You are here: Home / Archives for Flute Masterclass

The Beaker Face

May 12, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Any child who was priveledged enough to grow up in the age of Hannah-Barbara, otherwise known as the 1980′s, when the cartoons on Saturday morning were worth watching ( a la: GI Joe, She-Ra, He-Man, Rainbow Bright, My Little Pony and Thunder Cats), kids were expected to go outside and play after school and The Muppets reigned supreme, can identify with this post. 

If you don’t know who the Muppets are, well, Google it, I don’t have time to explain it to you.  To those of you who DO know, the name “Beaker” might ring a bell.  Beaker was one half of the Science duo of Dr. Bunson and his assistant Beaker.   Beaker’s remarkable traits were his his face (a perpetual frown) and voice (something akin to the Road Runner). When explaining a “correct” embochure to my students, I tell them several things, but I usually end up referring to Beaker.  So now, if I see them getting a little too tight, (this works great with the little ones) I tell them to “make your Beaker face!” and when they quit laughing from feeling so silly, the sound improves.

There are probably as many opinions on what a correct flute embouchure is as there are people on the planet.  I have two philosophies:

  1. If you sound great in all registers and you have no complaint with your tone quality or lip flexibility, I don’t care what it looks like.  If you sound great and like it, rock on with your bad self.
  2. If #1 does not apply to you, I will teach you the way that works for me and makes the most sense to me.  Every student that has mastered this to some degree has come away with a MUCH better tone quality, lip flexibility and ability to control the air than otherwise.  This embouchure is to pout and frown….more correctly, make the Beaker face!

I’ve convey this by saying several things.  See which works for you:

  1. Pout: your bottom lip comes out.  Now keep it there by
  2. Frowning.   Pretend you’re a 4 year old about to throw a fit.  What do you look like?

These two things of course, tend to overexaggerate the correct embouchure but it’s a start.  From there….

  • Stick your fingers in the corner of your lips and pull down.  Now grab your fingers with your lips (corners).  That is how you hold your lips down.
  • Put your hands on the side of your face and pull down.  What happens to your lower lip? It comes down and goes out.  When you stop laughing see if you can hold it there.
  • Think of your bottom lip as an aircraft carrier.  The planes have to have enough runway to fly, right? Well, if you pull your corners back what happens to your lip? It gets sucked in and then your run way is too short and what happens to the planes?  We don’t want to kill pilots, so let’s keep the runway nice and long, ok?d
  • Now that you have your run way set, let’s talk about your top lip, what does it do?  Think of it as being like a garage door, it goes up and down.  Put your hand i front of your face and blow a stream of air from the bottom of your hand to the top (without moving your jaw).  How did you do it?  Your top lip moved the air stream.

So, now that you’ve got your Beaker face set up, now what?  This would be the finished product:This guy actually does it pretty well!

  1. Corners are down, pulling the lip out.
  2. The top lip is from where all the control originates.
  3. Keep your lips together and then let the air create a hole.  Blow steadily – this is your new embouchure.

So how do you work on keeping this new embouchure?  USE A MIRROR! So many times we think we are doing one thing when we are actually doing another.  Get set up and look in the mirror.  Is it what you thought? Can you do more?  Play and watch, does it change? Can you hold it there?

 

The guy at left is doing it pretty well actually!

Now, if you find yourself with your embouchure starting to tighten back up and your corners pulling back, try this little trick: inflate your cheeks, yup, just like Dizzy Gillespie.  Ok, so you don’t have to LOOK like him, but you get the idea, right? You can’t pull your corners back and puff out your cheeks at the same time, it can’t be done, you have to pick one or the other!

Why would you want to inflate your cheeks?  It FORCES you to learn to use your upper lip to direct the air, instead of the corners, where you probably learned.  I’ve seen that you can only go so far with your tone and lip flexibility with tight lips on a flute.  If you don’t relearn how to use your top lip to direct the air, you will be very limited in what you can do to play.

RELAAAAAXXXX……..

This is something I tell all flute players: we work too hard to play.  We make it so much harder than it actually is!  Playing the flute should be easy.  And that’s relatively easy, mind you.  What I mean is that if your jaw hurts or neck hurts or lip hurts after playing…you’re doing it wrong.  We have the most relaxed embouchure in the band/orchestra.  Don’t copy anyone else’s embouchure because it just won’t work. You’re not a clarinetist, oboist or trumpet player, so your embouchure shouldn’t look like there’s either!

