bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Center of Gravity
Authors: Debost Michel 
Published: November 2023

Abstract
A flute player’s center of gravity is neither the diaphragm nor the plexus, but a point below the navel that you feel when you sneeze or cough. When we sneeze or cough, a considerable amount of energy is concentrated at this point in a short time, since we are trying to expel something. This energy is similar to what we call support, except for the fact that it must be sustained to conduct tone. When you shift slightly Circular Blowingthis center of gravity, even by imperceptibly moving your balance from one foot to another or feeling your weight on the floor, the air speed becomes faster or slower and provides the basic means of tone production in all ranges. Only then should the lips intervene to guide the air brush. Air support can be compared to the sensation we have in our abdominal muscles while moving a heavy object: the tummy juts forward (and not backward, as is sometimes prescribed.) We have the impression that very strong muscles are producing the essential force, as in tone production. The center of gravity is ever lower. There is no energy in the upper body, and the shoulders must be low. Air support has its origin at this center of gravity, which is also the cough or sneeze point. Consciousness of its localization is vital. The famous diaphragm that everyone talks about, rightly or wrongly, is much higher, and no one has control over it. “The center of gravity must be found as close as possible to the ground, i.e. in the lower abdomen.”1
Concentration, Relaxation
Authors: Debost Michel 
Published: November 2023

Abstract
Flute players have so many times been told that they must relax that they forgo all stability of the instrument-holding posture and end up doing lip acrobatics, straining the weak facial muscles. These muscles are not meant for that. Playing with a loose flute and slapping fingers and not calling into action the strong leg muscles, the abdominals, and the arm muscles (biceps) is not logical and efficient instrumental playing. These have been called the energy muscles; they enable standing, walking, running, pushing, and lifting. They are well within their power when we play the flute and for this reason do not generate tension and the problems of overuse. One of the goals of practice is to achieve the greatest relaxation with total concentration. Ask an unsuspecting person to relax: the shoulders fall, the hands hang by the side, the body goes into a slouch, the eyes lose their spark, sleep is close at hand. The personality is all but snuffed out. Now tell another one to concentrate: every muscle tightens, the forehead wrinkles, the neck stiffens, the eyes glow, the body stands at attention. The person is awake and ready for action, but nervous tension threatens to hinder performance. The ideal would be a combination of both: a sharp mind in a calm body. We cannot relax everything at once. If we did, instrumental playing would fall apart; the flute would float out of control.
Études
Authors: Debost Michel 
Published: November 2023

Abstract
At every stage of our development, whether amateur or professional, we want, or we are requested, to play studies (or études). The range is wide: from Berbiguier to Jeanjean, by way of the Boehm caprices, all the Andersen études (ten books!), de Lorenzo, the Bach studies, the Donjon études de Salon, the Fürstenau Bouquet des tons, the Paganini violin caprices transcribed for flute, and the Karg-Elert caprices. All different, they all have something in common: they are supposed to make us play better, but they are not designed to be performed in public. Études are different from basic exercises such as scales or tone work. Daily instrumental work hones our playing skills, day in and day out, regardless of our level. Études are temporary fodder, changing every week or at every lesson. Kincaid always requested Berbiguier’s Dix-huit exercices; Moyse used Andersen’s op. 15. Tom Nyfenger insisted adamantly on “perfection.” This is something that I confess having never accomplished: perfection in an étude (or in anything, for that matter). This strategy applies when tackling an étude. It is amazing to see how many people start practicing even before looking. For an étude, this preliminary survey must be refined, pencil in hand. Indicate the chromatic passages: you won’t even have to read them. When a line is in two voices, see which one is melodic and which is accompaniment: usually you have to read only one of the two. Indicate facilitating fingerings, on and off, such as thumb B . Breaths should be thought out, even if you change them later. Be wise in this respect; there is no reward for breaking breath records in an étude. Write in a few accidentals, the most annoying ones. Finally, double-check the key of each passage; you will avoid many wrong notes. Do a run-through when you start that day’s practice. Decide: “I won’t stop, repeat, I won’t stop.” Read ahead. The old sailing ships had a saying: “One hand for the ship, one for the sailor.” For musicians, it would be: “One eye for the reading, one for the playing.”
Flutes
Authors: Debost Michel 
Published: November 2023

Abstract
You never hear it said that a great flutist plays a bad flute. It seems that a well played flute improves with age. I know that when I lend one of mine, it returns with some of the defects (rarely the good qualities) of the borrower. Physicists and acousticians will object that this is black magic. They say that only the shape and measurements of the flute, as well as the resonant medium matter. The effect of the tube’s material would be negligible, according to them. But we flute players know there is a world of difference between metals and woods, and it is not only a matter of cost. Antique violins improve with time. Wood is a living material and it evolves even after centuries; no doubt, the generous sound of great violinists contributes to this miracle. What about flutes?
Freedom
Authors: Debost Michel 
Published: November 2023

