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It takes practice if you want to become a great flute player. It is impossible to pick up a flute (or any instrument for that matter) and expect to become a great musician right away. You must be able to breathe properly, obtain a beautiful, clear tone, and learn to play with expression.
The first thing you need to do are breathing exercises. The following are some helpful breathing exercises you can do to help improve your stamina when playing a long piece of music.It is important to spend at least an hour each day doing breathing exercises.
1. Take a deep breath. Does your stomach rise when you inhale? If not, practice breathing in while expanding your stomache muscles. You will breathe more efficiently this way because every time your stomach rises, your diaphram moves downward, giving your lungs more room to fill with air. If you keep on practicing to breathe this way, it will become so natural that you will eventually do it without thinking about it.
2. Another great exercise is to sit in front of a wall, hold up a piece of paper to the wall, form your embouchure, then breathe out through your embouchure, using your breath to hold the paper up against the wall. Try to see how long you can keep the paper on the wall. Stand further back from the wall and try the same exercise again. See how far away you can be from the wall before it becomes impossible to hold the paper up with your breath.
3. Most new flute players take a breath after every four measures. More experienced players take a breath after more measures. Sometimes it depends on where it is more convenient in the musical score. For example, it may be better to take a breath in between a measure if there is a rest sign. As you practice each piece of music, focus on where you should take your breath. Experiment with different places to take your breath to find out which way works best with the music.
4. Always breathe in through your nose and out from your mouth. This way you will be able to play more efficiently becaue people who breathe in through their mouth have a tendency to lose their embouchure as they play and the music might sound choppy.
Which brings us to another point. Your embouchure is very important. You must be able to keep it up for the duration of the musical piece you are playing. Your embouchure makes the difference when it comes to your tone and sound quality. The embouchure for playing the flute is as follows:
1. Put your lips together slightly.
2. Tighten the corners of your mouth.
3. leave just enough space between the center of your lips to allow air to pass through.
4. Remember to practice your embouchure both with and without your flute. Exercising your lips and facial muscles help to strengthen your embouchure.
While your technique is important, the way you play the music is also important. You can read the score note for note, but you must also put feeling into it. When notes get higher, you can play louder. Exyending long notes, changing how loud or how softly you play are ways to help put expression into the music. Listen to recordings of professionals playing the flute. This will give you an idea of how you can put more expression into your music.
Many flute players neglect the most important thing when they are learning to play....their flute. You must keep your flute in good condition in order to have a good sound quality. Here are some guidelines to keep your flute in good working condition.
1. The first thing you should do is keep your flute clean. Before, during and after you practice, use your cleaning rod with a soft, lint-free cloth to clean out the inside of the flute.
2. Polish your flute with a soft cloth. If your flute is silver or silver plated, you can use a gentle silver polish on it. Use a tiny brush to get dust or dirt out from under the keys.
3. Your flute has many keys with wires attached to them so when one key is pressed, another presses down automatically. Learn which keys operate other keys in case a wire slips off one of these keys. This way you will know where to slip the wire on. A small pin or mini screw driver can be used to lift up the wire to place it back where it belongs.
4. Your flute has many tiny screws which hold the keys on. Keep the screws tight but don't over tighten them or the keys will be hard to press.
5. Check the pads under the keys regularly. Replace them when they become worn.
If you follow these tips, you will achieve a good sound quality and tone. You will eventually notice the difference in the quality of your playing. Your sound and style will improve immensely, but in order to achieve this, you must practice, practice, practice!
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