I know this conversation looks like it's over, but I have a tip for breathing techniques. Every day before you play (you might do this before school if you don't want to look silly in front of your friends ), do a breathing exercise. One that I do: set a medium tempo in your head (about 80 beats per min.), and start breathing in with your mouth in the shape of an O for 4 counts, filling up the bottom part of your lungs. Then do it saying Ah to fill up the middle section for four counts, and then do Ee for four counts for the top section of your lungs. Hold for four and breathe it all out for 8. If you can't quite do that without running out of space for the air, do this one for a couple of weeks until you can: Quickly do Oh, Ee, and then sniff. Hold for a second, and let it all out at once like you're coughing to the ground and you want the dirt to smell you're pizza breath. One last one that I have done is this (this helps both deep breathing and going longer on your air): Get a fairly quick tempo in your head. Breath in with your mouth open wider than with the Oh breath, kind of like you're almost yawning (this may cause you to yawn, in fact). Do this for 8 counts, hold for 4, and breath out for 16 (make it longer if you can after some practice) without faltering. Good luck with your future musical ventures!
Amateur_Flautist wrote:I know this conversation looks like it's over, but I have a tip for breathing techniques. Every day before you play (you might do this before school if you don't want to look silly in front of your friends ), do a breathing exercise. One that I do: set a medium tempo in your head (about 80 beats per min.), and start breathing in with your mouth in the shape of an O for 4 counts, filling up the bottom part of your lungs. Then do it saying Ah to fill up the middle section for four counts, and then do Ee for four counts for the top section of your lungs. Hold for four and breathe it all out for 8. If you can't quite do that without running out of space for the air, do this one for a couple of weeks until you can: Quickly do Oh, Ee, and then sniff. Hold for a second, and let it all out at once like you're coughing to the ground and you want the dirt to smell you're pizza breath. One last one that I have done is this (this helps both deep breathing and going longer on your air): Get a fairly quick tempo in your head. Breath in with your mouth open wider than with the Oh breath, kind of like you're almost yawning (this may cause you to yawn, in fact). Do this for 8 counts, hold for 4, and breath out for 16 (make it longer if you can after some practice) without faltering. Good luck with your future musical ventures!
i also have a little tip on vibrato and band chairs in general. First of all, I was last chair for one year and I know how it feels. Now I am first chair and the best tip about moving up chairs that I can tell you is if you are determined to move up chairs you will. Last chair is for people who dont practice. So stop putting yourself down, because I'm sure if you practice everyday, even a little bit, you don't deserve last chair.
Second, vibrato is a very useful technique and i suggest using it because it will really improve your tone and pitch, the more you vibrato, the more in tune you will be. I began vibrato in eigth grade, its never too late! Basically, like previous people said, you waver your tone. Now, there's really no set forth way on how to do it, but here is one big don't:
~don't vibrate with your mouth/tongue/throat... vibrate with your stomach muscles. You should feel your stomach contracting and relaxing when you play... concentrate on this when playing an easy note like B-flat or F...
at first it will be hard for you to hold your tone out for as long and you will need more breath, but believe me, the more you do this the stronger your sound, better the pitch, and longer your breath.
About private flute lessons, it depends on who you take from. I take a 90 minute lesson every month for 60 dollars per session. My teacher is a former symphony orchestra flutist (assistant principal) , anyway, they are great.. But you have to treat every word like gold, or you'll get nothing. I am the best in my area, but i did'nt get that way through osmosis. I practice 8 hours a day every day out of sheer drive. Without the drive and enthusiasm, you'll get nowhere. If you have fire in your heart, you'll be THE best. Good luck!
I have a little advice also. Try holding a b natural for as long as you can everyday for 20 minutes. Try not to go flat at the end by really using your tummy muscles. It will dramatically improve your tone. Hope it helps a little.
"Imagine, if you will, a world without hypothetical situations........"
private lessons vary in price, depending on the teachers credentials mostly. i took private lessons with a perfessional Flutist for about a year and a half they cost me about 20 bucks for 30 min. I strongly suggest a private teacher if your serious about getting really good at the flute. I grew so much as a musician doing them. Keep up the practiceing and listen to alot of flute music this also helps to get a good clean flute sound in your ears. Try to imitate those sounds. Flute like all woodwind instruments requires alot of steady air to get the proper sound out of it. Your first best bet is to have your flute checked out to make sure it in proper working condition and to rule that out before making any other decisions. Next I would work on tunning. Flutes are super sensative and difficult to tune together. so sit in front of a tuner and play A get it in tune . keep in mind your posture. rolling out chin up standing up straight flute parrallel to the ground. play and hold those notes out for a count of 4 and longer as you get better and are able to keep the air strong. when you get the tunning down you will begin to hear when you and other flutes are going out of tune. this is probly why the other flutes give you not so nice glares and such, they hear this disonence. Train yourself to hear it as well and to reajust yourself to get in tune again. lastly look into Breathing. do not breath from your chest breath from your diapghram. your shoulders shoudnt move when your breathing fill your stomach and dont be afraid to be to loud play out and really put air into the flute.
hope some of this helps put some ideas in your mind. good luck.
scientifically every living thing produces vibration. It is also fact that music is also created through Vibrations. in the end we can conclude that if music is a vibration and living things are vibrations, the living universe must be music.
