by Dr. Angela McBrearty | May 15, 2018 | Extended Techniques, FluteTips, Harmonics, Practice, Tone
Practice harmonics! They’re a fantastic addition to your tonal practice. They’ll add resonance to your tone, and open up your sound, adding the colors and the resonance that a tone needs. What are Harmonics? If you haven’t practiced harmonics before here...
by Dr. Angela McBrearty | May 8, 2018 | Breathing, Embouchure, Practice, Tone
Be Flexible! No, I’m not talking about being limber in the gym. I’m not flexible at all! But, my lip is amazingly limber. Your lip is the entrance to fantastic control over your tone. By working on embouchure flexibility, you learn so-much-more about tone....
by Dr. Angela McBrearty | Mar 29, 2018 | Embouchure, FluteTips, Intonation, Tone
Playing in tune is one of the most important aspects of playing the flute. It is also the bane of our existence. Wouldn’t a perfectly in tune flute be a wonderful thing? However, until that beast is invented we must use every tool in our toolkit to play in tune. One...
by Dr. Angela McBrearty | Mar 13, 2018 | Daily Routine, Embouchure, Flute Purchase, Tone
I recently attended the Mid-Atlantic Flute Convention in Reston, VA. While in the exhibit hall I made an interesting observation. The flute that I thought had my name all over it – was not the flute for me! We flutists get the itch every so often to change up...
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...
