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“If you ask the questions, the answers will come.”

9/28/2016

We warmed up with whistle tones. It turns out Robert can play the entire range of the flute in whistle tones. #nobigdeal #goals. There is a section in his book Tone Development Through Extended Techniques to aid in this for us mere mortals. Strengthening the lip muscles can only help with traditional playing, and this is one great way to do that. There’s also a crazy thing that can happen in the whistle-tone universe where the air in your mouth is amplified, rather than the air in the flute, resulting in a single pitch unrelated to the fingerings on the flute. That, my friends, is insane.

Robert also played a gamelan inspired piece for us. There are some fingerings on the flute that allow for a sustained low note while microtonal pitches change above it, which works out perfectly for a gamelan feel. The structure was chorus, verse, chorus, verse (and so on) with the verses being improvisations. Getting to hear Robert play this piece, which has never been written down, was truly an experience.

There was quite a bit of talking in class, and about legitimate things. Like creativity. Robert stressed that if you’re musical, you’re creative, and we need to hear that as musicians and as students. I can’t capture the beauty of everything that was said. But it was really nice to hear. This went along with identifying our personal dreams and goals for our flute playing. Figuring out what you want to do and then sticking with it for ten years was his suggestion. Robert’s ten-year goal was mastering multiphonics.

We also talked quite a bit about the body and its importance. You need your body to be in good shape in order to be a good musician. That’s just how it is. And of course, having a strong core is ideal. One way to pinpoint your weak spots is to play a long tone on a note of your choice…while doing crunches. Your body is also important in your musical involvement of a piece; your mind and heart are key when playing and learning music, and your body is as well, especially considering that your mind and heart reside in your body. This can work well for practicing too. For example, when we were working with Density 21.5, Robert suggested dancing to the piece to get physically involved with the music. He said once during practicing, he ended up laying on the floor with his feet in the air. Yet again, #goals.

Also when working on Density 21.5, we talked about establishing an image or narrative when working on and performing music. One suggestion for Density is to consider the music spatially in 3D, as if the sounds and textures are the result of distance from the performer or listener. Your own perspective in the musical story is also important and something I’ve never really considered before; generally I view any narrative I imagine as an observer, merely an outsider. I hadn’t thought about inserting myself into the story. I suppose that's something to explore.

Other things:
- Mention of Carlos Castenada’s book The Teachings of Don Juan occurred when we were discussing silencing the inner dialogue that happens while performing.
- Creative and emotional “long tones” are necessary for remaining healthy and musical.
- What you say with music is a direct reflection of who you are.

Until next time!

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"What the f***?!"

9/24/2016

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Class started with Robert playing the F bass flute prototype that he has. Because of it’s length, it’s able to create a “stereo sound” effect quite well! I had no idea bass flutes in F existed. Yay for learning!

We’re still on step 1 of learning to circular breathe, which is the blow fish embouchure/huff and puff stage. I’m getting better though! It is pretty difficult to let go of any semblance of an embouchure, but attempting to release my inner 4-year-old seems to be helping. Step 2 will be to add the top lip as embouchure with the puffed cheeks, so we’ll see how that goes. Also, it turns out that the Hungarian approach to multiphonics is done with lots of breath pressure (versus lip placement and air direction), so I’ve been unknowingly using that technique and getting some multiphonics when practicing the huff and puff.

Science comes up quite a bit in class, and Robert believes musicians should be knowledgeable in two scientific areas: acoustics (the study of sound) and psychoacoustics (how we/audiences perceive sound). Our friend Arthur Benade came up again, this time concerning his book Horns, Strings, and Harmony.

A good portion of class was spent on breathing, expanding on Robert’s YouTube video “Prepare to Breathe.” There are exercises you can do to even out inhalation, which should be mostly concentrated in the lower abdominal region, not by the ribs and shoulders. The trick is to keep your rib cage up and engaged while using the lower belly as the “balloon” that inflates and deflates; this way, your chest can stay open to be a great resonating chamber.

