Fluteland.com Flute Message Board

Hi Porschia, I've played on an Altus 1007 for the last 11 years. Fantastic flutes, great tone and scale, really hard-wearing... my flute has withstood a LOT of intense use over the past 11 years! I've played on a Cooper headjoint for about the last 8 years. I remember my original Altus headjoint had...

Hi Burke, Practising as much as you have described is admirable, but if you are having aches and pains you must check your posture... it is common for flute players to bring their shoulders forward and up (especially the left), also that your head is right on top of your spine and not reaching forwa...

Hi Adam,

The small notes in the intro would probably be a "cue", which means they're actually played by your accompanist (pianist/band/orchestra/wahtever). They're just there as a guide, you don't have to play them.

Good luck with your competition!

Sounds like you may have a leak in your low C key. Take the footjoint off and press the C 'roller' bar down - see if the connecting keys close completely. If there's even the slightest gap under the pad then that C won't sound. Cramping hands also lead me to think that you have leaking keys in other...

SIGHT READING: practise this every day... start simple... I use 125 Easy Classical Studies with my students... just has to be one line of the music to start with. First 3 things to look for are key signature, time signature and tempo. After that, have a general scan through for rhythms, accidentals,...

Hi there, Firstly, you should be articulating with the tongue on flute anyway... think of it like speech, it is the tongue which produces the "consonant" sounds (t, k, d, g). Are you trying to play flute immediately after you've played bassoon? I played oboe for a number of years and found that I ha...

Hiya, Re. the very flat C's... you might have a "moisture bubble" underneath the thumb pad. Try blowing it out (ask an oboist - they do this all the time!!) or just swabbing your picc out (but this wouldn't be practical to do in a performance situation!). This could explain why one minute the C's ar...

Hi there - just in case you haven't checked, you might possibly have a leak in the F key (or another associated key)... can you get your teacher to check this for you?

The riser is the connecting 'wall' between the tube of the flute and the lip plate. It's also the area where our air actually hits the flute first, which is why many manufacturers produce risers made from various materials - the different densities etc produce different sounds... http://www.nraywort...

It can also help to turn your right wrist towards the end of the flute - this small change can make a huge difference to the position of the little finger on the footjoint (and also stops the right hand fingers from being 'lazy' and resting on the rods of the flute!) I used to have lots of troubles ...

Hi POWAY, I've done my fair share of orchestral auditions (student and orchestral) and the vast majority have required the G Major. I believe that this is because the G major is considered the only "true" flute concerto, as the D major is pretty much just a direct transcript of the oboe concerto (al...

I think the Hue would be great! It shows off lots of different characters and aspects of flute playing in one compact piece. The Prokofiev might be a little intense for an audition like this... Remember, in auditions for professional orchestras, candidates are usually (at least here in Australia) re...

Hi Nicki! There are lots of beautiful works written for flute/cello. It's one of my favourite combinations to play in! My two favourites are CM von Weber: Trio for flute, cello, piano H Villa Lobos: The Jet Whistle There's a whole list on Larry Krantz's website: http://www.larrykrantz.com/fltcello.h...

Also try rolling your flute out. Many students tend to have their flute rolled in because it makes the higher notes "easier" (I use inverted commas because even though it might take less effort to get the notes, they come out weak and badly out of tune). Keeping the flute rolled out will bring the p...

I'm reluctant to tell my students to "tighten" anything when playing flute, as this encourages tension and therefore restricts the airflow. All you need to do to get good relaxed high notes is to change the angle of the airstream. You do this by moving your bottom jaw forward (to go higher) and back...