Monday, 4/25/22 (130 min)
Picc warm up- chromatic scales (for orchestra rehearsal tonight)
Sparks Leonore book, pp. 8-11. Exercises in piano playing, smooth legato, and breath control
Debussy, Faun. Run through with recording, 5x. Still trying to figure out what is going on in some parts with the orchestra, rhythmically.
I am 4 weeks out from the audition, and I’m going to try to go from big picture, down to details. I think I tend to be a little too detail-oriented sometimes.
Rossini, William Tell run through with recording, 4x. I actually played this back in high school, and had no idea of the “weight” of this piece.
That cello opening is so beautiful, might have to make a transcription for flutes 😉
Tuesday, 4/26/22 (80 min)
Harmonics to warm up again today, it feels like embouchure strength training.
Got my new piece for my recital, Ali’i Suite, and had to try it! I “duetted” the second movement to get a sense of the whole piece.
For some reason, I noticed I kept rolling in today, not sure why.
Wednesday, 4/27/22 (70 min)
Practiced vibrato today, and took a closer look at my embouchure. I’ve done focused practice on vibrato recently, but I think I neglected the sound quality while vibrating.
I think this is why I ended up with so many pitch comments in my DSO feedback. I realized after that feedback the relationship of sound, pitch, and vibrato. I think our perception of these things are very interrelated.
On Monday, the conductor of the community orchestra I’m playing in somewhat casually mentioned that we’re playing Stars and Stripes and Carmen Suite. My ears definitely perked up, and I got that part to take a review of it before rehearsal.
I realize now that the Carmen Suite must be why the Entr’acte is such a big orchestral excerpt! I was wondering why a symphony would need to play an opera excerpt, but now I get it… it’s part of the suite, which I assume is quite popular.
Thursday, 4/27/22 (50 min)
Wish I had more time to practice during the week, but this is my last full week of teaching. After this things will let up for the end of the school year, and I resigned one of my positions for next year.
I finally did a full run through of the audition list, and things were okay. I think Voliere is my weakest excerpt right now. Overall, my playing feels better than a couple months ago, though- specifically the consistency of sound quality, general articulation, and control over diminuendos… all things I worked on recently.
Friday, 4/28/22 (60 min)
Working on evenness and control in Voliere, so I switched the Ts and Ks. This did seem to help my finger and tongue control and coordination. I still think the two consonants sound uneven, I will need to continue to work on that.
Tomorrow I have a Zoom lesson with Mark, which I feel unprepared for… but hopefully I will get some advice on what direction to go/what to focus on from here.
Saturday, 4/30/22 (150 min)
This was a busy day- I managed to practice for 2 hours, but I also had a lesson and a “practice” Pan-Tones performance for family and friends at our studio. By the end of the show, I was exhausted and missed a few notes.
Still, it was a great time, and we all learned a few things that we needed to work on, especially since we’re playing my arrangements from memory (for more of a band feel).
My lesson was good as well, and I opened the lesson immediately with my main frustration lately, which is maintaining a consistently beautiful sound. I can get a pretty great sound, but some notes just don’t sound as good as others, especially when I’m moving around.
I got some recommendations for adjusting my embouchure and alignment that I’m interested to try out.
I practiced some piccolo, some daily exercises, and Mendelssohn staggered by one note (like I did with Voliere earlier this week).
Sunday, 5/1/22 (60 min)
Mostly experimenting with embouchure adjustment. I practiced another daily exercise.
This week was the last week for many of my in-school flute lessons, and I realized one of my biggest gripes with the way students practice: they work too much on their band music, without trying to improve the fundamental skills that facilitate it.
Basically, they practice one scale, then go on to band music. They are missing daily exercises and etudes completely. But, I also realized that many of the daily exercises I know are a little daunting for them- Maquarre, Reichert, and T&G.
So, I’ve been composing and practicing daily exercises for my students that are shorter, simpler, and more easily digested. Perhaps this will help these fundamental skills (arpeggios, scale patterns) more palatable to them!
Alyse Hokamp 