Well, the last couple of weeks I've had a stinker of a cold, no voice for 4 days plus the normal work/commuting/family commitments. So poor flute has been somewhat neglected; with the best will in the world I couldn't pull out enough time, energy or concentration for any decent practice. With my piano however under similar circumstances I can usually get into the 'zone' with much less effort and at least get some useful practice done in a short amount of time. But being still a novice flute player I find the physical demands much more taxing when I'm under par or really stretched for time.
My teacher is always preaching the importance of doing at least something every day which I've no argument with. My question is, do you have an emergency practice mode that you can switch into when the going isn't optimal? For example, would you just try to work a bit on a piece and make a few exercises out of the difficult bits? Or do you just do a few technical exercises or some longtones, or....? What do you think is the best use of a limited amount of time? Thanks for ideas!

I would say little and often, I know that's cliched but it works! Try warming up with the technical exercises then work on a small section of the piece. Try a different section each time you come to practice, eventually it'll come together. I hope that makes sense!

I tend to play through some scales (trying not to always do the same ones!) and then play through something simple I've known for years.

At the moment, as I forgot to bring any music home with me, its lots of scales and playing from memory...

My poor flute (well all my poor instruments) have been very neglected of late because of my stupid thesis write up which I am hating more and more by the minute and being called into work to find things which aren't mine (sorry about the rant, feel better now). At the moment, all I can do is 10 minutes a day but in that 10 minutes, I do long notes, work on some octave exercises my teacher gave me, and practise on my technique for getting the high notes (which I'm rubbish at). Then I finish on a very short piece and then head back to the computer cursing about the day I ever decided to do a PhD

Emergency Practice Mode - for those days when I've only got 5 mins (or less) = Harmonics.

Start on bottom C and without moving your fingers play all the harmonics as smooth long notes going up as high as you can (I can make top Bb but not top C) and back down again. A few times.

For days when I have no time:
Long notes, followed by scales - my teacher has given me a scale series (by Reichelt) which works through all of the scales, major and minor.

For days when I don't feel like practicing:
Scales again and then some older pieces - just whatever takes my fancy, or if I really don't feel like it, put the flute away, put on my running shoes and get some exercise instead.

Thanks all for your tips. I'll make a little list to pull out for future brain-dead days. I was appalled how quickly everything went to pot with only a few days "off"! (Embouchure, now, what was that?!)

Well I'm playing like a total drain at the moment - my bottom lip feels like it has a watermelon stapled to it....

Hopefully The Bag (and her paw embouchure) will bounce back once the Easter Holiday/time with Alpha Male Jazz Cat kicks in....

Baggle xx

A key difference is that piano doesn't make any demands on your breathing. Flute does, so a bad cold is going to cause problems with flute that it can't do with piano.

With some instruments you can give yourself an ear infection if you play while you've got a sore throat or similar. The pressure can force the infection up your eustacian (sp?) tubes. Small bore brass is the worst, but the upper registers of some woodwinds can be a problem too.

If you don't want to lay off practice completely, I'd suggest avoiding the highest notes and anything that pushes the limits of your breath control. Stick to lower stuff and work on passages where the problems are with your fingers rather than with your breathing.

Might be worth coming up with two distinct 'emergency practice' outlines - one for when you're short of time for whatever reason and another for when you're ill, but want to keep things ticking over. Some things that are good use of limited practice time when your healthy might be best avoided when you've got a cold or similar.

T.

If your head is full of cold, there is nothing to stop you working your fingers as usual on the flute - practise trills and any awkward fingerings for instance. If short of time, you can do breathing exercises anywhere eg breathe in for 5, breathe out for slow count of 20 etc.

I usually do harmonics or long notes, then a really easy piece (just to keep my fingers in shape), and maybe a section of a piece I'm learning if I've got time (or the inclination! ).

I know it feels nasty if you've got a cold, especially with the breathing - you can do breathing exercises (away from your flute!) if you don't have a cold.

Hope you get better soon!

Thank you for more good advice, Teigr, Sue and Emily.
Normally I'm never ill apart from the odd cold, have never in my life had flu (... whispered quietly, not wanting to tempt fate)
And now I've got toothache!!! Maybe trying to get G3 forced frightened the bugs up the root canal!

I have to have days where I don't touch my flute or else I get frustrated. I know this is quite bad and I should really do some practice everyday but there are days where I just don't want to know (usually a saturday after playing for three days at uni).

The problem I have is that a lot of the stuff we play at uni is popular music or jazz where I have to basically make up what I'm playing or just play the vocal line to support our singer and it drives me mad because it doesn't suit the flute that well and I just don't enjoy it at all.