How to blow on the flute

by Hannah DeForrest

Question: I need to learn how to not breath between every note when I'm playing by myself. I also need to learn how to have the tune of when I'm playing at school when I'm playing by myself. I also need to learn how to rest the flute on my thumb.

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Answer: As far as not breathing between every note, practice this breathing without the flute first.

Pretend you are blowing on a hot bowl of soup to cool it down. You blow a steady stream of air, right? You don't stop every second, inhale and then blow again. You just keep blowing on the soup.

Now put the flute headjoint to your mouth and blow across it the same way. Pretend there's a hot bowl of soup that you want to cool down, but blow on it across the flute lip plate.

As far as having the music that you're playing at school, maybe you can borrow the music and take it home.

Resting the flute on your thumb - Do you mean your right thumb? The right thumb should be a ledge for your flute to rest on. Keep the thumb fairly far back on your flute. That is, don't let the flute slip down into the space between your thumb and index finger.