October 2009 Archives - The Instrumentalist

New Piccolo Discovery

theinstrumenta — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 16:12:46 +0000

I recently discovered what is most likely the first piece for solo piccolo and symphonic orchestral accompaniment. Written by Philadelphia Orchestra section flutist, Joseph La Monaca in May of 1923, Salterello (op. 53) is a catchy four-minute work that was used to demonstrate the piccolo at Philadelphia Orchestra Youth Concerts, conducted by Leopold Stokowski. Both known performances of the Saltarello were performed by John A. Fischer, a member of the orchestra from 1909-1950.

The first time the Saltarello was performed by the Philadelphia Orchestra was October 12, 1933, but since it is not on the orchestra’s premieres list, it was probably performed elsewhere prior to that date. The 1933 presentation followed the Griffes Poem performed by principal flutist William Kincaid.

La Monaca’s Saltarello is available on a commercial CD titled Stokowski First Releases (Cala). It is a live recording of the October 27, 1935 Pension Fund Benefit performance. The liner notes provide background details: “Although RCA recorded five 78 rpm sides during this part of the concert, these were later edited down by dubbing to make just a single two-sided 12" disc. This was issued strictly ‘For Private Use Only’ and entitled ‘Pension Fund Notes-Local Boys Make Good.’ However, transferring engineer Ward Marston has discovered some more unissued material, so we hear a complete performance of the Saltarello for Piccolo and Orchestra, only part of which was on the original 78.”

I first came across this recording while starting research on the recordings of Kincaid and Tabuteau under Leopold Stokowski with the Philadelphia Orchestra. I then tried to track the score and parts. The Philadelphia Orchestra principal librarian, Robert Grossman, discovered the work had been originally catalogued in their library but was no longer part of their holdings. He suggested I call the Edwin A. Fleisher Collection at the Philadelphia Library.

Stuart Serio, assistant curator of the collection located the score and parts, which were received into the Philadelphia Library in October 1956. Even though the Fleisher Collection is the world’s largest lending library of orchestral performance materials with nearly 22,000 titles, the Saltarello is the only La Monaca composition in their holdings.

A saltarello is a lively dance form originally from Naples in the 13th-century. The music, in 6/8 time, would leap and land along with its accompanying dance. La Monaca’s version is both charming and brisk. Although the Saltarello is a solo for the C-piccolo with orchestral accompaniment, the hand-written title page of the solo claims it is a D-flat piccolo part. It is scored for “piccolo obbligato” and orchestra in E major (2 fl, 2 ob, 2 cl, 2 bsn, 4 fr. Hn. 2 trpt, 3 trbn, tymp, snare, cym, and full strings).

While the piccolo part has Vivace as the tempo marking, the score also has a metronome marking of a dotted quarter = 152. Its frequent triple-tongued passages are flashy but not overly difficult.

The primary melody is reminiscent of a turn-of-the-century idiomatic art song and an Italian Tarantella. It is punctuated with deceptive minor chords adeptly handled in the Cala recording by Stokowski’s sonorous and somewhat ominous brass section with added bassoons, giving it an ambience similar to selections from the Philadelphia Orchestra’s Fantasia soundtrack.

Composer and flutist Joseph La Monaca was born February 10, 1872, in Noicattaro, Bari, Italy, and received his diploma as flutist and bandmaster from the N. Piccini Conservatory of Bari. He came to America in 1900 with the Royal Marine Band under Giorgio Minoliti, played with Creatore’s Band1, and from 1910 through 1940 was second flutist of the Philadelphia Orchestra. Leopold Stokowski nicknamed him Benito, presumably because he resembled the Italian dictator Benito Mussolini.

La Monaca performed his own alto flute composition, Primavera Melody, on a Philadelphia Orchestra youth concert on March 1922. The Incidental Dances from his opera, The Festival of Guari, were programmed on a Philadelphia Orchestra series in March 1933. He composed several tone poems for the symphony orchestra, two of which are Caius Graccus, Roman history; and The Earth, according to De Lorenzo in My Complete Story of the Flute. De Lorenzo also claims that La Monaca was known to flutists for his two flute quartets both played at concerts of the Philadelphia Orchestra. Three of his compositions for solo alto flute were published by Carl Fischer.

La Monaca was an early flute teacher of Clement Barone, Jr., former piccoloist of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Their lessons occurred from 1935 to 1939 after the death of Clement Barone’s father and flute teacher, Clement Barone, Sr. who was La Monaca’s friend, neighbor, and Philadelphia Orchestra colleague.

In telephone conversations with Emily Butterfield, Clement Barone Jr. recalled La Monaca’s compositional work, including symphonic tone poems, operas, solo wind concertos, and chamber music. According to Barone, La Monaca “was a wonderful composer. He was composing an opera when I was studying with him.” La Monaca was also described by Barone as “a humble gentleman” and “a musician’s musician.”

Saltarello would work well as originally intended as a demonstration of the piccolo in a children’s concert. It could also be used as an encore to a piccolo concerto performance or a solo for a pops concert. I will be performing it this July with the Ocean City Pops Orchestra. I believe this is a fitting homage because La Monaca was not only a flutist and composer but also the conductor of the Ocean City’s Orchestra from 1946 to 1948.

Piccoloists interested in performing Saltarello can email the Fleisher Collection at Fleisher@freelibrary.org or call at 215-686-5313.

