Kesha

Although I may be a "classical" flutist, I have a passion for pop music and divas that is always simmering through my veins. Since her first single in 2010 (unless like me you count her vocal appearance on Flo Rida's "Right Round" in 2009) Kesha has held a special place in my life. Her music spoke to my early 20 - something musician and collegiate lifestyle filled with glitter and booze, then again to my mid 20's lost and carefree lifestyle still filled with glitter but also with dance clubs and name brand booze, and now as a late 20 something her old music still breaths of moments to be had along with nostalgia for my time in college, Detroit, and San Francisco.

Today, after FOUR YEARS, I have finally been rewarded with something new from her and it does NOT disappoints. Considering the world's possibly slow dissent into a Margaret Atwood style dystopian nightmare, her voice sings through the pain she has suffered and brings with it a healing quality more powerful than I could have thought possible. A true artist in her own right, this song to me pushes her from pop-trash-chic into the realm of spokesperson of my heart. She captures so much of what is happening around us in her voice and throws it out to us to hear and heal along with. I cannot wait for the rest of the album to be released!

Long story short, go buy this song. Buy it and then plug it into some plus sized speakers. Make sure you have tissues, ice cream, and a friend nearby. Heal.

ARM - June Technique Challenge

I often find that when summer hits for most of us (ESPECIALLY those of you still in school) that practicing and motivation can come to a grinding halt and the instrument is forgotten to collect dust in our practice rooms. What we take for granted, though, is that with little music being "forced" on us to learn during the summer months it is the PERFECT time to work those fundamentals to the bone and refresh your sound and fingers for the year to come! To this end, I have devised another "Technique Challenge" that is perfect for flutists of all levels and that can be edited to your own personal needs.

The ARM June Technique Challenge.

For this challenge you will need three books; Posthumous Preludes & Exercises - Carl Joachim Andersen, Daily Exercises for the Flute - Andre Maquarre, and Seven Daily Exercises for Flute - Mathieu Andre Reichert. All of these books can be purchased from Little Piper publishers here: https://www.little-piper.com

Summer makes it difficult to find time and motivation to do "work", so this challenge is one big explanation of how I plan to use these books daily in order to make it easy for you to edit and pick and choose what's best for you around vacations, etc.

Best of luck and Happy Practicing!
*For a pdf version email me at lepagebrandon@gmail.com

ARM technique Challenge - June 2017

Books: Andersen Posthumous Preludes & Exercises (pub. Little Piper)

           Maquarre Daily Exercises for the Flute (pub. Little Piper)

           Reichert Seven Daily Exercises for Flute (pub. Little Piper)

Week 1 - June 5th through June 11th

Week 2 - June 12th through June 18th

Week 3  - June 19th through June 25th

Week 4 - June 26 - 30 (short week)

Challenge:

Each Day begin with a simple tone warm up (such as harmonics) then move to the Andersen book. The Andersen I have selected is set up with groups of warm ups and technical exercises each beginning with a section of whole notes. Do one set each day to begin (more for tone and finger wake up then speed etc). You do not get a day off from this section.

Move on the the Maquarre and do the first daily scale exercise and chromatic exercise every day ALWAYS going up to high D. You do not get a day off of this section.

Speeds and Articulations week 1 example:

M - 104 slur/tongue, Tu - 112 tongue one slur three/slur three tongue one, W - 112 slur two tongue two/tongue two slur two, Th - 112 Tongue one slur two tongue one/tongue one slur two, F - 112 all tongue, S - 112 all slur, Su - 120 slur/tongue.

Each day you will now have two Major and two Minor scales to focus on. You will play the scales in six’s (sextuplets) for two octaves slurring once then again tongued. It takes three turns of the scale to get the root note back on the downbeat. Always take up to high D (adjust speed as needed)

Week 1 example:

M - C/a/F/d 80, Tu - Bb/g/Eb/c 80, W - Ab/f/Db/bb 80, Th - Gb/eb/B/g# - 80, F - E/c#/A/f# 80, S - D/b/G/e 80, Su - Day off from this section.

Going back to the Maquarre do all the exercises numbered 1 - 7 that correspond to the keys you are on that day. This means for day one you will do all of numbers 1-7 for C Major, a minor, F Major, and d minor. Sunday is a day off from this portion of the challenge.

Week 1 Articulations - as written first time and all tongued on repeat.

Ex Week 1 Tempos (adjust as needed):

1 - 80, 2 - 60, 3 - 60, 4 - 104 (eighth note), 5 - 80, 6 - 60, 7 - 100 (eighth note)

Finishing up with the challenge each day do one Reichertexercise a day (7 in total). You do not get a day off from Reichert. The goal by the end of the challenge is to be at the tempos notated in the Little Piper edition.

Week 1 - Articulations as written.

Ex Week 1 Tempos: 1 - 60, 2 - 100, 3 - 112 (eighth note), 4 - 100, 5 - 112 (eighth note), 6 - 116, 7 - 112 (eighth note)

The Final Power Through

The final week of the Ervin Moroe "Power Exercises" technique challenge was hard to complete due to laziness post birthday...but I DID IT!!

