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Part II: Playing the Flute: Just Wiggle Your Fingers and Blow!
Opening this key only part of the way gives you a middle E that is in tune. If you open it the whole way, the middle E will be sharp. 4. Repeat Steps 1 through 3 a few times to get the feel of getting the octave Es.
This trick lets you glide effortlessly from low to middle E with no embouchure change. After you’re comfortable with getting the octave using the trill key, play the octave shown in Figure 11-2 without using the trill key this time. To do so, bring your jaw and lips forward bit by bit until the note changes — the octave will happen when you get the airstream aimed in the right place.
Figure 11-2: The E-octave (low and middle E).
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As you can see, you can often find more than one way to skin a cat when it comes to your flute playing. The real trick is to make sure that you don’t sound like that’s exactly what you’re doing. Note: No animals were harmed in the writing of this book.
Here are a few more things to keep in mind as you work on the E-octave.
✓ To find the right embouchure placement for that middle E, you need to move your jaw and lips forward very slowly while keeping your airstream constant. Feel every little increment of movement and really try to feel where your air is going. That way, when the E jumps up to the next octave, you’ll know the placement so that you can reproduce it again and again with little or no effort or concentration.
✓ Your aperture may become a little bit smaller as your jaw and lips move forward. The smaller aperture increases the air speed slightly, which also helps the octave note to sound. But try not to increase the air speed too much by blowing harder — keep supporting your air evenly (see Chapter 5 for more on breath support) and don’t bring your lips so close together that they start to choke off the sound.
✓ Spend some time getting the middle E to jump from the low E on command. Getting that E-octave is a crucial step toward expanding your range on the flute. If you can get this octave to work using subtle embouchure movements, the rest of the flute’s range will follow suit fairly easily for you.