Instantly Improve Your Flute Tone
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 21 ส.ค. 2017
- Struggling to make a sound on the flute? These common embouchure and flute positioning mistakes may be responsible! Learn how to improve your flute tone instantly by making some easy adjustments to your playing.
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Video Transcript: Hi folks Christie here. I wanted to quickly demonstrate some flute positioning and flute embouchure mistakes that you could be making if you're struggling to get a good sound on the flute, or if your flute tone is not really rich and solid and full. So I'll take you through some easy ways to improve your flute tone in just a few minutes.
First is covering too much of the flute embouchure hole with your lips. Generally speaking about a third of the embouchure hole should be covered by your bottom lip. So if you're finding that you're not getting a good sound it could be that. If you are covering too much of the hole you could be rolling the flute in towards you too much, or you could be pressing the flute too hard into your chin, or you could have the flute too high up on your lips. Any of those three positioning issues could be contributing to too much of the lip being on the the lip plate. So if i play a note and then roll in, you'll be able to see that not only does the sound disappear and become airy and weak, but we're going flat. Our pitch is going down and the sound starts to disappear altogether.
You may also have not enough of your lip covering the embouchure hole and you could be directing air across the embouchure hole instead of slightly downwards, diagonally downwards in front of you. You may have the flute position too low on your chin so your lip is actually not covering the hole at all, or you may be too rolled out and that can actually make you play sharp. So it's important, positioning is important for sound, intonation and pitch. If i play a note and then roll the flute out you'll be able to hear this difference. We start to lose it, and if I adjust the height of the flute as well you'll be able to hear the difference. Holding the flute too high and too low and you can hear that sound just completely drop away.
You may not be actually using enough air. Your embouchure shape might be fine but you might just be sabotaging yourself by not supporting your breath enough. So make sure that you are playing moderately loud just to start with while you're learning and then you can come into learning some subtleties in your aperture size to get some dynamic range. So just give yourself a chance of making sound on the flute by using enough air. Take a nice big breath support from the diaphragm fill up those lungs from the bottom up. If you don't use enough air it just really sounds quite weak, so use enough air.
Blowing directly across the the embouchure hole is another issue you may have. Your jaw is too far forward and your lips are in alignment with one another. If you get your finger and put it up towards your your natural embouchure that you're playing with, your finger should really be tilted forward slightly. The top lip should be jutting out slightly above the bottom lip. If you can make your embouchure shape and your lips are sort of straight up and down the top lip is right above the bottom lip, it probably means you're directing too much air straight across parallel to the floor and not enough is striking the embouchure hole. It's just getting dispersed too easily and you'll be wasting lots of air as well.
So here's an example of blowing right across
I've just put my for my jaw forward and my lips are directly on top of one another. If i go back to just the upper lip slightly on top of the lower lip, air is going diagonally down into a point onto a point in front of me, we're automatically sounding lots better
the other thing is holding your flute in the wrong position altogether so you may be pushing your flute too far forward too far back, you might have it angled up which is awkward, or down. Down is quite common if you sit down sitting on your bed and playing the flute so I do recommend at least sitting up in a upright in a chair or even standing up.
The flute should be almost parallel to the ground. It's a little bit awkward to hold it entirely straight so most people just have it angled down slightly in front of your right shoulder there just in front of your body.
So if you start to move the flute back and forward, up and down you're going to be wasting too much air. Not enough of it is going to be striking the edge of the embouchure hole.
So if you're finding that it's hard to get a really nice sound on the flute maybe any one of those positioning or flute embouchure issues could be could be the culprit. So i hope that's helped and it's getting you on the way to terrific flute tone.
I'm just starting flute! This is really helpful. Please keep making videos for us!
Thank you so much .. this is really helpful cuz now I can know my mistake and try to avoid it
Great advice. The first one was my lips covering the hole too much. Thank you.
This is very helpful for me
Thank you so much😊
Thanks you! this has helped meh alots!
It's Very helpful
Thank you - it did help
Thank-you.
I loved this video, I've seen lots of tone videos and they all say the same things but you're much more informative and you branced off into ideas I never heard of yet.
Thanks for the lovely feedback! It makes me really happy to know my videos are helpful! Best of luck with your playing 😊
Thanks
Thanks for these tips!
So glad they were helpful!
High..! Deare Lady, this is a wonderful video and I grateful to you so much for this explanation about the flute but, there are too many vehicle sounds that interfere with the good explanation bout how to play the flute, thank you for your beautiful help...!!!
