Juggling and the Brain
    Learning how to juggle improves a musician’s skills in unimaginable ways. The earlier students learn how to juggle the better, but it is never too late to start. Most of the time in everyday activities, one side of the brain dominates. Juggling is hard to master in the beginning because it forces both sides of the brain to work together. Musicians use both sides of the brain when playing music, so learning how to juggle enhances the brain connections needed to play the flute well.
    There was a study performed by the neurology department of the University of Regensburg in Germany that examined whether juggling affects the brain. The study was published in Nature, the International Journal of Science in  February 2004 Volume 427 Issue 112-113. In the study, twenty-four people learned how to juggle proficiently and practiced for several months at it, while another group did not. The people who learned to juggle increased the gray matter in their brains although over time, this change decreased when they stopped juggling. More research is needed to see exactly how juggling affects the brain, but this is scientific evidence that juggling improves connections in the brain.

Juggling is Fun for Students
    Juggling is exciting to learn and provides visual results of progress in a short amount of time. As students learn a pattern, they can see their success and become more motivated to achieve the next level. I learned how to juggle mostly because it looked cool and challenging, and a friend was doing it too. I did not realize how much it would help my flute playing.

Juggling and Music
    In relation to music, juggling helps with counting and understanding rhythms. Unlike when students play, throwing the balls provides a visual representation of a rhythmic pattern. It also provides practice with coordinating the movements of both hands.

Getting Started
    In high school I spent several summers teaching juggling to children at camp. Later, I introduced college friends to the skill. The following are some of the most efficient ways to teach all age groups how to juggle.
    One of the biggest challenges for beginners is the fear of dropping a ball. When practicing, it is best to sit on the ground and to not even attempt to catch the objects at first. This allows the body to become familiar with the feel of the correct pattern. Once students can repeat the pattern with ease, they can try to start catching the objects. The maximum height that beginners should throw the objects is as high as they can comfortably reach. To figure this out, ask them to hold a hand up like they are raising a hand to be called on in class. They should not exceed that height.

Throwing Two Objects
    Another problem that beginners have is a misconception of the actual motion of the balls in the air. Most inexperienced jugglers attempt to throw two objects in a circular pattern. It is nearly impossible for beginners to maintain that pattern with three or more objects. That pattern is actually an advanced trick called a shower. Instead, they should begin with an X pattern. The best way to achieve this is to imagine that you are in a box and are throwing to the two upper corners. The balls cross and fall to the opposite hand, creating the desired pattern. The objects cannot be thrown at the same time because they will collide and then it will be hard to catch them. Throw with the first hand and then after a slight hesitation throw the second ball to ensure that the objects do not collide. It may take a few purposeful drops to figure out this pattern.

    If one is right-handed then the right hand throws first and is followed by the left hand. If you are left-handed then the left hand throws first followed by the right hand. Once you can toss and catch like this successfully ten times in a row then you can move onto throwing three.

Moving to Three Objects
    A three-object pattern uses the same X pattern. The objects should be small enough that two can be held comfortably in one hand at once. To throw three balls, hold two in the dominant hand and one in the nondominant hand. The hands alternate starting with the hand with two objects. The cue to throw the second object is when the first object reaches its maximum height. In other words, after starting, you should have only one object in each hand. It may take a few purposeful drops to get used to throwing three. Once you feel comfortable with the pattern, start trying to catch them. Count how many you can throw and see if you can beat that number. If you are having trouble, a friend may be able to see where you are getting off the pattern. (A useful tutorial video illustrating three objects can be found at )
    Just as in flute practice, partner practice is beneficial. Stand next to each other, shoulder to shoulder, with one person being the left hand and the other the right hand. Using two people to complete the pattern will improve hand-eye coordination and is a great way to improve the nondominant hand’s accuracy at catching. Periodically switch sides. This is similar to having one flutist blow on the headjoint and the other do the fingerings.
    Musicians tend to understand juggling faster than non-musicians. This may be because they use both sides of the brain more than the average person, and juggling reinforces these connections that are already there. A musician’s sense of rhythm is probably also helpful.
    It is frustrating in the beginning. I encourage students to have positive-sounding music in the background or humming or singing while they figure out how to juggle. Nursery rhymes like Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star or Mary Had a Little Lamb seem especially effective.
    Juggling can be a great way to give students a break from playing the flute while still improving their skills. Especially for music summer camp programs, juggling can be a welcome physical break and a new exciting challenge. The equipment needed is not expensive. Professional equipment is not necessary. Just look for circular objects that are easy to hold and do not bounce. (With bouncing balls, students will spend more time chasing them than juggling.)

