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Learning the flute online is ideal for those who are time-poor or do not have the money to spend on private tutoring. If you have recently taken some online lessons, you may be wondering how you can improve your tone. In this post, we will go over some top tips to give you a helping hand.
Firstly, you should experiment more during your practice sessions. You are never going to discover your ideal tone until you know what options you have available to you. Plus, the tone depends on the type of music you are playing, and the best musicians will know how to vary their tone colour, i.e. intense, sweet, mellow, bright, or rich, depending on the type of mood they are aiming to generate.
Therefore, to practice this, you should choose a note that you can play with ease. Hold it, and then explore different movements to create various tones. You should also spend time on long tones during your online music lessons. Most people will do this as part of their warm-up, and you can find plenty of resources for this online.
You should also consider recording yourself while you learn flute online. You can record yourself on your laptop, but do be mindful of battery drain. You may be surprised by how different you sound compared to what you hear while you are playing. You may even want to consider recording yourself from different distances so you can get a feel for what an audience would hear.
Finally, improving your tone is not something that will happen overnight. Some tones on particular notes need familiarity and time, so be patient.
Looking After Your Flute
Flute lessons online for beginners are an option well worth considering if you are ready to learn how to play this incredible instrument. However, as well as knowing how to play the flute, you also need to know how to look after it. After all, you want your flute to look good and sound spectacular for as long as possible.
Let’s begin with cleaning the inside of your flute. Nowadays, most new flutes will come with a cleaning gauze or swab, which will eliminate the moisture inside the instrument. If your flute did not come with this, simply use an absorbent cloth. You will also need a cleaning rod. Now, to clean the outside of your flute for your online music lessons you simply need to rub with a plain cloth to brighten up the instrument and remove fingerprints. Some people use toothpaste, yet this could actually wear through your flute’s silver coating.
One thing you may have noticed is that your flute ‘dribbles’, i.e. moisture comes from the keys or out of the end of it. This is nothing to worry about; it is only condensation. Another tip is to make sure you never use Vaseline or cork grease on the joints of the flute. Hire a professional instrument repairer if you need the keys oiled. Finally, to avoid tarnish, you can use an anti-tarnish strip or a silver protector strip and place it inside the case. Nevertheless, tarnish will not impact the sound when you learn flute online.
