WOW WOW WOW! You should be teaching at Julliard. Such an incredible explanation. Learned things I haven't encountered in a video or teacher explanation. This video is world class, and all flute students need to view. I will review video over and over again to make sure I totally understand. BTW: I hit 4th octave E or E7 this morning.
Wow! Super High E?! Awesome! Thanks so much and let me know if you have any questions. I know there is a lot of info packed in here, so I could maybe make a follow up video if anything needs further explanation.
Finally someone who has explained the registers and how to produce them, that I can understand. Im not a musical dummy BTW. As a teenager I played euphonium in a Championship level brass band and travelled across Europe playing in competition’s and concert’s. THANK YOU.
Awesome! So glad this made sense to you. Sounds like a blast traveling around Europe with your band. I am headed there in a little over a week for vacation...can't wait!
This video is so interesting!!! I’m a flute beginner, but I played violin in high school and I remember harmonics and how pretty they were. Can’t wait to try these on my flute! Thank you for sharing 💜💜💜
I've always regretted not choosing flute sooner just because I was afraid of getting bullied for playing a "girly" instrument (hilarious to think about now as an adult), but my friend recently gave me her old flute so I'm having a lot of fun learning! All of your videos have been really helpful. Played clarinet up until middle school and ended up becoming a trombone/euphonium player in high school ever since. Can't wait to add flute to my repertoire!
@@gatozarin Southern California. I think it's silly too, actually especially in hindsight and all the male flute players I've ended up meeting over the years anyway.
@@mr_mykalit’s very common in the US. I am in a similar boat. I played piano growing up and percussion in band (snare, marimbas, xylophone). I’ve now just decided to learn to play the flute (2 weeks in) and having a blast. 😊😊😊
As an growing up teenager in developing countryside, i really envy(on positive way) to student at developed country. Because in my country, very rare to find a club band. . because the financial budget is not focused on just one thing, the government must equalize the financial budget.. . I start to learn flute since 3weeks ago , i am an adult, i hope i will play better and better, and hoping my future children love music too, and they want to play instrument, so i can play it together with them or playing it with my grandson/daughter soon
I have been playing for years and this video taught me so much! Thank you SO much for the amazing content and support of the flute community. We appreciate YOU!!!!!
This video is truly a gem in flute instruction! It articulates so many crucial pieces of information that I find often get overlooked in favor of more vague intuitive explanations such as simply ‘supporting with the core’. And, it does all of that without being overly technical or abstract! Bravo!
Thank you so much Suzuki san. I'll be 64 years old at the end of this month and will receive my first flute just before my birthday. I have never played the flute before or really any instrument. I picked the flute because it's relatively quiet compared to other instruments as i live in Tokyo. Most of all because i love to whistle and it's not much louder than my normal whistling voice. Also, i chose an instrument to help stimulate my brain as i'm getting older. Your explanation gives me such hope for playing this instrument. The way you describe volume and pressure using the lip aperature and mouth cavity is exactly the way i whistle. Although playing flute and whistling are not nearly the same, these concepts you explained are nearly identicle to what i do to whistle. Please don't get me wrong. I'm not saying that it will be easy to play the flute. Your video instruction gives me hope that i may at least be able to make a tone on my instrument when it arrives. Thank you again Suzuki san and i will be watching your channel religiously.
That's so interesting about whistling! Happy practicing with your new flute! I am hoping to visit Tokyo in the fall. Please let me know if you have any good flute spots to visit!
The most useful video ever ! I'm just learning the flute, and this video answered all the pending questions I had about registers. All the things I wasn't too sure to understand. This is a precious guide on how to practice air flow, thanks a lot !
I m a self taught flutist. Your video is so useful especially to a flutist like me. I love the Pavane you played so effortlessly and yet it is so beatiful. I always use Pavane to check my lip and tongue positioning and support. Sometimes i couldnt complete the 1st sentence in one breath then i will realise i need some adjustment. Thank you so much Lance.
I love how the flute reflects the underlying maths of the harmonic series. One of my favourite examples is how many fingerings for the 3rd octave work. For example, the fingering for D6 basically opens the holes for both G4 and D5. Therefore the most stable pitch becomes the "lowest common harmonic" of G4 and D5. That makes D6, because it is the 3rd harmonic of G4 and the second harmonic of D5.
How do you explain things so clearly? This makes me excited about playing. I'm really blown away by how awesome this is. Thank you so much for sharing your phenomenal pedagogical talents! Also, have you thought about doing live streams? Or online workshops? I would sign up!
I’ve been playing for some years; you have articulated and clarified things for me which I’ve never quite understood. Absolutely brilliant video and you are an outstanding teacher. I wish you’d been mine. Thank you.
Oh my god, that song at 4:00.. I never thought I'd hear this song again. I use to play it on the flute many many years ago.. whay is it? I can't remember!
