by Dr. Angela McBrearty | Mar 21, 2019 | FluteTips, Piccolo
If I got a dollar for every time I’ve that before I’d have ….well… some money. But I have received this question on numerous occasions. The question more specifically, is whether you must learn to play the flute first, or can you just jump into...
by Dr. Angela McBrearty | Mar 7, 2019 | Embouchure, Extended Techniques, FluteTips
There are a lot of pieces being composed today that use the extended technique of bending your pitch. Sometimes it’s bending down and other times you bend up. It’s very easy to bend down it’s more difficult to bend it up. Here’s some keys to think about...
by Dr. Angela McBrearty | Feb 14, 2019 | Daily Routine, FluteTips, Piccolo, Practice
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...
by Dr. Angela McBrearty | Jan 31, 2019 | Embouchure, FluteTips, High Register, Practice, Support
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...
by Dr. Angela McBrearty | Jan 24, 2019 | Embouchure, FluteTips, Intonation
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...
by Dr. Angela McBrearty | Jan 17, 2019 | FluteTips, Practice, Technique
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...
