Guessing Games: Focusing in those late night rehearsals

An average story of most of our lives: We’re up at 8am and run to a bunch of classes, and by the time it’s 4:00 in the afternoon, the only thing we feel like doing is going home and collapsing on the couch…but orchestra is later that night and doesn’t get out until 10.

By that time of night, my mentality for playing is usually along the lines of, “Okay, I have to play this the best I can and try to play it better than last time. I practiced it a lot, so I know I can sound better here.”

Which is alright. I’m trying my best, and I came prepared.

But that’s so generic. “Play it better”? If we just try to play it “better,” what should we focus on? Tone quality? Breathing? Articulation? Dynamics? Intonation?

…All of them.

But I’ve started to think about this from another perspective: why do these evening rehearsals seem to be so tiring? Because I know that we’re only going to get through about 10 or 15 measures of this piece (that I really want to play straight through because I like it) before the conductor stops us.

Ok, we’re starting rehearsal. I already know we’re not going to play the whole piece through the first time, so let’s play a little game. Let’s play “Guess What the Conductor is Going to Say to Us Next.”

The baton is up; we’re starting at the beginning.

You know…this little fast triplet accompaniment thing we have is kind of like that other piece we played last year…then he told us to play the notes as short as we could so it didn’t sound muddy. He probably wants us to do that here, too.

Sure enough, after we play the opening a few times, the conductor says, “Flutes, can you play those a little more staccato?”

Hey, look at that. I was right!

I didn’t even have to think “Maybe I should make my articulation better here.” It just sounded better.

Since that seemed to work for me, I kept guessing and before I knew it my phrasing and intonation in ensembles was getting better. I tried to remember what things we had worked on in the past and did my best to fix them in my own playing before they became a problem.

So this little game does a few things for me:

1) it keeps me more focused in rehearsal when I’m tired,

2) it forces me to think and use what I already know, and

3) instead of trying to focus on everything at once, I focus on what’s most important for the section we’re working on, and everything else starts to fall into place.

I find that instead of thinking about separate aspects of playing, I’m listening first and making adjustments according to what I hear. It’s a reverse way of thinking that I think in the past few days has really made my playing sound better without necessarily thinking about what “sounding better” means for that piece. Even at the end of the day.

So that’s my little thought for the week. Have another good focusing strategy that works for you? Feel free to post it in the comments! ♫

NFA Convention 2015!

As usual, summer went by fast again this year. But it was not without some adventuring! This past August I had the opportunity to go to the National Flute Association’s annual convention. They held it in DC this year (within driving distance!) and my flute teacher highly recommended that I go, so it was the perfect opportunity to spend a few days checking out the convention.

And it was a LOT.

This was my first convention (aside from the NAfME event back in April), and I was there all by myself, so it was a lot to take in. After spending weeks beforehand on the NFA website trying to map out what workshops and concerts to go to, getting through the whole registration process, and navigating the metro stations in the city (it was a project for someone from a farm town), I made it.

Now if you’ve never been to one of these, the first thing you have to know is that it’s overwhelming. There are flutists from all over the country. You walk past these huge fancy ballrooms and hear flute music everywhere. Every single event in the program grabs your interest and you want to go to all of them, but you can’t because there are always a million things happening at once. Workshops, lecture-recitals, concerts, masterclasses, showcases, exhibits…everything related to flute in this one building.

It’s a lot to take in. But I managed to fit as many cool sounding events into the day as I could. (The problem is, I got so caught up in the flutey things that I almost forgot to leave myself time to eat. Oops.) It’s also a lot of information overload if you’re not prepared for it, so heads up: you’ll learn a ton. Bring a notebook and a folder for handouts, because you’ll want to remember as much as you can. I took something away from every single event I went to, whether it be a fully printed exercise or just a new way of thinking about posture. It’s sort of like a whole summer of flute lessons packed into a weekend, but you’ve had a different teacher for each lesson.

Another heads up: the exhibit hall is crazy. It’s loud and crowded, but it’s fun! Ever wanted to try a wooden flute? Gold flute? Irish flute? Native American flute? Alto or bass flute? It’s here. (I tried the contrabass – I’m about 5’6’’ and it’s taller than me. It’s huge.)

 

You also meet a lot of people (I finally met the woman who does all my repairs after 3 years of only contacting her through email), and some of the exhibitors give you free stuff, like cleaning kits and flute stands.

The concerts and recitals were amazing. I heard a few different flute choirs that had such an incredible sound. This was the first time I’d ever heard a professional flute choir, and after hearing them, I want to be in one :) The Young Artists Competition was wonderful to hear as well. You can listen to videos on youtube all day, but it’s a completely different experience to hear different flute players all perform right after one another live.

Moral of the story: go to a flute convention!!! Unless you don’t play flute, so in that case, just go to a music event like this. It’s worth it. ♫