Sieglinde Größinger is an Austrian flutist who got trained in flute and historical flutes in Vienna, Graz, Oslo, Amsterdam and Brussels. Her traverso teachers were Barthold Kuijken, Frank Theuns, Getraud Wimmer and Marten Root.
She loves variety and demonstrates this by playing a wide range of music: from baroque to romanticism on original instruments, from opera reductions for nonet to contemporary music on modern instruments. She plays as a solo flutist in leading early music ensembles such as the Concentus Musicus Wien, Barucco, L'Orfeo among others and currently teaches didactics and teaching practice at the Gustav Mahler Private University for Music Klagenfurt. With her own ensemble Klingekunst, the 4th CD with first recordings of unknown composers will soon be released on the German label CPO. The flautist focuses primarily on composers from the Viennese region such as Georg Christoph Wagenseil, Florian Leopold Gassmann, Guiseppe Bonno and others. She is also a member of the nonet ‘ensemble minui’ and a founding member of the Carinthian Baroque Orchestra. Away from music, she loves spending time with her family and growing a variety of fruit and vegetables in her own garden. Sieglinde on Facebook and her Website |
The first thing you do when you pick up your traverso to start the practice day, and why?
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The first thing I do when I pick up a flute - whatever flute it is - is that I check how it sounds by playing a few notes. The sound should be warm, full and airless, and the body connected and relaxed. Based on this brief analysis, I start the warm-up.
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Any recurring piece to play every day, and why?
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No, I don’t have any piece that I play every day. It would probably bore me too much. I love the variety.
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Do you have a daily routine?
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The daily routine usually consists of a warm-up with sound and finger exercises as well as exercises for the tongue (with different articulations and also with did`ll and inegalité). Then I dedicate myself to the pieces I have to prepare. Before, in between and afterwards I try to do physical exercises with stretching and strengthening exercises. When I don't have that much time (which is often because of family, house, garden, projects, concerts, teaching etc.), I can also go straight to the pieces and make my own exercises from them.
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What kind of goals do you set for your practice?
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The first goal is always a round, warm, resonant and focussed sound. Then I set myself another goal, which depends on the pieces I need to practise. This could be to learn a new piece or to increase a piece to a faster tempo, to work on the ornamentation and interpretation of a movement or whatever comes to my mind.
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Do you do any systematic warm-up?
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It depends a lot on how much time I have and what repertoire and instrument I'm playing. On the baroque flute I prefer to play all major scales from the starting note to the highest (up to a3 or b3) to the lowest and back to the starting note. I play them slowly with good air control, good legato, loose fingers and try to open and loosen everything as much as possible (including the neck, jaw, embouchure...). I try to centre the sound, but also to find a good resonance where every note is in tune and resonates throughout the body. I also try to stand or sit upright and balanced (head straight, flute high). Sometimes I also start with long tones with “messa di voce”, slow arpeggios starting from d2 upwards and downwards, or a tone exercise that is then transposed in all different keys (like the French “Vocalise”- see books by Philippe Bernold). Sometimes I do overtone exercises, or big intervals that you play with as little effort as possible. Or tone exercises focussing on the beginnings and endings of tones. I also love Reichert Daily Exercise No. 2 (and other exercises from the collection).
Every exercise is always played with the aim of finding a resonant, open sound with musical intention. |
Do you have a specific structure for warm-up and practice sessions?
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No, but breaks are of course very important, and stretching before and after practising is also essential. It is beneficial for the brain to change the content of practising after about 20-30 minutes. I therefore try to make my practising as varied as possible in order to maintain concentration and focus. Sometimes I succeed better, sometimes worse. Every day is different.
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Any distinctive characteristics of baroque flute daily practice vs. modern flute or other instruments?
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Alternating between baroque, classical, romantic and modern flutes has been part of my daily life for a very long time (at least 20 years) - and I wouldn't want to miss it! One instrument benefits from the other, enriches it and vice versa. Of course there are also difficulties, but fortunately you become faster and more flexible. For me the baroque transverse flute is the most natural of these. You can feel the air passing through the flute even at the finger holes - which I like very much.
The baroque flute - in contrast to the modern Boehm flute - requires less strength, a very focussed, fine embouchure (from which the modern flute benefits greatly) and a great deal of work on opening up resonance spaces in the head and throughout the body. Fork fingerings in particular need a very good fit and a lot of resonance in order to sound good and in tune. I like to start with an open note - e.g. g2 - and try to play it round and open. Then I try to pass on the exact same openness to the fork fingerings... Exercises for the modern flute are particularly suitable for the classical and romantic keyed flutes, on which you have to play much more chromatically and in all keys. (e.g. Taffanel/Gaubert, the first exercise). With all flutes it is important to me to produce an open, projected sound that is very far forward in the mouth. (Just like in the French language). This makes the sound brighter and has a greater radiance. In Austria, we speak very far back in the palate and very throaty, which makes the sound (especially with the baroque transverse flute) dull and unclear. I try - especially with the baroque flute - to articulate very clearly, as the flute generally sounds softer and it can sound too unclear in concert halls and churches. You need other forms of articulation (did`ll, ti-ri...) and these are best practised daily. The modern flute benefits greatly from non-vibrato playing on the transverse flute. Phrasing works easily without vibrato, you learn to control the airflow, breathing and support better, to produce a beautiful legato and can then work the vibrato into the sound. |
What are the key elements and unmissable points of daily practice?
