PEDAGOGY AS RELATED TO EARLY FLUTE PLAYING

CLAIRE JOHNSON
Notes taken by Lynne Jackson over the course of many years ………

BODY BALANCE:
Keep the head balanced
The head weighs between 8 and 10 pounds
The right foot should be slightly behind the left foot when you stand and practice
When we stand on our toes we are balancing our bodies. We are taking the
weight off of our lower back
Elongate the back of your neck
When balancing your body, start with your head rather than your feet

BREATHING
Flute takes more air to play than any other instrument
Breathing is harder on the flute because there is no resistance
Is the common denominator for instruments/voices
Hard to teach to young people as they are uncomfortable with their bodies
Start with breathing in through the nose, out through the mouth in order to teach
proper diaphragmatic breathing
When inhaling it is very easy for the tongue to be pulled back – keep tongue
forward and down
The rib cage is held high for proper breathing
The lungs expand in the front and in the back
Inhale and exhale without obstacles

EMBOUCHURE:
Flute is related to singing more than any wind instrument
If a student has very full lips, place the headpiece on the lips
For thin lips, place headpiece where red of lip and meets the skin
Use the syllables; MOO-POO
Keep air over the wet part of your lips – the wet part of your lip surrounds the air
Get the bottom teeth as far forward as the upper teeth
Feel the space between your teeth
There is a “finger” space between your teeth
The tongue is forward and down – touch the bottom of the teeth with the tongue
(this helps to keep the tongue down)
The more forward the tongue, the better the sound
Think “AW” not “ING” – the tongue is always in a vowel position
Use your upper lip muscles to aim the air down
Use the lower lip to aim across
Use your hand to show students where to aim the air
Also, blow over the index finger (like a candle) and learn to move air up & down
Bottom lip covers 1/4 to 1/3 of the tone hole
Don’t let your corners go any further back than your canine teeth
 No tension in the corners – flexible but firm – firmness is established over time
Firm and tight are two different things – stay soft, relaxed, open
If a student doesn’t get a sound, have them relax the jaw
Relaxed jaw: this is “big” – keep your back teeth apart
Drop your jaw like an elevator – then open and glide forward
“Hang your jaw from your skull”, hold your jaw with your hand and say “mm”,
and now the upper lip comes down.
Students should have a “vertical” look to their face when they play correctly

LOW NOTES:
Low register is the fundamental register of the flute
Start with the low register – band books start in the middle register and that is
more difficult
Top lip comes down for the low register
Slow air
The opening is more horizontal, longer
The opening of the lips should be no wider than the tone hole
Pretend there is a hole in the bottom of the flute/Aim your air down
Keep the soft palate high
The tongue stays low
Use your body for resonance
Volume of Air; Use more air than you would think to use

MIDDLE REGISTER:
Over blow the low register to play the middle register

HIGH NOTES:
The opening is more oval
Opening is smaller, Air is faster
Lips go forward to cover the tone hole and create a shorter and faster air stream
Aim the air to the back wall of the tone hole
Lips are more forward – glide the jaw forward
There is a tendency to grab in your throat due to resistance
Connection but no pressure against the jaw
The tongue can be curled forward for higher notes allowing more space in the
throat area
Constant support
Velocity of Air

THE SOFT PALATE:

When most people blow other instruments with more resistance, the soft palate is
lifted automatically
Lifting the soft palate makes more space inside the mouth
Lifting the soft palate closes off the passage to the sinuses
The lack of resistance on the flute means that one has to constantly lift the soft
palate
 Put a finger in the mouth and soft palate will rise
The soft palate is capable of moving North/South and East/West (advanced)

BALANCING THE FLUTE:

Balancing the flute is very difficult to teach
Improper hand position causes pressure against the jaw – no pressure against jaw
You need a connection but not pressure
It is better to push the lip into the flute than the flute into the jaw
The flute is a front instrument held horizontally
Rest the flute where the index finger is connected to the hand
The left hand is more “under” the flute – the “waitress” position
“Wrap” the left index finger around the flute
Back of left hand is perpendicular to the flute
The thumb is vertical
The right hand is away from the flute and open – backward C
Right hand knuckles are in line with the rods of the flute
Right pinkie is on its side
Right pinkie is down for 99.5% of all notes played
Elbows down toward the ground
Turn the head toward the left shoulder
Make your hands like “jello”

YOUNG STUDENTS:
Check the flutes of beginners to be sure they play properly
Use flutes with offset G’s and curved headpieces if necessary
To begin with, young students need concrete information – black and white (later
on, there can be variations made on the information given)
Young students learn by rote, imitation
It is difficult to get young students to USE the information they have
The abstract part of the brain does not fully develop until 14-15 years
The abstract sets in about age 16
The brain is not fully developed until around age 25
Emotions are not in control until age 25 or so
There are many younger players with overbites due to the lack of development of
the jaw
The jaw is the last part of the body to develop (mid-twenties)
Many students are “tongue thrusters”
First introduce BAG then FED the BAGG# then FEDD#, Bb and then F# - this
becomes your basis for the chromatic scale
Fullness in the face helps give you an easy low register
High cheekbones help an easy high register

EXERCISES:
Blow out the Candle - blow air up and down finger
Turning the head
Tilting the head
 Scratch your finger with your bottom teeth, moving back and forth
Put your hand under your chin – this should remain “fleshy” as you play

VIBRATO:
Diaphragm is attached to the 10th rib and the lower spine
Diaphragm is above the stomach and pushes the stomach down
Rib cage should be high as a result of good body balance
Lungs fill from the bottom
Start with abdomen pulses at m.m. = 60
Work to 5 pulses at m.m. = 72
Eventually the glottis takes over—use the “eh” or “heh”
Put hand on tummy and glottis then cough – they work sympathetically

ARTICULATION:
The tongue is a large fibrous muscle
The tip of the tongue moves up and down
You are releasing air
Most problems occur because the tongue is being held too tightly
“eh” also relaxes the tongue
Point your tongue
Trying to touch your nose with your tongue lets you observe where the tongue is
attached
The tip of the tongue generally strikes where the teeth and upper gums meet
Teach beginning students to double tongue: hold the tip of the tongue behind the
lower teeth and then say “koo” or “goo”

PICCOLO:
Treat flute and piccolo like two different instruments
Practice your piccolo music on the flute
Piccolo is higher on your lip and the aperture is smaller
Wood is warmer, more mellow and purer
Metal is more brilliant
Pick the smartest, most aware, soloist personality to play piccolo

EQUIPMENT:
Open Holed Flutes: Venting is possible for tuning. Also multi-phonics, half-hole
and quarter hole are possible.
Powell Flutes make “extenders” for the keys
“B” foot joints are a personal matter – they do allow the low register to speak
better but add resistance to the high register
Many pros have a “C” foot and a “B” foot
Having the added length can also affect balance

BOOKS:
Beginners Book For The Flute, Part One: Trevor Wye
Practice Books For the Flute: Volumes 1 – 5: Trevor Wye, Omnibus Ed.
 Illustrated Flute Playing: Robin Soldan and Jeanie Mellersh
The Human Body: Jonathan Miller

FAMOUS QUOTES
“I’m not a better player than you, I am a much more experienced player than you
are …………and, I have a $10,000 flute!”

“If Osama Bin Laden had to practice the violin three hours a day, there never
would have been a 9/11.”

“If you are bored, you are boring!”