- Always give your best sound possible. Act like you are in a concert, and then when it is concert day, it won't be as bad. Be consistent with your sound also.
- Don't eat food or drink anything sticky right before playing!! (You will regret this later on if you do!) If you do, imagine how much gunk gets in there, and it's really not good for your flute. If you happen to eat before hand, try not to have any crumbs on your hands when you go to play.
- When playing higher notes, roll your mouth piece in towards you. When playing lower notes, roll it away from you. This will make you more in tune!
- When playing high notes, if you spit alot, loosen up your lips!! If your lips are very tight, it will show!
- If your piccolo sounds to loud for you, it's too loud for the band too! I know that everybody wants to be loud, but if you have a bunch of flutes or piccolos, try playing down in octave or a little softer. Everybody will still hear you.
- When you are finished playing your instrument, make sure you run something through it, to soak up your spit, and other yummy stuff in there!!
- If you are having tryouts in a week, make sure you start practicing now! Don't wait till the night before, or you will not do good! As soon as you learn of any kind of try outs, you should begin practicing. (Not just the main piece you are trying out on either, you should also practice sight reading, scales, etc etc)
- When playing, make sure you sit up straight. You will get a better sound, and it's better for you! (This applys to indoor bands such as concert or symphonic) If you are the section leader of the marching band flutes (uh hum), make sure you have them marking time and standing up while playing (they will love you, I promise!) :)
- Listen to other flute players. (Especially if they are older than you!) Look at their posture, listen to their sound, it will help you and them.
- Play songs slowly, and go faster as you master that tempo.
- If your hand or fingers hurt when you are done playing your flute, you are gripping it to hard! Losen up (of course you don't want it to fall) and that should help.
- The best advice I can give to anyone, is to get a private flute teacher. If there is no one local around that you know of, ask your band director or local shop that sells instruments. You will learn a lot from a private instructor.
- The next best thing, is to tryout for things such as County Band's, flute sessions w/ proffessionals, try-outs for Honors Bands @ colleges.... and good luck to everyone!
Flute differences:
- open-holed compared to closed-holed - on an open-holed flute, there is holes in the center of 5 of the keys. You must completely cover these up to get the correct sound out of your flute. On a closed-holed flute, there is no holes on the keys. Most flutists start out with a closed-holed flute, and later move on to a more challenging open-holed flute.
- A low b compared to a low c foot - a low b foot has one extra key on than a low c foot. On this flute, you will be able to play a note lower, and also on your higher notes, they will come out clearer. A standard low c foot, goes down to a low c. This is what most flutists start out with.
- In-line G, compared to offset-G - The G key would be the third finger on your left hand. An In-line one, would be exactly lined up with the rest of the keys. An offset one (which is what most flutists start out with), is not in-line with the rest. This helps young flutists who would not be able to reach an in-line one, be able to reach the key. I agree with both. Personally, it doesn't matter which I play. I DO prefer to have a split E-mechanism, which is usually standard on professional flutes or open holed offset - G keys. I highly SUGGEST getting this on your flute.
- To go gold or not?? Well my thoughts on gold ......... hum that's difficult. I have gold on my flute now.... and I think it's fine to have gold on your flute. (I have heard that if you have a gold something or the other :) it makes your sound richer) If you have the money to get it, great, if not well that's fine too. More importantly you should have Solid Silver.
- One brand compared to another - When deciding what kind of flute to get, one thing to consider is what brand should I get? Brands matter, especially if you are going on with the flute. It is not usually the brand, but more that you should have a Solid Silver flute (if going to college for music, etc. etc.).
