Lloyd Peter - Disertacion Sobre Técnica de La Flauta PDF

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Chapter 2 Back to Main Index
PETER LLOYD
BREATH
Correct Use and Affect on Flute Performance Stance
Inhalation Suspension
Exhalation Air Pressure
Aperture Air Direction
Vocalization in the Mouth Cavity Breath and Dynamics
Breath and Intonation Breath and Articulation
Breath and Tone Color Breathing Exercise to Increase Capacity
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.
Coming out to Indiana, I was able to actually stop and try to crystalize all my
teaching and my thoughts as to what was important and what wasn't. And I
found so many things I did before that weren't all that necessary. And I sort of
re-thought things. And then I got onto the big breathing thought, which I think is
the most important part of flute playing that there is. And I think it's the part that
people don't address anywhere near enough.
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.
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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
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Larry Krantz Flute Pages - Lord Dissertation on Peter Lloyd - 2 http://www.larrykrantz.com/chapt2.htm#flpf
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.
I think that one should balance oneself on both legs equally. I think 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 aiir coming through the back of
the throat. The latter is a problem even with advanced flutists.
How short-sighted are you?...When you play those...notes, you're strangling

them by [having your head] coming down. See what happens if you're really free
and playing high--you'll be amazed. You'll like it.
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, I would suggest trying 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
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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.
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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
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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.
I'm truly certain I'm right about this. But I keep feeling defensive about trying to
get people to open up and sing like that for the simple reason that so many
teachers of international repute say you shouldn't breathe to that extent....But I
think that actually you're missing out a tremendous amount as far as production
of sound.
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.
I'm asthmatic. So all my life I've had to learn how to breathe....I had to do
something about breathing exercises for myself. Otherwise I would have been
stuck to the bottom of the [professional flutist] pile. And I was too ambitious.
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
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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
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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
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Suspension
Relaxation and freedom from obstacle are the keys to free exhalation.
According to Peter Lloyd, there should be a cycle of breath intake and
exhalation that is akin to normal breathing but on a larger scale. On a full
breath, there is a moment of "setting" between inhaling and exhaling.
There's a little way of thinking...which doesn't actually interrupt the rhythm...and

that is to wait a hair's breadth of only a second before blowing. This is the thing
Caratgé made me do--to try to find time. Just stop, be prepared, [make sure
that] everything is ready. And then you release the sound. You don't hold your
breath. It's for a bare fraction of a second, not really holding. That way you're
absolutely safe, because everything is there and ready, but you haven't held
your breath long enough to let the muscles go tense and the breath to
freeze....Once you learn how to do it, it's absolutely safe. Just release the air.
Let it go. Don't try.265
The hyperventilation and dizziness experienced by so many beginning flute

players seem to be a result of skipping this small step.266
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Exhalation
Air flow during exhalation should be unrestricted between the

diaphragmatic/intercostal region and the lip. The airstream should be steady
and, above all, pushed out actively. "So many people have this problem of not
being able to get the air to go."267 To practice free exhalation, Lloyd suggests
starting without the flute. He often has a flutist take in a full breath and then
simply blow it out, making the cheeks puff out and forming no embouchure at
all. When they are sending out an unimpeded, active stream of air, he then has
the flutist gradually make an embouchure--while keeping the exhalation at the
same rate.
[Blow] once without the flute and think how it feels, how free it is. See? Now you
have something to hang onto. And if you control the airstream, the color and
everything [else] comes through....You don't need to worry too much about the
sound you're making. What you're trying to do is to make certain that your
breathing--the actual physical business of blowing through the flute--is free. I
don't care about sound. Just breathe freely and then put the flute in the
way....Once you've got the airstream going, then try to refine it.268
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Again and again Peter Lloyd stresses that free breathing is the basis of good flute
playing.
Let [the air] flow right through. Be totally free. The energy will start coming
through. It's when you're holding back that the energy gets stuck. It doesn't want
to come through. Whatever you're playing, you need loads and loads of energy
and loads and loads of breath. Fill the sound, push it through, and you'll have
the energy to get the music going.269
Several extra-musical points are worth mentioning in the context of stance and
intake/exhalation of breath. One is that students will do one thing during practice
time, or when concentrating on an etude, and another when they begin to play a
solo work. This even happens during master-classes. As he told one performer,
"One thing I notice [is] when you listen and look at me, you stand one way.
When you play, you stand another! Try not to." 270
Another point is diet. Caffeine in particular will cause players to tense up. "Are
you a big coffee drinker? Keep off the caffeine." 271 "P.S.," he adds, "I live on
it."272
Apart from flute practice, the best thing flutists can do to help their breathing is
to exercise regularly. "What do you do for exercise?" is a question Lloyd often
asks classes and individual flutists. While any exercise is positive, Peter Lloyd
finds that swimming gets especially good results. "I know you breathe well when
you swim. You have to."273 Taking in deep, rhythmic breaths during swimming
transfers well to flute playing.
Keeping physically fit is, I think, very important. I was talking to one person
recently who came to Manchester talking about various problems in the way
[musicians] stand, and she said, "You must compare yourself to an athlete. You
are musical athletes and you should treat your bodies in that way."274
Above all, Lloyd emphasizes that the breathing used during flute playing should be
natural and free-feeling. He asks flute teachers to "get [students] to understand as
early as possible how desperately important it is to get it [proper breathing] done
before they get into bad habits."275 As a guide, he recommends Angeleita Floyd's
book, The Gilbert Legacy.
Despite instructions and exercises, flutists should not become over-analytical

about the process.
Just one tiny thing about this breathing that's worrying me. I've read a lot of
articles in my years in America. A lot of people get so terribly involved with the
complications of how--by reading--that we get terribly caught up in worrying
about whether we're doing the right thing. I honestly believe that everything to
do with teaching, everything to do with playing this thing [flute] should be as
simple as possible ....Just breathe deep, fill yourself all the way up, stop way up
here, fill it up, and blow it out. I don't think it's anything else. 276
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Air Pressure
William Kincaid defined two parts to what he termed "support"--"volume" and

"intensity." Volume was the sheer quantity of air sent to the lip, and intensity
was the "supported pressure of focused air" that left the lip opening.277
Geoffrey Gilbert made a similar distinction in what he termed "breath pressure."
He used the term "flow" for the quantity of air sent to the lip and "pressure" for
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its velocity when leaving the lip.278 Peter Lloyd's terminology is closer to that of
Geoffrey Gilbert, using "air flow" to define volume of air and "air speed" to define
velocity of the air as it leaves the aperture. These two factors combine to create
"air pressure." A steady, active airstream is imperative to well-controlled flute
playing.
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Aperture
During inhalation, air flow is unimpeded. During exhalation it is also

unimpeded--to the point of the lip. The aperture opening then refines both air
speed and direction. These refining factors affect areas of flute playing, such as
dynamics, articulation, and tone color.
We need more air pressure. You see, the faster the air stream the more chance
we can control it, up to a point....If the pressure isn't there, then the air stream
just sort of flops all over the place and you can't control it at all.279
Just let the air through. Obviously some of you are going to say, "Oh, but if I do
then it all falls out, doesn't it?" But where does it go? Out of your ears? You
want to make sure that you get the pressure behind the lip. The lip holds the
pressure. You don't try holding the pressure here [indicates throat area]. It's the
pressure and the air speed coming through the lips that gets you projection; that
makes the sound carry. So remember, the whole system really is think
breathing and then just put it on your lip....You don't need a lot of tension. 280
Peter Lloyd cautions players to keep their air flowing vigorously even though the
aperture opening is small.
Even though it's small here [indicates aperture], don't hold in [your breath].
Again, it's all from there [indicates diaphragm/ intercostal area]. 281
It [flute sound] all stems from the freedom of the breathing through this small
hole. 282
That "small hole" is the flute aperture. The embouchure controls the shape and
size of the aperture hole, through which air passes from the flutist to the flute.
This vital area is subject to wide variation among humans, and it is up to flutists
to make the adjustments which will help them the most.
For a good basic tone, it is important to find the largest part of the aperture and
match it to the largest part of the flute's embouchure hole. This is true whether
the aperture is off to one side or in the middle of the mouth. Even now, many
youngsters are told by well-meaning directors or teachers that they don't have
the "right" mouth to play the flute and are put on other instruments. But an
aperture either left or right of center is not "wrong," and it is easy to place the
flute where the player will get just as good control as a player whose mouth
opening is centered. Flutists are encouraged to start at one extreme end and
slowly bring the flute across their lips from one end to the other, while watching
themselves closely in a mirror. They should take note of the location of the flute
when their tone sounds best. Gradually, watching in the mirror all the time, the
flutist should narrow their field of movement until they have found the spot
where their sound is best.
Many flutists tend to pull their lips back in a tense smile in an attempt to control
air speed and direction, especially in the flute's lowest octave.
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You know what happens when you pull your embouchure don't you? The shape
of the hole, the aperture, suddenly goes from a nice little round something in the
middle octave and high octave to a great big long flat thing at the bottom octave.
So how on earth you expect to get air through the long thin thing into a small
round [flute] hole, I don't know!283
Peter Lloyd cautions inexperienced flutists to avoid this habit before it becomes
ingrained. "Make sure while you're at the formative stage [that you] don't fall into this
terrible trap of pulling." 284
Too large of an embouchure hole causes an insubstantial sound, wasted air,

and poor directional control.
A lot of these things are logic....What you're trying to do is get air with as much
control of speed into a small round hole. So what you've got to do with your lips
is to find some way of getting it to that shape. It's going to be slightly smaller
than the [flute] hole. [And] that is really the principle of the thing. 285
Even with the best of apertures, rolling the flute too far in or out will affect a
flutist's sound adversely. Again, individual flutists must deal with this aspect by
finding the best spot for sound, much as before. Start by rolling out to an
extreme degree; then slowly roll in (watching closely in a mirror the entire time).
While watching closely, listen for the point at which the sound is best. When
flutists have found the optimal position, they must then adjust the headjoint so
that they can achieve this position without undue strain on their hand/wrist
position.
Air is actively propelled from the lungs by the diaphragm/intercostal area and
sent unimpeded to the lip, where the stream is controlled; air direction is
dictated by the lips and the position of the flute on the lip and chin. Although air
direction is split over and under the flute hole edge, some air must always be
directed down into the flute--even in its highest register. "The airstream has got
to be able to see the hole," as Peter Lloyd explains.286
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Air Direction
The flutist's physical makeup affects air direction. Flutists with very thin lips may
have to place the flute lower on the chin. Flutists with very full lips may
accidentally cover too much of the embouchure hole and may have to place the
flute higher on the bottom lip. A slight overbite is actually an advantage, as air is
naturally sent down into the flute. A slight underbite may be overcome by raising
the flute higher on the chin or lip, but an extreme underbite is the one physical
aspect (outside of injury or missing body parts) that may prevent a person from
playing the flute. With an extreme underbite, the flutist finds it impossible to get
enough air down into the flute and the result is an airy, uncontrolled
sound--especially in the lower registers.
Flutists whose chins are that far back are going to find it easier to push the air
straight down into the flute's open hole. If the chin comes out too far, then you
have to come higher on your lip and blow across, and I think that's really very
important.287
A common problem with air direction is that when flutists are told to aim low for
low notes and high for high notes, they aim too high for the third register. This
causes more of a shriek than a tone and a very sharp third register. This does
not need to occur, Lloyd stresses. He advocates aiming the airstream farther
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down, thus keeping one's tone and one's intonation from straying too far from
the other octaves.
Remember, don't aim at high notes somewhere up to smash the light bulbs.
You sit up, and blow down into them as easily as you possibly can. They're easy
to sit on top [of] and blow down into. You're already set up. 288
And again, during a masterclass warmup:
I think I'm hearing that some people are forgetting what we said yesterday about
trying to play the high extremity notes down. I'm hearing one or two squealing
rabbits. The upper notes--even when we're playing high D [D4]--[one must]
keep the head up and play down. I do promise you they'll be easier. I really do
promise you.289
Visualization can help, as when flutists feel they are on top of a high note, like a
puppeteer manipulating a puppet. When flutists feel in control, they relax, stop
straining, and stop aiming the air too high.
When you play high...don't see it up there. you're up there. You look down and
play down. In other words, try to keep high and blow down.... [High notes] are
only difficult when our tendency is to start to try to squeeze up to them. Keep
high, keep free, and use your breath. 290
The upper register does require more air pressure, but again, some flutists
overdo. "Be careful you don't waste breath because you think top notes are
more difficult. They're not more difficult....Don't waste breath on them."291
Peter Lloyd stresses that control of air and free breathing are paramount to many
aspects of flute playing.
What is support? The word support is a curious one. I think what we need to
think is what is projection? You've got to project color and you've got to project
sound. How do you do that? What is that? What makes projection? Even when
you're playing pianissimo or changing your color, what...is it all about? It's very
simple. It's the most important thing in flute playing--in wind playing--in string
playing--in singing. Breathing. To [breathe] low, to feel that the sound of
everything you do comes from...right down there [indicates intercostals], so that
you fill up like a tank. And no matter how short your phrase is or how long your
phrase is, breathe as big as you possibly can. Because by doing so, you're
opening your own top here [indicates chest cavity], dropping the back of the
tongue, opening the sound, so that you can sing big. You can't sing
color--whatever color you're using--unless you've got that huge amount of air
there on which to control it. Even...when we have to play three p's or three f's,
it's the breathing--the huge, free breathing--that controls this.292
TOP Main Index

Vocalization in the Mouth Cavity
It has been pointed out that all the body cavities--chest, throat, and
mouth--should be as open as possible to allow a steady uninterrupted flow of air
from the diaphragm/ intercostal area to the lip. There are two obstacles in the
mouth cavity that can obstruct air flow. One is closing the jaw. Peter Lloyd
advocates dropping the jaw to open this area. As he instructed during a
Masterclass, "Yawn....You can feel the openness, and that's what you need. Go
on, you can yawn. Yawning is that feeling--it really is that open."293
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The idea of singing is also important. "If you sing a note, you drop the back of
your tongue, and I think keeping the back of the tongue low is the most
important thing."294
The other obstacle is the back of the tongue, which is often raised. Lloyd is
adamant about keeping the back of the tongue lowered. Yawning helps this
along, as does vowel vocalization. This hearkens back to William Kincaid, who
advocated yawning to open the mouth cavity. His student, John Krell, advised
flutists to experiment with vowel sounds to "modulate tone."295
Vocalization of various vowel sounds can change the shape of the mouth cavity.
This in turn changes the airflow to the lip and affects flute tone color and
projection. Peter Lloyd discourages those vowel sounds that tend to close the
mouth cavity, such as "EEE" and long "A." Anyone saying these sounds will feel
the back of the tongue raised and obstructing air flow. Flutists who tend to pull
their lips back in a smile when playing are usually vocalizing on an "EE".
Vocalization is a key to curing the smile embouchure, as it is all but impossible
to keep the lips pulled back while dropping the jaw to open the mouth and
vocalizing an "AWW" or even an "OH."
Vocalization also helps avoid the common problem of noise during breath
intake.
I've always gotten people to open up the back of the throat....You can drop the
tongue at the back of your throat more....You breathe free. If you hear yourself
breathing with [an inhaling sound], that's not much good because you're not
only robbing color and sound, but you're also making it difficult for the air to
come in. 296
Often Peter Lloyd will use the vocalization "AWWW" to help students open their mouth
cavity. "Sing 'AWWW.' Can you project it through that window? Push it. Let it
breathe....Make it a mezzo forte....Use lots of energy."297
And again:
What's the vowel sound in your mouth? "AW." As if you're saying "AW." You've
dropped the back of the tongue. Can you feel...that you're almost sitting on top
of a balloon of air? A great big balloon? You know what happens with balloons
when you press them. The air goes WHOOSH out there, doesn't it? You want to
do the same thing. Don't feel stretched and tight. WHOOSH is all you need. 298
John Krell used the slightly different image of flute tone as a cork ball
"supported in the air by a column of compressed air. Once suspended, it need
only be supported by the breath."299
Again and again, Peter Lloyd urges students to use vocalizations as an aid to a fuller
sound:
What's the vowel sound in your mouth? Can you think AWWW? Because it's
big. You want to open this [indicates back of throat]. I'm still feeling it's a bit
ACK, and I want an AWW in the sound. 300
Another, more French-sounding syllable that Lloyd uses is "EU." This has the
effect of a pear shape inside the mouth cavity, larger at the back than at the
front. "Think of something between EEE and OOO, then put them together," he
suggests.
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As an aid to keeping the throat and mouth cavities open, Lloyd uses the parallel
of singing. "Always feel that you're singing," he advises.301 During a
masterclass, he instructed:
Can you actually imagine that you're singing? Can you feel the sound? Hear the
sound? Do you feel it in your mouth? Can you make that position without
actually singing it first--because it's difficult to go onto a platform to play a
concert and start singing every note!....Try to imagine where that voice is before
you start playing.302
Lloyd freely acknowledges not only a debt to singers, but to flutist Robert Dick in his
thoughts about imaginary singing of flute sounds to set the throat open and pitch the
note right. Robert Dick, however, goes farther.
This is Robert Dick's idea, which I think is very valid. He taught people to sing
the sound so that the sound would be sympathetic when you play the flute. You
sing and play at the same time on the flute, and then take away the voice. I
think he has something. There's quite definitely a sympathetic sound.303
At another time, Lloyd instructed students to get to a Robert Dick class.
You must have all been at Robert Dick's, have you? Do if you can. It's very
interesting what he says about the connection between singing and the
sympathy that the shape of your mouth [is] for the sound [it)] gives on the flute.
It works. If you have a bad note that won't work, sing it. Then play it. It honestly
does make a difference. 304
A side effect of sending steady air to the lips through open cavities is that the
flutist's cheeks may puff out. "There's nothing wrong with having a bit of
freedom of air in the cheeks," Peter Lloyd says.305
TOP Main Index

Breath and Dynamics
The relationship of air speed and size of the flutist's aperture is crucial to
developing a large palette of dynamics, using as great a range of harmonics as
possible. Opening the body cavities to their fullest degree for best projection,
sending a steady fast-moving column of air from the diaphragm/intercostal
region to the lip, and using the lip to shape the column and send it down, mostly
into the flute's embouchure hole, will assure the flutist a good mezzo-forte
sound. Louder dynamics need a slightly larger embouchure hole and faster,
deeper vibrato. Projection is achieved by keeping the body cavities [especially
the mouth cavity] open.
Don't try just belting hard, low octave sounds out. It sounds disgusting and has
nothing to do with flute playing. Although that sort of sound does reach the
conductor louder, the best sound is to put as much harmonic in that low register
as you possibly can. Mix the low harmonic and the upper harmonic and it'll carry
far, far better.306
Many flute students have difficulty playing softer dynamics. While it stands to
reason that a large column of air and a large "sounding board" from the body
cavities would create a large sound, the opposite does not produce a good soft
sound.
Most flutists reason that if a fast-flowing airspeed is required for louder

dynamics, then slower air flow is needed for softer dynamics. No amount of
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flatness, dropped octaves, or throat tightening seems to deter flutists from this
belief. Most flutists accept the "fact" that soft notes are hard to play and usually
out of tune. Peter Lloyd teaches that soft notes are as accessible as loud ones,
but the key is to keep the air column moving at almost the same speed as is
needed for loud playing. The key is to send this air through a smaller aperture
hole. This does not mean a tight or pulled-back embouchure, simply a smaller
hole.
Lloyd advocates trying pianissimo notes from the third octave first, as a flutist's
inclination is to use a fast column of air to play third octave notes. First, the flutist
plays (mf) and then makes the aperture opening smaller and smaller. All body cavities
remain open, and the air speed remains constant. To the player's surprise, the
dynamic level decreases without strain and without dropping the note, and the pitch
remains constant.
The following are several examples from masterclasses in which Lloyd encouraged
players to produce a stress-free pianissimo.
Can you get the air speed faster? And then resist more here [indicates lip]? The
reason I say air speed [is] if the air speed is coming at all on the slow side and
you're trying to control a pianissimo, you're going to try to hold it back here
[indicates throat and top of chest], with the result that you can't project for one
thing, and you cannot control it. It's air speed that you use to control not only
pitch, but vibrato and color [as well]. 307
When you play pianissimo, it's still got to project down those stairs and out into
the street, but it's not going to be loud. All right? So keep your embouchure as
small as you can. As you come up into the middle octave, make very certain
that you're not going to go flat. Keep pushing the air through....Now take a
proper breath and do it....Fine. Now if you want to get more piano on that, close
your lips. The lip hole is smaller, not the air stream slower. Now start mezzo
forte and see if you can play an octave higher, piano....Now you've just got to
hold it there. See, that's what projection is all about--just being able to blow
through.308
What I'm finding is that the air stream isn't really always fast enough. And when
you play piano, you're having pitch problems. And I think if you can keep your
energy going through with a smaller embouchure, then you...should keep it in
[pitch]. 309
Try to feel that when you diminuendo, the embouchure itself is more flexible. As
I say, in a perfect world we try to keep the air speed as nearly the same as we
possibly can, because that will keep the intonation and color. 310
[Play] once more and then diminuendo on the top B. Squeeze your lip. Try to
squeeze your lip very, very slowly so that the embouchure gets smaller and
smaller and smaller, because that's where you'll maintain that carrying-through
there. Okay, now play that opening passage on that size embouchure. 311
Just take a big breath and make a small embouchure and relax everything.
Drop everything. Drop your shoulders particularly. Then relax everything so that
the rib cage wants to come down naturally and see if it'll give you enough air
pressure on your lip. It should. 312
When you try to get the small embouchure at the top, start mf, get the color
really good--not sharp, get it right, and then just gently, as your lips close, then
obviously the air stream's going to get smaller and smaller. But don't forget, it's
13 de 23 09/08/2007 11:34
not going to change its speed.313
Now...let's go right down to three p's....Try it without the flute. Relax everything
so that the rib cage wants to come [down] naturally, and see if it'll give you
some...air pressure on your lip. You can feel the size of the hole. If you get quite
a sharp needle of air in your hand, it gives you some clue as to what's going on.
314
You're not going to need a huge push to get that sound out. The very fact of the
rib cage being as open as it possibly can be, will give you enough pressure as it
collapses to make the pianissimo sound. It's terribly terribly easy.315
Could you come down from a high note? Just get it free. See what happens
then? Suddenly you feel the sound going through instead of being desperate to
be quieter. 316
As you work in this way, everything needs to be relaxed.317
Lloyd passed along this visualization from a student of his in Manchester:
[The student] said, "Do you mean that [when] you have a bucket and you have
a jug of water and you pour it slowly, it dribbles and the water fragments as it
goes down? But if you pour it suddenly, it goes down whoosh in one lump?" And
I thought that was a marvelous analogy. If you could see it [air stream], as it
goes faster ....you can control it. Otherwise, if it goes slowly, because we're
holding it here [indicates throat], then it's very difficult to control ....[So] in order
to get small on the embouchure, practice from where it's very easy to be very
small. Like, say, start practicing an octave higher--on a g[3] or something--and
come down dramatically. Start off mf [and on] each note diminuendo right down
to three p's on the D-sharp. Then start to play, and you'll find you've got far
more control. 318
Peter Lloyd practices what he preaches and has used the above exercise in his
professional life.
What I used to do playing Après Midi [d'un Faun] in the orchestra would be,
while the [audience] noise was going on, while the conductor was trying to hush
the crowds down in the auditorium, I'd be trying to touch top G's as quietly as I
possibly could. Nobody would hear me. [I wanted] to get that embouchure small
enough so that the first C-sharp was on a very, very small embouchure, so that
no air would be wasted, because then you've got a little bit more flexibility of the
phrase if you've got to do it in one breath....And then you can play musically.319
TOP Main Index

