Flute Practice Tips

[igobarefoot]

Hey there,
I am a jazz musician by trade. (Piano/vocals) I got really into irish style flute 4 years ago and spent hours practing. The Irish fire went dormant for a while I practiced off and on over the last 3 years...but today I had the flute out and played through a few tunes and had a ball. My embrochure has gotten better, I am very excited. I have a very long way to go.

I was going to ask about practice tips. And do any of you guys play in all 12 keys on the wooden flutes? Should I be practing scales in all 12 keys? Or do Irish guys stay in D, G, A? I know these questions sound elementary.

Also, any tips on learning a tune? By ear, or by music? Or both?

Any help on practice tips is good?

[MTGuru]

Welcome to C&F, Sean! Nice website, and nice playing and vocals. You should fix your signature line ( www.SeanDietrichMusic.COM ).

I'll let the real fluters weigh in ... But yes, Irish trad tunes mostly center around D, G, A and their related modes. If you're playing a keyed flute and you have the wherewithal (as you obviously do), excursions into other keys and chromaticism are interesting for pushing the trad envelope. As long as you're solid with the native keys. You'll probably find that stylistic and technical issues within those limits are more than enough to keep you both interested and busy for a very long time.

[Akiba]

IMHO FWIW coming from a jazz, classical, pop background:

All 12 keys-- not for ITM; I have a keyless as most folks do and therefore only play in D and G and their respective modes as do all ITM players. Most common keys/modes are G and D major (ionian), A and E dorian, D and A mixolydian, B natural minor leading to D major in B section, E natural minor, A natural minor. Fiddlers throw different keys at you so if you can play in E major and A major that should cover most tunes and settings.

I think, if you want to do exercises, appegios in the above keys are more germane than scales. In ITM, one rarely plays a full scale. Perhaps exercises that combine arpegios with parts of scales connecting them could be very benficial.

I believe many ITM folks work on technique by working on tunes. Mastering tunes, learning new tunes has a player practicing the technique, passages and phrases one needs. Maybe transposing tunes you like into different keys would be a good way to practice (I've done a bit of this; I heard Charlie Parker practiced by playing his tunes in all 12 keys).

Gray Larsen has lots of exercises relating primarily to practicing ornamentation, e.g. cuts, strikes/taps, rolls of all sorts, in his "Essential Guide of Irish Flute and Tin Whistle". An authoritative book of a particular style of Irish flute playing--worth getting, I think.

Learn tunes by ear is the best way; not that I always do so due to time and environmental restraints, but I wish I could learn just by ear.

Best of luck and cheers,

Jason

[jemtheflute]

Jason's answer is pretty comprehensive and I've little to add, save that being able to use an open-hole keyed flute in jazzy contexts offers you a range of techniques you can't utilise readily if at all on Boehm flute - glissandi, bends and blue notes as well as all the ITM ornamentation effects such as crans......not trad, but interesting! If you have an 8-key flute and the application to go fully chromatic I'm sure it is worth it for its own sake: the instrument can do it so why not? But it isn't (necessary for) ITM. Scale practice and improving the range of one's competence generally in exploring the gamut of one's instrument is always worthwhile and the benefits feed back into one's "normal" activities. But first you need the basics of the trad style, and time spent on those would be better spent than time on chromatic fantasy! Embouchure development is probably the most important thing.

[daiv]

ditto what jem and akiba said.

i'm going to head to bed. i'll give an over-winded, unnecessarily long response by saturday.

[Denny]

ditto what daiv said.

well, except I just got up. ah, and, ah, I'm rather terse....

oh, yeah forget the 3rd octave....scares the trads it does

[Eldarion]

Also, any tips on learning a tune? By ear, or by music? Or both?

Any help on practice tips is good?

Definitely learn by ear from good recordings if you're serious in learning Irish music. This is because at this point of time you're not only learning the tunes, but the music (i.e. style) and the more you force yourself to rely solely on your ears, the faster your ears will be atuned to nuances in Irish music.

Another thing I find helpful for someone trained in another genre is to as much as possible be a blank slate when coming to the music. Bring as little musical baggage from your previous training as you can and just drink the music in without trying to rationalize it in the terms of another genre. The less preconceived approaches you have to the music, the faster you'll get out of sounding like you're playing Irish music with a foreign accent.

