2021-22 UVIC FLUTE SYLLABUS
Instructor: Dr. Suzanne Snizek
email: ssnizek@uvic.ca
Office hour: first term Wednesday 2:30-3:20, second term TBD
Welcome to the UVic Flute Studio! I will be your flute instructor and artistic mentor during your studies here at UVic. I am looking forward to working with each one of you! Please closely monitor your UVic email address AND the UVic flute studio blog; you will receive many important updates and details as we proceed through the academic year.
Performances:
We will have two Studio recitals this coming year: 16 October at 4 pm and 29 January at 4:30 pm (please note start times). All flute students will be scheduled to perform in at least one of these recitals. Aspiring performance majors, declared performance majors and MMUS graduate students will be expected to perform in both recitals. All flute students are expected to attend (either virtually or in-person) both recitals.
Woodwind Friday music concerts (12:30 in PTY hall) will be 29 October and 11 March 2022. These concerts are intended to showcase the entire woodwinds section. Small ensembles rather than individual soloists are therefore prioritised in these concerts, in order to allow performance opportunities for as many wind students as possible.
In addition, school-wide Tuesday music concerts (also 12:30 in PTY) are planned for 1 March, 8 March, 15 March, 22 March, 29 March and 4 April. Students may request to perform and/or I may recommend that you perform in one (or more) of these concerts. Please note: all UVic concerts are now livestreamed with both audio and video. Please dress professionally for all of these important public events.
Office Hours and Advising
If you require flute-related advice outside of your lesson time, please “drop-in” on the zoom link during my weekly online office hour (first term Weds 2:30-3:20; second term TBA). IF you have a course during this time and require an alternative time/day please contact me via email.
If you are an undergrad student and require course or degree advising: please make an appointment with Ms. Sarah Riecken who oversees undergraduate advising for the music dept.
IF you are a graduate student and require advising: please make an appointment with either Benjamin Butterfield (Acting Graduate Advisor for 2021-22) musigrad@uvic.ca or speak with me (I am your Graduate Supervisor) during my office hour.
Placement Auditions These will be assessed through recordings (due 20 August) submitted to the music dept. office. Students may stop recording between selections, but there should be no editing during selections. The required excerpts are posted on the UVic flute blog: https://finearts.uvic.ca/music/flute/
Lessons You will be given a weekly assigned time for your lesson. Potential private lesson slots will be offered (via email) prior to September. Please choose a time that fits around your class schedule. If you require a new lesson time for second term, please let me know in advance. Both the lesson and masterclass schedules (using student initials) will be posted on the blog early in each term. If you find you need to swap a lesson with another student at some point you can consult this schedule. Please note: the schedule will sometimes need to fluctuate or be adjusted as we proceed through the year. Thank you, in advance, for your flexibility.
Lessons are 50 minutes in length. All students are expected to be punctual, ‘warmed up’ and fully prepared, including having all necessary materials (music, pencil, metronome/tuner, lesson notebook or device for note taking). Keeping good records of lesson suggestions and observations will support your musical development. Organisation is also a key ingredient in overall student success.
Attendance policy
- Unexcused missed lessons will not be made up.
- If you know in advance you need to reschedule a lesson (for any reason) please arrange this directly with another willing student via email. After a change is confirmed with another student, inform me by email ssnizek@uvic.ca (while cc’ing the other student).
- If you must miss a lesson because of illness, please cancel with as much advance notice as possible at ssnizek@uvic.ca
- Generally, I require 24 hrs. advance notice in order to reschedule a lesson.
- If you feel unwell, please inform me via email. Do NOT attend your lesson or masterclass if you feel unwell.
Master Class meets Wednesdays from 1:30 to 2:20. Masterclass is an important time for the studio and all flute students are expected to attend flute masterclass. Master class is a wonderful opportunity to enhance your musical development. Participation, attitude, attentiveness and preparedness will be the determining factors in the assessment of your participation in master class. Specific repertoire and themes change every term; specifics will be detailed in a separate MC document. MC will often be divided into senior and junior class, in order to better address specific learning needs (flute studio members vary in experience from first year undergraduate through second year MMUS).