You have an absolute GIFT. The way you speak and explain things so PERFECTLY, your voice, inflections and rate of speech are so easy to receive and process. I just tried to watch several videos and just couldn't get into them. Just hope you know how appreciated you are. ADMIRABLE. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!
Thank you Lance Suzuki, what a wonderful video on air and breath control and air speed. I don't think I have ever had this taught to me and this is so simply taught by you. This is such valuable instruction.
Excellent! Saxophonists doubling on flute really ready for this when it showed up in my RU-vid feed. Clarinet experience had me beginning to think of the flute in registers, for sure the bottom one.
I think many flutists struggle with these basic principles as hardly anyone ever really explains it to starting flutists. Thereby many of us get stuck with bad habbits that not to been unlearned. I only really got this not so long ago. Great video
Fantastic videos my friend! Very thorough, professional, detailed & well explained :) I played Tenor sax most of my life / a few years ago I sold it and switched to flute (I play Coltrane and be-bop / jazz) Life happened and I took a long break. Just getting back into playing flute and came across your videos. I'd love to ask you, have you seen James Galways video on the embouchure? He explains to fold your bottom lip up, then roll it over your finger and go pooo. I find that I naturally form a nice embouchure when playing, however if I try James's method everything goes to hell so to speak lol... Very curious what your thoughts are regarding his embouchure recommendations.
Just had a flute delivered from Amazon today and found this video very helpful. Thanks! So far I've seen familiar similarities in structure with with a saxophone (my childhood instrument), but having multiple registers is a different thing. Hard to get those low notes out.
Because I have started studying a flute called shinobue (japanese flute), youtube showed me your videos. I kinda wish you teach shinobue ahah. Great vidéos, I don't know if it applies for shinobue but it can be useful if so.
I just bought a Selmer Aristocrat flute off eBay, so I won't have it for over a week. However, I'm trying to learn as much as I can about it. I play many other instruments, including clarinet and many brass instruments, so of course I'm already familiar with harmonics. I didn't realize until now that a flute doesn't have an octave key, but uses the blowing technique to reach higher ranges. I know the low register uses the 1st partial (fundamental), the middle register uses the 2nd partial,.. but does the high register use the third and only the third, or are higher partials used for still higher notes? At least with brass instruments, the number of partials available is theoretically infinite but most people probably don't play much beyond the eighth or maybe the tenth. The clarinet's octave key jumps from the first to the third, but I guess the highest notes (i.e., those above the written C two lines above the treble staff) actually employ higher partials. In any case, thank you for an informative and extremely useful video! BTW, I like your method of dividing the notes into their respective registers based upon the registers into which they fall rather than an "arbitrary" means of assigning them.
Thanks lance enjoy your tutorials ,my problem is i have a perfect middle register ,and slightly forced upper , and very weak lower ,as i have to relearn now that i have dentures, but i get a lot from your lessons thanks
The register change on the flute is between C# and D. That's when you go from all holes open to all holes closed again, except the first two notes in 2nd register are vented to aid the performer so you don't have to "overblow" till you hit the E. The venting does not make them part of the first register. You can try opening and closing the vent hole, blowing to the fundamental and back to the harmonic and you'll quickly understand what partial these notes are played on. (You can vent the E too by leaking (I think it's) the 2nd trill key if you want; that doesn't change what register it's in either, and it can be a useful cheat in a pinch especially for bass flute or contrabass as the register change gets trickier on low flutes. (You could also start the second register early using harmonics at C (or B if you have a B foot), finger the low C (or B) and overblow to the 2nd register early, with or without opening a vent hole in the middle of the pipe; this does change what register the note is in.))
Hey Lance - As always, thorough & informative.... & timely for me as I have recently been focusing on readjusting my lip placement. Have heard of aiming the airstream up or down against the riser, but never about the proximity of the 'back wall of the riser' as a specific technique. I get what you mean about it increasing velocity as a product of distance. Will definitely spend some time experimenting with that... Thx - be well...
That's great! Yes, I think that, in many ways, the riser is always the end goal. Your sound in any register flows from how your air interacts with the riser. Happy practicing!
A great session which as a self taught flautist, I'll be returning to again n again. Pavane (from online free flute music)- my too soft low notes always leaves me breathless; I'll try it again using this lesson. Thanks! BTW I also enjoyed your lesson on vibrato (very encouraging yet mystical), and am now on "triplet" pulses :))
Latest..I tried the keep one finger gap between back teeth etc and it worked. Low C and C# were easier to reach and better in tone. Thanks! Hoping/looking for a video on the elusive high B natural eventually
That’s great! The riser is the first place your air interacts with the flute so focusing on that connection should be very beneficial. Happy practicing!
