Black note syndrome. As flutists we have all experienced this. The nausea, fear, and unsettling uncertainty that comes from looking at a piece of music and seeing a multitude of dense runs. We often find ourselves panicked, ultimately making the symptoms of this syndrome worse as we rush through it in a frenzied attempt to reach the next beat and try to forget that the run ever occurred. But as a flutist especially, we need to overcome this terrible disease and finger out a way to approach these thick musical moments as they are often some of the most exhilarating and musically satisfying moments in a piece. So today, as I was practicing a standard and an old favorite of mine, I realized that I have a very efficient technique for approaching these sometimes scary musical moments. I thought I would take a moment to take you through my personal process, one step at a time. The piece that I am currently working on has many fast runs of varying degrees--from triplets and sixteenth notes to 7-tuplets and thirty-second notes, and although I have been able to get these musical moments under my fingers to some degree, I have found that they are not always as centered and consistent as I would like them to be. So rather than be satisfied with a hazy and not-so-satisfying performance of these runs I decided to take a moment to consider how to better approach them. Fortunately for me I have had some incredible teachers in my musical studies and have developed an accessible method for approaching these daunting black note passages. Let's take this example from the piece I am working on: My inner technician and theorist tells me that the composer is simply arpeggiating a C Dominant 7 chord and, thanks to many hours spent toiling away at scales and arpeggios, I am able to execute the fingers after a short period of time. However, execution and musicality do not always go hand in hand, and I begin to wonder if there isn't an easier way to consider this 10 note run. With this in mind I begin to look at these ten notes from a different perspective. Here you can see that I have decided to split this 10-tuplet neatly in half, forming two 5-tuplets: This seems to be an elegant, easy solution: as I play the run my mind (and fingers) will anchor on the E (which is the third of the seventh chord) and again on the C (which is the seventh chord's root). As I approach the run with this in mind, it begins to sound more even and clear. However, it is still a bit disjointed and not nearly as focused as I would like. So, I decide, why stop here? The first step was a bit easy and obvious: take the group of ten and split it in half into two groups of five. But how does one split up a group of five? Well at this point it is a matter of personal preference. One could easily split the groups of five into 3-2 or a 2-3, depending on which pairing feels better and makes more sense to the fingers. (I often talk about my fingers as if they have a mind of their own, which they sometimes do!) Here you can see how I have decided to split up this run: Each group of 5 has been split into two groups: a 2-tuplet followed by a 3-tuplet. It is important to remember that I have not altered the rhythm of the original 10-tuplet, I have simply created four anchor points within it (the E, Bb, C, and G) to facilitate in the performance of the run. Rather than hitting the high E and hoping your fingers and air will line up perfectly, focusing on multiple anchor notes within the run enables me to effectively shift my air stream and accurately place my fingers throughout the run. I use this technique of splitting up longer runs frequently in my performances. Here is a longer example, from the same piece, of how I do so. I want to direct your attention specifically to the three consecutive upward runs beginning on the low E in measure 6 of this example. As you can see, the composer is beginning each of these runs with an E-G-B and then extending this arpeggiated triad up by: 2 (E-G), 3 (E-G-B), and finally 4 (E-G-B-E) before landing on the climactic high G. By taking the time to split up the runs in this passage I have not only enabled myself to better execute the passage technically, but I have also gained a deeper understanding of this passage. The composer is not simply making the music more hectic to frustrate future performers, but rather he is building musical tension by adding more notes to the same time (these runs all take up the space of one eighth note) before ascending to climax of these measures: the high G. This high note is more effective when one exaggerates the swell and fall of the music preceding it, and I am in a better position to convey this in my performance thanks to how I have approached the passage technically.
So when you find yourself puzzled by an intimidating black smudge of ink on the page take a moment to step back, breathe deeply, and then approach the music with a fresh mindset and look for a way to split the run up in your head. You will find that very soon you will be able to accurately and effectively perform the music at hand. From the wandering musician, KrystleJane And bonus points goes to the first person to name this piece and the composer! |
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