Abstract
It has been said that the worst enemy of liberty is not despotism, but anarchy. In music, an interpretation that has the appearance of freedom is sometimes chaotic because of lack of structure in the big picture and imprecision in the details of execution. I remember a few instances of Marcel Moyse’s wrath, one at my expense, when a student wanted his or her personal ideas about Syrinx to take preeminence over the letter of Debussy’s text, especially concerning the rhythm. When you dominate your instrumental playing in every aspect of tone, vibrato, intonation, breath control, articulation, dynamics, color, finger speed, and control, you become a freer musician, instead of remaining a slave to your instrumental shortcomings
Grace Notes
Authors: Debost Michel 
Published: November 2023

Abstract
In different cultures using a common tongue, such as English, some identical things are called by different names; the British use lorry for truck, lift for elevator, bonnet for trunk, hire for rent, and so on. They practise and labour when we practice and labor; it is their honour and our honor. Musical notation is like all languages: the same sign does not always mean the same thing. Such is the case of grace notes, about which many treatises have been written, a real sunken treasure for doctoral divers. Lawyers make their living by the interpretation of the Law. The interpretation of music starts with understanding the signs. It is not my purpose to write the definitive treatise on grace notes, assuming it were possible, but to try to share what I know in a practical and musically applicable way. In the contemporary idiom, grace notes, in various numbers, “must be executed, preferably, as fast as possible.”1 This implies that they must be played at the extreme end of the allotted space, but before the next note. The first part of the twentieth century followed the previous one’s desire to make musical notation clearer and more universal so that regional and national peculiarities would not prevent publishers from selling internationally. Thus, single, double, or triple grace notes were to be played fast as an enhancement of the main note, comparable to a sigh or a surge of expression. All other passing notes are rhythmically written, implying that the composer wishes them played in time. The romantics, especially the flute romantics, had an addiction to cadenzas, embellishments, chirpings and warblings, but the grace notes were always short. Cadenzas were written in grace notes of different values, indicating that they were to be played freely, with a vague reference to duration, but not systematically fast— for example, Doppler’s
Images
Authors: Debost Michel 
Published: November 2023

Abstract
There is a technique of interpretation. Interpretation is not something that comes to your instincts and hormones out of a clear blue sky. It takes study and thought, but it should feel natural to you and to your listeners. Interpretation should sound simple, because like culture, “It is what’s left when you have forgotten everything.” But too often culture (and knowledge of interpretation) is like jam: the less one has, the more one spreads it around. Music is sometimes descriptive. Titles are bestowed upon masterpieces after they have been composed. The “Moonlight” Sonata made Liberace very rich, but it can be listened to in broad daylight. The “New World” Symphony flatters America’s idea of itself, but it is, first of all, a beautiful symphony. Debussy himself titled La mer, but it goes beyond the imitation of wind and seagulls. A work of art should not represent anything but itself. The greatness of a painting is not in the likeness it gives of a landscape or of a face. Any good photograph can do that. Rather, it is a vision of the world through the mind, the heart and the hands of the artist. It is better than a faithful representation.
Interpretation
Authors: Debost Michel 
Published: November 2023

Abstract
Music is the mirror of our soul, itself the reflecting pool of our emotions that are fired up by music, and vice versa, ad infinitum. The more we are able to dwell on our emotions, the deeper will be our comprehension of music and of ourselves. Total grasp of music’s secrets is an infinitely inaccessible goal, just like— as in Alice in Wonderland— the image on the other side of the mirror. The question we have to ask ourselves is: What does this passage mean to me? Music is made of many moods. Is it peaceful, violent, mystic, tormented, happy, lazy, sad, passionate, patient, mysterious, urgent, inquisitive, positive? Does it speak of morning, of night, of fate, of hope? Does it smell like a spring rain or like the subway? Does it have the colors of autumn or the grays of dusk? Do I love it, like it, or loathe it, and what can I do to communicate my emotions? In a way, our interpretation is similar to the painter’s art: the subject is the same, Rembrandt’s self-portraits or Monet’s water lilies and cathedrals, but every picture is different. We must not be afraid of a certain spontaneity, as long as the basic musical grammar is understood. I am constantly telling myself and my students to work at instrumental skills in scales and exercises, and to look every day at our reflection in the mirror of instrumental playing. Is that contradictory to imagination and emotion? Certainly not. There is music in the simplest of exercising patterns.
Isometrics
Authors: Debost Michel 
Published: November 2023