MUSICISVIBRATION wrote:keep in mind your posture. rolling out chin up standing up straight flute parrallel to the ground. play and hold those notes out for a count of 4 and longer as you get better and are able to keep the air strong.
I disagree with your concept of posture. This may well work your you, but is not the generally recommended stance. You do not want your flute parallel to the ground. Of course there are exceptions, but outside of a marching situation, it almost always induces unnecessary stress into you playing. Somewhere around 70 degrees from the body is about where you want the flute. You also do not want your chin too high, as this will affect the angle at which the air stream contacts the edge of the embouchure hole, indirectly influencing sound. Certainly you don't want to be staring at your feet, but a comfortable medium (I actually keep my chin in a bit) is best. Stand up straight...Good advice, but not so ramrod straight that it introduces more stress. As for rolling out, I'm not quite sure what you're getting at with that. Your posture should not affect the placement of the headjoint in relation to your embouchure. If you find it necessary to roll out, do so where the head meets the body, but don't try to force the flute around with your hands. That adds to stress in the wrists and arms, and can be highly detrimental. The best stance for you is where you feel most comfortable and relaxed, and each flutist should work to find this on their own.
I think you just took what i was saying way to literally. I was taught this because with most any flutist that is new or even intermediate will have a tendency to tuck their chins in and drop there flute so far that it only makes things worse. I ment to have the idea of this posture in mind of course your not gonna want to be an uptight soldier when playing but its essential for a player to be aware of this or else they will gain the habbit of poor posture. When a person gets to a hard part in music without even thinking of it, we will tuck our chin in and lean into the music, it is natural to do this but we also sacrafice being in tune and some tone. generally the flute should be parrallel to the ground obviously no one is going to keep it perfect to that but you want it to be more up then to the side <no you dont want it perfectly parrallel either you want it where both of your wrist are naturally able to hold onto the flute without tension which is generally more parrallel then vertical>. rolling out is a way to adjust yourself into tune with others. a flute will go flat if you roll it in. This is just stuff that my teacher emphasized for me. I think you just took the picture of posture i created and looked at it way to critically. Im not sure if thas how everyone would read it but if thats the idea you gather im sorry that it looked that way i didnt mean this uptight looking solider look at all. i ment by it for you to use it as an idea for posture think these things rather then nothing at all when thinking about your posture. as for rolling out, well if your having to move your flute to extreme angles and such then you should try adjusting the head joint first. rolling out is used for fine tunning. Again you paint a picture of an extreme idea. this is what ive been taught and its worked well for me. Just passing it along. sorry for whatever confusion you might have had
scientifically every living thing produces vibration. It is also fact that music is also created through Vibrations. in the end we can conclude that if music is a vibration and living things are vibrations, the living universe must be music.
As I've learned here, you really do need to be very clear on what you're thinking when you try to convey things, as tone and intention do not carry across well into writing. I'm sorry if I misunderstood you.
Band_Geek wrote:Well you dont have to use a metronome. You could tap your foot at a certain speed. So what is it exactly that you want to know how to do?
http://www.metronomeonline.com go there for a free metronome..it isn't the best in the world but it helps me and it is how I found this site. Give it a try. Also, don't worry so much about being good, just enjoy the music and have fun..I promise it will make all the difference. Because a) you will want to play more and that will make you practice a lot making you improve. b) you will stick with the program (and people always drop out moving you up a few chairs) and c) if you put your heart into it, it makes all the difference. practicing will help your endurance to play longer with fewer breaths, practicing will make you more familiar with your flute, and you will have a good time. So what if you aren't the first chair..have fun anyway and one day you won't have to worry about how good you are because you will be better than all the rest just for putting your heart into it...that's what it is really about [/i]
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congratulations..I didn't even know i didn't read the whole thread..my bad(:
Generally between $15 and $30 for a half hour, in my experience. Both of my teachers right now charge $20 per half hour...but then we generally end up having 45 minute lessons somehow. I'd totally agree though...you can teach yourself to a certain extent, but you can't learn everything that you need through band alone. I'd ask your band director and/or people in your section about teachers, or do a bit of research in your area. Good luck-
k sorry i'm totally changing the subject and i hope you'll forgive me but i have a really good way at improving your tone.this worked for me and i'm 1st chair in my entire school.if your school has a piccolo that you can practice with.i went to band camp and in one week my tone was 10x as good as before.just practicing non stop for a long time.
), do a breathing exercise. One that I do: set a medium tempo in your head (about 80 beats per min.), and start breathing in with your mouth in the shape of an O for 4 counts, filling up the bottom part of your lungs. Then do it saying Ah to fill up the middle section for four counts, and then do Ee for four counts for the top section of your lungs. Hold for four and breathe it all out for 8. If you can't quite do that without running out of space for the air, do this one for a couple of weeks until you can: Quickly do Oh, Ee, and then sniff. Hold for a second, and let it all out at once like you're coughing to the ground and you want the dirt to smell you're pizza breath. 
Im gonna get nerves mess-up -- HELP 
I'd totally agree though...you can teach yourself to a certain extent, but you can't learn everything that you need through band alone. I'd ask your band director and/or people in your section about teachers, or do a bit of research in your area. Good luck-