If you would like more detailed help with your playing, I’m available for lessons via Skype and in person in Nashville come August 2012.  Please send me an email at angela@musicstrong.com or check out the “lessons” tab at the top under Music Services.

 

In the meantime, let Beaker be your guide – and make your Beaker face when you play!

Filed Under: Flute Tagged With: , , ,

Do You Have The Courage To Fail?

April 22, 2011 By 7 Comments

(Part 2 after “Are You Ready To Change?“)

That is a bold statement, “do you have the courage to fail”?  It could almost be seen as a personal challenge, and take it that way if you would like, because I am betting that if you do, you are one of the most courageous people I know.

What does it mean, to have the courage to fail?  Doesn’t failure mean that you didn’t do something right, you didn’t achieve what you set out to achieve, you didn’t do what you wanted to do, you fell short, messed up, let other people down, let yourself down, etc?

Yes.  And is that a bad thing?

Not necessarily.

Quotes about failure

“Mistakes are not to be avoided by embraced.  They are signals that you’re moving into new territory, breaking new ground, making progress.

“The first important step in weathering failure is learning not to personalize it – making sure you know that your failure does not make YOU a failure.”

“Your commitment to continual improvement puts you one step closer to your potential.  And you’ll also find that what you get as the result of your growth is not nearly as important as what you become along the way.”

- John C. Maxwell

How do those quotes make you feel?  I’m guessing a few ways:

“Wow, I feel empowered, right on!”

“That is soooo hokey”

“Yeah, maybe, but that doesn’t really apply to me”

Which one of these is you?  You know what, none of them is wrong.  You are not right or wrong because you feel one way or another.  You just do.  The question is, what will you DO with these feelings and how will you let these quotes affect you?  Quotes are just quotes, they only mean something when you let them affect you.

We all make mistakes and we make them EVERY DAY.  In fact, babies make the cutest mistakes.  When they fall, we laugh and sometimes they giggle back at us.  We don’t think less of them as people, we think it’s adorable that they’re learning.

Now, translate that to a teenager who trips and fall…suddenly no longer adorable because we think “you should have learned to walk by now”.

Judgement.

Failure.

Doom

Translate this into performance and you get the same thing.  You make a mistake and you THINK everyone is thinking “you should have not messed up there, you should know how to play by now”.  This isn’t always the case, a lot of times humans are a lot more sympathetic than you think and even if they know you messed up, THEY don’t want to be where you are and are probably thinking more along the lines of “that’s only natural, I’m sure she’s nervous playing all those notes in front of all these people – you go girl, I’m rooting for you!” while on stage YOU are thinking “oh no, I messed up!  I bet they all noticed and they’re thinking about what a failure I am and how I didn’t play it right and I’m going to hear about it from everyone tomorrow” which leads to a continual mess-up loop and a bad mood the rest of the night.

Pretty unbalanced, huh?

Let me give you a few books that can help free you from your judgemental self.

The Inner Game of Tennis by Tim Gallwey

I have not read The Inner Game of Music but I have heard that the Tennis book is actually much better, and because I play tennis, I “get it”. Even if you don’t play tennis (you should, haha!) you will have an easy time understanding the concepts in this book.  He labels Self 1 and Self 2 and before you freak out that we’re going Schizophrenic, let me ask you, do you ever talk to yourself?  Sure you do, we do it all day long all the time.  Nothing wrong with that.  When we perform, Self 1 goes into overdrive, telling Self 2 what to do.  Self 1 being the voice and Self 2 being your body or your subconscious.  Excerpt from the book

It is interesting to see how the judgemental mind extends itself.  It may begin by complaining “What a lousy serve,” then extend to, “I’m serving badly today”.  After  a few more “bad” serves, the judgement may become further extended to “I have a terrible serve”. Then, “I’m a lousy tennis player,” and finally, “I’m no good”.  First the mind judges the event, then groups events, then identifies with the combined event and finally judges itself.

As a result, what usually happens is that these self-judgements become self-fulfilling prophecies.  That is, they are communications from Self 1 about Self 2 which, after being repeated often enough, become rigidified into expectations or even convictions about Self 2.  Then Self 2 begins to live up to these expectations.  …In short, you start to become what you think.

