Thank you very much for sharing your wisdom with all of us, dear Emily Beynon. I learned the flute when i was a teenager and stopped playing when I finished school. I am over 50 now and started 3 years ago to play the flute again. I always wondered about the concept of different speed of the airstream. With your explanation in this video I finally understood what is meant with speeding up the airstream. Thanks so much , this was very helpful!
Hi Emily. I'm a 73-year-old returner to learning the flute and still waiting for things to get back to a semblance of 'normality' so I can sign up with a teacher. I have only just just come across your Channel, hence the lateness of this comment. But I just want to say how helpful this post on Harmonics has been to me! I've been having trouble with my embouchure and tone (what learner doesn't!) but your Harmonics section has helped me tremendously, especially your advice on not getting frustrated or angry when things don't quite go right! And doing the exercises quietly has also helped with controlling my breath and air-speed. I'm afraid some of your videos are (as yet!) rather beyond my skills, but that is not going to stop me watching and learning! Many thanks for your advice and sharing your skills with us, and keep the videos coming! Very best wishes, and keep safe and well.😊
Hi Tim, thanks so very much for your lovely message and I’m absolutely thrilled that you found this harmonics video helpful - that’s wonderful! And good for you for returning to the flute... I hope your wait for a teacher will be over soon - that will undoubtedly speed things along! All the very best and do keep me posted on your progress!! 😄
Thank you for all this great content Ms. Beynon! I've taught middle school band in the USA for 25 years now and my flute students are loving your newest videos. On a related topic, your Pentatone recording of the Mozart Flute Concerto is, in my humble opinion, THE definitive recording of that concerto and I have enjoyed it for many years. I also love how you champion the repertoire of French composers like Debussy and Poulenc, as well as your efforts to expand the flute repertoire with modern composers. Apologies for gushing, but I sincerely enjoy your work. Thank you for all of the inspiration you have given my students as well.
Thank you for all your hard work. You know, as a keyboardist who has studied music, some formally and mostly informally, I was taught that an octave is from the tonic up to the eigth note/key in that given particular scale. It would have the same letter name, just higher in pitch going up or down.
I've been watching many online flute tutorials, and I must say Emily B.'s tutorials are consistently the best I have seen -- and, by far! Thank you Emily!!! So informative, professional, and never wasting time. Keep them coming, Emily, please!
Thank you so so much send this video!!!Solved the problem that my high register was easy to crack down!! Very helpful, Explained very clearly!! Wonderful teacher!!
Thank you so much for posting this video? The reverse harmonics with the “ghost notes” really has helped me so much over recent years. You are terrific for sharing this information. Thanks again and stay safe and healthy!
Such great material and tutorials on technique and flute playing. I have been enjoying very much your exercises and applying them to my daily practice. It would be lovely to watch a tutorial of yours on articulation! Thank you very much for your content so far!
This is teaching me that I need much less air than I think for the middle and higher octave notes…no wonder I always need so many more breaths than others; I’m trying to force way too much air down the instrument!! 👍👍 😬
Glad you found the video helpful! It took me ages to ‘find’ whistle tones too. Try playing a very low note with a very big diminuendo; the whistle tones are in the wispy, ‘dirty’ edge of the sound that we normally try and avoid! Be patient!
