When I was little, I always asked everybody for the “why” more than the “how”. For those who are like me, and who follow my daily flute trick tweets, I want to share here my “why”’s with more explanations and space for you to ask questions.
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#dailyFluteTrick from Mai 1st, 2015 Today: keep the rhythm while sound exercise! M.M. 60 on 4/4
The sound exercice should help you getting these following points :
1) soften your lips and making them more reactive, after a night’s sleep 2) activating your diaphragma for exhaling and inhaling power and -control 3) getting used to correct intonation through half-tone interval thinking 4) open your throat and getting used to use the inner-throat space for optimal resonance 5) feel the different resistance of the instrument by notes
Therefore, having the rhythm steady helps with
1) improving the reaction time laps of the lips, the rhythm gets you a time unit to respect and control the speed
2) keeping your respirations on time, also to control the inhaled quantity (visible on the length of your breath compared to the previous sequence)
3) keeping log for unstable intonation, falling ends, huge attacks
4) having a countdown for the uncomfortable throat position at the beginning of your exercise ;)
5) making the note develop in a controlled manner, or just keeping it steady - excellent for crescendi and diminuendi
I suggest
Take every bar twice for optimal conditioning + repeat once for perfect memorizing
Do the whole exercise 3 or 4 times (it depends on the time you have for practicing, at least 7 minutes, max 15% of your total practice time) or more.
DON’T FORGET THE 3RD REGISTER - you can not expect having a nice sound in the 3rd register if your have only 200 notes ever played in your life…!!! Separated tweet upcoming.
So, have fun, do something great for your flute+body+mind+soul, enjoy the time of sound exercice ! I call it “my private time-bubble" :)