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Sight Reading: How Theory, Technical Studies, and Etudes Help

I’m putting together a new ensemble right now. We’re sightreading a bunch of music to see what we like from each other’s collection and trying to find a good flute/clarinet duet.

The other person in the ensemble is a doubler between the clarinet and the piano. I double with the flute and the piano. We’re both going to play both of our instruments (not at the same time) and we’re going to have a ton of fun!

Music Theory

How does music theory fit into what we’re doing right now? Seeing patterns.

As I’m reading through, I’m not necessarily reading all the note names. I’m thinking in my head things like, “scale going down starting on Bb,” “Fourth, bottom note F,” “octave jump.”

Technical Studies

How do technical studies fit into what we’re doing right now? Finger Patterns.

My fingers already know what do do with the patterns listed above because I’ve done and still do my technical studies during my regular practice times.

Do my fingers still get tangled on themselves? Absolutely.

Do I misread how many notes are in that scale? Yup.

I still do better than I would if I didn’t do the technical studies.

Etudes

How do etudes fit into what we’re doing right now? Rhythmic Patterns and Problem Patterns.

Etudes take whole problems that you see in music and repeat them over and over again in a melodious piece. I’ve tackled a ton of problems, especially rhythmic problems, through the etudes. I try to play at least one per week.

As I’m reading through, I’m thinking “Philadelphia” instead of a 16th note 5-tuplet in a grupetto pattern. I see a 16th note in the middle of the triplet and think Irish Jig. Triplets in one hand and 8th notes in the other? I’ve got this!

Confidence

What ends up happening is you develop confidence in sight reading through the weekly grind of learning your technical studies, etudes, and music theory. You realize that you’ve seen it all before, just not in this particular order.

It’s a good idea to make sure you sight read on a regular basis, too, but that’s for another post. 🙂

Matching Tone Colors

There are several ways to meld tone colors. Here are two.

Awhile back, I had the opportunity to play with my old stand partner from college. Both of our natural tone colors had changed, but our tones melded together so we sounded as one, within seconds.

There are several ways to meld your tone colors. Here are two.

The Natural Way

It takes a few months. As you play with a group, you will all eventually come to a consensus on tone color. It requires everyone to do a good job of listening to each other, so sometimes it can take longer than a few months.

On a side note, this is why it’s important for you to play duets with your teacher. Your tone color ends up automatically matching hers during the duets and you learn a lot about tone by matching her.

Matching Tone Color On Purpose

First chair has priority on dictating tone color. She shouldn’t have to say anything, everyone else should try to match her. She also has the right to change the tone color based on the song.

Let’s say the first chair’s natural tone color is sunshine yellow and yours is blue velvet. You can use this method to change yours to sunshine yellow. It might not be the same exact sunshine yellow, but it will be close enough.

Another Idea

One time I went to the Omaha Symphony and the flutes were doing a lovely soli. They had perfect intonation and matched each others’ tone color perfectly. They sounded like one person.

The next time through the melody, the clarinets joined in. The flutes changed their tone color to allow for the clarinets. Rather than flutes and clarinets playing together, they were “team woodwind.”

I knew exactly how they did it, it had just never occured to me to blend in that way. It was powerful.

This is a somewhat advanced skill, but it’s important to understand and be able to implement. I hope these ideas help.

Daily Schedules of People in the Arts

I read a book that listed successful artists’ daily schedules, quirks and all. I always feel like my schedule is inadequate. I hope this helps.

I always feel like my schedule is inadequate. There isn’t enough time in the day. I have to hurry up and wait. I always have something along to do because I have to drop a kid off at sports practice, and it’s not worth it to go home. Sometimes I forget to bring something to do.

The book I’m reading right now is Daily Rituals: How Artists Work by Mason Currey (not an affiliate link). It describes in detail the daily schedule that great people in the arts have had – writers, artists, composers, etc. I thought it might be a good idea to see what other people do and how other people set up their day. Maybe I could find something to help me.