When asked to give up making judgements about one’s game, the judgemental mind usually protests, “But if I can’t hit a backhand inside the court to save my life, do you expect me to ignore my faults and pretend my game is fine?”  Be clear about this:  letting go of judgements does not mean ignoring errors.  It simply means seeing events as they are and not adding anything to them.

Take out the tennis terms serve and game and insert “notes” and “recital” and does this sound at all familiar?

Another book is The Art of Practicing: A Guide to Making Music From the Heart by Madeline Bruser.

This is another book about letting go of judgement but also giving yourself the permission to make mistakes.  She covers a lot of things: stretching, body awareness, posture, permission and also finding the easiest posture for your instrument.  Beyond all this, she lays out some specific ways to structure your practice session, which I find immensely helpful, especially after one leaves school and it can be easy to get out of the habit.  Sorry, but there are just too many great excerpts to list here, you’ll have to get the book. :)

Performance Power: Transforming Stress Into Creative Energy  by Dr. Irmtraud Tarr Kruger

This is a great book about the psychology behind what we do and how we perform and how we can release that stress into better, more positive things.  It also helps you question your “role”, and learn how to be a human “being” not a human “doing” comfortable in your own skin and able to truly perform.  If the thought of actually confronting your symptoms of nervousness intrigued you, this book will really show you how.

Confusing success with fulfillment is one of the chief causes of performance anxiety.  If we are motivated by “success at any price” then fears must appear; because when we think in this way we will be expecting something from others, thus becoming dependent on goals which have nothing to do with the task at hand.

If we wish with our activity to arrive at something or to prove something merely in order to prop up our faltering feeling of self-worth, then we will be endangered, and it will not be difficult to make us unsure of ourselves.  Drive on by our “success trip”, we will then be following a mistaken concept fed by foreign, ersatz feelings, which make us dependent.  If we appear in public with the intent to impress, we will be looking for something other than satisfaction or fulfillment.  We Will have much more to fear than if our appearance were dedicated to the goals of seeking satisfaction and fulfillment, and of sharing our knowledge or ability with others in order to enrich our lives.

By the way, if reading that offended you, or poked at you and made you uncomfortable, that’s a sure sign that that is an area needing change and courage.  Might be a good indication to read that one. :)

Lastly, I have one from Max Lucado.  This was given to me when I was leaving Appalachian State University to transfer to Florida State to do finish my Master’s.  The church I attended there was small but very loving and they let me know how special I was to them by giving me this book before I left.  They were sad to see me go, but wanted me to be courageous as I set out on a new journey.

Let the Journey Begin: God’s Roadmap for New beginnings by Max Lucado

If you believe in God and have faith in His will for your life, this book is a God-send and a veritable relief to read.  From the preface:

Deep in every heart you will find it: A longing for meaning, a quest for purpose.

If you ask the secularists what is the meaning of life they will say “we don’t know”.  At best they might agree that we are developed animals.  At worse, rearranged space dust.

What a contrast to God’s vision for life: “We are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to devote ourselves to the good deeds for which God has designed us”. (Eph 2:10)

God has placed his hand on your shoulder and said “You’re something special.”
Untethered by time, he sees us all.  In fact, he saw us before we were born.  And he loves what he sees.  Flooded by emotion. Overcome by pride, the Starmaker turns to us, one by one, and says, “You are my child, I love you dearly.”

And he loves us forever.  Should you ever turn from him and walk away, he has already provided a way back.  Nothing can separate you from his love.  If you anchor these truths firmly in your heart, you will be ready for whatever you may encounter on the road ahead.

So let the journey begin!   – Max Lucado, January 1998

Ok, Ready to Fail!