Semi-related to breathing is vibrato. Once again, Robert suggested creating vibrato with the throat/voice for standard, everyday vibrato and using breath-pulse vibrato for the more Romantic “wow” moments. To practice the throat vibrato, determine a pitch that you can sing comfortably (we used B-flat in the staff). Sustain that pitch on the flute while fading the voice in and out, building up to a speed as is used in vibrato. Then take out the actual voice, but engage the same sensation in the throat. Robert thinks teachers should wait for vibrato to come naturally to students and then it can be refined, rather than teaching pulsated breath kicks in rhythm. He also made the point that when we imitate things that occur naturally, it is perceived as beautiful. In the case of vibrato, think about how something in nature, say a twig or branch on a tree, comes to rest after activity; strive to imitate that type of movement with your vibrato speed and depth. We also discussed how specific registers on the flute work with vibrato. For example, using air/vibrato in the cheeks is best for high notes because the mouth is the primary resonator for that register; however, the same type of cheek vibrato won’t work as well in the low range.

Some exciting news is that we will be looking at more repertoire soon! Robert made the point concerning learning music that one needs to practice the nuts and bolts of a piece (the technical aspects) AND musical interpretation together, not as two separate processes. Each side informs the other, and you’ll understand the piece more thoroughly if you combine the aspects from the beginning of the learning process. The pieces we specifically wish to focus on are Luciano Berio’s Sequenza I and Tōru Takemitsu’s Voice.

Understanding a composer’s style is part of the learning process as well, and in the case of Berio, knowing the influence of James Joyce is helpful. For further listening, Berio wrote a piece for voice and tape called Thema (Omaggio a Joyce); for further reading, Robert suggested the famous last chapter of Joyce’s Ulysses. Berio’s Sequenza is written using proportional notation, so Robert asked us not to get the edition that inserted bar lines. He also suggested making a copy of the piece to mark up, since it will need some love to learn initially; the first step is to make the “tick” marks more obvious. The next step is to circle dynamics with an “f” in red and dynamics with a “p” in a different color. The colors will work with your peripheral vision to help you notice and learn the contrasts quicker. After this comes the best part: scatting the piece. Aim for note contour rather than accuracy, focusing on the dynamics and getting familiar with the proportional notation. (And you can take it slower than marked.) It may also be helpful to visualize two characters throughout the piece and to mark where each switches off.

Concerning Takemitsu’s Voice, Robert is going to be a fantastic resource because he (casually) worked with Takemitsu on it. It turns out that some of the notation is not clear in depicting exactly what Takemitsu wanted; for example, the “circle” notes are more of a growl rather than actual sung pitch. This is partly based on the shakuhachi flute tradition, where players were exclusively male. Robert had prepared the piece by singing the notated pitches (instead of the grunting/growling), and Takemitsu liked that version, even though that wasn't what he was after! So Robert decided that’s how he’ll teach the piece to female flutists (aka me). He shared that the most challenging aspect of Voice is the acting involved. It’s the story of a ghost, and though the text isn’t all in English, you should figure out how you would say things and react to things in your own language. It was at this moment that instead of “qui va la/who goes there?” Robert decided “what the f***?!” would be a more natural reaction to a ghost appearing. He had no qualms screaming it to demonstrate. (Side note: I wrote a paper in grad school on the musical relationship between flute pieces by Debussy and Takemitsu; let me know if you’re interested in reading it. And to get a feel for Takemitsu’s style, here is a great list.)

Lego Lion in the NYPL

Other things:
Sarah and I took a free audio tour of the New York Public Library earlier this week; it was so cool! We saw one of the 48 remaining Gutenberg bibles, a writing desk that used to belong to Charles Dickens, a Brahms manuscript, the original Winnie the Pooh stuffed animals, a Cage score, a lock of Mary Shelley’s hair, and so much more. And all for free?! Continuing on the “free” idea, today I walked part of the High Line and also checked out Chelsea Market. It’s so easy to get my steps in here. And the weather is almost fall-like!!! We're so close. Gah, I can’t wait.

Until next time!