Apart from the above, what has to be mentioned that listening to Irish music is at least as important as practicing your flute. Like MTGuru mentioned, playing in style is something that will be your main challenge in this music for a good time to come, and no amount of practicing can help you in that area if you don't absorb the music by listening. Listen to masterful players often, flute players especially.

Personally, I do not advocate practicing arpeggios and scales apart from using them for warmup long tones for practicing embouchure stability. I find the usefulness of the practice limited in nature for the genre, not to mention they tend to be something many people (with the exception of some masochists) don't actually enjoy playing. Sure tunes may have bits of arpeggios or fragments of scales in them, but nothing as hardcore as you might find in Jazz or Classical. Ultimately it is more practical, timesaving and interesting to practice the execution of those phrases in the context of the tune, with the associated phrasing and rhythm.

[daiv]

as promised, here is my overly lengthy response. i answer your questions directly, and then go into practicing at length.


note: it is 3 am and i am finishing this. i have made it, as i promised i would do it tonight. i'm sure that the original poster wouldnt hold me to it (or didnt think i made a promise), but i have written it anways. i will edit it and add all the links in, as sometimes i say there is a link and there isnt. i will also color code the index and headings to make it more skimmable, as it is 8 pages in lenght in a word processor, and god knows i would want some help skimming it.

I was going to ask about practice tips. And do any of you guys play in all 12 keys on the wooden flutes?

no.

Should I be practing scales in all 12 keys? Or do Irish guys stay in D, G, A? I know these questions sound elementary.

do not practice any scales. they are a waste of time. no arpeggios (as other said), no patterns, nothing of the sort. the only exercise i might recommend is alberti bass! unfortunately, i do not know of an online copy. i have not done alberti bass in many years, at that.

Also, any tips on learning a tune? By ear, or by music? Or both?

the short answer is by ear, only. you are a jazz musician. you understand how to read music, and how to learn by ear (i hope!). work on what you need to work on, which is understanding the music. the page of paper will only get you the notes, and the notes are not as important as the inherent sense of rhythm of irish music, which is different than in any other style (just as jazz rhythm is unique).

if you cant figure out a tune by ear, keep trying. keep listening! i myself, use sheet music now, but that is after spending about 4 years not touching the stuff. i now can learn music not only by ear, but by head--i have had a tune stuck in my head, that i dont know where it is from, and learn it all the way through just by listening to the tune stuck in my head, and later figured it out. i figured by that point, my ear was developed, and the music could come back into my life. with a highly developed ear for irish music, you can learn tunes on the fly at sessions (many of us do that, even my grandma), and you can learn tunes by sheet music very fast. i learned the first tune in this set ( http://youtube.com/watch?v=fEFlZLA4Trc ) the other day in 3 hours, using the sheet music and the recording. i only say this because if i had been learning off of sheet music, it would have been impossible to get the rhythm. when i started, i only used sheet music, and a simple, kid-friendly jig would take me a whole week to learn, because i simply did not have the tune stuck in my head.

a good ear for irish music makes reading music easier, but a good eye for reading the music does not make learning a tune by ear easier, or by paper, easier! it just makes it seem easier. so again, in short, work on your ear. push yourself past your comfort zone.

Any help on practice tips is good?

note: it is 3 am and i am finishing this. i have made it, as i promised i would do it tonight. i'm sure that the original poster wouldnt hold me to it (or didnt think i made a promise), but i have written it anways. i will edit it and add all the links in, as sometimes i say there is a link and there isnt.

i do not always follow all these ideas all the time. however, i can tell you this much: if i follow them ,i get better. if i just practice without paying attention, without structure, i can play the same tune horribly for months or years on end, no matter how many hours i practice it. when i follow these ideas, i can learn complicated new tunes, like the laird of drumblair (above, with link), in hours instead of months.

practicing:

here is some background on practicing and learning. i present a break down of practicing, and then a sample practice session.

i have labeled it, for easy skimming. i understand that some may not care about attention, for example, and could easily skip it to go straight to lilting, as the attention section is quite long.

i can sum the attention section up this way: when practicing, constantly pay attention to what you are doing and how you are doing it; attention, is defined as searching, constantly. i have included more on attention than might be necessary, for those who are curious as to what that exactly means, and what support i have for it.

table of contents
A. approach
1. task-specific work
2. paying attention
3. lilting (singing) and listening

B. technique
1. embouchure
2. rhythm
3. ornamentation
4. phrasing

C. practice routine
1. things to practice
2.. practicing technique
3. mastering a specific tune
4. stringing together tunes
5. playing a tune without stopping.
6. 15 minute practice routine.

