Category: Articles

Beatboxing On Flute

Posted on By ericdano 1 Comment on Beatboxing On Flute

Greg Patillo has some excellent youtube videos of him beatboxing and playing flute.

Inspector Gadget

Super Mario Brothers!

Excellent stuff. He has a Myspace page (I hate myspace). Check him out!

If you want to learn more about beatboxing, check out Humanbeatbox. They have some videos and tutorials there. I found the site very enjoyable, especially some of the demos. The guy has this English/Australian accent that just cracks me up. (L as in Lollipop).

But seriously, beatboxing and flute is a very cool thing. Coolest thing I’ve heard since Tom Scott’s flute solo on Patrick Williams tune Threshold.

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Transcriptions of Harold McNair Jazz Flute Solos

Posted on By ericdano No Comments on Transcriptions of Harold McNair Jazz Flute Solos

John Devitt wrote “Hello all, for those of you interested in studying jazz flute improvisation I’ve uploaded two MIDI files of transcribed solos of the late great jazz flautist Harold McNair to my website. If you don’t have a sequencer or notation program which can print out the solo part you can download the accompanying PDF files and print them out. The files are strictly for private study and may not be used for commercial purposes. On my homepage just scroll down to the MIDI files area. Hope you enjoy,and, of course, feedback is welcome.

Regards,

John Devitt http://home.hetnet.nl/~johmar/index.html“

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Long Tone Exercises for Young Students . . .

Posted on By ericdano 13 Comments on Long Tone Exercises for Young Students . . .

harry63 writes “I teach flute lessons in my community and I am having the hardest time getting my younger students (grades 7-9) to practice their long tones. Their finger technique is excellent, but their tone leaves a lot to be desired. When I ask them I get the “but it’s so BORING” response. I have tried explaining the importance, but they don’t think it is necessary. Are there any suggestions on ways to implement long practicing without giving them boring exercises?”

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Jazz Scales and Improv

Posted on By ericdano 5 Comments on Jazz Scales and Improv

Amber writes “I have ‘composed’ the jazz scales. My friend taught me the B flat jazz scale and I used the intervals of that scale to create the other 11. I am not sure how accurate they are and it would be wise to learn them correctly. What is the best book on jazz scales,3rds,arpeggios ect. as well as improv for flute? Thankyou! :)”

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125 Easy Classical Studies for Flute in BinaB format

Posted on By ericdano No Comments on 125 Easy Classical Studies for Flute in BinaB format

Ian Ross Drummond writes “The following files may be found at the BIABFSG site in the files section.


125 Easy Classical Studies for Flute (Part 1 & 2)

The files within this Zip are a collection of Band in a Box files worked from a study book in my possession called “125 Easy classical studies for Flute”.(Universal Edition UE 16042) The files are worked around classical flute studies by:-

  • Francois Devienne
  • Louis Drouet
  • Anton Bernard Furstenau
  • Giuseppe Gariboldi
  • Antoine Hugot
  • Johann George Wunderlich
  • Ernesto Kohler
  • Charles Nicholson
  • Wilhelm Popp
  • Heinrich Soussmann
  • Johann George Tromlitz

These are a fine collection of studies for the beginner flautist, written by master flautists. They are short and melodic and will hopefully prove to be fun to play along with. I have made no attempt to render these files in a “classical” style since the purpose is to provide a purely enjoyable way for young players to work through the text. If young players work through these files with their own computers,or in a group teaching/learning situation,then I will be well satisfied. As is usual with my files I want to make the point that the original text should be bought!! BB will not notate the melody correctly but should sound reasonably correct (trills are problematic) and I have made no attempt to correct the actual notation. (The music will go out of print if nobody buys it so BUY THE STUDY BOOK!) I can make no claim to harmonic mastery but I hope that these “work-horse” arrangements will render practice more enjoyable for our younger flautists. (The melody is only stated once with all the files and then continues with accompaniment alone)

Ian Ross Drummond (iantrdrummond@hotmail.com)”

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Any recommendations for Jazz Flute CD’s?

Posted on By ericdano 1 Comment on Any recommendations for Jazz Flute CD’s?

Kanga asked “I recently picked up my flute again after many years to introduce my kids to music theory. I have in the past only played classical pieces and was interested in Jazz. Thank you for such a great site! I have been getting my lips and fingers working together again with your exercises and patterns. Do you have any recommendations for a few good Jazz Flute CD’s that I can listen to?”

Yeah, there are a lot. I’d start with finding stuff from Jim Walker and Freeflight. Then, you could look into Nestor Torres, Robert Dick, Hubert Laws and others.

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History Of Pitch On Flute

Posted on By ericdano No Comments on History Of Pitch On Flute

While surfing tonight, I came across this site which has some very interesting information about how pitch centers have changed throughout the years. I notice now that most flutes are A=442, and I just bought an old Haynes that is most likely A=440. I think my Yamaha flute is A=442.It’s an interesting website, and perhaps someone knows some other good ones.

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Using a Different Headjoint

Posted on By ericdano 6 Comments on Using a Different Headjoint

I’ve noticed that a lot of guys who are not “flutists”, ie: they play flute but it’s not their main instrument, use different headjoints to get better sounds. For example, I believe both Guido Fazio and Larry DeLaCruz are using Yamaha student model flutes (plated body, closed hole) with Sankyo headjoints. I haven’t ventured into this area yet, as I’m still using my Yamaha 581 with the CY (I think) headjoint. Though, anyone have any opinions on different headjoints?

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Software For Flute Practicing

Posted on By ericdano No Comments on Software For Flute Practicing

In the latest issue of The Flutist which I receive as being a member of the National Flute Association, there was an article about software for use in practicing and teaching. Here is a brief summary of it and some additions of my own.

The article, written by Joseph Manupello, is interesting, but has a number of errors. Lets start where he starts, with software Metronomes.

He mentions a program called Metronome 2.5 by Nick Baciu. I haven’t been able to find that program, but I did find a great Metronome/Tuner called Enable Tune 2.6 for windows that, for $19.95, does a good job at tuning and keeping time. For Mac people, there are a couple of Metronome programs. And there are programs out there for the Palm as well. I however think if you are going to practice, get a real metronome. Like the Boss Doctor Beat 66 which is great because it’s LOUD, accents downbeats, and does odd meters.

Mr. Manupello’s next section is on tuners, mainly the AP Instrument Tuner 1.02. It’s an interesting product, and there are similar products available for Windows and Macintosh. Cool, but…..why? Pitch is important, but…..this is insane. He even mentions that one of the things he likes about AP Tuner is that you can run two instances of the program (assuming you have 2 sound cards). Why? Personally, I’m amazed at the $30 digital tuners you can get. The keep getting smaller, and faster. My recommendation, get a Seiko or similar tuner. Makes sense, especially if you plan to play somewhere, like a GIG, where you won’t have your computer around.

Finally, Joseph Manupello gets down to business with taking about Spectrogram. Now, this program is very interesting. You can see visualizations of what you sound like. Compare it with other peoples’. Neat, but….thats about it. I don’t think I’d really use it.

Finally, Joseph Manupello ends with talking about Cool Edit. Cool edit allows you to record, edit, etc, etc yourself and your music. There are other programs as well that can do this, such as Soundforge (which I highly recommend) for the PC, and for the Macintosh, I wholeheartly recommend Sound Studio and Amadeus. Both are inexpensive and excellent programs.

The computer is a great tool, but I’ve found that it is best for recording, and composing/edit/printing music. I’ve found that owning a metronome and a tuner is invaluable. You can take them with you, whereever your playing takes you.

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