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“If you’re not there, you’re not there.”

9/19/2016

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One of the first exercises we did was based on the Taffanel and Gaubert #4 (from 17 Daily Exercises for Flute); I would play the ascending lines with Robert singing, and then I would sing the descending lines with Robert playing. He encourages discovering your own personal vocal “wacky-ness” when singing, meaning you don’t have to sound like a trained opera singer all the time. Knowing what other timbres are available is a great tool. We also talked about the many dynamic possibilities for T&G #4. The naturally occurring dynamic scheme is to crescendo while ascending and decrescendo while descending, but you can also do the opposite of that to practice against the flute’s tendencies. Yet another option is to alternate the dynamic of every single note. You’ll have practice material for daaaays.

We then went over the second of Karg-Elert’s 30 Studies for Flute Op. 107. Stylistically for No. 2, when two notes are slurred together (such as is found in the opening measures), the second note is short, resulting in a “da-dit, da-dit, da-dit” type of feel rather than a legato “da-da, da-da, da-da” sound. We also focused on larger intervals, such as in mm. 21 – 22. For passages like this with notes in the higher register, experiment with more E-shaped (and even umlaut inspired) vowels in your mouth, and also consider a more nasal focus. For the nasal sound, first try speaking through your nose more than normal, and then apply that same sensation to your flute playing. Your nostrils may flare a bit when you do this :) We also looked at No. 3 of the studies as well. The second to last measure is “the” measure in this piece. Breaking it down into two separate lines (high and low registers) is the best way to start to develop one’s ability to hear and anticipate the next note for accurate throat tuning. When you put the lines back together, see what types of color differences you can get between the registers to emphasize each distinct line even more.

Super exciting thing – we started the path to circular breathing! It's difficult to circular breathe on the flute because we already lose so much air when we play (#inefficiency #ThanksBoehm), plus there is no resistance for our embouchure. To start towards circular breathing, first we just attempted to make a sound on the flute (on a high F) while dispersing air throughout our entire mouth. Yes, we looked ridiculous. Yes, “ridiculous” here means “like blowfish.” Essentially, a flute and a sense of humor are what you need at this point in the game. Robert did put together a book about circular breathing specifically for flutists, so check it out if you’d like!

Other things: I’m borrowing The Autobiography of Malcolm X from Robert; now I have some subway reading! We also talked about how unreasonable living in NYC is today. Robert says he no longer encourages young musicians to move here because things are just too insane.

Speaking of insane, Robert played a loft concert over the weekend. He started with two improvisations on the contrabass flute and then played a piece by William Hellermann (who also attended the concert), Three Weeks in Cincinnati in December, which requires the flutist to circular breathe for nearly 50 minutes straight. The piece changes slowly over that time, drawing material from natural harmonics and multiphonics.

Including Robert’s concert, I went to 5 concerts on 4 consecutive nights this past week: two ICE concerts, a blues concert by Vanessa Collier, a roots concert by Ben Hunter and Joe Seamons, and Robert’s concert. Thank you, Jesus, for the musical activity here.

Until next time!

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"We go to eleven"

9/16/2016

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We started class with the three of us improvising together. The guidelines for the first “session” were to play one note at a time and to build off of what the person before you played. The second “session” expanded that idea and we had to use the voice and play, though not necessarily together, in equal amounts. This second bout was FULL of extended techniques in addition to the playing and singing from all three of us; there were some pretty legit moments. Robert said that it’s important to improvise every single day and to allow yourself to be in that creative space. A related idea is to look at a piece of visual art (a photograph or painting, etc.) and improvise based on that. Of course Wassily Kandisky was mentioned when talking about this idea; please Google some his name if you’re not familiar with his works.

Staying on this interdisciplinary (and Russian) track, we then talked about Constantin Stanislavski and his book An Actor Prepares. Robert said it’s the type of book you’ll want to own, and after looking at the table of contents, I can understand why. The chapter I’m most intrigued by is called “Faith and a Sense of Truth.” I suppose I’ve found reading material for my subway trips! Discussion of this book and the idea of method acting as translated to music boils down to one thing: be in the moment. And the best way to do that, Robert argues, is by singing the music in your head. This will then directly inform your throat tuning. It’s the ciiiiircle of liiiiiife!