On rare occasions we might have master class at other times, either to accommodate visiting guest artists or to participate in a special campus wide event, such as Ideafest. However, these dates are set well in advance and will normally be listed in the Masterclass term schedule which you will receive by the second week of class each term. If you cannot attend an irregularly time-tabled guest MC’s, please simply inform me in advance.
Jury Exam
At the end of the school year, there will be a juried performance of 15 minutes duration for all performance stream students and 10 minutes for all other streams. Students will perform two contrasting works (drawn from repertoire covered within the lessons and as determined by instructor). In addition, materials from the technical exam will be included. In addition, there might be sight reading as part of the jury for performance majors.
A jury exam performance missed for any reason (other than a genuinely serious and unavoidable true emergency) cannot be rescheduled.
Private lesson mark will be determined as follows:
1/3 of mark: private lesson work (including assigned readings/summaries) AND master class work
Each lesson will be assessed on punctuality, preparedness, receptivity to guidance and musical/technical improvement. For performance majors, this aspect of your lesson mark includes your work in IPS, which is a requirement for all undergraduate performance majors. IPS is strongly recommended to all MMUS students. IPS assessment is based on attendance and participation in the seminar as indicated by IPS attendance sheets and the performance notes completed by IPS faculty.
1/3 of mark: Technical materials , including an in-class exam (administered week of 14 February 2022, exact date TBD by lesson schedule)
Each student will be briefly assessed individually in each lesson (beginning in the third week of classes) on their technical materials. In addition, there will be an in-lesson technical exam. Fluency (20%), accuracy (20%), tonal homogeneity (20%), speed/breathing (20%) and degree of individual improvement (20%) will be assessed. Details regarding specific content and expectations can be found here: https://finearts.uvic.ca/music/flute/blog/2021/08/16/technical-exam-mid-feb-2022/ We will develop these materials through quick (~5 min) technical “check-ins” at the end and/or beginning of most lessons, and a more thorough monthly “practice-exam” during masterclass on 6 October, 3 November, 12 January and 2 Feb. However, most of this technical work needs to be carried out independently by the student in daily practice sessions. Improvement will be best attained by patient, consistent, attentive and intelligent daily work. Please note: All students will be expected to hone their technique to the best of their abilities. Major and minor scales and arpeggios form the backbone to all western music and are therefore essential tools for musical literacy.
1/3 of mark: Year-end jury or graduating recital
Readings and reflections Three short written reflections (between 250 and 300 words) on assigned readings are required as part of this course.
You may complete your assigned readings/reflections in any order that works best for you, however the first is due by 1 October, the second by 1 December and the third by 1 February. Late work will generally not be accepted, however accommodations will be made for students with learning differences who are formally registered with the Centre for Accessible Learning. All students are invited to submit these assignments early. These pragmatic readings are intended to heighten your awareness of the context of performing and to expand your thinking about performance issues. I would like each student to apply the wisdom of these texts to their own musical practice. To that end, please address three specific examples of how you have applied information, sourced directly from the text, to your own practice. Important: Please submit your summary in an email with “(Student Name): 2021-22 Reading Summary # (1, 2 or 3)” in the subject line.
Readings for 2021-22
I encourage you to purchase the following titles for your own library and future reference. Please choose three readings from the lists below (according to your year of flute study).
