I am very glad someone agrees with my tone theory...and all the other ideas are awsome, too. This will be my last post-I am no longer able to respond (my computer has problems)but I will check up on everything once in a while. I thank everyone for all the awsome advice and responces.

Again I really hate to burst your bubble, and I apoligize if this seems really rude, but there is no such thing as a pro Gemeinhardt flute.

You talk about how you know about quality of flutes and that pro brands are made much better, when the sad fact is that the student line Yamaha flutes are made 10 times better than the Gemeinhardt (pro?) flute.

One good factor to take into consideration is the cost of a brand new (pro) Gemeinhardt flute. If you want a real pro flute than you are going to fork out a whole lot more money then that!

Hello everyone!

I`m a senior in high school, and have been part of many honor groups and been involved with many different people (I`m drum major, I know a lot of people). Many people fall in to the train of thought of stereotyping trumpets as the big-headed jerks with too much pride. Well, news flash... flute players are right up there with them. However, many flute players are girls, and, as such, this pig-headedness is a little more descrete.

Please, don`t fall into the pattern of being a prideful player, who`s only thoughts when they hear another flute player are, "I can play way better than that! How could they screw up on that run! That was easy!"

Yes, those of you who have taken the time to research better flutes so you can "upgrade" as someone above put it, you may think you know a lot about your instrument, and what is out there, but in reality, no one does.

I have recently caught myself falling into both attidudes, and they`re traps, everyone. They`re traps that only want to pull you in and suck any hope of achieving a level of amazing talent right out of you. PLEASE, be careful of this attitude, because it only leades to destruction and pain. I know, I`ve been there.

Now, on the issue of tone! One of the things I do to strengthen my diaphragm is to pull out the headjoint on your flute, lie down on the floor (head support is good), take a deep breath for eight seconds, and do two things; first, blow out as fast as you can, but filling increasing time increments of four seconds, eight seconds, twelve seconds, and so on, and last to play a note as long as you can, and have someone time you. After you have done this, start stacking books on your belly, and breathe only from your diaphragm (you`ll know if you`re doing it right if the books start to rise up to ten inches in the air), and then, if you can`t put any more weight on your belly, ask a friend, a sibling, or even a parent to sit on one hard-backed book on your belly, and do the same process. This can be a really good "workout", as Mr. "Z" said. Your stomach will be able to hold more and more until you can hold a lot of weight, and still blow for a long time. (my record was 42 seconds with 187lbs.) So, don`t give up when you think it`s really hard, because unless you pass that, I wouldn`t be satisfied, and neither should you be (I`m still trying to beat that).

THe reason that the diaphragm is so important to tone, is that the more pressure, and the more lung capacity you can salvage to be behind your playing, the better your tone will be.

Also, when switching from piccolo to flute, amateur piccolos will tighten their embrochure in order to get sound out of the piccolo, but the main goal should be to get that same sound with a very relaxed embrochure. When this effect has been achieved, the tone is gorgeous. THis relates to flute playing, because the embrochure should be relaxed at all times, and if you can get great tone out of your piccolo, the transfer to flute tone is amazing. Piccolos know what i`m talking about =).

Neways, that`s enough rambling. Work out daily, and relax your embrochure and you`ll be James Gallaway before you know it.

Please, don`t give others advice on not being "pig-headed" when you are doing the same thing. Being only in highschool, you shouldn`t go around acting like mr. expert. that`s what`s pig headed. Flutists thinking that they can be better than someone they hear is a good thing! It is what motivates many to improve their playing.

Wow...thats a lot of info...

My flute one day sounds really good but not the next.

David, some people DO know their instruments. Name a brand of flute, and I and some others most likely can give you all the specs plus more on it and give you the pros and cons on it also. Some people actually have to know this stuff, it is part of their job when selling instruments.

I am a little baffled as to why you wrote what you did out of the blue when this post has been dead a long time. Did I miss something here?

If anyone cares...Someone said at the beginning of this thread about how they eat something, then brush their teeth, and everything is wonderful. That`s the same with me. I think it has something to do with stimulating your lips and waking them up. I also "buzz" my lips occassionally also if I feel that they are not awake yet.

-Dennis (sarasotahair@yahoo.com)

to return to the intial post, did you say you practice 30 minutes a day? or practice tone studies 30 minutes a day? I hope it is the latter

"The reason that the diaphragm is so important to tone, is that the more pressure, and the more lung capacity you can salvage to be behind your playing, the better your tone will be"

Yes, air pressure is vital for good tone, and yes, you will need a strong diaphragm to breath while someone is standing on your belly.

But sorry to disillusion you David, but the DIAPHRAGM is not responsible for providing air pressure while playing. The muscles involved are primarily the abdominals and intercostals (between ribs). The diaphragm is used for inhaling, not exhaling. It can also assist with defecation.

1/2 hour practise for one person, if highly concentrated, perfectionist, analytical and constructive, without actually rehearsing errors by repeating them, can be more constructive than several hours of relatively undirected `practise` by another player.

Also, some people`s brains do a lot of practise unconsciously while not actually handling their instrument. I know mine does. There are difficult fingerings I have mastered without actually using the flute.

So I don`t think it is helpful to specify requisite practise times.

Paganini is reputed to have never practise between concerts, yet he was possibly the greatest violinist in his era.

Jernie, you are partly correct, practicing is about quality not quantity, but one needs to develop and maintain the tone for a certain amount of time each day, much the same way a ballet dancer or gymnast stays in shape
We also need to exercise to be able to move our breath freely

im glad i'm not the only one here..hehe...yeah when i practise everyday my tone gets better and nicer..that time around when i was having my exams i didn't have the time to play the flute at all!! then yesterday was my flute class and my tone quality was really bad..guess it takes a long time to build a good tone and a very short while to make it sound bad...and also i hate having sweaty palms!

im glad i'm not the only one here..hehe...yeah when i practise everyday my tone gets better and nicer..that time around when i was having my exams i didn't have the time to play the flute at all!! then yesterday was my flute class and my tone quality was really bad..guess it takes a long time to build a good tone and a very short while to make it sound bad...and also i hate having sweaty palms!

???You don't need to be in good shape to have good air support...right?

My old Gemeinhardt M2 is a little leaky and the problem of tone varations is quite noticeable. I live in a very dry town (about 30% humidity is frequent here).

I have noticed that the tone improves quite a lot after playing for say, over 30 minutes.

I believe the reason is not that I improve the technique (may be a little), its just the flute pads that get slightly wet (humid, more than wet) and they provbably swell and close the leaks.

After one hour playing it has quite a better tone than at the biginning. Only that I am considerably tired...

If the instrument is left without playing it for a few days, it "recovers" its bad tone.