Brandon's One Hour Catch all Guide (a daily regiment for the freelancing flute player on the go)

Once each of us reaches a certain point in our musical training we typically have devised our own specific routines for warming up, technique, general practice, etc. It is my experience, however, that many musicians do not easily make the transition from these ideas as "Music Students in Training" to "Professional Musician". As students, these things function not only to get us ready for our day but to improve us at an accelerated rate to be performing at the highest level possible by graduation. By no means do I think that the function of warm ups and technical exercises changes after school BUT often times the 2 - 3 hours a day that a student may spend only on sound and scales is no longer always a viable option considering things such as part time jobs, new time limitations placed on you by practice spaces in the home (aka living in an apartment that implements quiet hours) and the amount of music that often needs to be learned at an alarming rate to support a hopefully lucrative freelance career. This is why today I bring you "Brandon's One Hour Catch All Guide (a daily regiment for the freelancing flute player on the go)".

LONG TONES!!!!  Did you think that because my time was limited I would skip this step? Because if you did you are wrong. Each and every day no matter my time constraints are or when I need to start practicing I start with a healthy dose (10 - 15 min) of long tones. I am partial to a mix of Moyse's boring half step exercises and an exercise prescribed by one of my Mentors Jeffry Zook of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra. Don't forget your tuner!! Always shoot to be on the green and if you're not...stop and fix it! On a typical day I start with the first line or so of the Moyse going in half steps (the rhythm being quarter to dotted half note once forte repeated piano) from B above the staff to G# in the staff. Jeff's exercise starts on the C above the staff and extends to the C inside the staff (pictures of this one below **I forgot to add slurs! You would slur from the starting C to the held note each time). The goal with these exercises is a relaxed, open embouchure and increased flexibility of the lips and airstream while still playing absolutely IN TUNE. I find that by really honing in on the middle register I am able to ground myself and my sound in a way that will last throughout the day and makes it so that I don't have to do long tones after each extended break I might have to take in my practice day.

As with Moyse you repeat each doing once Forte and once piano

SCALES!!!! I move immediately into my first round (yes first round) of scale work for the day and it takes about 10 min depending on tempo marking, etc. By this point most of my readers probably have their own favorite methods memorized and selected but just in case I will include what I am currently using in my first leg of technical work (this does change from time to time). While at Michigan State University, Richard Sherman gave me a great way to work scales on a weekly basis staying on one key for an entire week. Lets start with C Major and a minor. First you do the scales in sextuplets, two octaves once through slurred (including all three variations of minor) and then again through tongued. Since I will be spending a week on this I use the following metronome markings; M- 60, Tu - 72, W - 80, Th - 80, F - 92, S - 92, Su - 92/100. Broken chords follow (always in the same tempo as the scale) and pictured below are how I play them. The progression is; I, vii, iii, vi, IV V ii, V7, I. Strive for smoothness between notes. Lastly to complete this particular process I use Maquarre's "Daily Exercises for the Flute". You are to do every single exercise in the keys you are working on that week (all the C Major and a minor ones for example) and the chromatic exercise every single day. Metronome markings are (in eighth notes typically); M - 60, Tu - 72, W - 80, Th - 80, F - 92, S - 100, Su - 100.

Slur each group of 4, start on lowest note of chord but do full range.

ETUDES!!!! Guess what? Now that we have started our week in a general key area we have a pre-prescribed key to do etudes in for the week! This can be done however you choose but I tend to use one particular book at a time. Right now, for example, I am working out of Boehm's etudes since they are easy enough to work up in a week with minimal time. The metronome markings vary but each day the goal is to increase in time so that you are at performance tempo by Saturday or Sunday. I only do two actual etudes a week on this regiment but considering the amount of music I am preparing weekly I feel that so long as I am making an improvement off of them that is more than enough.

MORE LONG TONES!!!! That's right after a short couple min break I go into another leg of some kind of sound work. This could be two of the Moyse "Tone Development through Interpretation" exercises (done of course with the tuner on the stand) or any other tone and intonation specific exercise you like. Right now since I'm trying to really learn how to control my new flute and its tendencies I am obsessing over Moyse's low register exercises that start on p. 10 of De la Sonorite. Whatever you choose just make sure you hold yourself to the highest standard of intonation and general sound that you possibly can. Now that it is warmed up use it appropriately and do not give in to laziness!

MORE SCALES!!!! To finish out my regiment I make sure to hit all the scales so as to leave no stone unturned. Once again use whatever method you find most fulfilling but I prefer Taffanel and Gaubert's (T&G) fourth exercise from their infamous scale book. How I do this exercise varies but either I pick a tempo (often at the half note such as 66) and use a different articulation from the top each day OR I pick a tempo (often at the half note such as 72) and do them completely articulated. I also do the chromatic exercise (which I believe is the 10th) in between the flat keys and sharp keys and the articulation is opposite of whatever I am doing with the fourth exercise (meaning if I do all articulated on 4 than I do mixed articulations on the chromatic, etc). The key here is to make sure that you have no "halfed" notes or "cracks". If you make any kind of mistake, stop and fix it. This will help your technique to continue to grow in leaps and bounds and give you a great sense of consistency across the entire instrument.

And there you have it! This regiment takes me typically one hour (although sometimes the slower tempo Mondays may take a bit more) and as long as I take a nice break after (since this is very intense) I am totally warmed up and ready to tackle anything else that my day has to throw at me. This is not how I warm up for auditions but perhaps that deserves its own post another time.

If you have any suggestions on how I could edit the way I do things that you feel would benefit my playing please let me know! This regiment took me a few years to really figure out and solidify but it is ever changing and I think that variety and change is necessary to keep your playing fresh and constantly improving.

Until next week...Happy Practicing!!