Laura Pontecorvo is an Italian flutist who has been performing the baroque and classical repertoire for many years in the most important concert seasons in the world.
Laura collaborates with numerous specialized groups, in particular with Concerto Italiano conducted by Rinaldo 
Alessandrini, with whom she has also recorded the sonatas of J.S. Bach published by Arcana-Outhere. She has always been interested in the variety of baroque transverse flutes and experimenting with specific repertoires with different models. She has recorded for Opus 111, Naïve, Stradivarius, Brilliant, Dynamic, Inedita. For more than 20 years she has also been teaching chamber music and flute.
www.laurapontecorvo.it
www.facebook.com/laurapontecorvo1

The first thing you do when you pick up your traverso to start the practice day, and why?

The resonance of instruments is key to me, and I need to check it by first doing a very simple D major scale. Then, at risk sounding snobbish, to start the day I often play the fourth movement of the Triosonata from Bach’s Musical Offering, which is usually followed by the second movement.

Any recurring piece to play every day, and why?​

I play the above from the Musical Offering almost every day and, depending on the response of the instrument, I can vary the speed, usually starting very slow, or I can focus more on specific passages in different ways.

Do you have a daily routine?​

​Usually there is no overall fixed routine, as it can vary to address some specific issues, related to the embouchure flexibility, the tongue and finger readiness, or other aspects that I feel I’d like to improve on a certain day.

What kind of goals do you set for your practice?​

To me, centering the sound is critical, with the active contribution from all these aspects that I have mentioned earlier, including overall posture, instrument balance, embouchure flexibility, and ultimately the resonance of the whole system. For this, the quality of the lower half of the first octave is the main test I use to check that the sound is where I’d like it to be.

Do you do any systematic warm-up?

Playing the Musical Offering pieces allows me to focus on the notes that require more relaxation and loosening, and work on the resonance of these weak notes. Sometimes I can also review and optimize my instrument holding balance, and consolidate my overall posture, by playing some passages with a sort of technical tricks, like without a thumb, for instance.

Do you have a specific structure for warm-up and practice sessions?​

In addition to the warm-up core, there is musical material to help to address the aspects that represent the focus of the day, like Reichert studies for flexibility, or Moyse studies, legato and staccato, for register and intervals balance.  There are also days when I feel that I need to work more on breathing, and in that case, I usually make good use of the relevant exercises from Graf book “Check-up”. This need usually is driven by a very subjective feeling.

Any distinctive characteristics of baroque flute daily practice vs. modern flute or other instruments?​

My experience spans from renaissance through baroque and classical flutes, and I usually find that the approach to practice is very different for each of these instruments, depending both on their physical characteristics and on the different repertoire that is going to be played. For instance, with the classical flute you need to practice more with specific passages with keys, and possibly using 19th century literature and repertoire.

What are the key elements and unmissable points of daily practice?​

There should be a balance between long- and short-term objectives, so the aim to a general improvement should be coupled with the preparation for upcoming deadline in terms of concerts, recordings or lessons.
As I said earlier, overall instrument response, sound quality, and embouchure flexibility should be the foundation for anything else. 

How long and distributed should warm-up and practice be?

The warm-up phase is adjusted to all the above objectives and can last from a few minutes to quite a bit, depending on the overall quality gap that I need to fill. I believe that an hour should be a sort of limit.

Any  specific tip to address difficult technical passages during daily practice?

There are different ways for a passage to be technically difficult, and usually this involves a combination of different factors, such as tricky fingerings, problematic articulation or intonation, uneven tone or breathing in long phrases. Therefore, one needs to really understand and break down the difficulty components and possibly address each factor separately, for then recomposing the difficult passage as a whole.

Are there any tools that are particularly useful for practicing?

A mirror can be very helpful when beginning to learn the instrument. A tuner should not be something to rely upon solely but should represent only a support or a reference to our ears, or possibly a way to “discover” the nuances of intonation on a baroque flute. A recording device can also significantly help practicing, especially when preparing for concerts or recordings, by comparing your idea of sound and interpretation with the actual result of your efforts. In particular, recording your practice can be very valuable way to spot recurring technical and, more importantly, musical imperfections.

Any other general advice, suggestion, tip?

I find a daily contact with the instrument to be quite key, and therefore I usually recommend playing every day, even if just for a short time. The other main drivers for structuring the daily practice can be performances, recordings, or lessons around certain repertoire, or even using different types of historical flutes, that then require a specific preparation or training to be included in the practice. These can involve specific aspects of playing, specific technical solutions, or even specific notes to be practiced in depth.
Again, I would also emphasize the importance of taking particular care of the balance of the instrument in your hands, and of exercising breathing, in order to obtain a suitable freedom to express through playing.

How do you advise your students as far as structuring their daily practice?

Overall flexibility and balance is what I usually recommend my students to aim for in their practice, before they tackle whatever pieces and repertoire that are studying.
In general, I suggest long notes for breathing and dynamics, and very slow arpeggios and intervals for embouchure flexibility and register balance.
It is also critical to identify and address critical points in an analytical way, with a clear purpose.

Do you suggest or teach a warm-up routine?

Because of its very drivers, the overall warm-up routine I do for myself gets adapted, and usually becomes different, for the students, depending on the different aspects they need to address. A typical practical issue, and possibly a limitation, of how the teaching experience is usually structured, is that I do not have any control on how they actually perform their warm-up and practice, as when we are doing a lesson we all concentrate on the repertoire pieces they are studying, therefore leaving no time to check the actual core of their practice.

Are there any specific pieces particularly beneficial to be played regularly in daily practice?

I believe period French music is a great way to explore all the challenges and opportunities of the baroque flute, as it is almost idiomatic to the entire musical language of the period. Learning to control the typical technical features of this style, such as fingering challenges, articulation clarity, ornaments, phrasing, expression, is the best foundation for playing any other style with the proper refinement. Therefore, I’d like students to start with Boismortier pieces (opus 22) in all keys, and then possibly move to other significant representatives of the French style, like Hotteterre’s Suites, as well as works by Philidor and Pignolet de Monteclair.
Hotteterre’s Preludes, besides being a good bridge between the French and the Italian styles, can make a strong groundwork for practicing improvisation.
Moving to the German style, Telemann’s Kleine Kammermusik and Methodical Sonatas are pieces to always keep in mind.
Also, the 100 Daily Exercises, by Fredrick the Great are very useful to practice regularly, as they are particularly suitable to be transposed to different keys, thus allowing to explore additional technical challenges.

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