The Expression Project

By Morgann Davis

Morgann Davis (7th from left) and her studio 

Recently I shared some thoughts on what guides the projects I prepare for my private students, and specifically on the Extended Technique Ladder they completed early this winter. Initially, my intent was to do just one project for the remainder of the school year.  However, as we prepared for the spring studio recital (and through my own recent practice process), I realized that there never feels like there is enough time to discuss musicianship with my students. We spend so much time on fundamental development, which is absolutely necessary, that we frequently neglect to find the time to discuss phrasing and musicality on a regular basis. I decided to challenge myself to make it fit into our preparation for the next recital.

This is an expansive topic, and I knew if I wanted to introduce it succinctly and clearly that I would need to break it down and begin with the facts. We spent two weeks using worksheets to learn the “basics.” First, what a phrase is and how to find it, and second, what clues composers write that show us what to bring out in a phrase. The possibilities for covering this are almost endless, and I was very careful to cover the same base of information with each student before branching off into their pieces or topics that were brought up by questions the students had.

After introducing the more factual side of the process, we started to have some fun with the idea of musicality. Now that the students understood what they were looking for from the music and composer, we were able to discuss and add in what they personally felt about their pieces. Starting by exploring the way we assign emotions to music even if it doesn’t have words, we explored practical ways to share our feelings through the music we prepare and perform. Did the piece the student was preparing sound happy, sad, mysterious, or maybe a mixture of emotions? How did they think their flute should sound to display those emotions?

Once the conversation was started, I used two of my favorite techniques that I've learned from my teachers and colleagues and adapted for my own teaching. First, we used a technique that is loved by my teacher Katherine Borst Jones and considered what their piece would be about if it were a story. What kind of character would it be about? Is it set in a particular place or time? How does the plot develop as the piece goes on, and how does our flute playing need to change to make sure we hear that?

The second technique we employed has developed as something I do with my students from a project that was introduced to me by Nicole Molumby, who now teaches at Boise State, while she was completing her doctorate at Ohio State during my undergraduate studies. For this part of the exercise, we combine the technique of assigning a color to our sound (something that is familiar to many flutists) with assigning color to the piece we are preparing. My students imagined their piece if it were a piece of art. What color would it be? Would it be opaque or transparent? Would there be shapes or shading?  How would you make your flute sound match those colors?

I wanted to be sure to share all this work with my students’ parents, so we took the final portion of our expression project and displayed it at the spring studio recital. Each student “colored” the piece they were performing using all the information they had gathered and collected over the course of the project. I hung the colored version of the pieces outside the recital space so that parents could see them before and after the recital, allowing them to gather some insight into the performances they heard that day.

For fun, I also provided a very simple piece that even my newest students could play.  Everyone interpreted these through color as well, and I displayed them together showing how differently everyone hears the same music.

As with any project I do with my students, the work is never conclusive. This part of my teaching is meant to provide resources and information, and to start an ongoing discussion of the topic at hand. Making a special focus of the topic engages my students and gets them excited to learn something that is new, and sometimes very unusual!

*Follow Morgann Davis online on her website 

and Facebook pages:

www.morgannelycedavis.com

www.facebook.com/DavisFluteStudio

Studio Recitals: Creating Dynamic and Engaging Performers

By Morgann Davis

Morgann Davis and studio.

One of my favorite aspects of operating a private studio is planning recitals for my students. I love the excitement generated by upcoming performances and the positive way they can accelerate regular lesson productivity. My goal is always to have two recitals each year, giving the students an opportunity to share their hard work and growth with each other and with their families. I am encouraged at each performance by how much perspective and inspiration the students and their parents take away from the experience of hearing new pieces and new people perform.

Logistically, it can be difficult to organize a recital, but once you’re past that part of the process you are left with a very rewarding musical journey to take with your students. I begin by finding a location I like and offering two dates for parents to choose from, usually about two months in advance. It can be hard to coordinate so many schedules, so my goal is always to have about two-thirds of my students present at a recital. I find that Sunday afternoons work well, but it may depend on the area you live in and the other activities that your students participate in.

Morgann performing with student.

