 May thanks to my workshop participants for some wonderfully insightful discussions about the Courante/Corrente! 🥳 Despite the overtime😅, I really had fun explaining to people why I think the Courante is such an intriguing dance to play. Never forget the "play" in flute playing. The above is an example from François Couperin's "Courante a L'italiene" - which shows sneaky Couperin combining the best of French and Italian tastes with these wonderful metric shifts. A middle line is sandwiched between the outer lines which are both in hemiola, and yet this middle line is also "metrically off" since it's accentuating the 2nd beat as opposed to the first, which is what we'd normally expect in 3/4 time. Rich textures, subtle details, never simply black or white = very French!🇫🇷  From the same Quatrième Concert of Couperin's Concert Royaux, this is a very neat passage from the "Courante Françoise". Besides the possibilities of creating rhythmic ambiguity in compound time, Couperin blurs the boundaries even more by adding slurs and ornaments. Should we play it in 2 groups of 3 or 3 groups of 2? I'll let you decide.😉
Whatever you choose to do though, be sure to always diminuendo, lighten up the sound at the end of a group, and stop the sound gently with the tongue to shape and define your phrasing.
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 BESIDES seeing Crescendo/Decrescendo as being simply turning the volume up or down, see if you can now think of it as a musical intention. So a crescendo is the musical intention of going forward, often over a longer distance, and a decrescendo is leaning back, retracting, relaxing in a controlled way and also over a longer distance. That will give us the overall structure, and then within that there are some further details to showcase, which is where the slurred groups come in.
Lighten up at the end of slurs to shape sound. Because in order to shape, we must define a hierarchy – some notes shine, some notes must shine LESS. But they're all important within their roles, and the fun and art of flute playing is recognizing and enjoying those moments of light and shadow. So go ahead and try that – find and enjoy those light and shadow moments. If you're loving your sound, kudos to you, but now don't hang on to it too much. Because in fact, your sound will SHINE EVEN MORE if you dare to let go.  Notes for a student, Telemann G minor Fantasy. The thing that makes the most difference is letting go, lifting the sound to highlight rather than pressing down for length. Also, aligning interpretation with how the instrument sounds best. F natural on the baroque flute is not a naturally strong note, so replace volume with precision will often be the much wiser and more musical choice.
Practicing letting go - put away your flute and do a sigh. Notice how you're letting go the air, if we could draw it, it would be kind of a bulge in the beginning, followed by a more narrow wisp of sound. Now try to replicate that in flute playing, although it's true that you will need to maintain a certain tension in order to carry on the phrase. However, it requires a lot less than you think and you'd gain much more expression by reducing. Less is more. The minimum for the maximum.  What you see is NOT what you get in music!
A common situation we have in Baroque music is these kinds of continuous rhythmic patterns. For me, the notes look like wall paper, but just because they look like that doesn't mean we should play them that way! We'll always need to take time to phrase. Don't be afraid to breathe, make your breaths musical, make it a part of the expression. Amidst all these notes, there are wonderful shapes, emotions, & details that are waiting to be discovered. Don't be afraid to break things apart and really look into the corners. For me this discovery aspect is really the fun and joy in music!  An anticipation anticipates the next note. At a cadence, no matter how much ritardando occurs, the anticipation must have the intention of MOVING TOWARDS the next note. They belong together. You can do a great ritardando, stretch out on the trill and really elongate the anticipation, but the resolution must follow organically afterwards and not feel separated from the anticipation.
Use the tongue strokes T-D or T-R, ease up on the air (diminuendo), and think the word "A-MOUR" - which is 1 word with 2 syllables, just like anticipation + resolution is ONE entity with TWO parts. A suggestion from Bart Kuijken - you may also think of the phrase "merci beaucoup" - "merci" is the trill, and "beaucoup" is the anticipation plus resolution. You'd also never separate the syllables "beau....coup", but rather the word falls and follows naturally after "merci"! |
ABOUT THE BLOG:I got inspired to document my own observations in flute-playing and music-making. Also, I thought it's important to pass on the teachings of the great Wilbert Hazelzet, as well as many other mentors who have influenced my artistic visions one way or the other. Enjoy this potpourri of tips, inspirations, and musings. ✨CONTRIBUTE!✨Yes I love the writing that I do! If you love them as well, how about consider showing your appreciation with a personal contribution? 
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