Top Register Studies for Flute: 90 Melodious Studies
From the Publisher
To play the top register of the flute with ease and fluency is the goal of many a flutist. The purpose of these studies is to assist him in acquiring such ease and fluency. The challenges fall into three broad groups: (1) Reading high notes; (2) Playing in all keys; (3) Articulating in the high register. A brief comment on each challenge follows:
(1) The notation of the top register involves leger lines; many of them. It will help, where many leger lines are used, to associate the note directly with the fingering. Do not go through the process of counting the leger lines, identifying the note, and then fingering it. Instead, establish a direct connection between note and fingering. In other words, not: NOTE to COUNT LINES to NAME OF NOTE to FINGERING, but: NOTE to FINGERING!
(2) The execution of top register intervals in all keys. These exercises expose the flutist to all major and minor keys, and require that he familiarize himself with the lesser used intervals, identify enharmonic equivalents, and become familiar with unusual cross-fingering patterns.
(3) The articulation of top register intervals. These exercises compel the flutist to co-ordinate tongue, lips, and fingers with breath control, and to play the whole without gain or loss of tempo. The flutist must acquire strict "inner rhythm" of the triplets and sixteenths, no matter what the articulation.
The goal of the virtuoso flutist should be to play these studies perfectly, and towards that goal he must practice slowly at first. A quarter note at M.M. 60 is a good first metronome setting. When the fingerings and intervals become a subconscious part of the "finger" sense, the "tongue" sense, and the sense of supporting the tone from the diaphragm, the increase of tempo will come naturally. With it, too, will come an agility and fluency in the top register which identify the master flutist.
Item Details
Instrumentation
- Part 1: Flute
Publisher: Carl Fischer
Publisher's reference: O4739
Our Stock Code: 985604
Media Type: Paperback (30 pages [score])