3 ways to improve your tone on the flute

Are you puzzled by your tone on the flute? Is it too tall or airy for your taste? Don't be afraid - you can help improve your tone by doing a few simple and straightforward things. You will need to address the quality of your form and your practice sessions, and in some cases, you may even need to evaluate the quality of your flute.

Steps

Method 1 of 3: Improve Your Form

Step 1. Sit up straight

In fact, playing with a good tone is easier on your feet. Make sure your back is completely straight when sitting and avoid hunching over. Turn your body slightly at an angle so that you don't have to reposition your neck to see the music stand clearly.

Step 2. Hold the flute in a high position

You've likely been told a thousand or more times, but holding the flute too low can affect your tone. You should hold it about 20 degrees below the parallel line. If you hold it lower than this, you collapse the stomach part and you cannot breathe properly or sustain the tone. Holding it higher than this puts strain on your right arm.

Step 3. Balance the flute

This is related to correct posture, but it is not the same. When holding a flute, there are three points of balance: the chin, the left thumb, and the right thumb.

The lip plate should rest in the space between your chin and your lip, and you should feel gentle pressure on your lower gums. The flute should rest just above the lower knuckle of your left index finger, above where the finger meets the hand. The flute should be resting on the tip of the right thumb, below or slightly behind the flute, between the keys of F and E. Then the right little finger should fall naturally on the E-flat key. When in this position, it should feel very natural and the flute should "float", allowing you to produce a resonant sound

Step 4. Breathe properly

Before playing, take a deep breath from your belly, not your chest. You should see that your belly is physically expanding. The back should also expand near the end of a deep breath. If your chest expands first or your shoulders rise when you breathe, you won't get as much air as you could. Also, your lips should form a triangular hole when you blow.

One way you can practice this is by leaning forward at the waist, making a 90-degree angle between your legs and your torso. Then, take a deep breath from your belly, feeling your entire belly and back expand before your chest

Step 5. Support the airflow

Consider activating your torso and belly muscles to physically "support" the air and produce a strong, steady flow. This will also help you play in tune, which always produces a better tone as well as being extremely important when playing with other people.

• Also listen to your tone when blowing into the flute. Think about having a full, resonant sound. Imagine that you vibrate the entire length of your flute with your breath.
• Shape your lips. You can produce a better shade by making the hole in your lips smaller. The air flow will be more direct and you will not consume as much air. On the other hand, you should be careful not to make the hole too small, as this could cut off the airflow and produce an airy or strained sound.

Method 2 of 3: Improve the quality of your practice sessions

Step 1. Experiment

You won't be able to find your ideal shade until you know what all the options are. Also, what a "good" tone means on the flute depends on the music you play, and skilled musicians know how to vary the color of their tone (deep, high, soft, sweet, intense, haunting, etc.) to suit the tone. environment they want to create. To practice it, choose a note that you can comfortably play, hold it, and explore the following movements. As you play, observe how the sound changes, whether it seems more or less pleasant, and the kinds of musical environments it might evoke. Over time, you can learn to choose the shade color you want and immediately find the position of the lips, jaw, and body to produce it.

• Move the end of the flute higher or lower. This changes the angle of the air through the mouthpiece hole. Many flute players drop their right arm too far for optimal pitch, and this exercise will show you if you are one of them.
• Move the end of the flute back and forth. This also changes the angle of the air flow. Listen to find the place where the sound is most focused.
• Tilt your head left and right, back and forth. Feel what is most comfortable for you and have the clearest sound.
• Roll the nozzle in and out. This changes the amount of air that goes into the flute and also has an effect on the frequency (whether you are out of tune, sharp, or perfectly fine).
• Move your jaw back and forth to direct the airflow further up or down. This can be an effect similar to turning the nozzle in or out.
• Make the muscles of your lips, cheeks and jaw more and less relaxed.

Step 2. Record yourself

You may be surprised. The acoustics of our own bodies and the space around them means that your tone will have a different sound when you hear it when you play, when it is heard by someone who is standing a few feet from you and someone who is sitting in the back of a car. large concert hall. There are professional flute players who have very intense tones that can scratch abrasiveness if you are standing next to them, but are great to hear during a solo in a large room.

Conversely, a sweet, delicate tone that sounds pretty to the piper's own ears may appear weak and uninteresting from across the room. It can be very helpful to record yourself from various distances as a way to understand how you will sound to others. Of course this doesn't work perfectly unless you have good quality recording equipment, but even a video on your smartphone is better than nothing

Step 3. Practice the long tones

As many Music teachers like to say: "Practice does not make perfect. A master practice makes perfect." Unless you spend a lot of time trying to play with a good tone, you will not develop it reliably. One way you can do this is to dedicate a portion of each practice session to long tones. This is usually done as part of the warm-up. Moyse's book "De la Sonorité" is a classic resource for this, although it is also possible to find many resources online that describe practice techniques for long tones.

Use vibrato on the longest notes. Vibrato is a technique in which the piper changes pitch very quickly. Pretend to whisper "ha ha ha" and try to play a note. It may not sound natural at first, so practice until it's natural and even. Vibrato is a good technique that generates interest in longer notes and also hides inconsistencies in tuning. The speed of the vibrato depends on the effect a flute player is trying to achieve: a faster vibrato usually represents a more intense feeling, while a slower one is more relaxing

Step 4. Keep in mind that with time and familiarity you will achieve better tones on certain notes

As you become more familiar with the highest and lowest notes on the flute, your tone on them will improve as well. However, avoid simply assuming that time will solve everything. It also takes practice.