    Besides increasing the connections in the brain, juggling can be used as a bonding tool. If a studio or ensemble learns how to juggle together, the group will become closer. Encourage partner juggling and pair up stronger jugglers with beginners. Give them some starting instructions and then just watch what happens. Students will help one another and develop stronger connections with each other.
    The most fascinating part about juggling is that just like with music there are endless possibilities. There are many types of equipment to master besides beanbags, and one can increase the numbers of objects for greater difficulty. Juggling also helps with focus and concentration. It is such a complex task for the brain that other thoughts such as bad test grades, stress, and wrong notes are forgotten. It clears the thoughts and leaves students more focused. 

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Finding a Flute Choir
    For students, start by talking to your teacher. Many colleges offer flute choir opportunities for credit, and some private teachers create flute choirs as a chamber music experience for their students. As the numbers of participants increase, some teachers form multiple ensembles organized by age or ability. Sometimes a flute choir is formed as an after-school activity by a local flute teacher or advanced student. Several of my former students, who possess superb leadership skills and are now professionals or college music majors, organized such performing ensembles for their peers when they were high school upperclassmen. 
    Searching for a suitable flute choir can be more of a challenge for those coming back to playing as an adult. Ask established flute teachers or professionals for prospective groups. (A local high school band director may be able to direct you to flute teachers in the area.) Universities, flute clubs, and social media can suggest other options.
    Once you find some options, consider whether the group will fit your schedule. Ask when, where, and how often the choir will rehearse. Check the attendance policy. Find out how many concerts they present each season. Some might give a couple concerts each year, while others perform frequently at diverse venues such as area festivals, conventions, schools, churches, and retirement communities. Determine whether there is a membership fee. Start by checking the flute choir’s website. There may be recent concert videos available online as well. If the ensemble seems like a good fit, contact the director for more information. You could attend an upcoming performance or possibly observe or participate in a rehearsal.

Auditions
    There are many flute choirs that welcome new members without an audition. Groups requiring an audition tend to perform more advanced repertoire. If you are not accepted after an audition, don’t be discouraged. You want to find a group that is the right fit for you. Ask for constructive feedback and consider taking some private lessons. There may be gaps in your flute knowledge, or you may just need a refresher and some practice. You may need to start with a less formal ensemble as you improve your playing skills. This will also give you experience playing in this type of group.
 
Flute Care
    If you are returning to flute playing after a break, take it in to a qualified flute technician for a Clean, Oil, & Adjust (COA). All pads eventually need to be replaced, as they are exposed to condensation, temperature fluctuations, and impurities including dirt and pet dander. If you hear muted or non-existent tones when you play, it may simply be the result of split or leaky pads. An aged, loose cork in the headjoint makes it impossible to play in tune with others. Once a flute is in good working order and being played regularly, follow up by taking it in for maintenance service at least once per year.

Warmup
    Allow adequate time to set up your stand, organize your music, and assemble your flute for both rehearsals and performances. Nothing is worse than someone disrupting a rehearsal with a late arrival. Be in your seat ready to play at least 15 minutes prior to the designated start to every rehearsal. On a concert day, allow additional travel time so you will arrive composed and focused.

Rehearsal Preparation
    Warm up with a few harmonics and long tones and check your pitch with a tuner. I recommend purchasing a tuning pick-up device, available for under $10 on Amazon. Some models plug into a tuner/metronome while others fit into a phone to use with a tuning app. The device clips onto the flute and enables you to monitor your tuning even while others are playing. During warmup time, review tricky passages or perhaps tune a note or interval with a colleague.

Attendance
    Notify the director or attendance coordinator in advance if you will be absent for a rehearsal or concert. Reliability is essential to every successful performing organization. If a single part is missing, the section will sound different to those who are present. If a different person is missing each week, the group will be not develop good listening and ensemble skills. Much repertoire, especially more recent compositions, share thematic material throughout all of the parts.

