It’s alright if you are not satisfied with your performance with the flute. You are allowed to play it imperfectly. With practice, you can always make yourself better at it.
We all know the old adage practice makes a man perfect. While practicing, you need to make sure you are doing it right. When you do things correctly in practice, or at least closer to being accurate, you are supposed to perform well.
Considering the point we have mentioned, you do things incorrectly in practice. That can result in bad performance.
Besides, blowing in the flute is not the only thing that creates beautiful melodies. As you already started playing the flute, you already know that.
Here, we will help with tips and techniques to play the flute better. You must already know most of the aspects we will be discussing.
But this is to help find out where it is going wrong that stops you from playing the flute excellently.
Go over the details below to make sure you are practicing right.
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Hand Position
This is one of the critical tasks you need to do correctly to play the flute better. The way you hold the flute directly affects your productivity with the flute.
With regard to flute dynamics, you are supposed to hold the flute in a relaxed manner. There shouldn’t be any tension in the arms from top to bottom.
Undesirable muscle tension, hinders the finger task while playing the flute. Experts say that if there is any tension in your upper arms, the fingers are likely to be tense as well.
As a result, you are unable to move your fingers freely. It might not seem a huge deal altogether, but separately it does make a difference.
Under the hand, the position comes arm formation as well. By arm formation, we mean the way you fold your arm and curve your fingers to play the flute.
You need to fold them in a way they are resting freely. You are not supposed to fold your arm all the way to yourself. Also, free movement of the arms is required. Holding them tight in one place is not the right posture for playing the flute.
The fingers’ shaping will roughly look like a ‘C.’ Also, check if you are taking the finger unnecessarily higher. To block and unblock the fingering holes, you need to take the fingers slightly higher, so you can drop it as soon as with the notes.
Overall Posture And Flute Balance
Your entire upper body should be loose. That’s the only way you can hold the flute appropriately. You need to practice relaxing while playing the flute. Learn to have fun with it!
Even the slightest tension in your neck will travel down to your fingers. Consequently, you might have got the airstream right, but you are failing in fingering the flute.
Flute balance is another aspect. You shift your fingers constantly to catch different notes. It will result in good flute playing if you could shift your fingers without tilting the flute in any way. The required balance of the flute only occurs if you can hold your body relaxed.
You should keep your chin, and hands a little elevated. But you are allowed to move slightly when it’s necessary. Because stiffness is not what we are aiming for.
Some people bend their heads all the way back or all the way down. It will affect the quality of the air you are blowing. The sound will change if you move too much backward or downward at the front.
Embouchure And The Airstream
You change the strength of the air according to notes. The flute could sound a little airy once in a while. Inaccurate embouchure could be one of the reasons.
Your lips need to spread and be slightly clenched from the corners. The lower lip needs to go inward, so the air you are blowing is going directly into the mouthing hole. Yes, you already know about the embouchure structure. Kindly check if you are doing it right.
You need to check your shift in notes is smooth. The only way you can develop a supple and nice note change via practicing it slowly from the very beginning.
Controlling the airstream is undoubtedly a challenge. Once again, try it slowly will help you to reach your goal. To collect the right amount of air, take a breath clearly from your core and gradually release the air.
Shifting from between registers can be another challenging job. For making the subtle change between notes, you can practice keeping your lips loose. Collecting and regulating air is also essential here.
Visualizing Techniques
To catch high and low notes naturally, you can imagine in a different position. For example, think that higher notes are somewhere near the ceiling. And, lower notes will be gradually dropped from the ceiling to the floor.
Moving your head, hand, and neck is also important to get a note right. On a higher note, you can take your head slightly higher, but not backward! You can shift between notes with these imaginary positions and postures.
Flute Articulation
Proper articulation depends on how smooth and fast you can move your tongue. It has once again come to relax the muscles. For tonguing the flute, you need a relaxed tongue. A tight tongue is never going to render you nice sounds.
Also, remember that toughing doesn’t mean creating a note. It means you interfere with the airstream. Airstream and fingering are going to create a note.
In more critical thing you need to pay attention to is- how much tongue you are using. You need to use the tip of your tongue mainly. Also, check if you are spread because that’s the way you need it to be.
On A Final Note
The most common issue that stops learners from improving in flute playing is that they are always overwhelmed by all the tasks. Take it slow, do it smoothly, and avoid performing tasks inaccurately.
You are allowed to make mistakes, but you shouldn’t pressure yourself to do it better immediately! Whatever you are practicing, do it slowly so you can complete the task with fewer mistakes.
If you want to improve, you can try practicing in front of a mirror. You might have practiced in front of a mirror at the beginning of learning the flute. You should do it again if you want to do better. That way, you can see your posture and lip formation.
We know you already knew all the facts we pointed out to you. But, remind yourself about the right process for the tasks. Try to find out the aspects you are not doing quite right with the discussion we have done here. I wish you all the best in playing the flute better!