The Simple Flute: From A to Z

289 Pages·2002·2.77 MB·English

by  Michel Debost

The Simple Flute:

From A to Z

Michel Debost
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
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From A to Z

Michel Debost
Illustrated by Jeanne Debost-Roth
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2002
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Oxford New York
Athens Auckland Bangkok Bogotá Buenos Aires Cape Town
Chennai Dar es Salaam Delhi Florence Hong Kong Istanbul Karachi
Kolkata Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melbourne Mexico City Mumbai Nairobi
Paris São Paulo Shanghai Singapore Taipei Tokyo Toronto Warsaw
and associated companies in
Berlin Ibadan
Copyright © 2002 by Oxford University Press
Published by Oxford University Press, Inc.

198 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016

Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press.

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,

stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,

electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise,

without the prior permission of Oxford University Press.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Debost, Michel.

[Simple flûte. English]

The simple flute : from A to Z / Michel Debost.

p. cm.

Translated from French.

Includes bibliographical references.

ISBN 0-19-514521-6

1. Flute—Instruction and study. I. Title.

MT340 .D4313 2002

788.3'2193—dc21 2001033831

1 3 5 7 9 8 6 4 2
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper


A to Z in Form of Introduction 3
Isometrics 140

Accompaniment 5
Jawboning 143

Acoustics 11
Keys 148

Agogic 12
Lips 154

Air Column 14
Little Devils 156

Air Speed 17
Memory 160

Alignment 18
Muscle Groups 163

Appoggiatura 21
Muscles, Strong and Weak 166

Appoggio 23
Notes 168

Arpeggio 25
Pain and Pleasure 169

Articulation 26
Paris Conservatoire and French

Attacks 30
School 173

Beginners 34
Phrasing 176

Blowing Long Phrases 38
Posture 184

Breathing 1: Generalities 43
Practicing 187

Breathing 2: Mechanics 46
Programs 191

Breathing 3: Where Not to
Quodlibet 195

Breathe 48
Repertoire 201

Breathing 4: Where to Breathe 50
Resonance 204

Bridge 52
Rituals 207

Center of Gravity 54
Rest 210

Circular Blowing 57
Rubato 211

Concentration, Relaxation 59
Scale Game 215

Diaphragm 61
Silence 219

Dynamics 63
Stability 222

Embouchure 68
Stepping-Stones 224

Études 71
Stress 230

Fingerings 72
Style 237

Finger Antagonisms 78
Technique 241

Finger Phrasing 80
Tempo 243

Flutes 82
Tonguing 248

Focus 88
Trills 255

Freedom 90
Tuning 256

Grace Notes 97
Unusual Trill Fingerings 258

Hands 101
Vibrato 260

Hierarchy of Beats 109
Warm-Ups 264

Images 111
Yawning 265

Interpretation 113
Zeal in Form of Conclusion 266

Interpreting Accents 123
Bibliography 269

Intervals 128
Index 271

Intonation, Intonations 134
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Alphabetical order for entries in this book has been chosen for various reasons.
The main one is that such a book is not meant to be read like a novel, drink in
hand under the lamp. It is a book for lovers of the divine pipe, for those fascinated
by actual contact with the flute, with instrumental playing as well as musical
function in mind, for its poetic mysteries as well as for its technical secrets.
I have been playing the flute for close to sixty years. Yet nothing is indifferent to
me that involves the flute. Hopefully it will be so as long as I have a breath, or a
tooth, left. I take nothing for granted either, and each day brings new questions
and renewed pleasures.
Separating into “logical” compartments different aspects of musical art (tech-
nique, tone, articulation, interpretation, etc.) seems to me arbitrary. I cannot see
the border between questions. The art of the flute is not a chest of isolated little
drawers with one aspect of playing locked in each one. Musicality does not start
where technique stops, if it ever stops.
There is no possible practice of articulation without a cultivated tone, any
more than there can be a valid reflection on tone without a living consciousness
of the breath. There is no significant instrumental work without a musical proj-
ect, and there can be no meaningful interpretation without valid instrumental
playing.
“Art is but feeling. Yet, without the science of volumes, of proportions, of col-
ors, without the ability of the hand, the liveliest feeling is paralyzed. What would
become of the greatest poet in a foreign land, whose tongue he knew nothing
about?”1
Alphabetical organization, therefore, seemed to me more practical for a “flute
in hand” reading.
Another reason relates to the attention span of your average flutist. Mine does
not go much beyond a thousand words, or about two typewritten pages. Such is
the size of most of my subjects, to which are added a few illustrations, musical
examples, and sketches by Jeanne Debost-Roth. She has the necessary know-how
and patience, being the daughter and wife of flute players.
If interest is aroused by an entry, the implied subjects are indexed, again in al-
phabetical order, at the end of each entry, so that a curious reader may easily find
them in cross-reference. Some ideas will be repeated for the same reason, some-
times word for word: cross-reference. The repetitions are not unintended. Teach-
ing is, like conducting, glorified redundancy. After the teacher has repeated the
same axiom a hundred times, the student will need to hear it for the hundred and
first time.
Music is whole, and to serve it one must explore the secret paths that link aes-
1. Auguste Rodin (1840–1917) in L’Art (Paris: Bernard Grasset: 1911).
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