If you’re truly ready to take this journey, I applaud you because you are a brave soul and you will be rewarded!  Having the courage to go into the failure takes guts, so if I may, let me give you a bit of advice on the journey ahead:

  • Be kind to yourself.  You are going to fail, sometimes ON PURPOSE.  When (not if) this happens, take a moment to notice your reaction.  Do you have an immediate judgement?  Were you surprised?   Whatever your reaction, be kind to yourself and realize you are not your failure.  The mistake was just that, a mistake and how you choose to react to it will make all the difference.
  • If you do judge yourself, notice that.  Pretend you are a student – would you judge your student?  No, you’d notice the mistake and figure out how to fx it.  Same with training – treat yourself as your own client.  Realize that judgement is not necessarily about the mistake that just occurred – it represents something else.  When you have that judging moment, ask yourself why?  Have the courage to look beyond the immediate “I can’t believe I messed up, what a failure I am” thought and ask why do I think that?
  • In music, this is how I teach my students to correct their mistakes (and I believe this comes from The Art of Practicing)
  • Step 1) stop immediately and make note of exactly where the mistake happened.
  • Step 2) Look at the mistake objectively.  Identify exactly what happened (if it was a wrong note, which one?  Say it’s an interval of a 3rd and you are playing a 2nd….this might be a pattern and you will notice it happening elsewhere when you can identify it)  
  • Step 3) Play the wrong note on purpose  – does that freak you out? :)   Allow yourself to make the mistake. Notice how it feels and how it sounds.
  • Step 4) Play the correct note (and by the way, this should all be done slowly and maybe even out of tempo or rhythm.  This is crucial.  You have to allow yourself to play the wrong note, to fail and notice where it happens, so that when you now play the correct note, you are acutely aware of it).  When you play the correct note, take the passage out of time, perhaps only play the note before and after the erroneous note and make sure that you SIT on the correct note.  This means that when you play the correct note, hold it out for a long time. This puts the sound of it in your ear and when you play it with the preceding and following notes, you hear the correct note pattern instead of the wrong one BUT you HAVE to play the wrong note first!
  • If you are learning how to fail in other areas of life, you can apply this same process.  Take out “note” from the passage above and insert your circumstance:  Allow the wrong ” food….exercise….person….statement….etc” to happen – experience the mistake in its entirety and then when you do the correct thing, revel in it.
  • The best advice I can give you is to notice this in your journey “If it feels weird, you’re probably right”.  This means that mistakes often feel more correct than the correct thing.  When you are correcting a mistake it feels weird, unnatural – GO WITH THAT feeling.  When you sit on the right note it will sound weird, feel weird, and the more you play it correctly like that the less weird it sounds.  Try it out and tell me what happened for you.  I do this with clients all the time.  In squatting, if a client’s feet point too far outward or their knees cave inwards and I have them correct that, they will tell me “that doesn’t feel right, or that feels weird” and I tell them to make it feel weird, because it means they are doing it right.

For more resources


I found this link of books from the Horn Studio at UI, looks like a great list!

Book list for overcoming fear of failure, stress and performance anxiety

And, if you want to feel better about failing, of course you can check out Fail Blog

Feel free to add any  more resources that have helped you as well.

Stay tuned for part 3 in this blog series: Do You Have The Courage To Succeed?

Fail well, fail often!  Love to hear your thoughts on how failing works for you!


Filed Under: Fitness, Flute, Motivation and Success Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

NFA Convention Brochure

February 27, 2011 By 12 Comments

The 2011 National Flute Association Convention Brochure is online now and will be shipped out to thousands of flutists worldwide in the next couple of weeks.  I took a peek at it today and got a nice surprise, my presentation “Lift, Play, Love: Basic Weightlifting for Efficient Flute Playing” has been listed on the brochure on Body, Mind and Spirit!  I’m super excited to be presenting as this will be my first presentation at a National Convention, but not the last, as I will actually be involved in TWO presentations at this convention!  The second presentation is titled “Practical Steps Towards Injury Prevention and Management” and will actually be a type of round-table discussion in which myself and three other experts will discuss practical ways to reduce the risk of playing-related injuries.  My fellow presenters for this presentation are: Karen Lonsdale, Lea Pearson and Dr. Susan Fain.

The NFA Brochure:

2011 NFA Brochure

I hope to see a good many of you there at the convention!  Let me know you’re coming and then come introduce yourself!

Want more information on the two presentations?

Lift, Play, Love: Basic Weight Lifting for Efficient Flute Playing

In the moment, you want to focus on making music … not on how much your shoulder hurts. Many musicians run and do yoga, but few seriously resistance train. Pain doesn’t go away if you ignore it, so learn how to fix it! In this session Angela will help you become more aware of your body, improve your endurance, restore your freedom of movement and combat muscle weakness by showing you how to lift, what exercises to do, and how to stretch properly before and after you play. Leave the session emboldened by the knowledge that you can walk into any weight room with confidence and purpose, and you can return to the stage with love for what you do, without fear of pain!