The increase in speed is relative, that will only appear if you increase the volume when performing the exercise, be it ascending or descending, if you do an exercise of harmonics in an ascending or descending way, decreasing the air speed will decrease, it is simple logic, greater Pressure increases air velocity and increases volume. When practicing an exercise of harmonics in an ascending way, it is advisable to do it by gradually lowering the volume, decreasing, by doing so the air speed will decrease. There are already two tutorial videos that I see where they talk about air speed. Remember, increasing the speed will increase the volume, regards. I invite you to see my tutorial on sound ua-cam.com/video/xX1jzpoCBjc/v-deo.html Lo del aumento de la velocidad es relativo, eso se presentara solo si subes el volumen al realizar el ejercicio sea ascendente o descendente, si haces un ejercicio de armónicos de manera ascendente o descendente en disminuyendo la velocidad del aire disminuirá, es lógica simple, mayor presión aumenta la velocidad del aire y sube el volumen. Al practicar un ejercicio de armónicos de forma ascendente es recomendable hacerlo bajando el volumen gradualmente, disminuyendo, al hacerlo de esa manera la velocidad del aire bajara. Ya van dos videos tutoriales que veo donde hablan de la velocidad del aire. Recuerden, al aumentar la velocidad subirá el volumen, saludos. Los invito a ver mi tutorial sobre el sonido ua-cam.com/video/xX1jzpoCBjc/v-deo.html sites.google.com/view/cesarperedo/p%C3%A1gina-principal?authuser=0
Hi Cesar, thank you for sharing your thoughts on this delicate topic! Basically to play higher on the flute we use 3 things: an increase in speed, an increase in volume (louder), and a lifting of the airstream (lips). In practice, we use all 3 but as an exercise, I focus on air speed as it is the most difficult aspect to isolate. It helps (in my opinion) to eliminate the increase in volume and movement of the lips as it encourages development of support from the abdominal muscles and a sense of the air column being inside the body, not only inside the flute. But if you have another way or prefer to work another way, that's absolutely fine by me! I just wanted to share the exercises that I have found have helped me and my playing over the last 25/30 years. Thank you for your comment. 🙏
Hello to You, you make very good tutorials and it is a pleasure to follow your advice but I have a concern: what notes to play to make the harmonics of the Hungarian pastoral fantasy of Doppler please ? I am self-taught and there I really come up against this difficulty. Thank you for your help. Vio
Thank Bella, just try to find what sounds best - a harmonic from the low or middle register should work. Well done for getting to such a difficult piece on your own, but I am sure that you will find that your will progress more quickly if your find a good teacher! 😄
I like playing harmonics they're fun. But I wonder what is the purpose of practicing them, unless you're playing a piece that has extended techniques where it's required. What exactly does it do to your Technique
Hi @Heidi Hooper and thanks for your question. Yes, harmonics are certainly fun to play with but the most important reason for practising them is for isolating the exact AIR SPEED needed for each register - leaving your lips free for minor adjustments of intonation/colour and giving you complete freedom and control of dynamics in whichever register! If I could just recommend ONE exercise for improving tone and control it would be HARMONICS! Hope that answers your question.
So I have to flex my abs like I'm doing a crunch when I play harmonics? Seems uncomfortable when I do it and I'm in pretty good shape. I'm not sure just how much to flex if that's what I'm supposed to be doing.
Let your ears lead the way - try finding what enough flex is to allow you to float to the next harmonic and what is not enough - just isolating that sweet spot! And yes, I suppose you might say it's in the direction of doing a soft, subtle, secret, standing crunch 🙃
Thanks for the reply Emily. I can get from the d d a d but no higher as the tone begins to crack or I seem to have ran out of space. Is there any tips with the embrouchre at this point Emily?
There is absolutely no need to go beyond the 3 harmonics - so the 3rd D is MORE than enough. For my way of practising harmonics it is completely counterproductive to go higher. Learn good control of the 1st and 2nd (from low d, just the d octave and the a above it) and then MAYBE add the 3rd harmonic (d). But why would you even want to go higher?... 🤔
Para hacer sonar el siguiente armónico ascendente solo debe de cambiarse la dirección del aire dirigiéndola ligeramente hacia arriba y este aparecerá automáticamente, no es necesario hacer mayor presión de ningún tipo, saludos To sound the next ascending harmonic, you only have to change the direction of the air by directing it slightly upwards and it will appear automatically, it is not necessary to make more pressure of any kind, greetings sites.google.com/view/cesarperedo/p%C3%A1gina-principal?authuser=0
Hi Cesar, thank you for sharing your thoughts on this delicate topic! Basically to play higher on the flute we use 3 things: an increase in speed, an increase in volume (louder), and a lifting of the airstream (lips). In practice, we use all 3 but as an exercise, I focus on air speed as it is the most difficult aspect to isolate. It helps (in my opinion) to eliminate the increase in volume and movement of the lips as it encourages development of support from the abdominal muscles and a sense of the air column being inside the body, not only inside the flute. But if you have another way or prefer to work another way, that's absolutely fine by me! I just wanted to share the exercises that I have found have helped me and my playing over the last 25/30 years. Thank you for your comment. 🙏
Thank you very much for sharing your wisdom with all of us, dear Emily Beynon. I learned the flute when i was a teenager and stopped playing when I finished school. I am over 50 now and started 3 years ago to play the flute again. I always wondered about the concept of different speed of the airstream. With your explanation in this video I finally understood what is meant with speeding up the airstream. Thanks so much , this was very helpful!