Part Assignments
    Much deliberation takes place behind the scenes to determine who should play each part. While some players are happy playing any part, others become frustrated or resentful when they are not assigned a prominent solo part. Don’t complain no matter what part you receive. Remember that every part of a performing group is essential. Through teamwork each member contributes vibrant energy to the whole.

Home Practice
    Learn your part at home. The purpose of rehearsals is to understand how your part fits with the other players. If you are struggling with technical issues such as fingerings, articulation, or intonation, you will not be able to focus on the big picture, and this affects the whole ensemble. You also do not want the director to stop rehearsal because you do not know your part.

Watching
    Some players get immersed in the music and forget to look up. Raise the music stand so you can easily look up every few bars, especially when there is an approaching tempo change, including ritards and accelerandos. Memorize a bar or two at difficult spots.

Pencils
    Bring pencils to each rehearsal and mark your part whenever the conductor makes a request. Erasers are also essential, so keep a spare in your case.

Playing with Others
    Be ready to play. Prepare for attacks so you are not late. Have the flute up to your face, set the embouchure, and breathe before the attack. Consider how string players prepare their bows prior to playing. Preparation begins before you play. If you wait until the attack, you will be late. It takes some getting used to but makes a world of difference for the precision of the ensemble. Listen to your colleagues to match attacks on the front and releases at the end of each note. Pay attention to note lengths, including staccato, legato, and everything in between. With practice your group will learn to intuitively react and move as one.

Balancing the Parts
    Figure out if you have the melody, a part of the melody, the background, simply a texture, or something else. The conductor will discuss this at rehearsals as well. Careful balance and adjustments allow the essence of the music to emerge. Even if you think you are doing what is needed, it is often good to exaggerate even more. Remember the music sounds different to the conductor in front of the group and even more so as it projects to the audience. Trust the director’s requests even if you think your part sounds correct from your location in the group.

Upgrading Your Flute
    Considerable mechanical and acoustic improvements are found on flutes built after the 1980s. If you are playing on an older instrument stored in a closet since your high school days, it may be time to upgrade. Newer instruments are more responsive, more mechanically precise, and feature significant improvements with intonation. Everyone is different, so it takes time and experimenting to discover the right one for you.

Low Flutes
    You may want to consider buying a low flute (alto, bass, contrabass). These instruments present a deep and thrilling resonance which grounds the flute choir. Low flutes are often featured in new flute choir music. Check them out at regional and national flute conventions where a wide variety is readily available to try. Flute specialists and dealers will gladly offer information about specific models and designs, and it is possible to purchase many low flutes at a modest price for those just getting started playing them.

Improving Your Skills
    In addition to practicing your flute choir repertoire, a regular and disciplined warmup routine improves your general playing skills. Try warming up on the headjoint only, playing octaves and practicing vibrato cycles and double-tonguing. After assembling the flute, play harmonics (overblowing from a first octave note) and long tones. You should be able to play all major and minor scales in two octaves at a metronome setting of 104. Play scales in slurred thirds to develop articulated fingers and a flexible embouchure. Practicing arpeggios with a tuner teaches the pitch tendencies of your flute.
    If you have a difficult passage, ask for alternate fingerings in advance and practice them diligently. The extra effort will be worth it. Extended techniques, now featured in many new compositions, also require additional focus to master. Study appropriate YouTube tutorials, if they are available.
    Partner practice with another member of the flute choir is also beneficial. Try creating your own scale exercises. These might include practicing scales a third apart or playing two octave arpeggios slowly in opposite directions so you can tune intervals. The possibilities are endless. If you have the same flute choir part, focus on matching and playing as one. If you have different parts, determine their similarities and differences. Another option is for one person to play the flute choir passage while the partner adds subdivisions (quarters or eighths) to work on keeping a steady tempo.

Other Contributions
    Consider assisting with setting up and striking chairs and stands at rehearsals and concerts. Offer to help collect and file parts. Suggest new repertoire you hear at a concert or on social media. Invite people to the ensemble’s concerts. Look around and see what needs to be done, and then do it. Flute choir will enrich your life and can lead to great new friendships. Creating and achieving artistic goals with others is immensely satisfying.

