There are some things that you can do to work on your low register and know that that is also helping your high register. Now, that does not mean that you can stop work at anything in the high register because your low register was nice and rich. You still need to be thinking about how you are playing and how your low register reaches that upper register, and even just taking the high register out all on its own.

Round & Full

But let’s just talk about the low register. So, what are some things that you can do to fill it out, to make it strong? Long tones, of course, down in that low register, just doing from B down to low C is a really good place to get started for building your low register. And what you are thinking about is how round and full can you make this low register. You are not thinking about playing softly. You want to fill it out, to make that low note really round.

You also want to think about:

The shape of your embouchure
Opening your jaw wider
Putting air in your cheeks

These are things that will help you make it rich and resonant and full.

You also want the sound to come from behind your sinus cavity. So, the back of your tongue should be down, and the roof of your mouth is arched up. This is how singers have the sound resonate. And then that sound can be rich and full all the way down.

Low to Middle to High

Now, if that is tenuous or if you crack a lot, or if it just does not stay there, you know that there is probably going to be something that is affected above it because that roundness, that fullness, that resonance can move into your upper register. This is why when you do long tones for the third octave, we actually start on middle B and we go up instead of always descending. Because if you can get a round full low register, then middle, then do long tones going up.

So, you keep what is full in the low, move it to the middle, and then take it higher.

Keep it really full. You are not trying to play really softly. There is a time and a place for doing your long tones with diminuendo and trying to play really softly. But right now you are not trying to do that. You are trying to get your high register to be rich and full and beautiful, just like your low register. So, you are going to work from a low note to a middle note as in those octave slurs, and then work to keep that resonance all the way up.

If you start with a good low note, you can match those registers and it becomes a beautiful sound that you can work with and build on all the way up.

A Word on Hearing Loss

If you are going to work your long tones in your third octave, wear ear protection so it does not damage your ears. You can just use those foamy things if you do not have real kind that allow sound in, but keep out the higher harmonics. If I am going to work in the third octave, I usually wear ear protection same as if I am playing piccolo.

So that is how you can fill out and strengthen and make your third octave be so much more resonant and beautiful. You start with a low register that is fabulous. That is the foundation that pushes up and holds up that third octave. Then you can make it just as glorious as your low register.

Have fun!
DoctorFlute

Watch me demonstrate this:

You Can’t Have a Good High Register Without Having a Really Good Low Register – FluteTips 172

FluteTips 66 Easy High Notes

Getting Spin on Your Third Octave Notes – FluteTips 171

Putting Air in Your Cheeks to Lower Your Pitch – FluteTips 32

Resonate to Improve Your Tone – FluteTips 178

The post You Can’t Have a Good High Register Without Having a Really Good Low Register appeared first on DoctorFlute.

This is how I get a full warm up for my practice session even though it will only be 15 minutes long. You really can cover all that is necessary in 15 to 20 minutes. When you do have the time for a longer practice session, this is still a great warm up routine. It will get you going, and get you ready to practice whatever else you have on your agenda.

But for today, 15 minutes is all I have. So, let’s get started.

Scales

The first thing I’m going to do is to practice my scales with Taffanel and Gaubert – the love of my life (my flute life!) Because I don’t have a lot of time, I’m only going to practice the flats today using Taffanel and Gaubert’s #4. If I had extra time, I would play all the way through flats and sharps, but that will have to wait until tomorrow. I am going to play #4 at a tempo that works for me but pushes my fingers. Using the metronome is always a great way to keep me on tempo.

Now, even though I’m doing this in a truncated period of time, I still must make sure that I am playing correctly and listening to my fingers. I always use all those articulations when I play Taffanel and Gaubert. It is very important that we wake up the tongue. The tongue is a muscle. Playing all those different articulations makes that muscle work.

Arpeggios & Tone

After scales I like to move into arpeggios. Today I’m going to play through Reichert’s 7 Daily Exercises #2. Now I like to practice Reichert by tonguing all the way through. Strangely enough, when I practice this arpeggio exercise like this, I count it as tone practice as well. Why? Because I think that when I tongue really short focused ta’s, then I have to make sure that the tone is focused in a tiny little package. It forces me to get a fabulous sound in a short period of time.

The longer you hold a note, the more you adjust your embouchure, and you fix things, and it can sound better and better. But if you can tongue and make that tone to be the tone you want in just a split second, then you know you are on the right track. So, I will tongue all the way through all of these.

Harmonics & Tone

Next, I want to work a little bit more on my tone. My next exercise is for the lip playing harmonics. I am going to play Reveille with harmonics only. In this exercise I only finger the low C, and I play the tune with that fingering. This makes my lip be in motion. I can concentrate on making the lip do all the work. It is a great way to work on flexibility with the lip.

Tapers & Long Tones

For the last few minutes of my short but important practice session I will work on long tones with tapers. I think if I am out of shape, my tapers are rotten. So, I like to consciously practice tapering all the time. Because I want this to be a 15-minute warm up I am not going to play from a high B, all the way down to low C. I will only play one octave. But I want that taper to be as smooth as silk. I want to taper down to nothingness.

