Find your BEST flute tone in 6 simple steps

Want to improve your flute tone? I have a simple 6-step formula that has helped all of my students almost immediately improve their sound.

0:00 - 1:53 Introduction
1:53 - 4:01 Step 1: The body
4:01 - 6:00 Step 2: The breath
6:00 - 7: 36 Step 3: The jaw and throat
7:36 - 9:07 Step 4: The embouchure
9:07 - 12:54 Step 5: The correct placement of the flute
12:54 - 13:23 Step 6: The correct movement of the lips
13: 23 - 19:49 Putting the flute tone rescue process into practice

Learn even more about this with our step-by-step blog post:

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[TheFlutePractice]

Which of these 6 points helped your tone the most? Comment below!

[ofiterpunte]

I'd add a step 7: the tongue. Put your flute down. Check carefully in a mirror with a flashlight where your tongue actually sits. Chances are it's sitting high back at the throat and blocking everything. Don't believe me? While simulating playing a long tone, breathe in suddenly and hard. If your tongue is sitting well, air should rush around and over it and make a nice "phew" sound, filling your lungs nicely. If however you hear a cranky noise, that's a blocked throat, and it's the tongue that's doing the blocking. Why? Because, without proper support (trust me, in your first year you have NO IDEA what good support feels like), you're unintentionally sqeezing the air in your mouth with your tongue to give it more speed. Breathe out loudly through your mouth without making an embouchure. Move your tongue and notice how the pitch of the air changes. The sound that the air makes is VERY important, it should sound low and "warm", like a "whoo", not a "hee". It will sound lowest and warmest when your tongue is very low and there is a huge space behind it. It actually takes effort to teach your tongue to sit low and forward. Help it by making your tip more "pointy". Ideally you want an active tongue tip. Practice in a mirror articulating just with the tip and notice that, as a beginner, the back of your tongue moves like a wild stallion.

[sitarnut]

Bravo.. learned more from you in 19 minutes, than in the last 19 years.. oh, where were you, and you're lovely way of explaining all those years ago... happy to subscribe... now, my favorite Flute Learning peace out....

[apearson]

My first degree is in classical clarinet, which I haven't played in many years. I've been teaching myself flute and the relaxed embouchure and no air resistance are the hardest part for me. I feel the most tension in the high register.

[ronrobbins]

“Focusing on tone development” check it out by Ian Mullin. His simple exercise, growling your lowest note vocally while playing our middle of the staff B. Works incredibly well instantly.

[musician-florian]

Thank you for the video!

I'm working on all this stuff since September haha. Yeah, new teacher, new things to be aware of - I finally got my first piece to practice today after months 😅

But THIS is what makes the difference in the playing. Interestingly you mentioned to not tighten the cheeks/relax those muscles. I actually have to work on activating my cheek muscles more to get a more resonating sound.
In the end it'll be somewhere in middle to be relaxed and also have some tension at the same time. But also the jaw position has a major influence on the sound. My jaw was too open for a long time which resulted in a hollow tone. Mz problem now is to open it again and not be too closed.

But I actually think breathing has the most important role. I've changed my whole embouchure over the last couple of months and when my breathing is not right, I compensate the breathing with my old, bad embouchure.
Breath support is the next difficult topic I'll have to spend some time on.

[madelineinca]

Thank you thank you thank you. This is just wonderful, and so clearly explained. My main instrument has been piano throughout the decades (just started flute a few years ago at my "advanced age") and I sure wish I'd had similar information for piano back in the day!

[SaturdayNight]

I’m an older player with RA in knees and ankles and I play sitting down but this is all still important, getting body alignment and positioning is still key when sitting. Chair yoga, anyone?

[rynhis_]

I think I found where my tone has been at fault step 5. You should have heard my flute solo in the song I wrote and recorded one word to describe it TRAGIC

[johnnyjames]

I just had a lesson where the instructor said the muscles of the corners of my lips have to be strengthened. ??