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    In 2008 I attended a conference on motor learning and music pedagogy. The conference, called Art in Motion at the University of Music and Dramatic Arts in Graz, Austria, was one of the first to bring researchers in sport science and motor learning together with musicians.
   The first keynote session was presented by Richard Schmidt on random vs. blocked practice. The theory is simple: athletes achieve better results when randomizing tasks than when blocking them. For example, a tennis player, rather than practicing many forehand strokes in a row, then backhand, then overhand, would use a ball machine so that what comes next is unpredictable. This makes sense because it approximates the skills used during games.
    Previously, athletes generally used blocked practice and repeated a skill over and over; (A, A, A, B, B, B, C, C, C) or, serial practice, (A, B, C, A, B, C, A, B, C) alternating between several tasks in a sequence. Then, in 1979, the first study in random practice was done by John Shea and Robyn Morgan. They studied practice and performance when tasks are unpredictable. For example, take the three A’s, three B’s and three C’s from the above examples, toss them in the air and practice them however they land. In a lab during practice, random practice underperformed both blocked and serial practice. However, during a test, those who had utilized random practice methods outperformed people who had used blocked and serial practice, even when the tasks were tested in blocked conditions.
    This has interesting ramifications for classical musicians who always perform under blocked circumstances. Musicians always know ahead of time exactly what notes will go where, when and how.
    The reasoning behind the success of random practice is simple. It prevents mindless repetition. It is also a way to practice flexibility. The research was convincing, but there are marked differences between music and sports. Sports have clear sets of skills that are easily defined and separated. Music is an art form and requires a subtle mix of planning the overall arc of the notes while allowing for on-the-spot inspiration. I was left with a list of questions.
 
    •    How could I randomize practice?
    •    What elements are there to separate?
    •    Can I draw a firm dividing line between them? Could I really separate articulation and tone? Or technique and expression?
    •    Would randomizing tempos be enough to get the benefits? Would that create unnecessary nervousness if I couldn’t perform at a certain tempo?
    •    Would my technique get sloppy?
    •    Would practice feel haphazard and unfocused?

    I began some experiments and found the most useful application of random practice was to shuffle orchestral excerpts and perform them in the order they land, which is similar to an audition. Practice the unpredictability. Another idea is to randomly play a measure of a piece and notice how different it feels out of context.
    I find it helpful to vary tasks and reframe passages with as much variety as I can. I play with a wide variety of emotional expressions, sometimes bordering on the ridiculous, and find that this brings out elements of phrases I have not seen before. Sometimes this expressive playfulness highlights technical issues or gives me a new idea for tone or color. Practice variability, however, is not the same as randomized practice because it does not include the element of unpredictability.
    It can feel uncomfortable to use random practice. As the studies showed,  people performed worse during random practice, but better in final performance. This is difficult for musicians who have been told not to practice mistakes. However, the idea encouraged me to use more of the most random facet of myself I have – intuition. I allow myself to get a creative impulse and follow it, not only for creative expression, but also knowing there is a predictably better performance in my future.
    In 1933, 46 years before the Shea and Morgan study, Alphonse Leduc published 480 Studies of Marcel Moyse. These are technical studies for flute, and they are randomized. The exercises are listed by number in a seemingly random order. They do move up chromatically through each tonal center; however, which pattern will come next is unpredictable. Variety is the order of the book, always asking flutists to practice a new variation on the techniques they already have.
    In the preface, he suggests reading horizontally and doing twelve exercises a day. One would move through all twelve tonal centers by doing this. There is not uniformity at the beginning of each row. Row one begins with a scale pattern, row two begins with arpeggiated chords in the third octave, row three begins with ascending minor thirds, continuing through 40 rows without a predictable starting point.
    However, another option might be to concentrate around C as a tonal center, for example, and read the chart down instead of across. There are 40 variations centered on C, covering major and minor scales, major and minor chords, blocked and arpeggiated, major, minor, diminished and fully diminished 7th chords, blocked and arpeggiated and intervals of 3rds, 4ths and 5ths. There is never any exercise that is connected to the previous one. To get the brain-wakening benefit of random practice, there is no need to reinvent the wheel. Moyse did it for flutists.
    I am now clearer about why I randomize practice and also knowing when to use it. It has become an important part of my teaching as well. There are geniuses in classical music history like Moyse who intuitively knew what science has now validated and explained. This research can serve to refocus both practice and teaching methods and allow art and science to come together to create better performances.

