Flute Clinic. by Staff Sergeant Kendra Boettcher Staff Sergeant Jennifer Nitchman Staff Sergeant Dana Tan

Transcription

1 The United States Army ield Band The Musical Ambassadors o the Army Washington, DC lute Clinic by Sta Sergeant Kendra Boettcher Sta Sergeant Jennier Nitchman Sta Sergeant Dana Tan The United States Army ield Band 4214 ield Band Drive ort Meade, Maryland Phone: (301) ax: (301) ldband@emh1.tmeade.army.mil Website:.army.mil/ieldband

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3 The U.S. Army ield Band lute Clinic lute Clinic by Sta Sergeant Kendra Boettcher Sta Sergeant Jennier Nitchman Sta Sergeant Dana Tan PREACE These comments about lute playing are intended to help high school age musicians derive the most rom their practice time. This advice is by no means intended to be deinitive. It is ritten ith the intent o helping high school lute players and their band directors improve skills and conquer many lute problems. PRACTICING Think about the olloing points, made by the internationally renoned lutist and teacher, Trevor Wye: 1) Practice the lute only because you ant to; i you don t ant to don t! It is almost useless to spend your allocated practice time ishing that you eren t practicing. 2) Having decided to practice, make it diicult. Like a pest inspector, examine every corner o your tone and technique or las and practice to remove them. Only by this method ill you improve quickly. Try to invent ne ays to cure old problems. 3) Alays try to practice hat you can t play. Don t indulge in too much sel-lattery by playing through hat you can already do ell. 4) Because practice can be tiring, alays make sure your posture and hand position are correct. It is important to consult a good teacher on all o these points. TONE In the study o tone, as in any other aspect o lute playing, a good private teacher should be your best guide. Listen careully all o the time and do not be distracted by surrounding events. I your lute tone is rudimentary, ork in the lo register and build rom there. The best ay to improve tone quality is to play long, slo notes. This gives the player the opportunity to examine tone in close detail. Beare, though, because long notes played carelessly or ithout thought ill not achieve any positive result. Example 1 (page 1 4) shos a very basic long tone exercise. Many lutists start their long tone exercises on B or C in the middle register, but students should ultimately begin the exercise on a note that they eel very comortable playing, and one they eel has a good sound. In general, long tones can be practiced over the entire range o the lute. It is most beneicial to the sound and least stressul on the lips to play long tones in a descending pattern toards the lo register, then ascending into the high register. Long tones should be practiced each day or at least ive minutes o a thirty-minute practice session. TECHNIQUE In many ays, certain aspects o lute technique (or instance, inger dexterity and multipletonguing) can be some o the easiest things to learn. Hoever, the undamental aspect o coordination is one o the biggest problems or many young students. The question o What do I do hen? is oten enough to rustrate many young students to the point o not anting to continue playing their instruments. In the case o the lute, the coordination, once learned so ell that it becomes second nature, is really quite simple. Remember the olloing order: 1) Prepare the ingers to play the note. 2) Set the embouchure or the note. 3) Begin moving the air. 4) Use the tongue to articulate over the air stream. 1 1

