Exercises for good tone on Irish Wooden Fluteplease, thanks

[hans]

By the way, I can't seem to play at any decent speed.
I play marches, airs and popular tunes as if I play at speed, I don't get a decent "value" for each note. Why is this?

You mean you play a little too fast? It could well be because you have not got enough air to sustain the notes, so you tend to cut them a bit short. Happened to me a lot, and still sometimes when I play too long a section. But it gets better in time with the build-up of breath. Playing really long notes for exercise is helping, and not shying away from airs, even if the tone is not adequate yet. It also may be that there is enough breath, but there is a little fear not to make it, because it does not feel quite comfortable. And this anxiety creeps into the music and upsets the timing. Relax into it is the answer, and play at a speed you feel comfortable.

[Jumbuk]

Here's something though, my breathing is shallow so I practise standing up.

...

By the way, I can't seem to play at any decent speed.
I play marches, airs and popular tunes as if I play at speed, I don't get a decent "value" for each note. Why is this?
[This could lead to another thread, perhaps].

Two new threads there, I think. First - to sit or to stand? Like you, I have been practising standing up because it is far easier to breath. Now that I have started playing in sessions, I practice sitting down so I can thump my foot on the floor to keep the rhythm steady. I find it difficult to tap my foot standing up (I fall over!).

Second thread - not sure what you mean by "value"? Are you chopping the notes off early? Have you tried any jigs yet? They are good for getting you to think about where to breath and keeping a nice continuous flow of notes going (but if you are learning from a teacher, be guided by her/him).

[peeplj]

Just a note on standing vs sitting:

You should learn to play both ways. I have played more sessions sitting than standing, but it has proven itself handy more than once to be able to play a whole session standing up.

Playing a tune or twostanding is no big deal for almost anybody. Play for 2 and a half hours standing without a break and you may find yourself getting a little shaky. Don't lock your knees or you'll get dizzy (or worse), and trying to avoid standing stock-still and doing your musical tree imitation, or you'll feel like you were run over by a runaway garbage truck the next day. Move around a bit, even walk around if the situation permits. Tap one foot a while, then tap the other for a while, etc.

--James

[lesl]

A good thing for more air which I forget about too often, is to sit with your rib cage expanded. If you put your hands straight up over your head and clasp them, that does it. Of course it's hard to play the flute that way
but if you notice the ribcage and then slowly bring your hands down while keeping the rib cage expanded, you will have it.

[Flauta dolce]

By the way, I can't seem to play at any decent speed.
I play marches, airs and popular tunes as if I play at speed, I don't get a decent "value" for each note. Why is this?

"You mean you play a little too fast? "

What I meant was that I can't play "fast" as then I don't get a nice good tone for each note. That's the problem. I start with the long notes and then with slow tunes...


Any suggestions...? Thanks

[Flauta dolce]

By the way, I can't seem to play at any decent speed.
I play marches, airs and popular tunes as if I play at speed, I don't get a decent "value" for each note. Why is this?

I quote Hans's query here, "You mean you play a little too fast? "

What I meant was that I am unable to play "fast" as then I don't get a nice good tone for each note. That's the problem.

Any suggestions...? Thanks

[Flauta dolce]

By the way, I can't seem to play at any decent speed.
I play marches, airs and popular tunes as if I play at speed, I don't get a decent "value" for each note. Why is this?

You mean you play a little too fast? It could well be because you have not got enough air to sustain the notes, so you tend to cut them a bit short. Happened to me a lot, and still sometimes when I play too long a section. But it gets better in time with the build-up of breath. Playing really long notes for exercise is helping, and not shying away from airs, even if the tone is not adequate yet. It also may be that there is enough breath, but there is a little fear not to make it, because it does not feel quite comfortable. And this anxiety creeps into the music and upsets the timing. Relax into it is the answer, and play at a speed you feel comfortable.

[jim stone]

Some suggestions from Dave L, which I have found
helpful.

Play a higher pitched flute, e.g. a G or an A.
It requires a more focused embouchure
which transfers well to the D flute.

Also play softly in the high register.