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Sound and resonance, support and lively airflow, posture and reducing tension, loose fingers and brilliant articulation, clear phrasing and expressive, creative interpretation
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How long and distributed should warm-up and practice be?
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That is of course very hard to say, depending very much on the circumstances and your level and what you want to do with your flute. Sometimes you just have five minutes for warm up, sometimes much more. Same for practising. I personally like it very much, when I have practised very focussed and intense already in the morning before I pick up the kids from school and kindergarten. Everything that is practised afterwards is a great bonus!
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Any specific tip to address difficult technical passages during daily practice, and how?
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The first thing is to analyse and find out where exactly the problem is. In my experience, it is usually one finger that moves too slowly. Perhaps it is too tense and not round enough. Maybe the tension is somewhere else. Try to look at all your body. Is everything loose, also your big toe? How are your shoulders, your neck, your eyebrows and so on. Every muscle that is tense is also too slow. I really like the image of a cat to illustrate fast movements. It moves incredibly fast with its paw, for example, and does so with minimal tension.
Once you have figured out the problem, there are of course various ways to solve it. You can practise with stops, play in smaller groups in circles (2, 3, 4, 5...notes) and always vary the groups. You can practise with different articulations, different rhythms or different accentuations. You can use adding notes, you can practise mentally...You can also find your own exercises, be creative. And don't forget to play with expression and phrasing. Your brain will be able to memorise it better. Singers are also an excellent model for practising your sound. Sing through your whole body with your flute. Vowels can be very helpful for resonance and intonation, try out different articulation syllables for different affects. There are many, many nuances. Contemporary flute techniques can also be excellently integrated into practising: air sounds (with no real pitch, keeping your lip muscles loose enough that the sound gets airy) for better air control and good legato, flutter tonguing to loosen up and for a faster air, overtones for a focussed and fine embouchure, percussive techniques to strengthen the tongue and the diaphragm and many more. For everything: listen to yourself very carefully, be critical but not negative, be motivated but still realistic. Be happy about even small progress. |
Are there any tools that are particularly useful for practicing?
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Every now and then I check the intonation with the tuner. When you change a lot between instruments, it is important to find out whether you are still intonating well. I also practise with metronome, also sometimes finger and tone exercises, to play precisely. Difficult passages I always start slowly and in a controlled manner and increase the pace in small steps. I try to find exactly the point at which you are still in control and can play easily. This is the most interesting point to work on. Especially in the orchestra, it is important to be able to play the most difficult passages at any tempo, and also to play precisely on point in order to maintain total control over tone production and development. What I also enjoy doing (especially for orchestral repertoire) is playing along with recordings (with one or two earplugs). That's a lot of fun!
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Any other general advice, suggestion, tip?
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Never practise with pain. It's better to take a break, recover and practise mentally. There are great, untapped resources in mental practice! If you're having a really bad day and it's not getting better, let it go and do something nice that makes you happy, listen to music that inspires you and give yourself a break.
And, make sure to keep the instrument in a good shape. Oiling every now and then is necessary. The flute should be neither too tight nor too loose. This all has an effect on the sound. |
How do you advise your students as far as structuring their daily practice?
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It's very difficult to say because everyone works and learns differently. It is best to work out a personalised practice concept with the student, which is efficient and helps to progress.
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Do you suggest or teach a warm-up routine?
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Yes, I recommend warming up, as the muscles need to become supple and soft to be able to control them well. It is a very complicated interplay to form a flute embouchure, about 23 muscles are involved. Coordination should be practised. Warming up is also important for the body. For the whole posture and also for breathing and support. The muscles need to be trained and strengthened.
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Are there any specific pieces particularly beneficial to be played regularly in daily practice?
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Most of the time you have certain pieces to practise anyway. I really like inventing exercises from the pieces you are currently practising. You can generate tonal exercises, or finger exercises, perhaps take a beautiful melody and transpose it into different keys, you can improvise with individual motifs or rhythms, prelude... there are endless possibilities. I think a certain amount of variety is very useful and there are plenty of beautiful pieces for baroque flute.
But there are of course a few passages in the repertoire that you can practise over and over again in a variety of ways, such as excerpts from Bach's great works: St John Passion, Christmas Oratorio, B minor Suite, Partita...especially orchestral passages in awkward keys can be very useful to play slowly f.e. as a warm-up over a longer period of time. |