Hi! It is that time of year again for our beginnings into learning & teaching the Texas all State Etudes ! I so appreciate how we all share information, inspiration and ideas on these wonderful Caprices & Etudes :-).
Here is my offering this year. Hope you enjoy and sending my heart for all of you
💜 ~Jennifer
ps. if you go on my instagram page @jenkeeneyflute or @creativeflutist will post more about videos and practice ideas. Thanks!
Key: G Major Meter: 4/8 Tempo: 8th = 92-120
This light, graceful and with velocity Caprice has a lot of running, leaping, bouncing, Up (rise) and Down (fall) and stretching out before it ends back like it started in pp. (Use your tools! Mirror (Phone- Computer - Video record yourself), Metronome, Tuner.)
Practice Ideas: Practice each of these numbers below, in a variety of ways- All Slurred, 2 slurred, ha ha’s… Get to know how the Caprice is composed. Each part of the puzzle put together makes it whole!
Notice the musical gesture and patterns. Bar 1 chromatic, upper neighbor ( DED) g7 GBDE etc.(bars 1&5 & 15 & 21)
Bars 3 & 7, similar articulation and chord plus 3rds.
Bar 2 & 6 &20 - have repeated pattern. Bring out 1st slurred notes and clarity to leap down to repeated pattern notes.
Bar 4 - pattern is 3rds plus 1/2 step.
Bar 8 is final bar of this phrase and full of Arpeggio Chords: A-C-E-F, E-G-B-C, A#-C#-F#, B-D#-F#.
Bars 9,11,13 all are 4 notes chromatic patterns.
Bars 10 & 16 have repeated pedals A & E’ with descending chromatic line. Practice all slurred and ha ha’s w/o tongue.
Bar 12 - Octaves, large dramatic stretching leaps with 3 slurred together and a 4 note 32nd pattern!
Bar 14 - 3rds and Octaves with a clever articulation change :-) Bar 16 - 3rds + 1/2 step chromatic.
Bar 18 - 4 note chromatic + C+7 (C-E-G#-A) 3 x’s Bar 23 - (C-Eb-G-F#-B-A)
Bar 19- all 5ths. Bar 22 chromatic descending plus 5ths.
Final Bar 24 - takes us back home to GBD = GM Ta Dah!!!!!
Key: Eb Major Meter: C 4/4 Tempo: Quarter = 48-56
Practice Ideas: Sing the Story ~ Open with the beauty of the Story, then dram unfolds, a musical conversation- duet, and ends in a Hero/Heroine’s Epic Adventure!
Use your tools! Mirror (Phone- Computer - Video record yourself), Metronome, Tuner.
Listen to a professional flutist playing the etude.
Decide clearly on how you are going to count the rhythms, including the turns, grace notes and trills. Use your metronome and sing the "rhythm sentences", each phrase. Mark this in your music for more challenging bars.
Practice the main melody bars 1-4 in mf and bars 9-12 in p. Sculpt, Sing, shape each phrase. Consider how you are using your, what I call the 3 V's: Vowels, Vibrato, Volumes. Create a Connection to this beautiful expressive melody.
Decide where to breathe. How is the ease, flow, movement of your breath. There are many ways to practice this and gain more awareness. See my breathing and movement Calendar @ https://www.creativeflutist.com for more ideas.
Practice 5-8. 1st the turn/grace notes, flowing movement and sound. then the 16ths. then bar 7 rhythms. Isolate beat 2 and 4. Then beat 1 & 2 and 3 & 4 . then whole measure. Same practice idea with bar 13-14.
Bar 15: know what the patterns are technically: Eb turn, chromatic stating on the + of beat 1 until the High Ab, then top of an EbM scale to beat 4, then half step, more Eb scale and a final 3rd F to D. You have already figured out the rhythm earlier, make sure to practice say it, finger and say it, play it. Chunk each of the above parts, 1st all legato tongued. Then gradually put the beats and the bar together.
Part 2~ Character Change bar 17: consider what these phrases are expressing? perhaps there are 2 people in musical conversation, p & mf and then they join together in 22-25.
Again, take it in bits and find the flow and beauty of bars 17-25.
Bar 23-24: decide on how to finger the trills & grace notes. Us practice chunks! Legato tongue 2nd beat, then as written.
Part 3~ Bar 26 ~ Hero's/Heroine's Song in a full Operatic Forte!!! Eb minor broken arpeggio bar 26 & 30. BbM7 chord bar28. Learn the 16ths and 32nds separate from flowing 8ths. Bring out the contrast of dim. to piano in bars 31-33.
Use your tuner for becoming aware of your intonation. Use to look at on long notes. ALSO with a drone sounding for example on Eb and Bb most of this Etude.
Record your practice, a measure and phrase at a time working up to sections and whole Etude. Listen... What is most important to focus on? How will you teach yourself today?
Key: Bb Minor Meter: 12/16 Tempo: Dotted 8th = 50-72
Practice Ideas: Enjoy the discovery of each note, measure, phrase, section and whole etude of this wavy wonder!
Use your tools! Mirror (Phone- Computer - Video record yourself), Metronome, Tuner.
Find all of the chromatic patterns and practice them in gestures, chunks. See my colorful marked Etude!
Find all of the chord, arpeggio patterns and practice them individually.
Find like notes, F to F etc. and chunk those groupings.
Find the large leaps and practice flowing through those individually. Interval Intimacy & flexibility and flow.
Practice each measure as a beautiful flowing melody slowly to hear and direct where it leads.
Practice each measure all tongued - then as written.
Practice with dotted rhythms: long short & short long.
Use a fermata on the 16th arrival notes to check intonation and sound quality.
Practice the dynamics and each crescendo that always leads to a peak point in the phrasing.
Use your breathing bag, winding, to bring awareness to how you are managing your breath.
Once you can play a measure beautifully slow, begin to use Slow- Medium - Fast for chunking and measure and then phrase to increase your tempo.
Record your practice, a measure and phrase at a time working up to sections and whole Etude. Listen... What is most important to focus on? How will you teach yourself today?