Benefits of playing duets

Sometimes when my students come to lessons unprepared, or if they have just finished a competition and are waiting on new music to come in, I will pull out a duet book and we will read duets. It reminds me of all the fun times I have had playing duets with friends. Sometimes it may feel like you are just playing around and you get no benefit from playing duets. However, something does not have to be unpleasant to be beneficial. This is especially true of playing duets with a friend!

Fun. I love being able to read new music with a partner. I love how the music can sound funny sometimes and you just stop in the middle of the music and start laughing. I love how playing duets is just fun, and there is no pressure to perform. It reminds me of why I fell in love with music in the first place.

Tempo. Playing with another person, or playing in an ensemble requires you to be able to keep time with another person. Playing in a small group forces you to do it without the aid of a conductor. You must learn to keep tempo from within. When you play by yourself without a metronome, there is the possibility that you will slow down or speed up imperceptibly. When you play with someone else, you need to keep the same tempo or the music will fall apart. Also, playing with a live person helps you to learn how to make adjustments with what is going on in the moment. Music is alive! Playing with a metronome is so important to learn how to keep a steady tempo, but sometimes music has ebbs and flows and you can learn how to stay in time with another person, ebbs and flows included, by playing duets.

Intonation. You might be able to play 40 cents sharp by yourself and no one would know the difference unless you weren't in tune with yourself. In order for the music to sound beautiful, you need to play in tune with your partner. In large ensembles, it is very difficult to try to match 65 other players as closely as you can with just one other player. It's difficult to hear your own part sometimes. You know how when you are in rehearsal and the conductor asks to hear just your section, and all of a sudden, you can play in tune much better? It's because the extraneous noise was removed. When playing with just one other person, you have an opportunity to focus matching pitch without tons of other sounds going on.

Tone and balance. Not only do you need to match pitch, but you need to match tone. Having only one other person to listen to makes it much easier to sound like one flute. One person does not need to be louder than the other unless the dynamics call for it. The audience shouldn't be able to perceive one instrument more loudly than the other!

Sight reading. The only way to get better at sight reading is to read new music! The way to do it faster is to read with other musicians who are better sight readers than you! Have you ever noticed that you learn to run better and faster when you do it with other people? It's the same with music. You learn to sight read better with other musicians. It's not really feasible to practice sight reading as much as you'd like with an entire orchestra of people, but it is feasible to grab a friend and read duets together.

Money. What? Yes. Money. If you can form a chamber ensemble, which a duo counts as a chamber group, you have the opportunity to be hired by anyone who is looking for musicians. Most people who hire musicians to play at dinner parties, weddings or other events are looking for a small group of musicians rather than just one. Variety is the spice of life!

Do you feel you have benefited from playing duets? In what ways do you feel you have benefited from playing duets? What other benefits would you add to this list? 

A glimpse ahead

I know it has been several weeks since we have had lessons, but yes, there will are lessons tomorrow! Thank you all for your understanding and patience. It's been a hectic and sickness-filled past few weeks. We're thankfully all better now. I hope it lasts!

We have a lot to do in the next few months. Ensemble placement auditions, high school preparation for a few of you, UIL, scales, end of year exams, etc. Some of you have decided to do the Young Artist Competition hosted by the Houston Flute Club at the end of the year. On top of that, we will have a funny schedule due to all the fun stuff that is happening! Please stay tuned. We will sort of have to play it be ear each week.

Here is a glimpse as to the tentative schedule for the rest of the year. It is subject to change.

Thursday, March 22-lessons as regularly scheduled

Thursday, March 29-lessons as regularly scheduled

Thursday, April 5-lessons as regularly scheduled

Thursday, April 12-lessons as regularly scheduled

Thursday, April 19-lessons as regularly scheduled

Thursday, April 29-NO LESSONS DUE TO TESTING

Wednesday, May 2-make-up/extra lessons will be held from 6pm-8pm for those interested

Thursday, May 3-NO LESSONS DUE TO BAND TRIP

Thursday, May 10-lessons as regularly scheduled (Last OFFICIAL day of lessons)

Thursday, May 17-make-up/extra lessons will be help from 6pm-8pm for those interested

Hang in there!!! I know it gets tough at the end of the year, but summer is right around the corner.

Houston Flute Fest

On Saturday, March 10th, I attended the Houston Flute Fest hosted by the Houston Flute Club. I spent most of my time in the Judges' Room making sure the judges for the Denise Jennings Solo & Ensemble contest were taken care of. I have volunteered as the judging coordinator for that event for the past two Flute Fests. It's been a neat experience, and I enjoy being able to spend time with Houston area flutists.

