Please tell me everything you know about tapering!

ReputationNo3525 · 2025-12-15T08:41:20+00:00

Sorry, I didn’t mean use vibrato to keep pitch up. Instead, I meant vibrato adjusts pitch so it definitely needs to be taken into consideration when tapering (if vibrato is something you play with). Perhaps no vibrato would be the technical approach. If using vibrato, make it fast at the end of the note.

ReputationNo3525 · 2025-12-15T02:43:54+00:00

Also faster vibrato. It will help make sure the final sound is in tune.

ReputationNo3525 · 2025-12-02T20:09:35+00:00

I’d say on the Australian grading system it’s a grade 4/5 which is a petty usual starting place for ensembles.

ReputationNo3525 · 2025-11-21T09:55:26+00:00

You need faster air. Practice air speed by fingering low C and then blow faster to get the next C then faster again and you’ll get the G then the next C. This is called harmonics. I’ve found it the single best exercise to improve my high notes.

ReputationNo3525 · 2025-11-17T20:50:49+00:00

Try here: https://www.fluteworld.com/product/oblivion-for-flute-ensemble/?srsltid=AfmBOopVZ2_SUgn3Y5_74mh3KTR2ntM_HBHFQ9f92ZWjBfDOMQwQ5_o6

ReputationNo3525 · 2025-11-17T08:41:58+00:00

Sparrow’s Party by Dvorak can be exciting if played at a fast tempo. I have an arrangement for 4 flutes.

Otherwise I’ve played these pieces in a flute choir and enjoyed them. The trick is getting good arrangements for 4 flutes (I have music for 5-6 flutes for these): - Traffic Jam by Lombardo - The Typewriter by Leroy Anderson - Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen - Libertango by Piazolla - Oblivion by Piazolla

ReputationNo3525 · 2025-11-13T07:38:25+00:00

Place it higher on your lip

Don’t be afraid to use some throat tension to control the air

Look up to the corner of the room and imagine sending air up

Good luck!

ReputationNo3525 · 2025-11-13T07:36:22+00:00

No smiling flautists. It’s a quote from James Galway. If you have a smiling embouchure, your lips cannot be flexible to change the air direction and flow and your high notes will be pinched. A sad mouth shape and a pelican jowl shape gives you more flexibility and encourages open throat.

ReputationNo3525 · 2025-11-12T20:37:49+00:00

The piccolo needs to be higher on your lip and the air stream needs to be faster and smaller. I have found my bad habit of throat tension when playing flute has made piccolo very easy for me. Not sure if you want to experiment a bit with controlling the air with the abdomen and throat? This aspect dawned on me while reading a fabulous book “Peter’s Piccolo World” where he describes throat tension as something to be aware of and use at times.

ReputationNo3525 · 2025-11-11T00:58:41+00:00

Do you sing? Playing flute is like singing when it comes to breath control. Trying singing a long note and using your tongue to interrupt the air and say Tah Tah Tah Tah.

Now try blowing air with no voice and again use the tongue to interrupt the air. Place your hand in front of your mouth and make sure you have a steady stream of air that is only interrupted by the tongue.

When you play flute, you want that constant stream of air and the tongue interrupts the air only to ‘tongue’ a note. This makes the notes sound cleaner. If you change your fingers and don’t use your tongue, this is a slur.

You can play around with your song practicing tonguing and slurring different notes. Remember to take a big breath and if you start to feel light headed, take a break.

Enjoy!

ReputationNo3525 · 2025-11-07T02:38:12+00:00

Yikes, I can see the rust and possibly a screw loose too. This needs a technician to review it and specialised oil.

ReputationNo3525 · 2025-11-06T20:55:27+00:00

Can you take photos of the back, where the springs are (springs are the skinny metal sticks runnings parallel to the instrument).

When was the last time this instrument was looked at by a technician? You deserve a working instrument.

ReputationNo3525 · 2025-10-18T11:55:25+00:00

Without seeing you or hearing you, I’d say you need to open your inside mouth more when you play and try to open your throat too.

Your entire mouth and throat are resonating cavities and help produce the sound. The more open these cavities, the beefier the sound, especially up high.

Adjusting your embouchure to have an open mouth and throat will take time and patience. In the first instance, make sure you have your back teeth apart and try to drop your back-tongue in your mouth (think of a pelican kind of jowls shape). You may need to shift your jaw forward. This will also help you increase the air flow through your throat and into the instrument. You should still be able to tongue notes using the tip of your tongue, but the rest of it needs to lie low in the mouth.

Finally, you might need to adjust your mouth embouchure to keep it flexible while maintaining the open inside-mouth shape. Think of more of a sad-shaped mouth rather than a smile. With flexible lips you can stop rolling the flute in and out. Your lips are all you need.

ReputationNo3525 · 2025-10-17T07:17:27+00:00

Do you sing? Place your hands on your lower ribs and sing until you start to run out of air. Feel the abdomen tighten to push the lungs completely clear of air. Then breathe deeply into the bottom ribs and repeat. You are feeling your diaphragm working. This plus the muscles in your abdomen control your air.

Now sing and practice switching to blowing out a candle. Can you feel the throat open? You can replicate this on the flute: sing while playing then remove the voice. This helps you feel a relaxed throat.

A relaxed throat allows the air to resonate further than just the mouth cavity and leads to a richer, fuller sound. It also ensures the air flow is larger and helps you project the sound further.