1 Andrew Fairley, Flutes, Flautists, and Makers (London: Pan Educational Music, 1982), p. 85.

2 My Complete Story of the Flute: The Instrument, the Performer, the Music by Leonardo De Lorenzo. Published by Texas Tech University Press, 1996

3 The Professional Life and Pedagogy of Clement Barone. Butterfield, Emily J.Doctor of Musical Arts, Ohio State University, Music, 2003.

I would like to thank Stuart Serio, Clinton F. Nieweg, Emily Butterfield, Robert Grossman and William Scheible for their assistance in my research.

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Flute in South Africa

theinstrumenta — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 16:03:53 +0000

South Africa is a country of amazing contrasts, from the tall, grand peaks of the Drakensburg Mountains to crystalline beaches where whales and dolphins swim within easy view of the shore. Johannesburg has malls as upscale and contemporary as any in America, while not far away squatters live on miles of dirt fields filled with four-foot high shacks, built from random pieces of aluminum siding, with no water, electricity, or plumbing.

In the city of Durban, men’s business suits contrast with the colorful saris of Indian women and the beaded traditional clothes of Zulu ladies. The varied sounds of Africa include the drums beating aecross th Valley of the Thousand Hills, now for music and ceremony, but in the olden days an important method of communication, the clicks of the native Xhosa language, and the call of the magnificent animals in Kruger, Hluhluwe, Scotia and other game parks. This is the South Africa I’ve come to love.

The first time I visited there in 1996, I was acquainted with only one flutist, Mikki Steyn, who I had met through the internet. South Africans had such difficulty sending money out of the country, even via credit cards, that she asked me to bring her a copy of Trevor Wye’s editions of the Mozart G and D Flute Concerti, which were not available in South Africa for purchase. She drove the hour from her home in Pretoria to where I was staying in Johannesburg to pick them up from me. It wasn’t until my third visit to this country this past March that I began to get a sense of the flute community of South Africa.

The Educational System

Children attend school from age six to 18. Grades 1–7 are called primary or junior school, and grades 8–12 are called high or senior school. Education in South Africa varies widely in different regions. State schools in poor areas have huge classes, limited facilities and resources, and lack music departments and teachers. Children in these areas can attend good community music projects after school, but there are not enough of them. Wonderful church and community choirs also keep music alive in poorer communities.

Private schools usually have their own music departments with good facilities and teachers. Schools in middle class and affluent areas, which were previously state schools but are now semi-private (receiving funding from the state and fees), usually have music programs, although the quality varies. Not all these schools offer every orchestral instrument, but most have piano and choir, and perhaps some brass and basic woodwinds. Some of the semi-private schools have a strong brass, woodwind, and percussion program, as well as concert and jazz bands.

Flute is a popular instrument around the country. The Education Department runs Music Centres that any school child can apply to for music lessons after school. Theory, band, and other ensembles are also offered. Cape Town has three well-attended Music Centres, that often have a waiting list, especially for flute players.

The most common introduction to music for young children in primary school is when they learn to play the recorder. Flute is most frequently begun at age 10 or 11, although some start earlier, and many begin in high school at age 13 or 14. These young flutists play in their school or Music Centre bands or orchestras, and some audition for the National Youth Orchestra Course, which is held annually. Most of the major cities have a local youth orchestra and other opportunities for music students.

Many South African universities have music departments, such as the the South African College of Music at the University of Cape Town that offers degrees in performance, education, opera, jazz, ethnomusicology, and composition.

In addition to western music education, South Africa has an abundance of ethnic African music, which includes African flutes, jazz, folk, and indigenous music. Besides English and Africaans (derived from the Dutch settlers), this amazing country has nine other official languages, such as Zulu, Xhosa, and Ndbele, and the sounds on the city streets and the countrysides are endlessly fascinating and beautiful.

Flutists in South Africa
Bridget Rennie-Salonen is the Flute-Lecturer at the University of Cape Town, South African College of Music, and a freelance performer and soloist. She is the former solo principal of the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra. Regarded as one of South Africas’s finest flutists, she has performed as soloist with the Cape Philharmonic, Cape Town Symphony, and Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestras, the Camerata Tinta Barocca, the Stellenbosch Camerata, Cape Town Baroque Ensemble, and the Eastern Cape Philharmonic. She leads the Cavatina Quartet (flute and strings) and performs regularly in Zomari, a duo with guitarist James Grace. She performs extensively as a chamber musician and orchestral principal flutist as well as a soloist, and is frequently invited to adjudicate examinations.

Jason King is an Englishman who married a South African woman and moved to Cape Town in 2005. With a background in business, he saw how difficult it was for South African flutists to obtain advanced flute music, and established the only flute specialist shop in the country. The Flute Specialists () stocks many major brands of flutes. King has also become a major influence in pulling together and stimulating the flute community with events and clinics. “I see the potential here,” he says. “I want to build a stronger network among the flutists, and get more people interested in the flute.” He has sponsored events with flutists Tessa Brinkman, Bridget Rennie-Salonen, Eva Tammasy, Raffaele Trevisani, and Helen Spielman, and is planning one with Swedish flutist Anders Ljungar-Chapelon in 2009.

