Doctor Flute Blog
Musings on the Flute
Routine – Etude
Just like there are those people in the world who enjoy practicing tone, there are people in the world who don't enjoy practicing etudes. Now who can imagine that? I love my etude practice time, and there are many-a-day where I have skipped my solo practice time for...
Routine – Tone
In our first third of our practice routine there is this pesky little thing I like to call TONE that needs to be practiced daily. So let me give you some suggestions of material to cover when working on this part of your practice routine. There are 3 books I use for...
Routine Continued – Technique
You have read about breaking your practice time into thirds, and you're good with doing that. Right? So, now lets talk about how to fill up your time in each section. If you're a flute major in college, you already have a better idea about all the myriad exercises...
The Practice Routine
What is your practice routine? You know what I find? That so many students actually do practice. They honestly do. But they just cover the material and then they are done. I've found that so many of my students all through the years haven't the foggiest notion of how...
Good Days or Bad Days
Do you have good days and bad days? Welcome to the club! That, my friend is par for the course. It happens to us all! Now let me tell you something. They eventually go away. Can you believe that truth? The bad days eventually begin to recede and the good days become...
How Does One Simply Begin With Tone?
Contrary to popular belief, there are two types of people in the world. Tone people Technique people Tone people are the ones that want to practice tone the first thing. I mean can you believe that they actually enjoy getting up in the morning and then playing long...
Who’s Afraid of Extended Techniques?
So have you tried extended techniques? Or...are you afraid? Sometimes extended techniques can be quite intimidating to the uninitiated. But, you know what? If you just try, you might actually have a lot of fun playing them. I went through a good deal of my performing...
Tone: Part 2
Did you work with your embouchure to improve your tone? How's it going? It’s time to add another piece to that embouchure puzzle. Let’s talk teeth. So how do teeth add to the production of tone? They do, let me tell you! Teeth need to be apart when...
Tone: Part 1
Tone! We all strive to improve our tone. But what can we do? I used to think that I had a good tone. But then I really learned what tone was all about. It was then that I realized that what I thought was a good tone was well, wrong. There are a number of techniques...