You have been playing for 18 yrs and can`t get a good sound in the low register? My goodness maybe you should practice only the low reg. to improve it. I could get the low register by my self and i taught my self. and i am only 14.

Aight Holla

No, I can get them fine, thank you very much. I just got a new Powell and the headjoint is a bit more resistant, so it is taking some getting used to. I play professionally and I am always looking to improve. I am a bit of a perfectionist.

I am really looking to improve in my octave jumps. I just thought that maybe someone on here might have a good website that has some good articles.

My mistake for asking, sorry. I guess that is what I get for asking a bunch of kids. I was hoping a nice adult on here might have some good information.

Octaves are my weakness as well... and it`s mainly because I avoid them like the plaque untill I get a study that I`m forced to play.

Best thing to do is to get some studies that deal with your problem areas pull out a metronome and find the speed at which you can play it perfectly and gradually speed up over time. It is the only thing you can do.

It is through constant correct repititon that one becomes a master of their instrument.

Just to clarify... my Octave problems involve repetative sixteenth note patterns at about 80.

Ben, this is coming from a guy that wants to buy a purple piccolo? I am sure you are such a master on your low notes, all at the age of 14. Lol!

Reenie, everyone has to work at the low register, even Galway. It sounds like you just need to adjust to your new headjoint. Try exercises that include a lot of octave jumps. Long notes are also great at forming your embouchure to the correct placement for each individual low note.

If you feel that your octaves and jumps are bad then practice them. I practice 1 octave and 2 octave jumps every day. For the one octave jumps I play low C-2nd octave C, low C#-2nd octave C#, etc. I do two sets of these, one at forte and one at piano. I hold out each note as a whole note at about quarter note= 80. I do the same thing for the two octave jumps.

Adjusting to a new headjoint is normal. You may have to adjust your embouchure some ways to get your desired sound. Long tones would be a great way to focus on your sound and maybe make a few adjustments to see what works the best for you.

You know. Not to be rude or anything, but I don`t think that this post creater is getting any help. Everybody has their own ways of doing things. Take me for instants, I tighten up my throat to play lower register and it DOES help me. It might not help anyone else except those few, certain people, but it helps he alot. Adivice can be so limited some times if it isn`t that important.

I was thinking pretty much the same thing as you Piccguy.

"Everybody has their own ways of doing things. Take me for instants, I tighten up my throat to play lower register and it DOES help me."

Tightening up your throat is not good and it wont help you in the long run. Maybe your thinking of opening your throat which is a different story. But tightening anything is not good. Reenie was asking for advice on what we did to improve our low register, octaves so one of our posts might have helped her in some way. Some people don`t know where to begin and might develop bad habits like "tightening" their throat because they think it makes their low notes sound better.

Reenie wrote:
My mistake for asking, sorry. I guess that is what I get for asking a bunch of kids. I was hoping a nice adult on here might have some good information.

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Snot replies:
The problem with posing questions in a group is some people see it as an opportunity to inflate their own ego by treating the asker as completely ignorant. I think you`ve received some good suggestions, though.

By no means an expert, I just tend to do things that emphasize whatever I feel I need to work on. Scales and excercises are great, but I spend more time just improvising to the radio or a CD in the range that feels weak. Of course some will say that`s totally wrong, but someone will always say that.

"excercises..."

(sigh)

I don`t know of any sites that could help you, but if you haven`t already, try out the book "De La Sonorite," by Marcel Moyse. The second part of the book deals with suppleness of tone in the low register. Hope this helps!

Yes, I agree, that is a great book.

http://saxshed.com/thefluteshed.htm

you can use some of the stuff on this web site to help you, but you have been play for 18 years so maybe you need something harder.

http://www.charke.com/scores/study2.jpg
You can try this thing.