Dear Ingrid, I have been learning the flute for a bit more than a year and am finding it more difficult than I perhaps expected. I’m quite a good pianist so have no problems reading music, but controlling my breath is a real nightmare! So I need all the help I can get!

Thank you for your question and, although you don’t say so, I am assuming that you are an adult beginner. It is helpful for you that you already have musical reading skills, so that you can focus on the actual flute playing and the musical results you are seeking. You don’t say whether you are having difficulties with controlling the exhale or with inhaling, so I shall try and address both for you.

Firstly, check that you are inhaling fully and freely. Make sure that the jaw drops, opening the throat at the back, and with your fingers placed beneath the rib cage feel the expansion of the abdominal region and the lifting of the rib-cage. It is important as you begin to exhale that you can feel some resistance from the abdominal muscles without the rib cage collapsing. It is useful to practise a sustained ‘Ssss’ sound, as this action can give a sense of this resistance. As you play your flute, feel that you have a good cushion of air beneath the point at which the note leaves the embouchure and do not let the rib cage drop. Practising long notes is the best way of exploring how you manage your air – practising running out of air without disturbing the mechanism, as it were. Keep the throat open as you play and observe the flow of the air stream which must remain constant to maintain tone quality and intonation.

I wonder if you use up too much air at the start of your notes. In my experience, a number of students blow ‘at’ the instrument, rather than simply release their breath. This causes a drop in the rib cage and collapse of the support of the tone. Make sure that your embouchure is not too open as this affects the air speed and pressure. Equally, an overly tight embouchure usually results on tightness of the throat, which will affect the resonance of your tone as well as the easy intake of breath.

Another area that causes problems with breath control is when there are tricky fingering passages. In such cases, the air stream is often abandoned in favour of focus on the fingering, with resulting loss of breath control. With all finger passages, it is important to establish a good tone on every note. One way to practise this is to use abdominal accents or diaphragm accents on alternate notes. Try accenting the first and third of a group of four semiquavers, and then alternate with accenting the second and fourth. This practice technique can help to develop the sense of tone within passagework Ingrid Culliford spent many years in London as a free- lance flautist and teacher, and was professor of flute at Trinity College of Music and the Junior Royal Academy of Music. She currently tutors in flute at Waikato University and the NZ School of Music, adjudicates at many festivals and competitions, is an examiner for the NZMEB and a Senior Examiner for the International Baccalaureate Organisation.

Without hearing you play, it is difficult to offer more than general advice, but I am sure that if you approach the area of breath control with patience and the realisation that it takes a while to develop muscular control, you will begin to gain more control.

All the best with your playing – I hope that you will gain much pleasure and satisfaction from the flute July 2009 – Flute Focus

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Ingrid Culliford spent many years in London as a free- lance flautist and teacher, and was professor of flute at Trinity College of Music and the Junior Royal Academy of Music. She currently tutors in flute at Waikato University and the NZ School of Music, adjudicates at many festivals and competitions, is an examiner for the NZMEB and a Senior Examiner for the International Baccalaureate Organisation.