What are the best tips on playing ever got?

[Nanohedron]

There's so much crucial advice I've gotten over time, much of it echoing what I read on this thread; but the one that really stuck with me wasn't so much advice as a comment from Larry Nugent, that the hardest thing about flute playing is producing a consistent tone. That's always at the back of my mind when I play, and I listen to my efforts on that regard.

[tin tin]

Thanks for the link, Treeshark.
From the pen of Nicholson himself:
"Place the mouth-hole of the flute to the centre of the upper part of the under lip, but not so high as to prevent the lip from covering at least one-third or half the mouth-hole."
(Quoted from Terry McGee's site.)
Pretty similar to Skip Healy's advice.

[lixnaw]

play from your heart.

[shoner]

Establish good tone from the bottom up. Once you get a solid hard low D, all else follows.

[treeshark]

Thanks for the link, Treeshark.
From the pen of Nicholson himself:
"Place the mouth-hole of the flute to the centre of the upper part of the under lip, but not so high as to prevent the lip from covering at least one-third or half the mouth-hole."
(Quoted from Terry McGee's site.)
Pretty similar to Skip Healy's advice.

My reading of the Skip Healy passage is that he says you shouldn't cover any of the blow hole, whereas Nicholson is advising covering a half to a third. I don't quite get whats similar! Though I've no doubt that with practice players could achieve good tone either way.
Rob

[bang]

My reading of the Skip Healy passage is that he says you shouldn't cover any of the blow hole, whereas Nicholson is advising covering a half to a third. I don't quite get whats similar! Though I've no doubt that with practice players could achieve good tone either way.
Rob

i agree that Skip recommends not covering any of the blow hole. but, noting the word 'prevent', i think Nicholson is advising *covering* 1/2 to 2/3 of the blow hole, which is a more extreme contrast to Skip's advise. these two descriptions seem to me to represent two distinct approaches to embouchure.

my hit pick from Nicholson is this quote (thanks Terry!):

Having proceeded thus far, force an aperture through the centre of the lips with the breath, directing it into the uncovered part of the mouth-hole. *Very little exertion is required to do this*; and indeed, in this *early stage* of learning to blow, *the less exertion used the better*.

the starred bits confirmed the key 'less is more' advise i had received from a Japanese Shakuhachi teacher: "the front of the lips are completely relaxed; they just a form a little flap that the breath gently pushes through". that teacher also recommend starting at the very, very, bottom of the volume range when learning to blow.

i will note that Terry McGee's summation of Nicholson's technique, "high-pressure, short-jet, well-covered embouchure approach", suggests a more forceful strategy than this. i would rather say "low-pressure, high-velocity, ...".

enjoy! /dan

[jim stone]

'No, you moron--don't blow in THAT end!'
This simple instruction put an end to a decade
of failure as a flautist. Changed everything.

[David Levine]

Nearly every bit of techinical advice given here can be disputed by a great player. This includes suggestions regarding posture, size and position of embouchure, and finger placement.
But one thing on which all great players would agree is the need to slow down. Eamonn Cotter points out that it isn't enough to play jigs and reels -- one must slow down and work on specific ornaments to get them right. Harry Bradley suggests leaving them out altogether and to concentrate on blowing for proper phrasing. Busking does not make one a better player-- at least not if the playing is at the tempo of the hammers of hell. Nor does regular attendance at sessions make one better without at-home practise. I would bet that nearly all of the regular contributors to this list play too fast.
So the universal advice is: Slow Down.
If you make a mistake you are playing too fast. If the rhythm is wrong you are playing too fast. If you can't do the ornaments properly you are playing too fast.
Slow down.

[Screeeech!!!]

Use a metronome. Drummed into me years ago when studying classical music.

Great bits of kit!

[Unseen122]

Listen to the Greats.

[Doc Jones]

'No, you moron--don't blow in THAT end!'
This simple instruction put an end to a decade
of failure as a flautist. Changed everything.

When I was first looking into the flute someone was kind enough to tell me I didn't have to cover those bottem two holes. It was a great load off my mind.

By the way, I think David Levine is right on. I know I play too fast. Slow practice (and slower playing for that matter) really are critical to making good progress.


Doc

[LeeMarsh]

Listen

First, Listen to what you are playing and try to play, a little, sharp, a little flat, smooth, raspy, clear, loud, soft and all combinations. Try this for each and every note in the first two octaves.

Second is worry less about getting the right note and more about getting the right rythmn. Slow down as much as you need to get the right lift and beat, includinging accents and distinguishing ornaments from the bones of the tone. This comes back to Listening again.

Every body listens to what they play, but I'm talking about focusing on the listening, trying to hear deeper into the tonal qualities of what you're playing. Listen for the quality of tone and modulations in the timing as well as the note on the scale and basic beat. Also if you focus on listening and playing then when new tunes come up it's easier to pick them up because you're ear-hand-breath coordination is working better.

Not that I'm a great player, it just what has proved most usefull in my becoming a better player.

[tin tin]

treeshark wrote:

My reading of the Skip Healy passage is that he says you shouldn't cover any of the blow hole, whereas Nicholson is advising covering a half to a third. I don't quite get whats similar! Though I've no doubt that with practice players could achieve good tone either way.
Rob

Rob, you're right. I was thinking similar in relation to placing the flute below the lip. Both Nicholson and Healy suggest having the flute on the lower lip.

Some of the most helpful advice I ever received was to relax. (I had, at one point, developed some bad habits and tension in shoulders, hands, embouchure.) Greater comfort and more fluid technique ensued.

[clark]

My grandfather, who was a piper from Sligo, gave me a bunch of tunes when I was a kid - maybe ten years old. He would patiently play a tune slowly many many times while I tried to learn it on the tin whistle. I always felt bad because I knew he typically picked up a tune after hearing it only two or three times. One time I said to him, "Grandda, sorry this is taking me so long ...I wish I had your talent!" He looked at me and drolly said, "Talent is overrated and practice is underrated."

At the end of that same "lesson" when I finally had the tune he said, "I think the harder something is to learn the deeper it goes and the longer it stays."

I still can't learn a tune after only a few turns, but I haven't felt badly about it since that day in the early 1950's; I just make up for my lack of talent with lots of practice. Those tunes he taught me over 50 years ago? I'm playing them with my band at a performance on Sunday.

Clark

[Cathy Wilde]

"Again."
-- John Skelton