I recently picked the flute up again, after neglecting it for about a year. Has anyone else here ever done this?? If so, what exercises did you practice to help you regain your tone quality, etc??

Hi brandykg,

First. Welcome back!;-)
Second please try not to engage the trolls it is not effective at removing them.

Now, If you want to regain your flute skills, focus on practice. It will take time and you shold take your time at it to enjoy the remaking of your skills.
Read your old stuff. This activates your rhythm and note recognition skills.

Read and play scales. This gets your finger coordination going as well as your tonality concepts.

Practice long tones. To develop your embouchure.

To be more specific, it may help if we know what level of playing or what pieces you have done before? Study books and all that.

Again welcome back.

Hey Bilbo!! Thanks so much for the advice; it DOES make a lot of sense!
I've played for 6 years, in Jr. High and High School. I had a Band scholarship to college, but I found it impossible to attend every-day Band practices while trying to go to class, and work to support myself. So I dropped Band.
I considered myself pretty advanced; Kate and I used to play duets together and stuff all of the time; she was my teacher, although I didn't get to work with her nearly as often as I would have liked. I think I would be TONS better if I would have continued to diligently work with her...
I've kinda been working through some of Voxman's "Selected Studies for Flute" and a couple of Bach's Sonatas.
*Shrugs*
Its frustrating though...I know that I can't expect to be as good as I once was...I wonder how long it will take me to get back up there...
I guess it depends on how much I practice, right???

take Bilbos advice, go slow and regain the muscle memory in your embouchure, it's kinda like not exercising for a while, you need time and patience to get back into it

" I've kinda been working through some of Voxman's "Selected Studies for Flute" and a couple of Bach's Sonatas."

Good stuff. If you like the Bach sonatas and the BAch in that Voxman book, get the Southern Music 24 Bach Studies book. They are very similar to the Voxman with some of the pieces. They also have some of the "Class A" solos in the bac k like the two Mozart Concertos (G & D maj.) Other music is the Melodious and Progressive studies (If you like studies) again by Soutehern Music co.


"Its frustrating though...I know that I can't expect to be as good as I once was...I wonder how long it will take me to get back up there...
I guess it depends on how much I practice, right???"

Yes,

As a matter of fact if you are relatively young (ahem) you can be even better than before but that is totally up to you. It may not take as long as you think because you still have the concepts of what you believe to be good playing in your head. You just need to imagine the quality and try to reach for this in your playing. As you get older your "adult responisbilities" tend to take over your free desires and your artistic side can get put on the back burner but, as you know, "practice!" is the key and how you practiceis important as well. Each note that you play should have a goal of artistic improvement.

Also, If you want to improve faster, try to find places to perform. Performances are a good reason to practice well. :-)

Thanks for the great advice, Bilbo!!

As a matter of fact...there is a new coffee shop that just opened in my town...and its kind of a quiet place, but they want musicians there during the evenings; its a new business, so they don't pay, but you can make tips.
So maybe I should work up a few Christmas solos and try that out. Luckily, I don't get stage fright...:D
Not that it would be a big deal. My boyfriend played there last week, and he said only like 6 people were there the whole night...
But anyway. Yeah. I go to college full time (I'm taking 18 hours!!!), and I work part time, and a girl has to sleep sometime! I don't really have a lot of spare time...but playing the flute really helps me to relax and calm down and clear my head, so it would be a great break from homework!!
Anyway, I will definitely keep your advice in mind, Bilbo, and thank you so much.
And if anyone else has any other suggestions, fill me in!! Anything would be appreciated.



<Added>

I was thinking about going to that coffee shop to see if they would let me play some Christmas tunes sometime this week...
But I guess I should work up some pieces first!!

<Added>

I was thinking about going to that coffee shop to see if they would let me play some Christmas tunes sometime this week...
But I guess I should work up some pieces first!!