Practical Steps Toward Injury Prevention and Management

Several major surveys since the early nineties have indicated a significant rate of flute playing-related injuries, typically in the neck, shoulder, back, and hand/wrist areas. Yet leading performing arts medicine specialists suggest that many of these injuries are preventable. Simple modifications to practice routines, instruments, and lifestyle, as well as increased awareness of positioning can lead to healthier playing con…ditions. Our expert panel will discuss practical ways in which teachers and performers can reduce the risk of playing-related injuries occurring, and therefore, be able to sustain happy and healthy playing lives. Some of the topics to be discussed will be fitness, awareness (including Body Mapping), rehabilitative and preventative exercise, as well as ergonomic solutions in the teaching studio and rehearsal environments.

Panel Members:

Karen Lonsdale is a freelance flutist, based in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. She teaches flute at the Queensland Conservatorium, Griffith University, where she is also in the completion stage of a Doctor of Musical Arts.

Lea Pearson has a DMA in flute from Ohio State and authored the acclaimed pedagogy tool “Body Mapping for Flutists: What Every Flute Teacher Needs to Know About the Body.” Lea is an Andover Educator, coaching musicians on body use privately and in workshops & master classes. See web.mac.com/flutibia

Susan Fain received her DMA in flute from the University of Oklahoma. Dr. Fain’s dissertation on the physical aspects of flute playing recently won the NFA PhD/DMA Competition. She is working part-time as a PT and is developing health promotions for musicians.

Angela McCuiston holds a MM from FSU in flute performance is a NASM certified personal trainer. Winner of the 2007 NFA Piccolo Masterclass Competition, she plays with the 129th Army Band, Nashville, TN & Sinfonia Gulf Coast of Destin while maintaining an active teaching & personal training career. fluteangel.net, musicstrong.com

You may access more information including registration information at www.nfaonline.org/convention

Related Articles
Filed Under: Flute, Travel Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Spring is Coming, What are you Going to Do?

February 25, 2011 By 5 Comments

Concerts, Camps, Festivals, Workshops, Etc.

Spring and Summer are the times of year when we see a huge influx of camps and workshops, all geared towards immersing ourselves in what we love.

First up,

Interlochen Arts Academy is holding a special performance by their theatre and jazz students on Thursday, March 3 at 7:00pm in Naples, Florida.

Beverly Hall
Naples United Church of Christ
5200 Crayton Road (map)
Naples, Florida
admission is free
For more information, call the Office of Admission and Financial Aid at 231.276.7472.
BodyMapping and Andover Educators Conference
If you have ever wanted to learn more about Body Mapping, this would be a fantastic opportunity!  The Andover Education Board is holding their Fifth Biennial Conference

Andover Educators Fifth Biennial Conference

June 18-22, 2011
John J. Cali School of Music
Montclair State University
Montclair, NJ

 

Advance planning information:
Fri, June 17 – travel day & check-in starting 12 pm
Conference starts early Saturday & concludes 1 pm Wednesday
Closest airport is Newark Liberty
More information coming soon!

 

There will be sessions not only on Body Mapping, but also on Feldenkrais, Focal Dystonia, Neuroscience for Musicians and INDIVIDUAL LESSONS!  About lessons:

There will be pre-conference training opportunities on Thursday, June 16 and Friday, June 17th for Andover Educator trainees only. All four sponsoring teachers [Janet Alcorn, Jennifer Johnson, Amy Likar and Lisa Marsh] will be available for private lessons on Thursday and group lessons and private lessons on Friday. The private lesson fee is $80 per lesson and the group lesson fee is $100 for the day on Friday. Housing is available on campus, but you’ll be on your own for meals before the conference. If you are a trainee and want to take advantage of this opportunity, the first thing you need to do is go to the Google Calendar and check what spots are open.  If there are remaining open lesson times after May 1st, then anybody can sign up.

