students actually know about flute playing. Your natural inclination may be to teach what interests you rather than teaching what the students should learn. Using the headjoint alone avoids the need to talk about balancing the flute, positioning the hands, standing and sitting positions, and fingering. It is better to start simply with the headjoint and make sure that students understand how it works, where to blow, how to tongue, and the basics of vibrato before assembling the flute. These will be topics for future masterclasses.
 
Curriculum
     This curriculum works well for any age level. The goal for the first class is to teach students how to produce beautiful sounds, articulate, and vibrate. This is most easily done using only the headjoint, which they should hold with their thumbs and index fingers. The left-hand fingers should not block the air stream as it crosses the embouchure hole.

Preparation
     You will need a one-page handout for each student, soda straws, small plastic storage bags, a pinwheel, a cleaning rod with a cork placement marker on one end, a tuner, and a Bigio insertion tool. The Bigio tool is available from J.L. Smith in Charlotte, North Carolina or you can make one by drilling a small hole in the end of a ½" x 12" dowel rod.
 
Getting Started
     Each student’s headjoint cork should be checked for proper placement. To save time, do this before the class begins when possible. (The information at the end of this article offers guidance, although some of the suggestions are for more thorough cleaning and adjustment at home.) The line on the cleaning rod should register in the center of the embouchure hole. If you are uncomfortable adjusting corks, take a lesson from a flute technician to learn how to do it safely or follow the directions in the box on the following page.
     If a cork is too loose in the headjoint and does not stay in place, remove the cork and place a strip of pipe or cellophane tape around the base of the cork. This quick fix will last until the student can take the headjoint to a technician for a permanent repair. The class will be playing on the headjoint for almost an hour, so you want them to be in tune.

Sweet Spot and the Soda Straw
Teacher’s Goal: Find the Sweet Spot on the headjoint.
     Every headjoint has what I call a sweet spot – the optimum place at which to direct the air to produce a ringing, bell-type tone. A soda straw helps students find the correct location. With the straw in the right hand, as if it were a pencil, and the headjoint in the left hand not touching the chin, have students place the bottom edge of the straw on the back edge of the embouchure hole – the edge that would normally be under the lower lip. Then have them blow while slowly moving the straw across the back side from left to right. Listen carefully. There will be one place where the tone will be more focused. This place is position A, which might be in the center of the back edge or a little off to the left or right. This position depends on the individual cut of the embouchure hole.   
    Then, with the straw in position A, angle the straw while blowing the air toward the outer edge – the edge furthest away from you – and move the straw  from left to right.  When you hear the best focus, that position is position B. As you blow from position A to B you will find the sweet spot.  Now try to duplicate that blowing position with the headjoint against the chin. This exercise really helps students understand how to find the best place to direct the air for a great sound and focus.

Anatomy and Blowing
Teacher’s Goal: Align the head, separate the vocal folds, place the embouchure hole parallel to the ceiling, release the air from the body.
     Position the head at the bottom of a very small nod. To understand how the head balances on the spine, ask students to nod their heads several times and also have them pant several times in order to notice that the vocal folds are separated during inhalation and exhalation. This position, sometimes referred to as an open throat, is what they should feel while playing.
     Check that embouchure holes are parallel to the floor and ceiling, not facing back toward the player. The inside edge of the embouchure hole should be where the skin changes from chin to lip.
     While students blow several notes, feel with your hand where each student’s airstream is crossing the embouchure hole. Place the pinwheel at that spot and instruct the flutist to make the pinwheel spin. This teaches them that the air must leave the body when playing the flute. It also helps students increase the speed of the air.

