Playing with an Open Throat

What is wrong with my tone? I feel like I’m doing everything right!

Have you ever asked that question? We have all felt that way some time or another. It can be quite discouraging to try to do everything correctly, but still not quite have the tone you want. Sometimes though the answer is right there waiting for you.

Have you ever considered the role your throat plays in your tone?

It is not always what comes to mind in correcting tone. However, it can be the missing piece that keeps you from the best tone.

I’ve talked about how playing with an open throat can improve your tone, but I want to talk just a little bit more in depth. More specifically I want to discuss how your throat starts closing while you’re playing and how breathing can interfere with keeping that throat open. The best way to do this is to talk about that within the context of a solo. I suggest that you take your breath as a yawning breath and concentrate on opening the throat. The goal is to open your throat all the way up to your sinuses.

However, many times as soon as you begin to play, the back of the throat, right at the top where the tongue meets the throat, closes right back up. When that happens, the tone becomes tight, and the closed throat interferes with the direction of the airstream. Thus, the airstream can be shaky or even spotty. It comes in and out affecting the tone by interfering the with it. So, when you’re playing take notice of your sound and see if there’s anything that interferes with that straight flow of the tone.

There have been numerous times helping students with their tone, when they seem to be doing everything right, but they still do not sound like they should. Then I finally remember the throat! We then experiment and 9 times out of 10, that fixes the problem. Remember that for yourself, that you can be doing everything right by having that natural embouchure and you can be open with good support but if your throat is tight, it squeezes your tone.

Another indication that you have a tight throat is what you sound like when you breathe. Do you hear your breath? If you hear a gasping sound when you breathe, your throat is tight. A free breath that keeps the throat open is nearly silent. A silent breath ensures that your throat is open and your mouth cavity is open.

Another thing to address is tightening while you play. There can be times when you perform, and you begin with a nice open throat, but your throat begins to close the longer you play. Every time you take a quick breath in the music you get tighter and tighter. All it takes to fix this problem is training yourself that every time you take a breath, open the throat, take that yawning breath. It is just as fast as that gasping breath. Our head tells us that it will waste time to open up the throat for a good deep breath, that we will lose time – it just cannot be fast enough. But it is just as fast.

I had to train myself to take that quick breath from below and open up the throat. It is not natural for me in the thick of it to take a yawning breath. I still work at it. I practice stopping when I need a breath and actually take a good one. Even if that means it breaks up the flow, because I am training my body to breathe this way.

How about you? Is your throat tight? I want you to listen to your tone and see if maybe you are playing with a tight throat. You will sound fantastic when you open that throat and have a free tone.

Have fun!

DoctorFlute

Watch as I explain the role of your throat and how to fix it to see if this is the missing piece to improve your tone:

Playing with an Open Throat – FluteTips 148