Breath and Intonation
Dynamics and intonation are closely related in flute playing. Often, when flutists
are having problems with their dynamic palette, they are also having problems
with pitch. This is because both aspects are so closely tied to air speed.
The relationship between breath and intonation on the flute is quite simple.
When the air stream increases in speed, pitch goes up. When the air stream
decreases in speed, pitch goes down. Most flutists tend to play sharp in the
upper register and flat in the lower. This stems from the belief that the upper
register needs a lot of air to "keep up" the notes, but that the lower octave
needs less air because the notes are not being held up. The differences in air
speed show up as faulty intonation.
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In a perfect world we're trying to maintain air speed whether we play loud or
soft. The flute will give you its intonation wherever the makers have put the
holes, if you treat it properly and keep an even air speed through it whether you
play loud or soft. Then you can find out quite simply what notes on your
instrument are flat and what notes are sharp. But really we don't need all this
business of pushing high and pushing low. Really, the more evenly--the more
still [steady] you can stay, the better.320
Flutists should be especially careful not to let their air speed slow down during a
diminuendo. This is a common error that causes pitch to go flat as the
diminuendo continues. Instead, Peter Lloyd advocates keeping the airstream
steady and gradually decreasing the size of the aperture. In this way, the
dynamic gets softer, but the airstream [and thus the pitch] stays steady.
Peter Lloyd encourages using the overtone series as an exercise for controlling air
speed and air direction and as an aid to incorporating harmonics within one's tone.
A quick word on harmonics. Practice harmonics from the bass, starting from the
C and going through the harmonic series. I think that's a good thing because it
helps put harmonics in tune within your natural sound. You've got to hear
harmonics in your sound. It's not very difficult.321
TOP Main Index

Breath and Articulation
Often, flutists have various problems articulating. They may experience a

change in tone color or pitch or have problems with the tongue seeming "too
thick" or moving too slowly. Peter Lloyd feels that lack of a steady, pressurized
column of air is the cause of many flutists' articulation problems. Geoffrey
Gilbert, too, found that constant air pressure enables the tongue to move more
freely, thus promoting cleaner articulation.322
For most flutists, shorter notes receive correspondingly less breath. The result
is less sound for each note. Tone color suffers, intonation may go flat, and the
moving tongue is overly apparent in the flutist's sound.
Because of this correlation, Peter Lloyd strongly advocates that teachers omit
articulation with their beginning students until they have developed good
breathing habits and a good, solid flute tone.
I think it's terribly important that you make absolutely certain that the color of
sound is stable--that the sound is strong, stable, and reliable....As far as I'm
concerned, I don't teach students articulation at all until I am absolutely certain
that the forte sound and the stability of sound is there....If you can wait that long,
it takes all the difficulty out of the articulation, because the whole thing about
articulation is sound. It's not so difficult to move the tongue. 323
Make sure that when you articulate, it's sound you're making. You can only
articulate on the best possible sound. You can't articulate on a scrappy sound.
324
Lloyd learned during his lessons with Jean-Pierre Rampal that the key to good
articulation is not in the tongue, but in the diaphragm/ intercostal area--the area that
pushes air to the lip. This was a revelation to him.
When I was [playing] the solo Bach [Partita in A Minor] he [Rampal] made me
do the whole of the first movement on separate movements here [indicates
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diaphragm]--everything. And tongue forward. And...at the end...I was so

exhausted [that] I asked him, "Do you honestly do this every time?" And he said,
"Oh, yes!" He said, "Whenever possible you use this [indicates diaphragm/
intercostal area] for articulation. Every single time....Use that....That is the only
way to give life to the sound."325
Rampal believed that articulation was a critical component of flute playing. Lloyd
recounted Rampal saying, "Listen to articulation. The good player will separate
himself from the rest of the others by the fact that he has life in the
articulation."326
There are two main techniques used for flute single tonguing, differentiated by
the placement of the tip of the tongue on areas of the mouth: "back" and "front"
tonguing.
In front tonguing, the tip of the tongue is at the front of the mouth. Usually,
flutists can feel the bottom of the front teeth and part of the inside of the upper
lip with the tip of their tongue. This way, a very small area at the tongue tip
blocks the aperture opening like a cork. As the tongue tip is not reaching
upwards, it is possible for the flutist to maintain an open mouth cavity. Since
less of the tongue is moving, front tonguing tends to be faster. And as air can be
backed up with some pressure behind the tongue tip and that air is directly
adjacent to the flute's embouchure hole, front tonguing usually sounds clearer
and more precise.
In back tonguing, the tip of the tongue is set on the ridge of the upper palate. In
order for the tongue to reach the upper palate, flutists using back tonguing must
close their mouth cavity somewhat, robbing their sound of color and projection.
It also tends to be less clear than front tonguing.
Back tonguing has become identified with American flute players. Peter Lloyd
believes that this technique developed because of a linguistic mistake.
French flutists use front tonguing. In fact front tonguing is sometimes referred to
as "French tonguing." In French flutist Marcel Moyse's widely studied flute
books he uses the syllable "TU" as an articulation aid. Americans pronounce the
"TU" syllable fairly far back in the mouth, whereas the French place that syllable
much farther forward. Over time, this difference became two schools of
articulation.
Gareth Morris's writings underscore the point of French pronunciation in

articulation. He instructed beginning flutists to articulate by pronouncing TU "as
in French".327
Geoffrey Gilbert has an entirely different opinion about the lack of crispness in
articulation, particularly with American flutists. He felt that Americans tend to
drop "t's" in their everyday speech--such as pronouncing "intermission" as
"innermission"--or substitute the "t" with a softer "d"--such as pronouncing
"Atlanta" as "Adlanna". This habit, he felt, translated into muddy articulation in
flute playing.328
Peter Lloyd advocates front tonguing. Back tonguing is less clear because the air is
being stopped halfway through the mouth, cutting the air speed considerably. Front
tonguing brings everything--air, tongue, lip--to the same point (as close to the flute as
possible). For these reasons Lloyd suggests that flutists who currently use back
tonguing switch to front tonguing. "Logic is to get the tongue as close to the
embouchure hole as possible."329
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Lloyd started playing flute using back tonguing.
My own feelings about things started off as a wooden flute player, which was
fairly gross. [Articulation] came from way back there, and it used to explode into
the wooden flute with a fairly loud noise....Caratgé got me to [articulate on] DU,
and the double tonguing was DU GU, and everything started from there.330
Lloyd believes that there is a positive relationship between French front articulation
and embouchure production.
If you say DU like a Frenchman, the tip of your tongue is between the teeth
anyway, and DUGU brings your lips forward and the back of the tongue down.
One of the big points of using the French vowel sound...is that it brings the
embouchure away from pulling [i.e., into a smile embouchure].331
He also feels that the French reputation for fine flute articulation is tied to their
language.
The articulation they use is so much further forward so that they're made for it,
it's easy for them. They don't have to think DU GU...it's part of their language.
So that makes a difference. 332
Peter Lloyd cites the Suzuki method of teaching articulation as a very useful one.
Flute students put a single piece of rice on the tip of their tongue and then spit the rice
into a bowl. In this way, the student learns front tonguing, embouchure formation, and
use of the diaphragm/intercostal region for pushing out breath simultaneously.
The Suzuki articulation business...I think is a very good one. There's your bowl,
and you're trying to get the kid to spit [a grain of rice] into the bowl. They've got
to move here [indicates front of mouth] to get any kind of projection on
that....And it also gets them to use this [intercostals] properly.333
The breath must be in the mouth cavity, under pressure, ready to emerge with
proper speed, the moment the tip of the tongue moves away from the aperture.
Thus, breath pressure is always ready.
When you articulate on the flute, try not to "stab" notes like a hammer. Try to
release them, more like a harpsichord, so that the pressure is still there waiting
for you. It's much more accurate.334
A flutist switching from back to front tonguing will probably be wise to make the
switch over the summer. This is because of a side effect of learning to front
tongue--excess saliva. Lloyd jokes that flutists making the switch from back to
front tonguing will not have "dry mouth" during performances!
The great thing about tonguing forward...is you've got loads and loads of saliva.
The trouble with the tongue is, when you stick it in front of the mouth, it thinks
it's going to get food or water. So you've got to slowly teach it. After about six
weeks it dries up.335
Peter Lloyd says that Geoffrey Gilbert commented on this phenomenon as well.
He said that you will gather spit at first, but it will go [away] as your mouth gets
used to that [position]. You see, your poor old mouth as it comes forward, is
expecting drink or food ....And the poor thing, it's got to be taught that it's not
going to get food and drink.336
Double tonguing may also be done in front. The area of most difficultly for
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flutists' double tonguing is the KA [or GU] syllable. That syllable is so much
weaker than the more-used TU [or DU] that double tonguing emerges as
DUguDUguDUgu.
With your double tonguing, are you forward tonguing or are you TUCKA
TUCKA-ing? Think of DU GU. Keep that syllable really forward--DU GU rather
than TUCKA TUCKA. Anybody who's really forward on the lip, fine....Try not to
go "TUCKA". It nearly always means that the "KA" syllable will be less strong
than any other, because it's so far back there's no air to help it through. 337
Lloyd stresses that the GU part of double tonguing be quite far back in the throat
where the glottis is. Any other spot would cause the flute player to bring the tongue
up, with the result of blocking the air. He advocates practicing this syllable on the
lowest note a flutist can muster to make sure that the mouth cavity remains as open
as possible, even while double tonguing. He also cautions flutists not to close the
throat completely on the GU syllable completely. It might be useful to think "KHU"
rather than GU. The main point with both syllables is to "keep the thing as light as you
can."338
Whether a flutist uses front or back double tonguing, it is imperative that the
back of the tongue stay as low as possible in the mouth during double tonguing
on the GU syllable.
You see, the more you bring that tongue up at the back of your mouth, the less
quality of sound you're going to have. Because obviously that resonating cavity
needs to be kept open.339
[Rampal] made me do the GU, GU [very slowly] and then DehGehDehGeh [very
slow double tonguing], to try to get those syllables exact. 340 Well worth
practicing in the bath, you know, just with your voice and see how low you can
get it. Because that's the problem I see so often--the double tonguing sounds so
uneven. 341
Whatever method a flutist uses, the prime thing to remember is to keep the air
moving.
You cannot do it [tongue] forward without being very aware of how free the
breathing is. It's got to be absolutely free and full and with energy. Like
everything in flute playing....I think that the whole forward tonguing thing...
seems to me to be by far the best thing to do. Again, it's logic. The nearer the
tongue is to the flute hole, the less room for error. And as I say, make sure
you're breathing really good, really free. Otherwise it just doesn't work. 342
With both single and double tonguing, many students' articulation is initially
clear and then increasingly muddy. The tongue is a muscle, and stamina for
single and double tonguing must be built up. For this, Lloyd again recommends
the Paganini Perpetual Mobile.
How are your chops? Your lips? Tired? You know when you practice double
tonguing, the big problem...is stamina. It's just being able to work right through
that patch when everything hurts. And you start getting all tired and then you get
tighter and tighter. The only way is to take something like Perpetual Mobile
and... practice it in patches. Take the first third of it, then take the second third,
than take the third third. And try to do it in sections.... every, say, three or four
days...try to get six or seven measures further than you did the previous time.
The more you do it every day, the more your chops will get used to it. But to
start with, don't go to far, as far as the pain is concerned ....The big problem with
18 de 23 09/08/2007 11:34
the articulation is the stamina, because we never do long enough stretches. And
then all of a sudden something turns up in music in the orchestra or something
and we think, "Oh, my God," and we get more and more tight. 343 Even the
issue of stamina in tonguing is directly related to air speed. As Lloyd says:
We get tired and the tongue gets more and more tight because there isn't
enough airstream pushing through. Make sure the air is always pushing through
to keep the tongue relaxed. You can do that without a flute and you'll see what
happens.344
TOP Main Index

Breath and Tone Color
Flute tone color changes by adding or subtracting harmonics to notes. Adding

harmonics causes a darker, harsher sound. Subtracting them causes a hazy,
indistinct sound. Changes may be made by manipulating air direction--down for
more harmonics, and across for fewer harmonics.
As with other aspects of flute playing, varying (or not varying) tone color must
make musical sense.
I think color changing has to be for a deliberate musical reason. It's not one of
those things where, when we go from one octave to another it's more
convenient to go [makes blatting sound].345
Peter Lloyd stresses that with free breathing, open cavities, and control of air direction
a flutist has greater control over tone color changes within any dynamic. This can be
crucial when faced with something like the opening of Claude Debussy's Afternoon of
a Faun, in which the flutist cannot waste any breath whatsoever, but must project
through the orchestra to the back of the hall. "We need to find out how to keep that
embouchure small enough so you've got enough breath in you to change color if you
want to."346
I think one has to learn how to do one's technical exercises, particularly the slow
stuff, in all different colors and all different dynamics. So you have to learn to
control your colors using different dynamics. If you're making a very soft sound,
you have to learn how to play louder without changing that color.347
Lloyd insists that control of harmonics [and thus flute tone colors] sets a flutist
apart in auditions. When playing ascending octaves, he suggests:
You need very little movement to move upwards. If anything, move the other
way. By doing that, by building more depth of lower harmonic in the sound,
you're going to immediately attract [the panel's] attention, because nine players
out of ten won't have it. It's like teaching. We're all told when we start playing
that we've got to produce octaves all in the chin. And the reason for that is
because we haven't been taught how to breathe! Now, when we're taught to
breathe, we don't need to do that. But we're never taught not to. And I think
that's one of the well-kept secrets of teaching.
It's terribly terribly important to understand that once the air stream is controlled
...it doesn't need to do much more than hang on there with good air speed, and
do the rest of your singing in your mouth, so you hear richness of harmonic.
When you hear loud in the middle octave, it's not because you're blowing
harder, it's because you're trying to work into the low harmonics. Enlarge it that
way--then everything works.348
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Because air direction affects tone color, tuning, and production of octaves in the
flute, these aspects are interrelated. Peter Lloyd feels that most flutists overdo
the admonition to blow down for the lowest octave and up for the highest.
Besides causing the lower octave to be flat and the higher octave to be sharp,
both octaves are robbed of a generally richer tone color. He advocates getting
some of the lower harmonics into upper notes and some of the higher
harmonics into lower notes.
You see, what we're trying to do is...to get down into the octave harmonics
more, so we get more low harmonic into the middle octave--because that's
where volume comes from. It doesn't come from blasting....So always feel that
you're blowing down in [proper] octaves...because I think it's very important for
basic coloring.349 Make use of your sound. It's not really loud, but color.350
Lloyd encourages flute players to stretch their concept of tone colors to the limits of
their capabilities.
One of the problems is the old generalization that when you play loud you
[should] play hard and dark, and when you play soft, you [should] play hollow.
That's a load of rubbish. You've got to learn to do both. You need to know how
to play dark in pianissimo and very light in a more forte sound.351
Caratgé, at one stage [when] we were talking about color, made me work on the
extreme ranges of color. So I had to learn how to play pianissimo with a nasty,
hard sound and how to play more forte--as forte as possible--on a very open
sound. And it was a very useful exercise because if you can manage that, then
obviously you've got all the colors in between.352
Although a good basic sound is highly desirable, Lloyd points out that various
flute tone colors make the music more interesting. In reference to a particular
work, he advised:
You play so beautifully, and I want in this instance to destroy your beauty. I want
you to sound fuzzy. I know it sounds ridiculous, but you mustn't always play
beautifully, because it gets boring. I don't care how incredible your sound is,
nobody can sit there and listen to a particular quality of sound for a couple of
hours at a time and stay sane. It becomes boring. Use as much variety and
color [as possible].353
TOP Main Index

Breathing Exercise to Increase Capacity
As an asthmatic, Peter Lloyd has had to make use of every bit of air available to him
in flute playing. He realized that he would have to increase his lung capacity if he were
to compete with other flutists.
I took a yoga exercise and adapted it for my own particular uses....You sit
relaxed in back of [a] chair [and] get the backside of you way back, so that
you're totally relaxed. Now, all you've got to do after that is set your metronome
for sixty, breathe in for four seconds, hold it for four seconds, breathe out for
four seconds, hold it for four seconds, and repeat that cycle for fifteen minutes.
Do that twice a day. You'll find it much easier in the evening when you're tired
and your muscles are more relaxed than they are in the morning.
Remember, it's got to go a full fifteen minutes for each. Now, all of you should
find four seconds very easy. Those of you who don't, who have been breathing
too shallowly and haven't been used to breathing deeply, drop back to three
20 de 23 09/08/2007 11:34
seconds. It's always the same--in for three, hold for three, out for three, hold for
three.
Don't go to your absolute maximum [intake] because then you will be tense
when you hold. Go to 5% or 10% at the top and bottom. Try to be totally
relaxed. When four seconds is easy, then go to five seconds. You'll soon know
when your heart rate starts to speed after ten minutes [and you think], "I don't
think this is quite right." That's when you stop and go back to less. When your
heart and system tells you that it's easy [then] go up to five or six seconds. If it's
not working and you're hyperventilating, go back ...otherwise you'll black out
and that's not a good idea.
Now, don't try to push yourself too fast. Do the full fifteen minutes on four, five,
seven, whatever you do....I promise you this is not an exercise that you can
learn in a week or two weeks or two months--it's a thing that you're looking
forward to seeing what's going to happen to you in six months' time. It will not
do you any good if you work at it for a month and then give it up and say, "Oh,
I'm breathing better." You'll just collapse and have to start all over again.
So you've got five seconds now. Maybe that's taken you two or three weeks.
Maybe it's taken you a day. Go to six seconds, go on to seven seconds, go on
to eight seconds--slowly increasing. When you get to nine seconds and you're
finding that comfortable--and by this time you're finding out how easy it is to go
to eight, nine, ten seconds--it's not so difficult when you've gotten that far, it's
the early ones that are hard. When you get to nine seconds, start to simulate
playing on the flute.
For example, breathe in over four, then make an embouchure and blow out over
twenty-eight, thirty, thirty-five [seconds]--whatever you like--and then hold it at
the bottom for two [seconds] and repeat that over fifteen minutes.
Now, when that's easy and you're feeling very comfortable and saying "Wow,
this is great," you get the flute out and use that. Don't try desperately to make a
nice sound. Use any old note in the middle octave and do the same thing. And
go on and on and on as economically as you can. [Make] the embouchure very,
very small to save [air] and it's stopping the sound here [indicates lip]. What you
must not do is hold it down here [throat/chest]. You want to get that pressure.
You don't want to play ppp, play normal. It's important to try to get the pressure
behind [the lip]. And that's really about it.
Now, I must repeat, you won't get anything out of this exercise unless you really
do decide ....If you work hard at it, and don't think about what's happening next
month, you'll find it'll make an enormous difference to the whole of your playing.
If you've not heard this before, I think you ought to think about [doing] this.
They're very good exercises. They've worked for me and made me able to play
long phrases and have breath to spare.354
Hearkening back to exercise and flute playing, Lloyd said:
A very interesting thing happened in a masterclass. One of my lads is a very

good swimmer, a very strong chap--he can do a full cycle of eighty seconds. In
other words, twenty, twenty, twenty, twenty--and keep that going. Quite
phenomenal. The point is you go as far as you can, with comfort.355
256 Masterclass notes, 6/13/95, Technique class.

257 Masterclass notes, 6/22/94, Morning class, with corrections from Additional taped
notes, October, 1997.
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258 Masterclass notes, 6/14/94, Evening class.