Helen Vosloo is the principal of the Johannesburg Philharmonic Orchestra and a freelance performer. She is the recipient of several of South Africa’s top music awards. South African composer Hendrik Hofmeyr dedicated his flute concerto to her. She performs with the Wessel van Tensburg Jazz Piano Trio and Trio Hemanay, with whom she has toured the U.S. and Europe. William Bennett and Peter Lukas Graf are among her teachers.

Gabriele von Durckheim is principal of the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra. Her teachers include Bridget Rennie-Salonen and Trevor Wye. She was a member of the Malaysian Philharmonic Orchestra.

Liezl Stolz is a flute lecturer at the University of Cape Town South African College of Music and a freelance performer. She studied with Shigenori Kudo and Peter Lukas Graf, as well as taking masterclasses with Jean-Pierre Rampal, Jean Ferrandis, Maxence Larrieux, Trevor Wye, Pierre-Yves Artaud, and William Bennett. She has won prizes in several international competitions and performs extensively as a soloist, with a classical guitar duo, and as a member of Trio du Cap (flute, cello, piano).

Corvin Matei is a conductor, flutist, and flute lecturer at Stellenbosch University. Born in Romania, he served as principal flute of the Cape Town Symphony Orchestra for 12 years. He is music director of the Cape Sinfonia, and maintains a busy conducting career in South Africa and internationally.

Flute Resources

The Flute Federation of South Africa (F.L.U.F.S.A.) is chaired by John Hinch, who is also the Flute Lecturer and head of music at Pretoria University. Through regular monthly updates, it provides the latest news about happenings in the South Africa flute world.

South Africa boasts two outstanding flute technicians, Petri Salonen, who is based in Cape Town and Michael Botha in Johannesburg. Both are qualified Straubinger padders and offer exceptional support and services to South Africa’s leading players and professionals.

Changes in South Africa

In the 12-year span of my visits to South Africa, I witnessed a noticeable and significant improvement including the integration of cultures and increasing educational and vocational opportunites. It follows that changes in the South African flute community are opening and flourishing as well. I hope, if I am lucky enough to visit again, that I will learn even more about this lovely country and its fascinating flutists.

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10 Exercises for Vibrato Control

theinstrumenta — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 15:52:31 +0000

Is your vibrato controlling you or are you controlling your vibrato? This is a question that every flutist should ask each time they play the flute. Unfortunately, the question may be yes one day and no the next. Vibrato requires practice several times a week to maintain a high level of artistry.

Here are 10 exercises that I use myself and teach to my students. To get the best results, practice them daily until you can control the vibrato well on each metronome marking between 60 and 80. After you gain basic control, practice the exercises two to three times a week to keep in shape.

1. Headjoint Only

Great vibrato begins as the air is exhaled through the vocal folds. To find this location in your neck, pant several times. When you pant, the vocal folds separate on both the inhale and the exhale. This separation is what many teachers in the past have referred to as opening your throat. However, when I ask students what it means to open their throat, they incorrectly point to the base of the neck or to the inside of the the oral cavity while saying ah. This shows me that they do not know where the throat is located.

In my teaching I like to say: “Separate your vocal folds.” If you have ever panted in frigid temperatures, you might recall the pain and dryness that you felt in this area. This is also the area that you feel when swallowing. These are the vocal folds that we use when practicing vibrato.

On the headjoint play several notes using a very staccato breath attack – hah – no tongue, just air. Once you can make three identical notes followed by a rest, repeat the gesture slurred. Do not use your tongue to start the note at this phase of practice. To further develop this initial vibrato control, alternate the staccato hahs with the slurred hahs for several minutes. Be sure that the quality of the staccato is exact and perfect. There should be space between each note when playing staccato and no movement in the upper chest, lower abdomen, or jaw. To vibrate we only move air through the vocal folds. If you have a tendency to vibrate too slowly, then rather than using the hah placement, use hee. Likewise, if your vibrato is too fast, then move the placement from a hee toward a hah

2. Slurred Headjoint Octaves

Once you have mastered the first exercise, play octaves on the headjoint. This not only improves your vibrato technique, but it will also develop your embouchure. Play several sets of two vibrato cycles on a low note slurred to two cycles on the octave above. Be sure to change from the low note to the high note on the same place of the vibrato cycle each time. There should be no hesitation in the vibrato when you slur to the upper note. Vibrato should be continuous. Visualize a violinist’s hand as he moves from one note to the next without stopping the vibrato motion.

You may also play this exercise while covering the open end of the headjoint with the palm of your right hand. In this position you can get three pitches. Practice slurring vibrato from one pitch to the next up and down.

3. Major and Minor Scales

Many flutists have difficulty playing single notes in orchestra, band, and chamber music. The problem stems from not being able to initiate the vibrato immediately. The following exercise will solve this problem.

With a C-major scale in 2/4 time, play two vibrato pulses on the first beat and one vibrato pulse on the second beat and so on for each note of the scale up and down. In the key of F major, play three pulses on the first beat and one vibrato pulse on the second beat, up and down the scale. In the key of B-flat major, place four vibrato pulses on the first beat and one vibrato on the second beat.

Repeat this sequence of 2, 3, or 4 pulses for the other major or minor scales. Over a two week period, practice this exercise on each tick of the metronome between 60 and 80.

The vibrato should start and finish on the high side of the pitch. When the vibrato ends by going to the flat side of the pitch, phrases sound flat and dull.

A side benefit of this exercise is that slow practice helps students play each note with the same color or timbre. When you add a tuner to this exercise, overall intonation improves as well.

