Hello everyone, first post here.

I`m a 13 year old student playing in the school`s military / concert band (yes for some reason they allow flutes in the military side too). I`ve been learning / playing the flute for about a year now. I was using the school`s yamaha 321, then shifted to the trevol james, and just recently bought my own 381h.

I stumbled onto this forum while searching for free sheet music, and i have a few (major) questions concerning my foundamentals(sp).

- Producing a thin sound. Since I changed my flute, i`ve been producing a very thin. It just doesn`t measure up to some of my section mates. So.. i`ve been sidelined to playing 2nd flute while i was 1st flute all the way until a month ago (might be good though, heh).

- Air-ry sound. I`ve been hearing more of blowing air rather than pure sound (i used to have more sound on the trevol james). My seniors told me that it could be because of the mouthpiece hole being bigger than that of a trevol james flute)

- Intonation + blending with section. My 1st and 2nd octave usually doesn`t have much of a problem. It`s the 3rd octave that`s really really bad. For some reason i always seem VERY sharp (almost to the next semi-tone) so i always have to roll my flute in alot until i can at least blend abit. Could it be that i`m squeezing my embochoure too much? Or is my direction of air too high / low?

- Breath support. This is a common problem that all my section mates share. They can only play for about 15 seconds straight correctly in tune, then after that they become very flat / weak. How do we correct the problem?

- Weak sound. I`ve noticed that since i changed my flute, my sound has been very weak / soft. And also my sectionmates / seniors have noticed that i`ve started to sidelip very badly. Is there no way to always remember / know that you`re playing it correctly?

Yeah, that should cover the foundamental side.

Oh and if there is any constructive reply here, i`ll show the thread to my sectionmates.

Thanks

Headshot

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Oh and for the breathing issue, everyone in my section uses the diaphram (spelling), but only a few know how to vibrato correctly (using the muscles and stuff and singing 'hooh')

The weak sound your getting could maen your embouchure is to tense or tight. Relax your lips when you play add this to a bit of practice and you should get rid of the weak sound. If this doesn`t work it could also be the cut of the embouchure hole. Different cuts have different affects on people and so changes their sound.

As for breath support everyone seems to have this at first. When I fist started to play I remember my techer gave me a piece in Andante that had a tied semi-brieve. I thought I was going to die after three beats let alone 8. Anyway try breathing through a straw thats end is in a glass of water. Because the straw is so narrow it only allows you to breath out a little bit of air at a time which then means you must keep your breath for longer until your lungs are out. Try this a couple of times before you play for a while. It should in theory improve your lung capacity allowing you to have a better, stronger tone for longer.

Hope this helps

Leprachaun

I found a website, it`s got some information on embouchure formation. (maybe a bit too much for newbie!)

http://www.brandonu.ca/music/People/FacultyPages/fordr/woodwinds/westphal%20flute%20web/embouchure_formation.htm

It`s not easy to understand all of it.

You can also buy Trevor Wye`s Practice books. There are six in total, one for each area; tone, technique, articulation, intonation & vibrato, Breathing & scales, and advanced technique.
just do those exercise in Book 1: Tone, you should improve your tone very quickly. The trick is you really need to pay attention to the sound you are making while playing long notes, otherwise it`s a waste of time.

whatever good advice you get, don`t roll your flute in or out, adjust the air up as you go flat and down as you go sharp, with the jaw, not the roll of the flute

Hey thanks everyone! People here are so spontaneous!

I was thinking about buying the trevol wye books. Maybe i should save up more ^.^

Oh and how do i solve having the `thin` and `airry` sound?

Once again, thanks everyone! much appreciated.

the only way to get rid of a thin or airy sound is more air support. With more support you should get a full rich tone in all the octaves.

imagine each tone like a clear picture, if the photo is fuzzy, adjust the lens, your embouchure, till you get a clear picture