How to Produce Good Tone on the Irish Flute

The Irish flute is a familiar component of traditional Irish music, and an instrument that the would-be Celtic musician may want to learn. If you have played classical or jazz flute in the past, you are well on your way. But don't despair if you haven't; you can start from scratch and soon be ready to play Irish tunes.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

1. Remove the head joint from the flute. The head joint is the section with the mouthpiece on it. You can use the head joint alone to practice making a good tone before you start worrying about how to hold the entire flute properly.

2. Place the edge of the mouthpiece against the outer edge of your lower lip so that the hole is exposed just in front of your mouth. In this position, the flute would extend away to your right if it were all assembled.

3. Relax you lips, tongue and throat. Exhale a slow, steady breath of air across the hole.

4. Rotate the head joint back and forth slowly until you find the spot where your exhaled breath produces a tone. Experiment with this rotating motion to see the differences in tone quality that is produced.

5. Change the shape of your lips to make the stream of air more focused, and notice how this makes the tone richer. Experiment with different shapes of your lips and mouth to observe the differences in the tone.

Tips & Warnings

• If you have never played an instrument before or have never played a wind instrument, you might want to start with an Irish tin whistle. This will give you a chance to see if you really want to put in the time and effort to learn an instrument before you pay for an expensive flute, and you can learn a number of Irish tunes while you are at it.
• If you tend to carry a lot of tension in your head and neck, try some deep breathing and relaxation exercises before practicing the flute.
• When playing the flute, breathe from the diaphragm in order to produce a richer, steadier tone.