body
A. approach
1. task specific work
it is very important to be able to work on what you are directly working on. when you are working on tone, you are working on tone. when you are working on playing a tune all the way through, you do not stop. when you are working on learning a tune well, you do not continue to the next measure until you have the previous mastered. it is very important to complete the task you are working on before going onto the next one. likewise, i suggest you figure out what task you have in mind before you start working on something. this does not mean for your whole session (unless you like planning out practice sessions—many do, i do not), necessarily, but rather when you put the flute to your face. before you put your flute to your face, you could ask yourself what you are trying to accomplish. are you trying to have fun? than have fun. don't care about mistakes. dont care about technique. just have fun. be goofy. throw in a metallica riff if you want, who cares! are you trying to have fun, while maintaining a danceable beat, and a traditional sound? then drop the metallica riff (i myself never go into the previous, but always the second!). it is not important what you do, but that you stick to whatever it is you are doing. it is very inappropriate to play a metallica riff in irish music, but it is not inappropriate to play a metallica riff in irish music if you are trying to make it sound godawful—that is very much the best way to accomplish that affect, if you are going for it.

likewise, a task does not mean that you can't change your mind. if you are cooking food, that needs constant attention, it is not a good idea to walk away and go watch a movie, as the food will burn. if you are cooking a turkey in the oven for 4 hours, a movie might not be a bad idea! likewise, if someone breaks into your house, while you are diligently cooking your food instead of watching that movie, then do not keep stirring your sauce while the crook takes your new hd tv. let the food burn. so, the task you are doing, can change. you could be working on tone, and say, “this is as good as i will get today, i will work now on this new tune.” that is a fine choice. personally, i would avoid the following choice, if working on tone, “i am working on my tone. hmm... let me play this tune, i'll get back to my tone.” that is very jolting, and makes for bad tune practice, and bad tone practice. the following choice, is a great choice as well, “i am bored of tone for now. who cares if i only worked on it for 20 seconds, i want to play a tune for fun.” that is great, because you finished your task: you wanted to work on tone, cuz you were interested in doing it. you are no longer interested. you are therefore done. there is a huge difference between being distracted, and deciding to stop. the first makes for slow improvements, and the second makes for fast gains. if you only do what is motivating, interesting, and engaging your attention, it does not matter if your tasks are short, long, aimed on improving, or fun, because mindfulness and attentiveness to your tasks will increase retention, enjoyment of practicing, and actually help you learn more than doing things by the book. for more on this, see http://www.amazon.com/Power-Mindful-Lea ... 186&sr=8-1 , by harvard professor, ellen langer. in the next section, i will briefly cover some of the things this book hits upon.

2. paying attention
many of these things are my ideas, which are based on years of trying to get better at practicing, and many are based on research into the role of attentivess in learning. another good book to read is the ignorant schoolmaster. i am not citing everything strictly. please tell me if you disagree with something, or find my claims dubious, and i will try to either talk about the study which proves it, or debate it.

i define attention a little differently than a lot of people. ellen langer, harvard psychologist, surveyed american teachers and students alike, and found that they all had the same notion of attention: staring head on, focusing intently only the subject matter, and never wavering. a common notion is that you should stare, and not waver your gaze. this, however, contradicts what langer and others have found about attention outside of the classroom—one of her pertinent examples is that when you look at a painting, your eyes are never actually still, but always moving. laboratory experiments also show that those who keep eyes focused (eyes straight ahead, as we are taught in school), learn much less than those who's eyes, and thus focus, is constantly on the move. many of us view attention as a lazer beam, which should never waver. it is much more like a wandering child, moving around haphazardly, following only one purpose: inherent interest. although i do not want to touch on it beyond this, it is very silly to pay attention to something that is not important to you or that you are not interested in, because simply, you will not pay attention, you will only be focusing. this is the “sit in a lecture, listen intently, stare at the teacher, learn nothing, want to gouge your eyes out” syndrome. as i define it, that is not attention, or as dr, langer defines it, it is not mindful attention.

