KATE'S FLUTE LESSONS
Oct 20, 2026
Well done this week, Kate!!!
You are cookin' along with the flute!
Please work on these things at home this week:
1) Try hard to keep your HEAD UP and your flute from resting on your shoulder - you had a great idea: sometimes start out with the flute resting on your shoulder and then get your head up and the flute off of your shoulder once you feel stable.
2) Remember the "shelf" that is the base of your left pointer finger? This is where the flute can sit and then your finger can curl around to press the B key.
3) Try to play all 6 of the notes that you know:
B A G (that you learned last week)
Bb C D (that you learned today)
4) In the Standard of Excellence book: practice all of p. 7 (and you can check out p. 8 if you feel inspired to move on)
5) Scroll down to the bottom to find a pdf sheet with 2 songs for you to try
This is the stuff from last week that you will want to review:
1) WITH JUST THE HEADJOINT - practice placing your lips just right and blowing down into the embouchure hole to make the strongest sound:
• Take IN a big breath
• Blow steady but NOT HARD
• HOLD OUT the tone as long as you can
2) Still with only the headjoint, cover the open end with your hand and practice alternating the low tone and the high tone (like we did together in class):
• Take IN a big breath
• Blow steady but NOT HARD for the low tone (remember fogging the glasses)
• Take IN a big breath
• Blow steady and MUCH HARDER for the high tone
IMPORTANT THINGS TO REMEMBER so you don't get frustrated:
• When you're having trouble getting a tone, blow smarter, not harder.
Smarter means making sure that:
• your headjoint is parallel with the floor (not sagging to one side)
• the embouchure hole is pointed up to the ceiling
• your headjoint isn't pulled back too far
• you turn your head a bit to your left and blow your air into/across the embouchure hole and towards your left elbow