One definition of Practice is “to play something regularly or repeatedly in order to become skilled at it”. Looking at athletes and army personnel they do exercises and strength building to gain muscle memory.
There are several ways to look at practice and methods of it. Practice is, and can be, a very personal experience and choice.

There is a Pablo Casals quote that I love and is so relevant:

At the age of 80 he was asked why he still practiced 4 or so hours a day and his reply was,
“Because I think I am making progress”.

These are my thoughts on practicing and practice sessions.

The player needs to decide each session what they want to achieve and listen in a very critical and intense way. There needs to be an end goal and a plan of what they want to accomplish and how they are going to get there. What are the strategic steps to success of that plan. It can be a 12-month plan, 2 year then 5 year, each with the steps of how one is going to get there. No different from building a retail business. Practice is also a time to work at any changes one wishes to implement into their style or playing. Taking the time to think about change and changes one would like to make is very beneficial and can also cut down long term practice time because bad habits are not being practiced in more than they need to be.

The base of my plan always revolves around:

Foundation Tools: These are on the website and based on Mastering the Flute with William Bennett by Roderick Seed plus some of my own. They start from whistle tones all the way through to vocalisations {using words to express a phrase}.

Marcel Moyse 24 Little Melodic Studies: This is where I find, am reminded, and keep a strong sense of artistry. All of these are on the website with detailed video guides of how to and sound files for reference.

Marcel Moyse Tone Development Through Interpretation: This is where I walk through the wonderful door of melodies, find and keep my voice on the flute, develop subtlety and colour in my playing as well as a diverse approach to what I want to sound like. This is an amazing resource for flute players and keeps on giving. They are on the website with sound files, background information, reference recordings and video guides.

Vocalisations: Using words to develop tone and expression in a player. Also, on the website. These are melodies with words like “Somewhere over the Rainbow” where I can bridge the gap between me and the flute and work on tone quality and tasteful expressive phrasing. Words open up space in the mouth and enable the player to connect with their inner musical self. I have found them to be the quickest way back for me after over 22 years away from the flute and my career. They have cut my come back time enormously because it is easy to bounce off these when they are solidly under control.

Context: This is time spent listening and research to understand what I am playing, the context of it and then being able to develop my own thoughts on what I am going to do and play. I don’t restrict myself in any way to what I am willing to listen to if it will help me, hence “Flowers” by Miley Cyrus.

Change: Because I do so much listening both of my own playing and recordings, I have a clear idea of what I would like to implement into my playing and also what I didn’t like about my last recording session or tapes. I make the changes or adjustments quickly so that no bad habits are being practiced into muscle memory. The time spent in this part of the practice session has been invaluable to me. I do think it is important though when being super critical of oneself that you take the time to enjoy and celebrate the good things you hear as well as the things you want to change and don’t let that overtake the overall progress made and where you are at. It is important to not always hear the negative in everything.

The session below is a map of my way back to playing in 2 and half years from my first note that I played which really sounded like a rusty plumbing pipe, I almost put the flute down again and thought I can’t do this but the determined me came out and this is what worked for me. When I decide to do something, nothing stops me. I focus on my goal and don’t get distracted by anything, so I would say focus is also important to practice and its success.

Warmup is crucial, launching into a Paganini caprice before being warm and having a relaxed beautiful tone will do more harm than good.

Making sure we are in the right mental space for a practice session. What do I mean?
I mean being willing to listen intently, wanting to improve every note, phrase, and piece. Being willing to tape oneself and be super critical until the player is convinced it’s really sings and working musically.

For me practice is always about not blowing the flute. What do I mean by that? Of course, I have to blow the flute, otherwise how would I get a sound you might ask?

What I mean is a mental and body approach to making the flute, its tone and expression part of me. There can be a big disconnect tonally and musically between the metal flute and the player. The distance is a barrier to tone and expression unless we join it. This is easier said than done and it takes a daily focus. I find if I blow the flute the tone is disingenuous, and the phrasing lacks the depth and emotion I want to hear. It is on the superficial side because it isn’t coming from deep inside me.

I use the Foundation Tools to find and keep the speaking point of the flute and flexibility as well as getting it ringing and singing with harmonics. If, when I sing and play it is not ringing with ease, I don’t move on until it does. There are a lot of these, and I do them all. This takes keen ears and a vocal approach which is the first step to not blowing the flute. I have also done Alexander Technique {focus on the body} which has a similar approach. I personally find for me musically, that focusing on singing and the flute joining easier to get the result I want and natural musical expression because my voice is my most natural instrument. This is part of my warmup and can be alternated and adapted to a player’s needs.

