There are several reasons why a player may be considered good: Beautiful Sound, Good Breath Control, Good Nerve, Fast Tonguing Ability, Brilliant Finger Technique, Perfect Intonation etc. ‘Most players have a reasonable supply of these necessities. As far as the piccolo is concerned though ‘Good Breath Control’ is not No. | on the list of requirements. This is one of the great differences between the piccolo and flute. The piccolo-player is like the oboist in that they often have too much air in their lungs, so they have to ‘spill it’ while playing or frantically express it at the end of a phrase before taking a fresh breath, totally the opposite of flute playing. Similarly ‘Beautiful Sound’ doesn’t head the list. Most conductors will put up with anything that sounds like a boy whistling in the streetto akettle whistling in the kitchen so longs it’s ‘in tune and in time’. If you have a beautiful sound it’s a bonus. ‘The majority of players master the technique of double and triple tonguing which is comparatively easy on the flute as it is on the piccolo. As soon as the initial difficulty of co-ordinating the tongue with the fingers is overcome then ‘Fast Tonguing Ability’ no longer seems so important. Good Nerve. Everyone has heard the phrase “The older you get the harder it gets’, this is not strictly true. It should be ‘The older you get the harder it gets to concentrate’, After years of reproducing pieces a player can become so familiar with certain works that they fail to practise vital solos, don’t bother to count bars and generally let their imagination wander, this is when mistakes occur. Good Nerve really means good concentration, So, top of the list are Good Intonation and Brilliant Finger Technique and this is the reason why every professional player I have ever known has resorted to a ‘fake’ fingering at some time in their career. The following list of ‘fakes’ I have either been told by professional piccolo players from as far as the Chicago Symphony via New York and London to the Vienna Philharmonic, or discovered myself through playing in London Orchestras for over 30 years. They must be treated with great care. They do not work on every instrument, especially those fingerings involving the use of trill keys.loco 10 Coda 2nd time fp eee eee oe alternative te Th.EXERCISE 3 > tte hte |) yytie. te. ite, thewr? 3 P moto legato