Playing high notes

emily_stenner writes "Really struggling with the high, quiet notes in Poulenc flute sonata Cantilena and my exam is in less than 3 weeks :("
My first advice was to do some tone work before the piece, so she has downlaod Tone Exercise 1 from Dots. Can other help her please?

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Submitted by Liz on 25 Feb 10, 09:18

bas23

I think that many players have problems with top notes because the diaphragm support isn't what it could be, they squeeze their lips to compensate for this, thus the hole between the lips becomes too small and tight and they lose flexibility.

I also believe that a good tone in the top register has to come from a good tone in the low register, so that you have more harmonics within the sound and consequently, a richer quality to it.

I would suggest that you don't play the Cantilena at the beginning of your practice session - you need to be fully warmed up. Do lots of flexibility exercises eg octaves. You can then focus on 2 specific notes, work on diaphragm control, relaxing the embouchure and your jaw movement. It is easier to slur up the octave but try also to keep the smoothness and control slurring back down. It is also useful to think about approaching a note from above, rather than climbing up to it. Hope this helps :-)

emily_stenner

thanx :)

Liz

Thanks to Barbara for her really helpful comments. I was looking through what should go up on Dots for next week and I found an exercise that I put together for my pupils. There seem to be three main problems with high notes - remembering the fingerings, reading them and blowing them. So in next weeks Dots might help to address some of this. There are 5 folk tunes in 3 different octaves. The idea is to make the high register version sound as beautiful as the low or middle one.

Other ideas are really welcome - please!

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