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One Note
    The first exercise is to teach students to play a single note with even air. With the tuner have students play a single A on the headjoint only. At this stage tell them to not worry whether the note is sharp or flat. The goal is just to keep the needle still while playing the note. With experimentation they will quickly figure out how to portion the air when playing a long note with even air. They will also learn how to make an attack in tune rather than going sharper at the beginning of the note.

Two Notes
    Next, introduce students to the idea that two slurred notes are played as strong/weak or loud/soft. As a visual reference you can explain that in violin bow strokes, the sound is stronger near the frog where the hand holds the bow and can apply pressure more easily and gets weaker as the player pulls the bow out to the tip. This means that a two-note down bow slur on a violin naturally will start strong and become weaker.

    Two slurred notes are nearly always played with this dynamic design. This idea also works well for any two articulated notes. The note duration of the two notes does not matter. It might be a whole note slurred to a quarter, a half note to an eighth, etc.
    When applying the loud/soft idea to a phrase, the entire phrase is played at the printed dynamic, but within the passage some notes will be played softer and others with more stress. This deviation of dynamic is called inflection. You can illustrate the idea for students by having them speak with no inflection in a monotone voice and then making it more engaging with inflection. 
    Students can practice scales with this two-note idea. To accomplish this, the aperture or opening of the lips is made smaller by squeezing the lips together and the speed of the air may be reduced depending on the range or tessitura. This should be worked on at the slowest of tempos. Place four vibrato cycles on the first note and three vibrato cycles on the second note. The finger(s) should move just as one cycle ends, and the next begins. This also will help students end phrases with a taper.

Repeated Notes
    Many of the most elementary pieces have repeated notes. These too should have dynamic design. Start by demonstrating how playing repeated notes at the same dynamics is boring for the listener. Then introduce the strength of the beat principle. (If a piece is in common meter, the first beat is the strongest, followed by the third, second and fourth beats.) In playing repeated notes, they should consider the strength of the beats first. If repeated notes begin on a weak beat and end on a strong one, they can increase the dynamic with each note to create forward motion.

Clues from a Title
    Tell students the title of this fragment is Butterfly, and then have them think about how that might change their performance choices. Perhaps everything will be lighter and more dance-like as a butterfly goes from one flower to the next. To imitate a butterfly, they might play at a slightly faster tempo and make the notes a little less full bodied.
    Then say that it is called Appassionato. Would the notes be fuller bodied and the vibrato more pronounced? Ask students to come up with titles of their own and experiment with different ideas. Changing the title of a piece or exercise is a beneficial practice tool to expand creativity.
    These simple five rules can greatly  improve musicianship, and they do not take much time. Start by working on one for a few minutes each week. Students who learn these ideas early will find easy to incorporate them into their music as they advance. They will likely enjoy exploring the vast world of musical expression as they learn the tools to make their performances exciting for listeners and themselves.

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Who were your first flute teachers?
    When I was in eighth grade, I went to Juilliard PreCollege where I studied with Katherine Hoover. After my first year, the Juilliard School moved down to Lincoln Center, but I decided to stay uptown at Manhattan School of Music PreCollege to study with Frances Blaisdell, one of the main flute teachers at the college. Frances was a legend and widely regarded as the first female flutist to have a professional career. She was a remarkable career model for me.
    That same year, I heard Jean-Pierre Rampal live for the first time at Lincoln Center. I remember the experience as if it were yesterday. He played Gluck’s Dance of the Blessed Spirits as an encore, and I cried because I thought it was the most beautiful thing I had ever heard. It was warm, singing and completely organic. It felt as if it was coming directly from his heart through his flute to my ears. From that moment on, this was the sound I wanted. I had something in my ear and I just couldn’t let go of it.
    During my senior year of high school, I had a crisis of confidence – anxiety about auditions, competitions, performances, rejections. I even quit the flute for a month. A Juilliard friend suggested that I play for an upper-class Juilliard student, Ransom Wilson. This turned out to be a seminal moment in working towards that French sound I wanted. He encouraged me to attend the summer festival in Nice where both Rampal and Alain Marion offered masterclasses. I was admitted into Rampal’s class which he taught for about six hours every day. It was intimidating; the class was full of students preparing for international competitions. At these masterclasses, one had to volunteer to get up and play, so if you were timid, you would never have a chance. If Rampal liked your playing, he would give you everything. If he didn’t, he would just ignore you or flirt with somebody (this was well before the Me Too movement). His method was behavior modification of a sort. If you wanted his attention, you had to earn it. I got the message early on that Rampal was not going to support, encourage or correct mediocre playing, and the sooner you found that out, the better your lessons would be.