Embouchure Development
Teacher’s Goal: Make a smooth octave slur.
     Practicing slurred octaves on a headjoint is a quick way to develop the embouchure. Ask students to slur half notes several times, low to high, at mf.  Alternate with the students – you play one slur and then the class responds. When the class is small, you can work with students individually. If someone has difficulty making the slur, ask the entire class to play the low note while seated and then rise to a standing position for the upper note. The energy that is used to stand is what was missing in the previous attempts to produce the upper note. By asking the entire class to do this exercise, you don’t embarrass the student. 
     Joseph Mariano taught students to increase the air speed just before the upper note to make the interval sound easy. William Kincaid taught to slightly lengthen the note before a slur if the interval was a fourth or more. 
     Generally, when playing slurs from a musical perspective, we play large intervals small and small intervals large. Octaves on the headjoint are not in tune, even when the cork is in the proper place because the headjoint is not completely cylindrical. How-ever, the parabolic shape makes third-octave notes less sharp when using the entire flute.
     Encourage each student to play with his natural face. I prefer to let embouchure’s evolve rather than giving explicit instructions about mouth shapes to young students. Exercises with harmonics will help students’ embouchures evolve naturally. 
     Every criticism sheet that I received during the years I was playing school solo festival competitions mentioned that I did not play with a smiley face. The corners of my embouchure were down naturally, and my aperture was on the left side. The judges suggested that I change my embouchure immediately.
     Thank goodness I was a stubborn young student. I thought I sounded pretty good. I was winning contests, and did not see why I should change. Then I played for the legendary Frederick Wilkins at the Tri-State Music Festival in Enid, Oklahoma, who commented, “You have a beautiful embouchure. The corners are down and your aperture is on the left. Did you know that all the famous flutists had an aperture on the left?” I was glad I had not followed the advice of a less-informed band director whose only flute playing experience was in a methods class.
     Over the years I have changed only about 10 students’ embouchures.  When I have made an embouchure suggestion, I have prefaced it with  the words, “This is only a suggestion.” Those I have encouraged to change were students with apertures on the right.  While they were able to get beautiful sounds that way, I was concerned with how far back their right shoulders had to be in order to play. I worried that they would not be able to play this way without pain for four or more hours a day for 40 years. However, before any changes were made, we studied the arm’s anatomy and talked about what modifications might be made. The goal is to teach the student so that he may continue performing all through a long career. 

Tonguing
Teacher’s Goal: A perfect attack.
     The tongue releases the air to produce a sound. The general movement of the tongue should be horizontal rather than vertical. Say the word thicka several times quickly to achieve the snake-like tongue motion. The jaw should hang with the upper and lower teeth separated, and the tongue should be placed through the teeth.
     When the air comes before the tongue, a hoot attack is produced. Remind students over and over again that the tongue releases the air. When an attack is harsh, the beginning of the note is sharp, and then the note settles into the pitch. A tuner will show the beginning of a note. 
     Ask students to hold the ends of the headjoint with thumbs and index fingers and start the tone (using the sweet spot) with the tongue outside the lips, as if making a face. Pull the tongue back horizontally to release the air and make a tone. Repeat several times until they understand the motion and can easily start the tone with the tongue out. Now repeat the stroke placing the tongue on the top lip and drawing the tongue back while saying thi in the rhythm: thi, thi, thi, rest. 

Musicianship
Goal: Strength of the beat concept.
     Each masterclass should teach basic musicianship fundamentals. In the past, many teachers delayed teaching musicianship until students’ early-teen years, but I have had excellent results teaching basic musicianship techniques to beginners. The strength-of-the-beat concept works well while teaching tonguing, and the chart below will be useful.

Simple time
(beat divisible by 2)
     2/4  strong, weak
     3/4  strong, weak, weaker
     4/4  strong, weak, less strong, weaker

Compound time
(beat divisible by 3)
     6/8  strong, weak
     9/8  strong, weak, weaker
     12/8  strong, weak, less strong, weaker

     Research shows that muscles learn faster and with less stress when practice occurs in small chunks with a rest between each event. In 2/4 play three eighth notes in the lower octave followed by a rest (thi, thi, thi, rest). The stress is strong, weak, weaker on each unit. Repeat until the quality of the stroke is excellent and simple. Now tongue four 16ths on the first beat and one eighth note and rest on the second beat. The first note is strong with all the following notes weaker.
     After several repetitions ask the flutists to remove the headjoint from their lips. This will give them practice finding the sweet spot from a cold start.
With each repeat, remind students to position the head at the bottom of a small nod, face the embouchure hole to the ceiling, look and listen for the  sweet spot, have the vocal folds separated, and finally blow.

Skills
Teacher’s Goal: Explore the tongue and vocal folds.
     There are five skills to practice: thi, cka, hah, tk or tkt, and vibrato. Practice each of these strokes, omitting vibrato, on the headjoint in rhythm. (thi, thi, thi, rest; cka, cka, cka, rest; hah, hah, hah, rest, t k t rest, tkt t rest) The cka should be forward and as high in the mouth as possible. 