Abstract
Flute playing involves a great deal of “muscle action developing tension while the muscle is prevented from contracting.” This is simpler than it seems: equilibrium is achieved when forces involved in a system are evenly distributed and balance each other. Weightlessness, for instance, is an isometric state in which the centrifugal force generated by the speed of a space object is exactly equal to gravitation. How does this affect flute playing? Comfortable posture is a case in point. When we wait for the bus or read a bulletin board, we are not conscious of any effort. The leg and foot muscles instinctively correct any imbalance. Yet if we were to lean one way or another, an instinctive reflex would come into play, as isometrics would be affected. While playing, there is no reason why we should produce any effort just to stand or sit.
Jawboning
Authors: Debost Michel 
Published: November 2023

Abstract
There has always been more than one school of tone production, in any instrument. However great the difference in the level of noise, we have more affinity with brass than with reed instruments. For one, neither a horn nor a flute can blame their problems on the reed. I remember an illuminating discussion with my schoolmate Maurice André, one of the rare trumpeters of our generation to have had a dazzling solo career. He told me that he used very little lip or chin movement. He relied almost exclusively on the abdominal belt and a low center of gravity. Must flutists believe facial gymnastics and systematic jawboning help constitute a productive and reliable way of playing? By jawboning, I mean constant change in the angle of the airflow into the embouchure. Playing intervals of more than a third (for example, changing from the lower to the middle range), they seem to need a different thrust of the chin and/or an alteration of the shape of the lip aperture. My contention is that this practice is neither logical nor totally reliable. If we slur a slow chromatic scale down from, say, middle F (the exact middle point of the flute’s entire range) to low FS, there is no perceptible lip or chin movement.
Little Devils
Authors: Debost Michel 
Published: November 2023

Abstract
The lips should not produce any effort. They act as guide and control. Without any stress, and with very little movement, one can play the whole range of the flute chromatically without moving the lips. Why should it be different in arpeggios and intervals? Since we cannot move the lips on every note during fast passages, there is no reason to do so in slow phrases. This is our octave key. It comes into play to connect middle D and E to practically all the notes from G inside the staff to D in the ledger lines. It is also the center of balance of the flute, almost exactly halfway down the tube. Closed and unobtrusive in most of the lower range, it starts acting up for middle D and E : how many flute students have had trouble with closed E , especially in descending scales? Flutists and teachers must nip this little devil in the bud, for it is very hard to get rid of this habit later.
Memory
Authors: Debost Michel 
Published: November 2023

Abstract
Even as computers become more and more sophisticated and their capabilities more far-reaching, the human brain is still the most amazing of all. There is no limit to its possibilities. Its memory is boundless. The more you learn, the more you can learn. Our brain does not fill up. When you speak a language or two, the next one is easier to learn, and so on. In the realm of music, memory affects not only the acquisition of the text, but also the playing skills. The latter is the subject of an article in Science.1 Researchers used scientific sensors that measure blood flow to different parts of the brain and electric impulses to and from muscles. The term “motor task” corresponds to actual movements, whereas “internal model” (IM) refers to the acquired cerebral pattern that drives the performance of the skill. How does all this affect flute playing? Gaston Crunelle taught me during my days at the Paris Conservatoire to prepare difficult passages very slowly, breaking them into very brief rhythms. This is a well-known process, but the important part, said Crunelle, was to avoid trying them immediately up to tempo, or worse yet, to increase the metronome beat progressively, which would destroy the previous patient work. This has worked very well for me over the years, and I advise my students to do the same. I am not always sure they are convinced at first, or if they do it. If they don’t need this procedure and succeed, I leave them alone. But I don’t know of any difficulty that resists such a thorough approach. Intuitively, Crunelle’s advice corresponds precisely to the scientific research published in Science. “We’ve shown that time itself is a very powerful component of learning,” says Henry H. Holcomb. “It is not enough to simply practice something. You have to allow time for the brain to encode the new skill.
Muscles, Strong and Weak
Authors: Debost Michel 
Published: November 2023

