Help?? Sooner the better!!
Moderators: Classitar, pied_piper, Phineas
Help?? Sooner the better!!
I have been playing the flute for about 5 years and the piccolo for 2. I have just went back to band camp for marching band and i cannot play. I tried looking at myself in the mirror while playing and i realized that i am playing towards the corner of my mouth. I have tmj and i am pretty sure that is contributing to this problem. If you have an tips, exercises, or links it would greatly help me out.
i also play kind of in the corner... i think it came from playing with my flute slanted too low when i was a beginer.
i asked someone i know that knows flute realy well about this a while back. she said to not worry about changing my face position (because i felt i had to have my lips perfectly centered). so i continue to play that way and i can play all the stuff i should be able to play (and if i cant play something it is because i dont have the technique to back it up, but my face doesnt get in the way).
one thing that does hurt my jaw is when i tense up. when i played a wooden picc without a lip plate i would sometimes tence up my jaw for some reason. i would try to not tense up my jaw, and if it really hurt i would just take a break.
so all i can suggest is to make sure your jaw is not tense, and that you are not stiff. but if that is already the case then i dont know.
hopefully others have some other advise, because it would be interesting to learn how to blow straight, but from my experience it is really hard to change this once you have done it for a while.
i asked someone i know that knows flute realy well about this a while back. she said to not worry about changing my face position (because i felt i had to have my lips perfectly centered). so i continue to play that way and i can play all the stuff i should be able to play (and if i cant play something it is because i dont have the technique to back it up, but my face doesnt get in the way).
one thing that does hurt my jaw is when i tense up. when i played a wooden picc without a lip plate i would sometimes tence up my jaw for some reason. i would try to not tense up my jaw, and if it really hurt i would just take a break.
so all i can suggest is to make sure your jaw is not tense, and that you are not stiff. but if that is already the case then i dont know.
hopefully others have some other advise, because it would be interesting to learn how to blow straight, but from my experience it is really hard to change this once you have done it for a while.