Vibrato
Goal: Basic vibrato cycle.
     Vibrato is produced by air moving through slightly opening and closing vocal folds. To open the vocal folds, say hah, which places the vocal folds at their widest separation. When you say hah, hah, hah out loud, the vocal folds will close slightly in between the hahs. Georges Barrere named this hah, hah, hah stroke throat staccato early in the 20th century.
     To teach students where the vocal folds are and how to engage them to produce vibrato, ask them to say hah, hah, hah, silence, in 2/4 as eighth notes. Add a slur to the hah, hah, hahs, and they will produce vibrato. This exercise is best at a piano dynamic level.

Visual Aid
     With a small plastic bag on the end of the headjoint secured with a rubber band, ask students to blow into the embouchure hole to fill the bag with air. Next practice the hah, hah, hah, silence exercise, both staccato and slurred. When done correctly, the bag will bob up and down in time. When students get a good even bob, they are on their way to a good vibrato. Try a variety of rhythms, with and without vibrato.

End With a Fun Activity
     The clever arrangement of The Snake Charmer by Phyllis Louke in Flute 101: Mastering the Basics, Volume 1 by Phyllis Avidan Louke and Patricia George is a fun way to conclude a masterclass. Students make the lower sound by covering the end of the headjoint with their right palms. The upper note is produced by opening the end of the headjoint. 
Student part:

Teacher part:

    A one-page handout will help students follow and remember the lesson. If they like your masterclass, there is a good chance they will call in the future for flute lessons, so include contact information. List each topic covered in the class and leave space for note taking. Writing notes in their own words will help students recall the information at a later time.          
 

Sample Handout:

Flute Fun – Masterclass #1
Headjoint Only!
Presented by Your Name
Flute Studio
Your address
Your phone number
Your email
    Headjoint
        Check the cork
    Sweet Spot and the Soda Straw
        Where and angle
    Anatomy and Blowing
        Nod head, Pant, Pinwheel
    Embouchure Development
        Clown lips/lipstick lips,       
        Low/high slurred
    Tonguing
        Thicka
    Musicianship
        Strength of the beat concept
    Skills
        thi, cka, hah, t k t rest, tkt t rest
    Vibrato
        Hah, hah, ha, rest: staccato and slurred.
        Plastic twist and tie bag.
    Flute Fun
        The Snake Charmer
    Your Biography
        Keep it brief and simple

Aligning a Headjoint Cork
1. Unscrew the crown several turns.
2. Place the end of the crown on a padded surface and gently push the crown in. Keep your hands away from the embouchure plate while doing this.
3. Once the cork/stem assembly is free, remove the crown and push the cork out the far end of the headjoint with a cork/stem remover tool. This tool has a hole drilled in one end so you can place the hole over the screw part of the stem .
4. When the cork has been removed, wash the headjoint inside and out with dishwashing liquid and hot water. Hot water removes the wax and other debris from the inside of the headjoint. Dry the headjoint thoroughly.
5. To replace the cork assembly, drop it into the headjoint, screw end first, from the flute-body end of the headjoint.
6. A well-fitted cork should drop into the headjoint and come to rest so that the disc on the end of the cork rests in about the middle of the embouchure hole. The cork should also be shaped so that it is smaller toward the screw end.
7.  Use the cleaning rod to position the cork. The line on the cleaning rod should register at the half-way mark in the embouchure hole.
8. Replace the crown and use the crown for the final adjustment.

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Scales in Harmonics
* – This B flat/A# must be fingered with thumb B flat
^ – B natural and C are fingered with left-hand ring finger down
    The right hand, for the sake of this example, is not involved in fingerings. However, stability, a constant issue in the high range, is insured by holding the right hand over the brand name at the junction of the center joint and the headjoint or at the bottom part of the foot.
    The consequence of this sequence is that regardless of however perfectly the right-hand fingers are coordinated, it is vital to coordinate the left-hand fingers for the third octave. The high notes are affected more by the left hand, especially those keys closing or venting the holes closest to the embouchure plate, most of all the C key, which is our octave key.
    In a recent article about the Prokofiev Sonata (September 2008), I hope I showed that emphasis on the left hand considerably helps the virtuosity of licks and patterns in the third octave.
    Finding solutions and easier fingerings requires thought and analysis. It is not a cop out or a cheat, as long as the purpose and result are a better musical quality in difficult passages and a greater smoothness in finger phrasing.                        