4. Another Round of Scales

If you played major scales in the previous exercise, use minor scales for this one. Play the entire scale slurred while placing 2, 3, or 4 pulses on each note of the scale. This will help develop a continuous vibrato. Be sure to change the vibrato cycle in the same place each time, and there should be no delay in starting the vibrato. The beginning of the vibrato must be on the beat.

5. Vibrato Variety

No one wants to listen to a flutist who plays with the same vibrato speed on each note. Vibrato speed is dictated by the period (Baroque, Classic, Romantic, or Contemporary) and even more by the composer’s style. To use vibrato sensitively, practice varying the number of cycles on each beat. Try these patterns on some high and low notes and on harmonics: 02320, 0234320, 023454320, and 023456

54320. Set the metronome between 60 and 80.

To control vibrato, learn to turn it off and on. I either use a five-note scale pattern (D, E, F#, G, A, G, F#, E, D) or #7 in the 17 Daily Exercises by Taffanel & Gaubert for this off & on exercise. On the first note, use no vibrato; on the second note use either 2, 3, 4, 5, or 6 pulses. Repeat this sequence of no vibrato followed by vibrato throughout the five note pattern or #7. Then do the opposite. Use vibrato on the first note and no vibrato on the second note.

7. Vibrato on Harmonics

Practicing vibrato exercises on harmonics always produces great benefits. When vibrating on a harmonic, you feel some resistance, which makes establishing the feeling of good vibrato use a bit more difficult. After you have practiced vibrato on a harmonic note, a regular note feels easy and has a great flow.

Use the notes of a five-note pattern, up and down, fingering a low D, which will sound a second-octave A, play between 2 and 6 pulses. This exercise also strengthens the embouchure.

You can repeat this exercise using E, F, and F# as the fundamental. Any higher and it is not possible to produce all the notes at the third partial.

8. Vibrato and Arpeggios

Joseph Mariano, the legendary Eastman School of Music flute professor, taught me that you can play low notes with a high embouchure placement, but not high notes with a low embouchure placement. Using this idea, practice slurred arpeggios from the top down and back up with counted vibrato. Use the metronome and the tuner while placing 2, 3, or 4 cycles on each pitch.

9. Vibrato and Seventh Chords

There are five seventh chord arpeggios that flutists should practice and know well. They are M/M (a major triad with an added Major seventh), M/m (a major triad with an added minor seventh, m/m (a minor triad with an added minor seventh), d/m (a diminished triad with an added minor seventh), and d/d (a diminished triad with an added diminished seventh).

With the exception of the M/M, all of these seventh chords are used in #12 and #13 in Taffanel & Gaubert’s. When first learning the notes, play 2, 3, 4, or 5 vibrato cycles per pitch as the exercise is written. As you become more familiar with the notes, use Mariano’s idea of starting the arpeggios at the top, descending, and returning to the top again – all with counted vibrato.

10. Beginning Books & Hymnals

Recycle beginning books for your practice. Most beginning books make excellent tone, vibrato, and embou-chure studies. If an exercise is written in simple time (2/4, 3/4, 4/4), practice with four pulses per quarter, two per eighth note, and six per dotted quarter. If the exercise is written in compound time (3/8, 6/8, 9/8, 12/8 ), use six pulses per dotted quarter note, two per eighth, and four per quarter note. Look for places where you may use the written note as the fundamental and then play vibrato at the third partial. These ideas also work well when using hymnals.

Julius Baker and Vibrato

My first lesson assignment from Julius Baker in 1963 was to memorize all the slow movements of the Bach Sonatas. I was to play the movement through with counted vibrato while using the metronome. We tend to use less vibrato today in Baroque music because of a better awareness of Baroque performance practices. Then flutists produced vibrato with the fingers, by repeatedly hitting the side of a finger hole to vary the pitch. This technique was called flattement. That said, working on the Bach sonatas in that way helped me learn to play with a continuous vibrato and change from one note to the next without stopping the vibrato. It also taught me to play uniform vibrato cycles and think about the appropriate size and speed of a cycle in relationship to the style period.

Filling in the Beat

Continuous vibrato and vibrato speed have a lot to do with the subdivision of the beat. Students who cannot count well, subdivide the beat, or understand the difference between simple and compound time, often have difficulty developing a usable vibrato. If you have a student with this problem, you must step back and teach them to feel the subdivision of the beat.

Once again, use a beginning book or hymnal as your source material. On each beat have the student fill in the quarter by playing four sixteenths using the single tongue (T). Repeat using the back syllable (K), then the double tongue (TK), then the throat staccato (HAH) and finally filling in with counted vibrato. Setting the internal rhythm first helps students understand the rhythm of vibrato speed.

Vibrato Opinions

There is debate among players as to whether flutists should use a continuous vibrato when they perform. Since the Classical era of the Stamitz musical dynasty, composers have often doubled either flute or the oboe with the violin line. Acoustically this helps bring the tuning of 8-14 violins into one center. For this reason, I suggest that you follow the lead of the concertmaster in an orchestral setting. If he vibrates, you should also.

However, if you are playing second flute in an orchestra or wind ensemble, you should follow the lead of the first player. In chamber and solo settings, there is much more leeway to paint with your vibrato. The bottom line is that the situation within which you are performing should dictate whether to play with vibrato and how much to use.

