Anne-Marie Houy Shaver
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“Part of the creative process is knowing when to stop.”

10/27/2016

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Another student (named Anna Maria, fittingly enough) sat in on the first part of class.  We again started with some free improv. After the first session, we were advised to avoid runs, as this is usually an indicator of going on autopilot. Instead, Robert’s advice was “It happens because it needed to.” We did another session, this time with Robert and Anna Maria playing piccolo while I stayed on flute. There were definitely less notes in this second round, and it had a very different feel from the first improvisation we had done. The other word of wisdom from Robert was when you’re not sure what to play, the best choice is space.
 
I requested doing some work with octave multiphonics, as it was something I was struggling to do consistently in my practice. We started with C (in the staff and two lines above the staff). I was moving the vowel shape in my mouth from “ooh” on the low note alone, “ahh” on the high note alone, and something like “eye/ö” for the octave sounding together. Robert helped refine those vowel shapes and the lip placement as well. For the low note, he suggested feeling the air and sound more in my sinuses while funneling the air deeper into the flute, which gave the low C a much more colorful and individualized sound. For the octave together, I needed to open my mouth more while maintaining the ö-type vowel, and also keep my top lip down. It’s important to practice these at a soft dynamic to avoid using purely the air speed as the “oomph” to achieve the multiphonic. From there, we moved on to large multiphonics. The key to these is to start loud, getting the intervals sounding simultaneously through the use of a lot of fast air. It is much easier to back off from that beginning point than to build up to the loud.
 
We listened to part of an album by Otha Turner and the Afrossippi Allstars, which was pretty legit. Otha also plays more traditional drum and fife music, and the recordings have a very field-recording vibe. The ethnomusicologist in me appreciates them. And speaking of ethnomusicology, Robert shared a way to make the western flute sound more like a Chinese flute: by putting cigarette/pad paper under the open-holed keys. This essentially makes the flute act like a kazoo. Robert may or may not have secretly tuned once in high school using this method and tone quality.
 
There were some parts of Sequenza I wanted to work on as well. We started with transitioning from a normal note to its whisper tone, as is found with high B-flat in the piece; I am here to tell you that if you practice your whistle tones in a variety of ways and for a variety of notes, it will work wonders when put into context. I surprised myself with how smoothly I could transition from the normal note to the whisper tone.
 
There is a gesture in the sixth system on the third page of the piece where the bar extends past the last note in the group; this is the only time this occurs in the entire piece, and Robert interprets the marking as crescendo-ing to an abrupt stop, possibly even using the tongue to stop the sound. Later on page three, there is our first harmonic, to be played at pppp. Because we don’t want to give away the quality of sound for the upcoming multiphonic based on the same fundamental note (C), Robert suggests using a variation other than the low C fingering for this harmonic. The one I’ve chosen to use is the low C fingering without the left thumb depressed. There is a high F-sharp halfway through the fourth page where altering the fingering again aids with its context; in this case, using the middle finger instead of the ring finger on the right hand is an apt choice. A few notes later, there is a high C, which can be colored by using the low B foot keys with the right hand pinky.
 
We also discussed grouping the grace note figures. Especially in the cases where there are more than four grace notes at a time, planning out how they belong together will help in executing them.
 
Some of the notes that are fluttertongued throughout the piece also have accents or other articulation markings. If you’re able to use uvular fluttering, then each note, marked or not, will be tongued regardless, so this is not an issue. But if you’re still practicing the uvular flutter (like me), re-tonguing the accented notes while using the tongue flutter is the best way to achieve the desired effect.
 
On the last page of Sequenza, we see again the notation of four dots above a note head to indicate that it should be tongued four times. Robert prefers to elongate the four repetitions of the note (if it is long, like the last B-natural) instead of tonguing consistently through the duration of the note. For the last line, his words of wisdom are to stay engaged physically, especially in the abdominals, before the attack of the low C-sharp. And continue that support while decrescendo-ing to properly sound the very last, and surprising, C-natural grace note.
 