For MUS140:
- The Inner Game of Music by Barry Green
- Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert
- Playing (Less) Hurt by Janet Horvath
- Body Mapping for Flutists by Lea Parsons
- Six Weeks to Finals by Sharon Sparrow
For MUS240 and 245:
- The Creativity Habit by Twyla Tharp
- The Proper Flutist by Trevor Wye
- Music and the Flute by Thomas Nyfenger
- Casals and the Art of Interpretation by David Blum
- Mastering Creative Anxiety by Eric Maisel
- Art and Fear by David Bayles and Ted Orland
For MUS340 and 345:
- Kincaidiana by John Krell
- The Notation is Not the Music by Barthold Kuijken
- Making your Creative Mark: Nine Keys to Achieving your Artistic Goals by Eric Maisel
- The Early Flute by Rachel Brown
- Six Weeks to Finals by Sharon Sparrow
For MUS440 and 445:
- Body Mapping for flutists by Lea Parsons
- Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert
- Arrau on Music Performance by Joseph Horowitz
- The Proper Flutist by Trevor Wye
- Flute by James Galway
- On the Art of Playing the Flute by Quantz
- Six Weeks to Finals by Sharon Sparrow
MMus students may choose any three selections from the above titles for their readings.
Practice
Thoughtful and patient daily practice is essential to your musical development. I suggest your daily practice be proportioned as follows:
25% tone
25% technique
25% etudes
25% repertoire
Attending concerts, performing, listening to recordings, reading relevant texts and physical exercise/stretching (yoga is excellent, as is swimming) are all important activities. These should constitute a regular part of your ‘out of the practice room’ practice. In addition, all flute students are expected to attend faculty and fellow flutist’s graduating solo recitals.
Materials
All flute students are required to obtain the following texts which we will use in lessons and/or masterclasses:
1. 24 Petite Melodies by Marcel Moyse https://www.amazon.com/Moyse-24-Little-Melodic-Studies/dp/B00006M2QH
2. Taffanel and Gaubert “17 Daily Exercises” https://www.amazon.com/Exercises-Jounaliers-Mecanisme-Ejercicios-Mechanismo/dp/B01N9NVNEK/ref=pd_sbs_7?pd_rd_w=DGHqG&pf_rd_p=2419a049-62bf-452e-b0d0-ca5b7e35a7b4&pf_rd_r=G81XV0DSHVKYY7741W0Q&pd_rd_r=ec41c34c-e483-49f3-934f-b341d304ddcb&pd_rd_wg=zCnmM&pd_rd_i=B01N9NVNEK&psc=1
3. Trevor Wye’s (be sure to get the Omnibus edition) “Practice Book for the flute” https://www.amazon.com/Trevor-Wye-Practice-Flute-Omnibus/dp/1783054255
4. “The Flutists Vade Mecum” by Walfrid Kujala (second edition) http://progress-press.com/publications/the-flutists-vade-mecum-of-scales-arpeggios-trills-and-fingering-technique
5. Phillipe Bernold’s “Technique de L’embouchure” https://www.justflutes.com/shop/product/la-technique-dembouchure-philippe-bernold
6. Walfrid Kujala’s Orchestral Techniques for flute and piccolo: An Audition Guide: http://www.progress-press.com/publications/orchestral-techniques-for-flute-and-piccolo
7. Orchestral Excerpts for flute by Jeanne Baxtresser https://www.amazon.com/Orchestral-Excerpts-Flute-Jeanne-Baxtresser/dp/093400997X
In addition, I will be making individually tailored recommendations, and students will be expected to obtain additional music as determined by instructor. Every first through third year student will prepare a weekly etude, in addition to tonal study, technical work and repertoire. Fourth year students will be guided individually regarding etude preparation, according to their individual career aspirations and pedagogical needs.
Graduate students will generally be expected to complete a greater volume of significantly more advanced repertoire more quickly. The focus of graduate lessons will necessarily be on preparing annual degree required recitals. This focus naturally shifts at the end of each academic year towards orchestral and festival audition preparation (following completion of recitals).
For all students: we will strive to cover all genres (early music, classical, Romantic/French salon, twentieth-century and avant-garde contemporary music) and address any perceived repertoire gaps or skill deficiencies. Piccolo, Alto and Bass study are all encouraged. We are fortunate to have an excellent new Burkhart professional piccolo, and a very recently purchased beautiful alto flute in addition to our existing alto and bass flutes. All of these instruments can be borrowed with instructor’s permission. Students who require these instruments for school ensemble use will have priority (please inform me if this is the case). Covid safety regulations will be stringently observed.
