Flute

Recommended Brands

• Yamaha
• Miramatsu
• Miyazawa
• Trevor James
• Sankyo
• Pearl
• Haynes (for advanced flautists)
• Powell (for advanced flautists)

Daily Required Supplies

• tuning/cleaning rod
• cleaning swab - do not stuff in case; store on rod and twist around; OK to store in body of flute on cleaning rod

Flute Embouchure Instructions and Pictures

These two links are for use by Miller Middle School students and teachers only. Those from other schools who wish to use them should purchase the Embouchure Project from Teachers Pay Teachers.

Flute Embouchure Instructions

Flute Embouchure Pictures

Forming the Embouchure

1. Place a small mirror on your music stand, and watch your lips as you do the steps listed below.
2. Form the lips into a loose "pout" position," as if saying the words "pooh." The corners of your lips should be slightly firm but not tense, and the middle of your lips should be relaxed and natural.
3. Keeping the lips formed into the relaxed pout position, practice blowing a stream of strong air, forming a tiny hole, called the aperture, between the lips. Keep checking in the mirror to be sure the aperture stays tiny.
4. With the headjoint against the chin, place the lower part of the blowhole to the middle of the lower lip.
5. Take a deep breath, form the embouchure as described above, and blow through the aperture formed by your lips. Keep the air strong and focused and the aperture very small. Keep looking at your embouchure in the mirror. Aim the airstream to go across the blowhole of the headjoint. Some air will going into the hole and some will go over the hole. You should produce a sound (if you do not get a sound, go on to step 7). If you do get a sound, practice holding the sound longer and longer.
6. Time how long you can hold the tone before you need to take a breath, and try to increase that time day by day.
7. If you do not produce a sound, check for the following (remember to keep looking into the mirror):
   • aperture is too big
   • headjoint not placed correctly (bottom of blowhole needs to be in the middle of the lower lip; headjoint should be pressed lightly onto the chin; lips tense instead of relaxed; corners of lips not formed into slight pout)
   • airstream is too slow - practice blowing strong air through a tiny hole, like wet cement through a hole the size of a grain of rice

Producing Correct Pitch on Headjoint only

After practicing the embouchure many times while checking in the mirror for correct position and practicing playing longer and longer tones, you are ready to check for correct pitch.

You should be able to produce a concert A with your headjoint only (stopped or open). Use a tuner to check your the pitch of a note (if you don't know how to use a tuner, see instructions below). You can also play an A on the piano to check your pitch by ear.

If your headjoint note is A, you are on your way to producing a beautiful, correct ("characteristic") tone on flute. Instrumentalists must produce a consistent, characteristic tone in order to play in tune.

If you are not getting the correct pitch, check the following:

• Use faster, stronger air.
• Make sure the aperture is tiny. You should barely see the aperture when you look in the mirror.
• Make sure your lips are in a pouting position, but still relaxed.

Tuning Instructions for the Flute

The flute tuning note is A above the staff. Play F G A Bb slurred, then go to A and tune.

Play your tuning note towards the the tuner. If the needle stays towards the right, your note is sharp, and you need to pull the headjoint out to lower the pitch. Start off by pulling it out at least 1/2 inch. If it stays towards the left, your note is flat, and you need to push the headjoint in to raise the pitch.

Keep moving the headjoint in or out and retuning until the needle stays in the middle, which means your note is in tune.

The goal is to get the needle to stay in the middle as you hold out the tuned note. Once you can play the note in tune with the tuner, see how long you can hold the tuned note. Play "freeze the needle" - hold the note steady and in tune.

Keep in mind that even though you will first use these notes to tune, other notes on your instrument may not be in tune. It is the nature of instruments. The longer you play your instrument, and the better, more characteristic tone you can produce, the more you will be able to play all notes in tune on your instrument.

As you progress on flute, you will also learn to improve your intonation, which means to adjust your instrument and/or embouchure slightly while playing (without pushing in or pulling out). Adjustments for intonation help improve the pitch of different notes in action. You use your ear and make adjustments while playing.

In a nutshell...

The longer the pipe, the lower the pitch. If your pitch is sharp (high), you need to make it flatter (lower).

The shorter the pipe, the higher the pitch. If your pitch is flat (low), you need to make it sharper (higher).

More Resources

How to Care for your Flute from West Valley Music

Tips for Flute by Dr. Christina Guenther

Flute Clinic from the U. S. Army Master Classes (PDF)