Who did you study with in college?
    Because I was academically strong but had so much performance anxiety, I decided to go to college rather than to a conservatory. Upon my return from the Nice masterclasses, I attended Swarthmore College outside of Philadelphia. Frances Blaisdell had arranged for me to study with Murray Panitz (then the principal flutist of the Philadelphia Orchestra) who lived in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. Swarthmore was an intense academic environment, and it was hard to motivate oneself to leave campus for lessons. I did see Mr. Panitz a couple of times at the beginning of my freshman year. He was a phenomenal player, but his style and teaching method were very different from my Rampal-oriented vision. It was just too big a dichotomy for me to embrace, so I spent my first year of college without a flute teacher.
    Despite this, I continued to play and was principal flute of the college orchestra. I was selected to perform the CPE Bach D Minor Concerto orchestra under Harrison Birtwistle, the famous British composer. During the performance the orchestra got progressively slower in each tutti section, and every time I came in, I would shoot off. The newspaper reviewed my performance and said, “Ms. Chesis’ performance reminded me of an old Jascha Heifetz stunt, whereby Heifetz would come on stage and play a Paganini caprice twice as fast as it should be, and then have a policeman come on stage whistling and giving him a ticket for speeding. Ms. Chesis deserved a ticket for speeding in this performance!”
    During freshman year, I won the New York Flute Club competition and was freaking out playing the winners’ recital. I began taking periodic lessons in NYC with Thomas Nyfenger, but I was still insecure about my playing and actually put my flute down again for a while. During that pivotal second semester of freshman year, I realized that I needed to have regular lessons, so I applied to transfer to Yale to study with Nyfenger. Unfortunately, we were just not on the same wavelength; I had something very clear in my head, and it was that French style. In retrospect, I wish I could apologize to some of my former teachers for what I put them through because I must have seemed very stubborn and resistant.
    When I went to Yale, it was like being a kid in a candy shop because there were so many wonderful musicians to play with. I played chamber music galore, and that was when I started performing with harpist Sara Cutler with whom I collaborated and toured for 30 years as the Chesis/Cutler Duo. I majored in art history as I had fallen in love with Renaissance art when I went to Florence after the Rampal class in Nice. There were times when I viewed myself as a flutist and times when I didn’t (and my parents really encouraged me not to be a flutist).
    As my senior project, I curated an exhibit at the Yale art gallery. My exhibit, Theatre Life in Paris in the 1880s-1900s, showed lithographic music covers, and I wanted the music to be heard in the exhibition space as well as at a live concert. The head curator said no, but I did it anyway. I was an interesting combination of fearful and tenacious. From that experience, I realized that politics in the art business were not going to be much different from those in the music world, and art history was not going to provide an alternative to becoming a flutist.
    The following year, I was admitted to Juilliard for graduate school but also received Yale’s Murray Fellowship and a Rotary grant that would give me two full years in France. That was an easy decision. The only question now was whether or not I could get into the Paris Conservatory.