Abstract
A weak motor has no flexibility; under constant stress, it tires quickly. To pull a load, it must always work at maximum output. It will soon end up in the repair shop. There is an analogy with every facet of flute playing: if there exists a choice between weak and strong muscles, the latter must in general be called into action; they are more flexible because they do not operate at full power and therefore tire less. Let us take a few examples. The strong abdominal muscles provide the most important action by releasing the belt and creating a vacuum in the chest cavity. The pectoral and intercostal muscles also come into play. They are weaker, but most of all, their action is in a flat direction and for that reason slower. They must heave the chest and shoulders, which is necessary for a full apnea but inefficient and tiresome for normal breathing, as well as constricting for the throat. This too calls the abdominal muscles into action to push air out. If the pectoral and intercostal muscles were generating pressure at this time, it would be very strenuous and inefficient. Instead, they counteract the energy generated in the abdomen through isometrics. In apnea, they actually prevent the collapse of the shoulders and chest that would empty the lungs under the pressure of abdominal support. It is a sort of passive resistance that they provide (appoggio), much more suited to their nature and essential for air management.
Posture
Authors: Debost Michel 
Published: November 2023

Abstract
Even before the end of the first phrase, the spectator notices outright a flutist’s awkward posture. I do not condone standing at attention— high chin or high elbows. High shoulders, especially, strangle the throat and the tone. Stand naturally and just bring the flute to your lips. Shoulders should stay aligned with elbows and vice versa. The head will be turned thirty degrees to the left, but this is better than pulling the right elbow out of alignment with the right shoulder. I advise the use of the legs to activate support. When we lift a large weight, we feel strongly the action of the leg muscles. Less evident is the contraction of the abdominal muscles that we use for support. In actual playing posture, it is good to stand or sit with feet firmly in contact with the ground, to feel our own weight and to have the impression that we are pushing the ground away, as it were. A bit of hip swinging and graceful footwork can highlight a performance and ease some nervous tension. We must, however, try to be always conscious of gravity, even in animated passages.
Programs
Authors: Debost Michel 
Published: November 2023

Abstract
Choosing a program for our recitals is often agonizing. To this day, it is a problem for me. The following ideas need not be always followed (I am sure they won’t be), but they are the fruit of my experience as a player, as a professor, and as a listener. A “professional” program of an hour and a half, including intermission, often stretches to two hours. A senior recital (normally one hour) goes to an hour and a half, or more. A junior recital that should be a half-hour concert drags on to an hour. This is due to the five-minute late start, moving on and off stage between pieces, and the huge round of applause that will no doubt salute our performances. A good idea is to time ourselves to 10 percent short of the allotted time. When we start thinking about a concert, we have, first of all, to set our priorities. The last thing we want is to have the audience yearn to leave. They should be thinking that we did not play enough. If our program is too short, they will rarely blame us for laziness. But if they are bored. . . . We want to be liked, loved, and adored, and not sound academic or snobbish. We want to please more than convince. We want to show our qualities, not our political correctness. We want to be beautiful but not at the expense of comfort. We want to be compatible with our musical partners.
Repertoire
Authors: Debost Michel 
Published: November 2023

Abstract
“Why practice the basics (scales and daily exercises) when pieces contain patterns that can serve as practice? Since flute repertoire and orchestral works are the only things people will listen to us play, why bother with anything but that, aside from some perfunctory warm-ups?” There is quite a lot to say about this often-heard opinion. But let us look at repertoire as a practice issue. The flute repertoire has an important list of works, but we must acknowledge the fact that only about twenty possess a high status through the fame of their composers. To avoid hurting anybody’s taste or feelings, we will stop the roll call at Mozart, Bach, Schubert and Debussy. Does that mean that we should only play these and a few others, and disregard everything else? Quite to the contrary. There are some wonderful works by lesser-known composers that are excellent material and do not dwarf the student. No piece resists being played over and over again. The danger, though, is burnout. Constant repetition only aggravates and solidifies defects that are difficult to shed. I remember struggling through Handel’s Sonata in G; it was fifty odd years ago, but to this day I cannot play the second movement without stuttering the staccato.
Rituals
Authors: Debost Michel 
Published: November 2023

Abstract
“The worst deafness is refusing to hear.”8 When a habit is well ingrained, it is like a neurosis. The first step toward a cure is accepting the fact that there is a problem, a dependency, on alcohol, on tobacco, on pills, or on flute mannerisms. I am not addicted to most of them, but concerning the latter, I am not so sure. After playing the flute for more than fifty years, I should not be enjoying it so much anymore, but the urge still tickles me. That’s my neurosis and I love it. Let us look at a few flutisms, just for fun. We all have our rituals. This one blows hard through the tube as if to flush the cobwebs that have accumulated since the last time she practiced. The other aims from the head joint down as through the sight of a shotgun. This other wipes the lip plate three times with a cloth. This powerful fellow takes the stance of a Japanese wrestler. That one cannot start a piece without a sweep of the flute even if he is alone, and so on. Once under way, the gyrations start. Passion pervades the most innocent line. Even a held note deserves wiggling and tossing. We genuflect or rise on our toes. One foot affirms character with a stomp, the other beats time.