Helping Your Students Adjust to Playing With Braces

Tags

embouchure, flute embouchure, flute tone

Getting braces can be a pretty traumatic experience for a student who plays the flute. I have had kids come to their lessons in tears after getting braces, swearing they would never be able to play the flute again. It is always nice to be able to send them home happier, with an understanding of what they need to do to regain their tone and maybe even having recovered most of their tone within the span of a lesson.

What do you need to know to help your flute students adjust quickly and easily to playing the flute with braces? Like everything else that has to do with flute embouchure, it is about directing the air properly. When there are braces in your mouth, everything you thought you knew about how to direct the air has changed.

First, it is important to get your lips out and around the braces so the aperture can be shaped again. It is going to take some experimenting to discover how to do this. Most kids find they can’t bite, pull or pinch the corners with all the hardware in their mouth.  This is a good thing, since they shouldn’t be doing that anyway! See “What do you do with your corners?” It can be helpful to go back to blowing through a coffee straw so they can understand how to shape the aperture again.

Students often find it helpful, at least initially, to use dental wax to keep new braces from cutting the inside of their lips. I also often recommend trying Morgan Bumpers. These aren’t for everyone because it adds a little more thickness, but some students like them, especially on the bottom brackets. It is economical to try and worth considering.

The next issue to be grappled with is the difference in blowing angle. Many kids can accomplish this through trial and error with some guidance. They need to be reminded that the object of the experiment is figure out how to direct the air at the blowing edge again. Have them work with the PneumoPro as well. Remember, the top and bottom lips need to move independently so you can change the direction of the air.

A mechanical solution that can help many kids, at least initially, is to layer either masking or blue painter’s tape on the edge of the lip plate that rests against the chin to adjust the blowing angle. Figure out how much tape is needed by adding one layer at a time, up to 5 or 6 layers. For some kids, this may be all the intervention that is needed initially. I would suggest helping them wean themselves off of using the tape over the course of a month or two and to experiment on their own with lip flexibility and blowing angle.

Finally, some slow and thoughtful practice on Octaves and scales go a long way to help students get their bearings again on the flute with their new embouchure.  Here are some great comments by students from the website of another flute teacher that I thought were really helpful http://flutekeys.com/braces.html.

If you find these entries helpful, subscribe, share with your colleagues and come back next week for another flute tip. Please comment and feel free to ask questions. Maybe the answer to your question will be the next flute tip. Find me on Facebook or email me at dr_cate@sbcglobal.net. For information about clinics and workshops click here.

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The Top 10 Blog Posts of 2017

It’s been a banner year at Dr. Cate’s Flute Tips, nearly doubling the number of views of the previous three years just this year alone. There are now 100 different articles on all aspects of embouchure, tone production, hand and body position and teaching beginners. There are more new posts coming up in the new year. Your suggestions and comments are always welcome. With no further ado, the top ten posts for 2017 are:

