Sharps and flats.
Studying new piece is always an adventure. Curiosity mixes with joyous expectations when opening a score for the first time… and sometimes finishes with: „OH NO!”
There are these things – the foulest creatures that walk the patterns of music. They drain peace and hope, and happiness out of your heart. Get too near a flat or a sharp and every good feeling, every happy memory will be sucked out of you.
No, they are not Dementors from the Harry Potter books, and of course it’s not a problem when there are two or three of them. But when you see a “pack” of 5 or 6, it can be quite frustrating experience. Flats and sharps can make a life of a flutist difficult and, yes, even embarrassing. There are no charms or magic spells to make the alterations disappear, so we have to include the scales like B major, D flat major, d sharp minor etc. in our daily routine and practice diligently to be ready when THE MOMENT arrives.
If you want to make these “dementors” your friends, you should actually act like a real friend. Play the long note sequence of D flat major in your warm up session, start your scales with F sharp major (not C or F as I often do), always include at least one little study full of flats or sharps in your daily practice, and soon you’ll see, that the presence of these little creatures doesn’t make you feel anxious.
There is a wonderful way to prove your ability to navigate in “dangerous waters” – play a simple melody and transpose it in all keys. An easy task? Did you do it making half steps up or down? Now try to avoid any logic order of the keys to see how good you really are!
There are these things – the foulest creatures that walk the patterns of music. They drain peace and hope, and happiness out of your heart. Get too near a flat or a sharp and every good feeling, every happy memory will be sucked out of you.
No, they are not Dementors from the Harry Potter books, and of course it’s not a problem when there are two or three of them. But when you see a “pack” of 5 or 6, it can be quite frustrating experience. Flats and sharps can make a life of a flutist difficult and, yes, even embarrassing. There are no charms or magic spells to make the alterations disappear, so we have to include the scales like B major, D flat major, d sharp minor etc. in our daily routine and practice diligently to be ready when THE MOMENT arrives.
If you want to make these “dementors” your friends, you should actually act like a real friend. Play the long note sequence of D flat major in your warm up session, start your scales with F sharp major (not C or F as I often do), always include at least one little study full of flats or sharps in your daily practice, and soon you’ll see, that the presence of these little creatures doesn’t make you feel anxious.
There is a wonderful way to prove your ability to navigate in “dangerous waters” – play a simple melody and transpose it in all keys. An easy task? Did you do it making half steps up or down? Now try to avoid any logic order of the keys to see how good you really are!
Download the exercises in pdf!
| transpose_the_melody.pdf |
