What's Your Favorite Way to Practice the Flute?

[Emrys]

I ask because I'm kind of going through a phase of practicing the flute while watching TV, and I wondered what weirdness (or not) others are into when they practice. Because strangely enough, this works very well for me. It the show has got an intense soundtrack, I'll practice stuff in that key. The trick is to find programs that are just dumb enough so you don't have to follow the dialog closely, and just interesting enough so it makes practicing more fun.

Another method I use is to put together a mix tape that has great tunes from lots of different artists in kind of droney keys (easy enough with traditional music), and then I practice scales and arpeggios along with them. It's really fun to create a counterpoint line that only moves stepwise.

My third method is that I never play etudes that. If there is a technique I want to learn I find a tune that lets me learn that technique, and it's much more rewarding than spending effort to learn some ugly etude. Another way I approach that is by creating little patterns that I can play to learn a technique (this combines great with TV practice, too).

My last method is that I keep some old headjoints around, at my desk, even in my car... so that I can just pick it up and toot on it, working on tone, breath support, and articulation. I also find it a great way to warm up before playing.

[Sigurthr]

I do similarly but I substitute TV for reading things online (news, forums, etc) while practicing scales and such. My daily routine is all 12 major scales up and down at least two octaves worth at least two times each. Then I play whatever tune I'm working on at the time - which is always chosen for what I can learn skill wise from it and not just because I like how it sounds. I also don't play etudes if I don't like how they sound. When I'm feeling especially dedicated I'll pull out Moyse's Daily Exercises and do a bunch of those, but they are really really mind numbingly boring, exceptionally so if it is one of the interval practices . I aim for 140min of actual solid practice time but some days I can only manage an hour.

In truth I only find time to practice about 4 days a week... Wednesdays I have Flute Lessons and my free time is spent preparing and warming up for that, Thursdays and Sundays I run too many errands (town is 45min away by highway) to have free time. I wish I could practice every single day but it really isn't feasible at this point.

Oh, and thats all for Böhm flute . After I finish primary practice I'll pull out either my keyless and play some Trad or my Traverso and play some period pieces for an hour. I probably get to do that 2 to 3 nights a week.

[tsackett]

I often play while I work. I keep a flute (an Aulos plastic baroque flute for now, but soon an M&E delrin keyless) or a whistle next to my computer and pick it up while I'm waiting for one process or another to finish. I only play tunes I already know or can half-remember; I never play from sheet music. Sometimes, it actually helps me think, and I solve problems (ala Sherlock Holmes) while playing.

This kind of "distracted" practicing has its limitations. It's good for developing embouchure muscles (as is any kind of playing), and it can help reinforce the muscle memory of tunes you already know. However, rhythmic playing takes concentration. Also, a truly effective practice session on any instrument requires a constant awareness of what you're doing wrong -- the rough spots of rhythm, phrasing, intonation, sound quality -- so you know what needs work.

I may be in a unique situation, however. I'm just now coming back to Irish music after years of playing jazz and circus band saxophone. Orchestral flute was my first instrument, followed closely by penny whistle. However, my whistle playing has never been in the Irish style. I've always played general British Isles country music, with a bit of Scottish bagpipe ornamentation thrown in. I'm now working hard to unlearn 33 years of deeply-ingrained habits. This takes some heavy concentration during practice.

[jemtheflute]

Practice? Wish I had time (& the motivation/self-discipline).

[andref]

I practice everyday except on Mondays which is the day of our local session. I practice 1hour to 80 minutes. I also found out that occasionally doing something else while practicing eases the conscious self and allows for playing sometimes difficult passages quite easily. However, I seldom use it. Only on short breaks

Some things I found out to be useful for me.
1. Practice new material EVERY day (to me this amounts to 2 new tunes on average per week)
2. Change flutes occasionally. I occasionally use my more difficult thibouville just because of the embouchure practice. When I return to the M&E the sound quality is markedly better - generally one practice session for week is enough to keep me on my toes
3. Try to play along with recorded themes. In my stage (a beginner) I find it extremely helpful the BBC virtual session. I play each set (not all of the tunes, though) over and over again trying to improve at each iteration.
4. Practice (occasionally with sheet music) without accompaniment This is fundamental for actually hear one self. Occasionally I record myself to better appraise my progress, and I find it paramount to uncover most of my many faults

[Emrys]

Thanks folks, it's refreshing to hear about other people's routines.

I also like to change flutes. I actually always pull at two at a time and go between them. Lets them dry off better, too. Plus keeps my lips fresh and my ear awake.

Years ago I decided that I wanted to be able to play equally well in every key (on my silver flute, of course) and doing so really expanded two things: my hearing of the differences in the keys and my ability to improvise (i.e. to be able play what I hear). Also, playing in all the keys forces me to overcome mental issues (oh 5 flats, that's too hard) and physical ones (playing smoothly over the break, which ends up falling in different tones of the scale in the different keys).

I also like to play in different room, with more or less reverb...though I find that it's really important to mostly play dry or I lose my ability to produce a good tone. I love working on tone and it's so interesting to go between notes and practice getting equally good tone on each. I mean, that's really true on any instrument: every note is a new set of acoustical problems, yet to make the music sound wonderful you have to somehow overcome them so each note is equally clear as the one before it.

