How To Play The Flute:Playing The Flute - Musical Instrument Guide

Musical Instrument Guide How to Play the Flute Playing the Flute

Breath

Take a deep breath, and breathe out while slightly smiling, making a "too" sound. * Make sure that the shape of your lips doesn't change as you breathe out.

Producing Sound with the Head Joint

Watch this video to learn about the breath method and speed.

Changing pitch

The pitch you produce changes depending on the speed of your breath. Faster breath will produce a higher pitch, and slower breath will produce a lower pitch.

Mouth opening	Breath speed	Pitch
Wide	Slow	Low
Normal	Normal	Medium
Narrow	Fast	High

Tonguing

Using the head joint, move your tongue as if saying "too-too" while blowing. You'll notice the "too-too" motion makes the sound much clearer than the "foo-foo" motion. * Pay close attention to motion of your tongue when blowing if you want to produce a good sound.

Glissando techniques

There are a variety of different glissando techniques. Broadly speaking, glissando techniques can be divided into continuous glissando used on instruments like the violin and the trombone, and discrete glissando used on instruments with space between distinct tones. A continuous glissando can be played with on an instrument with covered keys as well, but are never as smooth as on instruments with ring keys. There are also situations in which glissandos are impossible because of the range. For a continuous glissando on an instrument with covered keys, blow while slowly moving through the keys in order, and adjust the angle so that the pitch changes continuously. There are, however, few pieces for flute that require any continuous glissando, so it is more usual for flutist to use a discrete glissando technique similar to that used on the piano.

Assembling the flute

If the flute is not put together properly, it may break, or become incapable of producing a good sound. Pay particular attention to where you hold the flute when putting it together.

1. Hold the foot joint and the body joint as shown in the picture, and slide them together. Do not grip the keys while doing this.

   

2. Hold the head joint and the body joint as shown in the picture, and slide them together. As before, do not grip the keys while doing this.

   

Holding the flute

Paying close attention to the position of your thumb, make sure that the inside of the first joint of your left index finger is stays in contact with the flute, and hold the flute with your fingers in their respective positions.

Lifting the flute to play

When holding the flute up to play, your shoulders and elbows should be relaxed.

Fingering and producing sound

Once you have mastered holding the clarinet and producing sound, try playing with the fingerings shown below. *High D is easier to play if you release the index finger on your left hand. Once you have learned to play the C scale, try to playing some music by sight reading.

Musical Instrument Guide : Flute Contents

Origins

• The birth of the flute
• The relatives of the flute

Structure

• The parts of the flute
• How is the sound produced?
• [Experiment] replacing the cork in the head joint with a different material
• What are flutes made of?

How to Play

• Playing the Flute
• Fingering diagrams for the flute

How the Instrument is Made

• Manufacturing the head joint
• Constructing the body
• Making the keys and pad cups
• Assembly and finishing

Choosing an Instrument

• Choosing on the basis of the quality of the material
• Choosing on the basis of the key type

Care and Maintenance

• Care and maintenance after playing
• Periodic maintenance
• Check the reflective plate!

Trivia

• The flute-a beautiful nymph transformed?
• Does the piccolo resemble the flutes of old?
• Why does a flute have a lip plate attached?
• Famous flute works: concertos
• Famous flute works: chamber music
• What is a double contrabass flute like?

1. Home
2. Musical Instrument Guide
3. Flute
4. How to Play the Flute:Playing the Flute