Sorry happy to hear that you found it helpful. Welcome back into the flute family!! ☺️
Hi Emily. I'm a 73-year-old returner to learning the flute and still waiting for things to get back to a semblance of 'normality' so I can sign up with a teacher. I have only just just come across your Channel, hence the lateness of this comment. But I just want to say how helpful this post on Harmonics has been to me! I've been having trouble with my embouchure and tone (what learner doesn't!) but your Harmonics section has helped me tremendously, especially your advice on not getting frustrated or angry when things don't quite go right! And doing the exercises quietly has also helped with controlling my breath and air-speed. I'm afraid some of your videos are (as yet!) rather beyond my skills, but that is not going to stop me watching and learning! Many thanks for your advice and sharing your skills with us, and keep the videos coming! Very best wishes, and keep safe and well.😊
Hi Tim, thanks so very much for your lovely message and I’m absolutely thrilled that you found this harmonics video helpful - that’s wonderful! And good for you for returning to the flute... I hope your wait for a teacher will be over soon - that will undoubtedly speed things along! All the very best and do keep me posted on your progress!! 😄
Thank you for all this great content Ms. Beynon! I've taught middle school band in the USA for 25 years now and my flute students are loving your newest videos. On a related topic, your Pentatone recording of the Mozart Flute Concerto is, in my humble opinion, THE definitive recording of that concerto and I have enjoyed it for many years. I also love how you champion the repertoire of French composers like Debussy and Poulenc, as well as your efforts to expand the flute repertoire with modern composers. Apologies for gushing, but I sincerely enjoy your work. Thank you for all of the inspiration you have given my students as well.
Thank YOU Mr.Rogers for your very, very kind comments! I'm absolutely delighted that you and your students are enjoying my videos and CDs! 🙏
Thank you for all your hard work. You know, as a keyboardist who has studied music, some formally and mostly informally, I was taught that an octave is from the tonic up to the eigth note/key in that given particular scale. It would have the same letter name, just higher in pitch going up or down.
Thanks for watching 🙏
I've been watching many online flute tutorials, and I must say Emily B.'s tutorials are consistently the best I have seen -- and, by far! Thank you Emily!!! So informative, professional, and never wasting time. Keep them coming, Emily, please!
Thank you so much for your support and enthusiasm, Jeremy! 🙏
I know I'm kinda randomly asking but does anyone know a good place to stream new series online?
Thank you so so much send this video!!!Solved the problem that my high register was easy to crack down!! Very helpful, Explained very clearly!! Wonderful teacher!!
That’s great to hear, Jenny; I’m so happy that I was able to help your high register! 👍 Thanks for watching!
wonderful video. Thank you for sharing so many helpful content!
You're so welcome!
Thank you so much for posting this video? The reverse harmonics with the “ghost notes” really has helped me so much over recent years. You are terrific for sharing this information. Thanks again and stay safe and healthy!
Thanks David - I'm SO glad you found this helpful! All the best to you too! 😷
Hi! Beautiful video! I do not understand anything but very interesting, I try and see what comes out! Thanks as always.
I'm glad you like it Mauro! Indeed, just try and see what comes out; I am a great believer in experimentation. Good luck!
Maestra Emily is a great flutist and teacher.
Thank you for your kind words, Daniel. I hope you found the video helpful.
Thank you much for this marvelous lesson!
Thank you for watching! 🙏
Thanks sooo very much for sharing your great knowledge !! Awesome lesson!!!
