Hello, my name is Chloe, and after learning piano, guitar, violin and the spoons (yes, the most fun I have ever had!) I have finally bought a flute. I am able to reach up to D5, as soon as I lift my index finger on my left hand to move from E4 to E5 my note goes...well, hollow and horrid. Unfourtunately there is no teacher availible where I am (seriously, I live on the edge of the desert. ) I am shaping my mouth like I am about to say the letter W, and tounging by saying "two" (well, not saying, but moving my tounge into that position), but the note is terrible. I know it is my inexperience, however it could be a leak, my brother tried to clean my flute for me while i left to do the dishes, and he go the CLEANING CLOTH stuck in it, and then used tweezers to extract it heaven knows how, so he may have dilodge on of the keys, but I had this problem before, I think.

Also, any flute advise would be adored, because it does not seem that I will be able to get a teacher in the near future... dang.

Is it the way I am holding my lips? I have tried blowing the air downward more to hit the higher notes, It makes the noise clearer but it is still REALLY bad, and hollow.

Hi to all of the other beginner flute players out there!

Well, when you say you're holding your lips as if saying "w," which syllable are you referring to? The closest to a flute embouchure, at least the way I say it, is the "you" part, and even then it's not what I would consider a very easily controlled embouchure too relaxed, with a very large aperture). You might consider playing around with your embouchure. For higher notes, you'll actually need to raise the airstream slightly. Considering that your brother may have done damage to your flute, get it to a repair tech, and don't let a non-flutist clean your flute without careful supervision. Also, check the fingering you're using. E4 should refer to the lowest E a flute can play, and E5 would be an octave above, but using the same fingering. That could very well be the cause of your problem right there. If you're talking about the octave above (moving from E5 to E6), then you would move your left ring finger, not your left index finger. I hope that helps.

Hi Chloe, welcome to the forum. You will get much good advice here, such as the previous post by Chris, who is young but very adept at the flute. That said, even with all this advice, it is best to get a few lessons with a competent teacher.

Good Luck

As always, Patrick's quite right. There's no substitute for a good (live) teacher.

Flutist 06: "Well, when you say you're holding your lips as if saying "w," which syllable are you referring to? "

Flutist06, I think the OP was referring to the sound of the "w" phoneme, not the letter name. Ex: the first sound in the word "water".

Yes, the "W" as in water, not the letter.

Trust me I was extremely upset when he told me about trying to do a nice thing and clean my flute.
But I s'pose he was just trying to help, which is cute.

Hi,
Are you talking about D5 as being the one on the third space above the treble staff?
Generally in Music notation D5 is the D in the Treble staff though.

So assuming that you are referring to the higher notes...
In flute language, we often refer to them as D3 & E3 since they are the third octave notes that we can play.
If so, these notes have a bit different fingerings from the lower ones.
Try for
D3
T 23 and RH pinkey on D#/Eb key
(Like a G with the LH index finger up)

For that E3 on the third leger line above the treble staff:
T12 /45 D#(Pinkey)
(Like a lower E with the LH fingering an A natural)