YOUR opinion on tone production and improvement

[lianeandflute]

Hello!!

Sorry if this topic has already been covered, I haven't found it so far on this forum but I might have missed it.

Anyway, I've been thinking a lot lately about improving tone. Generally speaking, the typical advice is "do long notes/tones." Which, while very true, is not ery specific and subsequently not very helpful. So I was thinking we could all contribute our ideas about it and share different ways to improve tone and our opinions etc

So, maybe if you'd like to, we could all answer the following questions as best we can to try to get an idea of a starting point for (hopefully) further discussion!

1. What do you think your tone is like right now?
2. What is your ideal tone? What/who are you aiming to sound like?
3. How long do you spend working on tone every day? How long to you THINK one should spend on tone a day?
4. What excercises do you use when working on tone? How do you divide your time when working on tone?
5. Vibrato: do you practice it during long notes/tones? I know a couple of people who don't practice it. Do you practice it separately or as part of your tone exercises?
6. Any other comments, tips etc you may have

I'll go first!

1) My whole life I've had a clear "image" so to speak, in my head of what I want to my tone to sound like. I naturally have (and have worked on) a round, wamr sound, trying to eliminate any airy sounds.

2) I would kill to have tone like Sharon Bezaly's! I know a lot of people don't really like her tone, but I do. I am working towards having a warm but dark sound, round and with as little airy sound as possible. Also with a crispiness to it that gives the sound life! (The crispiness is something I am really trying to get right now!)

3) I try to spend an hour on tone a day. Although, due to my lazy tendancy to have little "breaks" every now and then :\ , in reality it's more like 45 minutes...
I think that at an advanced level, at LEAST half anhour should be spent on tone, but ideally about an hour (or more if you have a new flute, or have had a break etc).

4) I usually do a combination of:
- Moyse's De la Sonorite (various exercises in there mixed up, I don't do the whole book a day)
- each note in the flute's range cresceno and decrescendo over 10 or 12 beats (mm = 60)
- harmonics
- playing B - C# - D# in the middle register to find the "sweet spot"
- B1, B2, B3, D3, F3 ppppppp as long as possible to stretch lungs
I mix it up so that I'm not doing the same thing every day

And I usually spend about half an hour on the lower register and half an hour on the higher register.

5) I practice vibrato as part of my long notes exercises. So for Moyse, like normal, but for things like crescendo / decrescendo, I practice starting with no vibrato, easing into it with the crescendo, and then making it disappear with the note when I decrescendo.

6) I usually enjoy working on my tone, but sometimes it's frustrating for me. I have on and off days, which is why I mix up the exercises I do. I also use this time to watch my self in the mirror and watch for posture but mostly I watch my embouchure.

Okay, now your turn! =]

[lianeandflute]

i don't understand...

over 55 views but no one has replied. can someone tell me why not?

[Phineas]

Well, the term "Tone"? with in it self is a loaded subject.

Definition of TONE

1. any sound considered with reference to its quality, pitch, strength, source, etc.: shrill tones.
2. quality or character of sound.

If this is the case, "TONE" can be almost anything that effects your sound. You can improve your sound by just changing head joints. Very loaded subject.

IMHO, once you can produce a solid sound from a flute, you REALLY do not practice that as much as you practice things like breathing, dynamic/expression, dexterity, reading, etc. As I read your post, I gather you are doing the same thing.

1. What do you think your tone is like right now?

Overall, I have pretty good control over how I want to sound like.

2. What is your ideal tone? What/who are you aiming to sound like?

I really do not have one. I just want to be able to have control over how I want to sound. As a result, I have different instruments/head joints for different applications. When I play classical style tunes, I have one setup. When I play Brazilian, I have a setup. When I record, I have a setup, ETC.... Each different situation requires slightly different skills.

3. How long do you spend working on tone every day? How long to you THINK one should spend on tone a day?

I usually do about 15 minutes of warm ups. (Scales Arps, etc...)

4. What exercises do you use when working on tone? How do you divide your time when working on tone?

Generally, what I practice depends on what gig is coming up. What I practice really depends on what style I am playing.

5. Vibrato: do you practice it during long notes/tones? I know a couple of people who don't practice it. Do you practice it separately or as part of your tone exercises?

Well, this is more of a skill than a tone exercise. Since I play mostly Fusion(Jazz), I really practice my use of vibrato more than just the skill itself. A lot of players out there over use and abuse it. My goal is to be as tasteful as possible. Otherwise, if it is on the paper, I just practice this as it relates to a piece.

Long tones are something I use to learn/test new headjoints. Every cut gives you different variations of dynamics and flexibility. After I get use to playing on a given head joint, I just do a warm up on it, and I am ready to go.

