#flute tips

[16consecutivewholenotes]

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[toot-toot-on-my-floot]

Flute & Body

Your body and what you do with it really affects the tone of your flute. It is incorrect to think that it’s only job is to blow air into the flute. Rather, it makes for a better tone to understand the sound as resonating with your body. Therefore, get rid of the concept that the sound originates from the flute, and rather think of how to bring the sound into yourself.

Imagine that instead of blowing on the flute to make sound, you are swallowing the sound into your body. The deeper you pull the sound into yourself, the fuller it sounds.

[toot-toot-on-my-floot]

Flute & Body: the Pipe

The idea is a bit abstract and far off from what we are told when we start out, so to start with something simpler and easier to grasp, lets talk about the path the air travels up to reach the flute.

We all know that air travels up from the lungs, out of the mouth. But the path is covered with what we can imagine to be gateways. Muscles on your chest, shoulders, neck, jaw, can all contract, tense up, and disrupt or affect the flow of air. Therefore, it is crucial that these muscles are as relaxed as possible, to allow the air the widest pathway out of the body.

It may be hard to detect whenever these muscles are used, so practicing in front of a mirror, or with a teacher is best.

[toot-toot-on-my-floot]

Flute & Breathing

Breathing is, obviously, essential to playing the flute. But it is easy to think that the more air, the better. This assumption would hold true if the amount of air didn’t affect our bodies, and hence, the airflow.

A small exercise to try; take a deep, deep breath, as much as your lungs can muster. You will notice that your chest naturally rises up to accommodate the extra air. Now try to breathe as much as you can, without allowing your shoulders, or your chest to rise up. You notice that not only are you unable to breathe in as much, but also your belly expands instead. 

Although it may feel safer to take in more air, it is also important to ensure that your shoulders do not move significantly from their original positions. Inhaling and exhaling air should feel as normal as breathing, should be as relaxed as breathing. Try to notice how breathing normally, subconsciously feels, and use that sort of feeling even as you play the flute. A way to practice this is to open your mouth wide, and say a long sustained ‘Ah’. 

[16consecutivewholenotes]

I love pieces with full orchestrations. Strings, brass, woodwinds, percussion. Vocals, too. There's something that's so magical about music with so many different types of instruments. It's lovely, full, warm, and perfect in every which way. I can't describe it well, but I love it more than almost anything.

[16consecutivewholenotes]

Looking to improve my repertoire! Any suggestions on etudes/warmups for an intermediate/advanced flutist?

[16consecutivewholenotes]

fun fact, you can use your right middle OR your right ring fingers to play F#/Gb. Depending on your flute, one fingering may make any of the F#s more in tune, so I encourage you to play around with it.

:)

[16consecutivewholenotes]

do any other flutists have issues getting out an Eb above the staff? like every other note is perfectly fine and in tune and beautiful but high Eb is just... icky for some reason. idk. not sure if it's a universal experience or a me problem. it's probably a me problem.