ranciere defines attention as searching, constantly. if you are not searching, looking, questioning, wondering, you are not paying attention to what you are focusing on—worrying, or stressing, while thinking, is not attention. scientific american ( http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?id=the-expert-mind ) states the way to get better at something is to constantly push yourself past your competency, and those who are masters at something, never deal with what they can do, but what they cannot. this is, again, searching—constant movement, constantly looking for something else. to paraphrase the paraphrase, i would say that scientific american contends that to get better at something, you need to constantly pay attention to what is beyond your competency. if you were to ask me how to get better at something, ranciere would say that you should always pay attention to what you are doing, and how you are doing it; i find this to be much more helpful.

everyone notices that their low d is weak, or that their f# is flat, but those who are constantly searching and questioning—notice that their low d is weak, that their low f# is flat, that they are on the third note of the measure, that someone walked in the room, that they are about to need a breath, that they are not thinking of how tuning as they are playing, that the b spot is about to come up—get better, while the rest of us, just have bad low D's and flat F#'s. top musicians (whatever that means) are never satisfied with what they are doing, and constantly searching—this is why they can come up with a new idea on the fly, and try a new tune in a set, add new interesting phrasing, react to the audience. they are engaged, searching, constantly.

as a musician, it is very easy to fall into not paying any attention what you are doing and how you are doing it, and instead pay attention to everything else. again, if you are thinking about something, but you are focused, like a deer in headlights, i would say you are not paying attention—but instead just stressing out. things that used to often think while practicing or playing for other people my head: “oh no. i hope everyone doesnt think i'm playing too slow. i hope they dont think i'm a bad musician cuz i'm playing too slow. i hope i dont miss any beats. i hope that everyone enjoys my music/i hope everyone enjoys the music if i perform this later on. i hope that there arent people out there that like irish music, as then they will notice i am playing out of time. maybe i should play in time. darn it i'm not playing in time. i hope they dont/wont notice i just sped up.” thinking like this will make nothing better, and worst of all, it is unecessary—people will either notice i speed up, or will not, regardless of whether or not i worried about it. even more, i sped up because i was worrying, instead of paying attention. worrying is a sympathetic nervous system response—fight or flight—searching/paying attention is a parasympathetic/relaxed, concentration building response.

instead, when i play or practice now, i would think something like this: “how fast am i playing? what ornamentation do i want to do in the next bar? ok, how does this sound? how is my beat doing? what note comes on the downbeat, if i drop the other notes in this beat? does my foot match my tapping? how am i paying attention to my tapping? how am i paying attention to this phrase? what did i just do to make that phrase sound really well rounded, and that one sound like junk?” if you think about this with the old idea of lazer beam focus, this is all over the place, but if you look at it from the harvard-based, mindfulness research, it shows that i will get better faster, develop more creativity, than if i simply go through the motions, as we are often taught—practice scales, learn that tune, learn this tune, practice your rolls and cranns. what is more, dr. langer's research suggests that the old idea of “a habit made is hard to break” goes out the window, and something i have done for years can be changed in a matter of minutes instead of months, due to the fact that i learnt this “habit” mindfully, through constantly paying attention (searching) to what i am doing and how i am doing.

bottom line, mindful attention/constant searchingt makes for a better practice session, better performance, quicker progress, and remarkably (according to research) increased creativity.

3. lilting
i have been taught—and many here on the site also insist—that the best way to learn a tune by ear is to listen to it very many times, in a relaxed setting, and learn to lilt it. lilting is just a word that means sing a tune with nonsense syllables, like jim ward does in this video:

i would recommend, then, that you not listen to a tune during your practice session for the first time, but instead listen to it in your car, on your ipod, or while surfing the internet or working around the house, amid a playlist of other irish tunes. then, after you have heard it enough, try to learn to lilt it—sing the melody. i wouldnt worry too much about it being in tune, just in time. if you hear in your head an octave jump, but you only sing a fifth, that is more than enough to get familiar with the tune.

after you can sing the tune with the recording and with out it, then get the recording, your instrument, a pause and rewind button (a slow downer is even nicer) and learn the tune. it will be much less frustrating, you will learn it much better, than trying to just learn the tune cold.

as i said, these are just suggestions. as you get very familiar with irish music, you will encounter less and less tunes that you have not heard before once or twice. often times i will go straight to learning a tune and start working it out, because i am already familiar with it and have learned how to sing it by osmosis by overhearing it at sessions or cd's, or i am familiar with the patterns of the music that are present in a tune. also, when i really want to learn a tune, or am at a workshop and have to learn it, i will listen to it a few times, get to the point where i could sing along with it if i wanted to, and then start figuring it out. in that situation, i will only sing the parts that are giving me trouble, as i find that a few notes that are not in my fingers can for some reason, easily be put to lilting. it is not important to be rigid, but flexible.

there are other ways to approach learning by ear besides lilting. i encourage you to try to find what works best for you.