259 Masterclass notes, 6/17/94, Morning class.
260 Additional taped notes, October 1997.
261 Masterclass notes 6/26/95, 6 P.M.
262 Masterclass notes, 6/26/94, 6 P.M.
264 Ibid.
266 Nancy Toff, The Flute Book (New York: Oxford University Press, 1996), 82.
269 Ibid.
271 Masterclass notes, 10/29/94, Performer 5.
272 Additional taped notes, October, 1997.
274 Additional taped notes, February 1988.
275 Masterclass notes, 6/95, Class 9.
277 John C. Krell, Kincaidiana, 2d ed. (Santa Clarita, California: The National Flute
Association, Inc., 1997), 9.
278 Floyd, 47.
284 Ibid.
285 Ibid.
295 Krell, 4.
299 Krell, 3.
301 Masterclass notes, 6.13/95, Technique class.
310 Ibid.
313 Ibid.
22 de 23 09/08/2007 11:34

319 Ibid.
321 Ibid.
322 Floyd, 104.
326 Ibid.
327 Gareth Morris, Flute Technique (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991), 12.
328 Floyd, 103.
331 Ibid.
332 Ibid.
338 Ibid.
341 Ibid.
346 Ibid.
347 Ibid.
354 Masterclass notes, all from 6/24/94, Technique class.
355 Additional taped notes, October 1997.ass.
269 Ibid.
270 Masterclass no
23 de 23 09/08/2007 11:34
Larry Krantz Flute Pages - Lord Dissertation on Peter Lloyd - 3 http://www.larrykrantz.com/chapt3.htm
PETER LLOYD
EXPRESSION
Historical Usage Production of Vibrato/Expression
Vibrato Variation Vibrato and Musical Mood
Vibrato and Dynamics Vibrato and National/Historical Styles
In conclusion, Peter Lloyd says:
Historical Usage
The term "expression" includes many components, including vibrato. French flutists often
speak of playing expressively, but rarely mention vibrato except in a negative context.
French flute players consider vibrato to be an integral component of tone production.
Marcel Moyse was quoted as saying he never used vibrato, and yet it is clearly present on
his recordings. Recordings as early as 1905 [Taffanel] reveal that French flutists did indeed
use vibrato, but they would often only say that they played expressively.
Peter Lloyd and Geoffrey Gilbert both use the term "expression" from having studied in
France. According to Geoffrey Gilbert the term expression "more accurately describes the
total content of sound, including volume and tone color, in which one's vibrato becomes
part of the sound, not something one does to the sound."
You know, there's this thing about the French where Geoffrey Gilbert said in talking to
French flute players of the time, they never once spoke about vibrato. Never. And I
mean when I had lessons with Moyse and with Caratgé too, vibrato was never
spoken about. Occasionally the thing mentioned was expression.
However, the fine line between these two terms may become confusing. Therefore, for the
purpose of this paper, the terms expression and vibrato will be interchangeable. Flutists
generally agree that vibrato includes both diaphragmatic (intercostal muscles) and throat
action, although different flutists may use more or less of either. Producing pulsations in the
air stream with these muscles causes regular fluctuations of pitch. Pulsations vary in speed
and depth, according to the needs of the music.
French vibrato, says Peter Lloyd, is more of a shimmer --a presence--rather than
something layered on top of one's sound. French flutists identify the term "vibrato" with an
exaggeerated "wah-wah" that calls attention to itself as a separate component and is not
incorporated into the flutist's overall sound.
Marcel Moyse was especially adamant about "vibrato" as opposed to "expression." A

flute seminar student of his was once asked to play a melody without vibrato. But
when they played with a straight tone, Moyse exploded, "No! You are stupid! I said
wizout vibrato--not wizout expression!"
Peter Lloyd explains the difference:
Moyse said to me at a lesson, "Never use vibrato except for musical reasons. But
never play dead." And I think that "never play dead" thing is in our language now,
slightly different than his language in those days.
Having understood what that means, it means that when you use vibrato, it is a
positive, thought-out reasoning. You use it because you think it. If you're just
shimmering to keep color alive, then it's very, very light. So light that you hardly
notice it. And I don't think that that is the same thing at all. It's not the same as
vibrato. Vibrato is something that you consciously add. I think that's quite important. I
think the worst thing we can do, as so many players do, is [to have] a continual
wobble. It doesn't matter what on earth sort of music they're playing. It starts at 7:30
1 de 10 09/08/2007 11:37
at the beginning of their concert and it ends at 9:30 when they've finished their last
piece. And nothing happens in between. And that has nothing to do with music.
Whatever it was called, expression was exported from France, as more flute players
studied with flutists at the Paris Conservatory of Music or with French flutists such as
Marcel Moyse and Caratgé. English and German flutists resisted using vibrato the
longest. Peter Lloyd believes that this had something to do with long-standing feuds
among European countries.
I don't know why Germany didn't. They left it [vibrato] out for a long time....I think they
were aware of it. It's my own sort of curious twisted mind that tells me that...there
were [big wars] between... France and Germany. Maybe there was such an aversion
...to anything French in Germany that they...would not accept [it].
Curiously, it seems that vibrato followed the silver flute. Countries slow in adopting
vibrato also tended to be slow in adopting the silver flute, keeping to the wooden
flutes instead.
The vibrato system as we know it didn't start until 1920 or so when Moyse was in the
Opera. It really came out of that. Before that, it was a much shallower
shimmer....Now, I think that the important thing to remember is that styles change. It's
like singers...you listen to singers of the 1920s and 1930s and it's...very hard for us to
listen to it. Almost like hearing the old violinists who used slides, you know, and
they're sliding all over the place in Bach and Beethoven--and of course it's not very
acceptable now.
I think we have to be very careful to remember that styles change. Nannygoat vibrato
as such was accepted and was part and parcel of the way wind players, or rather
flute players, played. But most winds at the time were totally vibrato-less--even the
oboes. And so I think it wasn't really until Moyse started to say, "Look--why don't we
play like singers?" The besst often had expression and were using their vibrato for
expression.....I keep the [tone] alive by working from the dead end, not by reducing
vibrato. I take it from playing dead and just moving up very slightly, because I believe
that so much sostenuto playing gets ruined by vibrato....If you play a lovely [Bach]
with no vibrato it's more beautiful than hearing this wretched thing wobbling up.
Your generation and the generation you're teaching needs to be much more aware of
what the possibilities of vibrato are. And again, to [paraphrase] Geoffrey Gilbert, he's
saying it's the next generation that need to think about the way you use vibrato. I
think of that as a very, very important point. Sometimes we don't want to get an
intense sound going all the time--it's very boring. And unless we really [find] the
possibilities, color possibilities, vibrato possibilities, expression posssibilities, we're
going to go on producing recitals as they've been done for so long. And I think that is
boring.
TOP Main Index

Production of Vibrato/Expression
Peter Lloyd points out that vibrato, incorporated as part of the tone, warms the sound and is
not obtrusive, whereas vibrato that is extraneous to the sound calls attention to itself as a
separate entity and interrupts the flow of sound. As Marcel Moyse put it, "If you notice the
vibrato when someone is playing, then it is too much. Too much vibrato and I think the flute
is drunk."
You need to know your flute because sometimes it's terribly easy to vibrate outside
the sound. You've got a column of air, a column of sound, and [when] we always
vibrate just inside we're warming up the color. But if it's outside [the sound], it's
"wah-wah-wah." And the only way you can control that is by making sure your
airstream is absolutely free.
2 de 10 09/08/2007 11:37
Producing vibrato that is flexible and acting within the flute tone depends upon a free
supply of air.
We need to have that long line of free air. Get the speed. Then you have something
to hold onto, to control. If you have tension up there [throat], you can't do it. Then
[you'll] either...have the one speed you've learned, because that's your natural speed,
or else it's going to be impossible to control at different speeds.
I'm absolutely certain that vibrato depends on the freedom of your breathing. People
who have trouble with vibrato in my recent experience, have all had problems with
the freedom of their playing....Now, if we can get back to thinking that when you
breathe and blow, it's as simple as that. You've got something to hold onto, to
grip...when you have an air speed that's natural and free, you can gain control.
We've talked about vibrato....you cannot control vibrato, or color, or anything

else--unless that airstream is free. You can actually demonstrate that quite easily by
lifting your shoulders. Play with your shhoulders high. You see....there's no
projection. No freedom. You also can't control what you're trying to do with the
vibrato. Now, drop your jaw, relax everything, and you suddenly find that things just
start to flow. Sound goes down the stairs and out in the street and you can do what
you like with your vibrato, which is better.
For out-of-control vibrato, Peter Lloyd agrees with Geoffrey Gilbert that the flutist must start
from the point of no vibrato and gradually add on, rather than trying to slow down a fast
vibrato. Most vibrato woes, he has said, come from tightness in the throat area.
Where is your vibrato?...It's catching there [indicates throat]. If it does, it's going to
affect the sound. Play from there without any vibrato at all and just see what
happens. This vibrato thing is a struggle sometimes. We struggle to make more
sound and it doesn't work. If you find that you're not making enough sound and
you're working hard, cut out the vibrato and let the sound go, then see what happens.
And then having settled on a non-vibrato sound which sounds good, try to vibrate
fractionally on dead sound. Don't try ever to reduce the amount of vibrato you've got.
As far as vibrato depth, vibrato that sounds "pointed" instead of flowing is also indicative of
tension and a less-than-free-flowing air stream. Lloyd's remedy is as follows:
Sing. You open up and the air is free. The only reason it's getting spikey is because
the air is getting chopped up. Open this up in here. I promise you it'll work. Or make
them yawn.
When vibrato is studied metronomically, a flutist may find it hard to break the habit of
playing "beats" instead of allowing the vibrato to flow at its own pace. Peter Lloyd brings up
the example of Dufresne, French flutist in the Orchestra National, who said "always vibrate
across the beat."
What he said was that when he was young, he heard so much vibrato going on, but it was
always...rhythmic with the music and he said, "I didn't like that." So he said he started
learning to vibrate always across the beat--like five over two, or seven over three.
Something like that. So...you just never let your breath know what your fingers aare doing.
What he was trying to do was to get that vibrato--well, he didn't call it vibrato--the general
expression, moving in the sound at a tempo that never fit the music that he was playing.
And then outside of that, we know that [one] varies the depth of vibrato to suit the musical
line as well. In other words, he was moving the sound within a dead sound to keep the
sound alive. And it wasn't necessarily strictly in the tempo in which he was playing.
Geoffrey Gilbert had a way of showing pupils what vibrato "against the beat" would sound
and feel like.
Geoffrey Gilbert used to do a marvelous demonstration where he would finger [the
3 de 10 09/08/2007 11:37
flute] for you [while you blew a note]. You'd just play a note, with the result that you
didn't know what he was doing. And so you suddenly find this lovely line of sound all
beautifully even, whether the intervals are up and down or whatever...they would just
come out perfectly, simply because your air stream did not know what your fingers
were doing. And I think that makes a lot of sense.
As pedagogical aids, Peter Lloyd has several recommendations:
Moyse produces all the best things. Moyse's 24 Little Melodic Studies book can be
used for really little kids. It's the most amazing book. You can make it as easy or as
difficult as you need. On the other hand, why don't you invent your own melodies for
children, using the tunes that they like and they know? Any tunes that you have. Just
help them enjoy what they're doing.
TOP Main Index

Vibrato Variation
Variation in the speed and depth of vibrato widens the expressive choices available to
flutists. There are few habits as distracting as a vibrato that never changes during a
performance. Variation in vibrato can help shape a phrase, set a mood, intensify a
dynamic, make a single note stand out among many, and help distinguish works of different
eras and nations from one another. As James Galway put it, "Some people think vibrato
should have a regular speed. Others clearly demonstrate that it should not." Just as life
changes, musical moods change, and variation of vibrato is a large part of that expressive
capability.
Although a flutist may have a natural vibrato, variation of speed and depth must still be
learned.
I remember Geoffrey Gilbert saying everybody has a natural vibrato. Very few people have
a natural vibrato that's either at the right speed or is flexible. And so it's his contention that
most people have to go back to the drawing board and start from playing absolutely straight
and then playing with a metronomic system....and then when you get really good at being
able to control those, okay, then start doing three over two or five over two--in other words
try to break it up a bit.
Vibrato variation is especially helpful in shaping phrases. Generally, a phrase starts with
less vibrato which then builds in intensity to the phrase's climax, relaxing afterwards to the
end of the phrase.
I think in a simplified way, we need to think [about] the tops of phrases. If you build a
phrase from there to there, then you can work up...the intensity of the vibrato as you reach
the top.
If a phrase is going to rise, [you] can't start it with a lot of vibrato--a lot of depth of vibrato, or
even speed--because it takes away from the intensity of the top of the line. We've got to
worrk towards something. You can't only work toward the top of a phrase with dynamic, of
getting louder. It's boring always to do the same.
Vibrato, used carelessly, can also destroy the shape of a phrase. As Peter Lloyd pointed
out in a masterclass:
Can you be careful of your vibrato technique? You have vibrato on the first note and
the last note, which I don't quite understand the logic for....because that changes the
shape of the phrase, you see.
Be very careful that it [vibrato] doesn't keep [being] insistent when you get to the ends
of phrases. The beginnings of phrases, you can build up, maybe start a little bit
gentle, a little bit more at the top of the line and then for heaven's sake lose it at the
end of the phrase. Otherwise it's going to go wobble-wobble. 257
4 de 10 09/08/2007 11:37
One area of difficulty for flutists is the low register.
Don't forget that the lower the notes, the deeper the vibrato sounds, because the
harmonics are further apart in the sound. So as you go higher, vibrato then becomes
narrower, shallower. So when we go lower, we've got to deliberately make the vibrato
more shallow. We have to watch that.258
Vibrato variation, for whatever purpose, depends on air speed and freedom of the air flow.
The most important thing to remember is the freedom in the air speed. Because if the
air supply is not totally free, not totally relaxed in your body and your shoulders,
there's no way you can control the vibrato. If you can imagine you've got a lump of
stone in the back of your throat, and you're trying to get your poor stream of air
around it, it'll be virtually impossible to control it as it comes out. Being free really
means keeping the shoulders dropped, filling yourself--learning to breathe properly all
your life, and not just when you pick up the flute. I think this is probably the crucial
point. In our [master] classes, I see them [performers] breathing much better when
they pick up the flute...but then they stop playing and have a chat together, and you
can see their shoulders moving again and the whole business becomes wrong again.
We have to learn how to fill properly and breathe properly all our lives.259
An interesting point here about the vibrato thing--when you use that vowel sound
[EU] in your mouth and get the air stream going fast, you can control the depth of the
vibrato much better. It starts to work. You can get it shallow. If you can imagine the
singing energy...imagine that...you're singing with French vowel sounds...it's very
easy to get.260
Do listen to a Frenchman talking, because an American or an Englishman trying to

speak French--unless they've actually lived in the country--is not going to be any help
whatsover. And I really emphasize this.261
Now you try to get that [vibrato] with one of our Anglo Saxon deep throat sounds,
[and] it doesn't work so easily. It's much harder to control. 262
Vibrato control is air speed--and freedom. There you are. That's all. Easy, isn't it? A
lot of us poor people who have problems with slow vibratos, all you've got to do is
control the air speed and the color of the sound. It's not quite as easy as that, but that
really is the fundamental.263
I think [if] you...have a problem with only one vibrato speed, go to various rhythms,
play them over, get your metronome going [and] change the speeds--even if you do
them on the beats....And I'm absolutely certain that it's completely dependent on how
freely you're breathing. If you're really free, then you've got proper air speed. And it's
air speed that gives you something to hold onto, and then you can do things with it. If
[the air] is coming out slow, you're having to work hard [and] you can't do a thing.264
The one vibrato "gimmick" that Peter Lloyd cautions flutists about is a technique commonly
used in jazz called "sweetening." In that technique, a flutist starts with no vibrato and
gradually adds it. This technique can be quite effective if used sparingly, he says, but too
often flutists overuse it.
We're doing this technique where you frequently start with a lack of vibrato and bring
it in [later] for an emotional effect. Now, that's a wonderful gimmick from time to time.
If you use it musically, it'll work. If you use it as a gimmick, don't. The audience knows
it's coming up....It's so easy to go along and not listen to what you're doing [with]
expression. It's too easy.265
Never let your air stream know what your fingers are doing. 266
5 de 10 09/08/2007 11:37
TOP Main Index

Vibrato and Musical Mood
Vibrato can have as important a role in setting the mood of a particular work as tone color.
By varying vibrato depth and speed, the flutist obtains much more variety in the range of
moods and can change moods rapidly by using both tone color and vibrato variation.
Peter Lloyd is aware of the mood to be conveyed and its attendant vibrato; often he tells a
flutist that the best vibrato for a passage is almost none.
The ideal vibrato for this opening is hardly anything [Ibert Concerto, second
movement]. You see, the wider your vibrato, the more it's going to interfere with the
pianissimo line. So really, a pianissimo line needs to be virtually non-vibrato, or else a
French kind of shimmer.267
In [the Ibert] we should be making a proper sound based on French vowel sounds
anyway, which will give us the French kind of shimmer naturally. 268
In other places, a phrase needs more.
Okay, can you give us more?...it says agitato, doesn't it--an agitated feeling? So give
us a faster vibrato. Give us a feeling of agitation in the pianissimo....A bit more
scary.269
He encourages flutists to put everything into their sound and not try to lead the audience by
body movement.
Remember, when we play, imagine they're [the audience] all blind. And then you
have to give your musicality, your expression in the piece, purely in what you do.270
Many times inexperienced flutists are guilty of inappropriate vibrato for the mood of a work.
Generally, the vibrato is too fast and deep--too exciting--for a work. An example would be a
transcription of Saint-Saëns's "The Swan" from Carnival of the Animals. A fast, deep
vibrato--or even a fast shallow vibrato--would make a ludicrous juxtaposition of mood. Yet,
flutists continue to ignore the power of vibrato variation in regard to mood.
TOP Main Index

Vibrato and Dynamics
Mood, dynamic, tone color, and vibrato all combine to make music interesting and alive.
Vibrato and dynamics are especially tied together, because a deeper vibrato in a softer
sound may have the unfortunate characteristic of cutting into the tone, producing
"nannygoat" or "pointy" vibrato that calls attention to itself and diverts attention from the
music. Conversely, a shallow vibrato in a fortissimo passage may be lost in the tone and
inaudible. Therefore, except for some special effects, vibrato speed/depth follows dynamic
lines.
Peter Lloyd maintains that vibrato can have the effect of intensifying sound so that it
appears louder--without actually changing one's dynamic. In a masterclass, he encouraged
a player dealing with a hairpin dynamic [a crescendo immediately followed by a
decrescendo] to "crescendo with the vibrato; it's easier."271
Vibrato on a single note will call attention to that note, which is very useful in passages
where the flute has a line which includes both melody and accompaniment. This type of
"vibrato shine" is also often encouraged by Peter Lloyd [and Geoffrey Gilbert] in
appoggiaturas. Having vibrato on the appoggiatura note and taking it off the resolution
neatly solves the problem of emphasizing an appoggiatura without making a dynamic
"bump."
6 de 10 09/08/2007 11:37
Lloyd also encourages changing vibrato depth with changes in tessitura. In this case, a
change in the actual depth will cause the listener not to notice a difference in tessitura.
If you're in the low register, because the harmonics are so much further apart, and
you vibrate the same as you do in the top, you're going to have a whacking great
motion of vibrato. You've got to, in the low [register] hardly move....Keep it very
shallow in the low and then wider in the top and you'll find it'll come out about the
same.272
Even with that advice, Lloyd warns the flutist not to do everything by rote.
"Remember when you get louder you don't have to vibrate wider....It doesn't have to
be like that, when it is not desirable."273
Peter Lloyd maintains that vibrato can change not only dynamic perceptions, but pitch
perceptions.
If you're playing piano and you've got a bad high note, and it's really exposed and it's
sounding a little flat and you're feeling uncomfortable--don't cut out vibrato.274
TOP Main Index

Vibrato and National/Historical Styles
There are two areas of style that Peter Lloyd raises when talking about vibrato variation [as
well as color]: national styles and styles of different historical eras.
In speaking of eras, he said:
I am making a big thing of this now, because when we get to orchestral playing
again, there's a similarity in playing orchestral music to playing sonatas and things.
When style comes in, you're not going to play Brahms with a whacking great fat
vibrato. It's not right....I think you've got to remember that when Brahms wrote that
piece, vibrato was still thirty years away in the way that we think of it now. And it
didn't really come in properly until the early 1920s ....I do think we have to think very
carefully about the style of pieces we're playing. Any of you use Flute Talk? There
was an article in there about the principal [flutist] in St. Louis. And he...believed that a
little research, a little understanding of history was a good thing when you're trying to
interpret different styles of music. Now I haven't seen that in print often, and I think it's
fantastic. I absolutely go along with it.275
If you know a little bit about classical style, then when you play a Mozart symphony,
just look back on that. Okay, I'm not suggesting that you don't use vibrato....However,
I do think that we have to think a little bit about cutting out this wobble that happens
with some people. It may be a fast wobble and it may be a slow wobble. But...we've
got to learn the different speeds and the different depths according to the style of
music we're playing. We're not going to play Mozart with the same sort of vibrato
you're going to play [with on] Daphnis, or Brahms. 276
I think we have to be very careful to remember that styles change. 277
Although he does not advocate a complete absence of vibrato, Lloyd does advocate
minimizing vibrato in Baroque and Classical works.
Peter Lloyd feels that the tone color and vibrato style of a country's flutists is determined to
some extent by their language.
Everybody has a natural vibrato speed. It usually is connected with your language. If
your language is such that you use a great many deep vowels, as we do in
England--Germans too--you tend to find that their natural vibrato is on the slow
side.278
7 de 10 09/08/2007 11:37
Have any of you tried singing French vowel sounds?... It's very easy to be very
shallow and very fast in the vibrato. If you try to go fast and you've got a great big old
Anglo-Saxon "AWWWW," it won't work....Now something in French music should be
very "EU" and high. And the other thing is to keep the air speed free and fast.279
One of his biggest complaints is attending recitals in which all the pieces--no matter the era
or country--sound stylistically alike.
I think that is very sad--a sad reflection on the way most people produce sound. You
go to a flute recital by so-and-so and start on a Bach piece and finish with a Taffanel
piece, and it still sounds exactly the same. "Flute recital by so-and-so--forget about
the music." I think it's about time we all thought a little bit more about that--tone colors
involved with French music, vibratos in French music or contemporary music. There's
so much that's different!280
I don't say you should play Baroque flute....On the other hand, I think it's totally wrong
to put a good hard, rasping sound on a Loeillet sonata or a Couperin. We shouldn't
do that. And we can go a long way toward taking the edge, taking that center out of
the sound to make colors that are much more appropriate. 281
We're not going to play Bach with the same vibrato technique as we're going to play
a French piece, which probably won't be the same as [a contemporary work].282 It's
quite probable that they were written with different ideas in mind. I mean, the French
are going to write differently than the Englishmen and all that. And so the way that
they understand color and style is through their own language. And if you think of
that, you'll find that the sounds you produce through different vowel sounds of
different languages will come out differently in the way you play, and I think that this
is a very important thing to think of.283
French music should be played with less actual dynamic, but with great intensity.
Forte in French doesn't necessarily mean a great enormous American-English sort of

sound. When French players play forte, there's an intensity which comes through
vibrato technique as much as anything.284
Peter Lloyd said that Geoffrey Gilbert told him that it was hard to play the French way in an
English orchestra, and he had to revise his sound to match the large sound of the English
winds.285
Speaking of a Gaubert sonata during a masterclass, Lloyd said:
Even when he says fortissimo, we have to think of it as an energy. It's a vibrato