Once a date is secured, I begin choosing music for the youngest students first. I use the recital as an opportunity to teach them about goal-setting, time management, and productive practice. I will almost always choose a piece for a younger student that I believe will stretch their abilities and inspire them to practice diligently for the performance. This elevated end goal can often help them to have developmental breakthroughs, as they’ll feel extra motivated to practice something that is a positive challenge, just a bit out of their current reach. I will often play duets with many of the younger students as well, so that they can have the experience of being on stage with someone they are used to playing their instrument for. The added stability of having your teacher, or an adept peer, next to you is not to be underestimated. For the older students, I may choose a piece a month ahead of the recital, or I may have them working on something that is very challenging that will culminate with the recital performance. I will again stress the same objectives as with the younger students, but also use this as an excellent opportunity to set higher expectations for musicality in more advanced students.

In regards to accompaniment and learning to collaborate, recitals again provide excellent opportunities for students to learn. Many will have played very little outside of band at school, and are often unfamiliar with chamber music, cueing, communicating through gesture, and other subtle elements of performance. Even the youngest students can give confident cues and cut offs with the right preparation, and all enjoy feeling like they are truly in charge of what’s happening with their piece.

Morgann accompanying student.

As far as whether or not to hire a pianist, you may have options depending on your ability to play piano. If I have a lot of students preparing for auditions or playing very difficult music, I will require that they hire and work with a collaborative pianist (I provide the contact information in this circumstance). Of course, the experience of learning to play with a collaborative professional is invaluable. I have adequate piano skills, so if the pieces are within my reach, I will play for my students. Especially if there are many who don’t have a lot of performance experience, it seems that this can be very comforting. They are familiar with me, and know that I understand the way they play. For younger students, I think they enjoy knowing that their teacher is on stage with them, backing them up both musically and emotionally. The added benefit of this is that I can rehearse with them in lessons as much as we need to leading up to the recital, allowing me an opportunity to coach them on collaboration.

At least two to three weeks before the recital, I begin discussing stage presence and performance practice with all the students. I have each student, from youngest to oldest, practice bowing and how they will carry themselves on stage. We talk early on about the fact that they will not be able to stop and correct mistakes in performance, and work on doing “no-stop” run-throughs of their pieces. It is usually around this time that students begin to express feelings of nervousness to me. Depending on the severity of their performance anxiety, we do a number of activities to help with this. There are, however, a few key points that I stress with each student, even if they’ve heard me say it before. I remind them that although the audience may look intimidating when you’re on stage, everyone listening is hoping to hear amazing performances and that for each new performer who comes on stage they are likely hoping to hear something truly amazing. I also remind them of the hard work they’ve done, and how much progress we’ve made since beginning the piece. I share that while we might be afraid that we’ll mess up, it’s very exciting to share our hard work with our family and
friends. Finally, I always confide that they’re not alone - we all get nervous! The key is figuring out how to take your nervous energy and make it useful.

As a young student, I learned stage presence from taking dance lessons where etiquette was always stressed, and you were on stage at a very young age. For my flute students, my goal is always that they become comfortable on stage in a similar way so that they may play with ease and poise. I want my students to have as many opportunities as I can provide to share the music they’re making with as many people as possible, not just with me each week in lessons. Studio recitals inspire hard work and preparation, but provide a relatively safe environment to grow into excellent stage presence and musicianship. No student is too young or old to discover the excitement of live performance, or to be inspired by a positive performance experience that is preceded by hard work.

For more on Morgann Davis, visit her website at http://www.morgannelycedavis.com/.

Focus! Making the Most out of Lessons

By Morgann Davis

Morgann Davis

Every year I find myself facing this time of year with an added sense of pressure to make lessons challenging, exciting, and fun. This year I tackled part of the issue head on by scheduling a recital at the end of February and assigning everyone new solos and duets to prepare. So, now we have a timestamp in place, a concert goal to focus toward. For many of my students this year, however, this is their first real recital. Expectations and preparation is different for these students as they don’t quite know what to expect.

Another way I try to build momentum and focus following the holidays is by creating structure and routine. I tackle lessons each week in the same order, meaning students know what to expect. Tuning, warm-ups and scales, etudes/technique, solos, duets. This is a serious time-saver in 30 minute lessons. Without having to discuss or decide what happens next there is less wasted time.

