It’s Spring Cleaning time! I’m sure you take care to swab out your flute, wipe off the tenons, maybe gently wipe the lip plate and keys, but have you looked at the inside of your case lately? Might be time for a good de-linting! You can gently vacuum the inside of your case to removeContinue reading “Flute Tip of the Week – Spring Cleaning”
Category Archives: Flute Tip of the Week
Don’t Practice Tired
“Don’t practice when you are overtired.” Easier said than done for most of us! I am sure that every flutist has felt the need to practice when they were really too tired to get any good out of it. Besides being unproductive because you can’t concentrate well, you run the risk of physical injury whenContinue reading “Don’t Practice Tired”
Flute Swabs
Are you swabbing out your flute before you put it away? Hopefully so, it is critical that you keep your flute clean inside and out. But what are you using to swab out your flute? I advocate using a simple, 100% cotton handkerchief or bandanna. They are absorbant and nonabrasive, readily available and inexpensive. CottonContinue reading “Flute Swabs”
Language is important
Whether we are talking with teachers or students, fellow musicians, conductors, etc. we are constantly talking about playing. The language that we use is extremely important to how we think and feel about playing. I’m not talking about terminology here; what I’m talking about is much more subjective. The words we use when talking aboutContinue reading “Language is important”
Flute Tip of the Week: Protect your flute from your cats
For those of you with cats, you probably already know that they do not always mix. Here are a few things you can do to safeguard your flute from your beloved pets. 1. Cats have a tendency to want to knock things off shelves, desks, or tables so if you must leave your flute outContinue reading “Flute Tip of the Week: Protect your flute from your cats”
Flute Tip of the Week: Headjoint Upgrade
Next week is the National Flute Association’s yearly convention and many attendees will be spending time at the flute vendors’ booths, trying out all the newest and coolest the flute makers have to offer. For those of you thinking you might like to upgrade your flute, but don’t have the budget to buy a newContinue reading “Flute Tip of the Week: Headjoint Upgrade”
Flute Tip of the Week – Stand Lights
There are lots of stand lights on the market meant to serve a variety of uses, but if you don’t use one very often, investing in a pricey accessory may not be what you want to do. Or maybe you need something RIGHT NOW and don’t have time to shop for or order a fancy,Continue reading “Flute Tip of the Week – Stand Lights”
Flute Tip of the Week – Use Your Flute Handles
Putting your flute together properly is one the first things you should learn as a beginning flute student, but it is surprising how many of us are not nearly as conscientious about putting together and taking apart our instruments as we should be. We need to use our “Flute Handles”! Believe it or not thisContinue reading “Flute Tip of the Week – Use Your Flute Handles”
Flute Tip of the Week
Everything is a tone exercise! Always practice with the best tone you can produce. Practicing with anything less than your best tone only reinforces bad habits and makes it more difficult to produce a great tone when it really counts!