I play flute in my High School band, and I just learned that i'm going to have to play piccolo for our performance at the Anaheim Heritage Festival in a month. And oh yeah, I have to play a solo too :P I've never played piccolo before, except when I tried it for a couple days in middle school. I'm doing well, but i'm having a little problem. I just can NOT seem to be able to play the b flat that is 2 octaves above the bar (sorry I don't know the technical terms) Does anyone have any suggesions on exercises or anything I can do that will help me be able to do this or on playing piccolo in general? THANKS so much!
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AH, it's Bb6. ALSO are there any fingerings that piccolo players generally use that are different from flute?
Make sure not to tense your embouchure. Rather than forcing a lot of air through the picc, use a very focused and directed airstream, and possibly directing your air downward more than you are. Try doing chromatic longtones upwards from a note that's comfortable for you (maybe a high D?), trying to match tone as you go, until you can get Bb to speak. Once you have a feel for where the Bb lies on your picc, try attacking right on the pitch. Make sure you can support the pitch and hold it out as long as you need to, though, as a tone that quickly dissolves is no use to you. I recommend wearing earplugs (or at least one in your right ear) when practicing picc to avoid hearing problems, and as a last resort, one of the alternate fingerings found here might make your life easier:
WOW thats helpful! I think i was fingering it wrong XD haha i'll try it out once it's a decent hour for playing, and i'll let you know how it works out! Also, i will DEFINITELY do the chromatic long tone. Thanks so much!
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