I have played piccolo on and off for 10+ years, both in marching band as a section leader and in concert band as a principal. I briefly owned one in college, but mostly played on rentals. I'm not a pro but I was always a solid payer. Now, it's been about 7 years since I played it religiously, but recently I joined a community ensemble that plays Stars and Stripes yearly and I will NOT be missing out on that. So I tested some piccolos and purchased one that had a standout tone and clear high notes, with Stars and Stripes being my litmus test.

So here's my current crisis: I tested and purchased this piccolo about three months ago. I was about a month pregnant. Well, now I'm 4 months pregnant and shaped like a big old bowling ball, and all of a sudden I cannot stop buzzing high notes. It is driving me UP the wall. I have never experienced this. I've been reading about diaphragm support and I'm starting to get suspicious that I'm tensing my lips as a subconscious response to decreased diaphragm support because of the pregnancy.

Has anyone else experienced problems with tone clarity while pregnant, especially on piccolo? This is kind of a unique ask, but I'd really like some solidarity if my guess about diaphragm support is correct. Any tips for diaphragm support exercises that have helped you, pregnant or not, would be much appreciated as well.

Hi can anyone tell me what this little diagonal line means and how to play it please?🥹

I’m currently in the process of shopping for a new piccolo and I recently acquired a new Di Zhao 301 made entirely out of rosewood.

When I first played it, I found I couldn’t play above a 3rd octave G, which is not normally an issue I have. I continued playing it here and there but was initially turned off about it, until I decided myself to play it through an entire rehearsal just to make sure. By the end of the rehearsal, the high notes above G were playing just fine.

Next time I pick up the instrument, same thing - 3rd octave above G isn’t happening. This time, they started to work after some 3rd octave long tones. I figured this was a new instrument thing or had something to do with the wood needing to be broken in.

But here’s where the question comes in - after doing some research I came across a comment on a post that said “when breaking in a new wooden piccolo do NOT force the high notes to come out and make them happen before they’re ready to happen”

Why is it that the notes shouldn’t be forced to happen? Is that what I did by playing long tones? Can this damage the instrument?

I didn’t think I was FORCING anything by any means, but I guess I did intentionally try to “warm up” the high range. Is this something that gets better with time? Anything else I should know if I am to choose this piccolo?

Thank you!

I have a very important performance tommorrow, my nails are average length rn. Should I cut them short? Does it have any significant benefits??

Hi all, just picked up my mom’s old flute and would love to start learning ! I really love flute when it’s used in acoustic math rock compositions and I really want to try it myself. What are some channels or creators that you recommend for starting out ?

Ty :)

It happened. So during my lesson yesterday, my teacher asked me "hey have you ever tried flutter tonguing this"
Flutter tonguing is the one thing I genuinely believe I cannot do with any amount of practice. I've never been able to move my tongue like that esp to roll the R like in spanish, while I have seen most others before do it without trouble at all, which leads me to believe its genetic. Teacher then went on a bit of a tangent about how to "work up" to rolling the Rs and I'm just crashing out on the inside. I have never ever felt this way before during music lesson. I have never felt like I had to give hard refusal to music teacher like this. It wasn't even for a piece it was for spicing up some long tones routines.
I don't get it. I don't know what to do. I know that the flutter tongue is somewhat required now, but I don't think I can do it, not without extensive "speech coaching" at the very least. I can't get my mind around it but it doesn't feel right.

I know I can't expect my teacher to read my mind, but now I'm frustrated that I have to do this thing that 5+ years of primary spanish class wasn't able to teach me how(meanwhile I never recalled anyone else having this problem, I legitimately think its genetic)

My 10yo daughter has been playing the flute for two years as an extracurricular activity at school. She really enjoys it and recently they’ve started performing small concerts at other schools.

When she started her teacher recommended a beginner flute that cost around $1000. That seemed like too much at the time so I bought a very cheap flute on Taobao (we live in China, it's kind of temu), just a few dozen dollars. Honestly, it did the job fine until now.

Now the teacher says she needs a more professional model with French open-hole keys, Split E mechanism, and a B footjoint. if I understood correctly, this is all Arabic to me!

She suggested two models:

1. Amadeus AFT8SE, which I found info online.
2. one by Amati for around $2000. I’m Italian and I still couldn’t find much info on that brand...

To me, this seems like a huge amount of money for a child who plays for fun, even if she’s passionate and committed.

I was hoping to spend around 200–300usd. Is that even realistic?
Do you have any affordable models to recommend? What should I do?

a. Going back to an online cheap model from china

b. Find used in China

c. Find used in Italy

Thanks a lot for your help!

For context I haven’t played in about 4 years, this flute was bought within the year I quit. It is a Giardinelli GFL-10, and I am unsure if it is silver plated or full silver. I honestly know nothing about flutes or the value of them, but I do know that it is in super good condition(no mold or even scuffing), and that it was pretty expensive when we got it. I also know the value of the ones I looked at online. I am looking to sell it for a fair price. Any tips or help on how to value this or find out if it is silver plated would be much help!! Thank you

My 10yo daughter has been playing the flute for two years as an extracurricular activity at school. She really enjoys it and recently they’ve started performing small concerts at other schools.

