James Galway

These notes are from a Masterclass at CU Boulder, on March 15th, 2004.

Hand Position:

Right Elbow should not be too high. If you do find a problem with your hand position, it will be hard to fix. Set a timer and play for 3 minuets, then check where your hands are and play for another 3 minuets.
Don't squeeze your flute on the keys or the lip plate. If you squeeze your keys gently a few hundred times, then you will damage your computer.
Don't hunch forward while you are playing.
Your head, right elbow, and right foot should all be inline.
When Galway played, his flute was not parallel to the floor, instead it was at a 45 degree angle.
On the right hand, the Knuckles should be parallel to the keys.

"Long tones make you think about something else"
"If you learn anything from playing long tones, it was by accident"
Practice playing in tune.
Start playing scales and arpeggios on the C above the staff and go down. This way you don't start on a low C, a note that isn't the best note on the flute. If there is one section of the scale that you can't get, work on it separately.
Don't practice scales by semitone (i.e. C, C#, D, D#...) practice them in fifths. This will help you become aware of intonation.
Relate the flute to singing. "No one would sing it like that, so you shouldn't play it like that."
"It is much better to be standing still, than to see someone doing the same movement over and over again."
Don't keep time with your body.

Say "Ha" through the flute
You don't have to practice vibrato a lot.
Set a metronome, and have your vibrato start with quarter notes, then eights, triplets and finally the sixteenth notes.

Analyze the piece and look for the repetition, and then what comes before and after those repeated passages. The more you memorize things, the easier it will become.
You should also know the overall form of the piece.
Mental practicing without the flute will also help.
There is nothing wrong with practicing bit by bit.
Practice in the dark, might help