Triplets with Paul Edmund-Davies

Powell artist Paul Edmund-Davies focuses on triplets in his third lesson in his series on sonority.  Whereas the three notes of the triplet are equal in duration, he mentions that he prefers to play the first note of the triplet just slightly longer to help play the figure musically.  He does emphasize that there is a "fine line" between expression and playing something so unevenly and out of tempo that "we make ourselves ill."  His illustration of this concept is really quite funny!  Once again, with his wonderful light-hearted sense of humor, Paul makes us laugh while demonstrating his ideas very clearly.

He also reminds us that there should be a great degree of flexibility and flow when playing triplets, especially if we are to play them expressively.  The lesson is based on a four-bar phrase that is 15 seconds in duration.  Paul suggests taking a breath after the second measure when you first begin practicing the four-bar phrase.  When one is able to bring the phrase up to tempo (quarter note = 60), it should be possible to play it all in one breath.  Click here to view the full lesson on Paul's Simply Flute page.

Sample of music for the Sonority 3 lesson. Click here to view the full lesson. 

"Warming Up" with Paul Edmund-Davies

Photo of Paul Edmund-Davies courtesy of Simply Flute.

Powell artist Paul Edmund-Davies has a terrific new website (www.SimplyFlute.com) with many instructional videos and exercises.  In his latest video, "Sonority 2," Paul presents a warm-up exercise and expands on the topic of warming up in general.  Why do we warm up?  How do we warm up?  What are we trying to achieve?  All of these questions are answered with a terrifically lighthearted, laughter-inducing style.  In fact, Paul explains that when we play the flute, we are using our bodies in a "fairly unusual way...."  He gives an example of playing long phrases in comparison with the way we breathe when we are not playing,  He asked, "When in our everyday lives would we go around blowing air out for 15 seconds?"  His humor certainly puts an enjoyable spin on the concept of warming up.  Follow this link to the full video, and you'll see!

Paul Edmund-Davies on Sonority

When we play flute, the air we put into the instrument creates sound.  However, the way we put air into the instrument affects the sonorities we create.  This concept is discussed by Powell Artist Paul Edmund-Davies in the video below.  While many flutists think about blowing air "into" the flute, Mr. Edmund-Davies demonstrates the concept of blowing air through the flute.  He discusses his conceptualization of blowing "through" the instrument and gives us some terrific examples, including a simple G major scale and the introduction of the Fauré Fantasise for Flute, Op.79.

Click this caption to watch the Paul Edmund-Davies video on sonority.