Some of the class descriptions

What Every Musician Needs to Know About the Body, Hours 2-5
Presenters: Janet Alcorn, Professor Emeritus of Voice, Iowa State University;  Jennifer Johnson, Author of “What Every Violinist Needs to Know about the Body”;  Amy Likar, President and Director of Training Andover Educators; Lisa Marsh, Director of Coordinate Movement Program, Portland State University

These sessions are a continuation of the “Introduction to Body Mapping” session presented by Barbara Conable. Hours 2-5 of the course will be presented by each of the Andover Educator Supervising Teachers.  Each will be teaching at the same time, in different locations.  Learn how accessing your body map can lead to freer, easier movement for music making.

Common Upper Extremity Diagnoses Affecting Musicians: The Therapists’ Treatment Process
Presenter: Ruth Lekander, Andover Educator Trainee and Certified Hand Therapist

A clear and concise description of the anatomy and pathophysiology of common upper extremity diagnoses affecting musicians, typical compensation patterns and how they are treated in a therapy setting.

Recovering from Dystonia: One Musician’s Journey
Presenter:  David Vining, Professor of Trombone at Northern Arizona University.

Information about what dystonia is, what the treatment options are, retraining after diagnosis, and how to avoid trouble will be discussed.

Body Mapping with Kids in Mind
Presenter:  Connie Barrett, Acclaimed string educator

The session will cover the use various toys, books, and models used for teaching anatomy and biology to children in grades 3-8. An appropriate curriculum will be demonstrated using Body Mapping and its practical application in teaching beginning and intermediate string players.

The Relationship between Interpretation and Movement
Presenter:  Anita King, Professor of Piano at Willamette University

This presentation will clarify the connection between analysis and actual performance.  Connect the complex organization of movement to musical structure, emphasizing approaches to music analysis that clarify the relationship between the details of the melodic/rhythmic “surface” and the deeper levels revealed by the harmonic rhythm and phrase structure. See how performance and teaching can be more integrated and holistic when movement choices and responses are in direct relation to the musical text.

The Impact of Body Mapping on Student Musicians’ Perceptions of their Performance and Development
Presenter:  Heather Buchanan, Professor of Choral Studies at Montclair State University

Practical information gleaned from the Body Mapping research done at Montclair State University will be presented.  Parameters and key points from the study will be summarized as well as examples from case studies including trajectory of learning experience, aspects that contributed positively and negatively and how the research made the presenter a better teacher.

Performance Area Orientation Sessions (Sunday, Monday and Tuesday)
Presenters:  Cynthia McGladrey, female voice, Instructor of Body Mapping at George Fox University;  David Nesmith, high brass, Professor of Horn, Denison University;  Sherill Roberts, low strings, Member Portland Opera Orchestra;  Kerry Travers, high strings, Suzuki Violin Teacher;  David Vining, low brass, Licensed Andover Educator, Professor of Trombone, Northern Arizona University;  Kelly Mollnow Wilson, flute, Instrumental Music teacher, grades 5-12;  Kurt-Alexander Zeller, male voice, Professor of Voice at Clayton State University

These will be participatory sessions for people to physically experience working with instruments they don’t play.  Attendees can become familiar with common mismappings for each instrument and have a resident expert available to ask questions.

Presenting a Successful Workshop
Presenter:  Lea Pearson, Author of “Body Mapping for Flutists”

Based on best practices for training teaching artists as defined by artist trainers at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, this workshop will offer tools to help Body Mapping presenters develop the process of planning and leading workshops.

How to Read a Room, Field Difficult Questions, Manage Your Time, and Survive to Talk About It
Presenter:  Michelle Kunz, Certified Professional Coach, and Member of the Washington National Opera Chorus.

This session will help those seeking advice on how to keep a workshop flowing within the level and context of those who are present, read your classroom for understanding, and intelligently deal with difficult questions that may come up. We’ll also address how to tame that presentation performance anxiety beast.

All Things Technical
Presenter:  Meerenai Shim, Andover Educator Trainee, Flutist, Webmaster for bodymap.org

This will be a Question and Answer session on using the new website, working with Yahoo Groups and other Techology Questions.

