Trevor Wye's new book is all about practicing more efficiently, getting to be better quicker, and how to get a job. It deals with all aspects of flute playing. There are sections for younger players, students and busy teachers. It contains good advice on preparing for competitions and auditions. It also contains a section on improvisation and suggests ways to begin, and later, how to devise improvisation games. The book includes a CD containing 72 Basses for improvisation, ranging from the 13th century to modern jazzy ones, all played on a real piano, some by Clifford Benson. They are downloadable onto an MP3 player or can easily be converted to be played on a CD player.
BOOK REVIEW – Looking at more Efficient Practice on the Flute by Trevor Wye
Trevor Wye, author of the highly renowned
Practice Books for flute, has come out with
another terrific book: “Looking at More Efficient
Practice on the Flute.” It is jam-packed with
practice schemes to help those in full time music
study, busy teachers and amateurs improve their
playing in the shortest time. Roughly half of the
book is text and the rest includes music,
exercises, and photographs. The 54 page book is
divided into five parts and comes with a CD.
-Part 1, “Start practicing right,” suggests tips
on topics such as where, what, when and how to
practice and the best flute to get.
-Part 2, "Practice Content," goes into more
detail about how and what to practice.
Suggestions are given for warming-up and
improving finger technique, lip flexibility,
tone, intonation, tone colours and vibrato. A
section on “Corrective exercises” instructs you
on how to tackle serious problems with your
playing. Practice Plans for all levels of
students from school age to mature are presented.
Although supplementary books are recommended, and
are part of the practice plans, much can be
gained from this book alone without using any
other book. There is a pull-out “Practice Plan
Summary” card to make it easy for you to practice
the moderate and advanced level practice plans
described in detail in the text. There is even a section on the piccolo.
-Part 3, “Posture, body and hands position,”
makes suggestions on how to practice comfortably
and avoid practice-related pain. There are
suggestions given for those already suffering. I
applaud Trevor on including this very important
section usually missing from flute instruction books.
-Part 4, “Professional Practice,” shares secrets
on how to practice for orchestral auditions and
competitions so as to impress jury members. As
Mr. Wye has been on many juries, his advice is
invaluable. Details are given on how to practice
and perform four of the most popular orchestral
solos requested by juries. Tips are given on how
to improve your musical development what musical
editions to buy, how to practice repertoire and be a better student.
-Part 5, “Old Wine in New Bottles,” consists of
variations on traditional exercises. These
include warm-up tunes for memory training; 37
warm-up, memory and finger exercises; sequences
on diminished chords and sevenths; and daily
technical exercises which include more advanced
versions of all the basic scales and arpeggios in various forms.
On the CD are 72 basses to accompany players when
they improvise. They are in MP3 format at A = 440
and A = 442. The basses were recorded by the
pianists Sayoko Komada and Clifford Benson and
are in the style of Renaissance and Baroque
music, the master composers, waltzes and jazz.
There are also basses by the late Clifford
Benson. The digital format is ideal since the
basses can be looped with your player software at
will if extra practice is desired. The
easy-to-follow instructions on how to improvise
will encourage anyone to have a go at this and
include it in their practice schedule. The
basses, which increase in difficulty, are
suitable for both newcomers and seasoned improvisers to enjoy.
It is evident that “Looking at more Efficient
Practice on the Flute” is based on the wisdom
that can only be gained through years and years
of experience studying the flute. It will make an
excellent addition to any flutist’s library. It
was published by Falls House Press in July, 2009
and sells at the very affordable price of $26.95 US.
Best wishes,
Susan Maclagan
"A Dictionary for the Modern Flutist," Scarecrow Press, April 2009.