6. Any other comments, tips etc you may have

The more you are out playing, the less you will sweat the small stuff. There are lots of good flute players that can execute exercises, and imitate someone's sound. There are very few that can put on a good performance for an audience. Get out there and play as much as possible.

Get a personal recorder and record your playing as much as possible. This is the fastest way to develop the sound you want. Do not be afraid to take a recorder with you when you try out flutes and head joints. If you enjoy listening to yourself, there is a good chance the audience will like listening to you as well.

Lastly, all of the great musicians I have ever known were good listeners. Every good musician should have an extensive record/CD/mp3 collection. Being a good listener helps give you a reference of sound, technique and expressive ideas.

Keep it simple and just PLAY THE D*** THANG!

Peace

Phineas

[m3the01]

Hey, great post. I dont have much to add to the post but i am curious if you have a tuner to make sure with all these dynamics you are actually staying in key... this is where im at and it is very frustrating.

Good luck and let me know while watching a tuner if your happy with your results, i got a feeling your going to get frustrated, lol.

[MissyHPhoenix]

Hey, I know what you mean about replies -- sometimes on here you will get dozens of people replying immediately and then other times nothing at all ..... don't know what triggers it, but it can be frustrating if you are looking for a particular piece of knowledge.

Anyway! I meant to reply before this, so here goes.

1. What do you think your tone is like right now?

Depends on several things. If I am particuarly tired, it doesn't come out as full as I would like. What I prefer and always try for is a resonant, warm and sweet sound. I, like Phineas, have different sounds from different headjoints. My wooden headjoint is particularly sweet and warm; and the Sankyo headjoint is brighter and fuller. I am still working on getting my tone to where I want it to be on a consistent basis. If I am too tense, it doesn't resonate like I want, but I'm sure a lot of people have that problem.

2. What is your ideal tone? What/who are you aiming to sound like?

Well, as above, I prefer a full, warm, sweet & bright tone. I also like it to be light instead of heavy, a dancing type of sound, if that makes sense to anybody. The person I admire the most is Galway. I strive to achieve his light but full sound.

3. How long do you spend working on tone every day? How long to you THINK one should spend on tone a day?

I warm up for about 30 to 45 minutes a day, depending on which exercises I am concentrating on. During this time I emphasize tone because I am trying to make my tone consistent during all playing. I think that a person's time spent on time purely depends on what they are trying to achieve and their level of progression. Some people don't need to work on it as long and hard as other people.

4. What excercises do you use when working on tone? How do you divide your time when working on tone?

I warm up with a combination of Trevor Wye, T&G, and basic scale exercises. Especially with scales, I listen intently to what I am producing and work from there. Warm up, as stated above, is working also on tone, but I also try to bring the desired tone to everything else I am playing.

5. Vibrato: do you practice it during long notes/tones? I know a couple of people who don't practice it. Do you practice it separately or as part of your tone exercises?

I begin exercises without vibrato so that I concentrate on pure tone. I agree with Phineas that many people overuse vibrato, and I think it also is used too often to disguise a less than desired tone. I add vibrato when I am happy with my tone, and do practice it during warm ups also.

6. Any other comments, tips etc you may have

Tone is such a personal item for flutists. Everybody has their own "ideal" that they try to achieve. The fun for me is seeing how much I can push and change my tone depending on the piece of music I am playing. I want to have the core of my tone to be full and resonant, and then I go from there. I am very opinionated on what I believe true flute should sound like, but that is only my opinion and everyone is entitled to their own. For my own personal playing, I never stop working on tone. It is my goal to be able to play in each situation with the most desired tone -- I haven't gotten there yet, but that's what I'm working toward.

[fluteguy18]

55 views? No replies? Well... here's why I didn't reply. For one I've been ill the past two weeks and haven't been on much. Secondly I generally glaze over posts like this: long and by new people. It isn't to be offensive, but rather I don't want to waste a lot of time on people who won't stick around for conversation. Most of the time long posts from new members are spam. So combine those two things, and I just skipped over it.

1. What do you think your tone is like right now?

Round, clear, warm, and with a touch of bittersweetness to it. It is a little pressed at the moment because I took time away from playing this summer so it isn't quite as open as it used to be. I'm working on that right now.

2. What is your ideal tone? What/who are you aiming to sound like?

For a long time I wanted to embody the tone of Christina Jennings and Marina Piccinini together. I've realized now that I don't want to do that anymore. I want to sound like myself. I want to be recognizable as a unique and distinct artist, not a copycat.

3. How long do you spend working on tone every day? How long to you THINK one should spend on tone a day?

As long as it takes. Tone is an easy thing for me so I only spend about 5 minutes on it. Technique on the other hand... an hour at least.