I’m partially through the book, and a pattern has emerged. The vast majority of artists did most of their work from 9AM till Noon. Most of them took a walk after lunch, sometimes for several hours, and did some office work before supper. After supper, a majority of the artists either went to parties or read books. Those who were around before the 1850’s would have their social time in the afternoon and do office things or read in the evening.

So far, I have only seen one mention of television. Most of the artists mentioned are from the 20th Century, so you would think they would follow the norm and have television as one of their diversions. Not at all. The one person who watched TV was a movie producer, which makes sense.

Applying This Information

Exercising during the afternoons in the summer is a definite no-go. I’m training for a marathon. Outside. The entire month of July is usually in a heat advisory here in Omaha. Nope. That’ll stay firmly stuck in early mornings or evenings, as my schedule permits.

The 9AM till Noon portion of the average schedule intrigues me. I could change it so my work time is 9 – noon starting in the school year. I could spend that time alternating between composing and practicing.

I like to watch TV. It helps me unwind. It keeps my mind occupied while I fold laundry. My kids learned to read before PreK because they watched PBS. Maybe I should cut back on TV. I’m not sure. I do use it for good, but it’s also a time thief.

During the school year, my late afternoons and early evenings are pretty booked up. Between giving music lessons and taking my kids to sports practices, there’s not much time left. After that, I tend to crash on the couch and watch TV. Maybe I could do my office things at that time, like the pre-1850s people did in the book.

As for partying, I wouldn’t know where to start. I’ve never been a partier, even in college. I also don’t know how wise it would be for me to go out, what with having young children.

Do What Works for You

I know that I’m in the minority, being able to set up my day like this. Most of my work is in the afternoons and evenings because I teach flute and piano. If you can’t set up your schedule like the majority of the greats, don’t worry. You have a different path.

There were lots of people in the book who worked longer than this on their art. There were lots of people who didn’t start working on their art until 10PM, and stayed up until the wee hours of the morning. There were people who got up at 4AM to write until breakfast time. These were the outliers, but they can be other ideas for you. I hope this information helps you like it has helped me.

The 5-Minute Warm-up

Ah, the 5-minute warm-up.  If you use it correctly, you will sound like a genius before rehearsal, auditions, or a performance.  It will also make you sound like a million bucks while playing your pieces.

In addition to using it as described above, you use this because you are freaking out because you have to finish learning a piece by next week and you’re not even close.  You don’t have time to go through the regular warm-ups, but you know that warming up will make you play better. I call this the time crunch purpose.

The 5-minute warm-up touches all the points that you do in your normal warm-up – tone, scales, and technique. You only play through them, you don’t work on them.

Here is an example of what you can do for each of the instruments that I teach.

Piano

Find the key signatures that you’re playing in your pieces of music. In those Major or minor keys, play each of these below:

Scales
Chords
Cadences
Arpeggios

If you have time, do all 12 Majors and/or minors.

Do whatever you can to the best of your abilities.  If you only know how to do a root position chord, that’s what you do.  If you’re normally doing 3 octave scales, that’s what you do.

Flute

  1. Long Tones – lower register
  2. A Beautiful Tune – It should be memorized in the middle register, and maybe stretches up to the upper register.
  3. 12 Major or minor Scales and Arpeggios – if you’re really crunched for time, just do the keys that you’re playing later.
  4. Harmonics or Octave Jumps – don’t be a perfectionist about these. If you can’t hit that last harmonic, don’t try to pick it up. Just keep going.

Do this to the best of your abilities.  If you are at the first step of good tone and learning how to get a good B natural, that’s what you do.  If you like to do T&G exercise #1, memorized, for your scales, that’s what you do.

Fear and Awe

A good 5-minute warm-up can strike fear or awe in the hearts of everyone around you.  I once saw Arturo Sandoval (famous trumpet player) do his.  He did long tones, then When You Wish Upon A Star in 3 octaves.  Everyone’s jaw dropped. 

