automatic translation,
may not be accurate
may not be accurate
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with Elizabeth Walker
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Starting from Moyse
Marcel Moyse's De la Sonorité: Art et Technique (1934) remains one of the best-known approaches to flute tone development. Although written for the modern flute, many of its exercises deal with something every flutist can recognise: how to maintain a good sound as notes, registers and playing conditions change.
Moyse was particularly interested in homogeneity — connecting notes without abrupt changes in sound, despite their different response and timbre. Elizabeth Walker suggested bringing this idea to the traverso through Exercise 4B, a simple pattern of progressively widening intervals. On the one-keyed flute, where differences between notes can be particularly noticeable, it becomes an interesting exercise in listening as much as tone production. The question is simple: Can you preserve the qualities of a good sound as you move progressively farther away from your starting note? |
Moyse and Sound Moyse did not present De la Sonorité as a recipe for producing one perfect “beautiful sound.” His exercises develop control over different aspects of sonority: timbre and homogeneity, suppleness, articulation, fullness and, ultimately, the use of sound in musical interpretation. Accounts of his teaching also describe an important practice principle: first find an excellent starting note, then use it as a reference for the notes that follow. That principle works particularly well here. Find your D first — then see how much of its quality you can carry through the widening intervals. |
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What is in Moyse Exercise 4B?
The pattern could hardly be simpler. D remains fixed while the upper note rises chromatically:
D–F → D–F♯ → D–G → D–G♯ → D–A → D–A♯ → D–B → D–C → D–C♯ So don't think of it primarily as a chromatic scale from F to C♯. Think of it as one reference note connected to progressively more distant notes. And before you start, spend some time on that reference note. Liz suggests finding a settled, sonorous D first, using a slow airstream, round soft embouchure and resonant open throat as practical cues. Hold the D. Let the sound settle. Listen to its resonance and notice how it feels when it works well. Only then begin the intervals. The D is your anchor. If you haven't established it first, it is difficult to know what you are trying to preserve when the interval begins to widen. |
How to Practise It
Start with the D alone. Don't move on simply because the note sounds — wait until you find a quality of sound you want to keep.
Then play:
D–F
Listen to the connection. Did anything change unnecessarily as you moved to F? Did you push, tighten or alter the air before reaching the second note?
Return to D and find your anchor again.
Then:
D–F♯
Continue through the sequence in the same way:
establish → open → listen → return → re-establish → widen
When an interval suddenly becomes less comfortable, stop there.
Before correcting anything, ask what actually changed:
Once the individual intervals feel comfortable, play the whole sequence without stopping. Try to hear it not as nine separate problems, but as one gradually expanding gesture.
Then play:
D–F
Listen to the connection. Did anything change unnecessarily as you moved to F? Did you push, tighten or alter the air before reaching the second note?
Return to D and find your anchor again.
Then:
D–F♯
Continue through the sequence in the same way:
establish → open → listen → return → re-establish → widen
When an interval suddenly becomes less comfortable, stop there.
Before correcting anything, ask what actually changed:
- Did the sound become thinner or less resonant?
- Did the upper note resist?
- Did the pitch move?
- Did the air suddenly increase or decrease?
- Did the embouchure tighten?
- Did you prepare physically for the difficult note before reaching it?
Once the individual intervals feel comfortable, play the whole sequence without stopping. Try to hear it not as nine separate problems, but as one gradually expanding gesture.
Interactive Listening Stations
The whole progression matters, but a few points can serve as Listening Stations along the way.
Click any of the highlighted notes in the staff to explore
The notes in between are just as important. The stations are simply places to stop and listen more closely; the gradual widening of the complete sequence is what gives the exercise its meaning.
Click any of the highlighted notes in the staff to explore
The notes in between are just as important. The stations are simply places to stop and listen more closely; the gradual widening of the complete sequence is what gives the exercise its meaning.
What to Listen For - and Take into the Music
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On the traverso, widening the interval does more than increase the distance from D. Each new note may also bring a different response, resistance, colour or intonation tendency.
Rather than correcting these differences immediately, listen first. Does the note really need more air? Are you tightening before a difficult interval? Is a change of colour a problem — or simply part of the character of that note? The aim is not to make every note identical. It is to distinguish between difference and discontinuity: what needs to be balanced so that the sound remains connected, and what can remain as part of the traverso's natural voice. |
Can you find a settled sound more quickly and carry it across an interval?
Can wider or more resistant intervals speak without unnecessary preparation or tension?
Can you hear where a note wants to go before automatically correcting it?
Are your adjustments of air and embouchure becoming smaller and more precise?
Can you decide when differences between notes need balancing — and when they can become part of the musical expression?
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At the end, return once more to the original D and simply listen.
Does it settle more easily? Does it resonate differently? Has your way of hearing it changed?
If so, the exercise has done more than take you from D to C♯. It has helped you understand how to maintain continuity while allowing the traverso to keep its own voice.
With practice, this awareness should begin to follow you into repertoire.
Does it settle more easily? Does it resonate differently? Has your way of hearing it changed?
If so, the exercise has done more than take you from D to C♯. It has helped you understand how to maintain continuity while allowing the traverso to keep its own voice.
With practice, this awareness should begin to follow you into repertoire.
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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. |
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