Other things:
- It’s time to invest in some actual winter boots
- My mom is shipping me another blanket
- I consistently practice with hand warmers
- The above list makes me think that … winter is coming.
- And so is Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life!!!


Until next time!

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“What comes in goes out.”

10/20/2016

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 I believe this quote was something the saxophonist Steve Lacy said when asked why he didn’t take certain studio gigs. Important to consider.
 
Anyway.
 
Jenn and I were both curious about repertoire for the final recital we’ll be giving in December, so we started class by talking about some possibilities. That discussion led to the decision to include improvisation sessions in the rest of our meetings. So we did a few rounds of improv as a group. After each bout, we would talk about the music we just made, as many times the discussion can be just as beneficial as actually improvising.
 
Then it was Sequenza time. One of Robert’s practice suggestions was to play the piece as if we were in Bizarro World, exploring opposite ideas of dynamics and overall feeling. Through this process, your interpretation of the piece in real life may be better informed and your musical ideas for the piece may be strengthened. Of course, Robert also had suggestions for when playing the piece as written. For the crazy tonguing part (you know, at the end of page 2 onto page 3), if you roll the flute in, you are essentially transitioning to a hard reed by shortening the air stream, resulting in a more powerful sound.
 
I’ve only really worked on the first few pages of Sequenza, but looking ahead shows that there are a few techniques that I can be preparing now. There is a multiphonic on page 5 based on a natural harmonic fingering. To prepare for this moment, it would make sense to practice natural harmonic multiphonics in general. Robert suggested starting with octaves, then fifths, and then the smaller intervals of fourths, thirds, and seconds. Practice these both tongued and slurred; when slurring, you will find some really great potential colors between playing the individual notes of the multiphonic and those notes together. And a tip for the octave multiphonics: start on C and work your way down the chromatic scale, gradually rolling out as you add the right hand fingerings (F-sharp and below). Rolling out lengthens the air stream, which results in reducing the high frequencies.

Whisper/whistle tones are another technique to practice for Sequenza, especially the ability to play a whisper tone immediately after playing the normal note (which is what appears in the piece). For this, you can trick the listener’s ear by playing a resonate normal note, and then actually having a small gap between the note and it’s whistle echo. As long as the normal note’s sound carries, you can use that carrying time to set up for the whistle tone.
 
With these techniques, it is important to practice them in ways outside of how they appear in the piece. For example, practice multiple whisper tones, not just the B-flat that’s written. Having a broader level of control over a technique will help with the ease of execution in context.
 
We also had the chance to play on a Gazzelloni headjoint, which is basically a C-flute headjoint with an alto flute embouchure hole. This is the type of headjoint that Gazzelloni played Sequenza on, so it’s interesting to see the different challenges and ease this change in embouchure hole can bring about. But let’s just say I’ll be sticking with my normal headjoint/embouchure hole combo.
 
Other things:
- Robert was talking about 72 bpm being common in human music because it is closely related to the tempo of our heartbeat. Well, guess what? An elephant's heart beats around 28 times a minute, and when given the chance to make music, elephants tend to hover around 28 bmp. So, yes, the Thai Elephant Orchestra is a real thing. You’re welcome.
- I ended up on the same train, on the same car even, as Robert on the way to class. Small world, even in NYC.
- Sarah and I saw a performance and talk with composer Meredith Monk and poet Anne Waldman. Everything about it was amazing. The venue was Housing Works Bookstore, an awesome organization committed to ending homelessness and AIDS. After being introduced, Meredith and Anne performed two pieces, and then just talked to each other, inviting one another to share their thoughts and experiences. There was a question and answer session to conclude the talk. The last question regarded a prediction that in the near future, 80% of the world’s population will be older and will be women. Meredith’s response was a hope that that will be a time of kindness. #amen. Sarah and I waited in some very confused lines, but then WE GOT TO TALK TO MEREDITH. Sarah asked her about femininity informing music, specifically in rhythm (we were thinking of Janika Vandervelde and cyclical rhythms here #ThanksDrWallace), and Meredith said she thinks her femininity informs everything. She shared that she believes women have a direct connection to The Source (which can be threatening for some men…but that’s a different subject..) and that this connection can be responsible for some wonderful things. Overall, this event was the definition of womanpower. It was inspiring. It was beautiful. It was empowering. It rocked.

