Technique Archives - Page 5 of 6 - Staging Main LearnFlute Online

How to Have Faster Fingers for Flute Playing

Practicing the Flute, Technique / By Rebecca Fuller

Playing fast is one of the great loves of all flute players. The problem is that often we like to play fast right away, before the music is even learned all the way. We sometimes expect to go faster than we can, so we get angry, embarrassed, frustrated, or we lose confidence. All of these hurt our playing so much more than they help. When learning how to have faster fingers for flute playing, two […]

How to Have Faster Fingers for Flute Playing Read More »

What is Vibrato?

Technique / By Rebecca Fuller

We have some cool terminology in music. If you’re not well versed you may not know what these words all mean. What is vibrato? Let’s get scientific today and explore a super important term called ‘vibrato’. Vibrato is basically a slight fluctuation of pitch that occurs when the air speed is fast enough that it oscillates. Whew! There are a lot of big words in there! Fluctuation is when something doesn’t stay steady. Oscillation describes

What is Vibrato? Read More »

Body Aches and Flute Playing

Technique / By Rebecca Fuller

I was asked by a student why their shoulder hurts so much when they practice. Great question! Here are some of my answers: Sometimes it just means you need to take a break. You might be new at holding your flute up for that amount of time. Just put your arms down for a few seconds and then you can start again. You’ll get stronger within practice and time. But, if your shoulder hurts when

Body Aches and Flute Playing Read More »

How To Fade On The Flute

Technique / By Rebecca Fuller

[headline style=”1″ font_size=”24″ font_font=”Shadows%20Into%20Light” font_style=”bold” font_color=”%23f96f4d” align=”left” headline_tag=”h2″]How To Fade On The Flute[/headline] The fade away of a long note can be one of the most effective musical techniques in the playbook. But it also can be a little tricky, because it’s really easy to go flat, or dive bomb the longer you go and the softer you get. Here are three analogies that explain some crucial principals about good flute playing and will

How To Fade On The Flute Read More »

Harmonics for flute

Technique / By Rebecca Fuller

Finger a low C and find your best, beautiful sound. Now blow a little faster, see how a higher, smoky sounding note pops out? Now experiment a little bit. More air, less air, direct it higher up toward the ceiling, then down toward the floor. See all the different notes you can play with just one fingering? You can do this with almost all of your fingerings. These are harmonics. Harmonics for flute are mystical,

Harmonics for flute Read More »

Why Scales and Arpeggios?

Practicing the Flute, Technique / By Rebecca Fuller

I have students ask me questions along the lines of “Why should I practice scales?” or “Why should I practice arpeggios?” It’s possible that it may not be as exciting as your new shiny solo, or as they say in German “langweilig” which basically means possibly tedious and repetitive, but scales and arpeggios are not only important, but super-duper CRUCIAL. Let me use some analogies to put into perspective. “Scales are brick foundation for your flute playing.” When

Why Scales and Arpeggios? Read More »

The Reasons Your Arms Get Tired While Playing Flute

Technique / By Rebecca Fuller

So many people, and even some of my students have asked if my arms get tired while playing flute. We have to hold it up anywhere from a couple minutes, to a couple of hours! It can be quite exhausting. So how do we do we keep our arms up for so long without it becoming tiring? We as flute players get to exercise many parts of our bodies: Our minds, eyes, mouths, lungs, and

The Reasons Your Arms Get Tired While Playing Flute Read More »

Visualize breathing for flutists

Technique / By Rebecca Fuller

We flutists have a different job to do in the world of music. We have to inhale and exhale like an elephant! While it can appear easy, once you try it you’ll have a whole new respect for the flute-learner/player/performer. Within the walls of this website are many, many strategies and tips that are very valuable. This page is going to give you a visual. Visualization is AWESOME for musicians because many times we can’t

Visualize breathing for flutists Read More »

How to Play Flute with Braces

Technique / By Rebecca Fuller

Do you or another flutist you know have braces? It’s becoming very common nowadays. I get questioned often about how to play flute with braces and keep good tone when you have mouth full of metal. Well, this used to be something I thought was hard to deal with. But, after teaching for 24 years and successfully helping kids and adults with braces play well, I have the system down-pat. If you have braces and

How to Play Flute with Braces Read More »

Breathing Secrets for Flutists Part 2

Technique / By Rebecca Fuller

Let’s add to that great posture we already talked about in a previous article here on breathing secrets for flutists (this is part 2). Effective breathing I know it seems funny to have to even talk about how to breathe, but you’d be surprised at how many people breathe funny when they are trying to learn an instrument. Learning to use our airstream in a super effective way is: 1. One of the easiest ways

Breathing Secrets for Flutists Part 2 Read More »