I am looking for a good exercise to help me get through another little “bump in the road.” I do well in the second octave now that I practice the one hand scale but I am having problems when I have been playing in the lower octave for a while and then the music sends me up into the high end of the second octave. My notes break sometimes and my lips seem to have forgotten how to form a good tight embouchure. I think they get used to playing the low notes and go a little soft or something and when I call on them to put out a clear high B all of a sudden they just say, “ I don’t think so.”
I play an exercise where I play a low E for example and hold it for a while then I slur it up to a second octave E and hold that until I am out of breath. I do this with all the notes as a regular thing and I can do that all right. I do another where I hold each note for as long as I can…long tones…and that is a fine exercise as well. The problem seems to come only when I have been down in the first octave for a while and have to swing suddenly up.
I suppose I could make up an exercise where I play a few bars of something down low and then swing up, but I wonder if you guys have one already made up that you have had luck with, or is this another one of those “just hang in there and everything will be fine pretty soon” things.
Jim
what do you mean by “slur it up to a second octave”
fingers off one at a time, quickly or
just e to e?
if just e to e then ya can go e to e to b(ish)
you should be able to hit 4 or 5 tones (at least 3) without moving your fingers. The primary, octave, 12th, and whatever the rest of 'em are…(sorry memory never was worth a *)
anyhow go up as far as you can for each lower note and back down.
what do you mean by “slur it up to a second octave”
fingers off one at a time, quickly or
just e to e? Denny
just e to e, I haven’t been working on going any higher than the second octave jumps.
Jim
okay…a one octave jump, you are dropping (overblowing) the fundamental which causes the pitch to go to the octave of the fundamental…you can then drop (overblow) to the 2nd overtone (12th).
if you have a microphone…download this thing
http://www1.ocn.ne.jp/~tuner/tuner_e.html
in the upper left part it will show the parts of the tone you are playing. when you play a low E you are also playing the E an octave up and the B above that.
I’m not sure which one of these it is that you are already doing, but you might try adding the other one too.
Dd Ee F#f# etc.
first do it with no break between - that is do it with no break or articulation just by changing your embouchure.
secondly repeat the drill but articulate both the low and high notes seperately using only your diaphragm - this will train your embouchure in a slightly different way and make it particularly strong (because of the strength of airflow when driven by the diaphragm) and the two drills are a very good combination for the problem you describe.
good luck
oh, the other thing you might do is when you are practicing a tune and it happens, take that phrase that is the trouble and drill it
The exercise you are doing slurring over the octave break should help but make sure you are just tightening your lips not overblowing and each note needs to be good in tone, try the exercise fast as well, if you do it quicly it souns like some classical piece the name of which I forget…
Ditto… Another exercice is to play the same musical phrase in the lower octave, and in the higher, well in tune, as strong as possible in the lower octave, and as soft as possible in the higher octave.
This exercice is possible on a flute, and impossible on a whistle, where you are obliged to overblow the higher octave 
good, I am doing the right drills, that is good to know! Now it is just a matter of time, and the drills will pay off.
Just for the sake of being clear I do three things for drills. I start with the one handed scale. After that I do the slurs between octaves which I do by playing an e, for example, holding it and without any articulation at all use the embouchure to go to the second octave e. I hold that note as long as I can trying to get the best tone I can . I do this on each note from low d up to b. The third thing is I do is long tones on each note trying to hold forever and have a good tone all the way up the scale.
Now I better include the advice to make the low notes louder(stronger) and the high notes softer. Also the idea to go quickly from low to high seems a great idea. Maybe holding on the top note is not such a good idea and I think I will start going low to high over and over and that might be a better drill. I can still do long tones in the third drill.
It makes a big difference when you are working alone and are not sure that what you are doing is the right or best thing to be told that you are basically doing the right stuff. Thanks.
Jim
oh dear…terminology!
I did mean overblowing in the general woodwind context of achieving the octave, or better, by dropping the fundamental, not as a flute specific technique for achieving said result.
what is a 2nd octave exercise using the 12th (or 2nd overtone) to hit the upper hand notes. Which is similar to whatever I was tryin’ to say here.
I’ve been using “The Battering Ram” as an exercise for this. I’m sure other tunes will fit the bill as well.
The one that causes me most grief in that area is Cooleys. 
So let me get this straight… you guys are saying you don’t have to overblow to get to the second octave? You just pinch your lips tighter? I am trying and trying to do this, but I don’t see how I can hit the notes of the second or third octaves without blowing a little bit harder… Can someone enlighten me on this?
What’s needed is a slightly faster air stream (achieved by a slightly narrower aperture between your lips). Also, the airstream needs to be at a slightly higher angle (more across the embouchure hole) than for the lower octave (where one blows more downward into the flute).
It seems counter-intuitive, but yes, folks really do mean that one does not have to blow harder to get the second octave. It’s all about the direction and velocity of the airstream as Tintin points out. Cocusflute has pointed out that many flute players are sharp in the second octave relative to the first because they overblow. To maintain tuning, it’s often necessary to blow more softly in the second octave. It’s a relative thing-more support and air in the lower octave, less air, but moving faster and less into the hole in the second octave.
Hugh
Hello Jim, and Bojax.
First, picture horizontal.
Then, to produce the first register, focus your airstream toward the ground, below horizontal, at a distance of about twenty-five feet.
Then, with no change of airspeed, focus your airsteam at about the same angle upwards of horizontal, to get the second register.
To go upwards, move your lower lip outwards, just slightly.
Hello Jim, and Bojax.
First, picture horizontal.
Then, to produce the first register, focus your airstream toward the ground, below horizontal, at a distance of about twenty-five feet.
Then, with no change of airspeed, focus your airsteam at about the same angle upwards of horizontal, to get the second register.
To go upwards, move your lower lip outwards, just slightly.
Hey guys, thanks so much for the quick replies! I’m trying your advice and I see what you mean about blowing horizontal for the higher notes. But I find I still have to blow a bit harder to get the higher notes to ring out clear. If I don’t, I get a kind of muddy tone that has elements of the high AND the low octave!
I will keep practicing (I’ve only had the flute for a week). I see this embouchure business is no joke!
Yo, Bojax.
First register to second register is one thing, but third register, and beyond, is a whole 'nother matter. Thereof, be prepared to gain lip strength such as you may not have heretofore known. So, take it slow and easy, to begin, please.
Beyond the technical, in regard to going from the first register to the second, I must mention another perspective, please.
For instance, I always begin my warm up in the lowest register. Yet, although I have already mentioned such technical considerations as to the physics of register change, the reality is that such a change really comes straight from the heart, and no less than that!!
Thanks Cork… I’m not even thinking about going near the third register! I’m just trying to hit the second octave A, B, and C without it sounding like a flight of choking geese.
I do the exercise where you play a low D, then a high D, low E, then high E, etc… on up the scale. And I can get good tone on each note, but I notice that on the high notes, I’m tonguing. When I go to play a fluid, slurred passage up there, it doesn’t come out so nice…
Ah well, I realize it takes time to develop good embouchure. Thanks again for your comments.