Category: Whistle Tones

Intense playing day in Studio

12/12/2016

The lovely and talented Jennifer Voigt came with me to class so that we could work with Robert through the piece we’re doing for the recital (Kate Soper’s Only the Words Themselves Mean What They Say). One of the main things Jennifer suggested during rehearsals was to emphasize gesture (rather than accuracy or technicality), which Robert further supported. Practically, this meant taking more time during speaking parts. The piece begins with the flutist muttering unintelligibly into the flute, basically setting up the tone for the rest of the movement; to make this effective, Robert suggested using harsher syllables and sounds, like ch, f, k, etc. Another flute specific tactic Robert suggested was to literally whistle pitches when the score indicated whistle tones on the bass flute.

Jennifer and I talked through the drama of the piece to better establish the character and feel we wanted to portray. Walking through gesture by gesture was great for establishing this, and it also helped me better understand the compositional structure and elements of the piece. This is a good practice for any piece, and it worked especially well in this case thanks to the inclusion of a text; the composer also includes directions for delivery in the score.

Other things:
- THE APARTMENT HAS A CHRISTMAS TREE! It is at least 8.5 feet tall and it is huge and it is beautiful.
- Sarah, Joe, and I decorated a gingerbread house - an icing Ichi is even represented on it!

Until next time!

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"I play the meanest 'Daphnis' this side of the Mississippi."

11/12/2016

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Once again, improv was the name of the game. We did a couple of rounds, trying to be as different as possible between them. The first focused on sustained tones with everyone blending to build one texture. The next started with Robert “laying down a beat” on bass flute and Jenn, Sarah (the coordinator for the studio), and I played one short note at a time, varying the articulation, color, and air quality of the notes. It was helpful to have the goal in mind at the outset of the improv session. Robert also suggested exploring aspects of our personality when we’re away from the flute to then bring that side of us to our improvisations. His comment regarding this was, “Your identity is based in the totality of who you are.” So when you’re going through your day and you feel something or react in a certain way, you can think, “How would I play that?” and then use that information in your improv. Just an idea.

We also talked about whisper tones again, focusing on the harmonic series available from the low notes. It turns out that there is a such thing as the thirteenth partial cutoff when it comes to whisper tones done through harmonics. So there is a limit to how high you can get with the whistle tones. To practice the available harmonic range, which is still significant, imagine playing very soft harmonics to achieve the correct embouchure.

The mechanization of different flutes and fingering systems was another thing we touched on. For example, an extension for the flute has been made that allows the instrument to reach low B-flat (though you do have to sacrifice the B-natural). This came about to better play jazz, which is often in “flat” keys. Related to this low end of the flute, there is a mechanism that can be attached to the flute called the left hand C-sharp trill key addition. It is played by the left hand pinky to hold down the low C-sharp key, allowing one to use the right hand pinky to trill quickly and cleanly between C-sharp and B. We also talked about and played the Kotato contrabass flute; the lip plate and embouchure hole was inspired by the pipe organ.

One of the things I’ve been struggling with is sustaining multiphonics. Robert had a few suggestions to help with this. A few of his ideas will work well for my general flute playing, even without multiphonics: open my mouth more, use a strong air support, and have a narrower embouchure. My flute embouchure is slightly off center, so we discussed the possibility of shifting the flute over to better accommodate that. To work on the narrower embouchure, one tactic is to hold match sticks in your mouth to almost bookend the sides of the embouchure hole. All of these things helped me sustain multiphonics as well.

Other things:
- Robert made the statement “If I fall, I’m going to fall on my face.” This implies a forward motion, an urging to continue discovering and moving forward, not leaning back. It really stuck with me.
- We talked about the need for supportive musical communities, rather than those fostered by competition alone. I'm looking at you, Texas schools.
- The comedian Fred Newman wrote a book, Mouth Sounds, that explains how to create certain noises (such as a dripping water faucet). Some of them can be applied to flute playing (like the water sound one can to circular breathing), and it also gives the vocabulary to talk about different areas in the mouth and the combinations there.
- I FINALLY GOT A HAIRCUT. And for only $20. #blessed

Until next time!

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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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“Limits? What for?”