Glad you liked it! Thanks for watching!
Eres increible, amo tus tutoriales. Mil gracias por compartir tus consejos con tu publico espectador. Soy tu fan!!!
De nada y muchas gracias a ti! 🙏
Terrific tutorial and the best I've seen on this neglected subject!
Thanks Ron - glad you like it! 🙏
Thank you Master Emily again
You’re very welcome! Thanks for watching ☺️
Love this! Thank you! Lovely tone, so inspiring.
Thank you! 🙏
Such great material and tutorials on technique and flute playing. I have been enjoying very much your exercises and applying them to my daily practice. It would be lovely to watch a tutorial of yours on articulation! Thank you very much for your content so far!
Great to hear that you're enjoying my tutorials, Júlio! I'll certainly consider an articulation video... thanks for the suggestion!
Ditto to all of this
Lovely, inspiring content Emily! 😄
Glad you think so, Douwe! 🙏
With al due respect: I fell in love with you! 🥰 new subscriber!
Ha! Ha! 😊 thank you, Federico! Welcome to the channel 😄
This is teaching me that I need much less air than I think for the middle and higher octave notes…no wonder I always need so many more breaths than others; I’m trying to force way too much air down the instrument!! 👍👍 😬
So very glad you found it useful! Thanks for watching ☺️
Fantástico. Uma inspiração para todos!
Muito obrigado! ☺️
I love you Emily! You are amazing 👏 Thank you 🤗
You're so welcome! 🙏
Muito excelente
So glad you like it! Thanks for watching ☺️
Does Michel Debost talks about harmonics on his great classic The Simple Flute from A to Z?
Yes, I’m sure he does!
This was so helpful, thank you so much. However, I can’t seem to do the whistle tones at all. Is there a trick I’m missing?
Glad you found the video helpful! It took me ages to ‘find’ whistle tones too. Try playing a very low note with a very big diminuendo; the whistle tones are in the wispy, ‘dirty’ edge of the sound that we normally try and avoid! Be patient!
That makes me feel so much better! I will keep working on it! I am honored you personally replied to my post. 😊
Thank you.
You are very welcome! Thank YOU for watching! 😉
The increase in speed is relative, that will only appear if you increase the volume when performing the exercise, be it ascending or descending, if you do an exercise of harmonics in an ascending or descending way, decreasing the air speed will decrease, it is simple logic, greater Pressure increases air velocity and increases volume. When practicing an exercise of harmonics in an ascending way, it is advisable to do it by gradually lowering the volume, decreasing, by doing so the air speed will decrease. There are already two tutorial videos that I see where they talk about air speed. Remember, increasing the speed will increase the volume, regards. I invite you to see my tutorial on sound ua-cam.com/video/xX1jzpoCBjc/v-deo.html
Lo del aumento de la velocidad es relativo, eso se presentara solo si subes el volumen al realizar el ejercicio sea ascendente o descendente, si haces un ejercicio de armónicos de manera ascendente o descendente en disminuyendo la velocidad del aire disminuirá, es lógica simple, mayor presión aumenta la velocidad del aire y sube el volumen. Al practicar un ejercicio de armónicos de forma ascendente es recomendable hacerlo bajando el volumen gradualmente, disminuyendo, al hacerlo de esa manera la velocidad del aire bajara. Ya van dos videos tutoriales que veo donde hablan de la velocidad del aire. Recuerden, al aumentar la velocidad subirá el volumen, saludos. Los invito a ver mi tutorial sobre el sonido ua-cam.com/video/xX1jzpoCBjc/v-deo.html
sites.google.com/view/cesarperedo/p%C3%A1gina-principal?authuser=0
Hi Cesar, thank you for sharing your thoughts on this delicate topic! Basically to play higher on the flute we use 3 things: an increase in speed, an increase in volume (louder), and a lifting of the airstream (lips). In practice, we use all 3 but as an exercise, I focus on air speed as it is the most difficult aspect to isolate. It helps (in my opinion) to eliminate the increase in volume and movement of the lips as it encourages development of support from the abdominal muscles and a sense of the air column being inside the body, not only inside the flute. But if you have another way or prefer to work another way, that's absolutely fine by me! I just wanted to share the exercises that I have found have helped me and my playing over the last 25/30 years.