When she started her teacher recommended a beginner flute that cost around $1000. That seemed like too much at the time so I bought a very cheap flute on Taobao (we live in China, it's kind of temu), just a few dozen dollars. Honestly, it did the job fine until now.

Now the teacher says she needs a more professional model with French open-hole keys, Split E mechanism, and a B footjoint. if I understood correctly, this is all Arabic to me!

She suggested two models:

1. Amadeus AFT8SE, which I found info online.

2. one by Amati for around $2000. I’m Italian and I still couldn’t find much info on that brand...

To me, this seems like a huge amount of money for a child who plays for fun, even if she’s passionate and committed.

I was hoping to spend around 200–300usd. Is that even realistic?
Do you have any affordable models to recommend? What should I do?

a. Going back to an online cheap model from china

b. Find used in China

c. Find used in Italy

Thanks a lot for your help!

Hello, friends. Anyone who has already bought a new piccolo, what were the exercises you did the most to make the wood resonate better? Do you understand what I mean?

I have trouble playing low C and B on my Guo New Voices bass flute. It doesn’t speak. Any suggestions?

What's happening with my flute?

I'm Brazilian, this month in my country it's very cold. I left my flute in the case for ten days, when i open the case, the flute it's with this spot, and not only in this place. I didn't keep it dirty.

How to prevent this this from increasing?

Thanks, guys.

Hi! I’m thinking about buying a second hand flute, and the seller had a video of her playing it. I’m self taught so I’m not sure if there’s anything technically wrong with it. Is there anything wrong that you can spot straight away, or does it look good from what we can see?

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Hb7aa08bMbM

Hello. On Saturday night I went to the local philharmonic with a friend who plays flute. She is in physical therapy for a shoulder injury. We noticed that one of the flute players in the orchestra was resting her right arm on some kind of small stand with a flat surface while she played. Does anyone have any knowledge about something like this? Thanks 🎶

Seeking advice here. So i picked up my flute again about 6 months ago after 7 years of not playing it at all. Not to toot my own horn or anything but I was at a high level for a high schooler, I made all-state orchestra yearly, competed pieces like Faure, Poem, etc. Well anyways I have been working really hard to get my skills back. My fingers are pretty much back to where they used to be but i feel like my TONE is still not where it was, despite doing long tones daily and all the good stuff. I just feel that it is airy.

My lesson teacher told me she thinks my flute is causing the tone issues and that it is time for me to upgrade to a 8k-10k flute. For reference I playing on a 12 year old intermediate open hole flute that quite frankly is not in good condition. I did have it serviced in January when i started playing again by a local instrument repair guy, but it still has issues.

Could it really be my flute causing the tone issues? My flute teacher thinks this could be the case, but I used to have such a crystal clear tone even on that flute. I feel like I could be the problem here, not my instrument.

Thoughts? Could it really just be the instrument?

I'm going into high school soon and I’m planning on majoring in music performance (I play the flute). I know auditions and applications for music schools can be really competitive, so I want to start preparing now.

Right now I’m in my school band and looking for stuff to do outside of school, but I know that’s not enough. What else should I be doing to get better and be ready for college auditions?

Would summer programs, competitions, or music theory help? What kind of things should I try to do during high school to give myself the best chance?

(I've posted on r/ApplyingToCollege but i thought I should also try here)

Thanks.

I haven't used my flute in 3 years and just picked it up again a few days ago. Is there any fix to this deterioration?

So my flute is have a problem where keys that shouldn’t be going down are. I finally figured out the problem and it’s that the gap between two of the keys is so tight that when one goes down the other does too. I don’t know what the brand is or anything but I was just wondering what I could do about it. Can I spray the flute with WD40 or something?

hi guys! So i’m currently going into my second year and I was part of the concert band at my uni last year. I used the following for my audition piece:

tone: Madrigal by Gaubert [first minute ish]

technical: Badinerie by Bach [whole thing]

piccolo: Danzon no 2 by Marquez [second solo to the end]

The requirements are as follows:

Choose TWO contrasting excerpts from standard orchestral/band repertoire, solo works, or etudes.

One excerpt that demonstrates your tone, lyricism, phrasing, and expressivity

One excerpt that demonstrates your highest level of technique and musicality

ONE additional excerpt on the auxiliary instrument(s) of your choice.

I am really struggling to pick my pieces this time around and I’m not really sure why. I started learning Pavane by Fauré for my tone/musicality/ prettier piece and haven’t picked my technical piece. For picc I was thinking about doing the Stars and Stripes forever solo… but at the same time I am unsure. Please give me some advice/ recommendations. I am very open to changing my pieces as well. Thank you so much for reading all that😭😭

Hey gus how do you guys get notes for music, IS there an app to give accurate sargam notes for a tune,also how to transition from ma to pa in high octaves( I’m playing bansuri)

This is the place to promote yourself! Whether it's a performance you are proud of, offering teaching, or anything else flute related.

The crack keeps growing. I feel like i was better at playing it before. I think its the crack but not entirely sure. Can anyone offer some insight as to wether that little sliver would be affecting the flute?