Here’s a new format of post I’m going to try… maybe it will be interesting to some, and hopefully also increase my own awareness of my practice.
Monday, 4/18/22 (105 min)
Practicing from Mark Spark’s Brahms 4 book- exploring the melodies from the different movements in different keys. Recording his duet arrangement, which goes from the beginning of the 4th movement through the flute solo.
I felt that I had a slightly different perspective of the solo, having arrived there from the beginning of the movement, rather than starting straight on the solo. I have listened to these pieces countless times, but I recently realized I get a much deeper level of understanding of the music by actually playing different parts of the score.
Tuesday, 4/19/22 (90 min)
Practicing the melody from the 2nd mvt of Brahms 4 (from Mark’s book), and practicing Mendelssohn Scherzo with recordings.
I used to not practice much with orchestra recordings, I’m not sure exactly why- I think someone may have told me not to. I understand that it is harder to hear yourself, and you don’t want to get sloppy, BUT I also think it’s super important now to do this, in order to get the overall character and style of the piece.
Wednesday, 4/20/22 (90 min)
This day, I could not get a good sound out. I practiced some scales and Brahms melodies, but it just wasn’t good. When I was younger, I used to sort of ignore it and plow forward, but this day I decided to slooooww everything down and only play long notes. I played a part of the Brahms 4 mvt 4 melody super slow, so I had to breathe every measure, and sustain every note for a very long time. This gave me the opportunity to learn how to adjust the sound, rather than sweeping the issue “under the rug.”
I also practiced some harmonics, and realized it has been a LONG time since I’ve done those. So I’m going to work some harmonics into my regular practice rotation. It’s hard to remember all the different aspects of my playing I have to maintain. I made a list on my audition list, so I can hopefully get a better system of rotating the fundamental skills.
Thursday, 4/21/22 (50 min)
This day, I started with long notes and harmonics again. Sound was much better, even after just that one day of focused practice! I was definitely glad I had taken the time to study the sound.
I also opened my Sparks Leonore book (a beast of a book with sooo many different ways to practice!) and practiced some of the technical/scale parts. I came across the 7th chord arpeggio, which he had transposed in several keys, but decided it would be a fun challenge to transpose it to ALL the keys. This was my practice project for the day!
Friday, 4/22/22 (30 min)
Not much practice time on Fridays, though I did have a long Pan-Tones rehearsal in the evening.
While I was sleeping on Thursday night, I remembered (maybe in a dream?) that I was looking for a chord generator app that I could practice with. Some of the excerpts reduce better to chord progressions than duets (Mozart, Faun), and I wanted a way to practice with accompaniment. I found the Chordbot app, which did exactly what I wanted. I can program in a chord progression, and it generates accompaniments in different styles. I experimented with different styles for fun.
While working with Mark’s book, he reiterates a number of times a message that I’ve found to be true in my own practice of excerpts- there is no wrong way to practice, except for monotony, which breeds sloppiness! As long as it presents enough of a challenge to keep your mind engaged, it’s good.
Saturday, 4/23/22 (60 min)
Again, focus on sound- practicing diminuendos (for Leonore opening) and harmonics. I also played through Leonore twice with orchestra recordings.
On Saturday, I always practice the hymns for Sunday’s church service, and go to ballet, so that cuts into my flute practice time.
Sunday, 4/24/22 (15 min)
Just a little warmup before the service today. Had a bit of a bad sound day, though I was able to quickly make some progress by playing some long tones. Some days it feels like I wake up with my lips a little swollen, and hard to control. Maybe I practiced too many diminuendos on Saturday- that is really tiring for the embouchure!
Alyse Hokamp 