"Airplanes" and "Chopsticks"

Hello,

Today am publishing new videos to the LeGrand Virtual Studio.

"Airplanes Exercise"(in Category C)

My version of Keith Underwood's "Chopstick Exercise" which helps flutists learn to better organize their embouchures by playing with a chopstick in their mouths. Very weird exercise, with wonderful results! (in Categories B and C)

Practice "Bytes": short examples of using chopsticks and buzzing to improve embouchure function, tone , and breathing in musical excerpts. (under Advanced Lessons)

I use the "Chopstick Exercise" as a "prelude" to teaching buzzing, especially for advanced flutists who are beginner buzzers.

In the video I demonstrate the exercise, along with some buzzing and it's results, in short Practice "Bytes." Todays nibbles include:

* Texas High School All-State Band Flute Etudes:

Joachim Andersen, Op. 21 #10
Sigfrid Karg-Elert, Op. 107, #17
Theobald Boehm, Op. 26, #6

* Honegger’s Dance de la Chèvre (North Carolina High School All-District Piece)

For those of you who can't wait to download the files to watch them, here is the excerpt I am posting on the public blog.


More Practice "Bytes" will be posted in the near future. Send me requests for spots in your repertoire to chew on!

Bon appetit!
Catherine

Galway Technique--Hand Position

Galway Technique--Hand Position

This is a video by Sir James Galway on hand position and finger technique. He emphasizes:

gentle, efficient finger movement
and
the value of legato and good tone production

in developing a good finger technique.

Have a look!

Catherine

About Flutorials™

Hello,

Some of you have asked for more information about the Flutorials portion of the LeGrand Virtual Studio.

These recent video series are in addition to the other video lessons (currently c. 20) on various aspects of fluteplaying

There are currently 2 Flutorials™ series:

"From the Start"
Step-by-step videos for teaching beginning flutists

"Progressive Lessons for Novice Flutists"
video lessons to supplement what the beginner flutist is learning in their flute lessons or band class. They assume the student already knows how to make a sound on the flute, how to assemble the flute, and how to and finger the notes B, A, and G before watching these video lessons. These short lessons simplify songs into easy to learn elements, then combine the elements to form the entire song.

Podcast lessons benefit students by allowing them to repeat each element or part of the video until they have mastered each skill.

Teachers and advanced students might also benefit from watching these videos and remembering how to simplify a song into basic elements. And...you are not likely to hear me play "Hot Cross Buns" anywhere else!

In early Fall I will post the first videos in a new Flutorials™ series for advanced students, and additional lessons in the other 2 series.

Please let me know what other materials and topics would be helpful you would like to find in the Virtual Studio.


Best,
Catherine

Upper Lip: "Suppressed Smile"

Cheshire Cat . here is The Cheshire cat as John Tenniel envisioned it in the 1866 publication of Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland.

A helpful hint for "beginner buzzers": Keith Underwood suggests that the ideal upper lip position for buzzing feels like a suppressed smile. Imagine something is funny and it is not appropriate to laugh. Feel how your upper lip feels like a combination of smirk and and sneer.

He also sometimes refers to the upper lip as part of a "cheshire cat" grin.

Give it a try!

Catherine

Picking up Speed

Hello,

One of the recurring themes in lessons this week is ways to increase tempo in difficult passages.

First things first: check your body balance and hand position. Often, adjusting these things can be a miracle cure for the problem. Even if it does not solve the difficulty, at least you will not be practicing more problems!

In my own practice, I use a variety of exercises, juxtaposing and combining them.

In music (as in life), it is good to have a lot of different ways to work on a problem.

Here are some of my tried and true approaches:

SLOW practice (I mean 10 times slower than the tempo!)
"Butterfingers"
"Fingers Ahead"
"Unevens and Double Unevens"
"Add-a-note" and "Reverse Add-a-Note"
Bursts of Notes
Pyramid form

There are video lessons on "Fingers Ahead" and "Unevens and Double Unevens" posted in the LeGrand Virtual Studio.

