I consider myself passionate about music education, as well as a versatile musician (besides early music, I love playing modern flute, folk, pop music, even extreme metal...). I currently combine my work as a music teacher in two educational centres in Barcelona with the organisation and promotion of Anacronía, an ensemble with which we are focussing on communicating and reaching new audiences in a more effective way.
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The first thing you do when you pick up your traverso to start the practice day, and why?
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I just set up the flute and start playing. I don't have any rituals, although sometimes I wish I had one, because I think it could often help us to prepare ourselves mentally, to start already concentrating.
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Any recurring piece to play every day, and why?
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There is a lot of nice repertoire to play on the traverso, so I always try to play new or unfamiliar things. I certainly don't tend to repeat the same piece too much, but if I do, out of necessity or for fun, I always like to play it in a different way, with variations or some daring changes. For example, with Anacronia I have been lucky enough to be able to repeat the same concert more than 50 times, so I know the pieces very well, but even so, I always try to have a different embellishment, a joke or a melodic variation in each concert.
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Do you have a daily routine?
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Unfortunately, sometimes I can go weeks without playing the traverso. I would love to have time to practice every day and enjoy playing the traverso, but my life makes it a bit difficult. I only practice when I have a certain project, to prepare the music and to prepare myself for the concert (physically and mentally).
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What kind of goals do you set for your practice?
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I always think about what audience is going to listen to me and how I can make it more enjoyable or “understandable”. Therefore, I usually focus on knowing in depth the music I have to prepare, not only melodically (which is usually the traverso part) but harmonically (without which the melodic part makes no sense), the historical context of the piece, of the composer.... When this work is done (or while I am doing it) I try to work in two ways: that technically the work I do is good, as good as possible, and that the music I do can contain and express all this previous content, that even the least educated listener can at least partially understand the music he or she will be hearing.
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Do you do any systematic warm-up?
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No, I think the warm-up is not useful if it is not related to the music you are going to practice. That's why I always do a different warm-up (sometimes I don't do a warm-up at all). It depends a lot on the context of the work I'm going to do. If the piece I have to prepare is in a 'difficult key', I do some arpeggios in that key, if it has complicated variations, trills, high and long notes.... I warm up depending on the needs of the day.
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Any distinctive characteristics of baroque flute daily practice vs. modern flute or other instruments?
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It doesn't make much difference to me. When I play the traverso I am more careful about what key I will be playing than when I play the modern flute, so in my warm-up I am more aware of working on those keys and chords. Apart from that, I approach my work in the same way.
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What are the key elements and unmissable points of daily practice?
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For me, the only key point is that what you do in your practice allows you to be more prepared when it comes to preparing the repertoire and playing the concert (physically and mentally). The rest of the time that I don't dedicate to it, I prefer to spend it studying other things or resting.
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How long and distributed should warm-up and practice be?
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I doubt there is a magic formula, I think it depends a lot on the context. In my case, sometimes I don't warm up at all and sometimes I spend more time warming up than practising.
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Any specific tip to address difficult technical passages during daily practice?
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I always analyse harmonically what is going on, I divide this passage into different sections and I look for ways to simplify each of these parts. I work on them separately, put them together and try to make sense of them as a whole (if that's the case). Finally, I do a ‘simplification’ work, I try to make the passage sound easy for the listener, even if it is difficult for me. Nobody wants to see a musician suffer.
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Are there any tools that are particularly useful for practicing?
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Playing with friends. It is the only tool I have found useful and rewarding; playing together, listening to each other separately and judging each other, always with love and affection.
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Any other general advice, suggestion, tip?
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Try to have fun while practicing. Otherwise, it's not worth it.
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How do you advise your students as far as structuring their daily practice?
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I try to convey that “error” is part of making music. I try to transmit that thought, perhaps more typical of modern music, in which a mistake can become something beautiful if you learn to handle it correctly.
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Do you suggest or teach a warm-up routine?
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No, because as I said before, I believe that the warm-up is not useful if it is not related to the music you are going to practice. That's why we always work based on our practice interests, which usually vary depending on the occasion.
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Are there any specific pieces particularly beneficial to be played regularly in daily practice?
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I would not recommend playing the same piece many times in a routine way, we run the risk of loathing it or playing it “without soul”.
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