Resonate to Improve Your Tone

Do you resonate your tone? What does that really mean?

When we think about our flute sound resonating, we are talking making a tone that is vibrant and alive. When you use resonation to improve your tone, you will be surprised at how much you like it! A tone that resonates will make people stand up and take notice.

There are 3 places or ways to make our tone resonate. The first way is that we want our sound to resonate through our flute. The second place is we want our tone to resonate in our sinus cavity. The third place we want to resonate is through our body. And we want everything in our body to work towards getting that resonation.

Think about your favorite flutists and how they sound. They achieve that beautiful tone because they are resonating in these three areas.

Our Flute

It is very important for you to have the instrument that will do it for you. If you have a beginner instrument, you could still get a good tone. I have had many students who still get a really nice tone on a beginner instrument. But in the end, there is a limited amount of resonating that you can achieve on a silver-plated nickel instrument, if that’s your beginner instrument.

So, it might be time for you to upgrade if you have that beginner instrument and you’re really looking to get that tone, because who doesn’t want to practice more if you’re sounding really good? At minimum, make sure your instrument is in good shape, has had a clean-oil-adjust, and no pads are leaking.

While I’m not talking about embouchure and how you must put that in the right place and have the right shape embouchure on your lip plate. While that is important, we are just discussing resonating today.

Our Sinuses

How do you resonate in your sinus cavity? The main point of resonating in your sinus cavity is to open the back of your throat. Some of you can just do it when told. You just read it, tried it, and it worked. That is great!

But for the rest of us, here are some pointers. First think about what happens to your throat when you yawn. Go ahead, take a yawning breath. Feel how that opens up your throat. You want your throat to just open right up like that when you play. You want to feel that there are no restrictions that are going to inhibit the tone. You want to have that resonating sound echo through your sinus cavity. It can resonate when you keep your throat open.

Now, one of the ways for it to resonate in your sinus cavity is to make sure the back of your tongue is down and your soft palate is up. Practice yawning again and feel the back of your tongue pressing down; and feel the open space as your soft pallet goes up. When you yawn like this you create an open space in your sinus cavity for your sound to resonate. This is why I encourage my students to “take a yawning breath” because it opens up sinuses.

Now, if you are not thinking about this and working at it, it is very easy to close off your sinus cavity, which limits your resonation. So be sure that you are thinking about that tongue being down in the back, that your soft pallet staying up, and that when you take that breath, it just fills it right up.

Our Body

Now let’s talk about the third place for resonating, and that is through your body. So, when I breathe, I expand my rib cage and expand my stomach at the same time. Plus, when I take that yawning breath and I open my throat, all of a sudden when I am playing, that sound can resonate through my body from the floor all the way up to my sinus cavity.

So, I will stand not with my feet right together, but I’m a little bit firmer of a stance, having my feet a little bit apart. So, I’m very solid. I feel very grounded from the floor all the way up into this sinus cavity. It is all open because I put my whole body into it.

Now, for me, I know I am pretty good at this, but I will let the back of my throat close off. So, I must concentrate on that. I focus on it. I can hear the sound close off when the back of my throat closes. And I can hear my sound resonate more when I open it back up. You too may have something to focus on to achieve a resonant tone.

First, you want it to resonate through your instrument. So, make sure that your instrument is in good working condition. Upgrade if it is time to upgrade.

Second, the back of your tongue is down, your throat is open, and your sinus cavities are open.

Third, let the sound resonate through your body, all the way up into your sinus cavity through that nice hollow tube you have just created by expanding that rib cage, taking yawning breath, and opening your throat wide open.

Try that. Experiment with these areas and see if you can get that rich, warm, resonating tone that you are looking for.

Have fun!

DoctorFlute

Watch me demonstrate this:

Resonate to Improve Your Tone – FluteTips 178