energy. Not a huge sound. Even now...listening to the French flute players that I've
heard, they don't make a huge sound. They make an intensity. And in my lessons
with both Rampal and Caratgé, it was always, "Not so loud, not so loud. Don't play so
loud!" And then they would want the energy in the vibrato and coloring. And I really
think that's totally different from what we do in other pieces, like a German piece or
an American piece, where the color is different. 286
The following quotes are excerpts from a June 17, 1994, Masterclass in which Peter Lloyd
addressed the question of styles. Although there is reference to national styles, he is
speaking mainly of era styles. Since Baroque and Classical style will be addressed later,
comments in this chapter will be brief.
You look around the Baroque and what do you see and find? Different flutes and
different styles in different cities all over Europe for the simple reason that they didn't
have airplanes. [So] of course things were bound to be different from Mannheim to
Copenhagen.
8 de 10 09/08/2007 11:37
If you can find your way into a Bach sonata, it is very much more obvious...if you try
to feel these little subtleties of color. This is the big point that I think is hard, that we
haven't got the type of color and the type of articulation on the modern flute that they
had....They used different articulation letters of syllables in Paris than they did in
Germany because of the language, which we've spoken about before in articulation
in the twentieth century. And it was the same thing....How far do we go into Baroque
style?
Do we go as far as thinking about vibrato for example? If you're playing on a metal

flute, it's very hard to keep an interesting color with no vibrato. You have to be very
certain of what you're doing in order to make it sound decent, but it is possible.
My whole attitude toward Baroque playing underwent a fundamental change when I

heard Kiujken's Bach.... It's Baroque music, absolutely honest and straight-forward
and fabulous. And I heard it and said, "Wow, listen to this! We've got to do something
about this." [We don't] understand what all the bibliography papers...and dried bits of
paper with black bits on them...what they actually mean.
What I remember above all was his [Kiujken's] spontaneity. Listening to his recording
of the Bach Partita, I then listened to another one taken off the radio of a live
performance. This live performance was totally different in his phrasing of the first
movement. Sounded totally spontaneous. Now, he's a genius--there's no doubt about
that--he can play these things in a totally spontaneous way, because that's how it
should be. I think we need to make this spontaneous point, because it's very difficult
to make it sound good if you start marking into a part every little nuance and every
little bit that you want to make a point of. I think you can do a certain amount, but if
we go on putting everything in, we're going to play what's there and then it's going to
be boring again! You have to be free!287 There are so many rules that vary
according to composer, even in as small an area as Paris and Versailles, that really
what one has to learn is what one could not do. Working it from there--if you know
what you can't do, you can be fairly free. I'm thinking in terms of playing in the
twentieth century.
As we go towards Classical, the lines become longer, whereas of course in Baroque

they are much smaller, more fragmented....I think that's the main thing to think about
between Baroque and Classical, is the longer lines generally.
Now getting on into the Romantic...somebody played a couple of those Boehm

arrangements of Schubert lieder. Whoever it was started off with loads of vibrato on
it, and we cut all that out and started rethinking all the phrases without it, and it
sounded absolutely fabulous....Again, we have to refer back to the big sort of vibrato
era of Moyse....If you imagine playing all the Demerssemens and the variations
without vibrato, it's quite an interesting concept--and on old flutes, too....Now, what
I'm interested to know is whether it's a characteristic of the flute itself that makes the
possibility of playing flute without vibrato acceptable--whereas on our [metal] flute,
unless it's very, very carefully handled, it sounds disgusting. Taffanel and Dorus and
all those early Boehm people presumably had the style of keeping the sound alive
without a whacking great lump in it.
What it did above all was to show the pathos of the songs that had been written.
Whereas if you use vibrato, you're tending to let the sun come out. And an awful lot of
those Schubert lieder don't want sunshine coming out, do they? Look at the
variations on the old withered flower and comparing it to his withered love and all the
rest of it. If we start that introduction with a lot of vibrato, it's a load of rubbish isn't it?
If we listen to the accompaniment and listen to the chords in the accompaniment and
see how it works, and then think about what the song is all about, we wouldn't use
vibrato. We'd use dynamics that are so soft and so pathetic, that it might actually
sound right.288
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In conclusion, Peter Lloyd says:
I think that [thinking about historical styles] is so important. Not enough people do it. I
think it needs to be emphasized in every corner of the world, and on paper too.
People do not study [it]. Generally students are just too lazy to learn it out. But it is
important to understand. And I think nowadays, continuing from what Geoffrey
[Gilbert] said about understanding vibrato as the generations go by, I think above all
we have to think much more about style.289

263 Ibid.
265 Ibid.
268 Additional notes, February 1988.
276 Ibid.
279 Ibid.
281 Ibid.
283 Ibid.
285 Ibid.
288 Ibid.
10 de 10 09/08/2007 11:37
PETER LLOYD
PLAYING BAROQUE AND CLASSICAL MUSIC
ON
TWENTIETH-CENTURY FLUTES
Tone Color Dynamics
Baroque Articulation Conventions Baroque Tempi
Baroque Music and Phrasing Baroque Music and Vibrato
Re-editing Baroque Works Baroque/Classical Ornamentation
Writing Cadenzas in Baroque and Classical Era Works Closing
Although there is a wealth of Baroque and Classical era flute repertoire for flutists to
explore, flutists today are caught in a quandary. Most flutists do not wish to continue
playing seventeenth- and eighteenth-century music in a quasi-Romantic era style, as
was the case before the "authentic" movement was intitated by Arnold Dolmetsch at
the beginning of the twentieth century. But how authentically can Baroque and
Classical music be played on a modern instrument? What areas should be followed
strictly, and where may performers have some latitude? Most importantly, how can
twentieth-century performers play this music correctly without having it sound like a
museum piece instead of a musical work?
No less a personality than James Galway has felt the intimidating force of playing
Baroque and Classical music. As he puts it, "The temptation is to be correct to the
point of inflexibility." Although "in the case of Baroque music, you do have to get
inside that past world before you can make it actual to the present," he urges
performers not to present the music "as a scholarly thesis." He feels that the
overriding rule is to "carry its message to the audience whatever the musical
conventions of the century in which it was written."
Nancy Toff writes that the primary consideration is whether performers are
introducing "anachronisms" into their musical presentations. She points out that of
the five basic elements of music--rhythm, melody, harmony, dynamics, and tone
color--the first three remain the same on any instrument. The last two, plus
aarticulation, differences in phrasing, ornamentation, and cadenzas, are variable and
are of great concern to modern flutists. These points are addressed in this chapter.
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Tone Color
Obviously, tone color has changed from the days of the wooden, one-keyed flute;
metal flutes have a clearer, more strident tone. In the early twentieth century this was
cause for some dismay among flutists who felt that the new metal flutes sounded
harsh.
Peter Lloyd does not advocate trying to copy a Baroque wooden flute sound on a
twentieth-century metal instrument; however, he does feel that a change in tone
color is desirable.
We can't imitate the Baroque flute, so let's not try. On the other hand...we want
to soften the color enough [to] take away the aggression of what we can do on
the silver flute. On my own flute, I would take away a lot of the lower
1 de 12 09/08/2007 11:38
harmonics...and just play much softer.
Particularly for Baroque works, Lloyd asks flutists to avoid using all the force capable
on a modern instrument.
Generally, cut out strength of color....I don't want to hear your enormous big,
rich sound coming out of a Baroque sonata. Somehow--unless the pianist is
terribly loud--I don't think it's appropriate, because I think the whole beauty
now, for us, is that wwe can play these pieces very gently and very beautifully
[and] in a completely different level of dynamic control. And I think we can on
our flutes do [it] very well.
In performance, Peter Lloyd suggests putting a Baroque or Classical work beside a

work from another era, so that the differences in style and tone may be easily heard
by an audience.
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Dynamics
When playing Baroque/Classical music on a modern flute, Lloyd asks flutists to

narrow their dynamic range. When playing on a twentieth-century instrument, the
temptation is to use all the resources of a twentieth-century instrument. This, he
advises, should be avoided.
I know that there are feelings that when we play these pieces on this [modern]
flute that we need to play them according to what the flute does [but]...I think
we can actually control dynamics much better... and my feeling is that piano is
dolce and forte is rich, rather than loud and soft.
The point of using tone color changes rather than volume to differentiate dynamics in
Baroque and Classical era music is one that Peter Lloyd has made again and again.
The following quotes are from various masterclasses:
What are dynamic differences on the Baroque flute? You know the CPE Bach
Solo Sonata [Sonata in A Minor]? You've noticed that he's going along [at a
dynamic of] piano quite happily and all of a sudden he drops these great
fortes. Well, he can't possibly mean that. But you hear people on modern flutes
going "do, do, do, DAHHHH," and it just doesn't make any sense. And you
think well, what does this mean? I don't think piano and forte meant the same
thing. It didn't necessarily mean loud and soft. I think a lot of it meant gentle,
peaceful [and] maybe just that little bit broader. And that way it starts to make
just a little bit more sense.
In CPE Bach...when it's piano, it's often dolce. If it's forte, it's rich. They hadn't
the dynamic range....I think that's very important. If you look at practically all
CPE Bach you find funny little dynamic changes that just don't make sense. I
mean look at the Sonata in A Minor, super-piano for two notes and then
super-forte. All that means [is] an enrichment of the sound--a change of color.
The other example [besides] the CPE Bach is the G Major Concerto of Mozart.
You think in terms of the last movement where you've got forte and piano--the
fortes are only stresses. And I think that would make it sound right.
Forte is "warm, rich" sometimes and not just loud.
Think of "p" as "gentle" and "f" as "richer" when playing Baroque music on
modern flute.
2 de 12 09/08/2007 11:38
Note lengths can also help differentiate dynamics in music of these periods.
Although he cautions against making it a general rule, Lloyd suggests as an
aid in some problematic areas, "Play...longer notes in the fortes and then
shorten them in the lighter places."
Flutists should keep in mind that dynamics of the time were terraced, which is
perfectly possible on a modern flute. As a rule of thumb, Lloyd suggests that
dynamics rise and fall with phrases [or sequences].
There's a very easy way of [dealing with]...any Baroque composer that tends to
write in terraces. Go up with it. As your tessitura rises, crescendo. It's a very
nice thing to use if you've got a difficult piece to understand. It's a very easy
way to get some idea of where lines are going to go. Of course, it's a
generalization so there are of course exceptions.
In conclusion, he stresses, "Try to emphasize that the difference in dynamics

is mood, character, color, pathos, and all that as against the present day
dynamic change in volume.
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Baroque Articulation Conventions
In general, for Baroque and Classical works, Peter Lloyd recommends slightly
shorter note lengths than flutists tend to play on twentieth-century works. In many
classes he has advised flutists to "let some light in" between notes. "It's all very slow
and ponderous," he told one player. "You've got to let the light in!" After working with
another player, he said, "You see, it gives the piece more air and light....Let it have
space and light above all ....Think of it as more light in character [with] more
lightness in the articulation."
This does not mean that flutists should play with a choppy, "staccatissimo"
articulation. This would be just as inappropriate.
Baroque and Classical era texts tend to equate articulation on the flute with bowing
strokes on a violin.
In a comparison between the violin and the flute, it will be found that what the bow is
to the violin the wind is to the flute and what the arm, governing the bow, is to the
former--the tongue, governing the wind, is to the latter.
The tongue is the means by which we give animation to the execution of the notes
upon the flute. It is indispensable for musical articulation, and serves the same
purpose as the bow-stroke upon the violin.
Baroque and Classical musicians used a bewildering array of syllables, with an

equally bewildering number of rules, to represent the various styles of articulation.
Quantz lists extremely detailed instructions for use of the following syllables: ti, di, ri,
(and combinations of those three), did'll, and tid'll. Tromlitz lists thirteen rules,
followed by their exceptions. He cites the following articulation syllables: ta, da, ra,
hat (or at). Other syllables in Baroque era tonguings included "tootle" and one for
tonguing four notes, which was the British pronunciation of "territory." Peter Lloyd
stops short of incorporating these on modern flute.
I'm not suggesting that you use curious articulations because I don't think they work
on this flute very easily. But I do think we can do quite a lot with...lengths of
notes--they were generally a lot shorter--slow movements and such. There was
3 de 12 09/08/2007 11:38
much more life in them.
With [forward tonguing] articulation technique there are a multitude of different

positions on the lip that we can use to make different types of articulation.
Maybe...modern flute [players] can cope with quite a lot of problems that we have
[with Baroque articulations].
As far as slurring and tonguing notes, Baroque and Classical musicians left many
decisions to the performer. Musicians of today find this a worrisome task. What is the
"right" thing to do? So much is left unmarked in urtext editions, but overmarked in
modern editions. Lloyd encourages flutists to use common sense in marking their
own articulations and to "make use of the few original marks that are there." Using
the flute sonatas of J.S. Bach as an example, he explained:
What Bach did...was to put in a consistent slur and expect you to be consistent
later on. If he put a slur on a phrase and did it [that phrase] again later on, he
expected you to do it [the same articulation]. It was natural. If there are
[written] slurs, use them as suggestions....
Peter Lloyd cautioned that the above statement is a generalization, and not always
the case.
It's [only] a suggestion. Difference, between one phrase and another even if
the phrases are exactly the same, will sometimes emphasize a point on the
repeated phrase--especially if the phrase is repeated in a different key. Think
of improvising as you go along. Try to be aware of what thee accompaniment's
doing and see where the modulation is going.
For guidance in marking one's own Baroque articu-lations, Lloyd suggests listening
to present-day musicians who perform on one-keyed Baroque style flutes,
particularly Barthold Kuijken. By listening to Baroque music specialists, modern
flutists can get hints and ideas of their own. Although readings are encouraged,
when it comes to actual playing, he says, "It's very difficult to read a treatise on
something and understand how to perform it."
When slur markings are added, Lloyd advises highlighting them, to bring out the
smaller shapes of articulations within the larger phrases. For instance, during a
series of paired slurs, he encouraged a flutist:
When you see phrases like this, on the [slurred] pairs, lose the second notes
more, so they don't slur into one another.
And again,
The pairs of notes--I think you should make a little more of it. Lose the second
of the two notes, so you don't get [sings a more connected verrsion]. Then
when you get your [slurred] threes, there'll be a difference....I think these little
things really are important, and I think that we can do it with this [modern] flute.
It's hard on the flute to clear the ends of slurs ....The trouble with the flute is
that it tends to go all over the slur unless we cut [i.e., shorten] the end of the
[last] note [of the slur].
Peter Lloyd cites the second movement of Mozart's Concerto in G Major as an

especially good example of small phrases adding up into a larger whole.
One articulation flutists should avoid in Baroque-era music that is more acceptable in
4 de 12 09/08/2007 11:38
Classical-era music is a grouping of four where the first two notes are slurred and the
second two are tongued. Often cited but rarely explained, Lloyd speculates that the
rarity of this articulation had to do with the violins of the day.
They very rarely used [sings slur two/tongue two] in those days. You'll find very
few examples in the literature of that phrasing at all. One of the reasons [was]
because for violin in those days, the bridge was much lower, and so the strings
were therefore that much closer. Not only that, but the bow was much floppier
which also made things more difficult. And gut strings were not so hard. [So] it
was much harder for them to play [this articulation]. It was much easier for
them to play three slurred, one tongued or one tongued, three slurred or
groups of slurs in twos. 512
Modern flutists using facsimiles must be careful that markings are not
misunderstood. For instance, notes with vertical dashes over them may be
interpreted as marcato. However, as Lloyd explains, these markings were
meant to be staccato. "Originally they had vertical dashes, which are
equivalent to dots, so it's half the note value."513
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Baroque Tempi
Although Peter Lloyd cautions flutists not to become too worried about exact
historical tempi, he urges some attention to relative tempi between movements in a
work, citing Hans Peter Schmitt's Bahrenreiter edition of J.S. Bach's Partita in A
Minor:
Look, it's very important to remember...that they say "with the accepted
tradition" that one bar of Courante equals 1/2 a bar of Allemande... If that is
right, your Courante should have been quicker or your Allemande slower.514
Peter Lloyd finds that modern flutists tend to take the slow movements of Baroque
works too slowly in general.
It seems to me that the slow movement needs to move....I won't expound upon
how I believe these pieces should be played, but certainly the slow
movements need to move onwards slightly.515
Have a look at the Handel Sonata in E Minor. It [should] always dance. And we
never hear it dance.516
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Baroque Music and Phrasing
Dynamics and articulation are not isolated issues in the performance of Baroque
music on modern flute, but are related to bringing out phrasing. Peter Lloyd believes
that the shapes of Baroque and Classical era phrases are muddled by
over-Romanticizing these works--shaping phrases into long lines more suitable to
later works. He feels that shaping smaller phrases within longer ones is more
appropriate to the intimate nature of these works, many of which were written for
private patrons' concerts or chapels. Emphasizing articulation markings and using
dynamic terracing highlight smaller phrases, which in turn shape larger areas.
Try to think in terms of a long phrase that's built up of small units. You're not
destroying the phrase. Make use of the small units to build the phrase. It's
5 de 12 09/08/2007 11:38
different. And then the difference in Classical music is [that] the phrase units
are longer--not so small.517
During a masterclass, he explained:
I think you can be a lot freer....I think your peak [phrase climax] was absolutely
right. But I think there are other little peaks. You see, I'm not going to tell you
how to play this because I think there's 120 different ways of playing this. [But]
I think it's important that you should get an idea of how freely you can play
this.518
Another component of phrasing is meter. Peter Lloyd feels that performers of those
days had much more freedom than modern performers usually take. Rather than
playing along metronomically, he feels that soloists may (taking into consideration
differences in national styles) use occasional luftpauses to let listeners (as well as
the performer) take a breath. This is especially true at half and authentic cadence
points. Lloyd urges performers to realize that there is time within phrasing; taking this
time is a major component of shaping a phrase.
It's like playing a slow movement of a Bach sonata [when] we hear these long,
long lines that never seem to stop. It shouldn't be. The phrase should be a
long phrase, but the pieces of it should be broken up more. And it's the same
with all these pieces. Light is so important. Silences in music are probably
more important than noise.519
I think we should make mention of French style ...Blavet is somebody I think

we need to watch very carefully, because he is the only person we know of
who actually put in his own phrasing marks where you can take breaths. You
[may] take so much time...that it's almost as though you're becoming totally
spontaneous. When the idea's over, it's like [dance] steps [being over]. I think
in order to interpret the Blavet sonatas in the way he's implied, we need to take
dancing lessons in French Baroque technique. It would give us a chance to
understand why some of these very curious colors were put in there. He's--to
my knowledge--the only person who did that. If we use that as an example and
manage to play the Blavet sonatas as he's written, using those colors and
doing them properly--you'll find some editions where they've been totally left
out because obviously the editors don't understand--if we could do that, maybe
that would influence the way we play Couperin, Rameau, and any of the
others.520
I think one of the things that we must remember in music, the most effective
parts of music are the silences.521
Again, playing smaller phrase units has much to do with articulation, especially the
idea of letting light between notes and between groups of slurs. This is not to say
that a performer should play in a jerky, stop-and-start fashion. A luftpause may be
taken without interrupting the overall line.
One way that Lloyd has found to keep Baroque music moving even when using
shorter phrases and periods of silences is to count in longer note divisions,
especially in slow movements that use subdivision. If the performer would normally
count eight beats to a bar, Lloyd advocates counting four--or even two. In that way
musical lines seem to move forward, avoiding the stodginess often heard in even the
most correct performances.522
6 de 12 09/08/2007 11:38
Peter Lloyd feels that most modern-flute performers do not give the placements of
bar lines proper respect in Baroque era music. Bar lines were a relatively recent
addition to music by the Baroque era, and he feels that much attention was paid to
where the strong and weak beats were placed. By using longer Romantic era
phrasings in these works, modern performers blur the intentions of the composer
and lose some of the flavor of a work. A case in point is the J.S. Bach "Badinerie"
movement of his Suite in B Minor, where the entire movement seems to be two
beats off-center.
I feel that you must use the first notes [of the Badinerie] as a pickup. So often
you hear performances where the bar line's turned around and the shape of
the tune really changes. But it isn't [sings tune with strong beats on second
beat]. It's [sings tune with strong beats on first beat]. I think that's a much
lighter, more elegant line. I think bar lines here are far more important than
they are in other styles.523
With another Baroque work, Lloyd advised:
Bar lines, I think are important....If you start doing too much accent on the
second beat, we've already upset the intent....Feel the lines, go toward the bar
lines. You may think that it's going to sound all chopped up. It doesn't,
because the line is right through it...let light into it. 524
In shaping smaller phrase units, dissonances--especially appoggiaturas--also

deserve more attention than they are usually afforded by modern players. Peter
Lloyd cautions that this is not a dynamic consideration. The word appoggiatura
means to lean, not to attack. It is more a question of length.
Try to have slightly longer appoggiaturas. Appoggiaturas are more important

than what follows ...the appoggiatura is always the important note.525
Lloyd adds a caveat to this statement, saying that the appoggiatura length may vary
according to the mood and tempo of each work.
We must remember the length of the appoggiatura is not determined by the

piece. It can be a long one, a short one, or a mixed up sort of thing. Length is
very much determined by the mood.526
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Baroque Music and Vibrato
It is a mistake to believe that vibrato was unknown to Baroque and Classical

flutists. It was a special effect known as "flattement," used to embellish long
notes and produced by waving up and down the fingers not covering a tone
hole.527
Vibrato produced by fluctuations in air speed was also known, but was
frowned upon.
I remind you once again that on the flute the flattement may not be made with
the chest because if it is, one can very easily get into the habit of wobbling,
which results in a miserable execution....I also remind you again to use this
ornament only seldom, so that it will not fail to have its good effect, whereas on
the contrary it will certainly arouse disgust if it appears too often.528
Peter Lloyd does not forbid the use of vibrato in Baroque and Classical works, but he
7 de 12 09/08/2007 11:38
does feel that it should be minimized, because even on a modern flute the performer
is working with a smaller dynamic palette. As he advised during a masterclass, "Lose
the tension in the vibrato. Be much more relaxed. I don't say don't use any at all, but
keep it down as more of a color in the sound."529
Above all, flutists should avoid any vibrato that calls attention to itself. Nancy Toff
decries "wide, Brahmsian, orchestral-style vibrato" as an obvious anachronism when
playing music of the Baroque and Classical eras. 530
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Re-editing Baroque Works
There are many editions of Baroque works in which editors have added articulations
and dynamic markings. Because scholarship of Baroque and Classical era music
has grown in the last thirty years and so much information is currently available to
players, Peter Lloyd suggests that flutists start from a "clean" copy of a work and add
their own markings.
This does not mean that players should over-edit their own copies. Lloyd suggests
putting in as few marks as possible.
Adding your own markings, again, limits your own possibilities towards any
potential spontaneity. I very rarely put markings in unless I have to, because I
do want to be able to do something else. You suddenly see your markings
there and you're stuck with it, and you're almost limiting yourself by the marks.
I think for one's students, maybe a certain amount of marking is a good idea. I
know [though] that some people mark everything.531
Especially when confronting an edition published from 1950 or before, Lloyd says:
Since they did these editions, all this [additional] information has been made
available to us. And we do have to go a little beyond what they used to do....I
think it is important nowadays for those of you who have got these old editions
that are heavily marked up, edited, [even] by very great flute players of their
day, do think twice about it. Look at contemporary editions....These were
wonderful editions a while ago, but now it's different.532
If anyone has seen Kiujken's Bach sonatas--okay, they're terribly

expensive--but they're absolutely brilliant. [It's got] notes on performance
practice, history, comments on possible right notes and wrong
notes--everything you could possibly imagine has been included.533
During one class, with an especially onerous edition, Lloyd burst out:
Now, the...thing that I take issue with [in] this wretched edition, is that dear Mr.
[name withheld], whenever he organized this...some of the slurring is so
awkward and so counter to the style that it's just plain crazy! 534
In the case of an over-edited work, Lloyd explained his solution.
What I did do was to take this piece and paint out all the dynamics and every
slur with white ink...[then] getting a [xerox] copy and starting all over again.
That works very well.535
Players who do not want to mark their original copies permanently may first
8 de 12 09/08/2007 11:38
make a xerox of a page, then take out all the articulation and dynamic
markings and make one or more "clean" copies on which to put new markings.
Peter Lloyd uses urtext versions of Baroque and Classical works whenever possible.
However, this habit once backfired on him.
I remember a lesson I had with [Marcel] Moyse when all this was just
beginning to break forth, and I had the temerity to bring the [J.S. Bach] B-Minor
Sonata to him. He looked at my Bahrenreiter part and he said, "Where are the
marks?" He was very, very angry, and he proceeded to scrawl all over my
music. "Crescendo! Diminuendo! Mezzo-Forte! Forte!" He was sort of
punishing them out at me--he was very angry.536
TOP Main Index

Baroque/Classical Ornamentation
Ornaments are more usually added to Baroque works, as composers of the Classical
era had begun to write in the ornaments of their choice rather than leaving
ornamentation up to the performer. Ornamentation was expected of performers,
rather as jazz players are expected to improvise a standard tune. It is especially
important that younger players realize they are not breaking a rule by adding
ornaments. Slow movements and repeated phrasings are particularly suited to
ornamentation.
Peter Lloyd's biggest concern about ornamentation is that it sound improvisatory.