Jill Felber was the guest artist this year and it was wonderful to be able to hear her play. She played a few fusion pieces that I would really like to get my hands on. She seemed like a really cute lady, and hearing her play made me want to go home and practice again. It made me realize that I miss performing, and I started to fantasize about auditioning for my DMA at her school. I don't even know if her school offers the DMA degree, but I imagined what it would be like to study with her anyway. I was very inspired.

Because I had to return to the Judges' Room at a certain time, I had to leave the recital early. On my way back to the room, I passed my former flute teacher Aralee Dorough. It was so good to see her again, even if it was only for about thirty seconds. I really miss her!

I also snuck out for a little while to attend a short class on caring for your flute taught by Bobbi Prewitt. I really like her. She seems fun.

Once the contest was over and the winners were picked, I was able to return home to my baby girl. Once I saw her again, all those ideas of practicing three hours a day went out the window! There's something about becoming a mommy that has made me much rather play with her than practice my flute. Hopefully one day I will remember the love that I had for my flute and for performing, but for now, playing with babies definitely takes the cake.

No Lessons this week

Dear Parents and Students,

Due to TMEA happening this week, the band hall will be closed on Thursday. This means we will be unable to have lessons. I have sent an email to everyone about possibly scheduling make-up lessons on Wednesdays starting next week. Available times are as follows:

6pm
6:30pm
7pm
7:30pm

Please let me know as soon as possible if you would like to schedule a make-up lesson.

Thanks,

Mrs. Keen

Sticker Earning Opportunity: Handel Flute Sonata

Answer the following questions, and then find the words in the word search I have created. Turn in the word search by the end of the semester to earn up to one sticker per word found. 

1. What was Handel's first name?

2. In what month was Handel born?

3. In what era did Handel compose his music. (Hint: eras are time periods such as the Renaissance period, the Classical period, etc.) 

4. What is the name of Handel's oratorio that is in English and takes it's text from the King James Version of the Bible. (Hint: one of his most famous pieces of music. Probably the first thing that pops into someone's head if you say Handel's name. Starts with an M and has 7 letters.)

5. What is the name of the keyboard instrument that is in the recording above?

6. Some say that Handel may not have composed this sonata. Before historians became doubtful as to who the true composer is, they thought that this sonata was composed by Handel when he was a boy living in a certain city. What is this city? (Hint: Another name of this piece is the _______ Sonata No. 1)

7. This sonata is in the key of A _______. (Fill in the blank)

8. What is the title of the first movement of this Sonata?

9. In what month did Handel die?

10. Handel is buried in ____________  ____________ in London.

DMS Honor Band flutists' solo for solo and ensemble

The honor band flutists will perform the Handel Sonata in a minor, movement IV. Listen to the solo in it's entirety in the two videos below. 

Movements I & II

Movements III & IV (Start at 1:58 to hear mvmt IV)

I have had several students listen to this performance and describe differences between his performance and theirs. Most replied, "His is faster!" Some eyes got really wide and they would ask, "Do we have to play it that fast?" to which I replied, "You do not need to play faster than you can play well."  Yes, we do want to pick the tempo up, but it doesn't do anyone any good if you miss notes all over the place. 

Some noticed that he played his notes shorter, cleaner, more sparkly, more energetic, that he did not crack notes, that he sounded happy in his playing. These are great qualities to try to emulate! 

I started to ask questions about the composer and about the piece in general and I got blank stares. You could just hear this:

Dear Students:

To avoid the awkward silences and to sound like we know what we are talking about a little bit, I have created a sticker earning opportunity for you! Click here. Good luck!

Why you should practice your flute every day

This.

Another semester has passed

We have one more week of lessons this semester, and the schedule is going to be different due to the 7th and 8th grade concert on Thursday. Please bear with me as I try to create a new and different schedule this week to accomodate everyone. Those that have paid through the end of the semester will have priority, but it looks like I will have enough room for everyone who wants to attend the last lesson.

I have calculated everyone's stickers. The amounts are as follows, in no particular order.

Amaya: 5
Harshita: 3
Kelly: 5
Shruthi: 6
Claire: 9
Sophia: 5
Dita: 4
Lauren: 10

Congratulations to everyone for a great semester! To earn up to five (5) more stickers, click on the link under the "Earn More Stickers" button on the side. Follow the instructions on the page.

Good luck!