Some flutists question whether we should teach vibrato at all. Many European flutists have felt that vibrato is akin to the soul, and when you have a soul in your flute playing, you will develop your vibrato. If I had taken this approach, I would still have a lot of students who could not vibrate. The first teacher I had who worked on a controlled vibrato was Frances Blaisdell. She used exercises based on the teachings of Georges Barerre. These ideas are the basis for the exercises that I have developed today.

While it may seem obvious to many that we should be able to execute an even vibrato over a long period of time, this is a foreign subject to many students. The ability to do so improves our legato playing, enhances the forward flow of our phrasing, and provides a more beautiful sound.

I have had excellent success in teaching continuous vibrato with the following exercise. Have the student sit in a chair with his legs extended in front of him. The legs are extended to ensure that the student is breathing well and simply. On a low D, the student plays 16 counts of four vibratos per beat, pianissimo. Then rest two counts in order to get a good organized breath and repeat the 16 counts of low D vibrato at least 4 more times. The student will have vibrated for over a minute. Practicing a minute of vibrato several times a week will help students develop the vibrato control they will need to play musically.

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Pierre Max Dubois’ Concerto

theinstrumenta — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 15:37:33 +0000

French composer Pierre Max Dubois (1930-1995) studied piano with Jean Doyen and composition with Darius Milhaud at the Paris Conservatory between 1949 and 1953. After winning the Prix de Rome in 1955 and the Grand Prix of the city of Paris in 1964, he began conducting and toured France, Belgium, the U.S., and Canada. He taught in Paris and Quebec and eventually taught analysis at the Paris Conservatory. In addition to his woodwind compositions, Dubois also composed three small-scale operas, a number of ballets, and numerous piano works. His other flute works include Incantation et Danse for flute alone and Novelette, Pop Variations, Neuf Preludes Faciels and Sonate, all for flute and piano.

His compositional style is individual, but you can hear influences of Milhaud, Francoix, and Prokofiev, as well as jazz and folk song in his works. He wrote a few unusually orchestrated pieces, including a quartet for four trombones accompanied by full orchestra and saxophone orchestra. His principal publishers are Boosey & Hawkes, Choudens, Eschig, Alphonse-Leduc, Rideau Rouge, and Technisonor.

I. Presto leggiero quarter =138

This movement should be performed as close to the indicated tempo as possible. Because it begins softly with constant moving 16ths and numerous accidentals, the movement is technically challenging, both for fingers and the tongue. Beyond that, however, is the hurdle of playing it musically.

Practice rhythms help to sort out the technical problems and improve rhythmic accuracy and finger evenness. For example, measures 6-8 and 13-16

could be practiced with these variations.

Count measures 37-38 carefully and play the triplet evenly over two beats. Thinking in a quarter-note triplet helps.

Measure 39 is an eighth-note quintuplet over the piano’s eighth and 16th notes. To play five notes over two, think the measure in one big beat while saying hippopotamus.

Measures 41-44 are another great place to use practice rhythms. The following patterns work well here as do dotted rhythms.

Passages such as bars 49-52 can be a challenge because they are a compilation of half and whole steps. Regrouping them across barlines, as in Kincaid groups, often solves the problem. Marking the half steps and practicing in various rhythms helps as well.

Note that the ff scale beginning in measure 61 starts in F major, switches to C Major in 62, and returns to F major in 64. Toss off the 16th-note quintuplet in 6/8 and treat it as a pickup to the 32nd-note run into measure 69. Adding right-hand ring and middle fingers to the high A flat on the downbeat of 69 will bring the pitch down. This occurs many times throughout the piece.

Trill fingerings or harmonics can be used in measure 95 for clarity. I suggest overblowing the fundamental, as in the following:

Throughout measures 99-106 it is a good idea to add the right-hand ring finger to the high Fns to bring the pitch down. For the same reason, finger the high F#s in measures 112-114 with the middle right-hand finger.

Identify and write the scale keys in the music so your fingers can function automatically. This is useful in bars 118-121 and 124-126.

A good fingering for the high A to B trill in measure 148 is Th 2 3/ 4 6. (The red numbers indicate the keys that move.)

The remainder of the movement is a romp to the end. Various themes return from earlier in the piece and become transformed into something new. The important thing to remember is to identify the scale keys and patterns wherever they occur. Then your fingers can function almost automatically.

II. Pavane (Lento)

A pavane in the 16th and 17th centuries was a duple-meter, majestic processional dance used to open a ball at court, ostensibly so the dancers could show off their elegant attire. With that in mind, and with the lento indication taken into consideration as well, I suggest a tempo around eighth = 64.

The doppio tempo marking in measure 16 indicates that the tempo doubles in speed. While the basic pulse remains the same, the note value that equals 64 changes to a quarter note rather than the eighth note. The notes values slow down again after measure 34, but again, the basic pulse of 64 remains constant.

As in the first movement, the Pavane includes a few triplet figures that should be spread evenly over the beat, such as in measures 2, 4, 6, and 7. In each case, the piano part has duples in eighth notes.

The opening theme returns in measure 38 at a p level. The final note, an harmonic A, follows just eight measures later. Finger low D and lip up to the A above the staff.