SLOW practice should not require explanation, but we all need to be reminded to do it!

"Butterfingers" (on the list of future videos) is a slow practice technique for improving legato and efficiency of fingerings. Touch the surface of all keys all of the time. The key is either closed, or you allow the key to push your finger up, experiencing the resistance of the springs. This results is "gooey" sounding notes, but really helps us get acquainted with our instruments. (This exercise is modified for wind players with ringed keys, ie.oboe or clarinet.)

"Add-a-note" and "Reverse Add-a-Note": Play the first 2 notes of a passage. Play again, adding the third note, Play again adding the 4th note, etc. To reverse, play the last 2 notes of the passage, then the last 3, last 4, etc.

"Bursts of Notes" (on the list of future videos) are small groups of notes--3, 4, 5, 6--whatever units you can play very well up to tempo. In this exercise, play the selected number of notes beginning, in turn, on each note of the passage.
"Reverse Add-a-Note" and "Bursts of Notes" encourage even rhythm and build in confidence and ability to start on any note in a passage--very useful if you lose your concentration in a performance!

"Pyramid form" (on the list of future videos) is an exercise for passages that change direction. Play the 3 notes of the passage where the direction changes, then add one note on each side of the direction changes until you have mastered the passage. Example--C arpeggio:

GCG
EGCGE
CEGCGEC
GCEGCGECG
EGCEGCGECGE
CEGCEGCGECGEC

Hope your practicing is productive! Let me hear from you!

Catherine

Breathing Coordination Website: Carl Stough

Breathing Coordination - Home Page

This page provides 4 photos from the animated video Carl Stough developed after years of research. This animated video which shows the function of the diaphragm and associated movement of the ribs is highly recommended by Keith Underwood.

I suggest having a look at this website while working with the Interview with Keith Underwood, Part 6: Timing and Sequence of Events for a Breath. The website will help you visualize how the sequence of the Breath looks on the inside!


Here is a quote from the website:

"The concept of Breathing CoordinationTM was the result of ten years of medical research started in 1958 by Carl Stough and elaborated by Reece Stough in 1964 for advanced researchers in the international respiratory field. Every physical and emotional problem, to some degree, is the result of an insufficiency of oxygen. The diaphragm works to achieve a maximum exhale. This is necessary in order to maintain a low residual volume of carbon dioxide in the lungs. The diaphragm, which is a primarily involuntary muscle-organ, is the foundation for the entire respiratory system. It affects the two other main systems of the body, the circulatory and nervous systems. The term Breathing Coordination is the name given to the exact way the respiratory system is designed to function at maximum efficiency with minimum effort."

Another page gives information on self-help for developing good breathing coordination and specific help for people with asthma.

I have been told the video was withdrawn from the website pending the settlement of Stough's estate, but this page gets the idea across. If you know someone with a copy of this video, I encourage you to have a look. I certainly hope this great tool eventually reappears on the internet!

Best,
Catherine

LeGrand Virtual Studio Group Subscriptions!

Now available (as requested):

An annual group subscription rate of only $25/per student is now available to the students of any subscriber (private studio instructors, classroom teachers, or ensemble conductors).

If you are a subscriber and wish for your students to have access to these resources, please contact me at groupsubscriptions@catherinelegrand.com for more information.

I hope you and your students will take advantage of this offer!

Catherine

New videos in the LeGrand Virtual Studio

I have just added the following video tutorials for LeGrand Virtual Studio subscribers:

"Fingers Ahead" Exercise

"Miss America" Exercise

In Flutorials™, “From the Start”, a new series (for teachers of beginning flutists):

Episode 1: Two Common Misconceptions about Flute-Playing

Headjoint: First Sounds

Adding the Tongue: “Hit” or “Hid” Inhale Exercise

Physical Orientation to the Flute
Part 1: Balancing and Assembling the Flute

Physical Orientation to the Flute
Part 2: Bringing the Flute to You and Playing “B”

Adding “A” and “G”

Party Favors 201: Embouchure

Best,
Catherine