Trouble with high E

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flutegirl16
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Joined: Sat Aug 30, 2008 6:45 pm
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Trouble with high E

Post by flutegirl16 »

Every time I play high E, there is some sort of "catch" before the tone comes out. All of the rest of my high notes are fine, it's just the E that is doing this.

Any suggestions?

Fleming
Posts: 20
Joined: Fri Apr 10, 2009 6:12 am

Post by Fleming »

"Catch"? Meaning no sound comes out at all, or you get a bit of the second octave before hitting the right pitch, or something else entirely?

vinie
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Joined: Sat Jan 10, 2009 6:36 pm
Location: belgium

Re: Trouble with high E

Post by vinie »

flutegirl16 wrote:Every time I play high E, there is some sort of "catch" before the tone comes out. All of the rest of my high notes are fine, it's just the E that is doing this.

Any suggestions?
do you mean it's sounds like an A instead of an E?

do you have E-mechanism on your flute?

fluteguy18
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Joined: Sun Jul 16, 2006 3:11 pm

Post by fluteguy18 »

Make sure that your fingers are moving in unison. Sometimes when we don't move our fingers exactly together, weird things happen.

fluttiegurl
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Joined: Fri Dec 10, 2004 11:05 pm

Post by fluttiegurl »

Are you sure you are using the correct fingering? I encounter many players (at all levels) who do not know the correct fingerings for many of the third octave notes.

flutegirl16
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Post by flutegirl16 »

[quote="Fleming"]"Catch"? Meaning no sound comes out at all, or you get a bit of the second octave before hitting the right pitch, or something else entirely?[/quote]

For a split second, no sound comes out at all.

Fleming
Posts: 20
Joined: Fri Apr 10, 2009 6:12 am

Post by Fleming »

>For a split second, no sound comes out at all.
Then I'd guess it's taking you a split second to find the sweet spot. The only way to fix that is practice. Try working on your scales up and down by increasing intervals, and focus on remembering what it feels like to get a good response and tone on each note.

carlie09
Posts: 3
Joined: Tue Jun 16, 2009 8:49 am

Post by carlie09 »

I get what you mean,
i have that sort of problem with the third octave F#
but all my other notes are fine i hit them first time.

I generallu just blow firmer and use loads of abdominal Support to get it out.

ComeThouFount
Posts: 13
Joined: Tue Jun 23, 2009 9:18 am

Hi there

Post by ComeThouFount »

Here are some thoughts from a beginner...so please don't laugh too loudly.

Does this note play just right/perfectly when you separately just play this note?

I was thinking that in these high registers, that with each note we play we know exactly how our lips and precise pressure has to be to play a particular note...

So, I am wondering per chance, with the high pressure in the tube of the flute for high notes, could this problem occur...that buttons don't open or close properly with the added pressure? Could it delay a response to the next note. For example, a high note is played, player changes fingers to another position for another note, and the former keys are still not returned because of high pressure (like an opposite vacuum affect) and thereby, is still creating a leak somewhere, so that the player is geared for a certain pressure for the new note but nothing happens because the keys are delayed and not precisely closed or opened where they should be for that note at that very moment?

Just wondering if that is possible.

So, I guess the question is, can you play this note perfectly without a delay when you play the note separately?

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