WW II Methods: FLUTE

Final Exam Study Guide

Dr. Krista Jobson

C flute – The flute is a non-transposing instrument (in C)

 Range: Lowest note is either C4 or B3 (with B foot). Highest: The standard
repertoire rarely goes beyond D7. Fingerings do exist for the D♯7, E7, F7, F♯7,
and G7; however, these notes are rarely used.
 Conical in shape!! Contrary to what some method books may claim, it is VERY
important that the flute is just slightly more narrow at the headjoint end than at the
end of the footjoint
 Has three pieces: the headjoint, the body, and the footjoint
 Materials: silver, gold, wood, or platinum

To play flute:
 Check hand position (especially right hand thumb)
 Get your embouchure position
o Place the lip plate opening on to the center of your lips
o Roll out from there
o Adjust as needed for lip size

 The aperture needs to direct air across the opening of the lip plate and slightly downward
 Faster air speed is needed for higher notes (make embouchure smaller)
 Aim air lower for low notes and higher for high notes
 To play LOUD, use a large opening in the aperture
 To play SOFTLY, use a smaller opening in the aperture

Assembly and Alignment

 The flute has three parts: the headjoint, body, and foot joint
 Beginner flutes will typically have closed tone holes with only a C foot joint. The lowest
note this flute can produce would be the C4 (middle C).
 Do not grasp the keys in the middle or foot joint, or on the embouchure plate. Instead,
hold the flute at the tenon between the head joint and body.
 Rotate the foot joint on with a smooth clockwise motion. Typical position for the foot
joint will have the ball of the rod in the middle of the bottom key.

Proper posture
 Stand approximately a “flute length” away from the stand
 Keep your feet shoulder width apart and parallel to each other – at a 45 degree angle to
the right of the stand
 The flute should be parallel with the stand.
  The keys of the flute should be parallel with the ground for marching band ONLY or
slightly tilted downward for every other playing situation

How to work with a beginning flutist to get a sound out of the flute
 Work with only the headjoint in the beginning
-Lower lip: flat and stable lower lip should be back slightly
-Upper lip: forward and out
-Imagine having a severe overbite
-Have students blow as far down into the embouchure hole as much as possible
-Corners of the mouth should be relaxed
-Use slow warm air to achieve a sound
-Have them shift the head joint side to side and roll in and out to find the sweet
spot

Embouchure – How to form a good embouchure

Formation:
 The lips as to be loose, relaxed, and in a pouting formation
 The bottom lip should be relaxed and flat like a table.
 Use a frowning face, avoid pulling the corners of the mouth tight or creating a smiling
embouchure. Keep the corner of the mouth relaxed
 Control of the embouchure comes from the center of the lips
 Blow across the inner surface of the lips—lifting the upper lip away from the teeth
 The lower lip helps to direct the air. Moving the lower lip forward and back controls the
direction of the airstream.
 Flute rests in the crook of the chin, not too high on the lip
-Throat must be relaxed and open to allow air to release freely
 To practice getting a low sound out of the flute blow down as if you were cooling off a
bowl of warm soup.

Aperture: The opening of the lips

-Size of the opening: small enough to focus the sound and control of the air pressure
-Shape: oval

What to do to produce a sound in the low register:

 Relax the jaw and bring the upper lip out. Focus the airstream down so that is hits the
lowest part of the back of the wall
 Aperture needs to be a bit wider
 The speed of the air needs to be slower than what is needed in the high register

What to do to produce a sound in the upper register:

 Bring lower jaw out and upper lip back
 Aperture needs to be smaller
 Use fast air speed
Inside your mouth:
 Relax the tongue low in the mouth
 Use an O vowel shape (typically) –Vowel shapes can change
 Lift the soft pallet
 “Yawn”
 Throat should be relaxed so that the air can pass freely and unrestricted

Balance points for the flute

 There are three main balance points on the flute
1. The arch on the left hand
2. The thumb and pinky on the right hand
3. The chin

The three B flat fingerings you can use

 Thumb B flat: acoustically the best sounding
 Side prepared, lever or hook B flat: This can be used in chromatic passages. The hook
can be left down on any note and it will not affect it. This allows you to prepare for a B
flat ahead of time even when there is a B natural soon after. It is acoustically closer to the
Thumb B flat.
 Thumb with the first finger in the left hand and the first finger in the right hand.