Ok, so we have two great steps to follow that will provide a great foundation for focus. Problem solved, right? Not quite. The real “meat” of the solution comes next. Now that there is structure and a performance date to aim for, I do my best to use the room made by lack of other projects to focus on each students’ weaknesses. I am very careful not to point out flaws from the start. Rather, I ask questions before each exercise to help the students open their ears, and provide very specific small goals for each as well. By working on a minuscule scale we are capitalizing on the lack of colossal goals like school concerts.

An example of this would be asking a student to listen to note lengths. What do they notice about the half notes in an exercise? (Perhaps they are too short, or they are inconsistent lengths). Let the student answer, even if it takes them some time - they might not be used to listening to themselves in this way! Acknowledge their answer, especially if it was difficult for them to discern, as noticing what they hear when they play can serve as an excellent diagnostic tool for the teacher. Then, ask them how they might remedy the issue, and have them play the same excerpt again.

I also provide small over-arching goals for each student. If a student struggles with keeping their headjoint rolled out, I will address this as our main goal at the beginning of the lesson, finding fun ways to provide gentle reminders throughout the lesson. I make sure this goal is written somewhere prominent in their lesson notebook or on a post-it before they leave their lesson.

By structuring lessons in this way, with one large goal (the recital), and more smaller, minute points of focus, I find it easier to build momentum for growth in the winter months. The added benefit is that with a disciplined approach to lessons and practice coming out of the beginning of the new year, it often feels like less work to students when they have to prepare for auditions and concerts in the spring!

*For more posts by Morgann Davis, visit her personal blog at http://joyfulflutist.tumblr.com/.

Recital Preparation by Tammy Evans Yonce

Tammy Evans Yonce

Preparing for a recital can be a daunting process. If you’ve ever given a recital before, you’ve discovered that there’s more to the process than just learning the music. You often collaborate with a pianist or other chamber music partners. You perform in a space that might differ significantly from your usual practice room, acoustically speaking. You perform in formal attire as opposed to your usual clothes. And let’s not underestimate the effect that nerves and adrenaline have on a performance. So what do you do? Here are some ideas.

- Technical work. As you get closer to the date and the music starts coming together, there might still be some technical spots that continue to give you trouble. As reassuring as it is to keep practicing the music that you *can* play, it’s a smarter idea to focus most of your available practice time on working out the tricky spots.

- Recordings. Listening to recordings is incredibly helpful. They can quickly clarify questions that you might have about interpretation or ensemble. On the other hand, they might also be a good indication of what you *don’t* want to do. Either way, listening to a variety of recordings is a valuable investment of time when preparing for a recital.

- The importance of rehearsals can’t be overstated. No matter how easy the coordination between the different parts of a work may seem, there are always those quirky mistakes that can spring up unexpectedly. If you’ve spent a reasonable amount of time in rehearsal, you should be able to minimize those unfortunate mistakes. Write in cues for music in the other parts that you seem to always notice. Even if the performance is going perfectly well, those aural reassurances might be just what you need to set your mind at ease.

- Try to practice in the recital hall as much as possible. In larger venues, this isn’t always possible since they tend to be booked up all the time. You can still talk to people who have played in the space before. Is it a live space? Muffled? Hard to hear your chamber music partners? Do there always seem to be balance problems? Get as much information as possible before your dress rehearsal and performance.

- Do some practice run-throughs in your formal clothing. For guys, this probably isn’t such a huge change, but for ladies, this can be a major adjustment. Think about the temperature in the hall. Do you want to wear something sleeveless, or will you be shivering? If you’re wearing a dress, make sure it isn’t too long; you don’t want to trip over the hem on your way across the stage. And don’t forget to think about your shoes! If you tend to stick to flats most of the time, this might not be the time to try out those 4-inch stilettos, no matter how good they look. It’s a good idea to practice in the shoes you intend to wear for the performance itself.

- I’m a big believer in practicing in small sections. As far as learning technical material, it’s really the most efficient way, even though it requires more focused practice. However, the experience of giving a performance is completely different from working in these small chunks. As your recital date approaches, it’s a really good idea to start playing through your entire program. A couple of weeks before is usually a good time to try this because your technique should be solid and you should be quite familiar with the music. If you can’t make it all the way through, that’s ok. You still have a couple of weeks to build up endurance. Keep trying to make run-throughs of your recital program and try to get a little further in it each time.

- Basically, preparation is the key to a successful performance. Trying to visualize all aspects of the performance from the actual music to the performance space to your clothing will help you pull off a polished, solid recital.