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An International Childhood
    “I was born on January 27, the same day as Mozart and Roger Bourdin, a French flutist who died very early. It was Bourdin who recorded Debussy’s Trio with Arthur Grumiaux, the famous Belgian violinist. Other flutists born in January include Michel Debost on the 20th and Aurele Nicolet on the 22nd.
    “Soon after I was born we moved to Baghdad for awhile, then to Paris, Madrid, and Rome. My father worked for an American telephone company, I.T.T., which was active worldwide, and that’s why we moved so much. My first schooling was in Rome, and then in Brussels for seven years. Because we were French and Swiss and had lived in Italy, Spain, and Belgium, we virtually traveled all across Europe, which was extremely enriching for me as a child.
    “From the beginning I was aware that there are people out there who speak other languages, behave in different ways, and have different habits and traditions. This has helped me to feel comfortable in any place in the world. I have lived in Berlin for 15 years and feel very comfortable there. I have not lost my roots. I’m just comfortable wherever I am.
    “Rome was where I first heard a flute – at a neighbor’s flat. I asked my parents, ‘What’s that? What am I hearing?’ They knew it was flute, but didn’t know what piece. They went to ask, and the neighbors said, ‘Our son Philippe is playing the flute and practicing Mozart’s G Major Concerto.’ I told my parents, ‘I want to play the flute. I want to play the Mozart G Major Concerto.’” 
    So at the tender age of six, Pahud began studying with his upstairs neighbor and then with François Binet, who along with flutists such as Nicolet, Lardé, and Graf, was a former student of André Jaunet and Marcel Moyse during the late 1940s. Pahud continued flute lessons in Brussels, first with Michel Moinil and then with Carlos Bruneel, who was principal flutist in the Brussel’s Opera. At 15 Pahud won the Belgian National Competition and played the Mozart G Major Concerto with the orchestra conducted by André Vandernoot. Two years later, he won Belgian television’s Tenuto International Music Competition.

Becoming a Professional Flutist
    At 17 he entered the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique de Paris and studied with Michel Debost, Alain Marion, Pierre-Yves Artaud, and Christian Lardé, graduating in 1990 with the Conservatoire’s Premier Prix. While still at the Conservatoire, he won various international competitions and received his first major professional appointment as principal flute of the Basel Radio Symphony under Nello Santi. From that point his career moved forward with lightening speed. In 1991 while still working with Aurèle Nicole, he played principal in the Munich Philharmonic. A year later he won the Geneva International Competition and one month later won the principal flute audition for the Berlin Philharmonic.
    “Being a professional flutist didn’t just come to me; I took the opportunity when presented with it. I made the commitement, and accomplished my goal, and for that I am proud. These are good times in my life. I enjoy meeting people and playing with them, without any language problems or barriers. That is quite easy to do with music.
    “If you want to develop, you need goals, but you should also understand that they may not be fulfilled. Sometimes we have to adjust our goals permanently, depending on what kinds of opportunities arise. When you set just one goal, and opportunities call you in a different direction, the opportunities go by without being developed.
    “I have always been careful about the future. I was committed to doing whatever I did well, and to developing myself as a human being, as a musician, and as a performer. But I never thought that I would be a professional flutist. I didn’t dream of becoming principal in an orchestra, let alone the Berlin Philharmonic. A solo career was never my goal either. I just wanted to play the flute. That’s what I told my parents when I was five. I didn’t say I wanted to become a flute player.”
    Not all parents would take easily to the idea that their child wanted to pursue a music career, given the difficulties and struggles often prevalent for most aspiring musicians. Pahud was fortunate to have encouraging parents, who didn’t hold him back. “They were concerned. However, both of them had wanted to play musical instruments when they were kids and were unable to because of World War II. They just wanted to make sure that I finished my regular studies and graduated from high school. Once I had that diploma in my pocket, they allowed me to dedicate myself to music. I was only 17, but I left Brussels for the Conser-vatoire. It was fantastic because I lived on my own.”

