BY MICHEL DEBOST
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Thomas Nyfenger's Music and the Flute is full of very entertaining and controversial thoughts about the flute, flutists, and flute
interpretation. Especially enjoyable is what he calls "25 Perversions of Syrinx". He also dedicates part of a chapter to Isometrics (1).
Isometrics are essential to comfort and efficiency in flute playing. They affect balance between vertical forces in posture, between lateral fulcrums in the flute's position, and between muscle pressures in the air column. Flute playing involves a great deal of "muscle action developing tension while the muscle is prevented from contracting."(2) 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. It takes no conscious effort to stand when waiting for a bus or reading a bulletin board. The leg and foot muscles instinctively correct any imbalance, yet if we were to lean one way or another, an instinctive reflex occurs as isometrics are affected. While playing, it should take no effort just to stand or sit. The contact between the chin and the lip plate is also an isometric point of stability: the directional force sustained by the left arm balances the resistance of the mandibles. If one force is exaggerated, the other has to compensate. Holding the flute as stablely as possible reflects tri-directional isometric forces: the first joint of the left hand on one vector (1), counter-balanced by the tip of the right thumb and the chin on two parallel vectors (2 and 3). It is important to remember that these forces act on a transversal plane, not a vertical one. For proper stability the flute should not be held up, but across. The right-hand fourth finger (pinky) is omitted as an element of stability. Most flutists have been taught to have it down, but it often becomes a liability if it is pressed down too hard; consequently, it is tight and difficult to lift. I often refer to the right-hand fourth finger as little devil #2. It is only mandatory for six notes Out of the entire range of the flute (excepting the extreme notes, high and low): D # 1, El, D#2, E2, D#3 and A3. When the flute is isometrically balanced, the fingers do not have to slam and squeeze the keys, especially in the right hand. Breath control is also an area where conflicting forces have to find equilibrium: the breath is supported by the abdominal belt, but if the air flow is not controlled, the chest would deflate like a carnival balloon. Appogio is a technique for breath management used by singers of the Italianate School. It is not accurately translated in English by the term "breath support," because it isometrically balances the inhaling and the exhaling processes and muscles to control the flow of air. "To sustain a given note, the air should be expelled slowly; to attain this end, the respiratory (inspiratory) muscles, by continuing their action, strive to retain the air in the lungs, and oppose their action to that of the expiratory muscles, which is called lotta vocale or vocal struggle"(3). Upon blowing, the technique of appogio (4), meaning the act of leaning in Italian, is the process that would come closest to what is mistakenly meant by diaphragm support. If the abdominal muscles have no opposition, the lungs will deflate rapidly. The support should be isometrically balanced by the diaphragm and intercostal muscles between the ribs. Schematically, the singer's or flutist's effort should not be directed only at blowing, but at achieving this balance between support from the abdominal belt and control of the air flow. "... After breathing in as far as possible, we must use considerable inspiratory force to keep the air from going out with a sigh. ... You have to brake your exhaling, using inspiratory muscles to hold back, to keep the chest volume from decreasing too rapidly because of its own elasticity." (5) When the energy generated by support of the abdominal muscles from the cough point is resisted by the chest muscles acting to prevent the collapse of the chest, it is a state of controlled balance, the isometrics of air management. Another aspect of flute playing related to isometrics is the head position. In a relaxed and effortless position, such as reading at eye level, the head is subject to opposing directional forces meeting at an isometric resting point, which is the head's center of gravity, roughly at the cervical vertebra. (6) If the chin is jutted or dropped for any length of time, the equilibrium is displaced with consequent fatigue, pain, and eventual injury. Footnotes 1 From the Greek iso- (same) -metric (measure) 2 definition of isometrics in The Concise Oxford Dictionary 3 Lamperti, Francesco The Art of Singing quoted by R. Miller in "The Structure of Singing" 4 Miller, Richard (1986) "The Structure of Singing" Schirmer Books 5 Ibid 6 Atlas-axis. Atlas: the first cervical vertebra, named after the mythological Titan, whose curse was to bear the weight of the world. -Axis: the second cervical vertebra providing lateral movements of the head. |