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By Lyrad on Aug 31, 2009 | Reply

You have to put air into it using the other end. lol

Actually you need to just blow harder, or get a smaller size instrument - practice on a soda bottle and you will see the volume is directly proportional to the volume of air. And the higher the pitch the smaller the opening.

Good Luck.
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By emt09 on Aug 31, 2009 | Reply

just practice.. if you need to tighten your lips, adjust the mouth piece, just practice and you will get it or find someone around you that can teach you the basics..
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6+ years of playing flute/ piccolo

By Kelsey on Aug 31, 2009 | Reply

Blow a faster, wider airstream, and experiment with your embrochure and different speeds and amounts of air for volume.
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I’ve been playing for 8 years so far.

By MusicGirl on Aug 31, 2009 | Reply

you have to blow air into it at a slant
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By J_Maverick on Aug 31, 2009 | Reply

Is the sound airy or pure? If it’s airy, you need to work on tightening your lips (especially the corners) and better aiming the stream of air. If you aren’t sure of the answer to this question or don’t know if your embouchure is good, you should think about getting lessons.

Is your instrument in good condition? If it hasn’t been in for repair in a while, it could be that the pads aren’t sealing right causing problems with tone, air/resistance, and intonation.

Are you breathing properly? It takes a lot of air to play flute. Make sure you use good breath support. Breath from your diaphragm and use a strong, steady flow of air when you play. Alternatively, it is possible to sound bad because you try too hard to use a lot of air, letting your air stream spread and your embouchure to suffer. If you aren’t sure if you’re doing this right, consider getting a private lessons teacher.
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By Flauta on Aug 31, 2009 | Reply

The embouchure and breath support are the most important to your signature which is your tone.It very possible that you may need to drop your jaw much more in order to open up. Your mouth is an open cavity.Open it up and it will allow more air to pass through. If your throat is closed it will be very difficult to increase volume.Your breath support should also come from the diaphragm not from your chest.The combination of both should help increase you sound.
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By lachy4591 on Aug 31, 2009 | Reply

I would like to correct one person who answered. If your tone is airy, DO NOT tighten your lips. This will only make it worse. You must relax your lips. This will make for a MUCH clearer sounding tone. My tone actually sounds better when I’m tired, because I’m relaxing my body.

As for volume, I’m not exactly sure what you mean, but don’t just blow harder. You must use breath support, which involves using your diaphragm. Tighten the muscles in your stomach area. You will probably need to consult a teacher for help with this.

Also, open up your throat. It will allow the tone to really sound. Relaxing your embouchure should also help with volume.
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Experienced flautist. I also teach lessons.

By dfw_flautist on Aug 31, 2009 | Reply

As you can see by all the different opinions, the absolute answer is a bit elusive without seeing and hearing you in person. That being said, when MY students are having trouble getting volume, its most often a breath support issue. It CAN be complicated by an incorrect air stream, or incorrect embouchure.

Here are MY suggestions:
1. If you are NOT taking lessons, find a teacher, and TAKE! A private teacher can SEE and hear what you are doing both right and wrong, helping you to progress faster.

2. Make certain you are deep breathing, from your diaphram. If you don’t know what this means, if your tummy isn’t moving, and your body doesn’t feel like it’s expanding and contracting when you breathe, you are NOT deep breathing. To simplify, I tell students to think about pushing their tummy muscles down and out while inhaling. You will see this causes your BODY to help you pull in air, filling up your lungs. THEN, as you play, slowly, physically pull your stomach muscles back into your body. This will help to support your air.

3. Watch your air SIZE and angle. The higher the note pitch, the more you should blow ACROSS the flute, with a small round air opening in your lips. The LOWER the note pitch, the more your air angle should feel likeblowing toward your chin, with a wider, squished oval air stream. Think of the 4 C’s on a flute. Use THIS as a guideline…
LOWEST C - blow toward chin…wider, squished oval airstream
3rd space C - still blowing low, but about at a 30 degree angle higher than straight down. Airstream is not quite as wide, and should be a "pretty" oval, NOT squished.
2nd Ledger line C - will be about another 30 degrees higher (60 degrees from straight down, OR 30 degrees below straight across). Here, the airstream is truly ROUND, but about the same size as the 3rd space C’s oval.
HIGHEST C - This should FEEL like you are blowing straight across the flute, and the airstream should be round, and VERY small.
ALL other notes on the flute fit within those perameters.

What I have described speads up the airstream, and cleans up the air. Do NOT overblow to get louder, or especially, to reach the higher notes on the flute.

4. Watch your hand position, especially if you are playing on an open holed flute. Practice while looking in a mirror, OR have someone else help spot for you when your fingers are not covering the keys properly.

5. Use the breathing mentioned above to practice DYNAMICS. To put it simply, if your breathing is CORRECT, pulling your muscles in faster should speed up the airstream, and you should get louder., while slowing down, and GRADUALLY pulling in your stomach should make you play more quiet.

The KEY here is that EVERYTHING has to work together…the breathing, air angle, air stream SIZE, AND hand position.

I hope this helps!
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Many years teaching flute!

By bcooper_au on Aug 31, 2009 | Reply

Things have pretty much been covered above. Volume takes a whole lot of stuff particulary support muscles and embrouchure. Get a private teacher it really hard to see the problem if you cant see it. But try the above suggestions!! And Practice Practice Practice!!!! Good luck!! Try this girl She is really REALLY good. http://youtube.com/watch?v=O0XfoandDjk
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Flute teacher

By lilvid_001 on Aug 31, 2009 | Reply

The previous answers are on the money - more air. If you are having difficulty getting sufficient air flow you should try breathing exercises. There are breathing techniques involving using various measured breath lengths both inhaling and exhaling that can build your air column. Try visiting a music store, local school music instructor, or church choir director to receive proper examples and techniques.
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