Why not extend your palette with singing and
playing? Part 2. By Dean Stallard
Having found
several good reasons for singing and playing simultaneously and discovered that
even you can sing louder than a mosquito we are now ready to proceed to the
real thing.
Before
proceeding you need to make a radical change in your thought process. Up until
now the flute has rightly been the central focus of your practice sessions.
When singing and playing you will be focusing mostly on singing and just
trusting that the flute will play if you get all the other things right.
Remember also my
warning in Part 1 not to overdo the singing volume when you start singing and
playing but do try to recall the tension you felt in your abdomen when howling
in Preliminary Exercise 2. Try now to re-create that feeling when you sing and
play, although of course not to the same exaggerated degree as when howling at
the moon!
I have used
examples from “The Fife Book” (Liz Goodwin -published by Just Flutes) as I introduce
singing and playing to beginners on the fife but you can use any other simple
tunes if you prefer.
Exercise
1: Play B1 on your
flute. Remove the flute and sing a B moderately loudly. It doesn`t matter if you
are singing in the same octave as you played as long as you are singing a B.
Repeat the exercise if necessary until you can sing a B and hold it fairly
stable.
Now while
singing the B form your lips into a flute embouchure and try to focus the air
into a thin stream that is moving fairly fast. It can help to place your right
index finger (your left one is still holding the flute) just in front of the
lip opening and move it from side to side to feel if the air really is focused.
Exercise
2: Once you have
achieved some degree of success in ex.1 you are now ready to sing and play
simultaneously. While singing your B, finger B on the flute and bring it slowly
into playing position. Do it slowly as you might have to adjust the position
and angle slightly from what you are used to if you are used to playing with a
spread air-stream, which is more forgiving to flute placement. Keep singing and
adjust the flute until the B kicks in on the flute.
If you
can`t get a note on the flute repeat the finger test from ex.1. If the flute
note still won`t come make sure you really are singing a B, repeat ex. 1 in
full. If you are still experiencing difficulty make sure that you are singing
in tune, bend the note slightly up and down with your voice until the B starts
sounding on the flute (I said that this would improve your aural skills).
If your
lips are buzzing then you are singing too loud, if the flute note is very weak
then you are not singing loud enough (assuming the aforementioned factors have
been checked). A slight vibration and tickling in the lips is quite normal and
can in fact function as a pleasant lip massage to relieve tension (Wow! another
use for Extended Techniques!!).
Exercise
3: Now that you can
successfully sing and play a B turn to page 12 in “The Fife Book”. Sing and play your B a couple of times to
make sure that you are hitting it and then try to play and sing “Merrily We
Roll Along”. The voice and flute should be in unison but don`t need to be in
the same octave. Don`t worry about articulating to start with, just play a big
long slur and pulse with the voice on repeated notes. As you achieve more
success you can start adding your tongue but still aim at a legato style
without detaching the notes.
When you
feel confident with “Merrily We Roll Along” you can try some of the other tunes
on pages 12 and 13.
Exercise
4: Once you can
manage to sing and play in unison fairly comfortably you are ready to try
polyphony. Look at “Doppy`s Leg” on page 13. Play and sing it once in unison.
Now play it once more but this time sing the first note in each bar as a drone
while you play the tune, with the exception of the last note on each line when
you will need to sing the tonic in unison with the flute (unless of course
you`d prefer a crashing harmonic suspensionJ). Again don`t worry too much about separating
the notes, aim instead for a legato style of playing. Once you have managed
this you can reverse the roles and sing the tune while holding the drones on
the flute.
Exercise
5: Having explored
droning you are now ready for an interesting practical application of singing
and playing. I teach in Norway where they use a special sort of fiddle with
drone strings used to play folk music. My young Norwegian students attempt to
play simple folk tunes with an authentic feel by singing drones as they play.
In British
folk music we have our own instrument complete with drones- the Bagpipes!!
Turn to “Amazing
Grace” on page 29. Sing and play a unison G1 and hold it nice and steady, then
launch into the tune while keeping the G drone going with your voice. Voila!!
“Amazing Grace” with a distinctly Edinburgh Tattoo flavour. This could give a
whole new and literal meaning to playing a Musette on the flute!!