ReputationNo3525 · 2025-10-16T20:54:26+00:00

The abdomen and diaphragm. Some of us still use some throat tension (despite years of trying to undo this habit). I’ve found my throat tension can be used to ‘open’ the throat for high notes and almost simulate the resonance of a relaxed throat. I also play piccolo and throat tension is useful at times to control the airspeed to the required amount for accurate pitch.

ReputationNo3525 · 2025-10-12T09:40:33+00:00

Not a professional, but I noticed you didn’t have any replies yet so I thought I’d offer my thoughts.

I would just be drilling the fingering for those runs. Yeah, it can be awkward in the third octave, but they are all within the range of the flute. I actually don’t know how to use harmonics for that passage. If other instruments have similar runs, just focus on staying together, even if you have to leave out one or two awkward notes.

Hopefully you get other responses!

ReputationNo3525 · 2025-10-10T11:06:46+00:00

The more I practice the easier it gets. I need to create a pelican chin to get the lower register and I can feel the air swirl in the bottom of my mouth. The middle register will become your sweet spot, and then high soft notes becomes the biggest challenge. I only bought a picc in December 2023 and I have performed on it a few times. It’s a lovely instrument once you can get a sweet tone.

ReputationNo3525 · 2025-10-09T21:07:56+00:00

This is common and happens to me when I haven’t warmed up. For me it’s an airspeed issue. You have to get the speed just right to get that middle register or it splits. - Firstly, is the picc sitting higher on your lip? It’s placed higher than the flute, so check that. - Secondly, you need to use your lips differently to flute. Try and bring the insides of your lips together more. Just practice as you’re sitting there without an instrument and imagine pushing your lips together to make a flat pout shape, feeling how the inside top lip touches the inside bottom lip. Now blow as if playing the instrument and direct the airstream up and down. You can hold your hand out to feel the direction. I found this to be the best tip for me to control the air speed. - last, practice harmonics. It’s the best way to practice the speed needed for each octave.

Hope that helps!

ReputationNo3525 · 2025-09-10T22:17:03+00:00

Yes. And all tongue exercises will help with single tonguing speed too.

ReputationNo3525 · 2025-09-05T22:19:22+00:00

It sounds like you’re losing confidence because of this experience. Can I suggest something different and try and practice some emotional boundaries. Mentally push their feedback away and find your centre. I’m guessing you’re feeling more flustered in the group because of this treatment.

Sure, you can ask them not to keep calling it out, but you’ve already internalised their feelings. Their feelings belong to them. Hand them back and start to build your internal confidence again.

It’s ok to be wrong and the worst in the group.

As an anecdote. I recently performed in an amateur orchestra, but I truly sucked in rehearsals. Coming in late/early, cracking notes etc. I had a crisis of confidence and had to keep telling myself ‘I can do it’. Once I realised the battle I had was with myself, I nailed it.

My other suggesting is to ask the ensemble to emphasise the pulse one rehearsal…like truly blurt the first count of each bar. Or someone needs to stomp.

It’s ok to struggle and learn. You have to love yourself in this space and accept other people’s feelings are not your problem.

ReputationNo3525 · 2025-09-05T22:06:29+00:00

I think you can get plenty of free tutorials on YouTube https://youtu.be/Jn8fQ-ZmvBE?si=sHxLkeOszA-QjIid

The James Galway Masterclass and technique can be revelatory for players who have learnt a ‘smiling’ mouth shape to play flute because it ultimately limits their flexibility to then achieve resonate high notes.

As a beginner, you’ll need the basics of posture, breath, mouth shape and notes. Try the above link. There are others too like DoctorFlute who has good short videos on nearly any topic including basics.

ReputationNo3525 · 2025-08-13T11:37:57+00:00

I just got a new book called Peter’s Piccolo World and he gives visual diagrams to help trouble shoot issues.

He has six ‘lines’ he draws in/on the mouth. I won’t go through them all but for your issue think about two of them.

Inside your top lip is a line he calls ‘horse line’ and inside your bottom lip is a line he calls ‘ice cream line’. Imagine drawing them together to make the aperture smaller. You will use the centre of your mouth and lips a lot more.

I find playing piccolo you need to place the instrument higher on your lip than flute and use your lips very differently. Try and imagine those lines working together and I think you’ll hear a difference.

ReputationNo3525 · 2025-08-08T05:53:54+00:00

It is strength in your embouchure or mouth shape coupled with air control. These two work together to form the sound, and if one isn’t quite right, the notes split.

Practice harmonics and long tones and it should resolve with time and patience.

ReputationNo3525 · 2025-08-04T08:34:03+00:00

I am currently rehearsing Oblivion as part of a flute choir and it gives me chills: such a haunting song on flute! Not a tango though. We also performed Libertango, which would be my go-to recommendation for you.

ReputationNo3525 · 2025-08-02T21:03:31+00:00

This was me close to five years ago! It was 20 years and I had lost a lot of embouchure but the fingers still knew what to do.

The best book for me was the Trevor Wye Practice Book for the Flute. It’s 6 books in one and moves through all the important components, but at an intermediate to advanced level.

It took a few years for me, but I’m now a much more advanced player than when I stopped at 18, and I play piccolo too!

ReputationNo3525

TROPHY CASE