B technique:
1. embouchure
the best way i can describe to work on embouchure is to work on your frowning. this is what i have been taught by my uncle, who has amazing tonal flexibility, and the best, loudest, raunchiest bottom B on a silver flute i have ever heard. this is because the same muscles used in frowning are for the embouchure. i see people smiling when they play. this works, but not very well. frowning works much better.

i used to often look in a mirror, and see how well i could frown. at first, i actually couldnt—some people never frown, like myself, and have to learn how to use the muscles. it was much harder than learning how to wiggle my ears!

a good embouchure is both frowny, and pouting. the pouting removes the outward appearance of the frowning, but the muscles are still at work. here are some good videos:

not james galways:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=7HWWQpueRvY
http://youtube.com/watch?v=esfWvq3t6Ag&feature=related

yes james galway:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=NcXRzZZv1mE
http://youtube.com/watch?v=VQg0vScnQ8E

in a separate response to this thread, i will repost an old response on resonance.

2. rhythm
it is very important to have good rhythm. anything but perfect rhythm is bad rhythm. when you practice a beat (i.e. half a measure), every note must have it's proper length. do not pause, do not extend a note, do not shorten a note, make it perfect. james kelly taught me that you cannot start to play with rhythm if you cannot first play with perfect rhythm. i have also found that a lot of times, it sounds like someone is playing with rhythm, but that are playing with accent, instead.

that's all i have to say (ironically) about that! practice it well.

3. ornamentation
ornamentation should not change the timing—no rushing or slowing down to fit in a tap, cut, roll, or cran. this really fits in rhythm.

4. phrasing
work on your rhythm. it's more important. with good rhythm and a good ear, you will develop good phrasing. it is very personal, and people phrase differently. listen to good players.

C. practice routine
as stated above, keep a task-specific, but flexible approach to practicing. here are several common things i practice. many thanks to james kelly and shannon heaton. shannon heaton's practice routine she gave me is my model for the example i will give.

1. the separate things you could practice are: technique, mastering a specific tune, stringing together tunes, playing a tune without stopping. learning new tunes was covered in lilting, as well as on another thread that i replied to you. (link coming soon, or reference to this will be deleted)

2: technique: this includes tone, ornamentation, etc. this is the equivalent to “exercises” in classical and jazz, but much freer. you can use some of the exercises from the videos above, or as i will post in the next post. the only thing i like to work on is embouchure. i find ornamentation comes much more naturally if it is spontaneous, but others specifically practice ornamentation.

3: playing a specific tune: the task here is trying to get better at playing a certain tune, in good rhythm. this means not playing through mistakes. start on the A part, and play the first phrase (two measures, or four beats). then take the first beat, and work on it until it is in time, and all the right notes. do not move onto the second beat of the measure until you can play it. practice at a nice, slow tempo. when you have that first beat, go to the second beat. do not go to the second measure until you can play the whole measure well by itself. james kelly recommends looping the measrue at a relaxed but decent pace, playing the same measure repeatedly, without hesitation, and without messing up any notes or any rhythm. he also suggest treating each beat that way. master the next measure the same way. you now have the first phrase. do not go onto the second phrase, if you cannot play the whole phrase repeatedly on top of itself, at a decent pace, in perfect rhythm, all notes correct. work at all phrases that way for the A part, and then string them together. do not move onto the B part until you can play the A part in perfect rhythm, at a slow but steady pace, several times in a row. do the same for the B part. when you are done with the B part. do the entire tune.

if you would like, you can either work on another aspect (good feel, good ornamentation), after you have the rhtyhm down, and play the entire tune several times through without stopping. another thing you can try, after being able to do that, is to speed it up. if you do this, then do not work on the ornamentation, but only the speed, and slow it down again to work on ornamentation. shannon heaton recommends being able to play a tune through 3 to 5 times as a good judge of your mastery of it. she also recommends to work on speeds thus: play the tune 2 times through. on the last phrase (last two measures of the tune), speed it up a little bit, so that by the time you start the first measure, you have sped up enough during the last measure that you are in your new pace. this is the best way to stay relaxed, she says. and finish the third time through the tune at the new pace. keep in mind this is after you have already played the tune 3 times through and stopped, knowing you can play it well. if you can not play it through at this pace, work through the rhtyhm of the whole tune as before, but with this quicker tempo.

if you work on a tune this way, you will learn tunes much faster. i learned the laird of drumblair ( http://youtube.com/watch?v=fEFlZLA4Trc ) in 3 hours on the concertina the other day. before shannon heaton and james kelly taught me to work through tunes, a tune like that would take me a year to learn. a simple reel a couple days.