III. Tempo di Gavotto

The gavotte was a Baroque dance form that was quite popular in the court of King Louis XIV. Generally in 4/4 or 2/2, it was felt in two beats to the bar. In this case, a playful tempo around half note = 83 is appropriate. Notice that the harmonies in the piano part change in half-note units, another indication that the movement should be felt in two. Playing the mordent on the downbeat of measure 3 directly on the beat, not before it, will immediately help to establish the feeling of weight on beats one and three.

Use forward motion in measures 17-19 through the eighths by regrouping the notes so that the second through fourth notes of each four-note group lean toward the first note of the next group.

Notice the step-wise motion that occurs on beats one and three in measures 21-24. While the motion is in eighth notes, a little weight on the first note of each group of four (C#, D, E, F#, G, A, and B) will bring out the larger phrase.

In measure 53 after the 44 is the return of the initial measures one octave higher. The last note in 52, the high A, is a pickup to 53. Rubato in the previous measure will help you set that up.

The last note of the movement is written as a quarter, but I suggest lengthening it just a bit, so it doesn’t sound too short and clipped.

IV. Scherzando- dotted quarter note = 83

This movement is marked spirituoso, which requires a flawless technique in order to sound light and easy. The tempo is quite brisk. I recommend practicing with a metronome set on a slow three beats to the measure. Speed up gradually, finally reaching eighth note =252. Working in this way will also provide stability for the rhythm, particularly in those measures that begin with a 16th rest, such as measures 3 and 4 in which the piano and flute both have rests on the downbeats.

The octave E drop in measure 11 will be smooth if you remove the right-hand pinky finger for the middle E natural. This is actually a good technique to use throughout the rest of the movement as well.

Use the B-flat lever or side key in measure 12 for a smooth ascending run, and in all instances in which an alternate fingering would improve intonation feel free to do so. The tempo is such that any variation of tone color due to its use will go unnoticed.

Note that the movement begins softly, and remains that way for most of the first page. Budget the dynamics carefully so there is room to grow to the ffs that follow.

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Carol Wincenc

theinstrumenta — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 00:33:09 +0000

Carol Wincenc and I sat down to chat in Oberlin, Ohio on a cold winter day in 2009. We talked about her life and the upcoming concert season, which is a special one for her. She is celebrating her 40th anniversary of performing by playing a four-event celebration that spans the 2009-2010 concert season. The first event took place at the National Flute Association convention in New York City, where she and pianist Stephen Gosling played the world premiere of Jonathan Berger’s Calcine Crown, Andrew Thomas’s Samba, and a two-flute arrangement of Dinicu’s Hora Staccato, which she performed with eight-year-old flutist Emma Resmini.

Wincenc grew up in the suburbs of Buffalo in Williamsville, New York. “It’s a very upscale, white-collar community with a fantastic public school system. I had studied the violin with my dad from the age of four, and subsequently chose the flute so that I could play in the band.” Her father was the first concertmaster of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra when it was in its infancy as a W.P.A. orchestra. He went on to be the orchestra’s associate conductor and also started several community orchestras in the area.
Her parents fostered her interest in music. “My mother worked with me on piano. I remember making up songs that she orchestrated for me. My very first song was:

Here come the ponies down the street.
Galloping, galloping hear their feet.
Shining manes are flying high.
Will they touch the blue, blue sky?
Pony can I ride?

“I heard chamber music at home constantly. Musicians often came to the house, and my mother also taught piano students. Hearing all of that music, and watching my parents was wonderful. My dad was such a mentor – by my side all the time with the fiddle, making sure that each bowing was just right. At nine I switched to flute, which I thought was very feminine and pretty.”
Her first flute teacher was her band director, Vincent Morette. “When my parents saw that I had an aptitude for flute, they found a private teacher for me, and I started working with a former Moyse student, Edna Comerchero. We worked on De la sonorité from day one to find a singing tone quality. After a year I moved on to Robert Mols, who had studied with Mariano at Eastman.” In high school she studied with Anton Wolf, who was a flutist in one of her father’s community orchestras.”

A Year in Italy
    While Wincenc was in high school, her father was invited to be an exchange professor for a year in Siena, Italy. “It was 1966, and I graduated from high school a year early so I could go along. It was pretty remarkable because the summer before we left for Italy, Karl Kraber came to Buffalo to play in the Dorian Quintet. Karl is about as charismatic as you can get, and he just turned my head around. I worked on chamber music with him, and my parents got to know him as well. When they asked him what they should do with me in Italy, he replied, ‘There’s no question. She should go to Rome and study with Gazzelloni.’
    “On the ship over to Europe we had many discussions about where I would live. My parents were going to be in Siena, but I would be in Rome. Once again good fortune struck. We met a group of young women from the Rhode Island School of Design who were on their way to study in Rome for a semester. They would be living in a lovely boarding house run by a nice woman who just happened to have an extra room. When she heard that I was a musician, she asked me to sing for her. She was the accompanist for the Coro Academia Filharmonica Romana (Philharmonic Chorus) and liked my singing enough to get me into the group. We toured and sang with the Radio Orchestra of Rome; in fact, I sang professionally with that chorus as much as I studied the flute that year. It was a phenomenal experience. What a way to learn the language, just being thrown into this chorus. I was
just 17.”
    When she played for Gazzelloni, he agreed to take her as a student. “It was wonderful. The only other American flutist he knew about was Paula Robison, who had just won the Geneva Competition. She became this figure that I emulated for years.”
    When the family returned to the U.S., Wincenc went to the Oberlin Conservatory for college, but only stayed two years. “My family has an Oberlin legacy. Both my parents were students there in the 1930s, and my father was president of his class for three years. I think after that wild year in Rome, my mother wanted to have the comfort of knowing that I would be in a dormitory. Oberlin was very different from Italy where I was mostly on my own.
    “Willoughby assigned lots of etudes, long tones, and articulation exercises but not much repertoire. Intonation was a huge issue for him. It is so imperative that flute players learn to play in tune. He was very methodical and extremely demanding, but I was like a stallion at the gate after my year in Italy!
    “We worked on the Hindemith Sonata, the Schubert variations, and some of the French Conservatory pieces. Outside of those, however, I studied mainly new music. I remember being asked to play Afternoon of a Faun during an orchestra audition there, and I had never played it before. I knew what it was, but can you imagine not knowing it? Today’s students all know that famous solo.
     “This all took place during the Vietnam war years, and the campus was a very politically active place. A group of us decided to transfer and were accepted to Juilliard – only to discover that they subsequently decided they could not accommodate us because of their move to Lincoln Center. Everything fell apart for me at that point. My Dad knew Steve Maxym, a bassoonist on the faculty at Manhattan, and Steve suggested that I audition at Manahattan.”

