Endings of notes!

I was listening yesterday in my car to a recent CD I made with my husband.

My thoughts took me back to the recording- the rehearsals and the coachings
I have had over the years.

One thing I particularly noticed was how nicely I have had learned to end
the notes.

I am speaking about not just the end of a phrase but the end of each note.
Once, when I was rehearsing with my pianist he said to me" Can we work Bar
such and such." Then he said " Did you ever notice how beautifully such and
such and such ends each note he plays? I had never thought of that. I was
always concerned with the beginning of a note, the intonation,. movement of
the phrase etc. - I think I was so busy in my mind thinking of the new bit
coming up that I never allowed myself to think of the end of the actual note
I was playing.

When I realized this, I was amazed how I just dropped the end of the note
or really just ended it by stopping blowing. All I had to do was to start
listening...... And so I did...... and my playing changed.

It was another step in my awareness to what I was doing.

If you want to have some fun today when you practice listen to your endings
and just end them nicely, musically- a little vibrato, a little lift-

Remember , the music should always carry on, outwards to the listener, not
drop dead in front of you like a bang.

We are musicians, playing the flute not a workman banging a hammer!

Let me know how you get on!
Your friend,

 

P.S. By the way that musician who ends his notes so beautifully is my husband: Sir James