Most flutists are so worried about playing "correct" ornaments that the works become
static museum pieces instead of living works of art.
The late Thomas Nyfenger captured the joy of ornamenting Baroque works when he
wrote:
What fun! So what of the fellows with the powdered wigs and the funny
instruments? Is there not jazz or its equivalent in every age? Perhaps
Telemann didn't saunter into the local pub and ask the boys to cut his new
chart, but the effect and sentiment may well have been the same. Squareness
and stodginess are products of dusty minds as is historical blindness and
blandness and undue reverence for any composer whose art has survived his
presence.537
Lloyd cautions players to mark their ornament suggestions lightly in pencil. When
returning to a work months or years later, performers may have changed their minds
completely. If they are able, he encourages performers to add ornaments
spontaneously. "Try not to write it all out. I think it should be more improvisatory."
During a masterclass, he encouraged a performer playing a Stamitz concerto this

way.
This isn't music to listen to sitting in rows. I think you ought to be wandering
around talking, occasionally listening. It sounds awfully sterile like this
somehow. I think you ought to feel the music has charm and enjoy yourself
more, and not [feel] that you're examining it with a microscope.
Enjoy it more. Just let yourself do things rather than thinking, "How should I do
this?"538
TOP Main Index
9 de 12 09/08/2007 11:38
Writing Cadenzas in Baroque and Classical Era Works
The history of cadenzas is not generally known among flutists.
At the end of a piece of music or a major section of music, early singers and
instrumentalists often added a fanciful, somewhat virtuosic flourish. This
embellishment was intended to surprise the audience, heighten the intensity of the
music, and probably also encourage an outburst of applause.
During the embellishment, the movement of the accompaniment stopped....
Because of their Italian origin and their location at major cadence points, all such
cadential embellishments have come to be called "cadenzas," the Italian word for
cadences.539
In many instances, flutists use pre-written cadenzas when playing a Baroque or

Classical-era concerto. Usually those cadenzas were not written by the composer,
and often they were written during the Romantic era or the twentieth century. They
vary widely in length from a few measures to cadenzas almost as long as the rest of
the movement; the style of the cadenzas may not match the styles of the works. In
Baroque and Classical times performers were expected to insert their own cadenza,
utilizing themes from the work being performed. The purpose was to give the
performers time to display their particular talents--whether pyrotechnics, color
variations, or emotive qualities.
The object of the cadenza is simply to surprise the listener unexpectedly once more
at the end of the piece, and to leave behind a special impression in his heart.540
Lloyd encourages present-day performers to write their own cadenzas. Most modern
flutists shudder at the thought of having to be a composer as well as a performer. He
informs flutists that their cadenzas need not be as long or as complicated as the
ones they see. In fact, he feels that most pre-written cadenzas are too long. In one
class he commented:
Mozart's orders--what was current in the day--was, two breaths for cadenzas.
No wind player was going to sustain any audience's interest for more than two
breaths!541
Performers similarly feel that they have to play very fast in the cadenza or it will not
be good.
We have this terrible feeling as flute players that it's boring, or it's getting
boring, so we sort of think, "I'd better get on with it." You must take your time.
Stretch it...be elegant. Wait for it. Don't rush. Giving it the timing, the space--it
sounds so beautiful. It's timing and placing, all the time. And don't forge the
silences.542
The problem of writing and playing cadenzas in Baroque and Classical era works
was important enough to come up as a topic for a question-and-answer session
during a 1995 masterclass. One performer asked about cadenza length.
The Mozart ones are supposed to be done in two breaths, but as the fashion
has gone on...they got so long and so remote from the key that it took a long
time to get back. But that [two breaths] was the original rule....There are no
existing cadenzas by anybody of those days that I know of. I haven't heard
any....On the other hand, having said that, Mozart wrote piano concerto
10 de 12 09/08/2007 11:38
cadenzas but he didn't write violin concerto cadenzas. So I don't know exactly
what issued from that. It's a rash assumption to say that wind players could do
it [write their own cadenzas] and the others couldn't!543
During the same session, another performer asked about editing existing cadenzas.
Are they sacred, or can performers use parts they like and omit the rest? His answer:
I don't see why not. Look at the Reinecke Flute and Harp [Mozart's Concerto
for Flute and Harp in C Major] cadenzas [i.e., Carl Reinecke's cadenzas
written for the third movement of the Mozart Concerto for Flute and Harp in C
Major]. We nearly always start at least halfway through--sometimes near the
end of it--because it gets too tortured.544
TOP Main Index

Closing
Peter Lloyd believes that players now have much more opportunity to bring Baroque
and Classical era works to life than before--even on a twentieth-century
instrument--because of the scholarship available to any performer and the number
and quality of recordings of works available on replicated period instruments.
I think it's an important thing to remember that we now have available so much
information on eighteenth-century technique. And I don't think it's fair to just
sort of brush it under the carpet and say, "Oh, well, the Baroque people will do
that, because they've got Baroque flutes." I think we [all] have to, now, learn a
little bit about phrasing, a little bit about the techniques of the time.545
I'd also like to say that about early Romantic--some of the pre-Boehm
instruments [used in the time of] early Beethoven, and Kuhlau. Maybe we have
to re-think a little bit about how they played.546

518 Masterclass notes, 6/95. Class 5.
527 Quantz, 165-6.
528 Tromlitz, 215.
530 Toff, 159.
535 Ibid.
11 de 12 09/08/2007 11:38
537 Thomas Nyfenger, Music and the Flute (Guilford, CT, Thomas Nyfenger, 1986), 107.
539 David Lasocki and Betty Bang Mather, The Classical Woodwind Cadenza, A
Workbook (New York, NY: McGinnis & Marx, 1978), 1.
540 Quantz, 180.
544 Ibid.
12 de 12 09/08/2007 11:38
PETER LLOYD
FACILITY
What This Term Incorporates Common Pitfalls That Hamper Facility
Minimal Movement of Hands and Embouchure Suggested Exercises
Group Exercises Used in Masterclasses Facility Routine Used in Manchester
Auxiliary Fingerings for Selected Difficult Passages Use of the Knuckle Key
"Oiling" the Pinkie
What This Term Incorporates
In this work, the term "facility" is often used in place of the more commonly used
"technique." Geoffrey Gilbert, Trevor Wye, and Peter Lloyd all make a distinction
between these two terms. Technique refers to every aspect of flute playing working
together in concert. Facility is the physical ability to move quickly--being facile. This
is not to say that they never used the term "technique" in reference to finger facility
when talking to an audience.
TOP Main Index

Common Pitfalls That Hamper Facility
Peter Lloyd believes that finger facility should be taught as early as possible.
If you can get young kids interested--to get their technique going before they're
fifteen--this sort of stuff is easier for them. It's possible to do it later, bbut it gets
harder and harder as time goes on.
I do think, particularly for you young ones, get at these noodles. Get at them as
hard as you can while you're still young. The ancient ones get at them three
times as hard!
Coordination problems occur when players are not paying attention to what their
fingers are doing. This is interpreted by listeners as sloppiness, even though the
correct notes are being played. This is especially true in slow passages, where
players may move their fingers in a slow, uncoordinated manner. "Look, when you
make movements with your fingers--don't let them be lazy. Make the finger
movement as fast as you can. Don't do it like centipede legs."
Geoffrey Gilbert taught the concept of "finger legato." This is the ability to play
"without any perceptible interruption between the notes" and is achieved by keeping
the fingers close to the keys at all times, avoiding "popping" or slapping down the
keys with excessive force, and keeping the fingers as relaxed as possible at all
times.
TOP Main Index

Minimal Movement of Hands and Embouchure
Obviously, the less movement expended by both fingers and embouchure, the faster
they can move. John Krell wrote of the concept he learned from Kincaid:
All technique begins with finger position, a position that permits the maximum
efficiency with the minimum of effort and movement. The effort can be
measured in ounces, and the movement in eighths of an inch.
1 de 7 09/08/2007 11:40
A more common obstacle to facility, especially in works that demand rapid alteration
among octaves, is a tendency to move the lips, jaw, and head more than is
necessary. Peter Lloyd feels that students are using extra body movements to
compensate for not using enough air speed.
Geoffrey Gilbert also addressed this problem. He taught that developing flexibility
and control was achieved by moving the embouchure as little as possible among
octaves, and, "simply stated, if one wants to change registers, then blow harder."
The following are samples of Peter Lloyd's comments in this regard:
You don't need to move so much....you don't need all that movement.
I think if you try to keep in the same spot here and don't do the big movements
and just let the air do it for you, this really does work better...than having a lot
of tension in the air and having to do a lot of movement here [at the jaw]....It
really is the secret honestly...to try to keep the air flowing and not do all this
business on the chin. It's not necessary.
TOP Main Index

Suggested Exercises
For facility practice, Lloyd suggests using the Marcel Moyse patterns in Etudes et
Exercises Technique , Trevor Wye's Machiavellian exercises from Practice Book for
the Flute, Volume 2 [Technique] , Daniel Woods's Studies for Facilitating the
Execution of the Upper Notes of the Flute , and Gunnar Johanssen's works
Exercises for Advanced Flute Technique , numbers 1 and 2. "These sorts of
noodles--you can make them up yourselves! But the more technique you get down
early [the better]. It makes such an incredible differrence."
Lloyd insists that technical exercises, such as scales, be worked gradually faster
after starting at a slow tempo.
Remember, that all these techniques need patience. Don't expect to get
results by next week. Just work them up month by month by month. You'll be
amazed how easily they'll come.
When playing exercises for facility, he asks flutists to resist the urge to use
alternate fingerings, which make passages easier.
When you're doing scales, exercises, and all that, use the correct fingerings
because the point of the whole thing is to make it difficult, for flexibility.
Although memorization of solo literature is left largely up to the performer,

Lloyd does advocate memorizing technical facility exercises.
How quickly can you memorize these? Seriously, those of you who can
memorize very easily, just get them in your head as quickly as possible so you
can concentrate on what you're doing, rather than what your eyes are seeing.
TOP Main Index

Group Exercises Used in Masterclasses
The following is the routine of group exercises used by Peter Lloyd in his
Masterclasses. Each morning the group played the same general routine, but started
on a different note. As an example, the following begin on C.
2 de 7 09/08/2007 11:40
* C-major scale
* C-major scale in thirds
* C-harmonic minor scale
* C-harmonic minor scale in thirds
* C-melodic minor scale
* C-major arpeggio
* C-major arpeggio, broken
* C-minor arpeggio
* C-minor arpeggio, broken
* C-Dominant-seventh arpeggio
* C-Dominant-seventh arpeggio, broken
* C-Diminished-seventh arpeggio
* C-Diminished-seventh arpeggio, broken
* C-augmented arpeggio
* C-augmented arpeggio, broken
* Whole-tone scale beginning on C
* Whole-tone scale beginning on C, in thirds
* Chromatic scale beginning on C.
All scales and arpeggios use the form in Geoffrey Gilbert's Technical Flexibility
--beginning on the tonic, proceeding upwards to either c-sharp 4 or d4, descending
to the lowest C or C-sharp, and then risingg back to tonic.
We do everything in one key. So we start on C major, all straight scales. Start

on low C, run up to top D, then drop back to low C. No scales down to B. So
there's your C-major. Then your C-minor harmonic, then C-minor melodic. The
arpeggios are in this order: major, minor, dominant-seventh,
diminished-seventh, augmented. Then whole tone scale, and straight
chromatic. We'll bring in some scales in thirds and broken arpeggios on
Thursday, and chromatics in seconds, minor thirds and major thirds.
Lloyd also uses exercises involving scales and arpeggios that break up the routine
and cause the player to make rapid switches among keys.
Take a whole tone scale, play it over two octaves and when you come back,
take the semi-tone higher, just as we were doing with the sevenths....It works
pretty well. So you go from C up to C two octaves, and back to D-flat. There's
one note out, but it works all right. The reason I do this is because, it seems to
me that when we always do all majors, all minors, etc., there never seems to
be time to get to the end ones. And I do find very often, diminished sevenths
and whole tone scales seem to get neglected.
TOP Main Index

Facility Routine Used in Manchester
I have a system in Manchester. The first year they do what we're doing now.
The second year they add thirds, chromatic seconds, major thirds, minor
thirds, and broken arpeggios. The third year they add fourths, fifths, sixths.
Then the fourth year they add sevenths and octaves. So those who are not
due for it, just play the scale every other note while the others are playing all
the intervals.
In Manchester, we have to set the courses for each year. So what the first
years do is the basic pattern that I've told you--no intervals, all the way
through. And then the second years have to do all that lot, plus all scales in
thirds and fourthss, plus chromatic and add the broken arpeggios. Then the
3 de 7 09/08/2007 11:40
third years add sixths, the whole tone and chromatics in sixths. And the fourth
year add sevenths and octaves. So that way, if you can see, it sounds an awful
lot in a lump like that, but if you look at it over four years....They start working
on their next year's scales immediately after the scale exam, so they've got a
whole year to add just a couple of intervals. And if you'd look at it in long term
instead of thinking, "Oh, my God, I've got to do all this..." it really isn't as bad
as all that....When we're working in class, if the first year [students] don't know
the second year's stuff, they drop out. And [by the end] the poor fourth years
have to do all [the rest] by themselves.
I'll tell you what you do, if you have a small class. What we do in Manchester
is, we have just one ring [circle]. And of course you start and each person does
one separate [scale]. And each time a person makes a mistake, they have to
do that one again and the next one. So nobody afterwards knows where they
are, so they can't practice ahead. Works very well.
TOP Main Index

Auxiliary Fingerings for Selected Difficult Passages
Some flute players feel that auxiliary fingers are "fake" ones and should be
avoided at all costs. Gareth Morris was one such player.
The original fingerings are always preferable, because they are acoustically
accurate in sound and pitch; therefore, every effort is made to avoid the other,
unless it is impossible to negotiate a particularly difficult passage in the normal
way.
Other players, such as William Kincaid, were not as strict.
Do not be a purist in the sense of never resorting to any type of...so-called fake
fingering. There is nothing so chaste or uncompromising about some of the
pure fingerings to begin with, and frequently the character of the music
demands a lightness and facility that can only be accomplished with the fake
fingerings. Used with discretion, they are often the more musical solution to
the playing of an otherwise clumsy handful of notes.
Even though Peter Lloyd insists on standard fingerings during the playing of
exercises designed to build facility, he is a strong advocate of using alternative
fingerings for musical reasons in a working situation.
As far as playing pieces is concerned, use the fingerings that sound right. I
don't care what the fingerings are, as long as they sound right when it comes
to pieces. [But] not in exercises.
If you're going to play in orchestras, it is absolutely essential that you have as

many alternative fingerings as you possibly can find, because you cannot
always be switching here [indicates embouchure].... Because, however perfect
your flute is--maybe you've got the flute of the world. Factory in tune. That's
okay. But having got your perfect flute, you've then gott to play it out of tune
with everyone else. So it doesn't make any difference!
Alternate fingerings are so important because in an orchestra when you're

playing sharp with the fiddles and flat with the clarinets...you need every
possible fingering in the book because you don't want to control intonation on
the lip, because that keeps changing the color--and you lose your
intensity....You want to get fingerings that are in tune with whatever is
4 de 7 09/08/2007 11:40
happening at the time....It's noot difficult to do. It's not complicated....
The following are examples of orchestral literature using alternative fingerings that
Lloyd has found particularly useful:
For instance, you're sitting first flute and you're playing the opening to
Beethoven's 4 [Symphony No. 4], which if you remember has a lovely
pianissimo B-flat in octaves with the clarinet and bassoon. So if you do this
one, you're either going to have to do this [makes huge lip movement] or this
[uses a harmonic fingering which bends the pitch 1/4 step up] because they
always play sharp. You use a harmonic and you...can beat them at their own
game!
[NB: The fingering is a low E-flat, playing the harmonic B-flat above, and sliding back
on Finger 2--the "A" key.]
For the famous flute solo in the Brahms Symphony No. 1 in C Minor, Lloyd uses the
following fingering for the opening e3. The left hand plays the normal fingering, but:
Put all your right hand down, with your little finger on the C keys. Now you can
play very loud. It's a very useful fingering if you're playing Brahms 1 and the
horn is too loud--as they always are these days with their big instruments.512
Peter Lloyd uses the right hand middle finger for third octave F-sharp almost always,
but keeps the tone color from becoming unclear by putting down only the ring. He
uses the following story to illustrate the blind obedience that many students have to
the "right" fingering for a note.
I was accused once by a member of an audience... who was obviously

watching me play in the orchestra through binoculars or something because
she came down afterwards and said, "So why do you always play that F-sharp
with the middle finger? You're not supposed to, you know!" So I said,
"Because it's out of tune if I don't!" She couldn't understand that at all. She'd
obviously been taught that you've got to use what's in the book.513
In Prokofiev's Petrushka, Lloyd advocates the following fingering for the opening
motive:
If you start with your A, put down your G-sharp key and your F key. This
makes a very loud A, which enables the player to emphasize the beat. I want
to hear the accents on the beat. Otherwise, you're shifting the beat.514
A third octave A-B trill is a quandary flute players hate to face. Peter Lloyd has this
suggestion:
Finger a low A and put the first trill key down as well. Then trill the octave
below with the first trill key on. If you [play] it slowly, it's disgusting. But if you're
playing loud and fast, you don't notice it. It doesn't sound so flat.515
In Bela Bartok's Concerto for Orchestra, measure 106, he suggests:
On the piccolo, try playing E with your thumb off and low D with your thumb off;
it should play softly enough. And don't forget for the A-sharp you can play low
E-flat with your thumb and second finger off....now do it as pianississimo as
you can.516
5 de 7 09/08/2007 11:40
For Richard Strauss's Til Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks, Lloyd advises the following
fingering:
When you play the A-F-B, I would always fork that F with the extra finger
[thumb, 1,3,4,6,D-sharp key] because that way it can't crack....In the same
way, always use the middle F-sharp if you're going from A to F-sharp,
[because] the long F-sharp will crack.517
He urges the use of auxiliary fingerings [and harmonics] for certain colors and
dynamics in solo repertoire and orchestral works.
I don't mean fingerings only to put things into... orchestras...but things that are
making music. For example...in the middle of the second movement, [of Sergei
Prokofiev's Sonata for Flute] those high A's--use harmonics on them. Use
different colors. I really believe you've got to think a lot more about harmonics.
There must be a musical reason--you must never do it at random, because
they're in a phrase--influencing the phrase.518
TOP Main Index

Use of the Knuckle Key
The knuckle key is present on every Boehm-style flute and piccolo. Because flutists
are never instructed in its use, it remains one of the least utilized parts of the
instrument.
A lot of you, particularly you young people, don't seem to be too aware of what
that funny little [key] is. It closes the B-flat. I'm going to ask you to do a very
simple little exercise which goes [puts knuckle key down and leaves it while
playing] B-flat/A-flat/B-flat/A-flat [repeat] and continue down to F-sharp....Do it
four times. But, I repeat, try not to take the key off. That is the whole point of
that fingering. When you're moving around, instead of using that first finger F
where you have to take it off every single time...[you can leave it down].519
Just use the side of your finger. Don't actually put your finger on it, just lean
over.520
I remember going to Geoffrey Gilbert once...and I said "What's this for?" He

sort of looked at me with a blank face wondering why on earth didn't I know.
Next time I went to him for a lesson, he gave me a piece of manuscript paper
with all the orchestral solos that he used it for and explained why.521
TOP Main Index

"Oiling" the Pinkie
One suggestion sometimes forgotten by flutists (only to be remembered when

encountering notes in the bottom of the range which incorporate a great deal of
movement with the right hand little finger) is to put a smudge of face oil on the right
hand little finger before trying to negotiate the several keys moved by that same
finger.
Who hasn't greased their little finger? How you do it is your own business! I
don't know what it is about girls, they're so worried about doing this. I think it's
because you don't like admitting that there might be some grease on your
face. But really--slobber it on so there's no question--I can hear an awful lot of
gritty movements at the bottom [of the scale passages], and I'm sure from 90%
6 de 7 09/08/2007 11:40
of you it's because your fingers are dry.522
Inelegantly put, the best places for finding face oil are the sides of the nose
and the temples near the hairline.

