Kiss The Rain (Yiruma) by Bevani Flute

In Dreams (Lord of the rings) by Bevani Flute

Some Nights (Fun)/ Waka Waka (Shakira)  by Bevani Flute

Inhalation

Breath control for flutists may be broken into the same basic steps as singers use: inhalation, suspension, and exhalation. Flutists must make use of every body cavity during all three steps, keeping inhalation and exhalation of breath unimpeded except at the lip. Keeping these cavities open is crucial while playing.

We fill up everything. You look at some of the good players--look at their [chest cavity] size....That's where the resonance is. It's enormous what they use there. It's a wonderfully well-kept secret that nobody tells you about. And that is resonance, and [it is] important to fill and open yourself--to make use of every little pocket of resonance you can find in your body.

The throat and mouth cavities must also be held open, for free breathing. Open your throat. Drop the back of your tongue when you articulate and really feel the openness there, just like a singer has to. Imagine the air coming from low down. It's coming through an almost equal sort of column, straight through the mouth and out into the flute.

The big problem is that you get used to playing with the throat closed....The thing is to get used to opening. I know it's hard, because you've been playing for five or ten years, and when you've got a particular habit it's very hard to change it. But I do think it's something you need to have. There's loads of sound in there, and you've just got to somehow say, "Right," and start to work at it.

Once the flutist's stance is relaxed and free and the body cavities are open, the flutist must take a full first breath. Controlled breathing has been a lifelong pursuit for Lloyd.

As do many other flutists, Lloyd advocates breathing "low." The object is to think of the lower rib cage as a bellows opening, sucking air through the open mouth and throat cavities and taking in the maximum amount. He also cites "back breathing" as a useful visualization for flutists. This concept, from William Kincaid, involves spreading the lower ribs away from the spinal column.

You're losing color, losing sound, because you don't breathe low enough. [Breathe into] an enormous barrel--right down into your ribs. Fill all the way around the rib cage.

Lloyd stresses that the first breath of any work is the most important, because it may be the only full breath the flutist is allowed for some time.

Take the time to get a good first breath ....The point of filling up hugely at the beginning is so that, when you take a breath [later]...you're only topping up. You don't need to go all the way down...and re-start, because you've not often got time to do that.

"Think of the Midsummer Night's Dream 'Scherzo'," he advises. Logically, the more breath one starts with, the more will be available to add to the shorter "topping up" breaths.

In many playing situations flutists are tempted to take a fast first breath during the pickup beat before actual playing starts. This habit hearkens back to early band training in which students are taught to take a breath during the preparatory beat. Peter Lloyd advocates taking the first breath slowly. The logic is that with a slow relaxed intake, the flutist is able to stretch and get more air in than with a tense, quick breath.

Don't breathe in fast when you have time. I said slowly. That doesn't mean too soon and freeze. You must always, with these big breaths, do everything in a rhythmic cycle with the music. A few years ago I did a class in Britain alongside a singer and I happened to know the woman who was running the thing, and I got her to give us a class on breathing....At the end of all that we came to the conclusion that the parallels are just about complete. The only thing different was that the singer said that they can't breathe as far as we can. And I know there are [flute] people who say don't breathe to your full capacity because you can't really start sound like that. That was from singers. But we can, pro-viding that you breathe rhythmically with the music. So never hold it. The whole thing is in a relaxed cycle.

A flutist who has enough breath is much more relaxed than one who does not and is panic-stricken about finishing a phrase. This relaxation enables the secure flutist to take in more air even with short intakes.

Lloyd emphasizes that one must strive to relax, even when taking short breath intakes during a piece. Players tend to try to "make the phrase," rather than using spaces within the music to take several small "snifters" of air.