These challenges have taught me a lot about my fingers and general technical ability and I really think that they have helped so much with security in my own playing. This week I've started to get into pre-audition conditioning and it has been AMAZING to see the results of just the two months of challenges permeating through my conditioning schedule! Going up to high D on my major scales is happening more times than ever before and I KNOW this will help with Classical Symphony along with other excerpts. Makes me feel and see the improvement and appreciate all of you who participated with and encouraged me to get through it!

As stated in a few previous posts, I will not be doing an official challenge this month due to audition prep SO if any of you are looking for another challenge I recommend purchasing Marcel Moyse's Daily Exercises for the Flute (pictured below). It comes with its own month set up/plan which is what I have based my other challenges on. Incidentally I also use this book as my audition conditioner so we'd still be doing something together I'm just not doing the month plan.

If you create or have created challenges like this yourself please let me know! I'm always looking for something new...and I know I'll be doing another one in June regardless!

Until then...

Happy Practicing!!!!!

Week Three; Powering up My Fingers

Mr. Moroe's "Power Exercises for Flute" is proving to be just as much of a challenge as he suggests several times throughout the book! Week three has been the hardest week yet (mostly due to the articulation choice of tongue two slur two or tongue one slur two in the case of triples). I found day four to be he absolute hardest this week with that day being the day with the most immovable tempos. Strangely enough, though, day seven was no bad at all and I am ready to move almost all of the tempos from that day forward as can be see from my notebook below. As usual for this challenge, below you can see my progress each day if you are so inclined.

I'm getting ready to start the final week of this challenge and felt like this was the time to let you all know that although I had originally planned to do one more this spring for the month of March, due to upcoming auditions I will instead be moving back between the Moyse technique book and T&G. I would recommend that if you want another challenge for the coming month, purchase the Moyse book:

See below for this week's challenge set:

Week 4: February 17th - March 5th

This week is all tongued and increasing metronome markings as possible. The goal is to have the most accuracy possible at the quickest tempo possible.

As always; Happy Practicing!!

Powering Up my Fingers Week 2

Week two of the Power Exercises challenge was the hardest yet for me in terms of logistics. I performed two concerts a day this week and a few of those days I was driving upwards of four/five hours a day which also led me to sadly need to skip one day of the challenge. This week coming up I should be back on track totally (although I'll be driving back from Wisconsin Saturday so may have to skip that day as well...).

I found that a few of the exercises this week were really hard when I started to add in the articulation. I had an EXCEPTIONALLY tough time with day 3 which you'll be able to see in my notebook below. Anything not crossed out in terms of tempos mean that they went well and I can move up if my plan says to, but that I could also keep it at this tempo. Anything crossed out means it was easy and went well enough that I will be upping the tempo this coming week. Anything circled was ABYSMAL and needs to be done again at the same tempo with the hopes that it works itself out through the challenge.

I'm really loving this book still! I can feel how it's making a difference in my fingers. The one thing I want to add this week is more tone exercises afterwards though. The problem with focusing on technique is that often the tone suffers and I have been feeling that hardcore. My control is not as great so I need to focus on making sure I have that where it needs to be as well.

Week three is as follows (all tempos are generally the same and can be moved up if needed):

Week 3: February 20th - 26th

Chromatics - Tongue Two Slur Two (6’s Tongue 2 slur 4) (triplet tongue 1 slur 2)

    Metronome Markings - “    “

Major Scales - “    “

Minor Scales - “    “

Major Chords - “    “

Minor Chords - “    “

Diminished 7th Chords - “    “

Miscellaneous - “    “

Power Exercises - Week 1

As we're getting closer and closer to spring and beginning a sprint to the end of the orchestral season my schedule seems to thicken to a point where if it cools it could turn to stone...so my posts may be late, BUT I will try my best to keep them consistent!

If you've been following along religiously than you are also a day or two into week 2 of the Monroe Power Exercises and what a first week it was! This book is AMAZING. I'm almost sad that I haven't revisited it since I studied it with him in High School! My fingers feel amazing and I can finally get up to high D with some ease! Since there are so many exercises here is the full table of contents for those not actively practicing:

I couldn't believe how awkward some of the scale patterns were (especial day two since I've done it a second time today) but when I came back to the book for the next day I could feel how the awkward patterns built day by day helping each exercise make sense and build throughout the book. Also, since I'm already two days in to week 2, I'm happy to find that I have been able to up the metronome markings from what I predicted (which I had hoped for but with my insecure fingers I never know). As of right now I was planning to create a new challenge for March, but the longer I work on this book the more I'm tempted to do it again next month! I'll keep you posted...what I may do is go to a new challenge and then come back to this for the summer to really work my fingers out mixing it up with the Moyse book.

Since there was a new set of exercises each day, I decided to take photos of my practice notebook rather than write each day out. If anyone would like for me to do that though I'd be happy to come back and transcribe! It'll just be a bit longer.

