I'm only starting in two weeks time to take flute lessons.

To help me start my younger cousin(10 years old) volunteered to help me by letting me teach her the instrument. The theory side etc learning the notes and fingering the notes went well. But she had a problem blowing it and I was unable to help her hardly.

I can blow it obviously myself as I wouldn't hav got grade 8 without knowing this but trying to put it in to words for her sake was quite hard.

Could anyone with some experisnce in this area please reply.

Thankyou!!!!!!!!!!

Have you tried just starting by seeing if they can get a sound just from the headjoint?

As nicki_flute mentioned - always start with just the headjoint. Most people can manage a sound making a 'p' shape with the lips and blowing, (covering about 1/3 of the hole with the bottom lip) then progress to adding the tongue at the start of the note. To make it more interesting when they can get a sound try sliding a finger in and out of the open end of the headjoint to make a 'clanger' sound, or blocking the end off completely to get a deeper sound. Lots of rhythm games just on the headjoint help too. I wouldn't go on to the complete instrument until the sound is pretty secure, and this can take several weeks. Vary the lesson by doing simple note reading etc away from the flute, and also showing how the instrument should be put together, handled etc.

I was always lucky with teachers in that they made me analyse what I did physically so that I could pass that information on, so take some time in your own practice to really think about how you do things, and have fun!

With uncooked rice...get them to see how far they can SPIT a grain of rice. You do this too! Have contests!

Outside is best...

Then when they can do this well and spit each grain a long way, give them the headjoint again and get them to do the same action as they did for spitting the rice. BINGO! A sound!

Worked like magic for us. My 9 year old son started like this 2 years ago, got a nice Gd 4 Distinction at Easter, still remembers the rice spitting...

Thanks for that one (the un cooked rice) my eldest son is taking up the flute this autumn. He has a plastic fife that I can get a sound out of and he can't but he can picture him gleefully trying to spit rice all over my garden

Get them to practice making sounds by blowing across the opening of a bottle then the same principle can be added to blowing the flute.

Alternatively you can get them to form an embrashure without the flute such as by pulling their lips in tight to their teeth and smiling trying to create a small hole in the middle and introducing tu/ta sounds using the tongue and blowing a steady stream of air. You could also get them to discover how they can adjust the direction of the air flow by moving their jaw. This should make their first attempts of playing the flute more successful.

You're very welcome...glad to pass it on.

We found the fife harder to get sound out of than the flute headjoint btw, it soon got relegated to being a bath toy!

Surely this is teaching them exactly the wrong way (tense, smiley) to form an embouchure though!

The fife is a good deal less forgiving than the flute - if you can make a good embouchure and create a nice sound on the fife, the flute is easy. It does mean that good habits can be formed early though.

right so the fact I'm addicted to matti's fife means that I'll love moving over to his flute...

Poor kid I thought he'd be starting an instrument I couldn't play. I've been merrily playing folk songs on his fife half the day... bit like I was with my recorder as a kid. I can now even overblow for the second octave... not bad for a woman who never thought she'd be able to play the flute.

Watch out Grade 1 challenge and adult learners concerts...

Actually I'd rather get him playing than me!

Muahaha *the lure of the flute spreads*

when i auditioned for oboe lessons, it was an all woodwind audition. we were given the chance to try out all the other woodwind instruments. the teacher there got us to try flute too, he did this by using just the headjoint and positioning it under our mouths himself, with him holding it.

like everyone has said start with the headjoint and get the pupil to put there hand in front of it and blow onto their hand this way they will not try tp blow it like a recorder!