Gareth Davies Flute

>>GARETH: Hi my name is Gareth Davies and I'm principal flute with the London Symphony Orchestra.

I'm going to run through a few orchestral excerpts that you will hopefully be playing

in your audition for the You Tube symphony orchestra.

Now let's start with Beethoven's Leonora Overture number three.

It's one of the most widely played excerpts at orchestral auditions

and there's a few little things that people always slip up on.

Mainly the timing.

Now I would advise you first of all to go and listen to a few recordings of this piece

because there are many, many different tempos you can play it at

but pick one that you're comfortable with

and stick to it.

So if you go from the opening

it's normally done in six. It's quite slow so make sure you take a big breath.

Now don't worry too much it says fortissimo at the beginning

but the whole orchestra is playing so don't blow all your lungs out right at the beginning

and then run out of breath halfway through.

So it's really important to remember your sense of pitch as well.

It's very easy to start that note its fortissimo with a diminuendo to a piano

at the end of the first bar.

Make sure you keep the pitch up. Don't let it drop

because unfortunately the violins won't drop with you.

Now the next section where we move onto bar 17

again remember the tempo 'cause we've got different

changes in rhythm here. So it moves from crochets

and then we've got triplets.

But just remember when you're playing the triplets there's an answering phrase of the triplets

as well in between so don't rush through it.

Remember you've got to play the rest as well.

It's really important in that triplet bit

that you keep a steady tempo.

I've heard so many people come and play at auditions for the London Symphony Orchestra

and they suddenly change to a completely different tempo

and it's one of those things that shows that

perhaps haven't played in an orchestra before or you're not aware of what's going on around you.

So always make sure you know

what else is happening in the music. It's not just all about flute solos.

Now when it moves onto the allegro section

there is a very famous solo with a bassoon.

Now again don't try and play this too quickly because you'll probably come a cropper at the end.

And again make sure the relationship between the different sections of the music is the same.

We've got triplets, crotchet triplets at the end,

but before that we've got quavers.

Make sure that you keep a steady tempo.

Practice it with a metronome It's a kind of obvious thing to say

but you know it's amazing how many people don't do it.

Now let's have a look at Brahms 4.

There's a very famous solo in the last movement.

It's one of those moments where seemingly the whole movement just stops all of a sudden

and the flute is left alone with a very, very small accompaniment of strings.

Now when you look at the music it doesn't look like a particularly fantastic solo

but it's one of those moments where if you get it right it can be a real show stopper.

Now the most important thing to do is to look at where the phrases go.

Brahms marks lots of small phrases and he marks lots of

crescendos and diminuendos as well.

There are also many, many quaver rests all the way through.

Now don't get caught up with the rests.

If you always play the rests then the whole piece stops.

It's important. It's one of those things we all do as flute players sometimes you see

a rest and think oh I'd better take a breath.

You don't actually need a breath every time there's a rest.

In fact if you take a breath every time you'll probably explode about bar 16.

So just make sure that you actually play through as one phrase.

After the initial run down you get this phrase.

And then there's a rest and it continues.

Another rest.

Now on those rests

there are string chords they're very, very quiet.

But you can see if you play it like that and you play all the rests it can be very choppy and it doesn't work.

Imagine it's a really really long phrase so take a long breath.

Don't take a breath at every single rest

and try and play it all the way through to the end.

Now the other thing to remember is not to overdo the crescendos and de crescendos.

I always think of them more as expression

so perhaps vary your vibrato.

Just don't do lots of bulgy bits because it just sounds ridiculous.

And just remember to keep that last bit. Brahms has written a crescendo in for the last two bars

so when it goes down into low register, don't let the sound disappear. Keep supporting it from down here

and keep on blowing but just enjoy the fact that

it's one of those fantastic solos where you can really, really sing out over the orchestra.

Piccolo

Now some of you may want to audition on the piccolo.

I am not a piccolo expert but I can give you a few tips.

The important thing to remember when playing the piccolo is to still blow.

A lot of people stop blowing and the sound just disappears.

Now there are several pieces that you can have a go at. There's Tchaik 4 which I will not be

playing for you today.

You can also have a look at the overture to Semiramide.

This is quite difficult because it's got lots of repeated notes.

But again just like the flute excerpts approach them in the same way.

Just make sure that you keep a steady tempo.

So I hope you found some of those tips useful.

Now I'm looking forward to seeing some of your videos

and don't forget if you have any questions that you want to ask about any of these pieces

or about flute playing in general,

I will be able to answer some of those questions on the internet.

I look forward to it and good luck.

London Symphony Orchestra