Improving Articualtion with Leone Buyse

Click this caption to watch the full video lesson.

If you've struggled with articulation exercises, Powell artist Leone Buyse has a terrific video lesson on the MUSAIC website.  In this three-minute lesson, Ms. Buyse briefly touches on the Taffanel-Gaubert scales, which she practiced in the past using different articulation patterns to improve her articulation.  However, after acting on the recommendation of her colleague Linda Chessis, Ms. Buyse now uses the Altes Method for articulation exercises.  She specifically recommends practicing pages 213-215 and demonstrates a bit of these in the lesson.  She recommends practicing these very slowly to "find a good core sound and also to try to get a ringing quality" to her articulated sound.  After practicing these exercises slowly with single tonguing, she found that it has greatly helped her double tonguing.  The suggested tempo is the quarter note equal to 100-120, although she says they can be played "as fast as a quarter note at 184, which is really fun to work up to."  Follow this link to watch the full video lesson on the MUSAIC website.

To learn more about Leone Buyse, click here to view her artist profile page on the Powell website.

Articulation and Releases

By Cynthia Ellis

Your expressive vocabulary for music depends on every nuance you can find, and many opportunities exist within the realm of articulation. There are many different kinds of accents for example: ones that rely more heavily on a more round sound and vibrato for the accent, (adding weight to the note) versus accents that are sharp and most decidedly handled by the tongue on the attack (adding more point to the note). Releases can have many shapes: they can be square and sharply cut off (think 20th century music) or elegantly tapered (more Mozartian and 18th century). Listen to the beginning of each note and try several different attacks on for size as you practice...interpret the symbols for accents, staccato and legato in several different ways. You will be able to arrive at a creative solution that sounds beautiful. Same idea with releases...and always take care not to go flat on the ends of tapered notes.

*Note - This article first appeared on the "Teaching Tips" section of Cindy Ellis's website.

For more on Cindy, visit her Powell artist profile page, and follow her on Facebook and Twitter.

Finger Gym with Paul Edmund-Davies

Powell artist Paul Edmund-Davies has a new series of posts titled "Finger Gym" on his personal blog. As you might suspect, these posts offer exercises and suggestions to help build finger control.  In the first of the series, he presents one basic exercise in three major keys: G, Ab, and A.  He recommends continuing on with the exercise through all the keys, thinking them through rather than reading off of a page to help gain greater coordination and provide the brain with "an excellent work out!" Follow this link to view the exercise.

He advises:

Start off by practicing the exercise slowly and really concentrate on the finger or fingers that are lifting. After all, the muscles that close your hand are much stronger than those that open it! The fingers need to be positive, but also should never travel too far away from the keys……………the further they go away, the longer it takes to get back again. Not exactly ideal for the second or last movements of the Prokofiev Sonata! Once the thought/brain to finger connection feels more comfortable and positive, gradually increase the tempo.

Mr. Edmund-Davies offers additional tips on how to get the most our of these exercises, including suggestions on how long to practice as well as recommendations for rhythm and dynamics. Click here to read the full post on his page.

Musical Growth from Unlikely Places...

By Christina Guiliano-Cobas
Marketing Director, Verne Q. Powell Flutes

As I was growing up my family listened to every kind of music there was; the Beatles were the backdrop to our Sunday mornings, orchestral music played during dinner, jazz before school in the morning to get us moving, my father singing Italian aria's in the kitchen while the smell of garlic wafted through the house.  Music was a living, breathing part of our family every day, every hour.

As a college flute major, I found that many of my colleagues focused their listening on recordings by solo flutists.  My CD player was filled with every other kind of music but flute! While there is much to be learned from our fellow flutists, there is a larger world of musicians that can expand our perceptions of sound, if we are willing to listen.

Percussion is apart of that larger world.  Paying close attention to percussionists and the sounds they draw from their instruments, can accelerate our growth as flutists from many perspectives.  Listen to the recordings of Keiko Abe or She-E Wu, you will hear nuances that you would not have believed possible from a marimba. In your practice, try to imitate the sound of a marimba sustaining a single note, the impact of the mallets on the bars is akin to our vibrato.  How even is it?  How much attack is the player using?  Listen to a wind chime, can you mimic the sound in your scales or technical passages?  Chimes create the ultimate in bell tones, how closely have you listened to their decay and can you mimic it?

Flutists must have the ability to be chameleons in any ensemble. The ability to blend in to a sound that is dissimilar to our natural tone is one that must be practiced and honed.  The first step is listening to instruments that are dissimilar to ours and understanding their sounds.  If you can make a flute sound like a snare drum, you are on your way to greatness!