Planning to Play in Tune

A comprehensive tuning manual for flutists of all levels — from developing students to professional performers and ensemble directors. Planning to Play in Tune by Kathy Blocki offers a systematic, practical approach to mastering intonation on the flute.

What's Inside

• Developing Flexibility — Pitch bending, harmonics, and "Full Spectrum Tone" exercises to build a rich, resonant sound
• Just Tuning — Learn to hear and use difference tones as a reference for playing in tune in ensembles
• Tuning Exercises for Individuals and Ensembles — Highly effective warm-up exercises for flute choirs and ensembles of three or more players, presented in all keys
• Playing with Dynamic Changes — Progressive exercises for mastering intonation through extreme dynamic shifts
• Tuning Challenges in Flute Literature — Specific guidance for Bizet's Menuet from L'Arlésienne Suite No. 2, Mozart's Concerto in G Major K. 313, and the famous flute solo in Ravel's Daphnis et Chloé

As Reviewed in Flutist Quarterly — One of The World's Most Respected Flute Journal

"This new teaching manual from Kathy Blocki offers useful, specific exercises with well-written and effective directions for careful tuning of the flute scale, intervals, and chords. The book is divided into five sections: “Developing Flexibility,” “Just Tuning,” “Tuning Exercises for Individuals and Ensembles,” “Playing with Dynamic Changes,” and “Tuning Challenges in Flute Literature.”

An excellent chart at the end provides helpful alternate fingerings for tuning. For developing flexibility, Blocki includes exercises for pitch bending, harmonics, and developing a tone with a full spectrum of sonority and richness.

Blocki also devotes a large section of the book specifically to intonation and tones. Her composed exercises here are marvelous, because they incorporate a drone and a melody whose sounding pitches move in opposite direction from the difference tones, making it easy to capture and hear the difference tones in a balanced and “in tune” way. This section has many exercises for both the individual player with a drone and for ensembles of three or more players. Blocki presents the difference tone work in an organized and methodical way and presents the exercises with many variations and in all keys, written out very clearly with the desired difference tones marked.

In the final section of this remarkable book, Blocki utilizes flute repertoire with specific help for problematic areas. The pieces presented are Bizet’s Menuet from L’Arlesienne Suite No. 2, Mozart’s Concerto in G Major K. 313 (first movement development section featuring chordal modulation), and the flute solo of Ravel’s Daphnis and Chloe. Problematic areas for both tuning and interpretation are very specifically marked, and alternate fingerings are included. I highly recommend this book for students, professionals, and teachers."

— Andrea Kapell Loewy, Flutist Quarterly

Drones to use with Planning to Play in Tune Exercises:

The Blocki Flute Method teaches skills in the right order — tone first, then technique, then reading. Every product we sell is designed to support that progression. We use these materials in our own studio every day.