Next step for me is a vocalisation or two as I always choose gorgeous, expressive melodies so they put me in a great musical mood and warm up tonal space. Words open up space in the mouth and aid the player with subtle expression. Fabulous things words! It is also an opportunity to practice my next session melodies, memory work and transposition here too. Transposition to different keys is really very beneficial, makes the player musically aware.
Next step is taking this approach and space I am in into the interval exercise and dynamic exercise in Marcel Moyse -De la Sonorite. I adapt the first exercise in Sonorite when I do it to an “I love you” phrasing which suits me more. Just add another note to each pattern to get an “I love you”. I have heard that Moyse when thinking about this exercise was listening to Dame Nellie Melba through the walls of a train and didn’t hear that she was actually leading the pattern she was singing as a warmup with a leading interval note. That is why it is not in the exercise.

Then I do at least 2 Melodious Studies (24 or 25) and Tone Development Through Interpretations as well as at least 3 exercises from the back of the Tone Development book. I alternate them to make sure I cover them all in a week. I also like Roderick Seed’s vocalise book, they are terrific, especially Hommage to Poulenc. This part of my warmup where I ensure I am listening intently and in a critical mode to everything I am doing. I also use this time to play from memory and transpose what I am doing into different keys. I like playing away from the music stand as much as possible. It is just another barrier to freedom of expression and tone production.

I am pretty warmed up and sounding the way I want by this time, so I alternate scale books written by Taffanel, Reichert, Moyse full range and Geoffrey Gilbert scales daily. Slow practice at least 4 times a week on these listening to intonation on intervals and the colour change between major and minor. Fingers close to the keys with a soft expressive touch.

Next, I choose a study that has a technique I want to develop in myself and off I go. My sole focus is to make a musical experience and story from this study. I use this time to also practice skeleton work by instantly recognising the skeleton, keys, and musical structure of a work. I tape myself to be sure the musical line and shape is clear and expressive. I also use this time to practice transposing into different keys.

At this point I more than likely will take a break and I use it to research and listen to recordings of singers, string players, anything that will inspire me, and I can learn from. Being educated about the repertoire one is playing makes a huge difference to everything from tone, fundamental interpretation, phrasing, and the end result the player wishes to achieve.

An example, I liked this recording for inspiration on Taffanel scales. Bounced out of my chair with new purpose after this recording of Olga Pashchenko playing Mozart.

Heiftz if I am looking for passion, expression, and depth of tone.

If I have time, I start the repertoire I have picked out for my next recording session. Start with the more difficult sections and leave the melodies until later as all the work I do every day makes them easier, they flow without too much difficulty. A classic example of this is the Reinecke “Undine” second movement. The melodic theme, which is No 5 in Tone Development, I play this so often it sounds on my recording like I am coming home to a place I love. That really struck me when I listened to it and of course I was coming home to a place I love and spend a lot of time in.

I tape myself and listen carefully to whether I am singing my way through pieces musically or have regressed to blowing the flute which is something I dislike intensely in myself and tone in general on the flute. It is the fastest way to Moyse’s “ugly nasal sound”.

Taping myself has really been invaluable to me because so many times I listen back and say to myself “Really, Eileen, what were you thinking?” I didn’t think I did that, but yes, I did do that. This cut my practice time in half because I fixed whatever it was straight away. At first, it was just the iPad or my phone. Now I have a top microphone, so it is even more telling. I can hear everything. I also listen to every recording session and make notes on what I didn’t like, what caused it and how to fix it. Only one recording so far has scored 99% with me and that is “somewhere over the rainbow.”

The final point I would say about practice is I ask myself “have I made one more step closer to my end goal I have set and given myself the ability to really play a piece with control and musical insight”. A practice session will reflect what the player is all about musically. If it’s all studies and scales then virtuosity is the focus which is great if there is no cost to that goal like tone quality and expression, So, the session will be about notes and lots of them in the shortest space of time. It is pretty clear from mine that I am all about communication with the listener, expression, finding an individual tone and musical voice, interpretation, and fingers. My focus with technical practice is the same as melodies. Make them beautiful, expressive and say something with every note. Where am I going musically always and why.?

Rampal “the fingers anyone can do, the tone it is not so easy” That will always come first for me.

Two mottos I live by.

Never say “I love you “with an ugly nasal sound.

Bring the FLUTE and MUSIC to LIFE.

So, the practice session can be anything we wish and will depend on the parameters we set ourselves as to whether we mindlessly play for hours in the hope of getting better and faster or have a set goal, a plan, strict requirements of ourselves and listen really intently. Vastly different outcomes and time spent achieving progress.