Excellent tips backed up with expert demonstration. Thank you. I always tended to blame the flute. I will spend a session trying out the tips. Hopefully, this will enhance my very already good tone, making it flawless.
So glad it was helpful!
Awesome...your one teacher that goes slow enough go grasp how to practice blowing proper and holding the flute; I'm 68yrs young determined to learn! Thank you for your video and time.
So glad it was helpful! Please stay in touch and let me know how you're going!
The second to last was my mistake. Thank you, you helped me greatly.
Really good tips! Though I have dubble jaw (if that’s the name), so I can’t try with that tip, but the rest are really good!
Luna Diaz thanks for the great feedback!
Good wishes💐🎂💐🎂💐
Hi Christy, I am a beginner and getting trouble in note values.. I am not playing exact semibreve and minim.. the length of the note what is the exact time of semibreve and minim.
Hey! There's a little bit of maths happening behind the notes. So a semibreve (also known as a whole note) is held for 4 beats (or 4 crotchets/ quarter notes). A minim is a also known as a half note and is worth 2 beats (or 2 crotchets/ quarter notes). So add the two minims together and you equal one semibreve. Of course the speed you are playing at will determine actually how long the notes are held for. Hope that helps! Hang in there and enjoy learning :)
The Flute Coach thanks Christy!.. The problem I am facing is sometimes I am counting four counts slowly and some times faster. If I am replicating any notes in form of you tube video or recording I am doing it.. But when I am reading notes alone.. The speed getting vary time to time.. If you create any video in this that will be great... And you will be first also..
How do you keep good tone when getting into the upper registers?
Moving up the register is always a challenge! The temptation is to blow harder when playing higher notes, but if you do this without making any other changes to your embouchure, you'll end up playing sharp and LOUD all the time. Your air speed needs to increase, without really using 'more' air... so make the aperture smaller and this should help. Look into playing harmonics, as this helps with embouchure flexibility which will benefit you over the entire range of the flute. One last tip - Take good care of your lips too! Dry chapped lips are always harder to play with
The Flute Coach Thank you so much!
You are most welcome! :)
what note were you playing i couldnt tell?
Shes playing g
hi
Please move to Ireland
i keep getting a buzzing sound what am i doing wrong?
Does the buzzing sounds like it's coming from the flute or does it seem like it's coming from your lips? Buzzing lips can be a result of an overly tight embouchure, particularly if you're trying to 'squeeze' high notes out. A buzzing flute could be a little trill key, or roller or the cork in the headcount vibrating as you play - an easy fix by a technician. Does the buzzing occur all the time or just for certain notes?
The Flute Coach the buzzing sound happens when i play any note on my flute but it just happened this year. Last year i didnt have a problem and also now im getting a dark, low tone when i play no matter how i change my embouchure/ if i roll in or out☹️any tips?
@@hihinini if this issue seems to be occurring consistently and started suddenly, I'm a little suspicious it could be a mechanical issue. The little screws and attachment points on the flute and even the cork inside the headjoint can occasionally come loose and they make this vibrating metal-on-metal sound. The good news is that this is usually a quick fix for a technician. Buzzing lips are a result of an overly tight embouchure (and you can normally feel yourself doing it). It normally happens only on certain notes (and not every one that you describe) so I don't think this is your problem. Of course I haven't heard the sound! If you have the opportunity to have someone look at your flute it might be worth it!
The Flute Coach oh okie! thank you
Isn't it the case that a player will automatically find the best position to make the best sound. You either have the required lip structure or you do not.
David Farrar.
You've hit the nail on the head.
Back in the 70s a guy that had failed to get a sound out of his flute, even after going to 3 well known classical players at the time was advised to go to me by jazz saxophonist Ronnie Scott.
I couldn't get him to get a sound out of the instrument either.
Still find it weird to this day that it was so.
do you do flute lessons????????????????????????????????????
bc if you do....
can you teach meh
if
nvm
I just bought a flute. I can't get a consistent sound out of it. I threw my flute in the garbage. Not even kidding, stupidest instrument ever. I can play pretty much any instrument in the orchestra very well, at least at an intermediate level, including saxophone, clarinet, trumpet, french horn, trombone, any stringed, any percussion, even the fucking bassoon. All I had left to learn was flute. Excuse my language, but FUCK THE FLUTE.
this comment gives me DETERMINATION
Why do I just want to kiss her nose🤪