An enthusiastic flutist

[anenthusiasticflutist]

⚠️In order to join ‘Etude of the week’ it is a requirement that you answer the three questions provided.⚠️ Etude of the Week is a group for flutists to share their interpretations of specific etudes...

I found out about a group for flutists called “Etude of the week” some weeks (études) ago. As its name promises, it selects one étude every week for the members to practice and share a recording of. These last weeks, the group is working through Donjon’s Études de salon, which are a great way to explore the quality of tone that one can achieve with the flute. Currently, we have to work on étude 4, although I’m actually looking forward to the last étude, Le Tambour. 

The GIF depicts my enthusiasm for playing Le Tambour - also, you know, drums - ba-dum-tssss... 

[five-flats]

since unaccompanied music can be hard to find

Masterpost for music for unaccompanied flute (I obviously want to extend this so any additions are welcome)

Baroque

Sonata in A Minor Wq. 132 (C.P.E Bach)

Partita A Minor, BWV 1013 (J.S Bach)

12 Fantasies for Transverse Flute without Bass (G.P Telemann)

Capriccios, Fantasias etc. bc there’s so GODDAMN MANY OF THEM (J.J Quantz)

Classical

Romantic

Modern

Syrinx - Debussy

Contemporary

obviously not at all an extensive list yet, but please suggest things to add!

[anenthusiasticflutist]

Today I had a bad tone day!

I’d been expecting one of those. Of course they are more frequent if you stopped playing for some time (like me) - arguably, all days are bad tone days until you’re back on track, right? Anyway, today was particularly bad, which gave me the opportunity to try a number of approaches to improve my sound (learned from videos from The Flute Practice channel). I paid more attention to my embouchure (covering one third of it tops, in the center of it), took a little break to rest the muscles, was more aware of the air column and its direction. It did make a difference! 

Although I had originally stated that I would be learning Bolling’s Suite, I am currently in love with the Scherzo from A Midsummer night’s dream, so I spend most of my time rehearsing it. It’s really fun! Also, I wish I had bigger lungs or you know, breathed better. While that’s a usual struggle for us flutists, I do have to restart those breathing exercises. 

[anenthusiasticflutist]

I liked this video because it’s honest and I like The Flute Practice channel because Tatiana gives very good advice to improve your technique. 

I would have liked to know that most people wouldn’t know how to call my instrument, which still happens. Personally, I encountered this problem when naming this blog xD 

[anenthusiasticflutist]

So the other day I watched this video from Tatiana at The Flute Practice and learned some great exercises to improve my tone. I hope they can be of use to you too! ✨

[anenthusiasticflutist]

Scherzo from “A midsummer night’s dream”

It’s funny, I knew about this piece ages ago, then I forgot about it, then I heard a bit of it on one of Katie’s videos (katieflute) yesterday, and since then, I’ve been playing it in my mind all day long. I started practicing it with a free sheet from flutetunes.com - double tonguing is hard! 

[anenthusiasticflutist]

I am sorry I have been absent for a bit... but I am very glad to say I have fully recovered from Covid-19! 💪🏻 That was a truly terrible illness, and I...

Today, flute maestro Robert Dick posted a video with an interesting advice on how to learn music: while you do have to learn the technical aspects of the piece, you should also take a step back and ask yourself what you want people to feel when you play the piece, and practice following those ideas. I’ll start doing that tomorrow when I practice! 

[anenthusiasticflutist]

Robert Cart, flutes Ruth Rendleman, piano Robbie McNamara, drums Zack Merkovsky, bass

My current goal is to be able to play this suite 🌟

[anenthusiasticflutist]

It begins here!

Today, I decided that I would practice flute again. So I’m going to blog about it! For my first entry, I will share some great advice I found on the internet: 

Advice for flutists by Jim Walker - out of these 15 tips, the one that has helped me the most is #2, about the importance of lip flexibility and strength to play well. 

How to get back into flute after a hiatus by Jennifer Cluff contains more technical advice on the kind of exercises and routine one could follow. In my opinion, the key message from her post is that “Good practice skills rely on hearing your flute playing”.