Special Guest Sessions

More on the Mind-Body Dichotomy
Presenter: T. Richard Nichols, Professor and Chair of Applied Physiology at Georgia Tech University and Science Advisor to Andover Educators

In the last few decades, many investigations of the control of skilled movements such as musical performance have been focused on the role of the cerebral cortex and the associated anatomical and functional maps.  As a result of this work, progress has been made in the understanding not only of how we move, but also of the basis of occupational disorders such as the focal dystonias.  However, the focus on the cerebral cortex has perhaps led to a new version of the mind-body dichotomy, in which the connections between the cortex and body are not sufficiently emphasized.  In this session, we will discuss research supporting that the dimensions of musical performance (consciousness, motor skill, emotion memory, etc.) result from an integration of processes distributed throughout the central nervous system and body.  We will also review manifestations of occupational motor disorders in subcortical structures to further illustrate the unity of body and mind.

Neuroscience for Musicians
Presenter:  Lois Svard, professor of piano and chair of the department of music at Bucknell University, Lewisburg, PA

Over the past thirty years, neuroscientists have studied the brain basis of almost every aspect of music, from discrete elements such as pitch, rhythm, and melody, to more complex issues such as sight-reading, performance anxiety, emotion, improvisation, and memory. Other areas of neuroscience research, not originally studied in relationship to musicians, have also been found to have relevance for how we learn music and how we perform.  Some of these areas include plasticity, mirror neurons, motor imagery, and one of the newest and most exciting areas, error detection and monitoring.  There is a wealth of scientific information that has been gathered about the processing of music in the brain; yet most musicians remain unaware of these astonishing findings and how we can use them to supplement more traditional ideas about pedagogy.  This presentation will discuss some of these exciting research areas and their practical applications in the teaching studio, the practice room, and on the concert stage.

Lois Svard is well known for her performances and recordings of contemporary American piano music.  Her recent DVD of Annea Lockwood’s prepared-piano work, Ear-Walking Woman, has been met with critical acclaim in the US, Canada, Europe and Australia. Svard also does research into the applications of recent discoveries in brain science for the study and performance of music.  Results of her work have been presented at national music conferences such as Music Teachers National Association and the World Piano Pedagogy Conference, at national neuroscience conferences such as the Society for Music Perception and Cognition, and Neuroscience 2006, and most recently at the International Society for Music Education in Beijing, China.  She holds a doctorate in piano performance from The Peabody Institute of The Johns Hopkins University.

 

If you have any kind of interest in the body, musician’s injuries, therapy, etc. I highly suggest attending this conference, even if just for a day.  So often we don’t understand how our own bodies work and opperate and changing our erroneouos perceptions can make all the difference in the world to our performing, playing and auditioning!  This conference is for all musicians, not just flutists.

 

Flute Festivals and Fairs

There are a myriad of different festivals going on this Spring, here are just a few:

  • The Mid-Atlantic Flute Fair hosted by the Flute Society of Washington, February 19-20, 2011 at the Sheraton Reston Hotel in Reston, VA. Guest Artists include Marina Piccinini and Jim Walker.
  • The New York Flute Fair hosted by the New York Flute Club, March 13, 2011 at the Lighthouse in New York City. Guest Artist is Paula Robison.
  • The Portland Flute Fair hosted by the Greater Portland Flute Society, April 2, 2011 at Aloha High School in Aloha, OR. Guest Artist is Marianne Gedigian.
  • The Seattle Flute Festival hosted by the Seattle Flute Society, April 3, 2011 at Town Hall in Seattle, WA. Guest Artist is Denis Bouriakov.
California
Jim Walker’s “Beyond The Masterclass” » MORE INFO
Los Angeles, CA 6/19/2011 – 6/25/2011
Iowa
Iowa Flute Festival » MORE INFO
Iowa City, IA 4/16/2011
Iowa Piccolo Intensive » MORE INFO
Iowa City, IA 5/31/2011 – 6/3/2011
Massachusetts
Berklee Flute Weekend » MORE INFO
Boston, MA 6/24/2011 – 6/26/2011
New England Conservatory Metropolitan Flute Festiv » MORE INFO
Boston, MA 7/21/2011 – 7/24/2011
Michigan
2011 Flute Workshop » MORE INFO
Clinton Township, MI 7/26/2011 – 7/29/2011
Missouri
MSU Flute Day » MORE INFO
Springfield, MO 3/19/2011
New York
Music for All Seasons Fundraiser with Sir James Galway » MORE INFO
New York City , NY 3/3/2011
Ohio
Central Ohio Flute Festival » MORE INFO
Columbus, OH 4/16/2011
South Carolina
South Carolina Flute Society Spring Festival » MORE INFO
Columbia, SC 3/18/2011 – 3/19/2011
Spring Flute Festival » MORE INFO
Columbia, SC 3/18/2011 – 3/19/2011
Tennessee
Flute Festival Mid-South » MORE INFO
Nashville, TN 3/18/2011 – 3/19/2011
Texas
Texas Flute Festival » MORE INFO
Denton, TX 5/19/2011 – 5/21/2011
Floot Fire Flute Competitions » MORE INFO
Plano, TX 6/12/2011
Floot Fire Plano » MORE INFO
Plano, TX 6/13/2011 – 6/18/2011
Floot Fire West » MORE INFO
Hurst, TX 6/20/2011 – 6/24/2011
Virginia
JMU Flute Fling 2011! with RHONDA LARSON » MORE INFO
Harrisonburg, VA 3/26/2011
Baroque Music for Flute and Voice » MORE INFO
Oak Grove, VA 4/3/2011
Wisconsin
Wisconsin Flute Festival » MORE INFO
Madison, WI 4/30/2011
Bercloux, France
masterclass course » MORE INFO
Bercloux, 5/1/2011 – 5/7/2011
Lisa Friend London Flute Summer Class 2011 » MORE INFO
London, 8/5/2011 – 8/7/2011
Filed Under: Flute, Travel Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Presentation Announcement

