As I write this I am listening on Youtube to a flautist playing the partita for solo flute, which I have been struggling with for a while, not because I think I'll be able to play it convincingly within the next year or more, but because chipping away at it appears to me to be a great way of improving.
When I was in high school and studying clarinet, I spent a lot of time playing the classic exercises by Klose. While I'm sure they did a lot for my technique, they aren't terribly musical. As an adult, learning saxophone and now flute, instead of playing exercises, I have been trying to play real music.
What's the gain? Not only do you improve your technique by working on passages by Bach or Telemann that are meant to be played fast, but you also are exposed to great music. When I play Bach, I know that I am in the hands of a genius who understood music as well as anyone has ever understood it, and by slowly working on these passages, I gain some of Bach's understanding.
When I was in high school and studying clarinet, I spent a lot of time playing the classic exercises by Klose. While I'm sure they did a lot for my technique, they aren't terribly musical. As an adult, learning saxophone and now flute, instead of playing exercises, I have been trying to play real music.
What's the gain? Not only do you improve your technique by working on passages by Bach or Telemann that are meant to be played fast, but you also are exposed to great music. When I play Bach, I know that I am in the hands of a genius who understood music as well as anyone has ever understood it, and by slowly working on these passages, I gain some of Bach's understanding.
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