I've played several other instruments seriously (the harp, piano and viola da gamba) and what I love most about the flute is that it requires me to be present and accounted for in my body. Can't fake that or my tone and breath control go right out the window, pronto! Indeed, playing the flute is one of the best ways I can process the healing work I do on a painful situation I've got going with my neck and spine, and hear when I'm aligned or not.

[Akiba]

Jeez, my practice schedule seems flippant, paltry in comparison to those above.

I do have a commitment to play flute every day, even if it's just for 5-10 minutes. I spend most of my time (usually 30 min. to an hour) playing my keyless Irish flute. I guess one's practice depends on one's goals: mine is to be as good an Irish flute player as possible. I find that whatever I do on Irish flute transfers well enough to my Boehm flute, but I'm not trying to be a great classical or jazz player. I think Irish is really really hard to play well, and thus takes most of my time. I'm also singing and playing guitar these days in my Irish group and solo, so that I try to do daily as well.

For Irish flute, I mainly play tunes in chunks. Playing slowly is the best I find for improvement. Don't do much long tones or scales--perhaps I should but I don't seem to have the time and the payoff for time invested doesn't seem worth it. Using a metronome is great when I get to it--probably one of the better things a player can do to improve one's Irish trad playing. I also practice to drone notes to work on intonation; I use this site, http://www.idrs.org/multimedia/MIDI/PUB/Drones.htm .

[Urien]

I used to spend hours in front of the TV practicing guitar. 10 years later i realized i was still practicing the same 5 things, and still not improving. Was i practicing to get better? Or practicing to kill time?

A couple of instruments later, i found myself with a tin whistle, and caught the ITM bug. And traded up an alto flute for a 6 key. Still new to the instrument, but here is what i do currently.

Fire up an mp3 i made with D/D' drones, and click on flutini until it starts up. Pop in earplugs, then blow the thing as loudly as possible while staying in tune. Trying to listen as far up the overtone series as possible, and how all those buzzs and beats from the interaction of the upper harmonics and the D key center sound. 1 cent is a huge difference. Maybe 15 minutes, going from D to D' to D''. Then octaves starting from D to D'. Then root to 4th and 5th in D, Em, etc. G gets a C to avoid the tritone. Then working the way up the scale in tetrachord fashion. Then i'll shut down the mp3 player, stop flutini, put down the instrument, and go about something else.

Then later in the day i'll go to thesession.org, look at the most popular tunes, and start working on the first one i haven't touched yet. Work through it slow with an instrument, trying to memorize what it is supposed to sound like. Go to youtube and get some ideas on the common ornamentations. When i figure out what i want to play and what its supposed to sound like, then i put down the flute and spend a few hours "playing" it in my head, humming along, until with any luck it is stuck in there (and hopefully with a name). "Do you believe that my being stronger or faster has anything to do with muscles in this place," says morpheus. Why flip on the TV when you already know how the song goes.

3rd time in the day i pick up the flute, i'll see if my fingers can dance along with the tune in my head. Go back over some tunes i'd worked on in the past to make sure they are still discrete memories. Then play around experimenting on how one tune flows (or shifts without a clutch) into the next.

I've only been working on ITM for about 6 months, so that is what is giving me the biggest rewards with the least amount of time. And like einstein and sherlock holmes (violin) i do have to take breaks to go try to journal the question that results in an answer of 42 when the inspiration hits. Always surprises me when i remember how much i've forgotten. Something like 6000+ tunes out there, and i might know 60. So its something to look forward to.

[y-nought]

I practice about an hour a day, except on days that I play in a session. I warm up on sscales for a couple of minutes and then play a couple of slow jigs.

After that I just play sets of reels and jigs (or lately polkas!). I only work on the things that I stumble on while playing. Octave slurs, rolls, rhythm....whatever sounds weak. But I don't go crazy about improvement. Enjoying that precious hour with the flute is the main goal.

[radcliff]

I've always been to lazy to practice properly, so here is my trick:
I grab my flute case, add an exciting flute cd in my stereo (McGoldrick, Veillon, O'Grada, Norman...)
and after few minutes I've start to play!
than, after some nice tunes played in good company, I try to start some scales too

[mutepointe]

When I was learning the flute, I played during TV commericals because that was all the breath that I had in me. I still like to play while watching TV. There is nothing more fun than playing along with a song that pops up on the TV.

I like to practice whenever I have time to kill and keep a cheap flute/fife/ocarina in my car for just such occasions.

This past week, I was at a work meeting and we were waiting for the speakers to arrive. They were late. All the people in the room knew me and one of the folks asked me if I would play a tune. I had my harmonica in my pocket, so I did. I wish I would have had my computer bag on me, I keep a cheap fife in there. I'm a social worker and I have a whole bunch of stuff in my computer bag, toys, candy, pretty things, colored papers for those times when I have to immediately connect with a person that I 've never met or keep a child busy.

[talasiga]

Practice? Wish I had time (& the motivation/self-discipline).

Practice is the light of modesty
in the throes of
artistry ......

[glenavy flute]

A cycling coach once told me, to be good on the bike do it loads and often, I think i applied this to the flute and not the bike. Best way to practice ? Loads and often !!!!!

Pssss I love watching Le Tour De France while playing the B flat flute.

[LorenzoFlute]

Some times I play in from of the PC monitor while reading something, other times I play walking around in the house (so that it don't bother always the same neighbours). I've never practiced scales, but I might start some day.

[Nanohedron]

At all.