As we near the deadline for Flute New Music Consortium's Flute Artist Competition, I am thinking about all of you out there who are currently making friends with some new techniques for flute, as well as those of us who advocate strongly for new music and work to incorporate extended techniques into all of our teaching. I hope you'll all be won over in the end!
Flutter Tongue: Rolling the ‘r’ to produce a fluttering, “frrrr” sound
through notes.
A few occurrences in the
literature*: Ulrich Gasser, Papierblüten
(Paper Blossoms); André Jolivet, Cinq Incantations
Notes on practice: Even people who can roll their r’s (if you can’t,
blame genetics!) sometimes prefer to switch to the uvula in the low
register. Use your uvula the same way
you would gargle and bring that motion as far forward on the uvula as
possible. It can sustain a smoother
sound by not interrupting the air as much as the tongue. And of course, open up, blow down, and use
plenty of air! Flutter tongue, by the way, is a great exercise for practicing
moving fast air; just add it to slurred scales or long tones, then play without
and notice a more resonant, open sound!
Harmonics: Producing multiple notes from one fingering, namely
the tones from the harmonic series based off that note you are fingering.
A few occurrences in the
literature: Anne LaBerge, revamper;
Elizabeth Brown, Trillium
Notes on practice: Practicing harmonics regularly also leads to more
accurate control of sound production by improving accuracy on the head
joint. The exercises on the first page
of Trevor Wye’s Tone book from his Practice Book for the Flute series
provides a great guide to practicing harmonics for the sake of improving tone,
and can be transposed to start on notes from B to F in the lowest register.
Jet Whistle: Covering the entire embouchure hole with your mouth
and blowing very hard to produce a whistling sound.
A few occurrences in the
literature: Villa-Lobos Assobio a
Jato (The Jet Whistle) for flute and cello: first occurrence; Ian Clarke, Zoom
Tube; Robert Dick, Afterlight
Notes on practice: If you aim forward slightly and try to blow your air
against the far side of the tube inside the head joint, you will get a sharper
sound and create some resistance, thereby allowing you to go longer on the
breath.
Key Clicks: Slapping one or more keys with or without blowing
into the flute, creating a light percussive sound. Composers will sometimes ask
for the note to be played while performing a key click; without this
specification, the key click should not be accompanied by a tone.
A few occurrences in the
literature: Phyllis Avidan
Louke, Extended Techniques - Double
the Fun and Extended Techniques - Solos for Fun! ; Edgard Varèse,
Density 21.5: first occurrence; Lowell Liebermann, Eight Pieces
Notes on practice: For more projection, experiment with leaving your
mouth open slightly to act as a resonating chamber. You can also produce the pitch a seventh
below what is written by covering the embouchure hole completely with your
mouth, which will be notated in a variety of ways by the composer.
Multiphonics: Playing two or more pitches at once; these tones
will not sound as clean and pure as normal flute playing, but will tend to create
a hollow, train whistle kind of effect. Most multiphonics require special
fingerings which will be glossed either in the performer’s notes or within the
context of the piece.
A few occurrences in the
literature: Trevor Wye, A Very Easy 20th Century Album;
Michael Colqhoun, Charanga; Luciano Berio, Sequenza
Notes on practice: To practice finding them in a piece, isolate each
individual pitch with the fingering given by the composer. Then find the place
on the head joint where both will speak, aiming in between the two spots on the
head joint for the individual pitches.
It may be necessary to favor one pitch over the other(s) if it is weaker
in resonance or harder to maintain. Experiment with changing your air speed or
vowel shape in the mouth to make it easier to get both to speak.
Pitch Bends: Smooth glissandos performed by either rolling the
head joint in and out or sliding fingers off the keys of an open-hole flute (or
both).
A few occurrences in the
literature: Ian Clarke, Orange
Dawn , Kazuo Fukushima, Mei; Robert Dick, Fish are Jumping
Notes on practice: Experiment
and let your ear be your guide--more stable notes (middle register D) will
require some finger sliding, while very bendable notes like middle register C
or C# can be done entirely by rolling in and out without completely losing the
sound. Besides rolling the flute,
collapsing the embouchure and/ or slowing the air can help make a pitch go
flatter, and pulling the corners of the embouchure (usually a mortal sin!) may
help raise pitch.
Pizzicato: Short bursts of air across the embouchure hole
combined with heavy (“spit”) articulation to create an airy, ghost-like
staccato, played on any note fingering.
Do not blow directly into the flute like you would for a normal pitch;
these should sound closer to key clicks than actual notes.
A few occurrences in the
literature: Shulamit Ran, East
Wind; Jason Barabba, A Sign in Space
Notes on practice: Blow further across the flute than you normally
would to avoid playing clean tone.
Pizzicato notes can also be used in place of unpitched key clicks if you are
playing in a very large and/or noisy room where you fear the key clicks will
not be heard by the audience.
Sing + Play: Humming a pitch while playing a note on the
flute.
A few occurrences in the
literature: Wil Offermans, Honami;
Robert Dick, Lookout
Notes on practice: Sing and play is a great way to ensure that air flow
is relaxed and open and that air speed is fast--practice doing it in unison,
octaves, and polyphony in scales. It’s also a nice review of our aural training! If you have difficulty starting
both sounds right away, practice singing and then adding the note, and keep
working to make the two gradually coincide.
Tongue Ram / Tongue Stop: Performed by hitting the embouchure hole with the
tip of your tongue, like saying “hut” or “hoot” (a kind of reverse
articulation). The lips should totally
encircle the embouchure hole.
A few occurrences in the
literature: Victor Fontin, No
Problem (Pub.: Doblinger), Jos Zwannenberg, Solo for Prepared Flute
Notes on practice: Be extremely forceful with the air and tighten the mouth for a good seal over the tone hole in order to efficiently produce audible sound on these.
Whistle Tones: Using slow but extremely focused air across the
embouchure hole, you can produce notes that sound like you are whistling; multiple
notes from the harmonic series can also be “whistled” off of low notes. The lips should be further forward than
normal playing when executing whistle tones.
A few occurrences in the
literature: Wil Offermans, For the
Younger Flutist - etudes, Toru Takemitsu, Itinerant
Notes on practice: Whistle tones are commonly used as an exercise to
improve accuracy on the headjoint, much like harmonics. A simple exercise could
involve finding the whistle tone of a note, then playing the regular note, and
going back and forth to compare clarity of sound and pitch. They are easier to produce in the high
register, so start there (on or near high A) and gradually work your way
down. Strive to improve projection and
steadiness of sound.
* Literature examples listed from easiest to most
difficult
Workbooks/methods:
Artaud, Pierre-Yves. The
Mutliphonic Flute and Present-Day Flutes (Pub.: Billaudot)
Dehnhard, Tilmann. The New Flute - Workbook & DVD
(Pub.: Universal)
Dick, Robert. The Other Flute and Tone Development
Through Extended Techniques (Pub.: Robert Dick)
Holland, Linda. Easing Into Extended Techniques (5
volumes) (Pub.: Con Brio)
Koizumi, Hiroshi. Technique for Contemporary Flute Music
(Pub.: Schott)
Offermans, Wil. For the Younger Flutist - etudes (Pub.:
Zimmerman)
General
definitions/demonstrations:
www.johnmcmurtery.com/index.php/extended-techniques
www.forthecontemporaryflutist.com
www.larrykrantz.com/et/et.htm
Detailed Repertoire lists:
www.palouke.com
Nicole Riner ©2017
Nicole Riner ©2017
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