Here is week 2 (which we're already in) for anyone who wants to jump in now:
Week 2: February 13th - 19th
Articulation of the week: slur two tongue two for douples, slur two tongue one for triples.
I. Chromatics - M - 112, T - 92, W - 92, T - 132, F - 132, S - 60, S - 112
II. Major Scales - M - 120, T - 120, W - 132, T - 132, F - 132, S - 60, S - 112
III. Minor Scales "                                                                                              "
IV. Major Chords - M - 104, T - 104, W - 112, T - 112, F - 100, S - 100, S - 7
V. Minor Chords - "                                                                                             "
VI. Diminished 7th Chords - M - 100, T - 100, W - 100, T - 80, F - 80, S - 104, S - 80
VII. Miscellaneous - Do all comfy and increase as you can

Power Exercises for Flute (New Technique Challenge)

I hope that everyone has enjoyed this "unstructured technical week" as much as I have! I took my favorite exercises from the T&G and had fun with them:

EJ4 - 144 (108 for 8va) Articulations - M1, T2, W5, T6, Fall tongued

EJ6 A - 80 B - 72, Keys/Articulations - Mb1, T#2, Wb5, T#6, Fb7

EJ10 - 72 (80 for 8va) Articulations - M1, T2, W3, T4, F5

EJ5 - 92 Articulations - M1, T2, W3, T4, F5

Now I'm taking a couple days off due to traveling, etc and I'm looking forward to starting the brand new challenge on Monday featuring Ervin Monro's "Power Exercises for Flute; Daily Routines for Acquiring and Maintaining Professional Technique"! 

I love this book because it's set up like Reichardt with 1 exercise a day but mirrors some T&G or Moyse in that there is 1 a day for EACH kind of exercise; Chromatic Scales, Major Scales, Minor Scales, Major Chords, Minor Chords, Diminished Chords, and Miscellaneous. This means you're doing 7 exercises a day and for this challenge that is SEVEN DAYS A WEEK! February may be the darkest month, but with this plan you'll have so much to do you won't even miss the sun. For a look at how I'm planning to structure the next four weeks see the plan below. It shows my metronome markings and planned articulations *all subject to change*. I will once again be updating weekly and hope you will do the same!

Happy Challenge!!

**For a pdf version of this email me at: lepagebrandon@gmail.com**

**Also don't forget that I am participating in the Etude of the week group so the amount I do is subject to change to allow time for that**

Technique Challenge: February 2017

Power Exercises for Flute by Ervin Monroe

    Daily Routines for Acquiring and Maintaining Professional Technique

Week 1: February 6th - 12th

Chromatics - All slurred

    Metronome Markings - M - 104, T - 92, W - 92, T - 120, F - 120, S - 60, S - 104

Major Scales - All slurred

    Metronome Markings - M - 112, T - 112, W - 120, T - 120, F - 120, S - 60, S - 120

Minor Scales - All slurred

    Metronome Markings - M - 112, T, 112, W - 120, T - 120, F - 120, S - 60, S - 120

Major Chords - All slurred

    Metronome Markings - M - 100, T - 100, W - 100, T - 100, F - 92, S - 92, S - 66

Minor Chords - All slurred

    Metronome Markings - M - 100, T - 100, W - 100, T - 100, F - 92, S - 92, S - 66

Diminished 7th Chords - All slurred

    Metronome Markings - M - 92, T - 92, W - 92, T - 72, F - 72, S - 100, S - 72

Miscellaneous - All slurred

    Metronome Markings - Do all comfy to start  

**No day of rest this month**

Week 2: February 13th - 19th

Chromatics - Slur two Tongue two (for 6’s slur 4 tongue 2) (for triplets slur two tongue 1)

    Metronome Markings - M - 112, T -  92, W - 92, T - 132, F - 132, S - 60, S - 112

Major Scales - “    “

    Metronome Markings - M - 120, T, 120, W - 132, T - 132, F - 132, S - 60, S - 112

Minor Scales - “    “

    Metronome Markings - M - 120, T - 120, W -132, T - 132, F -132, S - 60, S - 112

Major Chords - “    “

    Metronome Markings - M - 104, T - 104, W - 112, T - 112, F -100, S - 100, S - 72

Minor Chords - “    “

    Metronome Markings - M - 104, T - 104, W - 112, T - 112, F - 100, S - 100, S - 72

Diminished 7th Chords - “    “

    Metronome Markings - M - 100, T - 100, W - 100, T - 80, F - 80, S - 104, S - 80

Miscellaneous - “    “

    Metronome Markings - Do all comfy and increase as you can

Week 3: February 20th - 26th

Chromatics - Tongue Two Slur Two (6’s Tongue 2 slur 4) (triplet tongue 1 slur 2)

    Metronome Markings - “    “

Major Scales - “    “

Minor Scales - “    “

Major Chords - “    “

Minor Chords - “    “

Diminished 7th Chords - “    “

Miscellaneous - “    “

Week 4: February 17th - March 5th

This week is all tongued and increasing metronome markings as possible. The goal is to have the most accuracy possible at the quickest tempo possible.

Congrats you’re done!!!!