In the Practice Diary, I’ve made some references to exercise books that I use. In the posts I’ve referred to them using mostly commonly known abbreviations, at least for people who had experience with them, but not everyone may know what they mean, so this is a short post explaining what the are. In a later post I plan to explain why and how I use them.
‘EJ’ stands for 17 Grands Exercises Journaliers (Daily Exercises) by Paul Taffanel and Gaubert. This is one of the most enduring exercise books, I call it one of the flute Bibles. I use Exercise number 4 (EJ4) almost every time I practice to establish a baseline for tone and articulation consistency in many keys and all registers.
‘Moyse’ is another flute Bible. The exercises in Marcel Moyse’s Exercises Journaliers are designated by letter, but there are several exercises that share the same letter so I’ve been referring to what the exercise actually is. So far I’ve only concentrated on one of the C exercises, triads, mostly for intonation and tone. If you’ve heard of James Galway’s scale challenge, this is the book you would be working out of. It covers much more than scales and is great for developing a good core tone that will work in all registers. You also need all the technique it offers.
I’ve also referred to one of Trevor Wye’s Practice Books, Book 1: Tone.
These books are all available through Flute World, www.fluteworld.com, if you can’t find them other places. The first two are not cheap, but they have been standards for many decades, and for good reason! Used properly and practiced conscientiously, they will help you develop the fundamentals of technique that will give you the tools you need to play just about anything.
Any time you want something in the Practice Diary explained, just let me know! It may take a couple of days, but I will at least get the basic explanation to you ASAP.
Happy Practicing!