Doctor Flute Blog
Musings on the Flute
How to Get in Piccolo Shape
It's can be harder to get in piccolo shape than just getting in shape on the flute. But not for the reasons you think. Much of the time we are caught up on building our flute skills. When we were college students we worked on audition or recital material....
Playing Your 3rd 8va with a More Relaxed Embouchure
How do you like your 3rd octave? Does it have the tone quality and resonance of your other octaves? Often the 3rd octave is not the same as the first two octaves. It doesn't sound as full and the tone is tight. It's very hard to make this octave brilliant and to think...
How Does a Non-Flutist Band Director Get the Flutes in Tune?
I'm talking to you Band Directors today because I know that in band, you want the flutes to play in tune! Let me tell you what you already know: it's all about the embouchure. Intonation is All About Embouchure Almost all flutes that come to me that have never taken...
Practicing Technique Backwards
What do you do when you’ve been practicing a difficult passage – using all the methods that you know of to get that passage down, to get it in your fingers, but you still can’t get it? Sometimes working on it backwards and forwards is the answer to nailing it. If...
Using a Tuner
Working with a tuner is not glamorous. It's not like technique. I love working on technique and I love using the metronome. It's fun and it's rewarding to hear yourself getting faster and cleaner. Working with a tuner let's just face it, it's laborious. It's not...
Improve Your Tone by Opening Your Throat
What is your throat doing when you are playing flute? Have you analyzed it? We all know it should be relaxed and open. But is it really? I always thought that I played with an open throat because it wasn't tight. But an open throat is more then just not being tight....
Working with a Tuner IN Your Solo
We all work with a tuner somewhere along the way. Often it's in our tone exercises. But do you ever spend your practice time working with a tuner IN your solo? What I mean is you put your tuner on the stand next to your solo and turn it on and look at it during your...
Slow Gets You Faster Faster!
Do you like to play flute fast? Who doesn't? It is one of the joys of playing flute. We get to have fast fingers and it's a lot of fun. Not all instruments get to have this kind of fun. Our brass counterparts can try. But alas their instruments are not designed to...
Moyse Short Tones
The Moyse Short Tones! Are you one of those people that bow in reverence when the name of Moyse is invoked? If so you are not alone. That man wrote so much that is extremely helpful to us flutists. Trevor Wye says that he was paid to write an exercise book every...