4: stringing together tunes: this is a brilliant thing that shannon heaton taught me. she taught me that after you work on a tune, try to put it with another tune of the same type to see if it has the right feel. this also helps you learn how to make sets, and how to make new sets on the fly.

take the last phrase of a tune (the last two measure, or 4 beats) and the first of another. work on playing them together, as if they are two phrases of the same tune. this mimics what happens when you switch tunes in a set. after you have done this, do the opposite. take the last phrase of the second tune, and place it before the first phrase of the first tune you just practiced. after mastering this, then try to play both tunes back to back. it is important to be task specific, and practice only the last phrase of a tune, and the first of the next. do not go onto the whole second tune, or start at the beginning of the first tune until you have mastered the transition. if you do, you will merely practice getting to the end of the first tune and messing up. if you do this long enough, you will be able to play any tune into any other, as you have learned how not only to put one tune into another, but how to invert it as well. you can give shannon heaton full credit, for this one! send her a check, while you're at it.

5: practicing without stopping: shanon heaton also taught me to practice a tune without stopping. this is an important skill. earlier in this section, we practiced playing a tune perfectly. stopping every time there is a mistake and never going on. this is a good skill, but it is practicing. in a session, or a performance, you must be able to keep going no matter what.

this one is very easy to practice, but difficult to master. start a tune. keep going. if you mess up. keep going. if you forget where you are. keep going. find your place. dont miss the beat. try to keep track of what phrase you are on, so you can come back into it when you get your bearings. a good player can put down their instrument. take a drink. pick up their instrument, and get back into the tune, as if someone had the radio on and accidentally turned it off and the sound stopped to the listener but kept going on at the station. even better plays do this (and i have seen it) when no one else is playing, and keep the rhythm and tune going in their head while they drop out for a measure or two. i have even seen a concertina player have a severe coughing fit, and not miss a single note, continuing to play the entire time while covering his mouth with his arm.

it is important that when you practice mastering a tune, you not keep going. that is a separate skill! if you practice a tune, start sometimes, stop sometimes, play through mistakes sometimes, not play through others, you will not learn very quickly. if you practice diligently measure by measure, as well as practice diligently the are of playing without stopping, you will have a good selection of tunes under your belt, as well as the ability to play them if the building catches fire.

6. sample practice routine
this is, again, based on something shannon heaton taught me. the specifics are modified, but the spirit s the same as she taught me. i only met her once, and only at a one day workshop, but i learned a lot! it is a fifteen minute, daily maintenance practice routine, if it is two tunes that you are working on. whole new tunes you are learning will take more time.

warm up. play some long tones. play a jig you are working on. make sure you can play each phrase and section well before moving on the next. play it three times. play it 2 more times, speeding up at the end of the last measure to start the third time a the faster speed. if it is good, no need to practice the new speed 3 times in this 15 minute practice session. take the last phrase of the first jig, and the first measure of another jig, and work on playing them together. play the whole first tune once, then go straight into the second tune. take the last phrase of the second jig, and the last phrase of the first jig, and work on playing these two phrases together. play the second tune into the first tune. now practice playing without stopping. take a tune you have not been working on, and just start playing. if you forget 50 percent of the notes, but keep going, congratulation, that's more than most people fake at a session, ! play this tune 3 times through. swab the flute out, and look at the clock. too bad you didnt look at the beginning, so now you dont know if it took fifteen minutes! oh well, it still saves a lot of time.

if you follow that, you be able to do in a few weeks, in just a couple minutes a day, you will be able to get more done than you used to in months or years, practicing several hours a day. of course, if you are already good at practicing, then, of course, that wont be the case!

note: this sample practice routine might take longer than 15 minutes if you are not familiar with the tune and need to spend 10 minutes working it out to be able to play it 3 times through. out of the 4 areas i have listed to practice (technique, mastering a specific tune, stringing together tunes, playing a tune without stopping), choose two to work on one or two a day for 15 minutes if you want to stick to a 15 minute practice routine. if you practice for fifteen minutes every day, it will be better than playing a couple hours once i week. you can also practice technique while mastering a tune, like this: do not move onto the next measure until the low D you have in the first measure is in tune, loud, and full of good harmonics. i have spent many a sunday afternoon working on my low D in the middle of a tune, practicing long tones, rather than just doing technique out of context.

