Breathing control

In my opinion, breathing control is the first thing to learn before the pupil learns how to make sounds on the flute because it is the essential basis of flute playing. When the breathing is correct, it becomes easier to make a good flute sound and use more support from diaphragm.

To breathe correctly, the posture needs to be correct. If you breathe wrong, your shoulders are most likely to move when you breathe. You need to relax your neck and think the head is on the top of your neck, rising to the sky. It also helps to prevent pain in shoulders after practising so much. The second thing you have to do is open the chest so that the rib cage can expand freely and feel open to breathe. It is always good to practice in front of a mirror to see your posture.

You can also practise breathing when you are sitting down on a chair. You have to sit right at the back of the chair and fold your body and drop your head to your knees. The body has to be relaxed before you start to take a deep breath, then you slowly breathe out but try to blow out as long as possible. To practise breathing with the flute, you can stand against a wall and put your back and the back of your head on the wall. The knees have to be bent in this exercise. Take a deep breathe while feeling your back and play long notes. A good way to practise this is to take a breath for a certain length of time; for example, put a metronome at crotchet equals 60 and take a breathe for 4 beats then breathe out for 8 beats, and then for the second time breathe in for 5 beats out for 10 beats etc. Another way of practising breathing is swimming -  try not to breathe too often while you are swimming but you must stop and take a breathe if you get dizzy! There are lots of different way to practise breathing.

Breathing control helps to play nice melodic phrases on the flute, but not only does it do that, it can also help in using more diaphragm to support the sound, and you can play a more healthy sound which is more likely to be in tune.