Remember that we always use breathing to make music--we can't make music from the breaths we need. It's not only in order to get from the beginning of a long phrase to the end of a long phrase. And even if that's the case, you're going to get nervous sometimes and it's all going to go wrong. So, try to always make breathing part of the music. I think that's terribly, terribly important.257 Try to feel that all breathing has to be within phrasing....If you're going to be nervous [about the breath]...change the phrases accordingly....You have to anticipate....If you're going to have a breathing problem, always anticipate it so you've got enough time to re-think your phrase. Never, never...let yourself get to the state whereby you think, "Oh, God, I've got to take a breath!" because then the music's gone.258

Whenever a breath occurs, Lloyd encourages players to take as much as they can, not just what they think they will need.

When you've got a short phrase, take a big breath because usually it's leading somewhere else afterwards.259 Not only that, you get far more control of color and dynamic with a full breath, however quietly you're playing and however short the phrase.260

This is a situation in which flutists often find themselves. A relatively short phrase with, say, a bar's rest before it, is followed by longer phrases that do not allow a full breath. Flutists who take only what they need for the first short phrase will find themselves without reserves as the music continues. Then, panic, tension, and restricted intake [because of tension] ensue.

For practicing relaxed, full intake breaths, Lloyd advises using etudes.

When you practice etudes, you've got a long, long way to go. It's quite easy to play through 2/3 of an etude very well indeed. It's the last third that gets harder and harder, both from the breathing point and stamina point.261

An etude he finds particularly useful is the Paganini Perpetual Mobile. Beginning with a full, relaxed breath, the flutist should play until they have used about half their breath. Then, they should stop, relax, fill again, and play until that breath is halfway gone; then repeat the process.

You've got a lot of lines, miles and miles of [notes]. You can never let your breath get down to the bottom, because you can never recover it....You must breathe earlier, and I say about halfway--unless of course, you can see the end and you know that you're going to make it. Then of course, you can go to the end.262

By practicing taking breaths before they are actually needed, flutists will have enough air to use for color, control, and projection. Plus, they will be more relaxed and confident because they (and the music) will not be at the mercy of their lung capacity. This practice converts easily into musical phrasing.

Mostly, people tend to look at a phrase and say, "Oh, I've only got to get from there to there for the first phrase." And then [when they get to the second phrase] you think, "Oh my God, now what am I going to do?" And then you're sunk. You have to remember to...get ahead.263 For most of those sorts of places [for instance]...a Bach sonata...try to find ways by which to breathe when you still have plenty of air in.264

Stance

Without proper stance, full and free breathing is difficult. Slumping forward, hunching the shoulders or raising them while taking a breath, and holding the arms either too close or too far from the body all make a relaxed, full breath an impossibility.

Peter Lloyd advocates the "Gilbert stance." The Gilbert stance includes the following: (1) standing at least a flute's length away from the music stand, (2) placing the feet about twelve inches apart with the left foot forward and the right foot back, with the flutist's weight resting on the right foot, and (3) turning the body slightly to the right [at the waist] and keeping the elbows lifted a bit and held away from the body.

Geoffrey Gilbert taught students to balance more on the right leg than the front, which keeps the flutist from hunching forward. Lloyd modifies this aspect.

One should balance oneself on both legs equally. Weight needs to be strong on both legs, because otherwise tension comes in if you don't balance properly.

Both agree that flutists should stand back from the music, which eliminates the temptation to raise the stand to head height [muffling the sound and looking ridiculous in performance--i.e., the headless flute player] or the temptation to crook the head down in order to see the stand, impeding the flow of air coming through the back of the throat. The latter is a problem even with advanced flutists.

Peter Lloyd also advises a slight rotation at the waist, settling into a comfortable position facing toward the left. This relieves a great deal of tension in the left arm.

What happens when you play directly in front of the music stand, you're pulling that left shoulder across and that is going to cause you muscular problems. If you start trying to practice for long periods of time....and you've got any pain back there at all, as the years go by, it'll get worse.

Another problem with "band stance"--the stance many flutists learn in marching band--is the tendency to hold the elbows so high that they are almost parallel too the flute. This causes the wrists to become highly flexed and rigid, constricting the blood and oxygen flow to the fingers and inviting carpal tunnel syndrome due to the type of rapid, repetitive movements needed for flute playing.

