Question about fast passages

Kim · Post by **Kim** » Sun Mar 21, 2004 2:19 pm

My daughter is looking for advice in
controlling the amount of spit when playing in some faster passages. Right now
she is working on Carnival of Venice and by the time she gets to the end of some
of the faster passages she sounds kind of like she has a lot of spit. Is this
just a matter of finding time to swallow. Her lesson isn''t until the end of
the week and she would like to get a grip on this problem before then. Kim

embum79 · Post by **embum79** » Sun Mar 21, 2004 8:33 pm

I have the same problem in playing really
high notes... I talked with my flute teacher about this.. and she basically said
everyone has this problem, and it's just a matter of practicing (like
everything else!). I just make sure I know where my problem areas are with spit
so I can do whatever I can before the passage to make sure the notes sound
okay.. I wish there was an easy solution!!

FluteDiddy · Post by **FluteDiddy** » Sun Mar 21, 2004 9:12 pm

This topic comes up alot. None of the
answers I have read seem all that great. Some people just salivate more than
others and have more of a problem. I have heard don't eat for a long time
before you play, I have heard eat shortly before you play. I have heard drink
alot of water and I have heard don't drink for an hour before you play. Get the
pattern here? I think you can experiment with these and other factors and see if
they affect how much saliva you produce and try and reduce it a little. In
reality we blow air full of our mouth and our mouth is full of spit. I guess if
you get desperate enough you could try an over the counter antihistamine, they
will dry you out. If its just for a performance and you dont have any side
effects like being drowsy it maybe an exceptable solution. I am not much on
drugs as a solution but[:devil:]

Kim · Post by **Kim** » Sun Mar 21, 2004 9:19 pm

Thanks for the replies Emily and
Flutediddy. She doesn't usually have the spit problem when playing. It usually
only seems to happen when she is playing a song like the one I mentioned and
there isn't a whole lot of time to swallow LOL I guess she will just have to
find ways to work around it unless her teacher has a bright idea. Thanks again,
Kim

sakuramimato · Post by **sakuramimato** » Sun Mar 21, 2004 11:56 pm

Also, depending on the type of air she
blows through her instrument (warm or cold) determine how much condensation
occurs in the instrument. At times, I switch between cold and warm air through
my instrument and condensation occurs less when cold air is used, but sound
production and quality isn't near warm air flow. Personal preference, really,
but the spitty sound can be managed through practice and focusing air flow,
etc.

Cleartone · Post by **Cleartone** » Sun Mar 28, 2004 1:21 pm

My response would be close to F-Diddy's.
Different people have different amounts of saliva and have varying problems with
it. The cold medicine is a funny one though. You might find yourself trying to
create more saliva when playing on cold medicine, making an even worse problem.
You want to get to a place where you are not thinking about the spit in your
mouth and swallow it naturally where rests occur. Some composers of flute music
are not aware of breath and mouth related issues, so they may have not included
rest stops. This is where phrasing comes in. I think in your daughters' case
she may be anticipating the fast passage so much, that she might be actually
creating more saliva right before she gets to it. I think playing a few pieces
with very long phrases may help. Of course slow down the fast passage and become
more confident about playing it. Don't linger on the saliva. The more you think
about it the more saliva you make. Sometimes when you dwell on it all you do is
think about all the moisture in your mouth and not the playing of the flute. Hot
vs. Cold air huh?? Interesting

vice · Post by **vice** » Tue Mar 30, 2004 8:12 pm

How does one choose what type of
temperature air to breathe? Or is hot/cold a metaphor you are using?

nicki_flute · Post by **nicki_flute** » Sun Jul 04, 2004 10:56 am

Vice: I think they mean to get warm air down the flute you first just blow down it until the flute feels warm then you play, cold air I think is when you just play with no warm up. Not sure, but hope it helps.

ick27 · Post by **ick27** » Sun Jul 04, 2004 10:27 pm

I think this excess saliva production may be due to exagerated tounging. When I learned to play, I tounged far too strongly, making my tounge do all the work. I think many people start this way, but it doesn't give a very clean articulation. One teacher I had observed this made a "spitty" sound in the high notes. The solutions is to articulate with the air, not the tounge. The tounge just moves quickly out of the way to let the air make sounds, it doesn't muscle around or press hard on the top of the mouth.
This might not be the problem, but it's a good thing to consider. It was sort of a revelation to me, learning to use my tounge more subtly and articulate with air...