Have you heard about Sir James Galway’s scale practicing challenge? It has been the buzz of his forum for weeks. He has challenged all flutists who are willing to put some serious work in to go through Moyse’s Daily Exercises method book with him. He has pledged to do the practice routine prescribed in the book every day, no matter where he is, and wants others to do the same. Neat, huh?! Can you imagine yourself practicing the same exercises that this legendary flutist is doing every day?
I have to admit that I got so enthusiastic that I jumped the gun and started right away. Turns out that the challenge didn’t get started ’til Sept. 26, but I figure that I might miss a day here and there so I’ll probably finish along with everyone else. These are some pretty rigorous exercises, and if I hadn’t worked through them before, I would probably be pretty intimidated to try it now. You start out with basic scales, then work through ever-widening intervals and iterations of broken chords. It is a terrific workout! I believe that working on the wide intervals is one of the keys to developing a flexible sound that is consistent in all registers.
Copy and paste this link into your browser, it will take you to a video of Sir James demonstrating why and how to practice these scales.
http://galwaynetwork.com/scale.htm
This could be some of the most important practicing you ever do!