10/23/2016

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One of the classes this week was just me and Robert, so it was more of a lesson setting than a studio/masterclass setup. We started with some improvisation, since we’re now committed to working on that in every class meeting. Robert chose a raga with the same notes both ascending and descending to be our base. We then took turns trading off material over a drone. He encouraged me to play more of the entire flute, range wise. I do tend to stick with stepwise motion in one octave alone, instead of changing between octaves, so that was a great tip. We then improvised using a D major scale with a lowered seventh (the D mixolydian mode, for you music theory peeps out there) AND Robert added a jamming preset keyboard drumbeat in common time. Like I mentioned while improvising with Melissa Keeling in the previous post, adding a rhythmic component and beat automatically makes me nervous. So this was good practice! We did a few rounds, with the last one being more structured, as we traded off playing every four measures.

After improvising, we worked on no. 23 of the Karg-Elert op. 107 Studies. I worked on this as region band audition music in high school, so it was cool to visit it again. The “pieno” designation at the beginning translates to “full”; thank goodness the register accommodates that well. As Robert has suggested to me before, he once again brought up the notion of physically moving as prep for a note in order to engage with the music before you even begin playing. This opening is a great chance to practice that. Also, I had the realization that my nine years in marching band have probably influenced me as far as movement when I play. So something I’m working on is moving more, and taking up more space when I play.

We had talked previously about the difference between slurs and phrase markings in the Karge-Elert Studies, and this is a great example of that, because both legato markings and staccato markings, as well as not markings at all, fall under overarching phrase markings, so as a player you get to make informed decisions. Placing tasteful breaths was another thing we’ve talked about, and in this piece, while Robert and I didn’t always agree on where we would breathe, as long as we approached the breath and followed the breath musically, our different ideas worked. For the “volando” collection of notes in m. 6, we had the chance to talk about the illusion of time again (“Illusion, Michael.”). If you play this explosion cleanly (being able to sing every pitch in your head), even if it’s not crazy fast, it will sound crazy fast because of the detail in it. We can change the illusion of time based on the amount of detail we present.

Mm. 12 and 13 of the study got to be our prime focus. Initially, I was lingering a bit on the bottom notes, which, when coupled with slow grace notes after the trill, contributed to a feeling of lost momentum. So, I spring-boarded off the bottom notes sooner, increased the trill speed gradually, and ended the phrase with quick grace notes. One way we practiced continuous motion and line direction was to bump the A-sharp and B in m. 13 up an octave to stay consistent octave-wise with the proceeding figures in m. 12.

This study contains some very Wagnerian moments, and so we got on the subject of Wagner. My favorite of Robert’s comments concerning Wagner was, “If you’re going to be a shit, at least really be a shit.” And that’s exactly what Wagner did. (But really, read up on his life. He was not a nice man. Gorgeous music. Horrible person.) We went down a rabbit hole a bit from here, talking about how it would be refreshing if the inward was always reflected outwardly in art; but alas.

Briefly, we talked about whisper tones. Mine are coming along okay (I can almost play the third octave entirely in whisper tones!), but sometimes the tone, color, and pitch of the whisper tone will change suddenly, so I was asking Robert about it. Our best guest is that I was unknowingly getting a ghost tone. This is what happens when your mouth is set for a pitch and the flute acts as a resonator for the mouth (instead of the mouth being a resonator for the flute, like we’re used to). You can change a ghost tone by moving your tongue, whereas fingerings will have no effect on the pitch.

Other things:
- I admitted that I learned the German word for butterfly (der Schmetterling) from a German rap song, and it made Robert laugh pretty hard.
- Sarah and I went to see the ensemble Third Sound play a concert of new music, and it was nice to hear chamber works.
- Robert lent me a CD (Glaciers in Extinction) by Roberto Fabbriciani playing the hyperbass flute, which I didn't even know existed. It is a pretty rad sound. Listening to this album led me to…
- Watching the documentary Chasing Ice. It’s about the photographer James Balog and his quest to depict climate change through pictures. It was slightly terrifying to see and it made me want to be more environmentally aware. I recommend watching it. The website is also shares some great practical ways to be a good inhabitant of our earth.

Until next time!

Check out Chasing Ice. Let's take care of our planet.

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Intense playing day in Studio

"I play the meanest 'Daphnis' this side of the Mississippi."

“Part of the creative process is knowing when to stop.”

“Limits? What for?”

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