Nuria Canales Rubio is a Spanish baroque flute player who began her musical journey at the age of 9. She holds both a BA and a MA degree in modern flute, obtained respectively in Spain (Musikene) and the in Netherlands (Conservatorium van Amsterdam). Over the years, her fascination with historical performance and the baroque flute has deepened. At the age of 20, a serendipitous encounter with the baroque flute maestro Wilbert Hazelzet led her to the Netherlands, where she fully immersed herself in Historical Performance under the guidance of Jed Wentz at the Conservatorium van Amsterdam (BA). Since moving to the U.S. in 2022, Nuria has performed with ensembles such as ARTEK, Yale Schola Cantorum, Austin La Follia, Austin Baroque Orchestra, Lumedia Musicworks, and Philharmonie Austin. She is currently enrolled in Juilliard's Historical Performance program, performing regularly with Juilliard415.. She has recently performed in Les Arts Florissants’ annual festival, Dans les Jardins de William Christie - 2024. She is also the founder and artistic director of the baroque ensemble Passiones Animae. Passionate about teaching, Nuria has given baroque flute masterclasses at the Butler School of Music, Texas State University, and the Tianjin Juilliard School of Music. She also teaches early childhood music as a certified Music Together instructor. Nuria lives happily with her husband, and has a cherished black cat named Muffato.
​            
Nuria's website
The first thing you do when you pick up your traverso to start the practice day, and why?
I try to evaluate my general state—both physical and mental. Some days, I pick up the instrument and feel that my “musical soul” is ready—present without any conscious effort on my part. On those days, I simply start making sound, and the air, fingers, and music all flow well from the beginning. But those days are the exception.
The more common scenario in recent years (basically since becoming an adult with responsibilities) is that I feel very tired or mentally busy. On days when things aren’t ready from the start, I take a moment to centre myself. I bring my attention to my hands holding the flute, to my body in space, and I give myself enough time for, say, my “crappy morning sound” to improve as I continue playing.
Any recurring piece to play every day, and why?​
There are recurring pieces that I often play (even if just a few bars) as a way to warm up to the instrument—but more importantly, to activate the musical activity of my brain and body. These are usually melodies I can play comfortably, or ones I associate with positive experiences (for example, the flute solo from the aria Benedictus in Bach’s B Minor Mass—I played it on a UK tour and grew to really love it).
Another specific piece I used to play to “turn on the machine” was the first movement of Blavet’s Fourth Sonata, La Lumague.
When I was little, I used to play Celtic melodies from the albums my parents had at home. I still play some Irish tunes before I start practicing.
Do you have a daily routine?​
I can’t say I do—at least not when it comes to structured elements that are repeated in every session. I have never been able to maintain stable routines in any aspect of my life, except for a very structured breakfast each morning. However, I don’t believe fixed study routines are necessary for everyone. I have learned to find value in a somewhat chaotic approach: depending on what I start doing each day, I use that as my starting point, which then leads me to different ways of working on my practice throughout the day.
What kind of goals do you set for your practice?​
Following from the previous answer, my goals tend to emerge as I go. For example, if—based on what I’ve just played—I feel the need to practice a passage slowly, focusing only on how my air circulates, that becomes my next immediate goal.
It’s not easy for me to focus on just one thing, so even that is already a significant short-term goal. I don’t usually set many concrete objectives at the start of a practice session that I expect to accomplish by the end.
Do you do any systematic warm-up?
Not really systematic, since warming up is not something I purposefully do every day. But ever since I started playing the traverso, I discovered that playing slow scales has a lot to offer: on the traverso, it’s a great way to find the identity of each key while working on intonation. I won’t play a D major scale the same way I play a B-flat major one… My body, my air, and my affect will be different.
Do you have a specific structure for warm-up and practice sessions?
I do not. Depending on what I hear when I start playing, I will take it from there. The same applies to the rest of my practice: one thing inspires and leads to the next
Any distinctive characteristics of baroque flute daily practice vs. modern flute or other instruments?​
The amount of air required on the traverso is much smaller than when playing the modern flute. This affects how we can play long phrases, for instance. In my own experience, the fact that we need less air allows for more nuance in phrasing and articulation, especially in long passages with many sixteenth notes (e.g. the second movement of J.S. Bach’s E minor Sonata).
Also—and again, in my own experience—the fact that we use less air doesn’t mean we need less energy. It’s a different kind of energy. I maintain a strong mental focus on “creating space” inside my chest (even if it’s imaginary). Most importantly, I try to release unnecessary tension in my body. My hips and knees, for example, can be very loose—but you have to consciously focus on that.
