This is about breathing and walking (solo flute)
Description
This piece is, literally, about breathing and walking. Rather than being a soaring, flutey narrative with a long, thoroughgoing arc, think of it as an étude, which facilitates embodying rhythm.
First, about walking. If you can manage it and want to, you should step side to side throughout the duration of the piece. You can start walking (in place, assuming you’re looking at sheet music) for however long you want, to establish the pulse (for yourself, for the listener) before you start playing the flute at the pickup to m.1. As is noted in the score, you may optionally wear lightweight (i.e., relatively quiet) ankle bells on one foot—whichever foot is on the backbeat. I think that stepping as notated (in half notes) creates optimal space for feeling syncopation and groove, but if stepping in quarters makes things more manageable for you, do that instead (though maybe without the ankle bells if the jingle gets too busy). The idea is that you are and enjoy being your own profound metronome as you move from side to side. But rather than thinking “metronome” as in “computer,” think of “metronome” as in “drummer” or “musical heartbeat.”
Regarding your walking speed (call it “tempo” if you like), notice the “optional path” through the piece. If you choose this path, increase your walking pace from approximately m.47 through m.91 to a personal maximum walking speed (think “brisk”). Then, begin relaxing your pace from approximately m.94 through m.130, at which point you have returned to your initial tempo. See how it feels.
Second, about breathing. This piece is about breath patterns and feeling syncopations, which is to say it’s about embodying groove. In two measures of 4/4 (in duple beat divisions), there are always 16 underlying eighth note pulses. Any combination of four dotted quarter notes and two quarter notes will fill those 16 slots, but the order defines a unique rhythmic pattern. For example, a 333223 grouping (three dotted quarters, followed by two quarters, followed by one dotted quarter) produces a pattern that is fundamentally different from 333322. And the difference between them, though small on paper, can be thrilling musically. (And the older I get, the more exciting these details become.)
There are 15 possible combinations of four dotted quarters and two quarters: 333322, 333232, 332332, 323332, 233332, 233323, 233233, 232333, 223333, 332233, 323233, 322333, 332323, 323323, and 333223. For a fun rhythmic exercise, step side to side and clap each of this groupings, repeating each pattern until you feel the unique groove “signature” of that pattern. For an added bonus, you can vocalize the “long beats” (dotted quarters) with the syllable “dum” and the “short beats” (quarters) with the syllable “tek.” You’ll notice that some patterns (any pattern whose first three digits add up to 8) represent two, sequential single-measure patterns (i.e., short forms, like 332:332), while other patterns are hypermetrical (indivisible at the bar line) and require two full 4/4 measures.
This piece doesn’t attempt to be encyclopedic about these permutations (as fun as that might be?), but rather makes a simple journey through six groupings, labeled Groove 1 through 6, in this order: 333223, 332:233, 322333, 223333, 233:332, 333322. The first, third, fourth, and sixth are hypermetric long-form groupings. The second and fifth (marked with “:” above), making something of an arch form, are short-form rhythmic palindromes. I just happen to like palindromes.
Finally, the form. The form of this piece follows a recipe that flows from the rhythmic permutations, and it’s marked explicitly in the score. For each groove (except the last), there is a presentation of a simple melody followed by an exploration of the rhythmic pattern, which determines the tonguing and breathing. The piece is about breathing and walking in time, and about noticing, embodying, and hopefully enjoying each syncopation and the underlying grooves.
1) Within each Groove Exploration, you’ll see two-measure units within repeat signs (see the first instance at mm.17–18). Repeat these units as many times as you want to—as long as it takes to notice, embody, and enjoy the underlying groove. You’re in the driver’s seat, and your satisfaction and interest are what matter.
2) You’ll see bars of rest (e.g., m.22) here and there. Those bars are truly meant to be bars of rest. You can rest (your flute) for however long you want as long as your feet keep moving, and as long you rest for an even number of beats so that the underlying sense of walking and strong-weak beat groupings remains the same. In fact, hearing the steps is part of the piece, and you can re-center yourself in your walking at any point for however long you want. In pauses between phrases (like the first three beats of m.8) or in longer breaks (like mm.145–46), the audience is drawn back from a melodic plane to the rhythmic plane, and that's just part of the journey.
3) If you need extra breaths within the Groove Explorations, especially if you repeat two-bar units multiple times, drop the final eighth note from any two- or three-note grouping to sneak a catch breath. The goal is to always align the breath/ tonguing attacks with the rhythmic groupings as marked.
—Andrew Maxfield, 2024