[I.D.10-t]

Some suggestions from Dave L, which I have found
helpful.

Play a higher pitched flute, e.g. a G or an A.
It requires a more focused embouchure
which transfers well to the D flute.

Also play softly in the high register.

I'm actually going to get a lower pitched flute.

I’ve heard that it helps us fifers.

[Flauta dolce]

I'm not sure I wil have the money to buy a Flute in the key of F or G.

What I am saying is that I can't play at "speed" because the tone disappears...

[I.D.10-t]

I'm not sure I wil have the money to buy a Flute in the key of F or G.

Fifes in are generally much cheaper than a full sized flute. Look at Ralph Sweet’s folk fifes. They help you with being efficient with your breath. But I doubt that they would help with your situation.

What I am saying is that I can't play at "speed" because the tone disappears...

It may be that you are jumping too quickly from practice speed to playing speed and just need to do some drills on the troubled passages. It sounds like an embouchure problem, not a fingering problem. Arpeggio (sp?) practice may also help.

Take any advice from me with a grain of salt.

[Flauta dolce]

I didn't know that a fife was more difficult than a wooden flute...

How much of a difference would it make? Enough for me to improve my tone and thus play quicker?

[I 've always been curious about fifes having seen them in N. Ireland and at parade marches in Dublin occasionally.]

I really do need to know why it's taking me so long to improve on the flute, fellow flautists.

Thanks

F.D.

[neilC]

I second the suggestion that you may be trying to speed up too quickly, and that it is probably an embouchure problem. Thing is, each note effectively requires a subtly different embouchure. When you play slowly and you are developing your embouchure, I think you are using a concious fedback loop - start the note, listen to the note, adjust the embouchure until good tone, hold, then repeat on the next note. Over time, you learn those good-tone-embouchure positions so they become second nature. But until that has happened, if you go faster than that feedback loop can operate, you don't give time for the note to become stable before moving onto the next.

Another variable to throw in the mix is the combination of the size of the interval between the notes and whether you tongue/throat or play legato.
My experience is that playing legato for smallish intervals and drops down to the low notes prevents the embouchure becoming disrupted whilst tonguing or throating can help the large interval jumps up.

[John F.]

I really do need to know why it's taking me so long to improve on the flute, fellow flautists.

I'm in the same boat, although it sounds as though I'm months behind you in skill. I really have trouble hitting the low tones on both my flute and my fife--it seems as though I can't keep myself out of the second octave!

No such problems for my son, the horn player. He keeps telling me I need to "relax my lips," and just to prove his point, will typically grab the flute out of my hands and crank off a low D, or G, or Bb, or whatever I'm fighting with for that day!

He's played the horn for two years now, and I've got to believe that it takes that long to develop a usable embouchure---meanwhile, there's always my whistle

I've also noticed that I can only practice about ten minutes at a time before my "lip gives out," and I lose everything below G on my D flute. Again, this must be similar to my guitar playing--you start out playing til your fingers bleed, then go from there. Eventually, it doesn't hurt anymore.

[Blackbeer]

Well FD long is a relative thing. I remember when I first started on the flute it was an impossible venture. It wasn`t untill I got a plastic flute that could withstand being thrown through my walls with out damage, to the flute that is, that I was able to begin to progress. It sounds to me like your problem right now is breathing. It is a timing thing that you can have complete control over. In my practice sessions I alway do a freestyle few moments. I just play the flute, no tunes no set patern just play the flute. Helps me loosen up and get my breathing ready for the real work ahead. The flute is a difficult instrument to play well and if your standards are high then you will just have to face the fact that it is going to take quite some time to reach them. Payoffs come in small packages but they do come, sometimes as if by magic. I have only been playing a couple of years now and still everyday, when I pick up that damn instrument I have no idea what to expect. The only difference now, as apposssed to two years ago, is that I feel more confident in my ability to figure out what ever trouble I get into. I may never achieve the quality of play that I have invisioned but the path is so intrieging and the little pearles of progress so sweet that I can`t see any reason to bag it. So please hang inthere and be patient and maybe a little less hard on your self. It will come in its own sweet time.

Take care
Tom