Now there are reasons to do short tapers, and to learn how to do them in one beat. But right now, I am going to do long tone tapers as if I have all the time in the world to taper that note.

I have just finished my 15-minute practice and I feel nicely warmed up. In only 15 minutes I am not going to progress in my repertoire. But my lip will not go backwards! Then when I do have the time for a full practice, I will be ready to make good use of that session because my lip is in shape still.

If time is a problem for you, do not skip practice. Keep yourself on that 15-to-20-minute warm up schedule. You will cover everything necessary from tone, to articulation, to your fingers. This a fantastic way to get warmed up and stay in shape.

Have fun!

DoctorFlute

Watch me demonstrate this idea:

How to Warm Up in 15 Minutes – FluteTips 152

Always Warm Up Musically – FluteTips 144

What to Do in a 30-Minute Practice Session – FluteTips 119

30-Minute Practice Session Using Mozart Concerto in G

The post How to Warm Up in 15 Minutes appeared first on DoctorFlute.

Match Pitch to the Harmonic

To do this, I begin with by playing a low C, and then while still fingering the low C, blow the hair gently up 2 harmonics, ending up with a G. Play this harmonic G with a spectacular harmonic sound. Make it as beautiful as you can. Let the dynamic be a nice forte. I love playing this G with a spectacular harmonic sound. It won’t be a “real” sound but it can still be a great sound.

The next step after the beautiful spinning harmonic sound is to change your fingering to the real fingering for a G, and match those two spectacular sounds. Don’t let the actual tone lack any body from the harmonic and vice versa. Play this low C to G, a couple of times. Each time you play it, see if you can make the harmonic sound even better than when you move to the actual G fingering. Don’t let the sound change. Match the harmonic sound to the actual sound in a seamless transition.

When you play the notes with a full sound it’s fine to take a breath in between.

Breathe if You Must

Once you have played the C – G harmonic, move to C# with the harmonic G#. Match pitch in the same way.

When playing with a full sound I usually fill my cheeks with air to keep the embouchure relaxed and to make the tone more full.

From C#, I move to D, Eb, E, F, F#, and G with their corresponding harmonics.

Fill Your Cheeks

After just a short time working with the harmonics in this fashion, you’ll begin to reap the benefits in your tone. I like to pair this exercise with harmonics: Reveille. When I play both I feel that my tone responds beautifully. A point to remember is to always keep the embouchure loose. Don’t let it tighten.

Have fun working on your harmonics!

DoctorFlute

Watch me demonstrate this: FluteTips 68 Harmonics Matching Pitch Exercise

Practice Harmonics to Improve Your Tone

The post Harmonics Matching Pitch Exercise appeared first on DoctorFlute.

What are Harmonics?

If you haven’t practiced harmonics before here is what they are: if you play a low C, and then, without changing your fingers and using only your lip and change of air direction you can get a number of other pitches that above it.

The first note above is the octave, then the 5th above, next the octave, then the third, fifth, seventh and octave. On other instruments particularly the trombone there are many harmonics (or partials as they are sometimes known as) that can be played from a single fingering or position.

When practicing harmonics, there are a number of ways to play them that help develop embouchure and sound through resonance and lip control. The first thing you want to do is to play through the harmonics and get an understanding of how they work and which notes you can play. Some are easier then others to respond.

Once you know what to do, the first exercise is to move between two harmonics. Begin with the first two which are octaves. Slur back and forth between them using your lip to move.

Do not tongue!

For the most part you won’t articulate. With as little air as you can, slur between the two. You will begin to feel how the lip is working. Next move up and slur between the octave and the fifth and so on, for as far as you can go.

When you’ve experimented with that exercise and you’re feeling good about how you get harmonics, then the next step that I suggest to my students is to practice Reveille. You know, the trumpet Reveille. Play Reveille slowly (not as fast as a trumpet does).

Only Use Your Lip!

Always use your lip to get these harmonics. It is very easy to over blow and make them come out. It’s much trickier to hold in that air, and make these notes respond because you use your lip to change the air direction.

Another tempting aspect is to tongue the ones that don’t want to come out. Don’t do it! It is a way of cheating the exercise. It is more difficult to use your lip and easier to get it when you tongue. But you will not reap the benefits if you tongue.

When you play Reveille ask yourself these questions:

• Can I play with a fuller sound?
• Is the sound I’m getting clear without tension?
• Are these notes in tune?

Now Add This Exercise

Now it is time to add another harmonic exercise – matching pitch. What that means is to begin with the usual low C, playing up to the 5th with a fantastic resonant harmonic sound. When you feel that the sound is full, round and resonant, then change the fingering to the actual fingering while keeping that round, full sound.

Next, move up a half step to C# and slur to the G#.

Then D. And so on.

In each one you try to make more full and just filled with resonance.

That’s how you practice harmonics. They’re great. They do a tone a lot of good.

Have fun!

DoctorFlute

Watch me demonstrate this: FluteTips 37 Practice Harmonics to Improve Your Tone

FluteTips 68 Harmonics Matching Pitch Exercise

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