We all have those times where we’re discouraged with our tone. Whether you are in college or just starting out on the flute, whether you’re an adult or just beginning the flute. There are times when you think your tone is never going to get better. Well I’m here to tell you that it will and there are some things you can do right now that can make you get a better tone.
I remember there were days in college where I would feel so depressed that my tone was not what I wanted. I grew to expect these bad days. But then I would go to a lesson with one of my teachers and this teacher would take me from a bad tone day to a good sound by the end of that lesson. I came to realize that there really is no such thing as a bad tone day. Somehow on those days I was doing something wrong. If a teacher can make me sound better in one lesson when I thought I was having a bad day, then maybe I could figure out what I needed to do to get a better tone on my own.
If you are suffering from the up and down days with tone, there are some things you can do right now to improve your tone right now.
One of the things that you can do to get a better tone right now is to make sure that you’re not tight on your lip. Sometimes, especially when I haven’t practiced regularly, the first thing that I do is press that mouth piece against my lip. Once I recognize that I’m doing this, I know that I need to start relaxing the pressure on the lip. Make it very loose so that just a finger could pull your flute away. Sometimes our bad tone is caused by too much tension on the embouchure which then puts too much pressure on the lip plate. It all goes hand in hand. Too much pressure, too much tight embouchure will both affect your tone. Loosen up and stay loose, even if you don’t hear an immediate improvement. Keep warming up and keep thinking “relax and loosen.”
Another thing that can help you get a good tone right now is open up your embouchure. “Ahh” for the low register. “Ooh” but open for the upper register. Keep your teeth apart, especially in the upper register. You can always be more open, almost always be more open in that upper register. That will help you start focusing your tone better. Because when the lips are too close together and the air just wobbles between them giving you this hissy tone and when you open up there’s a clear path for that tone to come through.
Another area that I would recommend that you experiment with to get a better tone right now is to angle your air differently on the mouthpiece. If you feel like you’re doing the other things: you’re relaxed embouchure, you are making sure that you keep space in your embouchure, in the upper register more ooo shape, in the lower more ahh shape but still space between your teeth, then the angle with which you’re blowing can affect you. Even let yourself exaggerate – go too high, go too low. Figure out how you can change the angle of your air against this strike edge and see what that does for your tone.
I bet that if you do these couple of things right now you can change your tone for the better instantly. It’s not one of those things that takes years and years. You can start to make your tone better today.
Now, are you going to go from a beginner tone to a professional sound right away? Probably not. But your beginner tone can be a whole lot better. And let’s face it, it’s so much more fun to practice when you like the tone you have. So, practice these things, change your embouchure, loosen it up and get the tone you’re looking for.
Have fun!
DoctorFlute
Watch me demonstrate this: FluteTips 80 Are You Discouraged with Your Flute Tone?
5 Techniques to Improve Your Tone
