interview with
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interview with
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I am a German flutist, now living in Basel, Switzerland. Since 2016 I teach the Renaissance traverso and consort at the Schola Cantorum Basiliensis, and from September 2024 on I’ll also be teaching the traverso at the HEM Geneva. I played with Ensembles such as Le Concert des Nations, Akademie für Alte Musik Berlin, Gli Incogniti or Anima Eterna Bruges. This year I am looking forward a lot to be playing the traverso with groups like Continuum Berlin, Phaedrus, Sollazzo Ensemble, The Netherlands Bach Society or my own ensemble astrophil & stella.
Johanna on Facebook www.johannabartz.com/ |
The first thing you do when you pick up your traverso to start the practice day, and why?
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Usually, I start playing long notes in the first octave. First I am aiming to find a full, rich and somewhat dense sound to gain a feeling of being in contact with the instrument. Often, I sing and play at the same time – I find this particularly helpful to relax the throat and open up my sound.
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Any recurring piece to play every day, and why?
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I always choose one Bach Cantata for a few days, practice the obbligato aria if there is one and/or the difficult choirs, read the liturgical texts etc. There is a great edition of all the traverso parts of Bach’s Cantatas, Passions and Oratorios by Edition Peters which I use for this, as well as Markus Müller’s Bach Cantata App. Sometimes I insert a few weeks with the Telemann Fantasias or the Solo pieces by Braun le Cadet/Quantz/Weiss which are presented in different collections, or I practice movements from Bach’s Suites for cello.
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Do you have a daily routine?
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Sometimes it is tricky to maintain a daily practicing routine because of my unsteady lifestyle with travelling, teaching, recording etc. But I try to practice every day. Usually, I do some exercises and warming up for the embouchure, sound quality, then articulation and technique. I sometimes also insert small practicing sessions for trills. Then I practice for my upcoming projects. If I have very difficult repertoire coming up I try to have an intense practicing phase and put the piece away for some weeks before picking it up again before the project. And generally, I focus most on the flutes I have to play in the near future.
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What kind of goals do you set for your practice?
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My main goal is always to keep my technique, embouchure, articulation and sound healthy. On top of that I try new postures or techniques to broaden or change my approach to the instrument from time to time.
Another daily goal is also simply learning or refreshing the repertoire I have to play. I always try to define a small goal for each day. One main objective is also to play each technical exercise or piece as musically purposeful and/or expressive as possible. I believe that projecting your musical ideas is something that has to be trained as well as the physiological processes while playing. |
Do you do any systematic warm-up?
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I don’t have a very systematic warm-up routine, but often I do integrate the same elements in a practicing session, e.g. some stretching exercises from my Qi Gong practice, sound, support, singing and playing etc.
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Do you have a specific structure for warm-up and practice sessions?
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No! After warming up with long notes I try to vary the importance, duration and order of the single practicing elements to stay mentally fresh and active.
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What are the key elements and unmissable points of daily practice?
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One or more clearly defined (small) goals, some time without any goal (just for fun) and to never reduce technical exercises to a routine without a musical idea behind it.
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How long and distributed should warm-up and practice be?
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That really depends. If I haven’t played a certain flute for a longer time, it can be more time, sometimes, if the circumstances don’t allow a proper warm-up, very little. But I would say between 10 – 30 minutes.
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Any specific tip to address difficult technical passages during daily practice?
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Isolate the difficult passage. Play it slower a few times, but change one element every time, for example: 1) play super legato 2) legato and pianissimo 3) play with very short articulation 4) play with dotted rhythm 5) play legato and in Lombardic rhythm etc. This exercise is actually a lot of fun, because the musical outcome can be quite anachronistic or absurd, but it keeps the mind fresh and can help a lot!
I also like to build the passage up from the end, but then I play in the original tempo: ultima – penultima – last three notes – last four notes etc. Before I start playing, I always imagine before how I would like it to sound. If I cannot imagine it, I can’t play it! Another great method is to take a passage and play it in tempo and with the desired articulation and agogics, but to first do all of that on the first note (=fingering) only. In the next step the fingers play note 1 and then note 2, stay on that fingering and so on. |
Are there any tools that are particularly useful for practicing?
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I find it very useful to record myself with my phone and then listen to it. Another great tool can be the metronome, but I have started to walk or dance along with it, so that the tempo is also connected to the memories of not only the muscles that are involved with flute playing. I also like to sing and accompany a phrase with a gesture – very often this helps with a clear musical expression or idea.
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Any other general advice, suggestion, tip?
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Yes!
Don’t try to manage or master everything in one day. 😊 |
How do you advise your students as far as structuring their daily practice?
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I usually ask them if they have a certain routine, and if yes, we evaluate their exercises, modify them if necessary and add new ones for their specific needs.
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Do you suggest or teach a warm-up routine?
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It depends very much on what the student needs. Some of them have a very strong routine, others still want to build one or modify what they are doing. I usually teach single exercises that the students can integrate into their warm-up routine.
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Are there any specific pieces particularly beneficial to be played regularly in daily practice?
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I often modify exercises from later flute eras, for example Taffanel & Gaubert or Reichert, or I create an own exercise for the day.
Usually I start with a pattern within the ambitus of a fifth, containing slurred steps and thirds, and I proceed through all major and minor tonalities: G major, g minor, F sharp major, F sharp minor (and also G flat major and g flat minor…) etc., first descending down until d1 and then going up again until I have played up to a3. Below is an example: I often modify exercises from later flute eras, for example Taffanel & Gaubert or Reichert, or I create an own exercise for the day.
Usually I start with a pattern within the ambitus of a fifth, containing slurred steps and thirds, and I proceed through all major and minor tonalities: G major, g minor, F sharp major, F sharp minor (and also G flat major and g flat minor…) etc., first descending down until d1 and then going up again until I have played up to a3. Below is an example: |