FLUTE

Flute was one of many instruments I played in jr high school band... haven't played it in YEARS... now I'm in college and going for a music major, the professor said it would look good when I go to apply at universities to be proficient with a band instrument (already have a certain degree of proficiency on piano) and college band experience. So. I'm trying to re-learn flute. Anyone have any tips? Especially on the upper octave/higher end of the range.

Without hearing you play or watching your technique in person, there's really little I can tell you to help. In these situations, it's generally best to have a teacher.

Getting a private teacher would help you incredibly much. Seriously.

Also, I suggest lots of diligent practice in the upper register. :) Etudes, for sure.

dont forget to tune.

its one of the biggest problems with flute players.

and play until the tone sounds good to you. roll the flute in and out, adjust your air streams, try different things, until it works.

thats as much as i can help you with....:mellow:

Thank you :) I don't have the cash for a private teacher right now unfortunately. I did make a lot of progress yesterday putting notes into finale, hitting playback and matching the tones. I hope to be able to do private lessons through my college next semester.

Hold the pedal on your electric keyboard or input a forever-long note in Finale on a vibrato lacking patch (I use clarinet) and tune your flute to it, then practice playing and tuning certain intervals to it. Also benefits your ear. Always be listening for a pinched tone and fixing intonation as you go along. After a while, do the same thing on a different note.

While I can play a few instruments pretty well on my own, I find that I have great difficult playing them in groups with other people while in different parts of the harmony, so I do this to make sure every note dissonant and consonant is in tune with another source of sound other than my own instrument. Hopefully practicing this for a few minutes a day will help you like it helped me.

One other thing I can suggest - ask as many people as you can about proper breathing technique, I found it a hard concept to grasp and even if you could just ask for some pointers and tips from a very experienced instructors it may help solve a TON of problems that may crop up unattended to.