My reply to the photographer for posing was "No thank you, I have to practice."
Hindemith Symphonic Metamorphosis solo, Tanglewood, 9:15 am, 1987 photo by Walter H Scott is now a postcard.




As time allows, I will add the wonderful morsels of information I have saved over the years from my beloved teachers, giving them due credit, as well as adding some of my own flute exercises and tips on performing and share some of my experiences in the world of music and competitions.

After participating in 27 competitions, I am well-versed in competing, judging, and being judged. I have learned over the years to just be myself.

Sara: You were talking about healing the audience. Do you think that’s one of the primary functions that music serves right now?"

AP: "Yes. I want to leave this world having made a difference, one person at a time. And I think through music you can reach somebody that you didn’t know you could reach. You cannot set out to heal somebody; they actually are drawn to you. When I ask 'how am I going to serve society as a musician,' I will say I can heal. I hope people are going to say after my concert that they heard the music instead of me. That’s my function in this society. To be the Amy the musician; not Amy the flute player. And I think that’s the most important role a musician can have- to play the true music of the composer and heal people and educate listeners along the way."

S: "Could you comment on the relationship between business and music and how you feel they benefit each other?"

AP: "Combining business savvy with musical talent is very difficult because all musicians usually do is practice the music, not the business of music. We rarely have any business skills, so yes, you need to learn those skills. You need to have a resume, keep reviews and copy them. You need to keep a copy of every program you’ve ever played. Write repertoire lists, build a website, get yourself out there. It's important not to stray from one thought: you have to be your own manager. You can’t just practice and be overly confident and think that jobs are going to fall from the sky."

Sara: So what do you do as a performer to make it more lively for your audience and convey certain things to them and speak to them?

AP: I write program notes and get them involved in the piece. I try to perform it as close to the page as I can. Then, I turn up the brightness of everything and I make sure I overdo some things.

Sara: Right.

AP : More importantly, I have to speak from the heart, I have to play from the heart, I have to act from the heart and I have to smile from the heart.

From one of my principal flute instructors at The Juilliard School
To be played slurred at mm = 52 in 4/4
Can then be repeated and articulated in any fashion at any speed.

First four notes are quarters, last note is a whole note.

C Ab Bb G Ab

C Ab Bb Gb Ab

B G# A# F# G#

B G A F# G

B G A F G

Bb G A F G

A# F# G# E# F#

A# F# G# E F#

A F# G# E F#

A F G E F

A F G Eb F

Ab F G Eb F

G# E F# D# E

G# E F# D E

G E F# D E

G Eb F D Eb

G Eb F Db Eb

F# D# E# C# D#

F# D E C# D

F# D E C D

F D E C D

F C# D# B# C#

F C# D# B C#

E C# D# B C#

E C D B C

Wanting, dreaming and practicing are great and wonderful aspects of a flutist's life. However, the aspects of listening, learning, and of opening up to new levels of awareness are equally as important.

Practice intelligently and mindfully. Record your practicing and lessons to understand what it is you might not be hearing in your playing. Listen to your recordings with a teacher’s ear, an objective ear. This can be one of the most humbling and sometimes lonely experiences. This helps to aid in your improvement as a musician and flutist. You must learn to flap your wings before you can fly!

Don't waste time pretending you're on stage in the beginning of your practicing process. Three to five months before a recital or competition, practice like you are really in the practice room. Then, three weeks before the performance imagine yourself in the setting of your performance.

A musician must always understand that there will never be an end to the quest for a higher level of playing. When you embrace this idea, you will step back and practice the fundamentals of flute playing. For instance, playing no "music" for a few weeks and practicing slow scales, long tones with a tuner, etudes that promote healthy technique, vibrato exercises, interpretive studies etc. will strengthen your musical foundation.

There is plenty of time to grow and mature as a musician. One cannot put an end to discipline and commitment and say "I am finished with tone study and scales." Thinking about fundamentals is important even when you are striving for that performance or competition. It is necessary to add the basic skills of flute playing to the next step of performing.

Focusing on the basics will lead to improvement through discipline. Beginning every day with attention to tone, intonation, technique, breathing, vibrato and phrasing is essential. Never sacrifice the basic fundamentals of flute playing for the ego's satisfaction of performing the recital or the competition. You cannot be a complete musician by believing that you are fine in most areas and need to only work on the notes. Anyone can blow and finger the notes on the flute. It's a true gift to play as a musician and not just a flutist.

If you don’t have the basics, you don’t have anything. We all have the gift of talent. It’s what we do with it that counts.

Given with honesty and love. AP

KARG-ELERT 30 CAPRICES TRANSLATIONS

From September 93 Flute Talk - a Performance Guide by George Hambrecht
(reprinted from May/June 1987):

1. moderate speed with precision
2. lightly moving, but without brilliance
3. in the style of Handel, quick but not brilliant
4. very fast and sparkling
5. fast and precise
6.fast moving, with fervor, an entire measure at a time
7. perpetual motion - equal, as fast as possible
8. with great spirit and vivacity
9. very quick and glittering
10. light, quick, in a frivolous manner
11. extremely fast, but loose and relaxed
12. light, graceful and fast
13. very light, with grace and charm
14. perpetual motion
15. very light, floating
16. somewhat lively, with humor
17. very quick, light, and playful
18. slow, in the style of a cadenza
19. extremely fast, bubbling and sparkling
20. daring, capricious, impudent, and fast moving
21. in waltz time, coquettish
22. agitated and passionate
23. slow, with fervor - free like a recitative
24. as fast as possible, with sharp pointed tone throughout
25. rather spritely, agile and capricious
26. coquettish and capricious
27. softly moving (but distinctly phrased)
28 fairly quick, flowing and elegant
29. extremely fast and piquant

Please treat your lessons with respect and seriousness, both for you and your teacher. This seriousness should reflect why you are there, whether as a performance major, minor or in music education or in high school. This means dressing appropriately for lessons, studio class, recitals and concerts; in a way that shows your level of respect to your art, and the level of importance that you give it. In all these scenarios, please behave in the utmost professional manner, one that reflects the manner in which you are trained by your teacher.

