by Dr. Angela McBrearty | Apr 30, 2020 | Extended Techniques, FluteTips, Practice, Tone
Have you ever tried playing and singing at the same time? It is an extended flute technique that actually improves your tone when you learn to do it! Singing while playing is not just a 21st century extended flute technique. It’s an exercise that you can use to...
by Dr. Angela McBrearty | Jan 16, 2020 | FluteTips, High Register, Intonation, Tone
One of the hardest things that we flute players have to deal with is our third octave. Our instinct is to close it right up. The embouchure gets smaller and the teeth move closer together because that helps us to control that upper register. Control is what you want...
by Dr. Angela McBrearty | Jan 9, 2020 | Daily Routine, Etudes, FluteTips, Practice, Tone
I’ve just come off the holidays as it’s been Christmas vacation. It’s been so massively busy that I haven’t gotten much good solid practice. I feel like even when I’ve played a lot of flute for various Christmas gigs, I still can get out...
by Dr. Angela McBrearty | Nov 21, 2019 | FluteTips, Practice, Tone
Do you have vibrancy in your tone? Do you know what it is? Vibrancy is something that I discovered when I was in college and I was listening a graduate student. I remember thinking that there was something different about their tone that I didn’t have. I kept...
by Dr. Angela McBrearty | Nov 7, 2019 | FluteTips, Low Register, Practice, Tone
Have you ever played a staccato passage in your low register and found that the only thing that came out were puffs of air? You are not alone. We can all have trouble getting our low register notes to come out. But with a bit of specific practice, your low notes can...
by Dr. Angela McBrearty | Oct 31, 2019 | Embouchure, FluteTips, Practice, Tone
Do you know that a tight embouchure is not what will give you the best tone? I think most of us know that is not the way to play. But I have experienced that students don’t know what a tight embouchure actually means and have no idea how to loosen that...