What’s your favorite 5-minute warm-up?

How To Practice Using Rhythmic Changes

I remember when I learned how to do this, it seemed like magic. I could take every tough section of my music and learn each one in minutes. Trevor Wye talks about how to do this in his books, and I learned it from my college band director.

How Do You Do It?

First, you take a tough section of music, like below.

Then you change the rhythms to a dotted eighth/sixteenth pattern. Do not write it out, just make the changes in your head.

Change the rhythm to a sixteenth/dotted eighth pattern.

Change the rhythm to a triplet pattern. When it ends unevenly, just make them into quarter notes at the end. In a case like this, you could start with two quarter notes and do triplets to the end, in addition to how I wrote it below.

Play as written.

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If the tough section is longer than four bars, then take it in four-bar sections, overlapping by a measure.

Why Does It Work?

If you already feel your eyes glazing over, just skip this part and say that it’s magic. 🙂

The first two steps force you to make a quick change between first one half of the notes, then the other half. The root problem is that your fingers are revolting against some of the switches between the notes, and this technique forces your fingers to behave.

The third step, with the triplets, forces you to think about the notes differently. You’re changing the natural accents of the notes, and you’re also doing the math in your head rather quickly. Because you’re paying such close attention to the notes, you learn them faster than normal.

The fourth step is important because it brings everything together. You realize that you really can play that tough section. Afterwards, when you put the tough section back into context, it helps your brain say, “I’ve got this!”

In What Situations Do You Use This?

You use this when there’s a small, fast section of a piece of music that’s really hard to play. You’ve run through it a few times and your fingers just get tangled on themselves and don’t know what to do. This is my go-to technique for small, fast sections because it’s fast and it (usually) works.

I Forced My Kid to Take Piano Lessons for 4 Years and She’s Thankful

I chose a goal piece for my daughter to be able to quit piano. Once she got to that level, she decided against it.

I started giving my oldest daughter piano lessons in 2nd grade. She loved it. She responded well to everything I taught her. She enjoyed the competitions and being able to play songs from Disney.

The Turning Point

In my daughter’s school, she’s allowed to start band in 5th grade. A little young, I know, but I went with it. I started helping her choose an instrument in 4th grade so I could get a good deal on a used student instrument. She chose the clarinet.

After she chose the clarinet, she asked if she could quit piano when she starts band. My husband and I said no, she could play both, just like I play both the flute and piano.

The Goal

We told her that she can quit piano when she can play the first movement of the Moonlight Sonata. Our reasoning for this was because it’s far enough along that she can pick it back up if she wants. She could decide to plunk out most things by that skill level, too, if she had to.

My husband grew up with an age limit. When a child of his family graduated high school, they could quit piano. We decided if she has a goal piece of music, she could speed ahead and get it done if she wants, and she’ll still hit the level of musicianship that we wanted for her.

That being said, we made it very clear that she will always be playing at least one musical instrument until the end of high school. If she quits the piano, she would have to stick to the clarinet through the end of high school.

Our Reasoning

We were very clear on our reasons for wanting her to be playing an instrument.

  1. Brain Development. We saw over the years several studies about how being an instrumentalist helps with brain development. We want her to have those brain development aids for her while her brain is developing.
  2. Emotional Outlet. We wanted her to be able to come home from a tough day at school and bang it out on the piano, especially through those rough Jr. High years.
  3. Dementia. This is an odd one for the list, but I found an article that said those who played an instrument were less likely to get dementia.

7th Grade

At the beginning of 7th Grade, I told my daughter that she’s ready for learning the Moonlight Sonata, if she wishes. She said that she still hates piano, but she wants to learn Golden Aspens by Joyce Grill first. As I tried not to smile, we started on the piece (fist pump!).

After that, she still made it clear that she hates piano, but she wanted to learn The Healing Garden by Carol Klose first. Once again, I tried not to smile as we started learning the piece.