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Until next time!

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“Sometimes you just need to cry.”

10/18/2016

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This quote is actually something I said to Robert. He commented that it sounded almost like a lyric John Lennon would write; I thought that made it blog-title worthy.
 
With singing and playing being a constant goal, we’re always looking for ways to practice that without repeating the same scales and exercises. So, we worked with major and minor blues scales, focusing on hearing the intervals and pitches before singing and/or playing them. We also sightread no. 17 of the Karg-Elert op. 107 Studies with singing and playing. (Admittedly, I had played this particular study before, heh heh.) We covered the topic of grouping notes musically, which may differ from how they are grouped via notation. For example, in m. 3 of no. 17, it appears that the notes are clumped together in groups of 6 (4+2); however, musically it makes more sense to group them with the sixth note in the group belonging to the next set of notes (the first E-flat better groups with the following C, and so on).
 
In no. 18 of the Studies, the big take-away was to make a distinction between the melodic line and the harmonic “blurbles.” This can be done in a multitude of ways: adding vibrato to the melody, changing the dynamics between the two lines, or playing with different tone colors for each line. Related to that, Robert shared some teaching advice he’d heard to “play the unimportant notes like they’re unimportant.” About this study specifically, taking time, especially to breathe, is totally allowed since it is described as “quasi cadenza.” A change for me to make in this piece concerned the teeny-tiny notes in m. 7, after the fermatas. I was putting emphasis on the beginnings of the groupings (E, F-double-sharp, A-sharp, etc.), BUT the chord being outlined is best represented by the top/last note in the groupings (B, D, F, G-sharp, etc). This means I needed to shift my thinking from using the first notes in the groupings as a “downbeat”, seeing them instead as pickup notes into the anchor top notes. This approach can also help with the overall feeling of building momentum to the high G-sharp/following A.
 
We’re also moving forward with circular breathing! A next step is to start with the familiar (the embouchure for high notes) and transition to the unfamiliar (maintaining the pressure of the top lip while storing air in the cheeks). Previously, I was trying to go from the puffed cheeks to the puffed cheeks with an engaged top lip. This proved difficult because I was going from a somewhat unfamiliar sensation to an even more unfamiliar sensation. So, we just altered the process. Boom. Another exercise is to practice consistently blowing bubbles into water through a straw while circular breathing. I am still working on this, but I think it’s improving! One key aspect is to understand tongue placement during the inhalation stage; say the word “gong” but stop on the “ng” with the tongue blocking the airway. While this is happening, you push out the air being held in the cheeks while inhaling through your nose. To help understand the motion and feeling of pushing the air out of the cheeks, one can blow water out of the mouth using the same muscles.
 
The Berio Sequenza was worked on too. Octave accuracy is one area for me to work on. We listened to recordings of the piece by two different flutists, Severino Gazzelloni and Harvey Sollberger, and we discussed their strengths and weaknesses. One of the comments that most stood out to me was that in some cases, musicians might be unsuccessful with pieces like the Sequenza because they’re using a 19th c. approach to 20th c. music.

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The view while apple picking at Rose Hill Farm
Other things:
- Sarah and I spent the weekend with our friends Tyson and Jennifer (and their pup Brady!) away from the city, where sirens and people aren’t constantly bombarding you. We went to the farmer’s market, picked apples, and hiked through some beautiful foliage THAT ACTUALLY SHOWS IT’S FALL! It was wonderful to get away for a bit.
- Robert had a show of free improvisation with a bassist and bass clarinetist at Spectrum. Robert played on a variety of flutes, and it was interesting to hear how the different registers from each flute instrument still blended and worked with the other low bass instruments.
- We went to a talk/performance at the Metropolitan Museum of Art of Paul Hindemith’s Mathis der Maler symphony by The Orchestra Now in conjunction with the artwork of Max Beckmann; both Hindemith and Beckmann were inspired by the artist Matthias Grünewald. The set up for the performance was great, starting with an explanation of the piece and artists (including excerpts), the performance of the piece, and a Q&A session to wrap it all up. And the weather was perfect to walk through Central Park on the way back to the subway :)

Until next time!