4 lute Clinic O course, all this is easier said than done, as the student needs to learn ho to do all our o these steps in a split second o actual time. Example 2 (page 1 4) may be used to practice doing these our elements in correct order in very slo motion. In beteen each note o the exercise, make sure the ingers are all ready to play the next note beore starting to blo. Then, make sure the embouchure is ready again, beore the air starts moving. inally, as the air starts to move (it ill sound like the articulation hooo ) add a doo or too, only ater the note had begun to sound. The resulting notes in the exercise ill sound like Whoo-doo, hoo-doo, hoo-doo. Yes, it ill seem unmusical at irst, but as this coordination is mastered, gradually compress each element closer and closer together until all our steps are occurring so rapidly that they no longer sound separate. ARTICULATION Donald Peck, principal lutist o the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, once said in an intervie, There is too much tongue in tonguing. It sounds like a unny thing to say, but especially or the lute player, it is very true. Oten, hen one thinks o articulation, it is equated ith tonguing. Hoever, articulation in music is much the same as articulation in speech. I e reer to someone as being articulate, e generally mean they are easy to understand and adept at getting their points across to other people. Articulation in music is really the same thing. Consequently, use o the tongue plays a part, but so does slurring, phrasing, and timing. So Peck s statement, There is too much tongue in tonguing, actually makes sense. To be articulate on the lute, one must learn ho to produce the highest quality sound in the shortest amount o time. This becomes particularly important hen employing double- and tripletonguing. Because multiple-tonguing is so oten required o lutists, many young lutists ask, What can I practice to improve my double- (or triple-) tonguing? The anser is to practice single-tonguing! Example 3 (page 1 4) is an excellent singletonguing study that should be practiced in all keys. irst, practice it ith no tongue at all, using only breath attacks (as i saying, ha, ha, ha, ha ). Ater becoming reasonably good at this hich may take several eeks because it requires a great deal o stamina start adding a slight amount o tongue to the beginning o each note, all the hile remembering the order learned hen practicing Example 2. INTONATION AND VIBRATO Although intonation can be very precarious on the lute, it does not have to be. I the instrument is blon correctly, almost all intonation problems become minimal. A very easy ay to check hether or not one is bloing into the lute in a undamentally correct manner is to play a middle D (make sure the let hand index inger is raised), then play a lo register D (hich means loering the let hand index inger). Ideally, the player should be able to alternate beteen these to notes ithout any change in embouchure. In this instance, the raising and loering o the let hand index inger orks much like an octave key ould on the oboe or saxophone. One should be able to alternate airly rapidly beteen these to notes, slurring one octave intervals. I unable to do this, lute players are probably relying too much on their aces (or embouchures) and too little on air support. Several common problems may result: the tone may sound over-ocused and eak, the pitch may be quite lo, and the high register may sound pinched and extremely sharp. Example 4 (page 1 5) is a variation o Example 2 that may be used to encourage the use o more air and less ace. Example 5 may be used or similar purposes, but the octaves also oer an excellent opportunity to study intonation at the same time. Ideally, both exercises ill be practiced using an electronic tuner to check the intonation at various points. Matching pitch ith a tuner can be very beneicial. Hoever, one o the best ays to beneit rom practice ith a tuner is to set it to play a pitch (much like the drone o a bagpipe), then play scales or melodies over the top o that pitch. or instance, i one is going to practice a scale o G major, set the tuner to G and play the scale over the top o the drone pitch. This encourages listening to the intonation o all notes not just unisons and octaves, but other intervals as ell. Vibrato is too complex a subject to try to address in a handout. Our best advice is to encourage private study. Every lute teacher has his or her on approach to the teaching and use o vibrato. It really all comes don to a matter o personal taste. The only thing that can be said or certainty is that, i a lutist already has a beautiul sound, a nice vibrato can enhance it. I the sound isn t good to start, 1 2

5 The U.S. Army ield Band lute Clinic no amount o vibrato good, bad, or otherise is going to make it any better. BREATHING AND SCALES Because the lute player uses more air than any other ind player, it is important that the basic undamentals o breathing are learned correctly. The most common mistake many students make is to raise their shoulders hen taking a breath. This tightens the throat, hich oten leads to a bleating, goat-like vibrato, and may develop into grunts or vocal chord noises hile playing. An easy ay to illustrate correct breathing is to or players to put their hands on their abdomens and notice that, hen breathing in, the abdomen moves out and hen breathing out, the abdomen moves in. Players should be thinner hen breathing out and atter hen breathing in. They must understand that correct breathing makes them ider instead o taller. By raising the shoulders, one actually makes the abdomen thinner hen inhaling, creating tension and decreasing the amount o space or air intake. Breathing ill present eer problems hen the player continues the orard lo o the musical phrase. An excellent ay to practice this idea is to learn to experience the movement o a beautiul tone throughout the entire range o the instrument. One ay to practice this is to play scales and arpeggios in as expressive a manner as possible. Try to match the tone color to the key being played. Increase the intensity o the tone hen ascending, and return to the same starting note hen descending. Experiment ith the use o tone color to highlight change o key. Let each to bar phrase lead naturally to the next to. Example 6 (page 1 6) shos a scale pattern that may be played in this manner, preerably transposed to all keys (see Scale Supplement). RECOMMENDED RESOURCES A Beginner s Book or the lute, Part 1 and 2... Trevor Wye (Novello) This book is available ith piano accompaniment book or accompaniment cassette A Practice Book or the lute, Volumes Trevor Wye (Novello) Seven Daily Exercises, op M. A. Reichert (Cundy-Bettoney) De la Sonorité... Marcel Moyse (Leduc) Tone Development Through Interpretation... Marcel Moyse (Leduc) Exercices Journaliers (Daily Exercises)... Taanel-Gaubert (Leduc) 1 3

