Octave Change / Learning at Home

WhistlerCampbell · Post by **WhistlerCampbell** » Mon Jan 05, 2004 12:21 pm

Greetings, Another question or two...
when playing the C Major Scale, C and D play one octave above Middle C- matching
the chart I am using. But beginning with E and for the rest of the scale, the
notes are an octave lower. Am I doing something wrong or do I just need to blow
that much harder? Also, has anyone had success with "teaching yourself" to play
the flute, using instruction books? I taught myself to play pennywhistle, but
umm... flute seems quite a bit more involved. [:)] I''m a little concerned
that teaching myself I might develop bad habits that would be hard to break
should I decide to take lessons. Think that''s all for now...[:bigsmile:]
Thanks Whistler

FluteDiddy · Post by **FluteDiddy** » Mon Jan 05, 2004 4:36 pm

Why do you want to blow that much
harder? Are you trying to play louder or higher notes?

WhistlerCampbell · Post by **WhistlerCampbell** » Mon Jan 05, 2004 4:48 pm

[quote] ---------------- On 1/5/2004
4:36:32 PM Why do you want to blow that much harder? Are you trying to play
louder or higher notes? ---------------- [/quote] A faster air stream plays
higher notes? Perhaps I should have said "faster."

fluteluversmom · Post by **fluteluversmom** » Mon Jan 05, 2004 5:24 pm

Yes a faster air speed is needed for
the higher notes. Lessons are a really good idea. You could save yourself some
problems of learning with bad habits and probably save yourself some other
fustrations as well. Kim

damjan · Post by **damjan** » Tue Jan 06, 2004 1:26 am

I would definitely recommend getting
lessons. However well you manage to instruct yourself, it is almost inevitable
that you will develop some habits which might not be optimal for your flute
playing. A teacher can help you with that. However, when you choose a teacher,
make sure it is a good one (references, etc) since bad advice is even worse than
none. That aside, for the higher notes, here are a few tips: 1. High notes do
require a lot of practice 2. They do not require more "force", actually quite
the contrary, you need to relax more while you play them compared to the middle
register. 3. When you relax your lip muscles is when these notes will begin to
sound good 4. The air is directed slightly higher on the wall of the liplate
than for the lower notes There is a great deal of experimentation that you need
to do and it all takes time. As you listen to yourself playing, try to make the
notes sound pure and rich, relax your lips and listen to the "lower overtone" (a
low, humming sound) as it will show when you are playing well. Hope this helps.

WhistlerCampbell · Post by **WhistlerCampbell** » Tue Jan 06, 2004 9:09 am

Thank you! I'm having more success
with those high notes.

FluteDiddy · Post by **FluteDiddy** » Tue Jan 06, 2004 5:45 pm

It is interesting in how many ways
people confuse harder with faster when it comes to controling a physical
function changing the location of where the airstream hits can cause intonation
problems, experiment. Remember big water hose water comes out slow smaller water
hose same water comes out faster, faster is higher pitch

dancingflutist3000 · Post by **dancingflutist3000** » Tue Jan 06, 2004 5:53 pm

[quote] ---------------- On 1/5/2004
12:21:51 PM Greetings, Another question or two... when playing the C Major
Scale, C and D play one octave above Middle C- matching the chart I am using.
But beginning with E and for the rest of the scale, the notes are an octave
lower. Am I doing something wrong or do I just need to blow that much harder?
Also, has anyone had success with "teaching yourself" to play
the flute, using instruction books? I taught myself to play pennywhistle, but
umm... flute seems quite a bit more involved. [:)] I'm a little concerned that
teaching myself I might develop bad habits that would be hard to break should I
decide to take lessons. Think that's all for now...[:bigsmile:] Thanks Whistler
---------------- [/quote] I taught myself how to play the flute and now I am a
fine flute player. I had taught myself for about 6 months and already I was up
to speed with people who had been playing for 2 years. Though before playing the
flute I played the alto sax for about 2 years. Just remember...to get those high
notes sweeze your lips together creating a tiny "o" with your lips.

FluteDiddy · Post by **FluteDiddy** » Tue Jan 06, 2004 9:33 pm

Sweeze my lips? If you mean squeeze
then that term would be frowned upon. Small opening yes, but never use adverbs
that suggest tightness as squeeze does. Minor but very significant point if you
had had a teacher.

minsmusic · Post by **minsmusic** » Tue Feb 03, 2004 7:51 am

My husband bought me a flute
yesterday. With advice from this site (meaning you guys) I can already play
tunes with five notes. I'm pretty happy with that. Your adive (as a collective)
has been very detailed, accurate and free![:bigsmile:] I'm a piano teacher
wanting to continue to teach myself. You know over the years I've had some
pretty shoddy piano teachers. I gave up. Taught myself Last year I put one of my
students through AMEB grade 8 piano. (I'm from Australia). (By the way I went
to uni and got bachelor of arts in drama and music and a diploma of education.
This taught me to 'teach' including myslef.) Ironic really isn't it, I'm
very skeptical of going to a teacher, yet I'm one myself and recommend to use a
teacher. The moderator hit the spot. You have to 'shop around' and get a GOOD
teacher. Having said that, I'm going to try by myself, bad habits and all. But
keep posting that great advice! It's brilliant and two heads are better than
one. Imagine how good a couple of hundred are (though I don't know how many
members you've actually got) Happy learning Happy playing Happy being!