Okay When I play my flute and I play a high E natural it sounds all fuzzy and I try to move my headjoint back and forth and up and down but it still sounds the same. So i was wondering if anybody had any tips on how to clear it up.

p.s I`ve have been playing the flute for 3 years now.

If it`s ONLY your high E than you are playing your high E with an ultra-tight embouchure. Play your high E and take your flute away. Hear the wind howling still?

Play around with your high E embouchure and see if you can get a nice tone and not crack the note. Play it over and over with different attacks... add in the A`s above and below.

Your lips are capable of amazing things when you set your mind to it.

That E needs more air pressure from your lungs than do the surrounding notes, unless your flute has a `Split-E` Mechanism`, or `donut`, or Sankyo`s extra small lower G tone hole.

What about F#? I find that harder than high E. With the E just practise it really also Trevor Wye has done good practise books with have exercises for high E

yeah some time my high f# does the same thing but only when i use the middle finger key on my right hand.

If you have trouble with E (on a flute without split E) and also F#, then you will probably also have trouble with G#.

They are all caused by the same thing - fingerings that cause TWO venting keys to open instead of one.

So the player gets less help by the fingering to stay in the third octave. This means that a fast airstream is what is necessary to stop a not dropping down to a lower one.

To get a fast airstream, you need both plenty air pressure from your lungs, and firm enough support from the lips to maintain a small embouchure hole. This turns the high pressure air into high speed air.

So just blow the air FAST!

Useful practise is to finger a low note, say C, and by changing the air speed, play notes up the harmonic series, i.e. low C, up to G, up to C, up to E, up to G, up to Bb (third octave)

If you blow with just the right air speed you can play two of these higher notes at once - chords on a flute. I once practised this a lot and played `My Only Sunshine` in harmony.

It would be really nice if they made something like the split E for the F#.

Even after trying different headjoints on each of the flutes, I noticed that the F# is harder to play on my Powell, but not my Yamaha.

Must be because of different design?

according to a practise book i have it says that you can get a `split F#` aswell as a `split E` but i`ve never seen a `split F#`. Has anyone?

In the 1970s an English flute player, Alexander Murray, developed quite a few additional mechanisms for flute, including split F# and split G#. They did not catch on, possibly because of the mechanical complexity and expense to produce.

This flute came to be known as the "Murray flute". There is an article entitled "The Murray Flute" describing the mechanisms, in "Woodwind Anthology, Volume 1", a published compilation of many articles originally from the magazine, "The Instrumentalist".

Murray was also responsible for the well-known "Alexander Technique".

In the last post I wrote

"Murray was also responsible for the well-known `Alexander Technique`."

This was incorrect. The techniaue was developed by FREDERICK MATTHIAS ALEXANDER?
See http://www.alexandertechnique.com/fma.htm

I was confused by the mention of books "Introduction to the Alexander Technique - An introduction to the Alexander Technique for musicians", and "The Alexander Technique for Flutists by Alexander Murray" by Alexannder Murray.

My appologies.

rather than worry about a split-E key, just realize that you don`t just play the notes on a flute, you FIND them, all tones have a slightly different focus and angle of air, I have no problem playing a high E and never had a split E key, I just practiced very very much

Diffficult notes are not a problem for people who practice `very, very much`, but the realities and responsibilities of life eventually make this impossible for most people who play the flute.

Some E`s (lacking modifications) speak far easier on some flutes than others. It could be that some flutes are closer in design to the one you spend time practicing on, but there is noticable difference in crackability of some flutes when you compare side to side.

make sure to like close up your throat really tight then blow really hard. i do not have a problem on mine because i have a proffesional model.

"...make sure to like close up your throat really tight then blow really hard..."

I don`t think there would be ANY reputable techer who would recommend that you "close up your throat really tight ", at ANY time, while playing flute or piccolo!!! If your teacher has told you this, and the other stuff you mention in other threads, then I suggest replacing him/her.

I agree with you, "~~~". It would help if you used a name of some sort.