[daiv]

here is my resonance post from a while back. it is from here: http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php ... c&start=15

and no, i never made the video i promise on that page. as many of you will remember, i used to tend to rush when i play. i stopped focusing on videos and what people thought of me, and worked on practicing. i am a much better player now, and am no longer always nervous when i play, and do not speed up. i still have a lot of work to go. hopefully in a few months i will start to work on all the instructional videos i have offered to people.

i am reposting this as it is relevant to the thread. a moderator can delete this particular post and ask me to put a link, as i have already taken up a huuuuge amount of text on this this thread.

anyways, here it is in it's entirety. my post on resonance:

gabriel, when you get your flute to resonate, does it resonate in your mouth, as well?

resonance is one of the most important aspects of tone production, because--as you pointed out--it all just clicks when you get the flute to resonate.
how do you achieve this resonance, or does it just happen? i'm guessing the latter, because of your hiss problem.

first i will outline a suggestion on how to learn to increase your resonance, and then i will outline how i practice resonance when i pick up my flute.

when you start to get a hang of it, you will be amazed at how easy that low D can be! when my flute is resonating properly, i never have to worry about my low D cracking, or that if i push to hard it won't speak.

i will attach a sound clip of my playing tomorrow.


how to learn resonance
1. open throat
a. learn to hum and play the d major scale in 2 full octaves

2. learn to hover right "at the line" where the flute jumps the octave

3. find the harmonics of the flute



1. the first way to work on resonance is to get that throat opened up. first of all, you need to learn where the muscles are! the quickest way to find them is to hum quietly while you play. i dont suggest playing tunes like that, just a simple d scale in 2 octaves. fyi, the high d is fingered OXX OOO and for c# just leave all the fingers off. it does not matter if it is tune.

you should be able to get all 15 notes to sound well and in the correct octave. after being able to do it the first time, you should immediately notice an increased resonance in your low d when NOT humming into your flute; learn to play the flute with your throat in the same position but without your vocal chords vibrating.

when you learn to play your full scale and humming, not only will you have learned to open your throat, but you will have improved your embouchure. this is simple: it is impossible the hum and play with bad embouchure! you will probably find that you thought your low d was fine and solid but it took a lot of work to get it to speak when you were humming.

2. a good, strong second octave strengthens the bottom octave immensely. the junction between the first and second octave is the most flexible place to be for your embouchure, and just so happens to also be where most irish flute players hover around to pull out the harmonics.

for this next exercise,pout your lips like a little kid who is mad, fully forward. put the flute to your face, fingering a B: blow. it will come out as a buzzing sound. start pulling back the corners of your lips until the flute sounds. it should sound a really raspy, ugly, second octave b. this ugly sound is the foundation of the exercise.

start at that ugly, pouting b. keep pulling back the corners of your lips until the octave drops. repeat for every note (b, a, g, f#, e, d) below that in the octave. mess around with that for a while.

once you get the hang of that, start at ugly, pouting b again. pull back the corners of your lips until it drops the octave. pull back up the corners of your lips until it jumps the octave. play with that until you can jump the octave not with wind force, but only a miniscule movemetn of the CORNERS of your lips. do this for every note in the octave.

try and play a low D. pull up your first finger, but DO NOT change your embouchure; if your second d does not speak with just a finger change (or sounds airy/not vibrant), you need to work on getting "right on the line" between the octaves some more.

although the sound you started with at the beginning of this section was horrible, i think you will find that the resulting tone now is much nicer. now, take this OK sound and work with it. move it around. find something you like. always, when you come to a sound you might like, see if it can jump the octave as easily as the "ugly b derivative" sound; a good embouchure can produce tone that jump the octave effortlessly (especially on low D which will jump with only finger movement) and sound pleasing (or barky, or whatever).

your embouchure should not change from high d to high a. it is very important to get your high a into the shape of d; with a good high a/d, your lower octave will be stronger, more flexible, and above all your low d will never crack. to get a good low D, start on highest d and go all the way down to the low d, changing embouchure as little as possible.

