Trinity Grade 5 Flute Morceau de Concours by Leo Delibes

[purpleflute]

Have only been playing the flute for approx 14 months and got a distinction in grade 4 at the end of May this year (have previously had piano and singing lessons years ago) but struggling with the end note middle A 7 beats long and a diminuendo of the above grade 5 piece. My note keeps splitting is it due to inexperience and are there any exercises I could do to improve this. My teacher doesnt teach during the school holidays so no lessons now until September.

[pied_piper]

Most likely, you are not providing enough breath support. When you have a long sustained note and a diminuendo, the tendency is to not use as much air. What you need to work on is keeping the air moving but with less force. Also when you diminuendo, you'll need to make your lip opening a little smaller. That will reduce the amount of air you blow into the flute but allow you to keep the air moving relatively fast for a good tone. This is something that challenges a lot of players at your level, so don't be discouraged.

The best way to improve this is to practice playing long tones on every note you can play.
Practice playing loud
Practice playing soft
Practice starting loud and diminuendo
Reverse it by starting soft and then crescendo
Start loud, diminuendo, then crescendo
Start soft, crescendo, then diminuendo

All of these variations will help you gain better breath control. With time and practice doing this, your problem notes should improve.

Also, this article on Jennifer Cluff's website may help too:
http://www.jennifercluff.com/easydyna.htm

[JacintaAnne]

I know this is a little off topic but did u know Ameb now has a fifth grade book? It's series 3 and only came out not even a months ago

[purpleflute]

sorry not been online for quite a while. Thanks for the tips. What is ameb?