What are the key elements and unmissable points of daily practice?
For me, singing is essential. I’m not talking about singing with a beautiful voice, but about approaching the score from a different place in your mind. By singing it with personal syllables (and gibberish), I arrive at musical ideas that wouldn’t occur to me when I’m also busy dealing with the instrument. I sing an idea for a phrase, and then I try to imitate that exact idea on the traverso.
How long and distributed should warm-up and practice be?
Since I don’t separate them clearly, it’s difficult to say. Again, in my case, it depends so much on how I’m feeling before I even start, and how the flute, my body, and my brain feel once I do.
If I feel comfortable from the start, I just begin my practice. If I don’t, I still begin, but I might use some techniques to make it easier at first—like singing the melody or using noise-cancelling headphones (see answers further down).
Any  specific tip to address difficult technical passages during daily practice?
There are many, but since finger passages have always been something I’ve struggled with, I’ll share a tip about that. For example, when a passage becomes difficult for the fingers due to the speed required, fork fingerings, or tricky transitions between notes.
This might sound super simple, but sometimes (not always) I’ve solved this issue by simply observing which finger (or fingers) isn’t moving fast enough or is moving too quickly in comparison to the others. By identifying this and practicing the note changes as one command for all the fingers to move at once, a lot can be resolved.
Are there any tools that are particularly useful for practicing?
I very often practice with noise cancelling headphones.The idea behind this is not to reproduce any music from them, but simply have them on with the noise cancelling function activated, so you also reduce the amount of sound you can hear from your own playing. For many musicians, this is an absolute torture, but for me it’s a blessing. One of my problems when I practice is that I receive way too much information per every second of music I play. And I can’t always deal with all of it, or even choose which problem I should focus on first.
For me, noise cancelling headphones are great for three things:
  1. By reducing the amount of information received, I can choose better what to focus on (within the range of information I receive while wearing them)
  2. You won’t hear certain subtle details, like intonation in difficult keys. However, you will be able to focus much better on your body: you can bring your attention to how the air is circulating, how you’d like to articulate, how your fingers move, how open your throat or chest feel. You will be forced to feel more and think less.
  3. Sometimes, you don’t feel like starting to play at all. Your body doesn’t want to, your air feels bad, and everything you play sounds horrible to you. However, if you begin your practice with noise cancelling headphones, it will be much easier to “just start” without judgement. It will be easier to make the machine run when it feels rusty.
Again, I find this practice liberating because I have difficulties filtering all the information I receive, but for many musicians this might not work.
Any other general advice, suggestion, tip?
Sing, both out loud and in your head. Reproduce your pieces inside your mind while walking down the street, making musical decisions without the instrument.
Try to think about melodies in three dimensions: now forward, now backward; this note(s) has weight and falls/rests on the ground, this doesn’t have weight and rises into the air, etc.
Try to make theatrical gestures (even in your head) inspired by the melody: it could be a tilt of the head, a grimace of pain when emphasizing a dissonance, or a sudden, jubilant smile. It could be a smile of different kinds: a smile of being in love, at peace with the world, or a sudden, exultant explosion.
Use IMAGINATION as if you translated al the activities in your life to the music, and you’ll be able to create a story. A very abstract one, perhaps, but a story after all.  
How do you advise your students as far as structuring their daily practice?
They need to find their own. I couldn’t give them concrete advise because my own practice is never structured.
The only thing I would say is, if they have many pieces to work on, make a clear choice about the amount of pieces they’ll work on in the time they have: will they focus all the attention in one (or two), or will they practice a bit of each, to avoid leaving any of them behind?
In terms of structure, I really think it is a very personal thing.
Do you suggest or teach a warm-up routine?​
I do not. I advise my students to evaluate how everything feels before starting and immediately after starting, and decide what to do in consequence.
Are there any specific pieces particularly beneficial to be played regularly in daily practice?
There have been in the past. At this moment, I need to prepare such amount of music that I need to focus only on what I must play at the moment. However, it never hurts to have some pieces “in the back of your closet”, pieces that you have assimilated very well in the past, and that have helped you improve certain aspects of your technique. For instance, suppose that today you’re not managing to articulate as clearly as you’d like. Go to that old piece in which you achieved a great articulation. Your brain is able to “rescue” the physicality of a good articulation from that old piece, in which the good articulation happened consistently, and then you can go back to the piece you’re working on, emulating the same sensation and applying to the current moment and piece.
For me, a “back of the closet” piece that I use to retrieve my sound and musicality is the beginning of Bach’s B minor sonata, and the fast last movement (the part in 12/8) for my brain to remember the sensations of a good articulation.