513 Ibid.
520 Ibid.
521 Ibid.
7 de 7 09/08/2007 11:40
PETER LLOYD
PROFESSIONAL ADVICE
Orchestral Auditions Trial Period
Playing in a Professional Orchestra Playing Selected Orchestral Works
Debussy: Prelude to Afternoon of a Faun Ravel: Daphnis and Chloé Suite
Stravinsky: Petrushka Mendelssohn: Scherzo from Midsummer Night's Dream
Hindemith: Symphonic Metamorphosis Schoenberg: Wind Quintet
Playing Recitals Mental Barriers and Stage Nerves
Playing in Different Halls Practice
Playing with Tension
Orchestral Auditions
Peter Lloyd has been on both sides of the audition screen in his career and has coached
many of his students through the stress of their first auditions. Over the years, he has
gathered some tips for flutists who are facing the audition process.
Even with the best of advice, Peter Lloyd reminds flutists that no audition is foolproof.
The element of chance is always present, and no one knows for certain exactly what
qualities a committee is seeking.
He is especially concerned about the current use of screens for auditions.
It's very difficult to penetrate a screen if it's cloth. In order to make any sort of impression,
you have to push the sound.
It is a problem, trying to project a personality through a brick wall, you know....So you
have to feel that the energy can be got through or over or something. We can do it. The
good players will always do that.
This concern has also been voiced by James Galway, who states:
A popular, but in my view misguided, practice nowadays is to hold auditions behind a

screen. The argument is that if the judges can't see whom they are judging, the audition
won't be fixed, and the one who gets the job will do so by virtue of his skill and musicality
alone. I disagree...primarily because the screen or curtain or whatever tends to blur the
clarity of the sound.
American flutists who are auditioning in other countries are cautioned that playing behind
a screen is not used in many European auditions. Americans who are accustomed to
playing behind a screen may find these auditions especially unnerving.
If it is at all possible, Peter Lloyd strongly suggests knowing something about the sound
of the orchestra, musical habits of the conductor (i.e., tempos on the fast side, etc.), and
the sound of the current or former principal flutist. The last part is especially important for
a second flute audition.
It might be worth it just trying to research them a little bit. If you get a chance to hear the
first flute, if it's a second flute position, if you can listen to the first flute anywhere--or even
watch the conductor anywhere--you should get a clue as to what they're looking for.
[When] you've got your chance, try to calculate what they [the principal flute] want. Try to
listen to the sort of sound they make. If it's a very dark, harsh sound, try to copy it. Try to
be with it. Because if you're making a very light sound, and they're making a very dark
sound--it ain't going to blend!
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If it's an orchestra that's done a recording, check them out and see what the general
standard of the playing is like there. See if the conductor is a very musical man, or a slick
one. If he's one of these ...laddies who like everything to go very fast, then go very fast.
James Galway goes even farther and suggests taking some lessons with the principal
flutist, "which may prompt him to argue in your favour at the audition on the grounds that
he knows and likes your playing and believes you are up to the job."
Having sat on panels, Peter Lloyd asks the auditioners to consider the audition from the
panelists's point of view.
I wonder if...you can imagine yourselves on the panel? Try to decide in your own mind
what you want to hear. What's the first thing you've got to think about? Don't only think
about your own nerves, even though they're overwhelming. There's another part.
Remember, the panel's probably sat there and listened to thirty or forty people, if the first
letter in your name happens to begin with an R or S....What you've got to do is
think...how can I impress them?
Don't forget the panel is bored until you play. And then if you do something they'll think
"Wow, listen to that, lads, isn't that great?" And honestly, any panel wants to enjoy.
Nobody wants to sit and be bored. The player who comes in and does something good,
you're already allowed to slip something later on.
A panel is not likely to be impressed with the thirty-fourth unexciting rendition of Mozart's
Concerto in G. Neither are they likely to be moved to sympathy by a performer's anxiety.
What might wake them up is confident playing full of life and, unless the Mozart Concerto
in G is required, another work with an exciting opening.
If you play [your] first four bars with brilliance, accuracy, color, life...they will already have
been listening....You want to find a piece that has not got to be Mozart, which is so
difficult to start with. You need to find a piece that will suit you and will impress them. In
other words, something that will help you relax. Don't start off with [a piece that begins
with] a piano, if you're tense. Think forte. Think Hüe Fantaisie or something of that
nature. Then automatically you can get expression and life going in the sound.
Trevor Wye advises that if the choice of a solo is up to the auditioners, they should
choose solos that show them off to their best advantage.
Choose solos to show how good you are. That is to say, the piece must demonstrate
your abilities in a lot of areas: tone, technique, etc., as well as your suitability for an
orchestral chair.
If, however, the first movement of the Mozart Concerto in G is required (as it often is),
Peter Lloyd advises:
If you're playing Mozart G Major, practice that first entry and practice it until you're black
and blue in the face! Practice it upside down--whatever! Make certain that the energy is
in your articulation at the beginning of that first note. Already, an impressionn is formed
by just that very first thing.
Performers of any ability must deal with performance nerves. No matter how shaky one
feels, Lloyd says that a secure breathing cycle will help the audition.
If you're very nervous, try to get your mind off the nerves and onto the breathing. Try to
breathe, because if you breathe well, you've got a chance to produce a warm, good
sound that's going to help you relax. Most of the time, the nerves come because we don't
know what the first note's going to be like. [And] you've got this awful battery of people in
front of you, or on the other side of that screen, waiting for the mistakes....
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After the opening solo work, auditioners will play a number of orchestral excerpts from a
pre-supplied list. These excerpts will include many difficult passages, designed to
eliminate the less skillful. James Galway describes the process:
Most orchestras announce beforehand what the audition pieces will be....The idea of an
orchestral audition is not to test your abilities on--say--an early Haydn symphony, but to
see how you sound in the tricky bits, when the chips are down, or when the flute has
thhe starring role.
Peter Lloyd cautions that the first round is not the place to show one's unique
interpretation of these excerpts. This is the qualifying round, where players show that
they can be exact in their rhythms, pitch, and dynamics.
Be very careful about all the expressions and all the things that are on the [excerpt] part.
You're not a free agent, as you are when you're playing a recital ....It has to be perfect.
You have to play exactly what's on that part to start with.
Lloyd adds that these words of advice were supported by a visiting flutist, who told
students under what circum-stances they could take freedoms with the excerpts.
Somebody played Daphnis quite freely, and she said, "No. Not if you're doing an
audition. They don't like that. Play exactly what's on the part. Dynamics, rhythm must be
absolutely exact in what you do so that nobody can criticize you. There are a lot of
people who don't want to hear that played freely, and they'll vote against you. When
you've got the job, that's different. Then it should be played freely within the style that's
there."
Dynamic and rhythmic considerations are crucial in an audition situation.
Make sure your fortes and pianos are very different. And if you're behind a screen, I'd
suggest that you try to exaggerate that, because there's an awful lot of mush to get
through with the screen.
Be absolutely exact in what you're playing, so your rhythmic affection is totally strong and
prepared. Make sure that you use the metronome. Make sure that your sixteenths are
not triplets, that everything is even--absolutely exact. That's something they [the panel]
look for, and I think that's fair enough.
In order to work through a battery of difficult excerpts, Peter Lloyd suggests a

warmup/scale routine that will help in playing the actual works.
[Don't] just practice the bits and pieces. Make certain that you practice around them. Say,
if you've got a Beethoven piece in D-major, make certain that you're practicing all your
scales and arpeggios and everything you can possibly do--in the keys you're involved in.
So if you're short of time and you've got this big audition coming up, look through the lisst
of excerpts they demand and work specifically--particularly--on all the keys involved in
those particular excerpts.
Rhythm is a crucial aspect of playing audition music. If there are long rests involved in an
audition, Peter Lloyd recommends asking beforehand if those rests are to be counted out
or not.
When you practice, do make sure that you practice with a metronome because one of
the quickest things to [cause you] to lose your chance in an audition is to play your
excerpt...unrhythmically. You don't catch your rests properly. The rests must be counted
perfectly.
As far as the screen...is concerned, remember to make certain of your rhythm. Behind
that screen, some of those [auditioners] will be going [taps a pencil on the table, eraser
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side down so it can't be heard]. They'll be seeing if it's out of time, and watching very
carefully that everything is perfect. Get that rhythm right.
One part of auditioning that may unnerve flutists is that they may be playing from an
orchestra part instead of their favorite excerpt book. It may look strange. Your personal
markings are not there. The setup of bars to a line may be different. To flutists who have
been staring at a particular excerpt book for weeks in preparation, the shock of suddenly
being confronted with parts that look different may affect their playing.
Lloyd recommends learning from an actual orchestral part. These are available through
Flute World, Eble Music, or Luck's Music. Flutists can get either a first part, a second
part, or piccolo part. In the case of twentieth-century works, it may not be possible to buy
a part. But the wise auditioner will consult a professional orchestral player to check for
mistakes in the excerpt.
[One] thing you must watch for, which is a big, big trap, is that you've probably learned
your excerpts from an excerpt book and excerpt books have mistakes. They have
accents where there are no accents. When you come to play in your audition, there won't
be an excerpt book. It'll be from orchestral parts. Those parts are going to be in different
places on the page--even from one edition to another. You'll probably find that people
have scratched things out and put things in. You've gott to very quickly see that and play
it as it should be.
The best thing is to memorize the [excerpts]. And, having memorized, be careful to play
what is in front of you and not what is in the back of your head. We all know these
excerpts. They're not difficult to memorize. [But] then be aware that the part in front of
you in an audition will be different. And they may be different from one edition to the next,
because editions are different.
Take Dvorak eight [Antonin Dvorak's Symphony No. 8]for instance. The solo in the last
movement, in one edition, is all on the left-hand page. But in another edition, it's half at
the bottom and half at the top of the next page. And you get to the bottom and suddenly
[you're thinking]..."Where is it?" You have to be terribly careful of that.
I really am emphasizing that strongly. It is surprising how often we are put off by that,
[but] it will get you out of the way pretty soon!
After passing the first round, flutists are faced with the final round. This round may or
may not be held behind a screen. This is the time when an auditioner may show more
individuality and musicality. If there is no screen, the demeanor of the flutist is very
important.
Supposing you've gotten through your first screen and you're back out of the screen
now--the screens have been thrown away. Make sure you look confident. You know what
you're doing. You're positive in everythinng you do. Speak to them in a positive way. If
you're at all diffident, they will interpret that as being unsure of yourself.
Once you've gotten through the first round I think things in some ways can be easier.
There's no screen so you can actually communicate with people. And if you know you've
done well, you've done your homework, you shouldn't be so nervous of your own playing.
When choosing a second flutist in the final round, the London Symphony Orchestra had
finalists play along with the principal flutist to test how well they blended with and
followed the principal flutist.
You've got to show that you've got the possibility to play with someone else. That's why
in Britain, we generally play. I would bring in [an orchestral work] and I would deliberately
do rubato where it wasn't wanted. And I would use my vibrato in totally wrong ways. Out
of about eight people, one followed.
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Trevor Wye cautions flutists auditioning for second flute parts to hold their dynamics in
check, even in their opening solo. Playing very loudly, "apart from being
unmusical--would be telling the panel that you would be unable--or unwilling--to play
under, and balance with, the principal flute."768
Peter Lloyd condemns some of the tasks asked of flutists in an audition situation that
would not actually occur in an orchestral performance. For instance, flutists in auditions
are asked to play the opening phrase of Debussy's Afternoon of a Faun in a single
breath. Likewise, it is de rigueur for auditioning flutists to play the last phrase of
Mendelssohn's Midsummer Night's Dream "Scherzo" movement in a single breath.
What are you going to do about Après Midi? You need to play it in one breath. I'm not
saying you should musically, because I think that's nonsense. However, for the sake of
auditions, do it in one breath.769
By the final round, flutists can help themselves by taking these excerpts faster than
usual.
Silly little things I think are worth doing. If you've got to start with Midsummer Night's
Dream "Scherzo" or something, make sure you play it fast enough to play it through [in]
one breath. They may easily say, "That's too fast." But you've done it once, and then
you've already got a feeling of [worth]. Little things like that can help.770
Auditioners in the finals round may be asked to try something different, such as playing
an excerpt faster or slower, or bringing out certain aspects. Often, this is a test to see
how well the auditioner takes directions.
If they're terribly interested you know, if you play like a genius, really fantastic, they're not
going to worry if you play slightly slower or slightly quicker. They're going to say, "Could
you play this a bit slower for us?" or "A bit faster for us?" because there aren't going to be
that [many] players who are going to go through to the next round. They're after the
person who can do it. And if they hear somebody who plays just a bit too fast for them,
they'll say, "Could you please slow that up for us?"771
Trevor Wye also cites this practice. "Be prepared for anything," he cautions, "such as
being asked to play as softly as possible, and then to repeat the passage at half the
volume again!"772
Flutists auditioning for colleges, universities, or conservatories are urged to audition live
rather than sending in a tape. Throughout his career Lloyd has seen a number of
instances in which the personality of the player did not emerge through a taped audition.
Also, auditioners must be aware that a tape may distort or muffle their sound, or that a
tape may run at a slightly different speed on another tape player, which would alter tempi
and tuning. If a live audition is not possible, use the best equipment available, and as
Peter Lloyd says:
Be as accurate as you possibly can, and give an idea of intensity, energy in articulation,
and life in the vibrato. Be sure the rhythm is exact....The little box can't take in
personality. But the rest is there.773
Nancy Toff had the following advice for flutists preparing tapes:
(1) Make sure microphones are not placed so closely that mechanism noises or breaths
are picked up.
(2) Choose a room that is medium "live"--"neither an echo chamber...nor a dead room."
(3) Use high-grade tape and a separate microphone, "not the condenser microphone
included in some portable recorders."
(4) Before sending a tape, especially if it has been dubbed from a master tape, listen to
it.
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(5) Make a "safety copy" for your files, in case the original is lost or damaged in
transit.774
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Trial Period
Supposing that an auditioning flutist has been chosen for an orchestral position, the next
hurdle to be faced is a "trial period." This is a probationary time in which the flutist
actually plays with the orchestra to see whether they will be hired permanently.
Sometimes two or more finalists will undergo this final trial.
It should be allowed. [One should have] a long enough time to settle down and give one
a chance to know what's happening around you. So often, people can be appointed who
are totally wrong and then of course you've got the misfortune of having to get rid of
them....But having a chance to really soak in all the styles with a different orchestra for a
long time, it's the best way.775
One crucial aspect of surviving a trial period is not necessarily playing, but getting along
with colleague musicians.
You know, it's not so difficult to actually get the flute up and play. But actually working
with individuals of all sorts and shapes and sizes... [that's] a problem to face.
One [player]...should have gotten jobs all over the place, but never did so because
whenever she got onto the trials she couldn't stop opening her mouth. She'd say, "I think
it's sharp there, do you think you could come down a little..." and [that was that].
You don't do that. You must always ask people, "Look, would you help me? Am I a bit
sharp? Would it help if I played a little lower?" Always work like that. Always work as
though you are always wrong and everybody else is right. Use a strong sense of
psychology. It's very, very important in a wind section.776
Another bit of advice is to avoid showing off one's skills, especially in a second flute
situation. It is not only ill-mannered but professional suicide to play the principal flute's
solos where other orchestra members can hear. Even principal flutes on trial should
avoid giving the impression that they are better than other members of the orchestra.
Give the impression of competence, but within the context of working with other
orchestra members.
It's very tricky. But if you look at it from the point of view that almost everyone in that
section is nervous--worried--you're not going to outdo anyone else. You are going to ask
other people's advice. Because by so doing, with a bit of luck--unless they're
stupid--you're going to get along. You're going to get them on your side.777
Obviously, a second flutist must get along with the principal flutist. As in other
professions, getting along with one's job superior is crucial to keeping a position, even if
the principal is rude.
Hopefully you've had a chance to weigh up the principal, whether they happen to be an
easygoing person or one who's going to be a nervous wreck all the time. It makes a total
difference to the way you react. You have to be quick. You have to understand straight
away.778
Trevor Wye put it this way:
Principal players won't be interested in you if you are competing with them; they will only
see you as a threat. A second flute is a supporting role in many ways, not the least of
which is allowing the principal player to play at his ease, and to assist him. Only a silly
second flute would be practising the "big tune" in the dressing room before the concert,
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especially so within the hearing of the principal.779
It is helpful for flutists on trial to realize that they are not the only person nervous in a
performing [or even rehearsing] situation.
Everyone playing in a wind section is nervous, as you well know. Everybody has this
feeling of...we're all worrying if it's going to be okay, or not all right. Nobody's ever really
confident no matter what they look like. We're all worried. So you've got to understand
that the people around you are looking for a new player sitting there who will fulfill their
criteria, which means somebody who has a knowledge of how to get [along] with them.
The playing part is, as I've said before, probably the easy part.780
Being on trial is equally stressful for principal and second flute positions.
[You must face] the terrible problems of trying to sit with a whole lot of strangers and
wondering how on earth you're going to deal with them. For one thing, you don't know
the first flute. You don't know if they're going to play loud, sharp, flat, fast, dull, or if they
hate music! The point is, you've got to play with them. And it doesn't matter if there's an
extremely difficult second clarinet or a first flute that's forever worrying, or a first oboe
who's twisted all around mumbling about his bad reeds. You have to learn how to get on
with them.781
Finally, any person on trial must also watch the style of the orchestra.
Having hopefully assessed the principal and some of the other weird people sitting in the
wind section, you've got to remember that you've got to play in tune...at whatever
dynamic they want. Try to understand why they articulate the way they do. If they are
musical people, they might articulate differently for each piece. [Listen to] the type of
color they're using.
Hopefully you've had a chance to listen to [the principal flutist] in concert and found out
the way they vibrate, the way they make their sound, [and] whether they have a dynamic
range of zero.782
It may help to ask about the balance wanted by the principal flutist. In the London
Symphony Orchestra, for instance, Peter Lloyd says:
I always liked my second flute to be louder than me. Because in order to build up volume
in a wind section, it's not the first players who play loud. It's building up the harmony
inside the chords that really makes the difference.783
TOP Main Index

Playing in a Professional Orchestra
Peter Lloyd makes no secret of his love for orchestral playing. As he puts it:
Orchestral playing...is by far the hardest and most rewarding medium that a flute player
will ever experience....When you're playing in an orchestra, it's not only a question of
playing in tune, it's a question of being a personality, a question of doing what the
conductor wants, and somehow blending the whole thing together.784
Gareth Morris points out that, although orchestral work provides "magnificent
opportunities" for the flute, it also includes "great responsibilities." At various times the
orchestral flutist is "required to be a soloist in his own right, a chamber musician, and to
have the stamina and confidence to dominate in tutti passages when the occasion
arises." Being the top instrument on the score "gives the flautist a dangerous opportunity
to make or mar the quality of a performance."785
Just as in the trial period, working orchestral performers must get along with their
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colleague musicians. Because continued employment depends on every performance,