Superbly explained, Lance! Thoroughly enjoyed it and learned quite a bit! I never played the flute but I play keyboard, chromatic harmonica and Melodion. Thinking of learning flute and I think I stumbled onto the best channel here quite by chance! Just subscribed to your channel! I regularly post instrumental cover songs on my RU-vid channel. I think it’ll take me quite a while before I can add flute to my repertoire. But you have really drawn me in to trying the flute now! Thank you for inspiring me!
first things first. Super informative video. I've watched several times. Serious question from an amateur. Have any of you ever broke wind while playing in the high register? One day after having lunch at Mama Enchiladas I couldn't help but... Dust the trombone section. And while I'm at it, one day, a kid says Dad, when I'm an adult I want to be a trombonist. And his father quickly replies son, pick one or the other, you can't be both....
Boa noite tudo bem. Sou brasileiro parabéns pelo seu trabalho no RU-vid. Vc poderia me ajudar. Estou com uma pequena dificuldade no grave para a região media e aguda. Tenho certeza com seus auxílio vou melhorar muito. Aguardo retorno abraço
Great video! I wonder if the flute would truly be a fit for anyone despite anatomical differences like someone with extremelly big lips, tongue tie, and low capacity lungs or will those features represent challenges that can be overcome. Wish I could find information addressing these issues. I only found one journal article on how tongue tie can interfere with flute playing. I think this is a topic that should be discussed before choosing a musical instrument.
Great question. The short answer is that I have seen and heard fabulous players with a wide range of physical attributes. In the past, people were often discouraged from playing flute based on the shape or fullness of their lips. I highly disagree with this approach. I think that if you want to play the flute, go for it! With time and practice, you will figure out how to navigate the unique attributes of your body and how they interact with the flute to make tone.
@@LanceSuzuki Thanks for the reply and the much needed encouragement. I have a mild case of tongue-tie and at the moment it seems highly improbable that I will ever be able to conquer triple tonguing. I will keep working at it and even if I don't ever get to do it, I will not give up because there's still so much I can play with the flute. I just love the sound of this beautiful instrument! And BTW, you are a wonderful flute player and teacher!
This is by far the most useful video i've yet found on RU-vid regarding the flute! I've only just begun learning and this is tremendously helpful in my understanding of note production :) Thank you very much!
Hi, my middle f is always very airy, if i can get it at all! i simply cannot find the sweet spot and i have changed speed,pressure and mouth shape, but no success :-(
Thank you for the video! The video was really well done and all the techniques well explained. I am having problems with the low registers and know your videos will help me with that and more. Will keep watching... thx
Truly, the more I listen to and go over and break down this video...it just makes me want to practice more and more... Job well done. Thank you for taking the time.
I mostly play jazz on the flute but I strive for a very clean, classical sound. Your video will be very helpful in that regard and I will return to it often as I continue to hone my sound. Now, I have an off-topic question: what is the melody in your middle register example?
Thank you for this incredibly informative and well-taught lesson. I have included all your register concepts in my journal and will continue to refer to them as they are the clearest and most sensible tips for articulating in all registers! I’m now a subscriber!
I'm so glad that you shared this, how amazing. I played the flute in elementary school. Now I'm looking to pick it up as an adult. Things that I wish I knew, and am happy to learn about, now.
I watch this video every day when I’m warming up. This video helped me hit low C & B almost effortlessly, thank you soooo much! This is fantastic advice and makes so much sense!!!
Here I am, watching and practicing along with this video for probably the 50th time. This is such gold information and really helps me warm up for a practice.
This helped SO much. Thank you. I am returning to woodwinds after a long time away, and it seems my low register is taking its time returning. Your demonstrations reminded me how to fix it, and I'll keep coming back to this video until I master it. Others haven't even touched the reasons behind the issue, but you did and it works for me.
I was auditioning for a solo in which my director asked I go up an octave instead, and this helped so much in sustaining and having quality tone with a C4! While its not as high as other notes its so great to finally get it. Thank you!
Previously I learned only the fact that middle E is the first note of 2nd register, from other flutist's video. Now I understand why it is, and how I can demonstrate it. Indeed, middle A didn't come out when I blew quicker with the fingering of middle D. It was high D that came out. That's a great explanation. Thanks.
@@LanceSuzuki Suzuki-san, I'm a Japanese guy with very short hair like yours. So, we have at least 3 things in common (Japan, Flute & short hair) 🙂 It seems that the register of flute is not widely mentioned in flute education in Japan. Knowing that middle E blongs to a different register from which D# belongs to can make a difference, I think.
4:43 Dude. Are you throwing out the devil horns with purpose? Do you know you're doing it? I'd like to give you the benefit of the doubt. Watch your hand signs. No matter what anyone tells you-this is the devil horn sign. Turn from all appearance of evil. You play beautifully.
I was looking for flute tips, but I'm in love with your speech. You are so clearly to me (brazilian). You're such a brilliant teacher. Thanks for this master class.
