Doctor Flute Blog

Musings on the Flute
Relaxed Embouchure Improves Tone

Relaxed Embouchure Improves Tone

Look at your embouchure in the mirror. Do you look relaxed? Are you pulling your corners back or down? Are you tight in the cheeks? Is there tension in your mouth? Those are all factors that are going to influence your tone. Now there’s many different embouchures in...

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The Gig Bag

The Gig Bag

Do you have a gig bag?  Is it your constant companion? My gig bag is my friend. It has been with me a long time. It was with me before children came along. In fact it was with me before I met my husband. Actually it was with me long before I met my husband. And he's...

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Teeth Spacing

Teeth Spacing

Did you know that you can improve your tone today by just widening the space between your teeth? If you’re playing, and you take a look in the mirror, can you tell how far apart your teeth are? Or can you feel with your tongue how far apart your teeth are when you...

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Intonation & Air Stream

Intonation & Air Stream

Do you adjust your intonation by raising and lowering your air stream, or by manually rolling in or out? You don't want to adjust intonation by rolling in or rolling out. The better way to adjust your intonation is with your mouth by changing the direction of your air...

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Vibrato Part 2

Vibrato Part 2

The proverbial stage is now set. Vibrato can begin. Frankly, when I teach vibrato for the first time, I give a demonstration of what vibrato sounds like in tone and then tell the student to go home and see if they can figure it out. I would say that more then 50% of...

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Intonation & Embouchure Hole Coverage

Intonation & Embouchure Hole Coverage

How much embouchure hole do you cover when you play? If you cover too much embouchure hole, you’re going to compromise your sound, and of course, you’ll be flat. If you cover too little of your embouchure hole, you will be sharp. And of course, your tone is also...

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Intonation & Lip Pressure

Intonation & Lip Pressure

Did you know that you can use your lip pressure to change your intonation? When you’re playing, you want to check the pressure that the lip plate puts on your lip. You’ll play flat less often when you lighten the pressure. Now when I was in college I played with a lot...

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Finger Touch

Finger Touch

When you’re playing, you want your fingers to be very light on the keys. If you’re using too much pressure, the keys make too much noise when you’re playing. And in the flute world, that’s just not acceptable. Because, well we can fix that. And if we can, then we...

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Veebrrrrraaaato or Vibrato Part I

Veebrrrrraaaato or Vibrato Part I

Anyone here have trouble developing vibrato or developing vibrato in your students? It is one sticky wicket. As a teacher, I can't see into my student's throat to actually see what's going on. But, there's no single exercise that creates a no-fail vibrato. All we...

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