Changing Flute Embouchures

By Patricia George

Over my years of teaching, I have changed very few student's embouchures. I prefer to think of embochures evolving into what the player needs to be successful. We certainly will not all look the same when we play in the third octave or when we have quick wide interval skips.

You must remember that each of us is a different size--I have students ranging in size from 6'4" down to elementary sized students. Yet, we play the same sized flute. Each of us has a different face--some lips seem to aways be in a smiling position at rest--others have more of a downturned expression and then most of us are a combination of the two--one side up and other side down. So, obviously each of us will look different when we play the flute. Do check out the flute embouchure pictures for Roger Stevens' book ARTIST FLUTE on Larry Krantz's web site. Each of these players has a professional sound, but look at how differently each is set up.

I would suggest you let your ear direct your embouchure changes. Work for sound and agility and when you have it where you want it, you will look like what YOU need to look like to get the best results. Playing lots of harmonics will help you in this area. I prefer playing the Marcel Moyse DE LA SONORITE at the harmonic (third partial with the lowest note counting as partial no. 1). For me, I get a much better and quicker benefit from doing the book this way.

Control in the third octave is as much about the air stream as it is embouchure. Size and speed--two important air stream S's. Most problems occur when the flutist does not keep the air stream moving. When things begin to sound rough, they stop blowing and everything gets worse.

Playing and practicing a lot in the high range will help you feel comfortable. Besides doing the Taffanel and Gaubert 8va--check out Thomas J. Filas--Leger Domain and Top Register Studies. I have the students double and triple tongue each note the first time through these books. Then various rhythmic patterns before setting in with the slurs. Practice with a metronome at both slow and fast settings. Control is being about to play very fast and very slowly.

*Note: This article first appeared in the "Teaching Tips" section of Larry Krantz's website.

About Patricia George:

Patricia George, Editor of Flute Talk magazine, is the flute professor at the Sewanee Summer Music Festival and the American Band College.  She tours the US giving Flute Spa masterclasses for flute clubs and universities.  She is the co-author of Flute 101: Mastering the Basics, Flute 102: Mastering the Basics, Flute 103: Mastering the Basics, The Flute Scale Book and Advanced Flute Studies: The Art of Chunking which are all published by Theodore Presser.  She is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music and studied with Frances Blaisdell, Joseph Mariano, William Kincaid and Julius Baker. 

Technique vs. Expression?

by Katharine Rawdon

Katharine Rawdon

We flutists have been taught to organize our daily practice into categories such as sound, technique, studies, and repertoire. This is a great starting point, as it keeps us from concentrating too much in one area at the expense of another. The famous classic books from the French School, such as Moyse’s De la Sonorité and Tone Development Through Interpretation or the Exercices Journaliers of Taffanel and Gaubert, contain exercises for sound or technique, respectively, suggesting that these are separate issues.

But does this separation lead us to the integrated, organic performance we hope to share with our audience?  Do they experience our playing separated into categories, or is it the integration of these aspects that can either move them or leave them flat?  Perhaps we could prepare more thoroughly by being aware of the overlap, rather than the separation of these categories, aiming to integrate all elements into an expressive whole, a highly communicative musical experience that will reach the audience and touch them to the core?

My suggestion is that there is a lot to be gained from integrating your work on sound and technique to the greatest extent possible. While keeping the basic structure of the practice session, you can enlarge your awareness, bringing attention to technical issues while “practicing sound”, and inversely, bringing attention to sound and expression while “practicing technique”.

While ostensibly working on sound, and using the classic materials mentioned above or other more recent books, you can simultaneously pay attention to “technical” elements, such as the use of your body, an easy balancing of the weight of the flute, articulation, and efficient finger movements. While playing slowly and working on sound, expand your attention to include an awareness of these elements—it is much easier to attend to these issues while practicing long tones or lyrical passages, than while zipping through scales. Slow work will lead to fast scales before long! Use a large mirror to observe yourself, since what we think we are doing and what we actually are doing can often be quite different! Additionally, slow work on “sound” in patterns moving through all keys will eventually lead to greater fluency at faster speeds, better sight-reading, memorization and improvisation. A rather good return on your investment of time and practice energy!

Likewise, when practicing scales and so forth, it is essential to listen carefully to the tone quality and to play expressively, since the ultimate goal of all our work is to perform

music expressively!

According to brain research, if you learn a musical figure, let’s say a D Major scale, robotically, without any emotional meaning or expression involved, your brain will not even recognize that figure when you come across it in an expressive context such as the delightful opening gesture of the Mozart D major Concerto:

So avoid practicing scales and technical patterns mechanically, and don’t wait for your solo pieces to “turn on” the musicality!  Be creative with your “technical practicing”, inventing a variety of dynamic patterns to challenge yourself, perhaps starting with the pattern of rising crescendo—falling diminuendo, which is natural for the flute, and advancing (during the practice session and over time) to its less natural opposite, to other more complex dynamic patterns, and to playing with different colors or color changes.

Practicing in this integrated way, with musical goals first on your list of priorities, will make your practice sessions not only more productive and efficient, but far more entertaining and creative. Considering the many hours we flutists devote to practice, why not make them as fulfilling as possible? Our increased pleasure in playing and our more integrated musicality will surely pass into our performances, connecting more deeply to the musical pleasure of our audiences.

© Katharine Rawdon, 2014

Andante Pastoral - Jean Ferrandis

Last fall, we had the chance to speak with Powell Artist Jean Ferrandis, who at the time was in his second year on faculty at California State University, Fullerton.  If you didn't have a chance to see our this post, it's here on the Teach Flute blog archive at http://www.teachflute.com/2012/09/professor-jean-ferrandis.html.  Now in his third year at Cal State, he enjoys a a balance of teaching and performing both in the U.S. and around the world. 

Claude-Paul Taffanel's Andante Pastoral et Scherzettino is one of the great standards of flute repertoire.  How should one interpret the work as a performer?  Mr. Ferrandis helps answer this question in one of his recent Cal State masterclasses.  His discussion and performance examples highlight one particularly pivotal pitch in this section of the piece...  Which note could that be?  Find out in a video of his masterclass at

https://www.powellflutes.com/sites/powell.mervideo.com/files/jean_ferrandis.m4v

For more information on Jean Ferrandis, visit his Powell artist profile page at https://www.powellflutes.com/academy/masters/jean-ferrandis and his personal website at http://jean.ferrandis.free.fr/.