As the proud new owner of a flute, you will want to try playing straight away. The flute has three parts, and, before assembling the flute, it easiest to begin by learning to produce a sound on the head joint alone. The head joint is the part with no keys, with a lip plate and hole for blowing, as pictured.
Blowing the Head Joint
Hold the head joint horizontally, with the hole in the lip-plate facing the ceiling and the open part of the tube pointing to the right. Do not block any openings with your hands. Place the flute to your lips, resting your lower lip against the lip-plate, and blow across the hole just as you would blow across the top of a bottle (as described in the article Learning the Flute: Preparing Yourself and Acquiring a Flute).
Breathing Exercises
It is very important to breathe correctly before blowing, even at this early stage. Breathe deeply, filling your lungs from the bottom. As you breathe in, your stomach and sides should fill out, making you look fatter. The breath should be taken in fairly slowly, through your mouth in an ‘O’ shape, and your chest, shoulders and neck should not move. You can practise in a mirror. Watch out for the tell-tale signs of shallow breathing: heaving chest, lifted shoulders, tense neck, noisy rasping in the throat.
A good exercise is to lie on the floor on your back with your legs bent and feet flat on the floor. Place your hands on your stomach and, as you breathe slowly in for the count of four seconds, feel your stomach rise as your lungs fill with air. Then let the air out slowly through a small hole in your mouth (imagine letting the air whistle out of a full balloon) for the count of four seconds.
Head Joint Practice
Returning to the head joint, practise breathing in for the count of four, then blowing the head joint for the count of four. You are playing a four-beat note, called a ‘semi-breve’. This should be repeated until the sound is smooth and you feel comfortable. Now you can begin to experiment with different pitches. Press the palm of your hand over the open end of the tube and listen to the new sound when you blow. Next, with the tube open again, slide your index finger inside as you blow. Listen how the sound changes as you draw your finger further in and then out again.
Flute Improvisation and Inspiration
Using this selection of sounds, and any others that you are able to produce with the help of your imagination, you can begin to improvise your own compositions. Invent original names for your music. Alternatively, you can use titles as a basis for your improvisation, for example: ‘Whale song’ or ‘The Train Driver’.
Practise increasing the length of the notes you play to more than four seconds, preferably, as long as possible. By listening to the recommended music, you will see why it is necessary for a flute player to be able to play for a long time between breaths. These pieces also demonstrate the beauty of the flute and should inspire your practice.
Recommended listening: The opening sections of the following pieces of classical flute music, performed by leading players:
Claude Debussy Prélude à l’Après-midi d’un Faune
Gabriel Fauré Pavane
Maurice Ravel Boléro
These head joint and breathing exercises should be practised daily, in order for you to build confidence and security in producing the sound. A clear and stable sound is the basis of good flute playing. After practising, it is very important to clean the flute. In the following article, you will learn how to correctly assemble the flute and use the finger keys to produce different notes.
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