Mrs. Keen

BeauSoleil avec Michael Doucet

I had the great fortune of being able to hear BeauSoleil avec Michael Doucet perform and perform back up with them in the Rapides Symphony Orchestra. Although I was born and raised in Louisiana, I have never been very interested in listening to cajun music. However, this music, this band and this concert spoke to my soul! I absolutely loved hearing this music.

Of course you can't beat a live performance of this music. There is no wonder that this music spoke to me the way it did as this band had been lauded as "The best cajun band in the world," and that they play music that is "honest to the bone." I believe that is the best way I can think of to describe the music-honest to the bone.

The Rapides Symphony Orchestra has been playing with great groups for the Season Opener Pops Concerts for years! I feel as if these are my favorite concerts because they expose me to such talented musicians in other genres besides classical music. I love learning about music that is not your typical classical music. It makes me feel so educated. I feel like a more well-rounded musician when I can listen and try to allow other types of music to influence my approach to my flute playing. I am not sure how I will be able to incorporate Zydeco in my playing, but I have no regrets at all at attending this concert.

To my students:

Here is your first sticker earning opportunity. Remember, you want to earn as many stickers as possible. The one with the most stickers at the end of the semester gets a prize!

On a separate piece of paper, answer the following questions.

1. Watch the above video. In 3-5 complete sentences, describe your reaction to this music.

2. Visit the BeauSoleil website. List 3 awards this group has received with the year in which they received it.

3. What instrument(s) does/do Michael Doucet play? Hint: Voice counts as an instrument.

4. When is the next performance of BeauSoliel in Houston? Where will they perform?


Please give the answers to these questions to me in email by midnight (12am) December 7, 2011 to earn up to 5 extra stickers.

Good luck!

New School Year 2011-2012

Dear Parents and Students,

It's that time again! The new school year has begun, which means it is time to schedule your flute lesson!!! Many of you have already been in touch with me, and your scheduling is in the works. At this time, those students who attend Dulles Middle School (and a few high school students) will have your lessons in the new band hall on Wednesdays and Thursdays. What a wonderful new facility you have! This will be an exciting year!

A note regarding scheduling: Parents, when you attended the 7th and 8th grade registration, you were only signing up to take lessons. This was not the time to schedule. You should have received an email from Mr. Roberts explaining this. You should also have received an email from me recently regarding the scheduling of lessons. Please choose your top THREE spots. I will do my very best to accommodate your wishes, however, there are many students interested in lessons. As always, first come first served. I greatly appreciate your flexibility and patience regarding this matter.

Lessons will begin September 7th (Wednesday lessons) and September 8th (Thursday lessons). Please check the lesson policies and purchase the supplies listed if you have not already done so.

I look forward to working with all of you this coming school year! Best of luck!

Mrs. Keen

It's always the flutes!

I performed in an educational concert this weekend with the Rapides Symphony, in which we mentored and performed with young student musicians. Area students auditioned for a spot playing side by side symphony musicians. What a fabulous opportunity for young people! The RSO not the New York Philharmonic or anything, but it's still great for kids who live in a tiny town full of cows and hay bales.

Older students have special opportunities as well. The conducting assistant is a Master's student from LSU who auditioned and won the position. 

While the assistant was rehearsing the group, Maestro Zona asked him to check the intonation in the woodwinds. Immediately the young conductor blames the flutes! Of COURSE it's the flutes! Who else could it be?

Chuckling a little Maestro Zona used his try-it-again tone and told him to have everyone but the flutes play. Still out of tune. Okay. 

No oboes. Still out of tune. 

Just clarinets. Ah! There you go! 

Then we played it all together. Nice.

I leaned over and told our student, "If you learn nothing else, learn this. The flutes always get the blame!"

How to teach vibrato

When I was in the sixth grade, my band director taught our flute class how to use vibrato. We were all very good at pulsing eighth notes in our music by the end of the school year. After that year, we never learned more about vibrato in band.

I started taking private lessons in the seventh grade. She would always have to ask me if I knew vibrato. Of course I knew vibrato! Why didn't I use it? Because I was embarrassed!

Using vibrato embarrassed me. Why? Because I knew I wasn't quite doing it the right way and it made me feel self conscious. I knew I sounded different than my band director, who was a flutist, and I did not know why. I loved the way she played! I spent MANY years trying to produce the "ideal tone" based on what I remember her tone sounding like. Update: I have YET to produce the ideal tone.

