i still dislike my tone in the third register. none of my range is airy anymore, but the top still sounds too bright for my taste. any tips on darkening it up?
Make sure to keep your airway as open as possible, all the way up to the lips (which may mean opening your jaw and your throat more than you have been). Often, players start to close up to force the air out, thinking that this will help them produce the highest pitches, but you're more likely to hit those notes with a focused and well aimed airstream than by simply forcing a ton of air out. Try angling your air down into the flute slightly more to both increase darkness and help bring down pitch (since much of the upper range is sharp). Tone matching exercises can be used into the third octave as well, and may be helpful, but be sure to use earplugs or work somewhere without much reverberation if you do these, as the third register, played loudly for prolonged periods of time can affect your hearing. I hope that helps!
yes, ear plugs! i practice downstairs which has a lot of reverb...which makes it sound great, but my ears hurt so much more after practicing. i'll wear ear plugs. i'll try directing the air more downwards, i've experimented with opening my throat and lips but i dont think ive ever tried that, thanks!
just remember, that you don't just play notes on flute, you need to "find" them, doing so with a relaxed embouchure and jaw and relaxed open throat and lungs, a competent teacher can help you with this, if your face is tense, so will your high notes be tense...
its mostly on high f sharp...ive done a little research and read that sometimes if a flute has a split e machanism the f sharp is tougher to get? is this valid? well even if it is...no reason to give up trying to make f sharp sound better.
"its mostly on high f sharp...ive done a little research and read that sometimes if a flute has a split e machanism the f sharp is tougher to get? is this valid?.."
A split E has no effect on high F#.
Because of the necessary fingering, and the limitations in the keys' linkages, there are a few notes in the third octave, notably E, F# and G#, which are more inclined to jump down to lower notes than are their neighbouring notes. E is the worst.
In a flute without a split E, the player must use more air speed for these notes, than for surrounding notes, to keep them in the third octave. This becomes automatic and subconscious with practice.
For a flute with split E mechanism, the problem is solved for E, but not for F# and G#, which remain as problem notes. However it certainly is not the split E that CAUSED the problem with F# or G#. The problem with these just became more conspicuous when the E problem was removed.
"its mostly on high f sharp..."
To me this says a lot......
If I were you, I would focus on blowing with more air SPEED. This means blowing a little harder (or for some people, quite a lot harder!). However it does NOT mean blowing a larger quantity of air. You actually blow LESS air, but at higher speed. This is achieved by having a smaller gap between your lips; by pressing your lips oh-so-slightly closer together, so less air can pass between them.
However with a skinnier airstream leaving your lips, it will have top be aimed more accurately than perhaps you are used to. Practice!!!! I recommend long notes, played with the air pushed out as fast as possible by blowing harder, and try to make those notes (or even a tune) last longer and longer in one breath. In order to achieve success at this you will automatically be aiming the air more accurately, and blowing through a smaller lip aperture.
Also, think of the space between your lips being a tube that the air travels along. This tube MUST have good length, or you cannot get a clean, "focused" airstream leaving your lips. A turbulent airstream will not achieve what you want! Definitely do not over-"smile", or pull your lips tight against your teeth, because this will shorten that "tube" between your lips.
You may also like to play some psychological tricks on yourself to help achieve more air-speed. While you play the F#, especially as you attack the beginning of the note, finger F# but make yourself believe you are playing say A, or Bb, or at least think of the F# as Gb!
Incidentally, it is the airspeed of the air rebounding off that far wall of the embouchure hole that is important. If you blow down more, so that the air hits the far wall at less of a right angle, then the rebound speed is actually LESS!
A demonstration of this can be done with a garden hose with squirter nozzle. When you squirt the water STRAIGHT towards a wall, the rebounding water travels further.
IMO, if you try to solve the problem by just blowing down further into the embouchure hole, you are just avoiding the issue of achieving adequate airstream speed. You will just have greater problems later. This blowing down technique works only because you are covering more embouchure hole with your lip. If you resort to this - I would call it a bandaid - then you will not be training yourself to deal with pitch/tone/volume issues in the third octave. Fundamentally, you need more air speed for these notes. Then, and only then, should you use the various other techniques, which include blowing down more, to deal with pitch/volume/tone issues. If you do not have suffiscient aiur speeed, then you cannot adequately carry out the other techniques. If there is sufficient air speed, then you will probably deal with other issues automatically and easily. Although Galway's playing looks effortless, I suspect that his airstream speed is a LOT higher than that of the average student trying to improve high notes. (And his lip aperture smaller, and his windway between his lips longer)
But it is best to get a good teacher, even if for only a few lessons. It is always difficult to analyse a player's problems without actually seeing and hearing the player.
about the 3rd register... when i'm playing high notes (highest b ect.) sometimes my lips buzz. i'm wondering if this happens to anyone else and if anyone has any tips on preventing it?? Thanx!!
Generally buzzing is a sign of excess tension. Most people tighten up in the 3rd octave in an attempt to force the notes out, but relaxing your embouchure will likely not only eliminate the buzzing, but should also improve your tone and pitch. You'll need to consciously focus on this, as it's likely pretty well ingrained. I would suggest some long tones moving up chromatically, as well as scales into the third octave (optimally to D4, as that note is now standard, but C4 is usual for students at the intermediate level), played slowly to focus on tone prouction. Once you are more comfortable producing these pitches without pinching, start attacking right on the notes. Eventually, you won't have to think about staying open nearly as much.
It is normal, and when playing that high and loud (though high and loud should not be inextricably connected), you can do serious harm to your hearing, and the hearing of those around you. I suggest you start wearing ear plugs when you practice the 3rd and 4th octaves, and generally try to tone down the volume.
I think there may be other significant factors at play here.
If I were blowing hard between fingers acting as lips, there is no way those fingers would ever buzz.
On the other hand, if I want to deliberately do a "raspberry" (not flute related), then I press my lips forward so that I am blowing between areas of the very soft tissue of my inner lips.
So... The softer the tissue that is being blown past, the more chance of buzzing. I think that children, who generally have much softer tissue all over their body, including their lips, are much more inclined to buzz. It is possible that the solution involves just lots of playing, so that that small area of tissue used for the lip aperture in flute playing, hardens up a little from all that air blowing past it.
I think the important thing is to NOT play in a way that makes the lips buzz, until your lips are ready for it. Otherwise, all you are doing is practising making the lips buzz. If that means avoiding the more difficult of the high notes until you are ready, then so be it.
Even after months of very little playing, I never have a buzzing problem now. I attribute that to my tissue hardening up from decades of living. I certainly had a problem when I was a young beginner flute player. Perhaps that tissue will revert to soft (and flabby as well) after a few more decades!
For a flute with split E mechanism, the problem is solved for E, but not for F# and G#, which remain as problem notes. However it certainly is not the split E that CAUSED the problem with F# or G#. The problem with these just became more conspicuous when the E problem was removed.
micron,
haha wow...how come i never thought of that...makes perfect sense and i think thats exactly what the author of the source i read meant. thanks for your thorough response.
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