Tag Archives: Altès studies

Day 152 – March 1st – A bit of whimsy

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To go with the start of a new month, today really was beautiful English springtime weather. I spent most of the morning Skyping and didn’t get onto practice until relatively late-on. My technical work was a bit of a mixed bag – some of it went really well and then other bits were sloppy. While getting through No. 4 of Boehm’s Twelve Studies from memory was a struggle, the much more difficult No. 1 was easy.

Since Christmas, Trevor has been introducing more and more variations on his technical exercises in class. Some are relatively easy, like playing page 90 of Complete Daily Exercises alternating major and minor each time. Others are tricky, particularly Taffanel and Gaubert-style scales with added mordants on the descent! The variations on page 96 are positively endless, and at once fun and difficult. I like exploring all the ways we can play around with a very simple pattern, but then struggle to apply it to the last bar of the sequence – the dominant 7th of the next key. I know exactly what the notes should be, but don’t relax enough with them and am constantly second-guessing myself. That said, at the beginning of the course I couldn’t imagine playing most of the exercises from memory at all!

This afternoon, I took advantage of the lovely weather to go back to Spong Wood. I took my flute and zoom (microphone), and, after wading through quite a bit of mud, improvised for a while in a glade. I’ve been meaning to do it for a while, and loved the experience. It was sunny, almost warm, and I was alone with the trees and the birds. I’ve recorded the improvisation, and will play around with it in Max 7. Stay tuned for the results!

After that, though, it was back to studies. I feel like Altès No. 24 is finally working, after spending quite a while this week getting my fingers around the tricky mordants, but am not convinced that Andersen No. 16 is ready. Hopefully we’ll spend plenty of time planning our Bodsham Primary School concert and my Moyse, Altes and Drouet studies will be enough!

Day 146 – February 23rd – Andersen No. 15

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Today was a good day, as it seems I’ve finally broken my streak of very negative classes. The Moyse studies, while not perfect, were definitely improved. I still need to focus on tonguing at the front of the mouth rather than doing funny things further back. However, the end is in sight with the 25 Melodic Studies – I might even be able to finish then off next week.

My big achievement for today was Andersen No. 15. I can’t quite believe that I learned it in three days and managed to play it in class to that standard. I’d really focused on the feeling of the piece, showing the dynamics, chord changes and colours. Trevor seemed pretty impressed, and even say it would “stick in my memory”. I just needed to iron out the wrong notes. I wish I’d recorded that lesson now, then I could play it on repeat for the next month to remind myself I can do things right occasionally!

Altès and Drouet studies were mostly ok, definitely nothing like the outburst of last week. It’s the first time in a while I’ve felt really positive after a class, though I am quite exhausted. This evening was declared a no-work time (despite earlier pledges of working on my project), and I’ve spent the last few hours doing very little. Ching Ting made some yummy sushi, and I think after out walk I’ll be early to bed.

Day 139 – February 16th – Studies and more studies

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Once again a mixed bag in studies class today. I started out by accidentally modulating in the warm-up tune The Ash Grove, which wasn’t greeted with much enthusiasm but got through the rest of the morning unscathed.

Rather unusually, I ended up playing last in the day. They Moyse studies were ok but not fantastic, and Trevor spent quite a bit of time analysing my articulation. On the up side, it was analysis along the lines of making my tongue move faster and not solving rhythmic problems. Andersen No. 14 went down quite well, and while I thought it was a bit harsh to say that it was the “first time in four months” I’d used dynamics, at least they were heard. Altès No. 23 started off too slowly, which was a pain. The Altès studies are duets and Trevor plays the second part. I spent most of the first two pages trying to push the tempo to the one I’d learned it at, but clearly wasn’t communicating this well or something, so then got a ticking off about starting too slowly.

Finally, the Drouet studies. No. 6 was fine, then No. 7 a disaster because I started out too slowly and Trevor was decidedly unimpressed. Things went downhill from there, and while I was allowed to play both No. 7 (at the correct tempo) and No. 8 (another slow study) everything was commented on venomously.

As always, I have to learn from the mistakes and comments, and also work with renewed vigor on my articulation this week. However, it is a little disheartening when I know I’ve done a lot of hard work, and the final impression of the class is once again a negative one.

Day 131 – February 8th – Spring?

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Spong Wood

Spong Wood

Today was a bit of a cramming day before our studies class tomorrow. I say cramming because it really does feel like I have more music than time to practice it in what with all Trevor’s studies that he keeps throwing at me. Of the new Drouet set, I’ve managed to prepare nine, which I’m pretty happy with. That, along with two of the Moyse 25, Altès No. 23 and 23B and a couple of the Bach variations are all sounding quite good. I’m a little more dubious about Andersen No. 14, which sounds ok after I’ve spent twenty minutes or so working on it, but tends to fall apart rather horrifically the first time I play through it. It’ll be a little under-tempo tomorrow, in the hope that playing expressively and with good line is a better goal.

Spong Wood

Spong Wood

In the afternoon, I went back to Spong Wood for a walk. It feels like spring is almost on the way; something in the light when the sun shines, or in the way the air isn’t quite so crisp. There are snowdrops here and there in the village, and I’m constantly on the lookout for my first daffodils of the year. The wood was quiet, and felt removed from the rest of the world. It made me feel calm – studies and scales were for a different space, there I just needed to breathe and be. I think I’ll be going back quite a lot.

Day 125 – February 2nd – Back on track?

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After spending the weekend taking some time to de-stress and refocus, it was back to class again this morning. No snow, but the frozen fields and paths made the walk to Trevor’s much easier than when it’s wet and muddy.

I was expecting something of a tirade about my performance in Juliet’s class on Friday, but Trevor ended up being quite level-headed about it. We all had to reflect on our own playing and then give each other feedback, then Trevor went round and share his thoughts with us. He didn’t go into the nerves side of things (luckily I have some lovely friends elsewhere who are giving me some tips and ideas there), but did touch on the result of them. Yes, I had played some wrong rhythms, with some sloppy intonation, but he felt that the goal for me was still to focus on the music and being expressive rather than trying to be too analytical.

With that in mind, I launched into my offering of studies with beautiful music as the number one priority. Everything ended up going rather well, and apart from a few sharp notes my three Moyse studies were passed as “expressive and well-phrased”. The three Altes studies were also fine, and I was even a bit annoyed that Trevor made me skip bits of the Midsummer Night’s Dream arrangement – I’d practiced getting through the whole thing and then playing the solo beautifully at the end! However, I finished off by starting Andersen No. 13 rather too fast, and had to re-start at a slower tempo not once but twice. Better to do the Andersen studies solidly but a little more slowly, I think.

Some of us have now been prescribed yet more studies, this time by Drouet. Here, I’m really not sure what Trevor’s playing at, as they’re sight-readable and really rather boring harmonically. They were originally suggested for Shannon, and then Trevor dropped in an “oh, Naomi, you can do these as well, just power through them”. Challenge accepted, I’ll see how many I can learn for next week!

We don’t have another class until Friday, since we’re heading up to London on Thursday to watch the Emily Beynon masterclass at the Royal Academy, and then another LSO concert. I’ve tried to be good and get some of my flute history project done this evening, but am also thinking that Silent Witness in 15 minutes looks like a good wind-down.