What to pay attention to in your students’ playing

 Curved fingers
 Make sure fingers are soft and close to the keys. Pay special attention to the pinkies so
that they stay close as well.
 Look out for the position of the thumb on the right hand. Avoid the hitch hiker thumb!
The thumb must be positioned directly underneath the right index finger.
 Hand must stay curved and rounded
 Don’t allow smiling embouchures. Have them achieve a frowning embouchure.
 No resting the flute on the left shoulder
 Shoulders must stay relaxed and down

Flute pitch tendencies to be aware of for the beginner flute player.

 Beginning flutists have a terrible tendency of rolling the headjoint in to get a good tone.
Prevent this from happening because this will cause their pitch to go flat. Continue to
have them roll out and it will soon become comfortable for them.
 Notes in the low register (E5 and below) tend to be flat
 Notes in the high register are typically sharp (E6 and above)
 C♯: very sharp note! No keys are pressed except for the pinky. In order to control this,
keep focusing the air stream down. Drop your jaw.
 The pitch tendencies of the piccolo are completely opposite of the tendencies of the flute.

What to do if you are flat:

1. Support more!!
2. Push in the headjoint
 3. Roll out the headjoint
4. Bring upper lip back, lower lip out and direct air stream up and across the lip plate

What to do if you are sharp:

1. Pull out the headjoint
2. Bring lower lip back and upper down to direct the air stream further into the
embouchure hole
3. Roll in

Other Members of the Flute Family

Piccolo - sounds an octave higher than the flute.

 ottavino (Italian for "little octave”)
 Is conical shaped-it tapers at the end
 Materials: silver, grenadilla wood, plastic
 Range: Lowest note is D4. Highest note is C7 or D7
 Has two pieces: the headjoint and body
 The pitch tendencies of the piccolo are completely opposite of the flute. The high
register tends to be flat and the lower register has a tendency to be sharp.
 Put your best player on piccolo!

To play piccolo:
 Place the lip plate further up on the lip than what is required of the C flute.
 The aperture needs to be smaller than the flute.
 Faster air speed is needed than the flute.
 Encourage your piccolo player to play out. They will feel timid when playing
the instrument, which will prevent them from supporting the instrument with
enough air.

Alto Flute - In the key of G – notes come out a fourth lower than what is written on
the page
 It uses the same fingering as the C flute.
 The tube is thicker and longer than the C flute.
 Alto flutes will come with either a straight or curved headjoint. The curved
headjoint tends to be more comfortable for the player to hold.
 Range is G3 to G6. It can reach an altissimo range to Dflat7
 Found in Ravel’s Daphnis et Chloe, Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, Holt’s The
Planets, among others.
 Commonly found in flute ensemble pieces

Bass flute (In the key of C) – notes sound one octave lower
 Commonly found in flute ensemble pieces

Contra Alto flute – Sounds one octave below the alto flute
 (Less) commonly found in flute ensemble pieces
 Contrabass flute (In the key of C) – notes sounds two octaves lower than the C flute
 Stands straight up and has triangle shaped head joint
 (Less) commonly found in flute ensemble pieces

Subcontrabass flute – Has a pitch that is two octaves below the alto flute
 Stands straight up and has a triangle shaped headjoint
 Measures over 15 feet long
 In the key of G. It sounds two octaves below the alto flute and has a range of
approximately 2 and a half octaves C2-C4 and slightly above. The sound becomes
weaker in the upper register.
 (Much less) commonly found in flute ensemble pieces. Price is prohibitive for
most band programs

MORE FLUTE Questions and Answers

Q: What are the names for the 3 parts of the flute?

