[kathuntalice-it]

I think the main problem is that with the flute you can’t SEE what the fingers are doing, you can only FEEL it and I don’t think I am quite there with the FEEL of each note. So for the scales I have to visualise the whole scale as it looks in the music and then play what I see but in my mind’s eye (with some of the trickier scales). I wonder if there are any flute players out there who have any suggestions as to how to coordinate the fingers and the notes in the most efficient way (from memory). Is it once again simply a question of practice, practice and more practice?

[kathuntalice-it]

I’ve been thinking about this problem of playing scales and arpeggios (not to mention the dominant and diminshed chords) when recording myself, and why my fingers have no idea what they should be doing anymore. There’s definitely a HUGE gap between VISUALISING the whole scale/chord/arpeggio (which I manage to do in my head) and the actual PLAYING it/them. I don’t feel particuarly nervous (at least I don’t think I do) but the fingers suddenly feel like jelly, and my brain goes like jelly too. I wonder whether I should imagine PRACTISING rather than PERFORMING and not the other way round. The pieces are not nearly as bad as the scales and I seem to have more control over them. But even with the easy scales (like G major) everything goes to pieces!!!

[kathuntalice-it]

I’ve only just come across this forum and there are some really interesting questions and topics. I have a flute exam in a couple of weeks and am getting quite nervous as I have discovered the enormous gap between practising and ‘performing’ (even if it is for an exam). I have decided to make a video each day of a ‘mock’ exam and then to analyse what is not going well and see if I can be satisfied with my progress. But it seems that as soon as the recording starts I completely forget even the simplest things like scales and arpeggios that I have been practising for months without any real problems. I wonder why recording myself should produce such catastrophic results. I am not frightened by the thought of the exam itself as I look on it as a personal check-up. I am an adult player who discovered the flute rather late in life so have no worries about auditions or being accepted into a music school. It’s for my own pleasure and the exam has the aim of getting me out of the ‘comfort’ zone and into the ‘stretch’ zone so I can improve my playing (and hopefully be confident enough to play in front of other people). However, I wonder if I’m now in the ‘panic’ zone. Have you any suggestions as to why I should get so anxious about doing a recording (for my own purposes)?