Thank you for your comment. 🙏
Hello to You, you make very good tutorials and it is a pleasure to follow your advice but I have a concern: what notes to play to make the harmonics of the Hungarian pastoral fantasy of Doppler please ? I am self-taught and there I really come up against this difficulty. Thank you for your help. Vio
Thank Bella, just try to find what sounds best - a harmonic from the low or middle register should work. Well done for getting to such a difficult piece on your own, but I am sure that you will find that your will progress more quickly if your find a good teacher! 😄
I like playing harmonics they're fun. But I wonder what is the purpose of practicing them, unless you're playing a piece that has extended techniques where it's required. What exactly does it do to your Technique
Hi @Heidi Hooper and thanks for your question. Yes, harmonics are certainly fun to play with but the most important reason for practising them is for isolating the exact AIR SPEED needed for each register - leaving your lips free for minor adjustments of intonation/colour and giving you complete freedom and control of dynamics in whichever register! If I could just recommend ONE exercise for improving tone and control it would be HARMONICS! Hope that answers your question.
Another great video! 👍
Thanks Rod!! 🤗
I don’t suppose you have the sheet music for these exercises anywhere for download.
I’m sorry, no I don’t 🙁
@@EmilyBeynonflute No problem! Thanks so much for making the video!
You’re most welcome!
So I have to flex my abs like I'm doing a crunch when I play harmonics? Seems uncomfortable when I do it and I'm in pretty good shape. I'm not sure just how much to flex if that's what I'm supposed to be doing.
Let your ears lead the way - try finding what enough flex is to allow you to float to the next harmonic and what is not enough - just isolating that sweet spot! And yes, I suppose you might say it's in the direction of doing a soft, subtle, secret, standing crunch 🙃
Is it possible to do these harmonics on a wooden flute?
Hi there, yes it is!
Thanks for the reply Emily. I can get from the d d a d but no higher as the tone begins to crack or I seem to have ran out of space. Is there any tips with the embrouchre at this point Emily?
There is absolutely no need to go beyond the 3 harmonics - so the 3rd D is MORE than enough. For my way of practising harmonics it is completely counterproductive to go higher. Learn good control of the 1st and 2nd (from low d, just the d octave and the a above it) and then MAYBE add the 3rd harmonic (d). But why would you even want to go higher?... 🤔
That's very good advice Emily. I really enjoyed your videos. Thanks
The third partial in any given harmonic series (G on the C spectrum) on the flute always seems tricker than the others? or is it just me ... hmm...
Oh, agreed... but if you nail it, it makes SO many things sound better! 👍
@@EmilyBeynonflute Alright, time to practise!
No, no, your are definitely not the only one! ^_^
Here is another comment about harmonics
Para hacer sonar el siguiente armónico ascendente solo debe de cambiarse la dirección del aire dirigiéndola ligeramente hacia arriba y este aparecerá automáticamente, no es necesario hacer mayor presión de ningún tipo, saludos
To sound the next ascending harmonic, you only have to change the direction of the air by directing it slightly upwards and it will appear automatically, it is not necessary to make more pressure of any kind, greetings
sites.google.com/view/cesarperedo/p%C3%A1gina-principal?authuser=0
Hi Cesar, thank you for sharing your thoughts on this delicate topic! Basically to play higher on the flute we use 3 things: an increase in speed, an increase in volume (louder), and a lifting of the airstream (lips). In practice, we use all 3 but as an exercise, I focus on air speed as it is the most difficult aspect to isolate. It helps (in my opinion) to eliminate the increase in volume and movement of the lips as it encourages development of support from the abdominal muscles and a sense of the air column being inside the body, not only inside the flute. But if you have another way or prefer to work another way, that's absolutely fine by me! I just wanted to share the exercises that I have found have helped me and my playing over the last 25/30 years.
Thank you for your comment. 🙏