Honeycomb Arms

Greetings,

During Halloween, I was amused by seeing vintage honeycomb decorations--skeletons and witches with honeycomb arms--which reminded me of decorations at school when I was a child.

Then I had an idea...
Retracting (shortening) your arms in difficult passages, or when you are nervous, is a typical fear response and actually causes fingering and breathing problems. To keep yourself open and the notes flowing, think of your arms as honeycomb arms--expanding rather than retracting. Also think of your hands as large, easily able to cradle the flute.

Hope this image is useful!
Catherine

Fall Focus

Greetings,

While students are busy learning their music for Region, District, and State Band Auditions and other competitions this Fall, be sure to include sight reading as a regular part of practice and lessons. Sight reading skills are an important part of being a proficient musician. 

Here are my tips for better sight reading. Hope you find them helpful!

Catherine’s Steps to Better Sight Reading

There are also some great sight reading websites and apps I wrote about in January. In case you missed the post:

Websites and Apps for Improving Sight Reading

I also suggest including Constructive Rest as a part of your daily practice, to integrate good physical orientation into your music-making (unlike the photo!)

Here is a post about Contructive Rest.

Best,
Catherine