1. Flute Embouchure and a Teardrop Top Lip – It’s great that this is the number one post. My hope is that it means more kids will have the opportunity to play the flute rather than being talked out of it because they have a prominent teardrop and need to shape the aperture off-center.
2. Teaching Your Students to Play with Vibrato – I believe in waiting a year or two before introducing vibrato to young students. The most important thing is the kids are blowing strongly and have a well shaped embouchure before attempting to learn vibrato
3. Helping Your Students Adjust to Playing with Braces – Always a big issue for junior high and high school kids. Not as big a deal as if they play a brass instrument. It’s just a matter of reevaluating the blowing angle to re-establish their characteristic tone
4. The Legend of “Kiss and Roll” – This teaching “method” needs to disappear. If there is any one thing that is an obstacle to developing a rich, characteristic sound, it is learning to blow on the flute by rolling it down into place rather than bringing it up from below. Ask your resident flute teacher/player
5. About the Third Octave – If you teach your students to maintain the size of the aperture and keep the blow hole sufficiently open, 60-75%, and blow fast enough air (different than quantity of air) at every dynamic, the third octave will be easy
6. To Roll or Not to Roll: That is the Question – If students learn to change the blowing angle rather than rolling the flute, flute players around the country and the world will play more easily in tune. Rolling has such a negative impact on tone quality, as well as pitch
7. The Very First Notes – The truth for flute players is that if you develop a strong, focused low register first, the second and third octaves will be a breeze to learn and playing in tune will happen more naturally. I’m well aware that the major band methods start in the middle and work outwards, but the flute is a different beast than the other winds and brass
8. Finding the Sweet Spot – There isn’t a one size fits all solution for embouchure and tone production with the flute. Teach your students how to experiment with the parameters of blowing angle and placement on their lip and they will develop a characteristic sound more quickly
9. Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Trills – When I do sectional rehearsals and clinics, it makes me nuts that kids will just wiggle whatever rather than go through the process of understanding what note is being trilled to which note, either a whole or half step, depending on the key. Teach them to use a trill chart
10. Warm Air, Cold Air: Sense or Nonsense – Along with rolling to correct intonation and the “Kiss and Roll”, the warm air/cold air explanation for low and high notes is one of the silliest and least true thing we tell kids about how blowing on the flute works. It’s simple. If the aperture is open enough for the air to be warm, the air is moving too slowly to make a good sound. It will be fuzzy and unfocused.

Thank you for reading Dr. Cate’s Flute Tips. It is so gratifying to hear from all of you that you find the blog useful to you. New things in development include some more posts on pedagogy, products I endorse and use in my teaching and playing, a book of tone and technique exercises just for band flute players that can be used in sectionals and individual home practice, and industry sponsorship. Dr. Cate’s Flute Tips would not be possible without the support of KHS America and their flute brands: Altus, Azumi and Jupiter flutes.

As always, if you find these entries useful, please subscribe, share with your colleagues and come back regularly. Feel free to comment. If you have a topic you would like to see explored more fully, you can contact me via IM/Messenger on Facebook or email me at dr_cate@sbcglobal.net. For information about clinics, workshops and performances, click here.

Troubleshooting Tone and Pitch Issues

Tags

beginning flute, embouchure, flute embouchure, flute pedagogy, flute tone

Because there are so many variables involved in flute embouchure, there are an infinite number of problems that students can manifest in their tone quality and intonation. And as instructors it might seem we have to virtually be psychic to deduce the problem and offer solutions to our students. This is because so much is affected by things going on in the body that aren’t obvious from looking at a kid. Over the years I’ve been collecting a laundry list, so to speak, of tone/intonation problems and their solutions. Here are some common ones for beginner to intermediate students.

Problem: Windy, airy tone that is sharp

Solution: The aperture is too large and the blowing angle is too shallow. Blow through a smaller aperture and angle the air down more. You can achieve a steeper blowing angle by putting the flute lower on the bottom lip and reaching over with the top lip more, while maintaining the smaller aperture. The Legend of Kiss and Roll, Independence for Lips!

Problem: Dull tone quality, flat pitch

Solution: There is too much bottom lip covering the blow hole, and the flute is probably too high on the bottom lip. Move the flute lower on the bottom lip and roll out. There shouldn’t be more than 1/3 of the blow hole covered by the bottom lip. Also check alignment of the headjoint and balance of the flute. That alone can cause a student roll in and cover too much of the blow hole. It’s All About Balance

Problem: Strangled or pinched tone, can be flat or sharp depending how high or low the flute is on the bottom lip

Solution: This requires some sleuthing on your part because you have to identify the source of the constriction. There are at least four places I can think of that cause a pinched sound: 1) The lips themselves with a flattened and pinched aperture, 2) clenching the jaw with teeth too close together (common with kids who have braces, especially with rubber bands), 3) the back of the tongue is too high, constricting the airway, and finally, 4) the kid can actually be closing off the throat itself, as in activating the gag reflex. It takes some practice and discernment on your part to tell the difference which of these four constriction points are causing the problem. I can tell you that each one has a distinct quality that identifies it from the others, but it does take carefully listening and practice to recognize each one. Getting the Cart Before the Horse

