flute warm up

[janmarie]

I was just wondering how much time it takes for some of you flute players to warm up your embouchure etc. to get your playing under your control. This is still new for me , at it about 2 years. Sometimes it seems like I experiment to much and don't progress. I just realized that after about 1 1/2 hours I get oriented and enjoy it more and it sounds better. I warm up playing the tunes. Any thoughts or suggestions on a good warm up?
Frustrated in fluteland,
Janmarie

[skyspirit]

I like

long tones
scales
slurs
simple tunes like mary had a little lamb and twinkle twinkle little star...lol


Works for me to get the emb working and the flute warmed up if needed.

[Feadoggie]

I guess everyone is different. As far as I am concerned all you need to do is play, and play again and play some more. With enough time in the saddle things should be good to go right from the start.

Sometimes it seems like I experiment to much and don't progress.

You might want settle on a position that works well for you and your flute and stick with that. Sometimes it helps to have an instructor or another experienced player help you out with that to get things settled. Once you have the mental image of your lip position and the resulting tone you should just have to pick up the flute and play. I know, sounds easy but ...

So after your 11/2 hours to get oriented, observe how your lips are positioned, how they are shaped, where you are blowing, how you are holding the flute. Look in a mirror if you have to. Make some mental notes or take a picture. Then try to go right to that from the start when you next play.

Feadoggie

[plunk111]

Seems like it takes me about 10 minutes. Not sure if it's me, or the flute needs to get moistened up.

Pat

[popsnorkle]

I don't really think about warning up. I feel that I sound best at the beginning of playing and after a while I get tired and lose it. Although I'm not sure if what I hear matches how I sound to others.

[Terry McGee]

Hi Janmarie

Some people have found that playing third octave notes can help get their embouchure working faster (there has to be some reason why flutes have a third octave!). So perhaps run up a D scale from the low octave to as far as you can go, then waffle around up there for a while. If it works for you, when you then drop back below cloud level you should be in better focus.

If you have access to any other flutes (eg at a session), it could be worth investigating whether the embouchure on your current flute just doesn't suit you. My feeling is that this can be the cause of needing more time to warm up than seems fair. Always grab any opportunity to try another flute, including modern metal flutes (which usually have a more rectangular shaped embouchure). You never know where you might learn something interesting about yourself!

Terry

[Steampacket]

I heat the oven to 175 degrees then place the flute, in it's box, on the middle of the oven just 5-8 minutes before I wish to start playing. This works for me, the whole flute is warm and the tuning sorted.

[Lars Larry Mór Mott]

I heat the oven to 175 degrees then place the flute, in it's box, on the middle of the oven just 5-8 minutes before I wish to start playing. This works for me, the whole flute is warm and the tuning sorted.

And you wonder why your Murray cracked..

[Steampacket]

"And you wonder why your Murray cracked.. " Lars

No, shoddy workmanship, wood not aged enough . None of my other flutes have cracked, they have come through several dry Swedish winters. My Dave Williams has lived here since 1980

[Rob Sharer]

Are you sure it didn't have a run-in with an over-baked pepparkakor?



Rob

[scattering_mud]

apropos to what terry said, i usually start off by overblowing the second octave, starting with second octave 'd', which sounds a perfect fifth above it. i then work up the scale, usually ending with overblowing 'g' which gives me the 3rd octave 'd'. i usually play these as long tones, and it's very effective for my embouchure, i find. actually, thanks for this post, since i have not been doing this lately, need to get back to it!

-jeff zajac

[Jayhawk]

Hi Janmarie! I used to think it took forever to warm up, too, but with enough time it just happens quickly most of the time. There will always be days where no matter how long you play it's not quite what you hoped for, but with time those days become rare and I've found warm up time to be very, very quick (often instantaneous). Then again, my flute is ebonite, and some wooden flutes do seem to prefer a good 10 minutes to moisten up and really sing.

Eric

[janmarie]

Thanks for all the thoughts here. ( event the oven/flute stuff, lol!) Terry, playing in the third register really helped. My exposure to other flutes is not much right now. I'll keep that in mind though. My flute actually has a nice third register but I thought I didn't like the high tones so much so I've not done that. Then I did. It wasn't so bad so..."You never know where you might learn something interesting about yourself! " is quite fitting . I'm also going to try overblowing from second octave up today. Hey Eric, good to hear from you and can't wait for your upcoming performance!
less frustrated
Janmarie

[RudallRose]

I heat the oven to 175 degrees then place the flute, in it's box, on the middle of the oven just 5-8 minutes before I wish to start playing. This works for me, the whole flute is warm and the tuning sorted.

Nice single reel in there somewhere: "A Flute In The Oven"

Or what a pianist married to a cellist would say in announcing their pregnancy.

[<==o=o=o=]

event the oven/flute stuff, lol!

Hope you you don't have your head put in the oven in order to get you lips warmed up too !
Because more important than the flute being warmed up is your lips being warmed up. Saying that, I mean the muscles (don't know their names) surrounding your mouth have to be warmed up i.e strengthened and become more souple.

playing in the third register really helped

Oooh ... Why being bothered with the difficulty of 3rd octave cross-fingerings as it concerns only embouchure work ? Concentrate on the embouchure work. (bzw, what kind of flute do you play to get your third octave : Boehm flute ? Quite difficult ! Wooden keyed flute ? Even more difficult. Keyless flute ? Impossible !...) Anyway, imho, beginning your warm up with the third octave without having your mouth muscles already warmed up is as if you would run a sprint just after going out the changing room ...
Learning classical flute music, and ITM, since over 35 years (I am not especially gifted !), I can recommend you a very good book, in a multi-lingual presentation by a very respected flutist : "De la sonorité" (of the art of sonorousness), by Marcel Moyse (Alphonse Leduc editions, Paris). Of course, this is a classical approach to the embouchure work, and you will have to know your chromatisms. The first pages are particularly interesting for the present purpose. To use these exercices, the better is to be accompanied by a teacher. But you must be advised : after 30, 40 etc... years of practice, it's still, and allways will be, a daily (and somehow boring) exercice to work your embouchure and be satisfied with it.
For traditionnal music though, the focus is not necessarily being capable to have the sound of let's say James Galway, but working that way, you will be able to choose what kind of sound you want for what specific music you want to perform. Who can the most can the less.
What I do each time I take my flute when beginning working is putting my lips around the tone hole, like saying "Oh" in a relax way, shut all the fingers holes and blow several times through the flute, simply blow through the hole without intenting to produce a flute sound, letting some of the air side-flowing. Doing this, the air column and the flute will be warmed AND the pulp of your lips will be warmed too. This will facilitate your future work and your flute tuning.