I would also hope that this professional manner will be inherent in your relationships with your colleagues in the Schools of Music and ensembles you attend as well. Always attend your colleagues' concerts, support their playing in studio and masterclasses and invite new students into the group. Pettiness and tension in any studio or masterclass cannot be tolerated. The flute world is too small to gain a big reputation.

A life inside a studio like this is a reflection of your future life out in the musical world. Embrace your coaches and your professors with the knowledge that each one cares and has a lot to offer you. Congratulations on simply being there.

I will try to be as understanding as I can about the heavy academic work load out there, but I will never curb my enthusiasm for passing along a tradition of flute playing that is so very rewarding. It is a way of teaching that is loaded with basic skills and renewed discipline on a daily basis.

On a final note, every school of music is what you make of it. You set your own standards and level of playing. Try not to overload. Be mindful of your stress level and your years will be fruitful. Be respectful of yourself!

With all my respect and best wishes,
AP

(Baxtresser) HAVE MINDFUL PRACTICE. Your goals are FOR WHOM? and WHY? The purpose of your practice is to MAINTAIN, GROW and HAVE FUN!

Accept your process of learning, don't fight it. Don't bring emotion into it and especially DON'T PANIC.
You can't escape the agony of working through the hard times. FORGIVE BUT DON'T AVOID.

I. Warmup (your free time) Scales, tone study, melodies transposed
II. SCALES & TECHNICAL EXERCISES (1/4 of your time)
III. Etudes
IV. Solo repertoire
V. Orchestral Excerpts
VI. School Ensemble assignments

(Porter) Do 40-50 minutes and take a 10 minute break to avoid fatigue and injury. You can fill four hours easily with these 5-6 steps.
20 Tone
30 Technique
10 Break
30 Etude
20 Piece #1
10 Break
30 Piece #1
20 Piece #2 or Excerpts
10 break
30 Piece #2 or Excerpts
20 Troubleshooting hard spots, research, listening

(Baxtresser) Break down the barrier of testing. The moment of analysis is inbetween the efforts. Rest! Avoid mindless repetition.

Personal, Musical and Artistic Goals
List your most needed improvement issues within each area. Be as specific as possible. Then address these issues within your practice session. Keep it nearby while you practice to remind yourself of what it is you are working on. Be sure to cross of the goal when you reach it. A better yet harder goal will take its place!

TONE:
1.
2.
3.

TECHNIQUE:
1.
2.
3.

VIBRATO:
1.
2.
3.

ARTICULATION:
1.
2.
3

PHRASING:
1.
2.
3.

BREATH CONTROL:
1.
2.
3.

INTONATION:
1.
2.
3.

POSTURE:
1.
2.
3.


PRACTICING:
1.
2.
3.

PERFORMING:
1.
2.
3.

AUDITIONING GOALS:
1.
2.
3.

ENSEMBLE PLAYING GOALS:
1.
2.
3.

YOUR MUSICAL INSPIRATIONS:
1.
2.
3.

1. Marcel Tabuteau's lessons and the lessons in phrasing
a. 3 basic ways of phrasing (upward intervals, downward intervals and 1/2 and whole steps)
b. the number system of tone colors
c. Inflections of ups and down

2. Beginning and ending pieces as part of your musical expression
a. Breathing in character
b. creating the mood of the piece before you play it
c. cueing the cutoff
d. punctuating the silence in some way after the last note has sounded

3. Auditioning with confidence
a. use Key words in your music
b. keep your mind on the job at hand, focusing on the phrase you are playing
c. Be in the driver's seat! and how to get back in it.

4. Intonation
a. How to anticipate pitch (3 places in the body)
b. your personal pitch tendencies (crescendos, diminuendos, left hand notes)
c. How to listen and adjust pitch quickly without moving the head (3 ways in the mouth and lips)

5. Musical structure
a. How to find the skeleton of the phrase and add the notes around it as well as finding the bigger phrase
b. How voices relate to one another, especially in Baroque music (melody, vs. counter-melody, Fl. 1 vs. Fl 2, shadow vs light)
c. Knowing the accompaniment and the composer's harmonic intentions and anticipating them in color (major vs minor).

6. Technical troubles
a. Isolate the intervals vs the scales
b. do double dotted both ways and ADD triplets
c. do extended scales in the difficult key area up to high D

7. Tone Trouble
a. How to address tone before it hits the lip plate
b. Adjusting Headjoint and footjoint position
c. warming up and being able to < > and hold the thread.
d. Harmonic exercises

8. Register changes
a. Lip differences from high register and low register
b. Quality of air stream in each register and its width
c. The lips as your bow

9. General performance advice
a. watching the conductor, keeping the head up and the stand down, using the eyes
b. listening in an ensemble
c. applying lessons

10. Troubleshooting
a. Learn to sing/solfege
b. Learn to conduct
c. Learn to play piano