Okay... Help me Yellow Board...You're my only hope.
My flute players are airy. I am a euph player. I have no idea how to make them sound better.
Explain it like I'm 5. How do I better their tone. It sounds unfocused and airy. I've tried harmonic slurs as well as talking about aperture size. But its not working. The sound is airy still.
So... what can we do to help this issue?
Thank you!
Re: ELI5 - Flute tune
Posted by DesertJazz on 1/13/2021, 2:47 pm, in reply to "ELI5 - Flute tune"
Well you've already talked about a couple of the big things... Check their headjoint corks to see if they're loose. They wear out every couple of years in my experience, and sometimes you'll have this airy problem and discover it basically falls out if you turn it slightly. It should seal completely. Could also be trill keys not sealing too.
Otherwise if that's in place you can try going back to the headjoint if they're younger players. There's a tool called a Pneumo Pro that can help with kids understanding where to visualize the air.
To add to the harmonics it sounds like you're already exploring, Kathi Blocki released a really cool packet of Jingle Bells with changing fingerings with the harmonics to keep getting Jingle Bells out. (I was totally geeking out over it when I bought it) I would consider that an 8th-12th grade tool. (Younger if they study privately, which I'm guessing these don't)
If none of those solutions work see about getting a clinician in, or zooming with someone. There are a lot of other things it could be. This year with COVID it's not making it easy to explore all of the problems we're seeing with embouchures!
Re: ELI5 - Flute tune
Posted by Not a flute player on 1/13/2021, 1:12 pm, in reply to "ELI5 - Flute tune"
Airiness in tone is usually caused by improper lip position and lip plate position.
Lip plate:
Are they using the "kiss and roll" method? That will pretty much guarantee airy tone. Kids tend to not roll out far enough meaning they will underblow - causing an airy, not full tone.
If they roll out TOO far, they have to overblow - similar issue, but airy the OTHER way.
So go back to HJ+mirrors - set the tone hole properly, and watch and reinforce it.
That being said, lip position can be an issue too. Many young students use an unfocused aperture and unfocused lip corners, causing weak tone.
Sir James Galway came to TMEA a few years (good lord, probably a decade or more now) back, and said his trick to teach good flute embouchure was to put the bottom lip OVER the top lip, then relax it until it fell open to blow through. This eliminates "smile" embouchure which causes poor flute tone. There are YT videos about it, but I've found it works wonders.