6 lute Clinic LUTE EXAMPLES Example 1 Sloly & 2. # U.. # n U U U.. #.. # n.. # U. &. # n U U U U U U.... b.. b..... ḟ Ḟ b b ḟ Example 2 Ascending & 2 4 J # J n J J n J # J n J J n J # J (continue up to high C) n J n J etc... & J Descending n J J b J J J J b J J J (continue don to lo C) J n J etc... Example 3 reely Ú & b ater Reichert & b

7 The U.S. Army ield Band lute Clinic Example 4 & 6 8 Ascending # n # n # n # (continue up to high C) # etc... & Descending n b b b b (continue don to lo C) b n etc. Example 5 & C minor b b C major b C diminished b & b b.. b b b b b. b b b b b b b b b b b b b C# major & # # # # # # # C# minor.. # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # # n # # n # # # n # # n # # C# diminished # n # # n # & # n # # n.. # n n # n n n. # n n # n n # n n # n n # n n # n Repeat pattern beginning on each note o the chromatic scale. 1 5

8 lute Clinic Example 6 major & b c & b & b & b # b D minor & b n # # b π & b n # b # n simile n simile # n # n # n b b & b # n n n # n b & b n # # b n # n b 1 6

9 The U.S. Army ield Band Scale Supplement Scale Supplement The iteen major and minor scales make up our musical ABCs. Just as a person ishing to read learns the alphabet irst, a musician cannot expect to master an instrument ithout irst learning the basic set o scales. By diligently practicing the major scales and all three orms o the minor scales, they ill become automatic, just like reading the alphabet. This ill make playing, especially sight reading, much easier so that the musician can concentrate toards the ultimate goal making music! Each scale belo should be played sloly at irst, ensuring that each note is played correctly. Gradually ork or speed, but do not rush. Use a metronome henever possible to guarantee evenness and a steady tempo. The player should practice diicult scales tice as oten as easy ones to develop competence in all keys. As skills increase, change rhythmic patterns and increase tempos. Advanced players can still use scales to ork on intonation, technique, range, and dynamics. Use the olloing patterns one at a time or in combination to get even more beneit rom scale practice: A & D & B & E & C & & π ƒ π C Major &4 4 A natural minor A harmonic minor & # # # # A melodic minor & # # # # n n n n S 1

10 Scale Supplement G Major & # 4 4 & # E harmonic minor # # E natural minor # # E melodic minor & # # # # # n n n n Major & b 4 4 D harmonic minor & b # # D natural minor # # D melodic minor & b n n # # n b n b S 2

11 The U.S. Army ield Band Scale Supplement D Major & # # 4 4 B natural minor B harmonic minor & # # # # # # B melodic minor & # # # # # # n n n n Bb Major & bb 4 4 G natural minor G harmonic minor & bb # # # # G melodic minor & b b n # n # n n b b S 3

12 Scale Supplement A Major & # # # 4 4 # natural minor # harmonic minor & # # # # # # # # melodic minor & # # # # # # # n n n n Eb Major & bb b 4 4 C natural minor C harmonic minor & bb b n n n n C melodic minor & bb b n n n n b b b b S 4

13 The U.S. Army ield Band Scale Supplement E Major & # # # # 4 4 C# natural minor C# harmonic minor & # # # # # # # # C# melodic minor & # # # # # # # # n n n n Ab Major & bb b b 4 4 & bb b b harmonic minor n n natural minor n n melodic minor & b b b b n n n n b b b b S 5

14 Scale Supplement B Major & # # # # # 4 4 G# natural minor G# harmonic minor & # # # # # G# melodic minor & # # # # # # # # # n n Db Major & bb b b b4 4 Bb natural minor Bb harmonic minor & bb b b b n n n n Bb melodic minor &b b b b b nn n n bb bb S 6

15 The U.S. Army ield Band Scale Supplement # Major & # # # # # # 4 4 D# natural minor D# harmonic minor & # # # # # # D# melodic minor & # # # # # # # # # n # n Gb Major & b b b b b b 4 4 Eb natural minor Eb harmonic minor & bb b b b b n n n n Eb melodic minor & bb b b b b n n n n b b b b S 7

16 Scale Supplement C# Major & # # # # # # # 4 4 A# natural minor A# harmonic minor & # # # # # # # A# melodic minor & # # # # # # # # # # # Cb Major & bb b b b b b 4 4 Ab natural minor Ab harmonic minor & b b b b b b b n n n n Ab melodic minor & b b b b b b b n n n n b b b b S 8