High register difficulties

Hello.
While doing some excercises to improve my tone I have recently began to notice that my upper register seems to have a seemingly worse quality than my lower and middle registers. Is there a way to get the high register to sound better and fuller(noble might be a more precise term)? How can I penetrate the notes more accurately going from a low or middle register to a high register?
Thank you.

you know i have that same problem. is it when your higher octave sounds waaaaayyyyyyyyy too airy? i'm afraid i don't know how to help you and if i say what my band director says, flutist06 will come later and critisize it. no offence flutist06.

Well it's only slightly airy, as in I have to listen hard to hear it. The time just seems really thin.

<Added>

whoops I mean tone not time haha

A good suggestion, Micron. If, after reading the thread down and practicing some of the things mentioned there, your sound has not improved, feel free to let us know, and we'll do our best to help with your specific instance.

To Schoolbandgeek, I do not criticize people. I correct errant information. The fact that I have disagreed with several of your posts does not reflect upon what I think of you or your band director as people. I simply do not want anyone who happens to be looking for advice to stumble upon something that is either ambiguous or simply wrong (for lack of a better word). I do the same in any other instance, with any other member, as do other users. I myself have had to clarify and rephrase things in the past, so it is not an experience you're alone in. Please, share your ideas, but don't be offended if someone questions them.

Thanks I will put that advice to use. By the way I am using the Trevor Wye practice book 1 one tone.

hey i didn't mean to be rude flutist06 but you are the only one that critisizes me. also it's every time i at least try to say something that might help maybe a little. Most of the stuff i know about the flute and that i post on here do help me somewhat. so forgive me, i didn't mean anything by it. but yet i'm only 14 years old and one of the youngest on here. most likely am the youngest on 8notes.

I'm 13. There's alot of good experienced flutists on this forum, which is a good thing really since we can learn alot from them. I just read alot of the time!!!!

But I don't think that necessarily means that us younger flutists can't post our own experiences!

About the high register difficulties... at my last flute lesson, my teacher was showing me the highest E (I didn't even know there was a high E way up there!!lol!). She couldn't even get it. But then again she was on a flute she wasn't used to and wasn't warmed up. So don't feel too bad if you can't get the highest E!!

I'm not sure if that will reasure you at all!! Also search for high register and i'm pretty sure other people will have the same problems and you may find some ansrews on other posts!!

-Catgal

Filas books are really handy!!!!!!

Which high E? The E above altissimo C?

correct. can you get it? I certainly can't. All I do is buzz!!

-catgal

just as many of you worry about having a low b-foot on your flutes, you need not worry too much about music that goes to a high E, a high D, yes, especially in music from the latter half of the 19th century forward, but don't lose sleep over having to hit a high E...

-shakes head- I don't know the fingering! I only can get up to the D above alt. C (and sometimes I can't get that out clearly).

What is the fingering?

Wow...your private lesson teacher must be really intense if you're already learning that note...

i don't even remeber!! Usually she writes them down for me but she didn't write E down. Patrick will probely know though?!?!?

-catgal

SBG, there's nothing to forgive, as you've done nothing wrong. But as I said, I do not criticisize you...I correct information. I think it's great that you're so enthusiastic about flute that you're on a forum about it, willing to discuss problems and issues with other flutists. But if I've corrected things in your posts before, I must not have agreed with all the information you have posted, and for any future readers, I think it's important to amend or correct errant or ambiguous posts. Just recently we've had an influx of posters saying that open hole instruments are superior to plateau model instruments, and myself and other major posters have corrected them. As I said, this is not an experience that's unique to you. Please, feel free to post, but don't take it as a personal attack if I or anyone else questions what you've written. After all, the forum is here to spark discussion, and that sometimes means disagreement.

To catgal and Kozafluit, the various options for fingerings in the fourth octave can be found here:

http://www.wfg.woodwind.org/flute/fl_alt_4.html

I pop E's quite often, as I find that it makes everything below it a breeze simply to be able to play that high, and I find that the first fingering listed there works best for me and my flute, but you might want to experiment a little to figure out what's best for you. I have played up to F before, but as Patrick noted, such pitches are extraordinarily rare, and there's not much point to knowing above D except to make the 3rd octave seem easier.

in all my years, I have never had to play a high E or F, too me it is usually an ugly sound...but if one can do it beautifully, why not, go for it..

high D:

T 3/45 C

SBG, I'm sorry that you have felt 'overcorrected', or had your feelings hurt. Sometimes in an effort to get the explanation very clear, the information comes across as maybe a bit mean-tempered. Look back through the recent open-holes discussion on the 'New Flute???' post- my reply to Catgal came across to me later as being possibly belittling. Fortunately, (I think- and I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings), Catgal didn't take offense when I told her that her statement regarding open hole flutes 'made no sense'.

Sometimes even when our advice is correct it can be interpreted wrong, like when you were discussing the embouchure opening and Flutist06 interpreted it as opening the jaw. I just HATE it when I am arguing with my husband, and we figure out that we're both arguing the same side!

So...if you could just picture the corrections you get as a "hey, come 'ere, amigo, let me show you how to fix that", you might feel a bit better about it.

And I really liked the mental imaging about using breath support rather than tightening the embouchure to go to higher notes. Great for piccolo, too. Keeps 'ya out of Shrieksville!