I am all new to this, do have a borrowed flute (calmont)and have been trying to get sound out of it and practice embouchure.
now I get various tones out of it and how do I know when I hit the low octave or the second octave, I am blowing right?
aka, that the flute sounds as it is supposed to sound.
I know, kinda hard to answer but I’m curious…hopefully anyone can point me in the right direction.
I do have the grey larsen book but this is not something the book can answer for me, although I have checked on a few points.
First, I’m still somewhat of a novice and have been taking lessons for a few months now. I would recommend a couple of exercises my teacher has given me, both of which to some extent address your question. One is to just hold the flute to your lips and, starting with a fairly relaxed mouth, and in short bursts, take in a breath and blow the flute. Begin holding the flute just with your left hand and blowing C#, then go to G and low-D. The goal is to get a good note as soon as you’re blowing into the flute. The second exercise is just blowing long notes, experimenting with different lip shapes as you’re blowing. It’s useful to do this one over a full two octaves. It’s also useful to do it in front of a mirror. The goal is to see which embouchures lead to which tonal qualities.
As you’ve said, what the “right” way is quite subjective. Some people like a dirty sound, some, a pure sound, different pieces lend themselves to different sounds. That’s half of the goal, the other half is to conserve your breath. One way that you can recognize you’re on the right track is to be able to play the upper octave with the same volume and using same amount of air as you do when play the lower octave.
IMHO, I suggest you locate a teacher in your area and at least get an intro lesson and some feedback, these things are very difficult to determine on your own since you don’t know what you don’t know…
thanks chas! it is very interesting (and exciting at the same time) to hear that it is the player who decides how the flute should sound at that particular moment…
so as long as you get your embouchure right and trust your feelings you are doing ok?
sure will get some feedback from somebody but that will take a little while before I can and I just wanted to know how to go till then.
having lots of fun discovering all the various sounds you can get regarding on how your lips are shaped and how you blow…now need just practice to get more comfortable with those big holes …and discover my own sounds!
Also if there is no teacher in your area, there are beginner’s lessons and I think even a beginner’s course available on scoiltrad.com .
Conal is qualified to help you start off right.
Yet another option, when you are first starting a Boehm-system (classical) teacher can help you with sound and embouchure about as much as a trad teacher can. You might want to see if there are classically-oriented flute teachers in your area if there are no trad teachers.
Yes, this would be consistent with the way the old time folk and jazz musicians learned. But in all established styles (even folk and jazz, alas) there are expectations about how you’re supposed to sound, so if you develop your tone exclusively by your feelings like the old timers did, you might be accused of not sounding “Irish” enough.
So the idea of getting a teacher is a good one. If you can already make a sound, then getting a Classical teacher won’t help you get a good “Irish” sound. Conal/Scoiltrad would be great for that.
I’m learning Baroque flute now (after many years of Classical and a few years of Irish) and i’m having to un-learn a lot of the stuff i’ve always taken for granted about how to play the flute. It’s a never-ending thing!
You know what, although it’s probably great to have someone to show you the ropes it’s not entirely necessary. I reckon as long as you have occasional contact with good players who will point out your errors/weaknesses/strengths then learning yourself is pretty healthy. Ive never had a ‘lesson’ in my life, but have had tips from other players, I’ve learned by trial & error and lots listening to lots of music (both live and recorded). Its a bit of a cliche on this board but try to listen to the older players rather than the new fasionable ‘superstars’; you will learn more from their less showy style and generally slower pace.
Dont get me wrong, if you find a great teacher then go for it! But its not the end of the world if you can’t.
That’s true. With the Baroque, i’ve had 3 lessons in 3 years, and 2 of them were group lessons. I’m having a hard time finding a teacher around here who is not already swamped. So i take them when i can find them. But i’ve just had a one-on-one lesson with a teacher i’ve been courting for 4 months, and i learned more in 1 hour than i would have learned in 6 months on my own.
But if you’re interested in Irish music fluting, don’t miss Scoiltrad. The price is right, and Conal O’Grada is one of the best teachers in the world. The way it works is: you download a lesson, learn a tune then record that tune back in the computer and send it back to Conal for evaluation. In a few days he replies with a long email full of suggestions and encouragement.
Flutes are pitched an octave lower than whistles. If the note sounds the same as your lower octave on the whistle, then you are playing second octave. If it sounds lower, then you are in the first octave.
As far as sounding right, first thing to do is to listen to ALOT of irish flute playing from the masters (Malloy, Kenedy, etc.) Listen to it until you are sick of it, then listen to it some more. You want to permanantly engrain into you head what a good tone sounds like. Next, try recording yourself. What you hear in your head when you play is always different than what you really sound like, so a recording can be very helpful. You can also use recordings to do a side by side comparasin of how you sound compared to how the pros sound.
I have found lessons very valuable, however
I don’t think you need lots of lessons,
one a week or something. Rather I’ve
had a lesson every few months,
incorporated what I’ve learned slowly,
and taken another. I’ve sometimes
travelled further than from the Netherlands
to Ireland, say, to take a single lesson.
If it were me and I were serious about flute,
I would probably find a way to get to
a teacher. Workshops at festivals are
good, too. Best
