interview with
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interview with
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Elizabeth lives in the UK and finds playing the baroque flute feels intimate and enjoys feeling the wood in her hands and the resonance buzzing under her fingers!
She has written two award winning baroque study books, including ‘Baroque Flute Studies’ (Winner – Best Flute Method NFA 2015) available from Wonderfulwinds. Elizabeth has recorded the Telemann 12 Fantasias and Flute Sonatas by J.S. Bach on a FluteMakers Guild flute. More recently, she has worked on the W.F. Bach duos with longtime colleague, Rachel Beckett and exploring the different keys, fingerings and sonorities that this repertoire contains, was challenging, but rewarding. She runs an annual summer course ‘Flutes in Tuscany’ and a successful monthly Flutes Online Club. www.lizwalker.co.uk YouTube @Lizfestive |
The first thing you do when you pick up your traverso to start the practice day, and why?
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Long notes - just to establish where I am today! Every day feels different - so it’s just a way of finding out where I am...
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Any recurring piece to play every day, and why?
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I sadly do scales every day, and the pattern in my study book Baroque Flute Studies, written as study ‘B’, starting on different notes, but more often than not in G, again, just to establish where I am.
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Do you have a daily routine?
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Yes! I try to practice baroque flute in the morning, and then modern flute, or which ever later flute I’m playing, in the afternoon. If I’ve got a baroque concert coming up though, I’ll stay on baroque flute in the afternoon.
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What kind of goals do you set for your practice?
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It really depends on the work I’m doing. I might have some specific passages to memorise or get under my fingers, otherwise I’ll be working on new programmes of music or series of pieces.
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Do you do any systematic warm-up?
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Yes - tone and intonation first, then finger patterns and articulations. I’ll do some body exercises earlier in the morning, but if I haven’t managed to do these as a separate practice, I might do some stretches before playing.
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Do you have a specific structure for warm-up and practice sessions?
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As above really. Start long and slow, move towards hard and fast!
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Any distinctive characteristics of baroque flute daily practice vs. modern flute or other instruments?
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I think it’s the same, even though the end result is different. I still start with long notes on the modern flute - Moyse tone exercises before going on to patterns and finger/articulations and then tackle the difficult passages.
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What are the key elements and unmissable points of daily practice?
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Taking time to establish a good sound/good supportive breathing first. This may entail finding resonance using vowel sounds “OAR” I think about yawning, softening the palate, separating the back row of teeth, thus listening and feeling the buzz. We should also aim at an expressive use of air, i.e. think of using the air like a violinist uses a bow…sometimes fast, sometimes slow. As the air speed changes, allow the aperture in your lips to respond with a relaxed jaw. I know! Easier said than done - but this is the aim! And if you believe you are breathing well, go deeper and broader and enjoy finding that extra depth in your breathing/sound.
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How long and distributed should warm-up and practice be?
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As long as it takes to establish a good sound with flexibility and dynamic contrasts. This can happen quickly some days, a lot longer other days.
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Any specific tip to address difficult technical passages during daily practice?
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Practice playing difficult passages from memory - only then can you ‘picture’ the pattern and hear the discrepancies. Also enjoy discovering the patterns that need repeating and repeat them in several creative ways. Always go back and check this has done the job! Subdividing could be another good way to address tricky phrases or rhythms, which involves feeling the smaller beats ticking away in your background while you play the actual passages.
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Are there any tools that are particularly useful for practicing?
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I do like a mirror and a tuning machine - with a sounding fixed tone to pitch octaves, 5ths, 3rds to. A metronome can also be very helpful, and recording device too, particularly to listen to ourselves, which can be very revealing, and respond to what we are hearing.
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Any other general advice, suggestion, tip?
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An usually overlooked point is about posture: use some time before starting to play to check feet, knees, pelvic, shoulders, wrists, fingers, neck, head are all relaxed and balanced. Stretch and warm up these busy limbs.
And in general, try to create opportunities to perform together with other friends/musicians or sign up to courses/competitions to help with motivation. |
How do you advise your students as far as structuring their daily practice?
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I advise them to warm up carefully and to take the time to listen and react with patience and intelligence and not to be too critical too soon - sometimes it’s best just to get playing first.
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Do you suggest or teach a warm-up routine?
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Yes, and it does change depending on the repertoire or what the students are working towards.
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Are there any specific pieces particularly beneficial to be played regularly in daily practice?
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Vocalises are generally a great way to enhance tone and the expressive use of air, which I explained in a previous answer. They also represent a very useful workout for practicing phrasing, note shaping and intonation, articulation and ornamentation. I still suggest my baroque study book! And Handel Sonatas, or my vocalise book Vocalise: Baroque Arias for Flute, A Guided Collection. It’s lovely to play pieces that sing off the page freely.
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