Hi,
I would consider myself an intermediate flute player, and while my tone is definitely not perfect, it is pretty good: until these last couple of weeks. I don't know what happened, but my tone is absolutely terrible now. It is fuzzy, pinched, and just sounds completely bad.
I have tried techniques that I my flute teacher had given me when I was first trying to produce a good tone, but no matter what I do, it won't come back. When my tone was good, it wasn't like I'd be concentrating on every technical detail either; it would all just sort of fall into place, but consistently, it wasn't just like a one time thing.
I don't know if this is related, but this past week or so, I've had bad congestion, and feel like I cannot breathe deeply.
Please help, this is really upsetting:(
Thank you.
COMPLETELY LOST MY TONE!!! please help!
Moderators: Classitar, pied_piper, Phineas
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fluttiegurl
- Posts: 882
- Joined: Fri Dec 10, 2004 11:05 pm
Wow, been there before.
To answer your question, yes congestion can make a difference in your sound. First off, you may not be supporting your sound as much as normal, even if you do not notice it. You could also be having hearing issues caused by the congestion which can cause you to hear yourself differently than normal and even over correct the problem.
You are probably at this point so stressed about it that you are making it worse by playing tense. If you sound pinched, you're probably pinching. Sounds easy, but I understand your dilemma.
What I do when this happens? I generally take a few days off. Sounds contradictive, but after a few days of rest the tone quality seems to just come back naturally. I had this happen to me a few years back when I was doing several concerts in the winter time with no break in between. I found that taking a break not only helped me to mentally refocus, but it helped my body to recover. Don't get me wrong, practice is great and necessary, but there are times when our bodies simply have had enough and they will let us know. By trying everything you know to fix the problem, you are probably making things worse for yourself. Another suggestion (one that I often give students who are working on auditions and cannot take time off) is to concentrate on other aspects of your playing for a few days, such as hand position or fingerings. Most of the time, the focus on something else eases their minds a bit and the tone production seems to come back without much effort.
Now for the most obvious thing to look for, when was the last time you had your flute looked at? A good player should never blame the flute, but leaks can cause serious problems to your sound production. It could be a very simple oversight and a tiny leak. Even if that is not an issue, it is a good idea to have to looked at every year or so for good measure.
Don't fret. It will come back, and like most things, when you are not trying so hard.
To answer your question, yes congestion can make a difference in your sound. First off, you may not be supporting your sound as much as normal, even if you do not notice it. You could also be having hearing issues caused by the congestion which can cause you to hear yourself differently than normal and even over correct the problem.
You are probably at this point so stressed about it that you are making it worse by playing tense. If you sound pinched, you're probably pinching. Sounds easy, but I understand your dilemma.
What I do when this happens? I generally take a few days off. Sounds contradictive, but after a few days of rest the tone quality seems to just come back naturally. I had this happen to me a few years back when I was doing several concerts in the winter time with no break in between. I found that taking a break not only helped me to mentally refocus, but it helped my body to recover. Don't get me wrong, practice is great and necessary, but there are times when our bodies simply have had enough and they will let us know. By trying everything you know to fix the problem, you are probably making things worse for yourself. Another suggestion (one that I often give students who are working on auditions and cannot take time off) is to concentrate on other aspects of your playing for a few days, such as hand position or fingerings. Most of the time, the focus on something else eases their minds a bit and the tone production seems to come back without much effort.
Now for the most obvious thing to look for, when was the last time you had your flute looked at? A good player should never blame the flute, but leaks can cause serious problems to your sound production. It could be a very simple oversight and a tiny leak. Even if that is not an issue, it is a good idea to have to looked at every year or so for good measure.
Don't fret. It will come back, and like most things, when you are not trying so hard.
Had the flu myself for a week now chesty cough, + bringing things up which i'm sure rightfully belong in outerspace 
. Has drastically hintered my playing more so the higher register, not alot I can do thou 
. But only thing I would advise is try to play in a larger space than what you currently play in, so your ears can adjust to different acustics. Also as advised above take couple of days off, make sure your flute is also well cleaned contamintation and all that.
. Has drastically hintered my playing more so the higher register, not alot I can do thou . But only thing I would advise is try to play in a larger space than what you currently play in, so your ears can adjust to different acustics. Also as advised above take couple of days off, make sure your flute is also well cleaned contamintation and all that.-
anonymous43
- Posts: 2
- Joined: Wed Feb 04, 2009 9:02 pm