Flute emergency

     Your flute lesson is next week and you haven’t practiced all the summer.  What to do? I guess we can call this a real EMERGENCY! Unfortunately dialing 911 or 112 isn’t an option for a flute player, but following some simple advices can help you in successful flutey recovery.

     Playing flute after a long break can be frustrating, because your muscles aren’t as refined as they used to be. Start slowly and gently so your body doesn’t get too tense. And remember to take a break after 20 minutes or half an hour to let your body relax. Let the first day of practicing be a real warm-up day. Don't practice complicated and virtuous pieces, just take your time doing sound exercises and some scales.
     Probably you already know that the best thing to start with is playing long notes and exercises for sound. A great exercise for a warm-up is the one Sir James Galway has developed as an extension of Marcel Moyse tone exercises.

     This is a perfect exercise to work on the sound quality, legato and intervals. It can be divided in 4 steps to achieve the best results.

    The first step is to reduce this exercise to long notes - the same way Marcel Moyse starts the work on the long notes in the famous book "De la Sonorite".
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As a second step - add the notes of the first bar of the original exercise. Be careful to play smooth legato, pay attention to the quality of every single note. Repeat each phrase until you reach the perfection.

     Let's pass on to the second bar of the exercise. The third step is to check the intonation when making intervals, of course, always keeping in mind the sound and legato.

     The final step is to put everything together. Remember to repeat every phrase until you are fully satisfied with your playing. Don't worry if you have to repeat 4, 5 and even more times the same thing. Your goal is to get better and not to finish as soon as possible

You can download full exercise including all the steps HERE:

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