Please note: I will keep everyone informed of any COVID-related changes in my teaching approach. As always, my first priority is the safety and well-being of all of us.
Please note the following important information regarding online conduct for all students: The University of Victoria is committed to promoting critical academic discourse while providing a respectful and supportive learning environment. All members of the university community have the right to this experience and the responsibility to help create such an environment. The University will not tolerate racism, sexualized violence, or any form of discrimination, bullying or harassment. Please be advised that, by logging into UVic’s learning systems and interacting with online resources, you are engaging in a University activity. All interactions within this environment are subject to the University expectations and policies. Any concerns about student conduct may be reviewed and responded to in accordance with the appropriate University policy. To report concerns about online student conduct: onlineconduct@uvic.ca
Studio policies
- I do not photocopy any music or lend any music (parts, scores or recordings) from my personal library to students. As with any academic course, all students are required to secure their own materials. If financially necessary, you may borrow materials from the MacPherson library. We have an outstanding and comprehensive existing collection! I can also request the library purchase new items if they do not happen to have an item we need. However, it is useful to develop your own music library for your eventual professional artistic practice.
- Performances represent the work we do together in the studio, as well as your own individual practice. Therefore, when I feel a work is ready to be performed, I will suggest either a concert venue/opportunity or a recording project to be posted online.
- I approve concert requests after I have heard the material successfully and confidently presented in a polished manner, and as it is to be presented publicly (i.e., in its entirety with all collaborative players). Performance permission slips will not be signed in anticipation of a student’s later work. Please plan ahead.
- Please consult with me before scheduling a degree-required solo recital. Please note that according to Wind section requirements, all graduating recitals must be presented before 7 March.
- Finally, please note the following additional point: I have sensitivities to artificial scents. Please avoid any scented products (perfume, hairspray, strongly scented shampoo or soap) for all FTF flute classes. Please note: most professional orchestras and other ensembles have a “no scent” policy. It is therefore wise to adopt a no-scent approach in your classes and student ensembles.
I am looking forward to a very productive and enjoyable musical journey with all of you! Please join me in extending a warm welcome to our many new students!
Supportive information and links
Undergraduate marks
https://www.uvic.ca/calendar/future/undergrad/index.php#/policies?group=Undergraduate%20Academic%20Regulations
Graduate marks https://www.uvic.ca/calendar/future/grad/index.php#/policy/B13jeiMdE?bc=true&bcCurrent=07%20-%20Grading&bcGroup=Faculty%20Academic%20Regulations&bcItemType=policies
For UVic academic calendar:
https://www.uvic.ca/calendar/future/undergrad/index.php#/home
UVic’s undergraduate academic policy:
https://www.uvic.ca/calendar/future/undergrad/index.php#/policies
UVic’s graduate student academic policy:
https://www.uvic.ca/calendar/future/grad/index.php#/policies?group=Faculty%20Academic%20Regulations
Academic supports available to all UVic students: https://www.uvic.ca/orientation/new-student-handbook/academic-support/index.php
Please see below link for important Wellness and Safety information:
https://www.uvic.ca/residence/parents-guardians/wellness-and-safety/index.php
Counselling Services – Counselling Services can help you make the most of your university experience. They offer free, professional, confidential, inclusive support to currently registered UVic students.
https://www.uvic.ca/services/counselling/home/service-update/
Health Services – University Health Services (UHS) provides a full-service primary health clinic for students, and coordinates healthy student and campus initiatives.
https://www.uvic.ca/services/health/
Centre for Accessible Learning – The CAL staff are available by appointment to assess specific needs, provide referrals and arrange appropriate learning accommodations. Please refer to below link for details.
https://www.uvic.ca/services/cal/. The sooner you let them know your needs, the quicker they can assist you in achieving your learning goals.
Elders’ Voices – The Office of Indigenous Academic and Community Engagement (IACE) has the privilege of assembling a group of Elders from local communities to guide students, staff, faculty and administration in Indigenous ways of knowing and being. https://www.uvic.ca/services/indigenous/students/programming/elders/index.php
