Hi there (again),

Sorry guys. I know I joined, then quit, then came back (again), but I really have some questions.

1. Where should I be aiming my airstream. I'm really confused with that. I hear down, up, and straight across. I also hear that different notes should be aimed different places.

B. (Did I seriously just go from 1 to B? Oh well.) How do I get a better tone. My band teacher is always saying, smaller hole, blow from your stomach. And I'm thinking like, that's not quite working for me. lol. I try, I really do. She says that the hole should so small that you can only fit a coffee straw in there.

And lastly,
3. How can I hold my breath longer? Band teacher says to sit up straight, smaller hole, and look like the 'Poster Children' (that's a joke we have, you wouldn't understand. ).

what you need is not advice, what you need is lessons with a competent teacher...

Patrick is dead on, but until you can get a teacher, here's some info that might help you:

1. Your air needs to be directed at the far edge of the embouchure hole. That edge will split the airstream, setting up vibrations in the air column within the flute, which produces sound. Minute adjustments are necessary to change tone color, dynamics, octave, pitch, etc. and it's too complex a system with too many variables to be able to say "blow ___ millimeters lower, and you'll be fine" or anything. Try experimenting with your air, blowing it into different parts of the embouchure hole to see what each note requires. Yes, there is some variation between notes (which notes, we can't say), but only very small changes should be necessary, and they should be affected by the lips.

B. Better tone comes from practice and experimentation. Your teacher's claim that you should only be able to fit a coffee straw in your aperture is another example of a BD teaching flute poorly. A small aperture will not be what every player uses, nor is such a visual likely to help those who shouldn't be playing with such an embouchure, as it creates a concrete idea that they will unknowingly go for. You might try directing your air down into the flute slightly more and trying to focus the airstream. That may help improve your tone. Overall though, dedicate some time to practicing your tone. Find a note whose sound you like, and then do chromatic longtones both up and down from that pitch, trying to match tones along the way.

3. As for holding your breath longer, I assume that means you want to go longer without breathing. There are a couple of things that could be the issue here. Either you're managing to waste air that you could be using later by allowing too much to escape, or directing it at the wrong places, or your lungs need to have a larger capacity if the above is not correct. In the case that it's the former, focus your air, try doing long tones, holding the note for as long as possible (these are only useful as long as your mind doesn't wander...A poor tone lasting 30 seconds is far less useful than a brilliant tone lasting 15), and have a tech be sure you're flute's not leaking anywhere. If it's the latter, some exercise like swimming can really help expand your lung capacity.

Hope all of that helps, but you really do need a flute teacher, so get looking!

Chris, congrats for the detailed info, and Patrick for the absolutely right objectivity.

I'd only add that it also depends on the headjoint cut and design.

cheers,
Zevang

As flutist06 said, swimming is great for increasing lung (and air) capacity. It has worked quite well for me. I can now sustain long notes (singing and a little less flute playing) longer than many people half (or less) my age.

I train thrice a week and set a goal of crawl swimming 25 /50 meters breathing each two strokes, later each three strokes and so on until you can do 25 meters breathing each 6 to 8 strokes. If you are young, it would be relatively easy to reach the 25 meters with just one deep initial breath or at most, two breaths.

Do it regularly but increase the difficulty slowly and not trying everything on the first day or week. If you are not trained, these goals could take several months training.

Do not swim too fast or you will be lacking air too soon.

Expel the air through the nose while your head is down, regulating the quantity so that you have the lungs almost empty when time comes to breath again. Practise this carefully, if you lack air completely and get panicked, you may swallow some water... Always do this in pools with cork lines nearby.

But you must also practise normal,(not in the swimming pool) fast and deep breathing using mostly the lower abdominal muscles and diaphragm and not the upper chest muscles only. If you are a girl (as per your nick), it could be a little more difficult than for boys, I do not why exactly, I believe it is just a question of habit and also, not a general rule.

This issues has been discussed several times in the past, you can do a search and find more detailed references.

Thank you so much for your replies, especially Chris that went into details. I will be sure to practice more. I actually have my tootie-flutie (another dumb band joke) here with me. I will be sure to try the swimming thing. But, I do have asthma. Can't be killing my self trying to swim more now, can I?