I'm going into 9th grade this year, and I'm trying to get familiar with the marching songs before band camp so I don't have to rush and learn them all in 2 weeks. They're all civil war songs, and there are some really high notes & some horribly fast sections which I can't seem to get down. I can tongue fast enough, but my fingers can't catch up, haha. Is there anything I can do to help with learning these (scales, excercises, etc.)? Thanks a lot for any advice!

Well a lot of flute music is based on different scale patterns (thirds, octaves, straight scales, etc.), so if you practice your scales in various patterns, that will make it easier for you on many pieces, because you will recognize the intervals or runs for what they are....Little chunks of scales you already know. As for the field music, if you can tongue it quickly enough, but can't finger it, slow down the music to the point where you can get everything together really well (I hesitate to say perfectly, because in music perfection is rarely, if ever, reached), and gradually speed it up. If you start to fall apart again, slow it down to the last tempo where you could play it comfortably and work it there again, and then give it another shot at the higher tempo. It may take you a while (perhaps even a couple weeks or longer) to get it up to tempo, but when you do, it will be much better than if you just tried to force yourself to play at a tempo you weren't ready for. That should help you get it under your fingers, and the repetition should also help you memorize it. Hope that helps!

Thanks for the reply. I just tried the song I haven't played yet, and I can't tongue fast enough.. I tried different styles (ti kah; ta ta; ti ta, etc.) and I just can't do it! It sounds like i'm trying to eat oatmeal while playing.. I have braces right now, could those be contributing to the problem? When I try to tongue the notes (which are all high) it sounds airy and keeps trying to drop to a lower octave. agggh! Sorry if I sound whiny, i'm just so frustrated!!

Don't worry about it...They're legitimate problems, and if we weren't willing to help, we wouldn't be on a forum like this. The braces should not be contributing to tonguing issues, at least not as far as I can figure out. The tongue (unless you are using "French" tonguing) stays behind the teeth, so I can't figure out a way the braces would be involved. Of course, I have never had braces, so I can't speak definitively on this point. As for the high notes that are dropping an octave, you may not be supporting properly. Use your abdominal muscles (you may be familiar with the term "diaphragm", though I'm told it is not actually the diaphragm that does most of the work when exhaling into a flute) to push the air out, rather than trying to play from the mouth or throat. Also, be aware that raising the airstream and pushing a more intense stream of air through the flute may help produce solid high notes (incidentally, how high are we talking here?). If your tongue does not want to move as fast as you need it to, focus on tonguing, once again starting where it is comfortable and gradually moving the speed up (working with a metronome tonguing 8ths or 16ths will give you a good way to measure progress).

<Added>

In addition to the tonguing advice, if you happen to be double tonguing, it will become much easier to do so well and quickly if your single tonguing is also well-developed, so even if you are using double tonguing for this particular piece, you might consider doing some work on your single tonguing as well.

I'll try what you said about using the diaphragm (I have a tendency to not pay attention to things like that *slaps self*). I think I get tense when playing high notes and increase the air speed way too much.. I'm talking about high E's, F's and G's. I'm not a very experienced musician, so I tend to get frustrated very easily.. My band instructor makes us "pass off" the music by playing different sections and not missing too many notes, so i'm worried I won't know the music by then. I was just wondering about the braces because they make my mouth feel "clumsy" when i'm playing. I'll just try taking it slow, and thanks for the help.

<Added>

Umm.. would you mind explaining the concept of double tonguing? My instructor never taught us anything like that.. Also, this is probably a dumb question, but when trilling a high E, which note do you go to, a high F? I thought that was right, but it doesn't sound right.. It gets hideously airy and doesn't sound in tune. Sorry about all the questions, i'm a mess.

Nice!..what i'm having trouble with is tounging and moving my fingers at the same time..sometimes it doesn't go together you know. So i slow the tempo down and make sure it does..haha. Hhmm..braces? i used to have them..BLAH. BUt i took it off recently^^..flutist06 is right. they shouldn't cause tounging problems. to me..braces caused tone problems..since my jaw would move dramaticly all the time.lol Yep.

<Added>

I wish you GOOD LUCK. i had braces and they were such a pain to me. Never give up. i felt like giving up 5 times..seriously. I'm so glad i didn't;)..

You could be increasing the air too much...obviously, you have a better idea of what it sounds like than I do. If you think that might be the case, work long tones starting on a note that feels secure and you like the tone of, and work your way up chromatically focusing on maintaining the same sound regardless of the pitch. This should help you learn where your air needs to be for each note, and once you're comfortable with the sound, you can work on attacking the notes individually to make sure they don't crack. F3s are not that high, so it will be worthwhile to work on going into the third register because you will likely see many more of these notes as you progress in your study of music.

The trill depends on what key you are in. The best way to figure out what note a trill goes to is to figure out what key the piece is in (look at the key signature). Unless marked otherwise (a little sharp or flat sign next to the trill symbol), the trill will go to the next note in the scale. So if you're playing in the key of C (or A minor) and it says to trill starting on A, you would go to B natural. If you were playing in the Key of F (or D minor) and it says to trill an A, you would go to B-flat. When trilling, be sure you are supporting enough. Particularly in the high ranges, trill fingerings are compromises using harmonics and are not going to sound as good as the "true" fingerings. Speed of the trill and air support are key here. As for double tonguing, it is intended to allow you to tongue faster. While single tonguing is composed of one stroke (da, ta, whatever....It varies based on the music as well as a person's native language) with the tip of the tongue, double tonguing is composed of two strokes, one with the tip of the tongue and one a bit further back (standard pronunciations are tuh-kuh or duh-guh). Generally you want to single tongue if at all possible. Double tonguing is used in circumstances where *extremely* fast tongued passages must be played, and will take a lot of work to get up to par.

It's in the key of C, so if i'm understanding, it would go to a high F? Or a G flat? Sorry i'm so out of it, I guess I only the know the very basics. Thanks for being patient with me, haha.

No problem....It's been a few minutes, so I may be remembering wrong, but you said it started on E, right? As long as there's notation next to the trill symbol indicating sharp or flat, in the key of C you would trill from E to F natural.

Sorry...That should read "as long as there's no notation..."

This is really great advice...follow it. I have a question though...what is "French" tonguing??? :S

French tonguing has pretty much fallen out of use, but it is where you tongue at the lips (sometimes described as "spitting rice") rather than behind the teeth. Nowadays, flutists are usual taught to tongue with the tip of the tongue near the back of their top front teeth (tonguing on the roof of the mouth), but 60 years ago French tonguing was used by some of the greatest French (and otherwise) players in the world.

oh, kool
Was it faster than the tonguing we do now?
I tried it, and i think i might have got it correctly. To me, it was a bit faster...or maybe the same *confused*

It's really difficult to say....All the recordings that are out there where the soloist is using French tonguing obviously had a very talented player anyway, so they likely could have tongued extremely well either way. However, if you ever listen to a recording of Marcel Moyse or one of the other old French flute players, some of his tonguing is amzingly fast (and from what I've read/been told, is "French" tonguing), so it could potentially be faster when worked out. For some people I would think it would be faster just due to the shape of the mouth and tongue, size of the cavity, embouchure, etc. but I couldn't really say it was faster for everybody.