I've been playing the flute for 3 years and I just got a piccolo yesterday. I can hardly get any sound out of it. I can play C,B, and A with a sorta fuzzy tone but thats about it. Any help ould be appreciated.

I've been playing flute for 4 years and when i picked up piccolo in the music store lol i had to sit there for like 30minutes to figure out how to get good sound out of a few notes :P.

It took me a whole day to figure out how to play it well using my friends

Piccolo is a completely different beast from flute, so it will likely take you some time to adjust. First of all, be sure it's in good working condition (a trip to a tech may do wonders). You might ask someone more advanced when it comes to picc (such as your private teacher if you have one) to test play it, and if they have issues, try a tech. If they give it their seal of approval, it's probably okay mechanically, at least for the moment. After that, it's just a matter of practice. Remember to keep your embouchure relaxed (but firm), and to work with a focused airstream rather than one that simply allows you to force as much air through the picc as possible. Piccolo is all about accuracy and flexibility with the air stream, both of which are skills that can take years to build up. Working with a tuner will help you learn the pitch tendencies of your particular instrument, and tone exercises will improve your sound. Switch off between flute and picc so that you can go back and forth between the two seamlessly, as this is often necessary, and when you get into the higher range, certain alternate fingerings may be useful to get better response or intonation. Generally, just keep practicing, and you'll improve (as long as you practice right).

If you can play B and C but not (middle) D then I'd suspect you have a problem such as a leaky G# key - although other pads could give similar problems. If its new or just been serviced then it might be that its not the piccolo for you (a beginner should have an instrument that is not intrinsically difficult to play). Getting a good tone in the lower octave is not easy - and almost impossible on some piccolos.

Getting a good tone on piccolo is not easy, but in the low range it is much easier to do so than in the high ranges.

I also had the same problem when i started. i stood in the music shop in front of the man and couldn't get a single sound out. I got it later though. The emboucher is more 'tight' and the airstream has to be more focused. The embouchure hole is also smaller than it would be for flute. It's not as relaxed as it would be on the flute.

The notes that you are getting are all left-hand-fingered notes, which leads me to a very strong suspicion that your piccolo has problems with leaky pads.

Definitely have someone look at it for you. A proficient piccolo player would be good, a competent repair tech would be even better.

Many times when our instrument does not play a note (or more) quite right, we as players try to figure out what WE are doing wrong, when quite often the problem is the instrument. This can also lead to worse instrument problems- if for instance one key has a small leak, so to make it sound better we mash the key down hard enough that the pad AND the mechanism become damaged.

Once you establish that you have an instrument in suitable repair, it's time to practice! Build slowly with the notes that you CAN get; if you only have A, B and C play whole notes while listening for tone. Go back to practicing your flute for a few minutes so you don't die of boredom, and then go from A (long tone), to B (another long tone) trying to keep the two notes as alike in tone as possible. Work with your 3 notes, up and down, and go back to flute again. Next time on piccolo, try for A flat and C sharp. If you only get it once, fine- try again tomorrow.

Piccolo takes a LOT of practice to play well. A lovely tone in the low register IS difficult- but good tone in the higher registers is even harder!

You also might try a piccolo-specific instructional book, "Piccolo! Piccolo!" by Danielle Eden is a good one. Trevor Wye's "Practice Book For The Piccolo" is likely to be a bit overwhelming unless you have a good teacher leading you through it- it is written at a bit higher 'competence level'. I would, though, very highly recommend Trevor Wye's Practice Books for the Flute, though, which will give you a LOT of help at any level.

Also to be considered absolutely necessary would be a tuner (about $20 for a Korg CA30) and a piccolo fingering chart.

Good luck!

Celeste- I would be hesitant to describe the piccolo embouchure as "tighter." People new to the picc often mistake that for meaning "tenser" rather than "smaller," which is absolutely counterproductive, as a tense embouchure can make it far more difficult to play picc, especially in the upper octaves. The embouchure should be firm, but relaxed, with a smaller aperture (the hole formed by the lips), and the picc should sit slightly higher on the chin than a flute would.

Tibbiecow- All excellent suggestions. One thing about the tuners....Be sure to test the tuner you're looking at out to be sure it registers the picc. Not all tuners are equal, and some cannot hear extremely high or extremely low pitches. You might even get away without testing by doing a little research on the internet. As for that picc fimgering chart, there's an extremely useful one at www.wfg.woodwind.org though I would recommend learning picc using the "normal" fingerings, and then institute the alternates as necessary on a case by case basis.