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Rachel Harewood |
When warming up, it’s always best to start slow and with the
basics. Long tones and scales are the
most essential part of my warm up routine because I get to practice a little
bit of everything.
I start my long tone exercise on low B or C and follow the
pattern of one whole note, followed by a half note a half step up. I try to maintain the best tone quality and intonation
I can throughout. Along with abdominal
support, it helps to have a tuner in front of me because it allows me to
develop my sense of pitch in general. When I reach the top of the flute’s register,
I use the same whole note—half note pattern starting on high C and make my way
back down to low C or B. To align my
breathing with my playing, I make sure to play each set of notes in one breath,
trying to remain as relaxed in the shoulders as possible throughout. To extend my breath a bit more, I add more
whole notes to the beginning of the pattern and, again, maintain a single
breath through each set.
A former teacher of mine always used to say, “If you know
your scales you can play anything”. That
could not be truer. Whether you play
your scales in eighth notes or thirty-second notes, it is vital that you know
them inside and out, backward and forward, major and minor. Since practicing scales can be tedious, I
like to make my scale practice fun by using the Trevor Wye Practice Books for
the Flute. This, however, is not the
only option. There are books and methods
for everyone, and anything that will get those scales under your fingers will
work just fine.
Thanks for sharing this fantastic information on this!
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