When you set up, be careful that the left arm isn't higher by too much. The left arm should be allowed to drop, under normal circumstances.

If you're going to balance yourselves, try to balance the flute from the right hand first, onto the [left] shoulder. Then you hang the left hand off. [Then] come round to the right, to wherever your normal position is. This [indicates head, neck, shoulders] floats. You can float right around, you can go as far as it doesn't hurt. Don't go so far that you bring your shoulder in. [Now] you're totally relaxed without pressure on anything.

Don't put that left arm up, if only for the reason that if you go too far, the only [other] way you can support the flute is by pushing it into your lip. And once you start that, you are bringing tension to [the embouchure]....the whole thing is as free and relaxed as can be.

Then, when you're playing, think free wrists. Think relaxed wrists. If your wrists are relaxed, it's probable that the rest of your shoulders is pretty free. If you leave your left hand down [a bit], you're totally free. But if you raise that elbow two inches, you can feel the tension.

Now, usually when that happens you've tightened the muscles here [indicates chest area and back area] and that interferes with your breathing. The whole thing adds up.

The mirror is your best friend....It's going to be able to suggest, point things out. Your development is always in the practice room and the more mirror you use [the better]. [You'll see] problems of tension. If I tell you that you are moving, you don't believe me. Why should you? You can't see yourself. Seeing is believing, okay?

A stance problem that Peter Lloyd points out to many students is the tendency to move about a great deal while playing. This habit was a "pet peeve" with Geoffrey Gilbert, who felt that excessive body movements were "subconscious behaviors caused by not being sure of your ability to communicate expression in the sound." Lloyd feels strongly that too much "expressive" movement can displace the flute from the aperture hole, causing control problems and also constricting the breathing process.

Generally...the more movement and tension, the more it affects the breathing and then it affects the projection. I don't think that anyone should be stock-still. Take a lesson from Monsieur Rampal. When he moves, all this is absolutely stable [indicates flute mouthpiece/ embouchure area]. He moves here [indicates waist].

You've got to keep the stability here [indicates embouchure]. That's the important thing. If I'm moving, I'm going to do it from my body and not from my head. I'm going to move there [indicates waist] because that will keep me stable here [indicates lip] and I think that's terribly important. Otherwise, you could drop this [flute headjoint] a bit and the sound will change.

Displacing the embouchure is not the only problem of overly-expressive body movement. It also causes tension in the upper chest and shoulders, and control is considerably decreased.

When considering the aforementioned instructions and admonitions, Lloyd cautions flutists against becoming over analytical. He feels that trying too hard to be correct in one's stance only results in tension, producing exactly the opposite result intended by his suggestions.

Please try not to try. Stop thinking. Once you've gotten yourself set up well, try to relax and just play. The more tension that comes in from the brain, the harder it's going to be.

Correct Use and Affect on Flute Performance

Use of wind is the single most important aspect of flute playing. It touches many aspects of music-making besides the actual production of notes--such as dynamics, intonation, articulation, tone color, and vibrato production.

Peter Lloyd's concern with this subject began with his teaching at Indiana. Before that, he had basically passed along ideas presented to him by others. "So much had been fed into me by the wonderful teachers that I had experienced, that I was really quite confused as to the way I was teaching." At Indiana, confronted with students who had basic problems, Lloyd had to come to terms with what was important Although teachers everywhere advocate "support," Peter Lloyd believes that a well-directed, controlled wind supply is the key to achieving variety in one's flute playing. It's through the big breathing that you understand sonority and sound and what you can do with it. It's not just a question of volume...but [of] color, control of pianissimo. It all comes from free breathing. So much of this stems from observing and understanding singing; how singers use their mouths, throats, and tongue, and the amount of air needed. Try singing a note and then playing it, using the same shape in your mouth. It tells you a lot about harmonics in sound.