The Simple Flute: From A to Z PDF
Preview The Simple Flute: From A to Z
The Simple Flute: From A to Z Michel Debost OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS This page intentionally left blank From A to Z Michel Debost Illustrated by Jeanne Debost-Roth 1 2002 3 Oxford New York Athens Auckland Bangkok Bogotá Buenos Aires Cape Town Chennai Dar es Salaam Delhi Florence Hong Kong Istanbul Karachi Kolkata Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Mumbai Nairobi Paris São Paulo Shanghai Singapore Taipei Tokyo Toronto Warsaw and associated companies in Berlin Ibadan Copyright © 2002 by Oxford University Press Published by Oxford University Press, Inc. 198 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016 Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Oxford University Press. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Debost, Michel. [Simple flûte. English] The simple flute : from A to Z / Michel Debost. p. cm. Translated from French. Includes bibliographical references. ISBN 0-19-514521-6 1. Flute—Instruction and study. I. Title. MT340 .D4313 2002 788.3'2193—dc21 2001033831 1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2 Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper A to Z in Form of Introduction 3 Isometrics 140 Accompaniment 5 Jawboning 143 Acoustics 11 Keys 148 Agogic 12 Lips 154 Air Column 14 Little Devils 156 Air Speed 17 Memory 160 Alignment 18 Muscle Groups 163 Appoggiatura 21 Muscles, Strong and Weak 166 Appoggio 23 Notes 168 Arpeggio 25 Pain and Pleasure 169 Articulation 26 Paris Conservatoire and French Attacks 30 School 173 Beginners 34 Phrasing 176 Blowing Long Phrases 38 Posture 184 Breathing 1: Generalities 43 Practicing 187 Breathing 2: Mechanics 46 Programs 191 Breathing 3: Where Not to Quodlibet 195 Breathe 48 Repertoire 201 Breathing 4: Where to Breathe 50 Resonance 204 Bridge 52 Rituals 207 Center of Gravity 54 Rest 210 Circular Blowing 57 Rubato 211 Concentration, Relaxation 59 Scale Game 215 Diaphragm 61 Silence 219 Dynamics 63 Stability 222 Embouchure 68 Stepping-Stones 224 Études 71 Stress 230 Fingerings 72 Style 237 Finger Antagonisms 78 Technique 241 Finger Phrasing 80 Tempo 243 Flutes 82 Tonguing 248 Focus 88 Trills 255 Freedom 90 Tuning 256 Grace Notes 97 Unusual Trill Fingerings 258 Hands 101 Vibrato 260 Hierarchy of Beats 109 Warm-Ups 264 Images 111 Yawning 265 Interpretation 113 Zeal in Form of Conclusion 266 Interpreting Accents 123 Bibliography 269 Intervals 128 Index 271 Intonation, Intonations 134 This page intentionally left blank This page intentionally left blank Alphabetical order for entries in this book has been chosen for various reasons. The main one is that such a book is not meant to be read like a novel, drink in hand under the lamp. It is a book for lovers of the divine pipe, for those fascinated by actual contact with the flute, with instrumental playing as well as musical function in mind, for its poetic mysteries as well as for its technical secrets. I have been playing the flute for close to sixty years. Yet nothing is indifferent to me that involves the flute. Hopefully it will be so as long as I have a breath, or a tooth, left. I take nothing for granted either, and each day brings new questions and renewed pleasures. Separating into “logical” compartments different aspects of musical art (tech- nique, tone, articulation, interpretation, etc.) seems to me arbitrary. I cannot see the border between questions. The art of the flute is not a chest of isolated little drawers with one aspect of playing locked in each one. Musicality does not start where technique stops, if it ever stops. There is no possible practice of articulation without a cultivated tone, any more than there can be a valid reflection on tone without a living consciousness of the breath. There is no significant instrumental work without a musical proj- ect, and there can be no meaningful interpretation without valid instrumental playing. “Art is but feeling. Yet, without the science of volumes, of proportions, of col- ors, without the ability of the hand, the liveliest feeling is paralyzed. What would become of the greatest poet in a foreign land, whose tongue he knew nothing about?”1 Alphabetical organization, therefore, seemed to me more practical for a “flute in hand” reading. Another reason relates to the attention span of your average flutist. Mine does not go much beyond a thousand words, or about two typewritten pages. Such is the size of most of my subjects, to which are added a few illustrations, musical examples, and sketches by Jeanne Debost-Roth. She has the necessary know-how and patience, being the daughter and wife of flute players. If interest is aroused by an entry, the implied subjects are indexed, again in al- phabetical order, at the end of each entry, so that a curious reader may easily find them in cross-reference. Some ideas will be repeated for the same reason, some- times word for word: cross-reference. The repetitions are not unintended. Teach- ing is, like conducting, glorified redundancy. After the teacher has repeated the same axiom a hundred times, the student will need to hear it for the hundred and first time. Music is whole, and to serve it one must explore the secret paths that link aes- 1. Auguste Rodin (1840–1917) in L’Art (Paris: Bernard Grasset: 1911). 3
The list of books you might like