Chesis with Rampal in 1977

What was the audition process like for the Paris Conservatory?
    Both getting admitted to the Paris Conservatory and leaving with a Prize (the equivalent of a degree) were equally challenging. There were two audition rounds for admission to the Conservatory. At the first round, the panel consisted of Maxence Larrieu, Michel Debost, Alain Marion, and Rampal. You offered two pieces from which they picked one out of a hat. I played Faure Fantasie, and that was it! At the end of the day, all of the candidates and their anxious parents gathered in the corridor, and an administrator announced who would move onto the second round, which would take place a month later. My name was included. Then they announced the fixed piece for the audition, and it was Chant de Linos. This was before Chant de Linos was popular at all, and I had never even heard of it. One month to learn Chant de Linos, knowing that if I did not get in, I would have nothing else to do for the year. There were very few spots for foreigners. At the end of that audition day, the results were announced. Students were either admitted to the class of Marion or Rampal. I was assigned to Rampal’s class. I felt like my dream had come true.

Paris Conservatory Class Photo 1979

What was student life like in Paris?
    At the Conservatoire, studies were always held in masterclass format. There were no private lessons. Rampal was all about interpretation, finesse and bringing the music to life. He presumed you would be playing at a very high level; fundamental technique, and any remediations were addressed by a marvelous assistant teacher named Ida Ribera. Rampal wasn’t one to talk much. He preferred to demonstrate, so everything you learned was from him playing literally two inches away from your face.
    The Conservatoire also came with very rigorous musical studies, which – having not been a music major and not studied in the French tradition – were extremely difficult. Everything was in French. I had not taken French since high school, so my French was not up to par. There was oral, instrumental, and rhythmic solfege; written and oral musical analysis; and sightreading. The Conserv-atoire was so rigid and had so many rules that everyone else seemed to understand. At the end of the first year, there were Les Examens, three big exams. Until you passed all of the exams, you were not eligible to move on to play the Concours for the First Prize (to graduate). If you did not pass, you had to go back to school for an entire year before retaking them.
    I was again filled with self-doubt. The Parisian winter was bleak and wet, and I was living in a depressing apartment near Pere Lachaise Cemetery. I would do my solfege practice while visiting the graves of Bizet, Chopin, Poulenc, and even Edith Piaf. Additionally, nobody told me that in French music theory, crossing 7s (European style) meant diminished (rather than the little circle), so I crossed all my 7s on my theory exam, and got a ZERO. Rampal was livid: “You graduated with honors from Yale, and you got a zéro?” Fortunately, he convinced the theory teacher to allow me to retake that exam the following November.

What were your first experiences as a professional musician?
    My first paid professional gig was playing on a television show about Henri Dutilleux. The pianist who accompanied my Paris Conservatory audition loved my playing, had studied with Dutilleux, and arranged for me to play the Sonatine on the show. As a result, I got to work quite closely with Dutilleux and went to his apartment several times. After rehearsals, we would go across the street to Bertillon for ice cream and talk about art. He had just finished his orchestral masterpiece, Timbres, Espace, Mouvement, which was inspired by Van Gogh’s Starry Night, and I had done a big art history paper on the painter.
    At the end of my second year, I received the Premier Prix from the Conservatory but had no idea what to do with my life. I opted to take the Principal Flute audition for the Orchestre National du Capitole de Toulouse. Initially, the audition was only open to French flutists and then to Europeans, but nobody won. Finally, they allowed foreigners to apply. Initially, I had no interest in leaving Paris and being part of an orchestra, but I thought I might as well give it a try. The audition bore no resemblance to today’s U.S. orchestra auditions; I just played solo pieces and a concerto for the auditions. No excerpts were required until the final round, and they did not even release a list of them ahead of time. I had to play the excerpts in front of the entire orchestra. I was not at all nervous because I just didn’t care about winning the job. However, I won the position and accepted the offer.
    That summer, I returned to the States to be a Tanglewood Fellow, which was a remarkable experience. I played Debussy’s Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun under Leonard Bernstein among many other memorable concerts. Then it was time to head back to the south of France to join the orchestra. I was 23 years old, the only female principal (there were perhaps only 5 or 6 other women in the back of the string sections), and the only American. It was a difficult situation. The orchestra rehearsed every afternoon and evening, so it was virtually impossible to make outside friends. However, it was a great flute section, and I’ve stayed in touch with them since then. After my first year, the Orchestra offered me life tenure.

 

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Answer: When a passage is difficult, it is a common problem to make it harder by playing too fast. Start by practicing the passage slowly in many different rhythmic patterns to develop finger coordination. Practice a tricky passage with each of these rhythms.