In May, when she was about half-way through learning The Healing Garden, I decided to call her on it. I told her that she really likes playing the piano, but she’s not admitting it to herself or others. If she really hated the piano, she would have whipped out that Moonlight Sonata before I even gave her the go-ahead, and would have been working on it as soon as possible.

She didn’t say anything, but gave me a thoughtful look. After about 5 minutes, she told me that she still hates piano.

June 21, 2019

We had around 3 weeks left in learning The Healing Garden. She played it for me in her lesson, and when she finished playing it, she turned around. Here’s what she said:

“I love this piece. It touches my heart. This is the first piece I’ve ever played that touched my heart. I think that you’re right. My head wants to quit piano, but my heart doesn’t.”

I succeeded in not crying, but I misted up. I replied, “This is why we do fun music. I always have you playing a serious piece and a piece that you choose. This is why it’s so important to have a piece for every emotion. Sometimes your serious piece will do that, too, but you need to have something so that you can play your heart out.”

Thank You!

Carol Klose and Joyce Grill, if you’re out there, thank you so much for writing those pieces! They turned my surly 7th grader around.

Old Lesson Books

Old books aren’t necessarily a bad thing. There’s forgotten wisdom written on those pages.

I teach my own kids how to play piano. I know it doesn’t work for everyone, but it works for us.

My Old Lesson Books

My youngest daughter is in level 3 of Alfred. She prefers using lesson books rather than doing the RCM lists. She’s using my old lesson book and my husband’s old Fingerpower book.

She loves seeing the little notes from our teachers. One page in the Fingerpower said, “You can do it!” I told her that her dad had a really hard time with that page. She was delighted to get it in the first try.

One song (there were words, so it was a song) from my old lesson book had several dates listed on the second half of the song. I told her that it took that many tries to get it down. She didn’t feel bad that she had to take two weeks on it.

Used Bookstore

Our used bookstore has a decent collection of used sheet music. I’m not usually there for the used lesson books, but sometimes I’ll flip through them to see if there are any nuggets of information.

Every once in awhile, I’ll find one that’s written in by the teacher. I haven’t found anything worthwhile for myself, but I’ve known people to find good information in there.

Personal Preference

Personally, I love working from used music in general. Sometimes the beats are already written in for a tough rhythm. Sometimes there are words of encouragement written at the top of the page. I also like the idea that this book has been through someone’s blood, sweat, and tears and now it’s going through it with me. It’s experienced.

I’m in a habit of checking to see if there’s a sheet music section of every used book store that I go to, including Goodwill. I once got a $50 etude book for $1, and this one was brand-new. If you find yourself in one of those kinds of stores, take a look. If you find nothing, you’re out nothing, but you might find a gem.

I know some people like the feel of having a shiny, new book. That’s completely fine. As you write things into your music so you will always remember them, think about how maybe your music will inspire someone else someday.

Popcorn for Scales

It’s an easy way to keep your scales memorized, yet not be bored. I call it popcorn. I sincerely hope this practice technique livens up your scale routine. The flute teacher I had back in college said that you should always find a way to challenge yourself with scales. This is definitely a new challenge!

It’s an easy way to keep your scales memorized, yet not be bored. I call it popcorn. I especially use popcorn when a competition is looming because usually competitions have you pick a scale out of a hat. As usual, when I say scales, I really mean scales, chords, cadences, and arpeggios (flutes would be chords and cadences in arpeggios, so they would skip the arpeggio category).

What do you have to do prior to Popcorn?

You have to have your scales, chords, cadences, and arpeggios memorized in each key.

Materials

You need flashcards. You could just grab some index cards and label them A-Gb. I like to use these for if a student is only doing scales that start with a natural note. I like to use these for if a student is doing all 12 keys.

The First Week

The first week of popcorn is tough because you thought you knew all your scales backwards and forwards. Popcorn brings any memory lapses to light.

Because of that, in the first week, I have them lay out three flashcards – those are the scales. Three different flashcards – those are the chords. Three different flashcards – those are the cadences. Three different flashcards – those are the arpeggios. Notice there’s 12?