Performance Injuries
    When asked if he had encountered any physical difficulties with the flute, he replied, “So far, not that much; I have had no injuries. I am still improving, gaining more control over the instrument, and therefore the struggle is more behind me, but I remember that I practiced a lot when I was doing international competitions before I started auditioning for orchestras. My first job was in Basel, and I practiced about seven to eight hours per day – only me and the flute. 
“Practicing shouldn’t cause injury. If it does, you have a basic problem or a bad position. Flute is more natural than the other wind instruments. It’s a little bit on the side, but it’s not a far stretch. You have to bring the flute in front of you to become one with the sound and your body – not to play on the flute but to play with the flute.  The instrument becomes an extension of the air and of your own breath. Also, the flute has no resistance – indeed it is the only open wind instrument by its acoustic construction. This makes the flute very similar to voice.
    “The only tension that a player might feel is in the neck because of the asymmetrical posture, but I recommend exercise to compensate for that. Unfortunately people don’t talk about these things to students. Young players should be aware of this to avoid performance injuries when they are older, and it is mostly too late to do anything about it.”
    Although Pahud is fortunate to never have suffered a performance injury from many hours of repetitive practicing, he did have one recent brush with a near crippling ear virus. “In 2007 during the summer I had a virus that got stuck in my inner ear, and I lost 80% of my hearing in the right ear. I  heard noises that had nothing to do with what I should have been hearing, which was really scary. I didn’t know what to believe, what I saw or what I  heard. I looked at someone playing the violin but it sounded as if he was playing something else. I stood in front of a piano, played with other instruments, but just played by feeling – not from what I heard. It was painful. Because of all the tension, a nerve got irritated in my neck, and I had to go through two months of medical and manual therapy, all because of the conjunction of a cold, fatigue, and a stupid virus. I was lucky to recover, but I thought seriously about career alternatives in the three weeks that I stopped playing.”

A Busy Schedule
    Pahud travels for most of the year, playing over 150 concerts, “I like being on the road, but after 20 years of it, I try to minimize the lost time of transfers and waiting in the airports with good books. I mostly like philosophical novels that give an insight into thoughts that might not have occurred to me otherwise. I don’t have one favorite book, composer, or whatever. I’m just interested in what I’m reading now, where I am right now, and what I am thinking about. I think it is important not to be distracted by all the rubbish that goes on around us, yet remain aware of any interaction available with the environment.”
    Between his hectic concert schedule and two young sons, he doesn’t have time to teach, except for guest masterclasses. “I am just too busy and enjoy making music too much right now. Perhaps I will teach when I cannot play the flute in a way that makes me happy.”

Articulation and Vibrato
    His ideas about articulation and vibrato are very organic, with a philosophy that incorporates articulation within the air stream so that the movement of the tongue is only an accessory to the air itself. “I think we focus too much on the tongue, which is just in the way of the air stream. It’s as simple as that: no air, no sound! Very often you hear people using double tonguing with hard Ts and Ks. Every time they play legato it is loud, and when they play stacatto, it’s not loud because the tongue stops the air most of the time. The tongue should surf on top of the air stream. It doesn’t matter whether you use the tip between the lips or behind the teeth. The most important thing is that the tongue motion be small. I use all variations, from no tongue at all to the tongue in the mouth – on the top or the bottom – to the front and to the back. What makes the difference between a long and short note is when you stop blowing and how and when you lift the note.” 
    For Pahud, vibrato reflects personal taste and personality rather than national trends. “I think you can recognize a player instantly from his vibrato, not necessarily by country or flute school, but by personal preferences. Often people play with an automatic vibrato. As soon as they hold a note for more than half a second the vibrato turns on. I’ve practiced to the point that the air stream is independent of what my fingers do. The vibrato should only relate to the air stream and not to the fingers.
    “Vibrato should happen naturally and not be physically organized by muscles in the throat, belly, or diaphragm. I think vibrato relates to the way the air stream flows in the body; there is a kind of turbulence zone before the air goes through the mouth. This turbulence makes the vibrato. That’s the way it feels to me.”

Thoughts on Competitions
    Pahud’s success in major competitions placed him in clear view of the upper echelon of the Classical music world. Many musicians and teachers have mixed views of competitions. They can provide goals and performance experience for students as well as potential professional benefits, yet can also wreak havoc on players’ self-esteem. Pahud sees a major benefit to them when the student and competition are mutually appropriate.
    “It depends upon whether you are talking about music-making or flute playing. Competitions let you know where you stand compared to various standards – local, regional, national, and international. They are a good thing because you know whether you belong to the serious people of your generation or not. If you get bad results in certain competitions, you might want to think about doing something else, or changing something, or maybe thinking, it’s just not the right moment, so why did my teacher send me there?’ That’s the responsibility of the teacher. Competitions are not good for everybody. Some players are just not good at them even though they are great musicians.
    “I did many competitions and was fortunate enough to get a prize in all of them. Each win confirmed the previous one, with a different jury, different situation, and different repertoire. That was important because not many people in my generation have won two or three international competitions. It placed me in a position where people started to listen, and I became a young professional through the experience. Concert dates throughout Europe and Japan became available and in America a little later. It is after the competitions that you have to play really well.
    “Playing well in a competition is nothing more than performing a recital. When you play lots of recitals, you compete with all the other musical events. Many competition winners think, ‘I am the best of my generation,’ and they stop practicing. But this is exactly the moment when they should start practicing because this is when they start getting the attention from professionals.”