Vary the Tempo
   Practice the passage at many different speeds. Start at q = 80 and work your way up past the performance tempo. When the technique is solid, set a metronome to the eighth note to emphasize the subdivision. Once you can do this, set the metronome to one click per measure so you can hear if all the notes in the passage are even.
   If you have trouble playing in a steady fast tempo without the metronome, record yourself to hear where you are pushing ahead of the beat. Then practice playing the rushed notes at a slower tempo and focus on the feel of the passage when allowing more time to play it.

Change Dynamics and Articulation
   Practice the section in a variety of dynamics and articulation patterns as well. Tonguing an entire passage helps identify the phrase shape. This shows which notes should be emphasized at the height of a passage and which notes are secondary or traveling notes. Add slurs in different combinations: slur 2, tongue 2; tongue 2, slur 2; slur 3, tongue 1 and tongue 1, slur 3 to coordinate the fingers with the tongue.

Lengthening Anchor Notes
   Each passage has anchor notes. These are notes that you aim for and perhaps lean on as you play. They could be the top or bottom note of the phrase, a note with an accidental, or a note of a longer duration. Practice spending more time (playing out of rhythm) on the anchor note and then proceed in the correct time.

Small Units
   It is also helpful to break a passage into smaller units. Practice 4 or 5 notes at a time. As you get to then next unit, mentally think re-start. In this way, you only have to think about playing a few notes at a time rather than the whole extended passage of fast notes.

Backwards
   Often the last notes of a measure rush into the down beat of the next one. To keep control, practice the passage from the end and work towards the beginning by starting with the last three notes of the passage and playing through the downbeat of the following measure. Then add one more note or beat of notes to this. Repeat this practice and work backwards through the passage.

Phrasing with the Breath
   Additionally, think of phrasing with the breath. Add layers of dynamics to the passage such as making a crescendo to important notes and backing away from others. Take care that you make these decisions in a musically interesting and appropriate manner. When you identify the notes at the height of a crescendo, use your breath to emphasize them  with a faster air stream leading up to the peak of the crescendo.

Alternating Tempos
   Play the difficult passage very slowly once, then play it at tempo. Alternate this strategy many times. The slow practice allows your fingers to coordinate, and the faster practice lets you test how well you have learned the passage.

Nerves
   If nerves are a factor, take every opportunity to play in a slightly pressured situation before the performance or audition day. Recording your practicing is an effective way to do this on your own. You can also play for friends or set up a dress rehearsal or mock audition in front of a panel of musicians you respect. Jog up a flight of stairs to increase your heart rate, then play through the difficult passage while your heart is beating harder. Breathe deeply to slow your heart rate, and then play the passage again. This allows you to practice playing through and calming the physical symptoms of extra adrenaline that often occur during an important performance.

Reminders
   It is helpful to write a few words or a phrase in the score to help you capture the character of the music and remember how you want to play the passage. Phrases like lyrical sixteenth notes or light and supple can serve as a reminder before you play and help focus your attention on how you want to play rather than on your nerves.

Visualization
   Prior to your performance or audition, visualize yourself feeling calm in all the steps leading up to it. This might include: checking into the audition desk, warming up back stage, and walking onto the stage to play. Imagine feeling calm and glad that you are playing that day.
   Mentally frame the experience as feeling grateful for the opportunity to play for others rather than focusing on the panel of judges or your inner critic. Choose a behavioral goal for yourself, like be courageous or stay focused. This will help you present yourself in a way that you choose rather than being overwhelmed with nerves or unhelpful thoughts and emotions. Practicing this before the audition or performance and incorporating it in your daily life will help you learn to choose positive and encouraging behaviors even when your emotions are running at a high ebb.
   On the day of your performance, embrace the butterflies and excitement. Trust your practice and encourage yourself through positive thoughts. If possible, record the audition or performance to accurately hear how you played. Realize that one performance or audition does not define who you are as musician. After you have played, recognize that you accomplished a lot even if the results are not what you hoped. Recognize that you stepped out of your comfort zone and rose to the challenge. Then, onwards and upwards to your next performance goal.     

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