In The Lesson

I only do one key per category, unless it’s the week or two before a competition, then I do three per category, just like the first week of learning popcorn.

Changing Things Up

In addition to the key signatures, you can also make a second stack of flashcards with different articulations, rhythms, dynamics, etc.

The second set of flashcards comes in handy for when you’re having a hard time with a certain concept. Sometimes you’ll take a certain concept all week, sometimes you’ll alternate between a few of them. It depends on what you’re struggling with.

Conclusion

I sincerely hope this practice technique livens up your scale routine. The flute teacher I had back in college said that you should always find a way to challenge yourself with scales. This is definitely a new challenge!

Tone Colors on Flute

Tone color is a tricky thing to describe. Some people only use a color. Some use a color and a texture. Some add an event to the mix (a king entering a royal palace). It depends on how you visualize sound.

Natural Tone Color

Everyone has a natural tone color that they gravitate towards. In the United States, it’s usually a blue or purple velvet. There are always exceptions. I have met two American flutists whose tone sounded like a deep, clear, glassy lake.

I met a flutist from Japan once. Her natural tone color was a light brown silk, rippling in the wind.

How to Achieve Different Tone Colors

Different tone color is achieved by changing the shape of your mouth while you play. This is very personal, and it depends entirely upon your ear. You should be established in good tone before you attempt other tone colors.

  1. Pick a color and texture that’s different from your natural tone color. If it helps, think of an event or look on Pinterest for pictures of the color and texture that you want.
  2. Now, with that image in your mind, close your eyes and play a note, changing the shape of your lips, mouth, and throat until you achieve that sound.
  3. Play a little ditty to see if you can extend that sound to other notes. It can be an ex corde melody or a hymn/folk song that speaks to the tone color you’re trying to achieve.
  4. Extend the range of the tone color. Try playing it in different octaves, different keys, etc.

Examples

I want to describe to you the mechanics of how I change my tone color for two colors of yellow. This is different for everyone because everyone has a different shaped mouth. My natural tone color is a silvery blue velvet.

If I want to do sunshine yellow, I pull my cheeks in ever so slightly, drop my jaw a tiny bit, and push my aperture (the hole in my lips) into a rounder shape. It brightens the sound and I think adds a little sparkle to it, too.

If I want to sound like a golden wheat field, I flatten my aperture a little bit and bring my jaw up a tad. It mellows the sound and adds a little fuzz to the edges.

See how different two yellows can be?

Emotions

Some instruments equate tone color with an emotion. Emotion can enter into tone color, but they’re generally considered two different things in flute land. You can have the exact same emotion but more than one color that goes with it.

Changes Over Time

As you get older, your natural tone color might change. There might be a physical reason for this, e.g. weight gain, thyroid swelling, a dental issue. It also might be a difference in how you perceive music in general. A different sound might feel like it fits better than it did when you were at a different stage in life.

I sincerely hope this article helps clarify any confusion involving tone color.

How I Learned a Piece of Music on a Time Crunch

I normally would have taken 2-3 months to learn a piece like this. It took me a week.

I texted a friend of mine who directs a local church choir. When he texted me back, he asked if I could accompany for a joint ascension service for three congregations. I took a look at it (here is a link for it) and said to him, “I can learn that in a week.”

I failed to look a the metronome marking.

I could play it easily at 60. 104? I wasn’t sure if I could make it in a week, but I didn’t want to back out. My friend was counting on me. Here’s what I did to get it done.

Tactic #1: Mini-Practices

The first practice of the day I did my normal stuff – scales, technical studies, and etudes – before I started working on the music. Then I practiced the piece one or two times using plans below. Then I took a short nap to get the myelin building up on my new neurons.

After the nap, I did something active for the same reason. I put in my garden, went for a run, cleaned the house, you get the idea. Then I practiced again, just going through the song two or three times.

