I really detest cracking notes. It is one of those pet peeves that drives me crazy. Really, I do not ever want to crack again. But you know what? It happens! One of the areas where it happens a lot is in the middle register: C, C#, D and Eb. Those notes can often be what I call the caught-in-between sound. You know that sound when the note isn’t quite up high enough, and it gets both a low and a high sound at the same time? For me that is the worst! I do not like it and even though I know how to fix it, it still happens from time to time.

How about you? Does that sound ever come out of your flute? I bet it does because it happens to everyone. What can you do about it? How can you fix it if it happens to you? Let me see if I can help you.

I have some FluteTips on how to tongue your middle Eb, D, C sharp and C and how to get a good tone on those. But I want to get a little bit more specific today, and that is how not to let those notes crack. We have other notes that tend to crack. But right now, I want to concentrate on these middle register notes.

Middle D (4^th line on the staff) is a note that wants to crack especially if we have that D or we have a couple notes that are in that very middle narrow range of C sharp and D and E flat where our first finger is up and we have come to one of them from a high note or the opposite has happened and we have come up from a low note. They will tend to crack.

By cracking, I mean that there is an actual cracking sound where it just flips from one octave side to the other – high to low or low to high. Often, we call that kind of cracking sound a “caught in between” sound. Caught in between is that you are getting a low sound and a high sound simultaneously.

One reason why that caught in between sound happens is because your airstream is probably too high. And then related to that is we don’t have a nice open embouchure. The embouchure is too small. If I have a small embouchure, I can maybe get an edgy sound. But the chances of cracking go way up with that small embouchure especially if I have to tongue quickly and I have a firm tongue. Then if I’m playing really low, what is going to happen is this is going to be airy as well.

When you are dealing with a tricky area in your solo and you tend to crack, analyze your air and your embouchure. Where should the airstream be blowing, how high or how low, hard and soft. That will really help you to figure out where to get the best tone quality. It is tricky when you are playing a Bach or Mozart solo. These genres of solos often have much that is in that second octave that cracks.

That is what my advice to help you figure out how to get those middle register notes. Your embouchure and your airstream are the places to look at to stop cracking.

Sometimes you don’t even know you have been cracking until you record yourself and then listen to yourself playing in the middle register and realize you are cracking! So, grab a piece that you are working on and record yourself playing through some middle register runs. Then listen for cracks. If you find them, analyze the cause. Is it your embouchure? Is it your airstream? Is it the two of them mixed together? Then make sure that your embouchure is oo shaped and your jaw is out slightly to raise your airstream is up just a bit. I think you’ll be able to fix those particular pesky little notes that you don’t want to crack or get caught in between.

Have fun!
DoctorFlute

Watch me demonstrate this idea:

How Not to Crack on Your Middle Register Notes – FluteTips 164

Getting a Better Tone Quality on Your Middle Notes C C# D Eb – FluteTips 161

FluteTips 77 Getting a Good Tone in Your Middle Register Specifically Ds & Es

How to Form a Great Flute Embouchure – FluteTips 132