One of the pieces we focused on in class was the first of Karg-Elert’s 30 Studies for Flute Op. 107. One idea concerning keeping a steady tempo in this piece (and all pieces, really) is to use a drumbeat as your metronome and to set it as something with a strong backbeat. There are various apps and YouTube playlists that cater to exactly this. Robert also suggested mouthing “higher” vowels, like “e”, for notes in the third and fourth octave. For example, in No. 2 there are some repeating Es in m. 27 You can also visualize music as being a distance in front of you to be traveled, rather than as flat notes on the page to help prepare for large intervals and to create more of a physical connection with the music.

The last technique we covered was whisper/whistle tones. (The terms are interchangeable, so use whichever brings you the most happiness; Robert prefers whisper). A whistle tone requires very little air and results in a very high-pitched and thin, soft sound. To find the right air speed, blow just enough on your hand that you feel warm air; if you blow too hard, the air will be cold. Flexibility with whistle tones will aid in traditional playing because it develops the control of your lips. Now, there are a few ways to practice whisper tones. You can start by fingering the lowest note on your flute (either C or B) and then explore the harmonic series with whistle tones. The way I learned was to use fourth octave fingerings; high B has a very easy response for the whisper tone. It’s possible to go even higher than the fourth-octave fingered note using whistle tones, too! Practicing whistling away from the flute will help as well. And anyone can whistle. The trick, according to Robert, is the shape of the mouth. Try to get as close to an “O” shape as possible with a fairly wide width. The tongue placement will contribute to the sound more so than your throat or chest shape (for both whistling and whisper tones) because the sound won’t be going as deep into the body.

Other things:
- Adopt a structural approach to practicing, rather than additive. Robert gave the example of Michelangelo uncovering David from a block of stone; he didn’t start with nothing and hope things would grow and develop into a certain shape. Basically his point was that it’s easier to take away and refine something than to try to build on to something. This is a reason to encourage beginner flute students (or "flutelets" as Robert refers to them) play loud most of the time, because you can finesse that sound easier than you can bulk up a wimpy tone.
- Flying Lessons 2 was written with bigger holes in the open-hole keys of the flute, so modern flutes may create some tricky maneuvering in certain parts of the piece. The plan is to talk more about Flying Lessons 2 next class, so perhaps I shall have more info then.
- There are some great resources on YouTube regarding extended techniques: check out Robert’s videos "Your First Multiphonic", "The 3 Types of Multiphonics", and "Prepare to Breathe".
- We had the chance to play two vintage flutes: one was a French model from the 1800s with very small keys, and the other was a German wooden flute from the early 1900s. I felt fancy.

After class, I went to a free ICE concert in partnership with the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts. The setup for the concert was a really great concept, and the pieces and talks were recorded for library archival purposes. Two pieces were played, both by composer Anna Thorvaldsdottir. The performer(s) played the piece, then talked about the piece and answered questions, and finally performed the piece again. And of course they rocked it. The first piece was Transitions for solo cello. The second was Sequences, a world premiere of a woodwind quintet, instrumentation of bass flute, bass clarinet, contrabassoon, and baritone saxophone. Both pieces juxtaposed long drones with air/scraping sounds and bouts of quick movement. And each piece was under 8 minutes long, so it was a great length for the audience. I was surprised that the majority of those in attendance were of the older generation, and not necessarily people with musical backgrounds. That really makes me hopeful. This week has had some rough moments, including

a jank printer at Staples gave me roughly 100 copies of a document I only needed one copy of
the same printer gave me 0 copies of a 22-page document I paid to print
I got caught in a windy rainstorm (wearing a dress, of course) while walking to teach a lesson

so this concert was perfect.

Until next time!

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“If you ask the questions, the answers will come.”

"What the f***?!"

“If you’re not there, you’re not there.”

"We go to eleven"

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