One day, after planning vibrato pulses and now pulsing in tempo with sixteenth notes, my band director told me, "You shouldn't measure your vibrato anymore. Just play it." Well, it worked! However, it would not have worked had I not had her and my private flute teacher teaching me how to produce vibrato by planning the pulses in my music.

Fast forward several years, and it is my turn to teach young flutists how to use vibrato. I have had to help all students with vibrato somehow, whether it is to slow down "chipmunk vibrato" or to help them produce vibrato in the first place.

Because this is not a post about where vibrato comes from, or even how to produce vibrato, I'll leave that explanation up to the teacher or for a later post.

The first activity is compliments of my previous teacher, Aralee Dorough. I saw her use this with fellow flutists in masterclasses and she used it with me as a warm up activity during our 8am lessons. I like to use this as an activity to help students to visualize the kind of vibrato I want them to use, which is a very deliberate sounding vibrato with wide amplitude and moderate speed.

The advantage of this activity is I can use it with my older students whose vibrato may be taking a life of its own. I can also practice octaves with this activity.

Next I move on to teaching students how to practice playing vibrato with a metronome. This is probably a very common method of teaching vibrato that even other instrumentalists use.

Finally, students need to learn how to use vibrato in their music. I like to use the Moyse 24 Little Melodic Studies to help with this. I still have them measure vibrato and use a metronome at this point.

After they have learned how to feel very comfortable producing vibrato with a wide, obnoxious sounding amplitude, it is time to take the metronome away and tone down the amplitude. I find that playing for them and having them listen to other flutists whose vibrato I like helps them to learn how to produce a beautiful tone at all times.

Good luck!

Solo and Ensemble

Solos have now been selected for all of my middle school students! Those of you at Dulles have had your solos selected by your band directors and we will start working on them at your next lesson now that Region Band auditions are over.

Those at Hamilton had yours selected yesterday. Most of you have a "solo buddy" that is playing the same solo as you. That way you can compare notes, offer tips to one another and generally help each other along during your journey learning a new piece of music.

As an opportunity to earn stickers, I would like ALL of you to listen to ALL of the solos that are being learned by my students. Please keep checking back for sticker opportunities.

Just Keep Swimming

One of my favorite Disney movies is Finding Nemo. If you have seen this movie, you know the silly blue fish, Dory, made famous the phrase "just keep swimming!" As you approach your Region Band auditions, remember to just keep swimming! No matter what happens, just keep playing. Use your very best, confident sound at all times. If you mess up, just keep going. Don't stop. Pretend it didn't happen and just keep swimming!

The Musical Breath

The flute is a wind instrument which means that we use our breath in order to make a sound. We get to breathe life into our music. I keep reminding my students to PLAY the breath, not to merely TAKE a breath. The breath is music too. A mature player will plan every single breath because it is a part of the music. It will sound like it belongs there. He will properly set up the breath with care and finesse and carefully continue the phrase once executing the breath. It is not just a chance to suck air into one's lungs, but an occasion that can make or break a beautiful and thoughtful performance. Please take care to make your breath a musical breath!

Region Band Slow Étude

To my Dulles Middle School flute students:

Because I had to go out of town for a few weeks, I did not want you to miss out on too much. For those of you auditioning for Region Band on November 12th, this is the slower of the two etudes. I made this recording in my back yard with puppies at my feet, so please forgive the video quality and the hair! Enjoy!

J.S.Bach. Partita for flute solo

For my Hamilton Middle School and Dulles Middle School Flutists,

Start this video at the 4:38 (Hamilton) or 7:26 (Dulles) mark. Sound familiar? After you finish listening to that part, I would strongly encourage you to take the time to listen to the entire clip from the beginning. After all it takes less than 10 minutes! You can do anything for 10 minutes!

New School Year

Dear Flute Students and Parents,

I am looking forward to the new school year, and I am happy that I have the opportunity to work with all of you! I have high hopes and expectations of you, the student, and I hope you feel the same way. Flute lessons are hard work, yet the rewards are great!

I am excited about starting a flute blog. Many nights after returning home from teaching lessons, I notice a trend of the day. Perhaps there is a problem with rhythm that all students are experiencing. Perhaps it is trouble with tempo. Maybe everyone just needs a kind word that day because reports, projects, and other deadlines are approaching. This is my attempt to share my thoughts on flute with you, the students and parents, in a fun way!

I will post announcements on this site, as well as keep in touch with you the old-fashioned way. Feel free to ask questions or make requests in the comments section after each post. I look forward to hearing from all of you!

See you next week and don't forget to practice!