Problem: Trouble producing third octave notes even with the correct fingerings

Solution: Third octave notes seem scary to kids. To them it seems like the natural thing that in order to control the third octave, they should roll in and pinch. After all, who wants to hear screeching high notes? This is precisely why they are having trouble. The solution, paradoxically, is to open up the blow hole a bit, support the air column more from the body core, and relax the grip of the aperture slightly. The speed of the air column itself will ensure the high note speak with ease. Warm Air, Cold Air

As always, if you find these entries useful, please subscribe, share with your colleagues and come back regularly. Feel free to comment. If you have a topic you would like to see explored more fully, you can contact me via IM/Messenger on Facebook or email me at dr_cate@sbcglobal.net. For information about clinics, workshops and performances, click here.

Top 10 Posts of 2016 on Dr. Cate’s Flute Tips

Tags

embouchure, flute pedagogy

Thank you for reading this blog! There has been a 44% increase in readership over that of 2015 thanks to you. Most of the articles in the top 10 for 2016 are, not surprisingly about different facets of flute embouchure. If you are used to relating to a mouthpiece of some kind, it is no wonder the range of variables that make up a good flute embouchure can be baffling. Perhaps the closest equivalent in instrumental music is with all the variables involved in playing string instruments, with the bow and with the left hand.

Without further ado, here are the top 10 posts of 2016 on Dr. Cate’s Flute Tips:

1. Teaching your Students to Play with Vibrato
2. Flute Embouchure and a Teardrop Top Lip
3. To Roll or Not to Roll: That is the Question
4. Intonation and Dynamic Control
5. Helping Your Students Adjust to Playing With Braces
6. About the Third Octave
7. Teaching Great Flute Sound
8. Solutions for Common Third Octave Problems
9. The Legend of “Kiss and Roll”
10. Our Lips are our Mouthpiece

As always, if you find these entries useful, please subscribe, share with your colleagues and come back regularly. Feel free to comment. If you have a topic you would like to see explored more fully, you can contact me via IM/Messenger on Facebook or email me at dr_cate@sbcglobal.net. For information about clinics, workshops and performances, click here.

Teaching Great Flute Sound

Tags

flute embouchure, flute pedagogy

If there is a secret to helping your students develop great flute tone, it is that you have to teach your students how to discover the optimal blowing angle. Once a flutist is able to define and understand the blowing angle for themselves, they will have it for as long as they play the flute. Since there is no such thing as an absolute one-size-fits-all solution for every flute player, experimentation is essential to developing a characteristic sound. Here are the parameters that need to be examined and experimented with:

• Placement on the chin/relation to the bottom lip – this is as variable as each of us is from another. Bring the flute up from below and feel the edge of the blow hole at the edge of the bottom lip for most people. People with a full bottom lip may need to put the flute up on the bottom lip itself. Conversely, if someone has really thin lips, it may need to be slightly below the lip. See The Legend of Kiss and Roll
• Aperture formation – whether the aperture is in the center of the lips or off to one side depends on the shape of the top lip. If the top lip is relatively straight, a centered aperture works well for most people. Otherwise, if there is a prominent teardrop in the top lip, an off-center aperture is the best choice. In most cases, it is better to have the aperture to left of center (toward the headjoint crown), but I have seen it work successfully with an off-center aperture to the right as well. See Flute Embouchure and a Teardrop Top Lip
• Help your students direct their attention to learning to use the aperture to focus and direct the air. Honestly, it isn’t necessary to give any thought to the corners of your mouth. Any attention on the corners causes the flute player to stretch their lips laterally, whether smiling, grimacing or frowning. It takes attention away from shaping and refining the aperture. Flute isn’t like other instruments where the issue is about interacting with a mouthpiece. For flutists, our embouchure is also our mouthpiece. The size and shape of the aperture is very similar to the opening in an oboe reed. Understanding the aperture is everything. See Our Lips are our Mouthpiece, “What do you do with your corners?”
• Give your students the tools to develop mobility and flexibility between top and bottom lips. The back and forth between lips gives control over register changes, pitch and dynamics. Of course you also need good control of air speed and pressure, but the flexibility is what makes the control of register, pitch and dynamics possible. A great place to start is with basic Octaves. See Independence for Lips, To Roll or Not to Roll: That is the Question
• Dealing with braces – the student who gets braces after playing for a while needs to reevaluate their blowing angle. The hardware in their mouth necessitates finding a different blowing angle. Experiment with placement on the chin and how open or covered the blow hole is. It will be different. It’s just a matter of finding a new angle. As treatment progresses and teeth move, this will continue to need reevaluation. It is an ongoing process and there isn’t a final solution until the student is done with the braces. See Helping Your Students Adjust to Playing With Braces

