Musical Explosion

Oh, dear reader, I can't believe it's been 9 days since I last posted.  Please forgive me.  Never fear, though.  The Project is alive and well.  It's so alive, in fact, that I've been incredibly busy (musically and otherwise)!

Since I last posted, I played for an adult amateur masterclass with Linda Chesis.  She is a dynamic teacher.  I played the first movement of the Bach Partita.  She helped me realize that I don't need to "tank up" with a huge breath before I begin playing.  I have plenty of air in my lungs at any given time to successfully start the piece.  This tidbit has helped me conquer a fear that I almost didn't know I had - the fear of beginning to play.  Another good point she made is that I try to make my sound too pure.  Her comments and suggestions have helped me strive to have a sounds that projects and is vibrant rather than a sound that is pure and fails to reach the back of the concert hall.  She also talked a lot about the physical aspects of playing the flute, and her comments and demonstrations were spot on.  Other pieces played by the participants were the CPE Bach Sonata in A Minor, Rivier Sonatine and Reinecke Undine Sonata.  I received an email afterward from the event sponsor, Ms. Trimber, saying that Ms. Chesis has invited me to an adult amateur chamber music weekend, which is part of her Cooperstown Music Festival.  Apparently the amateurs are grouped with professional muscians for a ton of chamber music performances.  I'm already planning the trip!  I haven't received any further emails, so I hope it still happens.

The following day I had my lesson with Aaron Goldman.  He's simply brilliant.  His comments and demonstrations in one lesson have been unbelievably accurate and helpful.  One of many examples is his use of what he calls "super slow scales" to help develop even technique.  I've always thought of technique as fast, impressive playing, but his approach is to play the T and G EJ 4 at a metronome marking of 80 bpm and play one note per metronome click.  Sounds easy, but the work is incredibly exacting.  The fingers must move instantaneously BEFORE the click of the metronome in order to get the note to speak exactly on time.  Another example of his teaching is the concept of the "laser to Mars".  In order to project one's sound, the player imagines his sound as super focused on a far away place (e.g. Mars), whether he is playing softly, loudly, with a bright color or dark color.  The teaching point that has probably caused the biggest improvement in my playing in a short amount of time is the fact that I play with the corners of my lips drawn too tight.  His opinion is that the corners of the lips should be completely (or near completely) relaxed and the majority of the work with the embochure should come from the middle of the lips.  I have an off-center embochure, but my lips were still too tight.  I've been working on relaxing my embochure and already I think my sound has improved.

I've been keeping a practice journal, and the following is from my most recent practice session:

Breathing exercise from Wye's series.
Moyse long tones in minor thirds.
Dick's Tone Development Through Extended Techniques, the first three lines of the first throat tuning study and the first harmonic study.
Super slow scales.
Articulation study from Wye's series.
T and G EJ 1 and 2, first page, articulation number 2, 96 bpm.  I've added exercises that practice high C, C# and D per Mr. Goldman's suggestions, but I must say they are really difficult.  I've resolved to practice them at a painfully slow metronome marking until I get a handle of them.
EJ 4, all the sharp scales (alternating between the "sharp" and "flat" scales each day), artic 2, 92 bpm.  Again, I'm trying to be more complete with my scale practice by expanding my range to the higher notes.
Excerpt from Brahms Fourth.
Mozart G Major Concerto, first movement, exposition.  Mr. Goldman has suggested I set my metronome to click on the downbeat of every measure rather than every beat in order to fine tune my rhythm.  This is very challenging.  In order to do this, I downloaded an app called DrBetotte, which is clearly a Dr. Beat ripoff.  It was $9.99, I think, and it's okay.  I'd prefer the actualy Dr. Beat, but I don't want to part with the money just yet.

Work has been going okay.  I had an evaluation with my Chair today, and she was very complimentary.  We have a boring retreat scheduled this Saturday that will take up the entire morning.  Joy :)