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/.

Joshua Smith on Warm-Ups

Joshua Smith © Frank J. Lanza, 2013

Powell artist Joshua Smith has held the position of Principal Flute with The Cleveland Orchestra since 1990.  We have enjoyed reading his blog, and in particular, a series of posts that share his terrific insight on flute playing and teaching.  These posts are segments of an interview with one of his former students, Madeline Lucas.  This week, we wanted to share his insight on warm-up exercises, as you will see in the question and response below:

Madeline Lucas: What kind of warm-up exercises do you do, or recommend?

Joshua Smith: I have been interested in some new ones lately; I'm always changing them around. Recently, I found a couple of really great tone-opening and body-relaxing exercises in Moyse's book How I Stayed in Shape, and also some great ones in Trevor Wye's tone development book. The Moyse exercises throw interval jumps at you that are uncomfortable, where one or both of the notes won't easily speak, in keys that are difficult to play in, so you have to figure out how to navigate your airstream so that the interval won't break. The ultimate goal, then, is to figure out how to make the phrase sound smooth and beautifully sung. The Wye exercises are similar, but involve closer intervals, with the goal of consistency and color development. These ideas are wonderful to include in the morning exercise routine. Long tones and half steps are great, too, in pairs or in longer strings of notes. Here, you're listening to how notes sound next to each other and how well they match as you go along.

I have always rotated my warm-ups. When I first realized that it was important to improve and that exercising would help me to do so, I had a need for variety. I'm the kind of person who does not like to do the same thing in the same way every day; I resist routine. I also realize that there can be some comfort in routine, but balancing this with my personality is a good trick. Most important, your exercises need to address real issues in your playing. The minute I realize I'm having a particular problem, like, "gee, my middle register doesn't sound good today," I start looking for an exercise that will help me to improve that aspect. Tailor your warm-ups to what you need in real time.

*For more on Joshua Smith, visit his website and Powell artist profile page.

Andersen Etudes, Op.15, No. 2

In the video lesson below, Powell artist Paul Edmund-Davies discusses Andersen Studies, Op.15, No.2.  For this particular etude, he tells us that the biggest challenges are articulation and intervals, and he stresses the importance of practicing warm-up studies to focus on these areas.  Mr. Edmund-Davies explains that proper articulation on the flute must be learned because the English language, in particular, is a language that causes us to use our tongues very aggressively -- which is quite the opposite of the way we need to use the tongue for proper articulation.  He also helps us approach the etude in the most musical manner by making suggestions on note length and tempo.

To practice articulation and prepare for this Andersen study, Mr. Edmund-Davies recommends the Bach Sonata in A Minor, BWV 1013 for unaccompanied flute.  He also recommends etudes from his own publication, The 28 Day Warm Up Book, to address articulation (etude number 4) and intervals (etude number 7). 

Playing Softly on the Piccolo

By Cindy Ellis

Cindy Ellis

We have completed 4 out of 5 performances of Shostakovich's 10th Symphony this week, and the piccolo part is one of the most rewarding and demanding in the repertory. Not only is the part full of lightening fast technical passages where the piccolo is the top of the tutti woodwind ladder, there are many exposed piano level solos. Make sure to use a smaller aperture, but do not press the top lip down towards the bottom: instead bring jaw, tongue, and lips slightly forward. Make sure to use steady support and alternate fingerings become my primary choice for many of the notes. See next month's Flute Talk for an expanded version of these tips... Let's Talk Picc article is called SShh...Time to Play Softly!

Keep up with Cindy Ellis -- Follow her online!

Website:
http://www.cindyellisflute.com/
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https://www.facebook.com/cindyellisflute
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https://twitter.com/ellispiccindy
 

Doriot Dwyer Interview - Part II

In a previous post, last month, we shared the first segment of a three-part interview by ICA Classics on Powell player Doriot Anthony Dwyer, former Principal Flutist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra -- and the first female to hold a principal chair in a major symphony orchestra. Click here to view the first segment from our December 15th, 2013 post.

In the second segment of the interview, we learn more about Ms. Dwyer's upbringing.  She came from a very musical family, guided by her mother, who was also a flutist.  Her mother was one of four girls who each played a musical instrument, although their father was a businessman.  Her mother was raised to be very self-sufficient and self-disciplined due to the passing of her own mother at a very young age.  The discipline and self-control that her mother developed was certainly passed down to Ms. Dwyer, who recalls that she had to teach herself how to learn the music when she was in the Boston Symphony.  She recalls advice that her mother received from Dwyer's grandfather: "You have to learn to control yourself.  One day, you will have to have a job, and you will have to keep on playing, even if there are difficulties in your life."

When asked if she were scared when auditioning for the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Ms. Dwyer said, "If I were scared, I wouldn't be trying out.  I couldn't be scared.  I knew I was never going to hear 'bravo' because I was a woman.  I hoped that if I did really well, the orchestra would cheer me on as they cheered their own."  She described conductors Pierre Monteux and Charles Munch as being very kind to her.  She mentioned that Mr. Munch was much more outward with his support, although she said, "He would never come up and give me a hug, and I wished he would -- because everything was so hard."  The gender discrepancies were quite evident, as she continued, "It was so hard for me to do all these things, and if I missed something, everybody knew it.  But, if someone else missed, everyone would say, 'This is really hard -- you see?  He made a mistake.  That shows how hard it was'."  But, Ms. Dwyer kept to herself and persevered despite the challenges of the time.

Audition Days

By Tammy Evans Yonce

Tammy Evans Yonce

It’s audition season! At my home institution, South Dakota State University, we are preparing for on-campus audition days as well as a couple of audition days at off-site locations as a convenience to students in the other parts of the state.

SDSU is a large state university that serves metropolitan as well as rural populations. Because of this, the backgrounds of auditioning students can vary widely. Some have had private lessons and other music-making opportunities outside of their high school music programs, while others have not played much outside the band room. When evaluating students who are auditioning within the music department, I look at several things. They are asked to prepare two contrasting works or movements. Do they have a characteristic tone? Are their tempos appropriate? Is their technique solid for the works they have chosen? In addition to these musical considerations, I am also interested in the attitude of the student. Are they enthusiastic about continuing with music in college? Do they have realistic expectations about the time commitment it requires, such as rehearsal time, practice time outside of lessons and rehearsals, and performances? Do they enjoy it, despite the hard work required? If a student has these traits and understands the time commitment involved, I am more than happy to teach him or her. It doesn’t matter if a student wants to become a band director, teach privately, play in a community group as a hobby, or has other musical goals, enthusiasm and realistic expectations go a long way in ensuring student success.

I strongly advise students to choose audition music that is well within their abilities. The college audition is not the time to choose a piece that is extremely difficult. Instead, audition committees are interested in how you play at this point in time, so choose music that will show the committee your best playing. It is also a good idea (and usually a requirement) to play contrasting pieces. This shows off your tone as well as your technical abilities and whether or not you have experience playing works from different style periods. Remember that you’re also auditioning the school. They want to get to know you but you also have to determine if the school is a good fit for you. Before your audition, ask if you can schedule a lesson with the flute teacher there, and talk to current students to find out what their experience has been. You also might want to sit in on a rehearsal or a class.

Best of luck!

For more on Tammy Evans Yonce, visit:
www.tammyevansyonce.com
Twitter: TammyEvansYonce
Powell Recording Studio for Tammy Evans Yonce