The U.S. vs. Europe
    Speaking about the music training system in the U.S., Pahud notices a decline in the playing level. “How can you study when tuition is so high? People from wealthy families get better instruments and study with private teachers, but that doesn’t mean that they learn more, are smarter, or more musical. I’ve seen American students become music majors because they played the flute and their parents paid the tuition. The instrumental level required to become a music major can be quite low at some institutions. Some of these kids are just wasting the best years of their lives, and their teachers are wasting their time and energy. It does no good to the music world either.
    “All of them get the same diploma, but they are not all professionals. Some are not even good enough to be called amateurs because they didn’t care enough to work hard in college. For them, it was the easiest thing to do at the time. A system that allows such things to happen is not good. Unfortunately, there are too many people who study for a long time without getting anything out of it. They are qualified, but they will never get a job.
    “I’m not referring to interpretation when talking about playing levels, but about the basics of playing the rhythm, playing in tune, and playing with a nice tone. I am shocked to see how many so-called, young professionals are unable to do this. This exists in every country.
    “When you have a system in which more than half of the graduates eventually end up doing another job, something is wrong with the system. We should train fewer people, but train them better. It has to be competitive to keep it healthy and maintain a certain quality. What I’m saying is not politically correct, but the better we perform on stage, the more people are going to like coming to the concerts.
    “Eventually it’s all about personality. You can always recognize great musicians right away; they bring something very personal to the music.  Whether it’s Karajan conducting, Callas singing,  Jim Galway playing, or Julius Baker, Michel Debost, Jean-Pierre Rampal, or Nicolet, you recognize them instantly. These are just great personalities. They present the music in a very personal and individual way. This is something that we forget in the training.
    “We set a standard and then format everybody with the same knowledge. Some players pick it up easily, and once they’ve got it, they move on to the next step. With other students, teachers have to repeat and repeat and repeat, and eventually it might stick, or not. These are very different personalities, and I think they are entitled to different tuitions. How society and music studies are organized is very difficult within the structure of our Western world.”
    In assessing the level of U.S. professional flutists, Pahud is complimentary, yet he perceives a difference in the manner U.S., Canadian, and British flutists approach orchestral work as opposed to their colleagues in Europe. “I think there are very good players in the U.S. There are several generations of Julius Baker’s students, and it’s always great to see new personalities arising. What is striking to me is that there is a major difference in  the criterion for making a good musician in continental Europe versus the Anglo-Saxon world, which I would say is England, the U.S., and Canada.
    “Orchestra jobs are numerous and prestigious, and it is a big artistic responsibility to play at your best while delivering consistent performances. These musicians are not only steady as a rock, but they also set a standard and match it every time.
    “In Europe this is considered fantastic when it happens, but it is not at all what makes a musician. When we hire a musician, we don’t look for someone who plays at the same standard every time. Rather, we look for someone who can deliver something personal and individual, who can be very different from time to time, depending on the conditions. After all, we are not in the same mood, in the same city, or with the same people every time. This is the big discrepancy in the way flute playing and music making has developed in Continental Europe.  
    “Stars are far beyond any particular school of flute playing. The stars of the French, English, or American flute players do not represent their own school, basically because they have escaped. Music goes beyond the limitations of being in one school.
    “Playing the flute from just one system is a limitation. You should play Taffanel-Gaubert or Reichart Daily Exercises as if they were from a Beethoven symphony, a Mahler symphony, a Mozart concerto, and a Poulenc or Prokofiev sonata; the styles are all there. It’s exactly the same stuff, just in a different context. So start making music with the daily exercises and you’re on the way to becoming a good musician.”
    Although Pahud seems born to be a flutist, he once dreamt of another profession. “I would have loved to become a pilot. I enjoy fast things; driving an Indy car or flying would have been great. On the other hand, I’m really interested in anything that has to do with music management and the music world. After 15 years in the Berlin Philharmonic, I am now a member of the orchestra board. Because the orchestra is self-run, this means I am one of the bosses. The job includes managing the T.V. and media appearances and extra projects. If I ever stop playing the flute, I have many other things to do.”              

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