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Shooting cigars out of your flute (literally)

10/1/2016

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Well, if you want a good vocal warm up, there’s nothing like singing and playing the entire range of the flute. It turns out that remembering which octave you’re playing in is surprisingly difficult. But it’s a good exercise! And that’s how we started class.
 
We also did a good bit of listening. First up was a recording of Julius Baker playing Bach. I believe Robert said Baker made the recording himself in his living room. It was recorded before the Baroque “revival,” but it was still stellar. That sound. It turns out that Baker had a vocal coach, which Robert believes contributed to his beautiful flute tone. (Related, if any vocalists out there want to barter some voice lessons for flute lessons/dance parties, let me know.)
 
After another Baker recording where he showed off his tonguing speed, we moved onto an Indian raga played by Pannalal Ghosh, who popularized the flute in Hindustani classical music. That led into a discussion of practicing/improvising over drones. Robert uses rolls of coins to sustain pitches on his Casio keyboard, creating an open fifth drone (proof that the ACU difference is alive and well. #exceptional #innovative #real). He also showed us The Raga Guide (by Nimbus Records). I mean, talk about a resource! I’ll be putting this on my “things it’d be nice to have once I have money to spend on something other than food” list. Discussing ragas meant we talked about sliding between notes and using non-traditional fingerings for micro-tonal tuning, which segued nicely into other extended techniques, conveniently found in…
 
Flying Lessons 3! This piece is my favorite of the set thus far. The first note is a tongue stop, so we talked about those and jet whistles for a bit. Robert told us a story from his adolescent jet whistle air days. He had found a cigar that fit perfectly into his flute, and after practicing launching it out of the flute, he shot the cigar at the conductor in a rehearsal. I enjoy imagining this scene. And also the practice that went into it.
But back to the music. There is a “sonic oasis” moment on the first page that reminds me of Maslanka harmonies and sonorities. I had no idea flute multiphonics could be so wonderful in succession. Again, Robert’s DVD set is a great resource for these pieces in the Flying Lessons set.
 
And then came the big dog. We started on the Berio Sequenza I! As one of the staples in the flute repertoire, there is no shortage of articles and resources about the piece. Again, listening to other pieces by Berio is necessary for understanding his style; Robert suggests the Sequenza III for voice, the Sinfonia, and Omaggio a Joyce for voice and tape. I actually read the Molly Bloom soliloquy from James Joyce’s Ulysses, and it does help to see the influences Berio was taking in.

To start on the Sequenza, we scatted the first few lines. Concerning the proportional notation, I find it helpful to imagine the scrolling bar that shows up in playback of Finale files. I picture this while scatting, and also while playing. Robert encouraged great contrast and freedom in learning the rhythms away from the flute. We even “meowed” the beginning. (We specifically meowed instead of barking. And then Robert shared that dogs bark on the inhale. I honestly had no idea. I’m learning so much.) The potential lies in the extremes of the piece, and dynamic changes (in addition to the register jumps) contribute strongly to that. And that’s something that should be reflected in the scatting process. We started playing on the flute as well, focusing on an intense sound paired with untongued attacks of the notes. Talk about an ab workout.  
 
Non-flute things:
- Ichi (Joe’s cat) came out of his room today while I was there!!! I haven’t seen Ichi willingly outside of Joe’s room since he arrived a month ago. Yay for progress and yay for furry friends!
- I’m looking at musicology PhD programs; there’s some great stuff out there.
- Joe fixed our living room ceiling fan so that the light can be on WITHOUT the fan blasting air on you. This is great news because...
- Fall has fallen!!! I wore a hat to the grocery store to keep my ears warm. AUTUMN. IT’S HAPPENING.

Until next time!

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