Eileen Gilligan Flute Daniel Le Piano – Joe Hisaishi – The Rain

The Rain was chosen and transcribed as an extension exercise to the pitch bend low note chromatic exercise in the Foundation Tools section of The Flautist. The low register of the flute can deliver some beautiful warm deep tone if worked on correctly and controlled. It requires relaxation, flexibility and control. It is an excellent opportunity to find the speaking point of the flute, hold it and carry it through a melody.

The melody covers the low to middle register perfectly, demanding an expressive, warm and projective tone.

Exercises in order to get the most out of this melody: All of them are in the Foundation Tools section of the website.

• Whistle tones over the full three registers of the flute, concentrate on the lower fingerings as they are the hardest, if having trouble relax the lips and make sure the airstream is centred.
• Pitch bend over the full three registers of the flute. Can use arpeggio pattern to do this or chromatic pattern.
• Pitch bend low note chromatic exercise coming up to the most centred warm tone from the bend and carrying it through down to low C or B
• Harmonics over the full range and vocalised harmonics. Make sure to test them against the actual note, they must be exactly the same pitch. Aim to get a beautiful tone and singing style when playing harmonics, they can be really beautiful quality wise.
• If feeling super inspired sing the low register chromatically into the flute whilst fingering it.
• Do a lot of legato slurred work to warm up before commencing articulation.
• Air is king and controlling it is the key to everything. If the air speed is not controlled between notes life becomes hard.
• Keep your tongue low and out of the way of the air stream, never block the air. That is why I use da for tonguing.

 This recording of The Rain inspired my transcription for the Flautist because of the strings and the quality of tone and phrasing. Violins and cellos get a natural warm deep quality and I wanted to capture that in my low register and this melody.

The Rain by Joe Hisaishi 

There is always sunshine after the rain.