A: Headjoint, footjoint, and body

Q: Describe holding position for the flute

A: Held to the right of player’s body; left hand closer to face; slight downward angle and slightly
forward; lips parallel to embouchure plate; base knuckle of left pointer finger, right thumb, lower
lip against embouchure plate, right pinky on D# key make proper balance points; aperture should
be centered over embouchure hole; wrists straight and fingers curved; shoulders back and
relaxed; elbows free from body

Q: Describe the best seated position for playing flute

A: knees 45 degrees to the right, relaxed shoulders and elbows, flute NOT parallel to the ground,
but slightly tiled downward (embouchure stays lined up with flute tilt)

Q: Effect on intonation: turning embouchure hole too far away

A: sharp pitches, cramped feeling, out of tune harmonics

Q: Effect on intonation: turning embouchure hole too far in

A: flat pitches, cramped feeling, out of tune harmonics

Q: Move end cork toward embouchure hole; intonation?

A: Turn headjoint crown counter clockwise; use cleaning rod marker to check if it's centered
under the embouchure hole; check pitch with tuner; too far is sharp

Q: Move end cork away from embouchure hole; intonation?

A: Turn headjoint crown clockwise; use cleaning rod marker to check if it's centered under
embouchure hole; check pitch with tuner; may be flat if not far enough

Q: Correct flute embouchure formation

A: lips parallel to embouchure plate

Flute in curve of the chin
Imagine spitting rice from lips to create aperture hole and for articulations

Q: How is sound produced on flute?

A: Air travels across center of blowhole and hits strikewall which causes air to split 50/50. Half
air goes into room and half into flute
Q: Correct method of tonguing on flute?

A: Touch tongue to back of upper lip to interrupt air stream while maintaining structure of mouth
and lips; "tu-du" or "ta-da;"

Q: Type of vibrato for flute?

A: Sensation of air pulsing through mouth…. NOT throat vibrato! Diaphragm vibrato is only
option! No jaw vibrato either.

Q: How to teach to adjust intonation on cresc. to decresc.?

A: Cresc: increase airspeed but not let the pitch move sharp; Decresc: decrease air speed but not
let pitch fall sharp; use different vowel sounds to fight these tendencies

Q: Remedy for flat pitches from player?

A: Check end cork placement or realign head joint; embouchure plate may be too low on lip; air
not fast enough

Q: Producing harmonics?

A: Forcing column of air to vibrate in multiple segments instead of single segment the produced
fundamental pitch; making changes in embouchure while keeping fingering constant; decrease
size of aperture in lips, increase intensity of air stream, alter direction of airflow as higher
overtone produced

Q: Beneficial embouchure results from harmonics?

A: Gain higher flexibility and control of embouchure; performing sustained notes of moving
passages at pianissimo level in upper registers
Q: F# right hand third finger instead of second?

A: Best tone quality and intonation

Q: Appropriate use of right hand second finger for F#?

A: Trilling from E to F#, can allow ease of movement

Q: What to do to correct continually sharp playing

A: Check end cork; pull out; too fast airstream; embouchure plate too high on chin

Q: Bb thumb key – what is it? When to use it?

A: Lever on back of flute near where left thumb rests; can be used in all flat keys; NEVER slide
between Bb and B natural levers. Thumb may be on Bb without effecting tone of other notes.

Q: Flute vs. piccolo embouchure?

A: Placement of lower lip; Flute: Lip-plate slightly higher on lower lip when playing piccolo

Q: Positive/negative effects of playing piccolo to flute playing

A: Piccolo: poor intonation tendencies of flute are magnified, but opposite of the flute on many
notes; younger musicians can't hear difference; more stable third octave notes on flute; different
embouchure and airspeed/volume ratio; switching between two different embouchures is hard