    She was accepted and earned a bachelor’s degree at Manhattan studying with Harold Bennett. “He was such a character. In the summers I worked with James Pellerite at the Chautauqua Institute. I was so lucky to have this wealth of really solid teachers. After graduation from Manhattan in 1971, I worked with Albert Tipton at Aspen for three summers, where I was principal flute of the Chamber Symphony.”
    Over the years she worked with Sam Baron, Arthur Lora, and Charles Delaney. “I also took lessons with Marcel Moyse in Brattleboro, Vermont. He was not coaching at the Marlboro Festival then, but I saw him independently. I’d drive from New York City and go cross-country skiing while I was there. When I got to Moyse, it felt like coming home. He was always singing and referred to the voice and the singing style in his teaching – an approach that I had also learned from my parents and Edna Comerchero. My father had a beautiful legato, singing style when he played the violin.”
    While in school she had considered a permanent orchestral career. “Juilliard was sort of geared toward orchestral careers, and in my class were Renee Seibert, Trudy Hartmann, Michael Parloff, Trudy Kane, Nadine Asin, and Ransom Wilson. The job that I got out of college was the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra. There was only one flute; it was really solo playing.”

The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra
In 1972 Wincenc was hired to play in the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra by conductor Dennis Russell Davies, a position she would remain in for five years. Shortly after she arrived, Jean-Pierre Rampal came to play with the orchestra. “I was designated to pick him up. Out of the airport came this gigantic man in a mink coat whom I revered. He couldn’t have been more wonderful, and he came every season that I was there.
“The orchestra had a five-state outreach program, and I know those states thoroughly. I vividly remember playing in Brookings, South Dakota because it was the first time I ever ate buffalo meat. We also hit Fargo, North Dakota, Eau Claire, Wisconsin, Moorhead, Minnesota, and Madison, Wisconsin, which was the only place I found with a 24-hour deli during my entire five years with the orchestra.
“The orchestra owned its own plane, a DC3, that sat 28 people. We landed in Bismark, North Dakota in the middle of a blizzard and tromped through the airport. The concertmaster looked very Mediterranean, complete with a suntan and fur coat, and Dennis Russel Davies was wearing his motorcycle jacket and a ponytail. We walked by a group of men in cowboy boots while heading toward the baggage claim area, and I heard one of the men say, ‘They look like a bunch of foreign exchange students to me.’

New York City
From St. Paul, Wincenc returned to New York, and in 1979 she made her New York debut at Alice Tully Hall as a Naumberg Winner. That year also saw the release of her first recording, Music of George Rochberg, which was released by CRI on cassette. Over the next few years she made several C.D.s with the Musical Heritage Society, Warner Brothers, and MusicMasters. “By 1989 I was well on my way with a full blown career and representation with IMG Artists.” She was also on three conservatory faculties simultaneously, Indiana University, Rice, and Juilliard. Today her recordings total more than 20. The most recent is Samuel Adler, Of Musique, Poetrie, Art, and Love (Naxos).
The commissions began in 1978. Wincenc has over 14 compositions commissioned by or for her. They include such composers as George Rochberg, Ezra Laderman, David Del Tredici, Daniel Paget, Joan Tower, Joseph Schwantner, Robert Beaser, Samuel Adler, Robert Capanna, and Paul Schoenfield, to name just a few. That is an enormous contribution to the flute community worth celebrating.
She commented, “It is a wonderful experience to work with composers. Lukas Foss was my first commission. He could play all of his works at the piano. For example, in The Renais-sance Concerto he boasted that ‘the right notes are Rameau’s and the wrong notes are mine.’ Christopher Rouse always said, ‘You sound great.’ He was sort of minimal. Some composers’s writings are demanding and some are not. Schoenfeld and Peter Schickele were very demanding. Some of Joan Tower’s passages were almost unplayable.”