4. What excercises do you use when working on tone? How do you divide your time when working on tone?

I play harmonics to warm up, and occasionally do some long tone ascending arpeggios. One of my problems is that I tend to shy away from the upper octave a bit and I clamp down. I work on opening that up by doing the ascending arpeggios.

5. Vibrato: do you practice it during long notes/tones? I know a couple of people who don't practice it. Do you practice it separately or as part of your tone exercises?

Vibrato is one of those things that I've dabbled with for a long time. Because I didn't have lessons in high school I started with a quick and rapid 'nanny-goat' vibrato. I then switched to a heavy diaphragm based vibrato. Then I played around with it for a while and discovered the Galway method (he has a video on Youtube). It's basically the same as a singer's vibrato. After working on that, and with Jim telling me about applying it as a singer would, I ended up where I am today. I never practice vibrato anymore. It comes completely natural now. (but it wasn't always that way).

6. Any other comments, tips etc you may have

Nope.

[lianeandflute]

Good luck and let me know while watching a tuner if your happy with your results, i got a feeling your going to get frustrated, lol.

I know what you mean!! It's so frustrating! My intonation is actually a big issue for me right now so it's something I really want to do more.

I recently lost my tuner so I have been listening very closely to my intonation which has actually been really interesting. I've read James Galway saying that you shouldn't use a tuner because you need to be able to rely on your ear rather than a visual indicator.
I like to use a tuner though because it gives me an idea of what I can't hear, (when I get another tuner) I am going to use that for a few weeks and then start using my ear once I have a grounding in watching my intonation.

I need to experiment with this more but I think a combination is probably right?

[lianeandflute]

Just wanted to say thanks to everyone who posted a reply, you all brought up some really interesting points!!
FG18, I understand what you mean about glazing over the posts, when I looked back at the post, I realized how long it is... whoops!

I really liked what Phineas said about “controlling the tone.” I think that’s a really important point; whatever tone you have and whatever you are working towards, you need to be IN CONTROL. That way you can make different colours. This also kind of ties in with what MissyHPhoenix said about being able to play “in each situation with the most desired tone” and “how much I can push and change my tone depending on the piece of music I am playing.”

Phineas, it’s also interesting how you have different headjoints depending on what you want to sound like. Also MissyHPhoenix. A lot of other instruments do this, like trumpets in orchestras, guitars, even violins but I’ve always had the impression that it’s a bit of a faux pas for flutes (don’t know that this is necessarily true, it’s just the impression I’ve had…). I mean, on the one hand, you want to have total control over your tone so you can make whatever sound you want for whatever medium you are in, but on the other hand, if you really want to achieve a sound that you just can’t achieve on one headjoint, then it might be necessary to use another (Please feel free to elaborate or correct anything I have said). I guess resonance and other factors would contribute to this?

I agree with the vibrato comment about people using it too much! But vibrato is also another HUGE topic!!

It’s funny how some people place a big emphasis on really working on your tone separately, while others don’t. My teacher places a lot of emphasis on doing a lot of long notes every day. I know some people naturally have a good tone so they don’t work on it much.
I naturally have a pretty good tone but I always feel like I want to push it further and have totally control over it.
FG18, you talked about how tone is easy for you and when you said that you don’t spend much time working on it I was surprised, because I have listened to your recordings on your website and your tone is great! So I guess that’s an example of how some people don’t work on it heaps and heaps, but also don’t necessarily need to.

I guess it’s about what kind of sound you want and if you feel in control (like Phineas said) or not. I don’t always feel completely in control myself, so I want to work more on long notes.

Does anyone have any other different exercises using long tones/notes? Other than Moyse and the other ones I listed.

[Fox]

1. What do you think your tone is like right now?

Mine I say is a little airy.

2. What is your ideal tone? What/who are you aiming to sound like?

The tone I aim for is deeper and more solid. My lower register is the better of the three. Sometimes (and when my teacher helps) I can adjust just right and get it perfectly - but it's still touch and go.

3. How long do you spend working on tone every day? How long to you THINK one should spend on tone a day?

I practice 20 minutes on long tones per hour of practice with a short break half way.

4. What excercises do you use when working on tone? How do you divide your time when working on tone?

For the first ten minutes I do the tone exercises from Trevor Wye's practice book #1

5. Vibrato: do you practice it during long notes/tones? I know a couple of people who don't practice it. Do you practice it separately or as part of your tone exercises?

I do not practice any type of articulation during long tone practice. I dedicate five minutes per hour on articulation only. Currently, I'm working on single tonguing.

6. Any other comments, tips etc you may have

Not really, I'm still learning the basics.