Why is high F-sharp hard to reach on flute?

Almost every flutist has asked, "Why is high F-sharp hard to reach on flute?"

It is primarily due to the note's placement in the harmonic series and the fingerings of the note.

When approached with the typical trepidation of most players, the high F-sharp tends to break at the lower harmonic of B natural.

It also tends to be quite sharp.

So what's a flutist to do?

1. Make sure you don't have your left thumb on the B-flat key. The high F-sharp will not speak at all if you do.
2. Use lots of air. The higher harmonic needs that added boost to speak.
3. Make that air stream fast. Think of the 100-mile-an-hour fast ball.
4. Don't tense up. Relax the jaw, drop the soft palate (remember the golf ball in your mouth?), and feeling like the bottom of the face is falling down onto the floor.
5. Relax the embouchure. A tight embouchure produces a pinched sound and the pitch goes way sharp.

A soft dynamic marking compounds the difficulty of the high F-sharp. This is often the sign of a composer or arranger who doesn't know a lot about the flute. Or, the composer knows what he is doing and is extremely demanding of the flutist.

In this case, narrow the air stream as much as possible by pushing out the bottom lip. Aim the stream of air up to the ceiling.

Flexibility exercises with intervals help develop the type of embouchure you need for the high F-sharp.

A little practice with the above suggestions and the high F-sharp won't be so scary!

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