3. now you need to find the harmonics of the flute. this is where your resonance will start to increase even more. if the harmonics of the flute are not set up correctly in your mouth and in the body of the flute, the flute will never be as loud, as resonant, or be capable of as much tonal possibilities. what is most important, is that you will not be able to get that honking low d you've always wanted if you dont get your flute to resonate well.


the harmonics you will use for this part are as follows (the strange fingerings are harmonics):

finger high a regularly, and then try to keep the same note while fingering a low D.

finger high b regularly, and then try to keep the same note while fingering an E (you may or may not need the Eb key depending on the flute).

work on the tone of the harmonics to make them strong and vibrant. when you lift off the harmonics to the regular notes, you should notice your a and b will sound stronger, clearer, and more in tune. if not, you need to work more! try this out: play a, then a harmonic, then try to finger high d (OXX OOO). if you need to change your embouchure for high d, change it, and then try a again with that embouchure; the goal is the same as the first part, to get your harmonic a, regular a, and d to have all the same embouchure. note: if you try to go straight from harmonic a to harmonic d, it will be the same fingering, but it wont work unless you change your embouchure. work on that if you want, but for this exercise, stick to only regular high d to regular a transitions to check embouchure.

after you can get that down, you can work on your resonance. play the harmonic a and try to relax the insides of your mouth and tongue. next, try to increase the volume of harmonic a by adjusting your jaw position and NOT increasing or changing air pressure. when you get it right, the note will be louder, more focused, and seem to come from the center of the flute. mess with your jaw position, trying to get the note to tangibly resonate. (if everything up until this point isnt solidly developed, you may not experience this sensation). for me, the note gets so loud that it becomes uncomfortable. this is not only because the note gets louder, but because your mouth is relaxed and your jaw set up so that the note goes up the backside of your ear canal. this is the first step to making your mouth actually resonate the note.

the next step is to work with your throat position. open it up! open it up waaaay more than singing while playing does. then open it up some more. if you think it's open enough, dont believe it. one day it will open more. you will eventually begin to feel the note resonating in your mouth, beyond just being able to hear it louder.

work on playing your b harmonic the same, as well as checking it against third octave d.

work on playing all your notes with that resonance, as well as being able to feel the notes centered in your mouth. it takes a while to "taste" the resonance (my word for it, not very accurate, i'm afraid to say!) on the lower notes, but you will be immediately hear and feel the difference, especially on your low d. hint: an open throat prevents notes from cracking when you push them hard, especially that low D. if all the notes resonate well and your throat is open, you can wham that low D without thinking and it will not crack.

[end of third part].

by the time you get the hang of it all, the third step is the only step you really need to increase your resonance if you find on any particular day that your resonance is down. personally, i have found that i back off my default volume a lot now, because the notes are too loud in my ears, which is a good thing, as it gives a player more room to mess with musicality.

note: i have to go to bed now. i will reread/edit this post friday evening and hopefully get a recording done. i prepared something, but it's too late to record.

and no, i dont believe i ever edited it. oops! i'm still not going to do it.

[daiv]

ditto what jem and akiba said.

i'm going to head to bed. i'll give an over-winded, unnecessarily long response by saturday.

*looks up*

understatement of the year!

[woodflute]

Hey daiv big thanks for that

[daiv]

Hey daiv big thanks for that

not a problem! it's helpful for me too. i always find it helps to put your ideas down, so you yourself can follow them, . especially practicing putting tunes together! i had forgotten about that, and am practicing that right now.

one thing i didnt say, was that when practicing tunes together, before doing last phrase to first phrase, break it down more. first do last beat to firstbeat, then last measure to first, then last phrase to first phrase.

[deisman]

good job and much appreciated by me

Deisman

[matahari_1946]

as promised, here is my overly lengthy response.

Good Lord, daiv!

I know there's some great stuff in there but I don't have the time to read it all right now, or tomorrow, or the next day . . . .

No, really, thanks for posting that. I'm going to give it a serious read.

[sbfluter]

Just play tunes.

If there's a session and you know some tunes, attend. Try to pick up tunes during the session if they allow that sort of thing. Mine does. I can't play whole tunes that I don't know, but I can play parts of them, so I stay quiet during the parts I can't get.

Carry a pennywhistle around with you and play tunes whenever you can sneak them in. Great for getting tunes stuck in your head to go away, too.

I also find that learning old-time tunes by ear is helping me learn the Irish ones by ear. To me old-time tunes seem easier to hear and play the outlines and this is good training overall for me.