If you find these entries useful, please subscribe, share with your colleagues and come back regularly. Feel free to comment. If you have a topic you would like to see explored more fully, you can contact me via IM/Messenger on Facebook or email me at dr_cate@sbcglobal.net. For information about clinics, workshops and performances, click here

Why do my Flutes Sound Thin and Squeaky in the Third Octave?

Tags

flute embouchure, flute intonation, flute pedagogy, flute tone

It is no secret that band flute players struggle with sounding thin, shrill, sharp and squeaky in the third octave. Knowing alternate fingerings to correct pitch can help, but won’t entirely solve the problem. What do you need to know to help them overcome these tendencies? The answers lie in what you can show your students regarding embouchure, air speed and a supported air column.

• “Looser lower, tighter higher” is a myth with regard to flute embouchure. A close corollary is “warm air low, cold air high”. Neither is correct or even accurate. How it really works is that basically the size of the aperture is pretty consistent from octave to octave. What is changing is how the air is being directed, higher or lower, with the lips moving independently of each other. Reach with your top lip to blow down more in lower octave or playing forte, push the bottom lip more forward to raise air stream to go up the octave and correct flatness when playing softly.
• Place the flute lower on the chin and open the blow hole slightly. No more than a third of the blow hole should be covered by the bottom lip. This increases the transit time (the time from which the air exits the lips to when the air strikes the blowing edge), which increases resonance and depth of tone.
• To create an open resonant tone in all octaves is the most compelling reason why you want to teach students to bring the flute up into place on their chin rather than the old “kiss and roll” method.  The “kiss and roll” places the flute too high on the lip, with a small, thin, shrill sound being the result.
• Teach your students to open their teeth and relax their throat behind their embouchure. The flute needs to rest against your chin and consequently, your bottom teeth, but the jaw and throat need to be relaxed and open as possible. (Shhhh….Don’t tell the orthodontists, but I frequently tell students wearing rubber bands on braces to take them off when playing so they can relax their jaw, provided they put them back in as soon as they are done playing.)
• BLOW, doggone it! Let me qualify this….there is a big difference between the quantity of air and the speed of the air. The quantity of air has to do with dynamics. On the other hand, the speed of the air is pretty consistent in all registers and at any dynamic level. The speed of the air is controlled by our supporting muscles (abdominals and muscles of the pelvic floor). Providing the supporting muscles are driving the air column, one can maintain an open, clear sound in any octave or at any dynamic.
• Students often think they can “support” their sound with their lips. They pinch or bite down on the aperture, clench their teeth or close their throat rather than use their supporting muscles. Think of how a garden hose works. The actual water pressure come from pumps that are far removed from the nozzle of the hose. The nozzle is responsible for directing the water wherever it is needed. If you close down the nozzle most of the way, the water sprays out in a wide pattern. If you open the nozzle most of the way, you get a strong directed stream of water because of the force of the water pressure.

Bottom line? The basis of good tone in the third octave is based on developing a good tone in the other two octaves. You can’t really separate the third octave out as a separate entity. If you have a strong, supported tone in the lower octaves, you will have an open, clear and supported sound in the third octave as well.

If you find these entries helpful, subscribe, share with your colleagues and come back next week for another flute tip. Please comment and feel free to ask questions. Maybe the answer to your question will be the next flute tip. Find me on Facebook or email me at dr_cate@sbcglobal.net. For information about clinics and workshops click here.