I did this process 3-5 times per day. It was great because using this process, I was able to practice at least twice as long as normal per day without pain, injury, or tension.

Tactic #2: Metronome

I didn’t play without the metronome. Every time I started feeling comfortable with the piece, I would pop the metronome up a notch, usually once per mini-session, sometimes once every-other session.

There are a couple of reasons for this:
1. Since I was playing with a choir, I didn’t want my natural rubato to start creeping in.
2. The metronome helps you find the parts that you’re messing up on so you can fix them.
3. The metronome makes me a little nervous. I needed that because I was going to be playing this in front of 300-400 people, and I have stage fright. (Aack!)

Tactic #3: Twinkling

If I was having a hard time with transitioning from one chord to another, I would play the two chords over and over, starting slowly and building up speed until it fell apart. Then I’d back up a measure or two and if I hit that chord easily, I would continue through the piece.

Tactic #4: Drilling Measures

Sometimes there would be a whole measure that I couldn’t get. In that case, I would play the measure over and over again, starting slow and working it up to speed and a little past that. To make sure I had it in my fingers, I would back up to the beginning of the phrase and keep on playing if I was able to play it in context.

Tactic #5: Play Tough Chords in Octaves

Sometimes I would have to jump over an octave and hit a block chord. Sometimes this would happen in both hands. If I was having a hard time making that jump, I would play the chord as written, then play it an octave down. I would play another octave down. I would continue to 8vb the chord until I ran out of room on the piano.

Then I went up an octave from the bottom octave of the piano. Then up another octave. I continued to 8va the chord until I reached the top octave of the piano.

Then I went down an octave from the top octave of the piano. I continued to 8vb the chord until I came to the original position of the chord. As usual, I backed up to the beginning of the phrase to make sure I had learned the chord and if I had, I continued on.

Tactic #6: Practicing Backwards

I started out playing the last page. Then the last two pages. Then the last three. So on and so forth until I hit the first page. Sometimes I did this by phrase, which ended up being more like half-pages.

I did this tactic when I was having a hard time adjusting to a new metronome setting. It really worked and I was usually able to bump the metronome up a notch after practicing like this. I only used this tactic once per day and it took up an entire mini-session of practicing.

Tactic #7: Dropping Notes.

THIS TACTIC IS FOR ACCOMPANIMENT ONLY! I had to simplify certain parts in order to play them up to speed. If there was a measure that I just couldn’t get or a chord that I just couldn’t jump to, I would analyze my part against the choir part and cut what I could, keeping the main part of the chord intact.

Here were my judicial cuts
1. I switched to the melody and the lowest bass note for a section that had too many jumps. The choir was singing unison at that point, so as long as I had the melody, it sounded fine.
2. I had to make over-octave leaps in my Left hand in one section, with 4-5 note chords in both hands. It was the same chord all measure in the Left hand (inversions), so I only played the first one in each measure.
3. I had a 16th-note run that was 4ths with the occasional 2nd. Since it wasn’t a normal arpeggio, I couldn’t play it and then play the block chord at the end. I had to choose one or the other. I left the run out and played the initial chord and the chord at the end.
4. There was a section where I was playing something very similar to what the choir was singing, but I had an extra 1-2 notes in each hand. I switched to what the choir was singing, and switched back to my part at a time when my part diverged from the choir part.

This tactic was a last-ditch effort. If I had 2-3 months to work on it, I never would have dropped notes.

Results

In the end, I got the piece up to 104, but it wasn’t a comfortable 104. I told the director that I could play it at 96 and he was fine with that.

The rehearsal was rough because I had all these new sounds coming at me, what with the trumpet and the choir. After the rehearsal, I made my kids sing the melody line while I played the accompaniment a couple times per day. I should have done that for the initial practices, but I didn’t think about it.

The performance went great. My youngest daughter told me she didn’t hear any mistakes. Given her familiarity with the piece and her musical training (4 years on the piano and 6 months on the flute), I would call that a success!