Hey! I just got my first etude piece from my band director and am just wondering if you have any tips on how to make them sound better. I think my biggest problem is slurring notes when they should be staccato, I'm used to slurring most things. I will have to play it for her in about a month. Any advice?

practice slow enough so that you understand what you are doing..including correct articulation, exaggerated dynamics, proper breathing/phrasing, etc

most of all, treat the etude as a piece of music and not just a study piece, give the etude a name, something that fits what it sounds like to you..

Okay...good advice with giving it a name.

Patrick has advised well.

I would also try to practice in small sections and work up to big ones. Craft out the correct way that you want to play it regarding your dynamics and the notes and once you know this, repeat it several times correctly.....especially regarding this articulation issue. Do whatever you can to make all of the things that you can correct in your practice of the sections and then you can put the puzzle pieces together.

If you are required to play it at a certain metronome number then I would not try to use a metronome at first until the piece is under your fingers and then only work up gradually to about the approximate speed, turn the metronome off and then work on the musical quality so that the phrasing is there.

But always remember that any study or etude is written to be played musically. Also, to some extent the longer that you've played a piece the more you learn about that piece and the more that you will be secure with your playing. So, start soon and don't try to cram (Last minute studying) at the end of your time limit. Because cramming, doesn't work in the long run for any form of studies.

BTW: Do you know which Etude that you have been given to work on?
Composer, Opus # and Etude #?
Just curious....

~bilbo
N.E. Ohio

Melodious and Progressive Studies for Flute, No. 1, c major, by G. Gariboldi Revised by Robert Cavally....

For me right now, the notes aren't hard, just the way they come out with articulation....

I've played that one! And you're right, the only thing really hard about it is the articulation. I practiced it slow being really careful I wasn't playing any of the articulation wrong. Sometimes you can practice it wrong without knowing, that is until your music instructor points it out to you, and then you have a habit to break. I think everybody knows habits are hard to break. So just be careful, I know you can do it! Are you working out of the book that's from? I am.

Ah yes...
Actually, many younger students get the rhythm wrong because they are trying to articulate correctly. This happens in the first 4 notes. They seem to want to play a quarter and then a triplet w/3 eighth notes for the slur. <-don't do that. There are two aspects of rhythm. 1)When the note starts. 2)How long it's held.

So, maybe I'd suggest that you practice the eighth notes all tongued first. Make sure that your eighth notes are even...even if you have to use a metronome clicking on each eighth note at 108 MM and two clicks on the quarter notes at first.
http://www.metronomeonline.com/
This way you'll place the notes more correctly and overcome any imperfections that you may have created.

Then later add the correct articulations, making sure that you don't change the timing of the eighth notes. Make the staccato notes clear and short. Whenever you have paired slurs like on line 5 ms 3, make the last note of the slur stop a bit shorter (like: Dee-ut Dee-ut.) This makes the music more perky and the space between the slurs more separated.

Then add the dynamics. Try to play sweetly (Dolce) with the dynamics.

Another point, I think of "the melody" notes as happening either on the down beats of 1 and 3 in each measure or (in the 2nd line from the bottom) only on every downbeat. The rest of the notes are a tad less important.

Also, In case you've never seen one before, the rest in the 2nd to the last measure that looks like a backwards 7 is a one beat quarter rest. It's not an eighth rest. So that dotted-quarter note C begins on beat 3.

Hope that some of this makes sense.

~bilbo
N.E. Ohio

Instrument Crazy--you know what I'm dealing with! Actually, my band director said she wanted to challenge me--so she gave me that piece to work on. Next we'll probably work on the second and third one on there. What's the book called? I may look into it.
And Bilbo--yeah, with counting things wrong when trying to articulate--I've noticed that with my friends--when they try to slur it comes out too fast and I think it's because they've never been given a piece with that...

I'm working with this book too, and am currently on No. 5 of the Gariboldi. Working with a metronome definitely will help, as well as taking it slow, something I know from personal experience. Good luck with the exercise!

Thank you

also try playing all the articulated sections slurred first, and practice all slurred passages articulated...always use metronome, especially when trying to gauge your progress in playing faster