Step 5. Listen to recordings of professional flutists

They all play with a reasonably good tone, or they wouldn't have turned professional. However, you may also find that you like some more than others. Consider what characterizes the tones you like best and experiment with trying to imitate them when playing.

Method 3 of 3: Improve the Quality of Your Flute

Step 1. Get your flute regularly checked

A flute that works better has a better tone. Point. If your tuning cork is damaged, there is a leaky key, the rods are misaligned, or the flute is faulty in some other way, this will have a negative effect on your tone. To some extent, you can fix it yourself (sticky keys or loose screws) but, for most things, you should have your flute checked at a music store.

Step 2. Get a better flute

The quality of the metal (be it nickel, silver, gold, or even platinum) and the craftsmanship with which the flute was made drastically affect its tone. It is said that a master flute player can make even the lowest quality flute sound great, but for the rest of us, the quality of the instrument makes a difference. If you have a beginner flute and want to play seriously, consider purchasing a new one. Professional and intermediate flutes are crafted with greater precision, and it is easier to get a good tone on many notes.

Step 3. Consider the quality of the metal when choosing a new flute

Most beginner flutes are made of nickel or silver plated nickel. Pure silver (fine silver) is a higher quality level. If you are going to buy an intermediate flute, you should first opt for an all-silver head and a silver-plated body and keys. Then a head and body all made of silver with silver-plated keys and then an all-silver flute. You can also customize the flute with different contents of gold, gold or silver plating, platinum and more.

• Platinum gives the flute a darker, more powerful sound, while gold gives it a warmer and more luscious tone.
• The head is the most important part of the flute and therefore you should be careful to upgrade the quality of the metal at least for the head if you cannot afford it for the body and foot.
• There are some companies that sell heads with "wings" on the lip plate. These "wings" help direct air into the flute and minimize the amount of air that escapes. This helps you have a lighter tone and a less airy sound.
• Be careful with gold-plated lip plates. They have no effect on tone at all and are for appearance only. However, a better quality chimney (the short part that joins the lip plate to the head) does improve the tone.

Step 4. Choose a flute that has well-crafted pieces

Many components allow a flute to work, but you should particularly look for flutes that have open key holes, an aligned G key, a foot itself, a gizmo key, and a mechanism from my match.

• 

  Open hole on top, close hole or plateau keys on bottom Open hole keys - These allow air to pass through when not covered, producing a more intense and resonant tone. Also, the open holes create less air resistance, making notes easier to play. While this is highly recommended, you will need to adjust a bit after changing as you will have to cover the holes completely with your fingers. Start with key caps that are harder to reach so that you can play normally, and work toward being able to play without the caps as you practice.

• 

  Inline on top, offset on bottom Aligned treble key - This is a matter of personal preference and will not actually affect the pitch. An aligned G key simply means that a key will be a little harder to reach (see the image to the right). In case your hands are small or you are used to playing with an angled G key, it is okay to stick with it. The main reason an aligned G key is preferred is because of the nice look of the keys.

• 

  B foot on top, C foot on bottom B-foot: you can buy a foot with a few additional keys with which you can play a lower chromatic tone than usual (on the b-note). This is recommended, as you are likely to come across that note in advanced flute literature. A flute with a foot in B will also be able to produce more intense tones than the same flute with a foot in C.

• 

  The gizmo key is the long, little one, closest to the viewer. Gizmo key: This key is almost always included in the foot itself and makes it easy to play the sharp C or C sharp (5 or more supplemental lines).

• 

  A split E mechanism indicated by the red arrow My Match Mechanism: A split E mechanism divides the action of the treble and lower G keys. Normally the G keys are closed together. In a mechanism of my match, this remains the case except that the lower key of G may close when the natural E note is played in the third octave. This gives you the ideal pitch vent hole for the high E note and can improve a flute player's pitch and tone.

Advice

• Keep your head up when playing. Do not look down! The only time you could look down is if a very high note you play sounds sharp. Otherwise, keeping your head up is part of having the correct posture and it helps you produce better tone. To practice this, try reading the sheet music near eye level or even playing notes while looking at something on the wall that is at eye level.
• Don't forget that blowing air slowly will make the note lower. If you want a higher note, blow air quickly.
• Avoid covering too much of the embouchure hole. This will make the pitch very out of tune.
• Try to sing before you play. While it might sound strange, this helps open the throat. Also, singing while playing, which takes a bit of practice, is an excellent exercise to improve your tone.
• If you want to practice the double tongue strike, alternate the syllables "tu" and "cu". You will greatly improve the speed of your tongue stroke. In case you have trouble with this, isolate the syllable "cu" and practice strengthening those muscles in the back of your throat.
• When you play the flute itself, be careful to hit your tongue. This is when you produce a T sound when playing. This serves to separate the notes and make the piece sound clearer.
• Band directors will tell you that crossing your legs has a negative effect on tone, but this no It's like that for flute players (as long as you feel upright). However, it does look very unprofessional in a band setting.
• While the other tips are helpful, the most important thing is to practice every day and do your best.
• For advice that is specific to your unique embouchure and playing style, consult a private flute teacher.
• Get a good quality flute. This will make it easier for you to learn to play and use it.

Warnings

• Avoid using vibrato in case you are trying to tune. In this case, you must use a direct tone or you run the risk of tuning incorrectly. Also, vibrato may not be appropriate for some styles of music.
• Some flute players have allergic reactions to the metal in the lip plate. Silver, nickel, or gold may turn your chin ashen. In case you have this problem, you can put a piece of masking tape on the lip plate.