How to Hit the High Notes on a Flute

The flute is a beautiful and delicate instrument. Learning to play it takes time, patience and strong lungs that are attributed to a lot of breathing exercises. In order to hit high notes on a flute, you have to master the art of pursing your lip muscles tightly while maintaining a relaxed jaw. The rule of thumb is that the smaller the hole in your lips, the higher you can hit the notes on a flute as long as your air flow is correct.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

1. Practice scales on the flute going from low to medium notes. Concentrate on how your lip movements and tightness changes while you go higher, as well as the movements your tongue makes.

2. Start to gradually go up to higher notes slowly, and see at what point you are not able to hit the high notes anymore. When you get to this point, that is when you know you have to work on your tongue and lip movements and muscle tightness.

3. Make your lips into a straight flat line, in between a smile and a frown. Start to purse them so your upper lip begins to move over your bottom lip, slightly.

4. Bring the flute to your lips and rest the blowhole in the middle of your bottom lip. As you purse your lips, create a small hole in the center of your lips, small enough so even a baby finger could not enter through it. Keep your jaw relaxed, because if it gets to tight your lips will grow tired too quickly.

5. Begin to blow a strong stream of air out of this hole. It should be powerful enough that if feels like a breeze on your chest area. Continue to keep your lips pursed, than place the tip of your tongue parallel to the top of your bottom lip to cut off a little of the airflow. When you blow through the flute, play the high note that you could not hit before. Adjust your lips to make the hole even smaller to hit higher notes on the scale.

Tips & Warnings

• Hitting the high notes on a flute will definitely take some time and practice, so be patient.

References

• Hitting Flute High Notes Advice