every musician is likely to be tense to some degree.
The political angle is a very tricky [thing]. If you're in a top class orchestra, you're working
with a lot of people who have egos, and you've got to learn how to fix yourself up....Most
of us are on the defense because we're all worried about being out of tune or too loud or
too something, and we're all wondering when the next conductor's going to jump on [us].
The main thing, I think in any orchestra, especially an orchestra filled with prima donnas,
is to try to find out how to get along with them. I'm not saying that there is an answer to
all of them. But ...you can treat them differently according to what you feel their problems
are.786
You get the nervous ones, who if you dare say anything about intonation they go [in a
panicked voice], "Oh, God, am I sharp again?" Then you get the "Oh, I'm always right.
I've been right for the last thirty years, that's how it's been, why should I change now?"
You have to learn to be psychologists.787
Okay, you can say, "No, I'm not wrong," and have a great big row with somebody. But it
doesn't get you anywhere in the long run. I think it's one of the most extraordinary things,
the way I hear wind sections in this country [United States] have gone, where first oboes
and first flutes don't talk for twenty years. I can't understand how anybody can...work
musically... under that sort of regime.788
You see, I think music is far, far more important than silly little squabbles between two or
three people. It's something we have to learn to get over.789
James Galway echoes the call for teamwork in an orchestral setting and cites two
diverse personalities that are negative to that end. "Dull" players who consider their
position a "chore" and are "disappointed in their professional and personal lives" make
teamwork almost impossible by presenting a dead weight in any section. On the other
end, "the ego-tripper" may antagonize colleagues and destroy teamwork by setting up
factions within an orchestra.790
One of the most important aspects of orchestral playing is tuning. According to Peter
Lloyd, it does not matter if the flute is in tune and other instruments are not, because as
the top voice--the flute will always sound wrong.
This is a very crucial thing in orchestras. It's so hard for us sitting on the top to
understand that we will always sound wrong if the chord isn't sounding right. It's the top
that sounds wrong. We need to have this terrific flexibility of fingerings to be able to find
how to be right. Otherwise, we might be perfectly right, but we just sound wrong.791
In such a case, having the latest word in tuned flute scales is fairly useless. As Lloyd
says:
You may have the most fantastically well in-tune flute, but that's no good in an orchestra,
because you've just got to learn to play it out of tune with everyone else. Of course it
helps to know where your notes are, but you need an understanding of all the other
instruments around you because again I say, when you're on top you're the one that's
going to sound out of tune if that octave or fifth down below you is wrong.792
While flexibility is stressed in orchestral tuning, one should not avoid projecting for fear of
being out of tune.
Always play forwards. Always play with energy. Always breathe well. If you feel
uncomfortable because the intonation is wrong, don't ever shrink back, because [your]
harmonics will start to fight against one another and the sound will go wrong and nobody
can play with you. If you play positively then others will hear and think to themselves,
8 de 25 09/08/2007 11:41
"Oh, I'd better get with that."793
If it sounds wrong and you hold back and shrink back, it sounds twice as wrong. You've
got to play right out. Play full. Play as rich as you possibly can without increasing the
dynamic too much....Above all, keep the air going through. If you're playing quieter, try to
squeeze it in the embouchure, but push the air through the small hole. Then you keep
the intensity and the control of the pitch.794
Is it possible to have too much harmonic in the sound? The answer is--no. Because the
more harmonic you are using in the sound, your own sound is richer. And another thing
is if you are playing with an oboe player who has a very thin and low, small range of
harmonic, you can't play in tune with them. It can be very difficult to cope with unless
your own band of harmonic is wide, so that you can get around both ends of it [the
oboe's sound] and encompass it.795
Peter Lloyd points out that harmonics in the flute sound can provide support for the rest
of the woodwind section, a fact he was taught as a young, slightly-awed orchestral
principal early in his career. As he tells it:
I remember in the early days of the London Symphony Orchestra when I was having
problems. I expect it's the same in America. You play in a provincial orchestra and as I
always say, you can drive a bus down the intonation system--you could be in tune here,
there, or anywhere in between. But you get to the LSO and suddenly the intonation
system was just there. You couldn't be here because you'd be out of tune. And I
remember being terribly shy and very anxious when I started because I was finding it so
hard, because I was always in tune before--and now I was never in tune!
And of course my nature at that time was to shrink back, with the result that I would cut
out harmonics and make it very hard for other people. I remember [a colleague] saying,
"Play! Fill your sound. Play out and let us fit with you." And of course when I eventually
got the courage to do that, there was no problem.
If you haven't got confidence...it's very hard to produce color and sound. But I think you
have to somehow think breathing....Try to think breathing and try to relax and try to let
the sound come without you trying to get tense and stopping it. And then see what
happens. Let the sound contain the harmonics and let it sing. It can cover a multitude of
other sins.796
As a rule of thumb, Peter Lloyd advocates pushing the flute headjoint in a bit when
playing slow movements. Most flutists believe that this is done to keep the flute from
playing flat, but Peter Lloyd says that it actually has more to do with tuning to the clarinet.
Generally I would push in for slow movements because of the problems of clarinets in
particular. It's not their fault. It's just unfortunate that when they play softly it tends to be
on the sharp side and when they play loudly it tends to be on the flat side. We just have
to accommodate as far as possible, and so will they....The whole thing in a wind section
is compromise.797
Peter Lloyd cautions flutists who have been playing recitals that the dynamic levels in an
orchestra tend to be more extreme on both ends, loud and soft.
When you play in a good symphony orchestra, the problems that you're gong to face are
far greater than anything you'll face standing on the front of the stage....I think the worst
problems are dynamics and the fact that you don't play forte and mezzo-piano as you
would if you were standing [onstage]. You're playing from ppp to fff, and having to be in
tune with the people all about you. It can be a big, big, big problem--particularly with a
top-class orchestra with a top-class conductor who's insisting on the difference between
pp and ppp.798
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The late Thomas Nyfenger wrote about conductors who misjudge the type of sound and
projection that might be required in a particular hall and "expend a great deal of effort
sticking his non-time-beating hand out at the winds in an effort to shush them." He called
this "nay-palming" and wrote:
The winds end up almost sucking on, rather than blowing into, their instruments,
strangling their natural sounds and mis-learning the art of orchestral playing. The
audience, meanwhile, strains and hears very little.799
Besides pitch and dynamics, orchestral flutists must be extremely sensitive to and
flexible with articulation. Not only are there many styles of articulation within the flutists'
own music, but they must match articulation styles with a variety of other instruments.
All instruments articulate differently. So...in a general way, try to feel that the wind
section's articulation techniques are similar....It is an important point to try to match and
feel around to [make sure] it's working.
Until you play in orchestras, you don't understand the problems of articulation, you don't
understand problems of balance and psychology of other people and all those things.800
Many times, flute players are asked to blend their sound with another instrument to
produce a musical effect. Peter Lloyd believes that this blend, and also the overall
balance of the orchestra, depends not on the principal player, but on the second chair
performer.
Color blend depends, I think, very much on the composer and of course...on the strength
of the second players. If the second player is good and strong, it's much easier to blend
rather than having weak seconds.
I believe...that all second players...should be quite as strong or stronger than the first
players. Not everybody agrees.801
I say...in chords in the wind section, the seconds should be louder than the firsts
because the firsts are always audible and we ought to build up volume from inside the
wind section. It's not the first players playing louder, it's the seconds and thirds--the
middle of the chord--that makes the difference...That's why you should always have very
good players in the second chairs....it's the job that really makes a wind section sound
good.802
Second flutists must match their sound and articulation to that of the principal, and Lloyd
reminds flutists that they should remember to match vibrato as well.
It's no good to play a Brahms symphony and you've got two flutes wobbling away in the
vibrato in the chords at the end of the slow movements and nobody else in the winds
doing it--and the two flutes doing it differently anyway! It doesn't do. It's just common
sense. You've got to go with your principal and hope that your principal has some clue as
to how to make the vibrato match the style of the music a little bit.... The thing is always
try to underplay your vibrato.803
Lloyd adds that this attention to vibrato applies not only among the flutists, but within the
entire wind section as well.804
Trevor Wye advised orchestral second flutes to "Be prepared to switch off your vibrato.
Be prepared, in fact, for anything!"805
In general, the wise second flutist will assist the principal. One way is to keep track of the
bars, even if the second flute part is not playing in that particular spot. Peter Lloyd still
recalls a second who failed in this respect:
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He never counted bars. Never. So if I got suddenly stuck, if we were playing something
and we didn't know just where to come in, I'd say, "Where are we?" and he'd say, "Wha?
I dunno." And I had a solo coming up and suddenly--panic.806
Always be ready to help. Don't ever put the knife in and hope [the principal] is going to
make a mistake --and then laugh.
Anything that you can do to help in a very quiet way that doesn't show is very, very much
appreciated. As a second, your job is to make the principal as comfortable as possible.
And [in a trial], if he's got confidence that you're going to help--you'll get the job.807
One responsibility which often falls to the principal flutist is to bring the wind section in
together on a particular chord or passage. This can be a nerve-wracking ordeal, and
many flutists make the mistake of trying to use their flute as a baton.
You can't lead with the flute because those [players sitting] in back can't see it anyway.
And the rest say, "Where's the bottom of your beat?" So, breathe rhythmically.
Always.808
This is something I find very difficult with students--how to actually bring people in.
They're so frightened of making a movement or a sound. And you say, go on, breathe
with it and they sort of [wheeze] and there'll be nothing strong.809
Always breathe in tempo and let them hear the breath. Wind quintet things too. Always
breathe in tempo.810
Another nerve-wracking aspect of orchestral playing is working under the batons of

various conductors. If getting along with one's fellow musicians is crucial, staying out of
the conductor's way is vital.
An orchestral player meets many conductors of differing abilities....It's very tricky for an
orchestra who has the luck to play with really top- class conductors to suddenly...be
reduced to having to do a cheap Tchaikovsky night out in the woods somewhere with a
hopeful. Happens all the time. It's very difficult. You just grin and bear it and remember
you're getting the money the next day and the conductor is only there for one day.811
The one thing you want if you're in an orchestra is not to be spoken to. You don't want
the conductor to even notice you. So the only way you can do that is by having the best
section you can possibly put together, so that they will look for a weaker section. And
that was true--particularly if you've got second-rate conductors coming in.
Maybe a third of the time we [in the LSO] had top class conductors. The rest of the time
we were doing work in the film studios and light music and vacuous God knows
anything-you-can-think-of in order to make money. But even with the lesser concerts, we
had some very funny conductors and it's very difficult working with them because they
don't know any better than you do. The best conductors never admit it and just get on
with the job.812
In theory, musicians are supposed to follow the beat given by the conductor; but in
reality, some conductors are very hard to follow. Peter Lloyd's real-life solution is simple:
It is important to anticipate and feel where people are going to play because when the
conductor comes down [with his/her baton], nine times out of ten, you're going to be
wrong. [So] don't follow conductors, for goodness sake! It's disaster.813
There are some conductors who insist "Follow my beat", but they don't give you a beat.
They do this action [waves his arms around]. Very few of them know that we have to
breathe. They don't do their homework.
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Really, what the wind section has to do is play irrespective of conductors, and use
conductors for musical reasons--expression. We should be able to play together with our
ears. Everything should be with your ears. That is the safest way. You can hear people
breathing, and very soon you get the feel of when that oboe player is going to be coming
in.814
No matter how difficult or stubborn or egotistical a conductor may be, the orchestral
player must bear with the situation.
I think the psychology of it is to try to understand conductors' weaknesses rather than us

[players] standing up for our own rights. It's hard but I think you have to understand that
so often conductors have to be right because he's leading a collection of ninety-odd
people and we can't actually stand up against him, whatever we feel or whatever we
know.815
I've talked about alienation of the species. Try not to. It's not worth it.816
On occasion, difficult conductors may not be reacting to the orchestra at all--even when
they seem to be. Factors completely unrelated may have been taking a toll on an
otherwise reasonable human being. Peter Lloyd tells of such an occasion:
It got tougher and tougher. If anything wasn't right just from the beginning, he'd start
throwing a tantrum....We discovered--because we didn't understand what had gone
wrong--that he'd had some sort of big issue at home in Russia and he'd been demoted
from being conductor of [a major orchestra] to being sent out to the provinces to conduct
a youth orchestra. And he was taking it out on everybody.817
With all the difficulties, Lloyd recalls other times when conductor and orchestra worked
magic together.
You've got people who are totally nice and just accepted the players in front of them, and
we found that the orchestra always responded and played--beautifully--for them,
because they were warm comfortable conductors who appreciated you. There weren't
many like that, but the better conductors were.818
No matter what the situation, orchestral players must be listening at all times in order to
be in control of the musical situation.
You know, generally in an orchestra...you don't have a lot of rehearsal, pre-rehearsal,

because it's there in your ear, in your listening. And I think that this is the danger that
does happen if you don't do much orchestral playing. You forget that ninety-five percent
of what you're doing is listening, and fitting. You're always subconsciously aware of
what's happening all about you. You're not following a beat. You're not following a
conductor. Conductors are there to show you phrasing and music, they're not there to
keep a sort of martial beat all the time. And honestly, if it's free, you're going to get
it....You automatically follow what you're hearing. If you're not a prominent part, you're
following whatever is.
I remember very early on having a problem of ensemble on something and asking [a

colleague], "What's going on?" I wasn't comfortable. The ensemble wasn't together. And
he said, "Listen to the second trumpet. That'll help." Well, I hadn't noticed that. And then I
did and everything was okay. And it's only doing it day by day and listening. If you get
stuck, look at the score. Learn the score. You'll see lots going on, and then you'll know
where you are.
Really, it's not as difficult as all that.819
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Playing Selected Orchestral Works
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In his orchestral classes, Peter Lloyd has worked with flutists on major works that have
prominent flute parts or sectional ensemble problems. The "orchestra" part is taken by a
pianist, while as many flutists and piccoloists as are needed play the normal orchestra
section's flute parts. From these sessions have come advice about several works. The
following are selections from these classes, in which Lloyd shares his lifetime of
experience playing these works.
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Debussy: Prelude to Afternoon of a Faun
One of the biggest solos faced by orchestral flutists is Claude Debussy's work, Prelude to
the Afternoon of a Faun. The flute starts the piece alone, and the first note is one of the
worst on a flute--open C-sharp. Plus, according to tradition, the flutist must play the
opening phrase in a single breath--although in actual performance most flutists take this
admonition with a grain of salt.
Seriously, the breathing thing--I think it an un-useful thing to have to play it all the way
through in one line. I think the allowable one is to take it before the [last three] "waspy"
notes because that's actually a pickup into the oboe solo.
I remember working with [a particular conductor] and he insisted on me taking two

breaths. Actually, there is a copy that has a Debussy suggestion on the breath. [Peter
Lloyd sings the first ten notes of the solo and stops.] That's where [the conductor] made
me do it. And then another one before the last three notes. But he made me play it very
slowly, with absolutely buckets of passion. It was really quite a good thing.
When I first played this piece with him in our first rehearsal, I played it in one breath
because that's the way we "had" to do it, the way everybody else did. He looked up and
said, "What do you think you are doing? This is music, not mechanics. Play it again."820
I think it's stupid playing like this--told that they've got to play it in one breath. Having said
that, at an audition, you're [still] going to have to do it in one breath!821
Even for flutists who plan on taking one or two breaths within the opening phrase, Peter
Lloyd cautions that a completely full breath at the beginning is a necessity.
If you're playing Après Midi for instance, I would [begin with] two breaths. Take a good
long slow one, and then [just before playing] take another one. When you're taking your
long slow one, you're almost full. But then the muscles relax just a little bit--and that was
always enough to get [me] through when the conductor wanted [the opening phrase] in
one breath.822
Besides breathing, the most tension-producing moment of this work is coming in with
color and life on the worst, most out-of-tune note on the flute. Peter Lloyd shares how he
prepared himself for this task:
In performance, before I would start playing this, I would always--while the crowd was
still making noises out there--be touching top G's as pianississimo as I could....Anything
to get the embouchure [extremely] small, so that when the conductor came on, I knew
that I could start as economically as was possible and have enough air to make the
phrase.823 In this way, Lloyd was able to keep the air speed going fast enough to keep
color and life in the sound. But by sending it through the smallest possible opening he
was able to conserve his resources without undermining that sound.
A third daunting experience in the same solo is its dynamic marking--"piano." Some
players are encouraged to enter almost inaudibly, while others ignore the marking
completely in order to project the sound. Peter Lloyd reminds flutists that changing the
sound of the flute with different colors can imply a dynamic.
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I think you have to be very canny about the... definition of dynamic markings. They're not
only dynamic markings. I think if you're going to pull it off, don't think of them as "piano"
and "forte"--because the way we translate it, the forte is far too loud. So it doesn't work.
I think you'll find that pianissimo is a beautiful soft color with life; [with] something
happening. It doesn't matter if it's desperately quiet. You have to sing.
If you start the piece off and it just said "piano", what does that mean? You cannot play
piano unless you've got something to compare it with--something to balance it....I think in
this case it's an expression as much as anything.824
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Ravel: Daphnis and Chloé Suite
Another prominent flute solo may be found in Maurice Ravel's Daphnis and Chloé. The
only sounds accompanying this solo are a muted, repeated chord in the strings--an
almost "white" sound. The flute stands out in contrast. This most rewarding of solos can
also be most terrifying, particularly with its opening sweep up an A-major scale to a third
octave A, all marked "piano."
Peter Lloyd urges flutists to remember what is happening in the ballet at that point, even
if one is playing the orchestral suite.
You see, in Daphnis...it's called piano expressivo. What does piano mean in that
relationship? It's got to be relaxed. You have to feel that Daphnis is stretching himself.
He's waking up. He's on the mountainside...and nothing really happens in that solo for
half of it. And then you suddenly have the scale going up to forte--with intensity. Well,
that's because he has suddenly spied Chloé.
Piano in this case is relaxed, stretching, gentle --partly the atmosphere of the early
morning and partly waking up. It doesn't need to be quiet, see? Think of [the dynamic] as
being gentle.
Pianissimo mustn't be a frozen pianissimo. It's a romantic pianissimo.825
Some editions of the opening scale are marked as a simple A-major scale, while others
include an E-sharp, which makes the passage an F-sharp minor scale. Flutists are
always worried that the scale they choose will be the "wrong" one. As Peter Lloyd says,
"Okay--F-sharp minor or A-major? Whichever you like. Apparently, [Marcel] Moyse asked
Ravel to choose which was right and Ravel said, 'Oh, I don't care.'"826
No matter which version is chosen, the opening scale is a frightening experience for
many flutists.
You see, you're tightening because, "Oh God, it's got to be pianissimo!"827
Before you start off, you've got two and a half bars of [sings string bass part] and
everybody in the audience is very quiet. And everybody in the orchestra's got a grin on
their face. They're hoping you're going to wreck it! [laughter from class]828
Just as in Afternoon of a Faun, breath [or lack thereof] can be a problem in the Daphnis
and Chloé solo.
The important thing to remember is whenever you breathe on big long solos, to look
back. There's no point trying to breathe at the last second when you've got to play.
Breathe big before you start the solo.... You've got a whole bar of rest to get enormously
full. Then [later] you just top off. You should be able to get all the way through, keeping
the other [subsequent] breaths short.829
As if the principal flutist does not have enough to contend with, sometimes a conductor
14 de 25 09/08/2007 11:41
will insist on trying to beat time while the flutist is playing. Peter Lloyd feels that this is a
mistake.
The problem with conductors and this [solo] is that they have to lose their ego. They
keep trying to conduct it, when all they should be doing is conducting the basses. Keep
the basses in one place, then the flute player can play around the basses. Then we've
got loads of possibilities as to how to play it really free. But with the conductor trying to
follow the flute and the basses trying to follow the conductor, they get slower and slower
and...slower.830
Lloyd has shared some shorter tips on the orchestral solo passages that follow:
TOP Main Index

Stravinsky: Petrushka
The thing to remember is, the puppeteer is introducing the two puppets. [And]...the rising
arpeggios indicate Petrushka's introduction and the downward arpeggios are the
introduction of the other puppet. So it's quite free. That's the choreography I see and I've
always been told about and I've always done. [So] don't worry about being so
precise.831 Strauss: Til Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks
You'll find quite a lot of third flute solos in this, you know. Push them out--hit them out!
Knock them out! All of a sudden you think "Oh, I'm in the wrong place," because the
others have gone deedle-um. But it's not. Funny piece, Til.832
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Mendelssohn: Scherzo movement from Midsummer Night's Dream
When you play Midsummer Night's Dream, make sure that the first breath isn't just
enough to get you along the first phrase, but huge. As big as possible. So that when you
take your next breath, you're topping up to your top. And when you take your last breath,
again it's topping right up. Then you'll get through easily. People don't generally think of
that. They think of getting enough air in for the first bit, then later they've only got time to
fill up halfway. They never have enough in store to do the last long one.
Every time when you have a chance to get a decent breath...make it as big as you
can.833
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Hindemith: Symphonic Metamorphosis
The thing to remember about that line is that it's obbligato. So the line, the tune, is down
in the bassoons and then we crescendo at the end. So whatever rubato they do, we have
to follow along here. And if they suddenly do something funny, we've got to go with
them.834
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Schoenberg: Wind Quintet
The second movement is all piccolo. And there are two solos in there that go down to
bottom D-flat. What you do is play D, and then bring your [right] little finger around and
plug up the end. You've got to bring your little finger round the corner and cover it as
much as you can.835
TOP Main Index

