Breathless

I've started working on a new exercise book for my flute lessons--I finished Emil Eck book 2.  A milestone--took about a year.   Now I'm working on Andersen's 18 Flute Exercises.  The second exercise is all staccato and supposed to be light--I'm trying to make sure my diaphragm is moving on each note, so I'm quite tired after playing the exercise just once.  But I regroup and repeat 4-5 times, also working on segments where I make mistakes on the notes.

I'm still having much difficulty with dynamics-finding a full sound, and playing loud on low notes.  The current short piece I'm working on, Godard's Allegretto, has a lot of crescendos and decrescendos, and a fairly full range (from low C to 3rd octave A.  Seems the more I practice, the more difficult it gets.  But I think that's because i'm focusing more on the dynamics, not just on playing the correct notes.  I have to take the piece in segments, to work on the dynamics.  But I also notice I make mistakes with the notes--as if my brain can't do a cresendo and play the correct notes at the same time.  It's somewhat of a retraining, since I don't focus as much on dynamics when I'm first learning a piece.  And the difference between my "p" and "f" is pretty slim--especially on the low notes.  And it's tough to play soft in the 3rd register.  But I stuck with it today, and spent quite a bit of time on specific segments, trying to get the appropriate dynamic contrasts.

I played flute duets with my teacher last week; I felt more comfortable and less nervous than the previous times we've done duets.  And I like to think my sound carries a bit better now.  Maybe.  But we're still playing during a church dinner, so it's very loud in the room and not clear what people are able to hear.  That's a big reason I feel comfortable, though--no one's really paying attention to what I'm doing.