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...
by Dr. Angela McBrearty | Jan 10, 2019 | FluteTips, Intonation, Practice
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,...
by Dr. Angela McBrearty | Jan 3, 2019 | Breathing, FluteTips, Practice, Tone
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...
