by Dr. Angela McBrearty | Feb 13, 2018 | Breathing, FluteTips, Practice, Tone
Try this out for me. Pick up your flute and play a scale. While you are playing, analyze what the back of your throat is doing. Is your throat open? What about the back of your throat, going up to your sinuses? Is the back of your tongue down so that your throat can...
by Dr. Angela McBrearty | Feb 6, 2018 | Embouchure, FluteTips, Piccolo, Tone
It is a common belief that we flutists can play piccolo just because of the nature of the flute and piccolo are from the same family. This usually occurs in high school where the band director needs someone on piccolo, and points to you. So, you just pick up the...
by Dr. Angela McBrearty | Jan 4, 2018 | Finger Placements, FluteTips, Practice
Let’s talk about a couple of little issues with the left hand. First let’s clarify an aspect of the flute that will affect your left hand position [it’s not open/closed hole]: In-line G Offset G Half Offset G I don’t believe that open/closed hole...
by Dr. Angela McBrearty | Dec 28, 2017 | Finger Placements, FluteTips, Practice
Do you know if your right hand is properly placed on your flute for optimal performance & health? The right hand should be comfortable when on your flute. When playing, you want your wrist to have no tension and in order to do that, you need to have a good hand...
by Dr. Angela McBrearty | Dec 21, 2017 | Breathing, FluteTips, Performing
I’ve heard competition judges at the NFA convention discuss with the audience how competitors need to learn how to take quieter breaths. Their estimation of the competitor went down simply because the breath was too loud and distracting. It especially took away from...
by Dr. Angela McBrearty | Dec 14, 2017 | FluteTips, Practice, Technique
If you’re not doing a steady diet of practicing your technique for a good part of your practice time, you need to start now. You need to add as much variety as you can in your technical practice, such as: Taffanel one, Taffanel two, four, and five. I like to...