October 28, 2010 By 1 Comment

I have just received the news that my presentation for the Florida Flute Association Annual Convention has been accepted!

I will be giving the presentation, “Lift, Play, Love: Basic Weight Lifting for Efficient Flute Playing” on January 30th, 2011 at 9 AM at the Orlando Marriott.

”
In the moment, you want to focus on making music … not on how much your shoulder hurts. Many musicians run and do yoga, but few seriously resistance train. In this session Angela will help you improve your endurance, combat muscle weakness and overcome any fears of injury by walking you through how to lift, what exercises to do, and how to warm up before you play. Leave the session with the knowledge that you can walk into any weight room with confidence and purpose! Play Longer & Stronger by preparing your whole body with the information in this session.”

So many musicians avoid the weight room out of fear – fear of the unknown. I’m going to dispel that fear and embolden you with knowledge! You will learn the benefits of weight training in regards to how it affects your flute playing and learn the basics of form and exercise. We will also cover a bit of body mapping and body awareness, because it does not make sense to train your body when you are not fully aware of it.

If you are going to the Florida Flute Association Convention January 28-30 I would love to see you there! If you are coming to the presentation, bring a towel and wear comfortable clothes and in the meantime, I’d love to hear your comments and questions – I can always work them into the presentation, or even address them on this blog.

You can find more information about the convention at www.floridaflute.org

You can find more information about me at www.fluteangel.net and more information about my training services at www.musicstrong.com

Filed Under: Fitness, Flute, Travel Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Trip to Nicholls

June 3, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Roberta & Guga Cavalcanti

See?  Foam rolling can be fun…

These students were such great sports.  We had a lot of fun learning and trying together.  As I stated in an earlier blog post, I got invited to Nicholls University to do a presentation on Workouts for Musicians.  We went through some basic anatomy and physiology and then we all did some dynamic integration and body mapping followed by some dynamic warmups, static stretching, lower body activation work and we went through some exercises that are helpful to musicians to make them stronger.

I had some brave students as you can see.  Foam rolling can feel good afterwards, but not only can it be awkward but it sure can be painful!  These students were definitely up for the challenge.

Roberta & Guga Cavalcanti

Roberta & Guga Cavalcanti

We also tried to learn how to squat and do a deep squat hold.  These kids are college age and it was remarkable how inflexible some of us are, even at a young age.  It just goes to show that you’re not to young or too old to exercise and learn how to stretch properly.

Roberta & Guga Cavalcanti

When you do these things on a regular basis, your body is stronger and when your body is strong, YOU are strong.  You can hold your instrument for a long time without getting tired, you can breathe more deeply, you have a better awareness of your body and certain muscles don’t get underused while other muscles get overused.

Musicians, please, don’t neglect your first instrument!

I’m here to help. :)

Related articles
Filed Under: Fitness, Flute, Travel Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,