The picc is plucking my nerves..

flutytooty91 · Post by **flutytooty91** » Mon Nov 12, 2007 9:24 am

I have been playing flute for six years and recently started playing piccolo for the band. The piccolo still sounds fairly shrill after months of playing it. I have also noticed that my flute tone is not as full.. Any suggestions on picc...I played for a teacher at the store and said my embouchure was fine..but it seems too shrill and airy on low notes. Help!

flutepicc06 · Post by **flutepicc06** » Mon Nov 12, 2007 12:06 pm

If it's airy on low notes, get it checked for leaks. What kind of piccolo is it that you're playing? Piccolo is a very different beast from the flute, and it can take quite a long time to get used to...Just be patient, and keep working on picc. Tone exercises from flute can be adopted for piccolo pretty easily, so try some tone matching exercises. Find a pitch that you like the sound of, and slowly move away from it chromatically (in both directions) trying to match the sound of each new note to the tone of the last. Played properly, piccolo can really help you focus your airstream, which can lead to a much better sound on flute, and being at least proficient on picc will really open doors for you down the line, so don't give up!

flutytooty91 · Post by **flutytooty91** » Tue Nov 13, 2007 10:04 am

thanks for the speedy reply! i am currently playing on my school's Yamaha...its wood not plasitic, but i don't know the exact model...i think it is a 6 something..however from looking at the pads..it looks to be over 5 years old

flutepicc06 · Post by **flutepicc06** » Tue Nov 13, 2007 10:58 am

If it hasn't seen a tech during that time, it's due for some adjustments, so I would definitely get it checked out. Otherwise, just keep working at it, and you'll start seeing some improvement the more you play.

FLflutist · Post by **FLflutist** » Wed Nov 21, 2007 11:14 pm

Make sure you're using the right picc embouchure too... not the same as a flute embouchure... and it's not tighter than a flute embouchure either.

flutepicc06 · Post by **flutepicc06** » Wed Nov 21, 2007 11:19 pm

FLflutist wrote:Make sure you're using the right picc embouchure too... not the same as a flute embouchure... and it's not tighter than a flute embouchure either.

You're right that one is not "tighter" than the other, but whether or not it's the same embouchure is another matter. I use nearly identical embouchures with great results. Over time, my picc embouchure transferred to my flute playing and enhanced it. If they're different, that's fine, but if they're the same, that's fine too...Whatever works for a given player is the embouchure they should be using.

fluteguy18 · Post by **fluteguy18** » Thu Nov 22, 2007 8:55 am

flutepicc06 wrote:
FLflutist wrote:Make sure you're using the right picc embouchure too... not the same as a flute embouchure... and it's not tighter than a flute embouchure either.
You're right that one is not "tighter" than the other, but whether or not it's the same embouchure is another matter. I use nearly identical embouchures with great results. Over time, my picc embouchure transferred to my flute playing and enhanced it. If they're different, that's fine, but if they're the same, that's fine too...Whatever works for a given player is the embouchure they should be using.

But lets not forget that players should always be up for trying something new. While advanced and pro players may not need to change [having already experimented], younger players most certainly should experiment with different embouchures to find what works for them.