help me stop humming!

jfarrell · Post by **jfarrell** » Mon Nov 03, 2003 3:15 pm

So I'm just sitting in a practice room the other day, when i notice that when i blow to play my flute, I'm making sound down in my vocal chords. it's almost as if I'm humming along with the music. This is bad. Me no want to do this. So..... any suggestions?

I'm a trained classical singer, which is probably what's making me do this. but, I am also a new flutist, so maybe I can fix it before it becomes a habit. Thanks, y'all!

johnkerr · Post by **johnkerr** » Mon Nov 03, 2003 3:30 pm

Stop humming! There, does that help?

Seriously, if you're doing it and you know you're doing it and you want to quit doing it, what else are you gonna do but just try to quit doing it? Sooner or later, you'll figure out a way to quit. Unfortunately, unlike smoking, not enough people will ever have this bad habit for scientists to develop a patch to help you out. You're on your own here, I'd say...

fancypiper · Post by **fancypiper** » Mon Nov 03, 2003 4:04 pm

Jethro Tull comes to mind..

Pretend you are doing the open throat excercize (did your teacher make you stick your index and middle fingers in your mouth to raise your pallette?) but without doing the "ah ah ah ah ah ah ah" of the chords of the excersize.

I grunt on the flute, myself if I don't concentrate on the open throat (and even if I do).

I don't have to worry about that with the pipes..

jim stone · Post by **jim stone** » Mon Nov 03, 2003 4:31 pm

Yes, along with the open throat thing, it will
tend to fall away as you improve.

mrosenlof · Post by **mrosenlof** » Tue Nov 04, 2003 9:08 am

I find I'm much more likely to make those nasty throat noises if I'm being lazy in the air support. When I start breathing better my throat stays open much better.

Post by **Nanohedron** » Tue Nov 04, 2003 12:40 pm

Jfarrel, make a conscious effort to keep the throat as relaxed and open as possible; that and your chest cavity are part of the instrument! It's a resonance thing. Talk about being at one with your flute....

Ro3b · Post by **Ro3b** » Wed Nov 05, 2003 10:05 am

Robert Dick's throat tuning technique is great for this. Simply play a long tone and sing the pitch as you play it. Try to get the note you're singing as in tune as possible with the note you're playing. Try playing a scale this way, one breath per note, and really strive for a unison between the two sounds you're making. Done regularly as part of your warmup, this has a bunch of beneficial effects. It trains you to shape your mouth appropriately for each note you play, which has an unbelievable affect on your tone. It builds the habit of relaxing and keeping your tubes open. And (most relevant) when you're vocalizing on purpose, it's a lot easier to stop on purpose.

dk_cameron · Post by **dk_cameron** » Tue Nov 11, 2003 9:21 pm

to stop humming just plug your nose. go head try it

Doirlinn · Post by **Doirlinn** » Wed Nov 12, 2003 2:25 am

Eh, works great as long as you don't have your mouth open at all, like you would blowing your flute! (yes, I admit I was just sitting at my computer humming while holding my nose...)