Playing Recitals
Most flutists, no matter what their career path, will be called upon to play a recital at
some time. One of the most important parts of playing any recital is planning the
15 de 25 09/08/2007 11:41
program. A well-planned program allows flutists to be at their best and allows the
audience to be both enlightened and entertained by the performance.
Peter Lloyd has both played and attended many recitals, and feels that it is time for a
change from the "chronological" recitals that take an audience on a virtual trip through
time, in order, from Baroque to twentieth century.
I don't think it's a good idea where you work chronologically. You start with your Bach,
maybe move along up through your Schubert variations...and then come along to
Reinecke and go on to the Martinu and eventually maybe you do a contemporary piece. I
think it's all wrong because...with an instrument like the flute, it gets very boring.836
Typically, many flute recitals begin with a work by J.S. Bach or another Baroque
composer. Peter Lloyd believes this to be a most unwise choice.
I'm certain it's wrong to play a Bach sonata first. When you go on in the beginning I think
you're much too nervous, and to do a good Bach sonata really well is difficult--very
difficult.
In order to make things go well for you, don't play a difficult piece for a starter. Play
easier pieces to start with...that you can suddenly open out and be happy and start to
breathe easily and feel comfortable. Then when the appropriate moment comes, then
play your Bach or your Couperin, because it needs so much more care and decision and
thought!
I don't think it matters what you start with, but don't start with Baroque--unless you're
doing a Baroque program! Then there's not much you can do except choose an easy
piece that you can start with.837
Lloyd believes that the more variety one can put into a recital, the better. He advocates
putting stylistically contrasting works side-by-side on a program, so that the audience
does not feel that they are hearing an historical timeline.
This is an age of easy accessibility to a wide range of musical styles. The flick of a radio
dial or television remote sends widely varying styles into the homes of the general public
every day, so a program that does not adhere to a timeline is much less of a shock to an
audience nowadays than musicians think.
Break [your works] up so an audience hears different styles of playing--from one piece to
the next, all the way through. And don't forget to put in your unaccompanied piece,
because that again offers change, variety....Think about it. It makes life so much more
interesting for the audience. Don't ever play two pieces that are very similar in style close
together. The flute is too boring.838
When programming in this way, flutists are cautioned to use all their resources to bring
out changes in style. Varied articulation, color, phrasing, and dynamic ranges can be
incorporated to make a memorable recital.
For my own taste, I honestly get bored to tears with a recital of seventy or eighty minutes
of flute playing where every piece sounds the same. I think it's perfectly possible now to
think stylistically and change your styles between one piece and another.839
The way recitalists present themselves onstage can set up the audience's perception of
what they are about to hear. Peter Lloyd finds that this is a neglected area. Besides
having a positive entrance and general stance, Lloyd suggests addressing the audience
as a mutual ice-breaker.
When Mrs. Gilbert...gave two classes on voice projection and demeanor...and actually
watched people walking on and presenting themselves it was absolutely fascinating.
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Hardly anybody did it well. People found it so difficult to express themselves speaking--to
speak out. I think that's something you all need to think about.
It helps...if you are playing for an audience...if you do say a few words about the piece. It
does help relax the atmosphere somewhat.
I found that out...in America, because that's the first time I started speaking before
concerts at recitals, and people were immediately on my side....very sympathetic vibes
coming back at me instead of that total first moment of terror of walking on and feeling all
sorts of shaky. It does help.840
Female recitalists often dress in very expensive gowns. Peter Lloyd cautions that the
stage lights are apt to pick up any reflective material and glare--sometimes painfully--into
the audience. This includes gold watchbands, earrings, and even a highly polished flute.
But the worst offenders are sequined gowns coupled with flutists who use a great deal of
body movement while playing.
Whatever you do, do not ever wear spangles. Sequins. All those shiny bits that you
ladies wear. I mean, the flute is brilliant with light, you've got lights up there in a big
concert hall, and all the light flashing off the flute...it really destroys any slow
movement....It's a bit too much.841
An outfit that seems lovely at home may present unforeseen problems onstage. For
instance, Nancy Toff advised that female flutists might be better off wearing a skirt and
blouse combination rather than a dress during recitals, "so that their skirts do not hike up
when they raise their flutes."842
Recitalists naturally want to be heard by their audiences. The vast majority of flutists feel
that they will be overpowered by the sound of the piano, so they keep the piano lid down
as far as possible during recitals. Lloyd agrees with Trevor Wye that this is a
mistake--the lid should be opened completely.
If you stand in front [of the piano], the sounding board of the piano will help project your
sound....It really does make a lot of difference. And if you think that you've got a small
sound....you'll find that standing here, you can count on extra sound. Also, if you're
playing something and you're thinking "Gosh, I want a bit more color..." you just gently
turn slightly and you get--with the pedals on--some very interesting effects.
In a big hall it's fantastic, because the sound will go much further than the piano's. So
often you know, with the lid down, the piano gets squashed--and our sound disappears
around the back of it. It may be more painful to you playing there, but I can promise you
it'll sound much better.843
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Mental Barriers and Stage Nerves
One of the most trying circumstances in the life of any performer is to have a work ready
to near-perfection, only to have it marred by performance nerves. Whether during a solo
recital, an exposed passage in an orchestral work, or in a chamber performance, stage
nerves cause performers to question their choice of careers.
Peter Lloyd has also faced what he terms "the pearlies" and is fully aware that many
times it has nothing to do with fear. "These things suddenly take over for no reason. I've
no idea why. Maybe I was very tired...maybe that set up something...I don't know
why."844
What an audience may not know about even top-notch soloists is that the confident,
outgoing stance they show the audience is not their backstage demeanor.
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Everybody's nervous when we go on. I mean if we're actually truthful, we are nervous. I
remember very well watching various pianists in my orchestral days back of the stage
before they went on....and then they walk on and look so happy.
[One performer] used to have little hot water bottles in his sleeves...and then he'd walk
on and have smiles for everybody. Incredible. It's an amazing act, you know.
The message of course is that we've got to find a way to control [nerves] so it doesn't
affect our playing or the way we appear to show ourselves to the audience.845
Showing yourself to the audience appearing totally confident and comfortable makes
them comfortable too, and that's when the vibes come back good.846
Peter Lloyd feels that if performers can control their breathing and start with a good
sound, they can break the tension of performance nerves and begin to calm down.
I think that above all, try not to concentrate on the fact that you're feeling nervous, but go
back to thinking free breathing. Try to relax that. If you play your first few notes well, you
feel more comfortable with the color. More relaxed.847
Actually the control of the adrenaline flow is difficult. Sometimes...it is hard to calm
yourself down. But the only way I've found to cope with it before a concert is to do slow,
deep breathing....I always say that if you can play your first two or three notes with a
deep breath, you will sound okay and you'll relax and then it's easy.848
Rather by accident, Lloyd found that another cure for stage nerves is anger.
I'd been dreading [a concert] because I'd had an operation and hadn't been practicing
and really I was so nervous. And then I had this mighty row [argument] with the manager
of a hotel about a stupid phone bill with them wanting to charge me fifty cents before I
was going to be allowed to use the telephone. And I got so angry that when I walked on
that platform...I had no problems at all!
What you need to do is find a way of distracting yourself--have a row with your [spouse]
about an hour before you go on!849
One habit almost guaranteed to bring on the "pearlies," Lloyd says, is being obsessed
with the music backstage.
If you're playing a recital you've been practicing all the music for ages and ages. Don't
take it to your dressing room and refer to it. Don't keep it with you. That makes it worse,
because there you are, "Oh, I've just got to get this one little bit." Like as not, you're going
to be twice as nervous about that passage as you would have been if you'd left
everything on stage.850
Peter Lloyd advises flutists to practice concentration, just as they would practice a
difficult music passage. In his Manchester flute studio, Lloyd uses etudes to build
stamina and concentration.
If you can get through [an etude] perfectly, playing it to a class of flute players, you're
doing fantastically well, because you'll never do anything harder.
Any piece of music unless it's Bach has got rests. And so you pick up re-concentration
before the next phrase. With an etude, you start here and you finish there and you just
keep going. And what happens is...most people will play the first 2/3 or 3/4 of the thing
perfectly. And then you watch--they'll become more and more tense. "I'm going to reach
the end! I'm going to make it! I'm going to make it!" And then they fall on their faces. Very
few people seem to be able to [play it] perfectly. Try it.851
The flutist who learns to keep tension under control until the end of an etude will know
18 de 25 09/08/2007 11:41
how to control tension in concert situations.
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Playing in Different Halls
It is always wise, particularly in a recital situation, to check the size and acoustic
properties of the hall where the performance will occur. This is especially critical when a
performer is on tour.
Peter Lloyd advocates slight changes in tempo and in articulation to make up for varying
acoustical properties among halls.
[One's playing] has got to be conditioned very much by the acoustic you're playing in.
You can't play very fast in a cathedral because it's just washed out. You have to hold
back. Otherwise, it just goes sweeping by.
You have to be very careful about acoustics...Suppose you're going on tour? You've got
different acoustic conditions. You're playing in a theater one night with a curtain and then
the next day you've got a nice concert hall with hard walls and a hard floor and very
singing acoustics. Remember when it's much more resonant, be much more clear. Be a
bit shorter [with articulated notes]. I think it's a very important point that we tend to forget.
We go practicing away and the program is fantastic in the little practice room--and then
you go out into the hall and it's terrible. So whenever possible, check out the hall.852
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Practice
Peter Lloyd's practice regimen is similar to that of Geoffrey Gilbert's, but varies in its
order. Gilbert's practice regimen was as follows: tone studies, scales and technical
studies, etudes, and solo works.853 Peter Lloyd reverses the first two.
I always say do your scales first rather than do long note slurs which are far more difficult
and need far more sensitivity and control. Get your lips warmed up while you're doing all
the scale stuff...and get your scales done. And then get on to the really hard stuff, which
is doing long tones because there's nothing more difficult than standing and breathing
and understanding how to put together the color and sound. Practice that, and then go
on to your etudes and pieces.854
Peter Lloyd advocates many hours of practice, but he sees no sense in drilling away
hour after hour, leading to flute "burnout" or physical injury. Instead, he suggests
breaking practice sessions up into blocks of time in which one is awake and aware, and
then taking some time off. This allows the body to unwind from what is, after all, an
unnatural stance, and it allows the mind to stay flexible.
I believe that you have to have time to relax while you're practicing. If I expect people to
do four hours worth of practice--of concentrated work--it takes six hours to do it. You
see? It's no good just standing there and putting your clock on and going "Oh, there's an
hour and now another hour--and I can go soon!" You have to practice according to your
own ability to concentrate.
When you can't concentrate because you're tired or other things are crowding into your
mind...there's no use practicing beyond that limit....You've still got several years of time
to practice. My point is patience. If you learn to practice in twenty-minute stretches
because you can't do half an hour, take time off after twenty minutes...settle yourself
down. Take your mind off of it. Why don't you do a breathing exercise, instead of setting
yourself up with [another work]?
Enjoy your practice. It seems like [people think] "Have I done this? I've got to do that.
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Have I cleaned my teeth today? Have I done my scales?" You must never be a drudge. It
must always be interesting and it must always be productive, you see.855
For many flutists, time is at a premium. There is simply no room for a four-hour
regimen--especially one that takes six hours to complete. Peter Lloyd is very aware of
this problem. His method for keeping one's flute skills sharp during busy times is as
follows:
What do you do if you've only got an hour to practice a day? I do think that you have to
find time, at least five days a week...to practice scales and do scale exercises, and to do
a certain amount of sonority. I think you can do a tremendous amount of sonority on
pieces that you learn.
I think the first thing you'd probably give up is the etudes. I think they're terribly important,
because certain other folks do claim that they do help people to play easily and with
confidence. But I think that's the first thing you do--give up etudes. And then you do a lot
of your sonority and your careful hard work [with] articulation on your pieces.
But I do think that the scales are important...If only to keep your fingers free. It's the
freedom and the fact that when you face scales you are learning to face lines of
sixteenths evenly....I can't give you a blueprint beyond that.856
After warming up on scale exercises, Lloyd believes in working on the difficult part of
flute playing--long tones. He feels that, by beginning with scales, flutists warm up their
bodies to the point where control is possible. Only after that has been done should long
tones be attempted. He feels that long tone exercises are too taxing to be played "cold."
Get students to do their scales for at least an hour....because in the process of doing
that, you're getting free. Your muscles are relaxing, your lips are relaxing, and
everything's free. Then after that start doing your sonority because then your
mouth--your whole system of blowing--is ready for it.857
Students often neglect this aspect of practice, feeling that playing long tones is beneath
them.
Sonority is the hardest thing to understand....Supposing you do practice your long tones.
You start off in the morning and you think, "Okay, better get my long notes done." [There,
Peter Lloyd plays once, carelessly, and then adds some vibrato, equally carelessly.]
It's incredible how many people do just that. And they very soon get used to the
sound...because they've got nothing to compare it with, and then you start to accept
it.858
Just as the terms "embouchure" and "technique" incorporate several aspects, "long
tones" are not simply a test of breath and endurance. They also help build a repertoire of
tone colors [timbres], dynamics, tuning, expression, and even various types of
articulation.
Try to think that it's not just a question of making a beautiful sound. Work on that [sound]
in different dynamics. Try different controls of articulation within those.859
Peter Lloyd learned control of tone color through long tone studies with Fernand Caratgé.
Caratgé used to make me play on...the extremes of color. [He'd] try to make me work the
most disgusting hard ones, in that color, through the whole dynamic range. And then
again to work in [a contrasting color]. But it is desperately important that we don't just
play a medium color--a medium dynamic. That really is not what music's all about. We
have to take risks. You'll find when you listen to the best players, what risks they're
taking musically. Listen to them playing a pianississimo. Listen to the intonation and the
20 de 25 09/08/2007 11:41
color that they're producing. Listen to the bigger sound, too.860
Peter Lloyd feels that, especially in the middle and upper octaves, many flutists tend to
aim their airstream too high and lose the richness of sound present in the lower
harmonics. Long tones provide an opportunity to solve this problem.
When you're warming yourself up, work from below. Start to hear the lower harmonics in
the sound. And if you start [your] sound and it isn't quite as well done as the end of the
previous one, do it again. Make sure it comes back to the same position. Don't be lazy
and...let the colors go.861
The control gained through long-tone studies provide the tools performers need for
maximum artistic expression.
I've not made a big enough issue in past classes about this point. It's very hard wherever
one goes to get people to understand how important it is...because in our career,
whether you're a solo player or an orchestral player, you'll need the biggest range of
dynamic and color that you can find.862
Marcel Moyse's book De La Sonorité863 is an excellent source for tone study exercises.
Lloyd cautions flutists not to blindly start on whatever note Moyse wrote first for each
exercise, but to personalize each study for themselves. Flutists should remember that
this book was written for himself and for his sounds. He used that B-natural in the middle
octave because that was a very good note for him.864
When one has gained a certain amount of control over tuning, dynamics, color, and
articulation, study of Marcel Moyse's book of opera arias, Tone Development Through
Interpretation865 should commence.
When flutists begin the third phase of Peter Lloyd's practice pattern--etudes--they usually
begin practicing them too fast. Lloyd recommends tying long tone studies and etudes
together the first time through an unfamiliar etude.
When you're learning an etude...rather than running through the thing and looking for the
difficult bits, get familiar with it by playing it as long notes. You'll find that...the connection
of intervals when you get faster is that much more effective because you know the sound
colors that you're trying to hear.866
Thomas Nyfenger advocated a slow read-through.
Discover where the most difficult parts are, not by tripping over them several times, but
by taking note of them during the first slow reading and MARKING THESE AREAS FOR
EXTRA CARE [capitals are Nyfenger's] so as to avoid the common pitfall of the
mistake-ridden play through.867
Slow practice is not a waste of time--it is a time saver. Peter Lloyd feels that slow
practice can keep flutists relaxed during the learning process. By practicing phrases
correctly at a slow tempo initially, flutists will tend to practice them correctly--and stay
more relaxed--as phrases are played at increasingly faster tempos.
Don't, don't, don't, don't play too quickly too soon....[Take] a really difficult piece that
you've never played or a study that you've never played, and use it as a tone study. Use
it for intervals. Use it for colors. Use it for anything else you can think of, but keep the
tempo back and only bring the tempo up bit by bit.
It's all psychology. There's a nasty little man that lives up [in our heads] you know. And
he looks at these things sometimes and he tells you, "You can't play that. It's too
difficult." And you've just got to learn how to beat him, because he's really wrong.
21 de 25 09/08/2007 11:41
Try something really, really difficult....Try getting it down to where you don't make a
mistake because it's so easy to read. And you'll be amazed how quickly you learn the
piece right. That type of slow practice is very good.
Now the guiding point is to play it perfectly relaxed. If the fingers start twitching, then
you've gone wrong. It's too fast. It's got to be relaxed. Totally relaxed. Be patient. Move
your metronome up slowly. I know most of you are impatient. But it is a point, it is a way
that works, and I do honestly put that suggestion to you. Try it.868
Remember, every person in the world can play everything that's been written--provided
that it is slow enough.869
Above all, the wise flutist will attempt to play even the most dull etudes musically.
"Practice and play etudes like they are solo performances," Geoffrey Gilbert advised.870
Thomas Nyfenger wrote:
Discover music in these pieces. Yes, I said pieces....If you can make music out of these
etudes, you can charm a stone when applying your skills to some more performable
repertoire.871
Flutists should use etudes to practice aspects of their playing that need work, rather than
struggling with those aspects on solo literature. Etudes are perfect vehicles for
experimentation that leads to improvement. They will reveal the work to be done, not the
impossibility of achieving one's goals. As Thomas Nyfenger wrote: "Never allow the flute
to dictate to you what can and cannot be done."872
The final aspect of the routine is practicing solo repertoire. Geoffrey Gilbert accorded this
aspect of practice no more time than etude work; if the other aspects of playing have
been achieved, solo work will be the easiest part of the practice routine.873
Lloyd adds the following advice from Geoffrey Gilbert: "Remember, practice difficult
pieces, but play easy ones."874
Often, in solo literature, flutists experience difficulty playing two notes against three in the
piano or orchestra--or four against seven. Peter Lloyd worked cross-rhythms out on
graph paper.
Beginning with large-scale, duple beats, he used the graph paper lines to determine
exactly how beats divided into triplets and sixes, and then into fives and sevens, matched
up against one another. With this chart Lloyd was secure when called upon to play any
beat division against another--even such exotic combinations as sevens against fours.
As he said:
You can be exact....And then you can start thinking, "Right, I'm going to go two against
seven," and work that up. In other words, you've got in front of you all the combinations
that you use, and [you] take it up to thirteen. It's really very important to try to understand,
to see where the rhythms are.875
TOP Main Index

Playing with Tension
Most musicians are always trying to improve their playing. This constant striving means
that occasionally, during practice, musicians work themselves into a state of tension.
Peter Lloyd breaks that tension by playing while lying on the floor.
If you have problems with articulation or problems with breathing, just lie on the floor and
do it because you're totally relaxed. You're not standing, holding yourself up. You're not
trying to stop yourself falling.876
22 de 25 09/08/2007 11:41
Chronic tension is another problem altogether and is one of the hardest habits to break in
flute playing. Peter Lloyd advises flutists--as Geoffrey Gilbert did--to start from a point of
success.
What you've got to do is go back in your practice and playing to a stage and a tempo
where you can play slow enough for it to not happen. In other words, slow enough for
you to be able to concentrate on it. [As soon as] you start playing quicker notes, then the
problem is going to come back.
It may take a month. It may take two years. You never know. But the point is, if you break
that sequence of practice where you're very slowly developing that relaxation, if you
break that, you've gone back.877
On-the-job practice is an aspect Lloyd has had to face for most of his professional life. As
a "no play, no pay" organization, the London Symphony Orchestra had a grueling
schedule where much of the playing was practically sight-reading. Lloyd quickly learned
how to make the most of his time during rehearsals.
You know in the orchestra we did an awful lot of session work on films and whatnot, and
there were times when you walked in there in the early morning and you hadn't had the
music...and you're looking at this dreadful mass of black and you knew that it was
supposed to be in the can [recorded] in the next half hour. And it had to be there, and it
had to be right.
So, while the strings were trying to figure out their own notes and bowings, you're very
carefully going through...looking for wrong notes--looking for notes that didn't belong to
the chord or scales.... working very slowly, very concentrated.878
Above all, flutists should never stop striving to better themselves. Many times in the rush
of teaching, concertizing, freelancing, or negotiating the maze of paper in classroom
situations, flutists are drained of time and energy and practice suffers. James Galway
writes:
You must learn to need practice, just as [without troubling to learn it] you need to eat and
sleep. When practice has sunk into your routine to this extent, we are really getting
somewhere.879
One of the reasons Peter Lloyd keeps his masterclasses open to both students and
professional flutists is the realization that even professionals need a "thousand-mile
checkup" now and again to make sure that bad habits have not crept back into their
playing.
Peter Lloyd has distilled the best advice from his teachers and his own experiences into
a wealth of knowledge which he has freely shared in classes, private lessons, and
through this paper. His generosity and kindness kindle such enthusiasm for the art of
flute playing that flutists under his instruction gain rapid progress. Moreover, this
progress is accomplished with joy instead of fear and frustration.
It is hoped that this work will bring Peter Lloyd's ideas to many flutists who may then
benefit more directly from his teaching.
768 Wye, Proper Flute Playing, 26.

770 Ibid.
771 Ibid.
774 Toff, 182.
23 de 25 09/08/2007 11:41

777 Ibid.
778 Ibid.
781 Ibid.
782 Ibid.
783 Ibid.
785 Morris, 52.
788 Ibid.
789 Ibid.
790 Galway, 194-5.
793 Ibid.
796 Ibid.
797 Ibid.
799 Nyfenger, 30.
801 Ibid.
805 Wye, 26.
807 Ibid.
810 Ibid.
814 Ibid.
821 Ibid.
830 Ibid.
831 Ibid.
833 Ibid.
24 de 25 09/08/2007 11:41

842 Toff, 174.
845 Masterclass notes 10/29/94, Performer 2.
847 Masterclass notes 10/29/94, Performer 2.
850 Ibid.
853 Floyd, 126.
858 Ibid.
859 Ibid.
860 Ibid.
861 Ibid.
862 Ibid.
863 Marcel Moyse, De La Sonorité (Paris: Alphonse Leduc, 1934).
865 Marcel Moyse, Tone Development Through Interpretation (New York: McGinnis & Marx
Publishers, 1962).
867 Nyfenger, 122.
870 Floyd, 124.
871 Nyfenger, 122.
872 Nyfenger, 122.
873 Floyd, 130.
879 Galway, 111.
25 de 25 09/08/2007 11:41

Lloyd Peter - Disertacion Sobre Técnica de La Flauta PDF

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Larry Krantz Flute Pages - Lord Dissertation on Peter Lloyd - 2 http://www.larrykrantz.com/chapt2.

Chapter 2 Back to Main Index

Correct Use and Affect on Flute Performance

Although teachers everywhere advocate "support," Peter Lloyd believes that a

TOP Main Index

How short-sighted are you?...When you play those...notes, you're strangling

thing adds up.

Displacing the embouchure is not the only problem of overly-expressive body

When considering the aforementioned instructions and admonitions, Lloyd cautions

TOP Main Index

"Think of the Midsummer Night's Dream 'Scherzo'," he advises. Logically, the

This is a situation in which flutists often find themselves. A relatively short

TOP Main Index

There's a little way of thinking...which doesn't actually interrupt the rhythm...and

The hyperventilation and dizziness experienced by so many beginning flute

TOP Main Index

Air flow during exhalation should be unrestricted between the

Despite instructions and exercises, flutists should not become over-analytical

TOP Main Index

William Kincaid defined two parts to what he termed "support"--"volume" and

TOP Main Index

During inhalation, air flow is unimpeded. During exhalation it is also

Too large of an embouchure hole causes an insubstantial sound, wasted air,

TOP Main Index

And again, during a masterclass warmup:

TOP Main Index

At another time, Lloyd instructed students to get to a Robert Dick class.

TOP Main Index

Most flutists reason that if a fast-flowing airspeed is required for louder

not going to change its speed.313

As you work in this way, everything needs to be relaxed.317

Lloyd passed along this visualization from a student of his in Manchester:

TOP Main Index

TOP Main Index

Often, flutists have various problems articulating. They may experience a

diaphragm]--everything. And tongue forward. And...at the end...I was so

Gareth Morris's writings underscore the point of French pronunciation in

Lloyd started playing flute using back tonguing.

TOP Main Index

Flute tone color changes by adding or subtracting harmonics to notes. Adding

TOP Main Index

Hearkening back to exercise and flute playing, Lloyd said:

A very interesting thing happened in a masterclass. One of my lads is a very

256 Masterclass notes, 6/13/95, Technique class.

258 Masterclass notes, 6/14/94, Evening class.

315 Additional taped notes, October 1997.

Chapter 3 Back to Main Index

Marcel Moyse was especially adamant about "vibrato" as opposed to "expression." A

Peter Lloyd explains the difference:

TOP Main Index

We've talked about vibrato....you cannot control vibrato, or color, or anything

Geoffrey Gilbert used to do a marvelous demonstration where he would finger [the

As pedagogical aids, Peter Lloyd has several recommendations:

TOP Main Index

One area of difficulty for flutists is the low register.

Do listen to a Frenchman talking, because an American or an Englishman trying to

TOP Main Index

In other places, a phrase needs more.

TOP Main Index

TOP Main Index

In speaking of eras, he said:

I think we have to be very careful to remember that styles change. 277

Forte in French doesn't necessarily mean a great enormous American-English sort of