‘Baroque flute master’ Joanna Marsden (the Classical Music Sentinel) is a ‘fabulous’ (the Whole Note) flautist based in Montréal, Québec. She has performed with numerous ensembles throughout North America and Europe “beautifully” (Luis Gago, Madrid) and “with notable rhetorical clarity” (Boston Musical Intelligencer). She has worked with conductors including Ton Koopman, Masaaki Suzuki, Václav Luks, Julian Prégardien, Florian Heyerick, Mathieu Lussier, and Peter van Heyghen among others.
Her début CD, Devienne Sonatas with Mark Edwards, was issued by Centaur Records in February 2019 and has been warmly reviewed by Early Music America and the American Record Guide. Her recording of Michel de la Barre’s Premier livre de pièces (1702) with the Opus Project released in 2022 by Navona Records was favourably reviewed by the Classical Music Sentinel. Her album of Montéclair’s Concerts for baroque flute and basse chiffrée was released by Navona Records on June 23, 2023. 
She addresses a wide repertoire, playing antique flutes by Tortochot (Paris, ~1770), Claire Godfroy l’aîné (Paris, ~1820), Jean-Louis Tulou (Paris, ~1841) and a first-generation Louis Esprit Lot (Paris,1868) as well as faithful reproductions. 
Joanna is currently accepting private students and online students through the Heliosfero Academy launching in fall 2023 (visit https://heliosfero.com/academy/ for more information).
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www.joanna-marsden.com/
Joanna's Facebook page
The first thing you do when you pick up your traverso to start the practice day, and why?
I like to start with Devienne's “messa di voce” scale exercise from his Méthode. It's a pleasant way to wake up the control of your dynamics, tone and support. 
Any recurring piece to play every day, and why?​
I play a lot of different types of flutes from Renaissance to Romantic, and I'm not sure that I have any piece that I play every day because of this. In terms of études, I frequently come back to Andersen’s Etudes (for simple-system and Boehm), Tulou, Drouet, the Hugot transcription études, Zimmerman Caprices, and Quantz Solfeggi depending on which key system I need to work with at the time.
Do you have a daily routine?​
I like to structure my practice to include isolated technical work (scales, arpeggios, and other patterns), caprices, variations or études from the same period as the repertoire I'm preparing, detailed repertoire practice and memorized repertoire practice in flow. I refer here to the concept of flow or optimal experience as coined by psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi in 'Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience'. This section of my practice focuses on the pleasure of playing balanced with the difficulties of the repertoire. I may play around with difficult passages in different ways - completing phrases or sequences differently or improvising. 
Depending on the repertoire, I may spend some time improvising in the style based on historical models. If I'm working on early French baroque music, I may play through some of Bacilly's or D'Ambruis' ornamented airs or Montéclair's brunettes and try to apply this to the suite at hand.
What kind of goals do you set for your practice?​
When my concert schedule and level of caffeination permit, I try to pick specific goals each morning at the beginning of my practice session. In ideal circumstances, I keep a diary of my practice as I work so I can keep track of my recent practice trends and determine whether there are certain areas I want to prioritize in subsequent sessions. ​
Any distinctive characteristics of baroque flute daily practice vs. modern flute or other instruments?​
Sound-production changed quite a bit over time in tune with the technology. Within my structured practice, I try to harmonise my choice of études and technical work with the technology needed for the repertoire. When I am working on a Tulou programme, I will spend more time with Tulou’s études and exercises and for a Devienne programme, I will spend more time with études from his time from Devienne’s, Pérault’s or Michel’s pedagogical materials. For belle époque music for Boehm flutes like the Widor suite, Taffanel or Mel Bonis etc…, I will likely work with Altès or Taffanel & Gaubert. Boehm’s sets of études are also fantastic practice tools.
Well-written études, which focus on one or two technical or expressive challenges with good harmonic structure and melody, are a gift. These composers knew their contemporary instruments so intimately, and I find contemporary études incredibly helpful for imagining the perfected style specific to the composer’s context.
What are the key elements and unmissable points of daily practice?​
When I am pressed for time, I prioritize sound work (sons filés and harmonics) and scale work to wake up the fingers.
How long and distributed should warm-up and practice be?
Unfortunately, this entirely depends on scheduling. Daily practice is essential, but the depth of the practice will have to depend on scheduling and the needs of the particular week.
Any  specific tip to address difficult technical passages during daily practice?
Intelligent practice is the only way to address difficult technical passages. Before you can move forward, you have to understand why this particular passage is challenging for you. Slow practice can be helpful, but I find it more important to think about what expression the composer is evoking in the passage. Once you know what you want to say with the music, technique will support the expression.
Are there any tools that are particularly useful for practicing?
I use Cleartune a lot when I am not rehearsing with a colleague. Whenever possible, I like to play with historical tuning systems and pitch levels appropriate to the music. For recordings, one can have more flexibility and control over keyboard tuning systems than in concert. 
I work with metronomes for confirmation of the tempo I’m aiming for, but I try not to rely on this too much, particularly for baroque music. When we start to have metronome markings in the score, these can be interesting to try out; often the metronome markings are quite surprising. It's still good to use this tool only for confirmation in order to encourage expressive rhythmic flexibility.
I have a mirror in my practice studio, and I use this often with my students to help with body awareness.
How do you advise your students as far as structuring their daily practice?
I advise my students to keep a practice diary in order to think intelligently about how they spend their practice time. I generally recommend a structured practice including isolated technical work, études, caprices and variations, detailed repertoire practice, and memorized flow practice.
Do you suggest or teach a warm-up routine?
This depends very much on the needs of each student. I can’t generalize because challenges for one student may come very easily to another. The warm-up routine can change over time depending on which areas they need to improve. 
Are there any specific pieces particularly beneficial to be played regularly in daily practice?
I love caprices and études because they can help us a lot in understanding the technical priorities of a particular time. Around the end of the eighteenth century and nineteenth century, a lot of these technical studies are in duet format which students enjoy.