Teaching
    Wincenc has been teaching at Juilliard for 23 years, and at Stony-Brook for 12. She does all her teaching at Stony-Brook on one day with two hours to get there, six hours of teaching, and two hours to drive back home.
    “Growing up with string players and participating in various choral activities, I had a very mixed background. The Tipton, Delaney, Pellerite, and Baker influence gave me the American flute tradition, so I had French training with an American mix – French tone production and articulation with the robustness of American style. Those influences have shaped the way I teach and play.
    “I insist that the students play #1, #4, and #5 from Taffanel and Gaubert every day. If I don’t play scales, I feel incomplete. I do a whole breathing exercise routine as well. When I was in my early twenties, my breathing was constricted, but I met Alexander Murray in England and started doing Alexander technique, breathing through my nose and giving myself permission to breath.
    “As to repertoire, I’m a real fan of Boehm, Altès, and Andersen etudes. A lot of my work as a teacher is finding out where a student is in their development. Then we work on what they need the most.”
“Music was always my dominant interest, but my mother started me dancing and moving to music at an early age. I started dancing lessons at age seven and continued until I was 14. I also studied drama through high school and it helped my inner projection as a performer.
    “I think getting into character when playing music is just as important as when you are acting. When I work on orchestral excerpts with my students, it’s much like being a drama student. That’s what I love about orchestra excerpts; they use dramatic skills. You have to get into character immediately with the exact tempo and with a plan for precise breathing and expression. Orchestral solos are similar to 20-second monologues. Some of our richest moments come in the symphony orchestra.
    “In solo repertoire you have the opportunity to expand that character a little bit longer because you are in a piece or movement. I was so keen on the Moyse 24 Melodies with variations that I had all of my students write poems for each one. That helped them get into the character.
    “The arts are all inter-related. That’s one of the things I love about Juilliard. We have a course called Colloquium. Everyone in the Freshman class collaborates in small groups of students from various disciplines. They create a presentation that grows out of the group’s ideas and strengths.

Staying In Shape
    “I spend most of my time on technical exercises, such as Taffanel-Gaubert #5 as a breathing exercise and #1. I practice #4 all legato and staccato and then play a series of orchestral excerpts: La Volière, Scherzo from A Midsummer Nights Dream, and Bach’s Badinerie from the B-minor Suite. I just don’t have time for etudes. I am also a big believer of practicing backwards. Playing nasty spots backwards builds confidence.”
    A recent accident has changed how she practices. “A year ago this Christmas my son and I went to Italy and were hit head-on by another car. Among other serious injuries I had four vertebral fractures and a broken right hand. My son Nikky was okay, but I was in Italy for a month. When I got back I found that my hand had not been dealt with properly. That required a second operation, and kept me from playing for 4½ months. I played my first concert after that the beginning of April. Fortunately it was my right hand thumb that broke.
“I now have to take time to warm up. I also swim, and have started doing yoga. I didn’t used to do Taffanel-Gaubert #1, but now I practice it religiously, and I have a whole series of head, neck, and arm exercises as well.
    “I always practice in combination with the breath. I have found over the years that a lot of issues emanate from inhalations and exhalations that are not thorough enough. That concept came from Murray. I call it healthy completion and healthy depletion, so the breath is not a panic depletion. By breathing through the nose I can inflate fully and give myself the permission to do so. Permission is such an important word for wind players. Great opera singers don’t think twice about permitting themselves to breathe.”
   During our conversation about her flute lineage, Wincenc referred to herself as a mutt, because she was influenced by a combination of the French and American flute schools. I would venture to add that she represents the best of all possible musical worlds–through the mixture of string/woodwind musical background, the amalgamation of her pedagogical and soloistic careers, and through her commission projects, which have provided a great service to the flute community.
The Ruby Anniversary Celebration
    “I came to New York City in 1969 – 40 years ago – thus the Ruby Anniversary Celebration. I will play a second concert at the Merkin Concert Hall on November 9 with San Francisco-based composer and pianist, Jake Heggie, who wrote a new flute and piano work, Fury of Light, for me. The program also features Lukas Foss’s Three American Pieces arranged for flute and piano, Paul Schoenfield’s Six Chassidic Songs, and George Crumb’s famous 1971 work Voice of the Whale for electric flute, electric piano, and electric cello.”

The next concert takes place at The Morgan Library & Museum on February 22, 2010, and features Wincenc’s flute, viola, harp trio Les Amies. They will perform Thea Musgrave’s Sunrise, for flute, viola, and harp, and Andrea Clearfield’s …and low to the lake falls home… A Memoriam to Joseph and Margaret Wincenc, for flute, viola, and harp. The program also features Bach’s Sonata in E-flat Major, BWV 1031, arranged for flute and harp; Arnold Bax’s Elegiac Trio; Ravel’s Sonatine arranged for flute, viola, and harp; Devienne’s Duo in C minor, Op. 5, No. 3, for flute and viola; and Debussy’s Sonata for flute, viola, and harp.

On March 31, 2010, Wincenc performs at Peter J. Sharp Auditorium at The Juilliard School. The program includes the premier of a new work for flute and string quartet by Joan Tower, a new chamber concerto for flute soloist, oboe, clarinet, percussion, piano, violin, cello, and bass by Shih Hui Chen’s. Vivaldi’s Flute Concerto in D Major, “Il Gardellino,” will begin the program, which will conclude with dozens of her current and former students from Stony Brook University and the Juilliard School joining in a performance of Andrew Thomas’s Samba. Both Shih Hui Chen and Joan Tower will attend the concert. For more information go to

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