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September 2019
- Sep 10, 2019 SUMMER READING Sep 10, 2019
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March 2019
- Mar 12, 2019 New video series: What's On My Stand Mar 12, 2019
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September 2017
- Sep 19, 2017 Audition prep guide: 2017-18 ETSBOA All East Flute Junior High music (9-10) Sep 19, 2017
- Sep 19, 2017 Audition prep guide: 2017-18 ETSBOA All East Flute Senior High music (11-12) Sep 19, 2017
- Sep 18, 2017 Audition prep guide: 2017-18 WTSBOA All West Flute Senior High 11-12 Sep 18, 2017
- Sep 14, 2017 Audition prep guide: WTSBOA All-West Tennessee 9-10 flute music Sep 14, 2017
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May 2017
- May 10, 2017 New flute May 10, 2017
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January 2017
- Jan 24, 2017 My first seven jobs Jan 24, 2017
- Jan 16, 2017 All-West: A Judge's Perspective Jan 16, 2017
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October 2016
- Oct 28, 2016 Why failure is as important as success Oct 28, 2016
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September 2016
- Sep 27, 2016 Announcing a competitive masterclass for high school flutists Sep 27, 2016
- Sep 21, 2016 What is tenure, anyway? Sep 21, 2016
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August 2016
- Aug 30, 2016 Majoring in music - the absolute basics Aug 30, 2016
- Aug 10, 2016 Who am I assisting? Aug 10, 2016
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July 2016
- Jul 14, 2016 Five Ways to Save Money as a Musician Jul 14, 2016
- Jul 14, 2016 Saying yes Jul 14, 2016
Hi, everyone! I wanted to give you all a heads-up that I’ve started a new weekly series about what I’m practicing called What’s On My Stand. It’s just short videos explaining what I’m currently working on (it’s not always bombastic or amazing, sometimes we just plod along in our practice rooms…). The most recent one, above, is about practicing the flute solo from Brahms' Symphony no. 1.
I’ll always have more detailed information in the video’s description, too. For example, here is the text from the description of the video above:
Brahms wrote beautiful solos for the flute and horn in the last movement of his first symphony - but it's really quite a blow and requires projection and beauty of sound so the flute can match the horn in intensity.
I practice quite a bit with a tuner, both via long tones and individual notes in context, and practicing this excerpt with my tuner showed that I needed to lift the pinky finger on the high E natural every time except the last statement. The high F# on my flute is stable, so I used the regular fingering (with the third finger on the right hand). If the F# is in tune, you will have more power and projection with this fingering than you would if you used different ones.
Vibrato is tricky with this solo - it's all about individual taste, and not everyone agrees. To me, it's easy for things to get overwrought, and I'm not particularly in love with every note that I recorded in this practice session. I like keeping my vibrato inside the tone, not letting it get too wide or too slow. Don't wait to find great vibrato until you suddenly have to work on an excerpt that needs it. Practice finding Brahmsian vibrato every day - or Debussy vibrato, or Mozart vibrato, etc. - they should all have different qualities!
I hope you will subscribe to the channel and also let me know what YOU’RE practicing! Maybe we’re actually practicing the same things sometimes and I can make a video that relates to what you’re doing, too. See you on YouTube…