Welcome!

TAKING A BREAK- Due to family circumstances as of January 2016 I'll no longer be taking new students.  I'm not sure when I'll start teaching again- but I'll post on here when the time is right. 

A little about me:

I've been playing the flute for 21 years and have been performing and teaching for the past 16 years. I've taught many flutists from young-old, beginning-advanced, male and female, and I even recently taught a Japanese student who didn't speak any English! I have studied with Anna Lisa Davidson (Logan), Leslie Timmons (Utah State University), and Susan Goodfellow (University of Utah).

I received a BM in Instrumental Music Education from the University of Utah in 2005, I taught band/orchestra for a few years, and am currently a member of the Utah Wind Symphony and Utah Flute Association.

I hope you will consider me as your next (or first!) private lesson teacher. I currently am accepting new students and am excited to meet you! *Please check out my bio., philosophy, and studio policy at the top of the page.

Since I believe that teachers and students need to respect each other and be compatible your first lesson (to play or observe) is FREE!

Please e-mail me: rachelfluteteacher@gmail.com or call 801-815-1360 to schedule your first lesson today!

Tips for Playing in the Low Register on the Flute

Tips for playing the low register on the flute:

1-      Make sure you have a working flute and all your pads are sealing correctly.  Ask your teacher to look for leaks or take your flute to a repair shop.

2-      Warm up.  It is important to warm up on the flute before you start doing anything difficult- fast fingers, high register, or low register… which means, warm up in the middle register with long tones.

3-      Be relaxed.  You should never have tension in your shoulders or jaw when playing any note on the flute.

4-      Reach the low notes you are working on by starting higher and slowing working down one note at a time.  Don’t move on to the next note until you are satisfied with the note you’ve just played.

5-      Press the flute a little closer to your mouth and drop the corners of your mouth.  You will need to blow downward more for the low notes (at a steeper angle).

6-      You will want your embouchure to have more of an oval shape when playing lower notes.  The hole will be a little bigger and not as circular as higher notes.

7-      Blow more air and slower air for low notes.  You don’t have to blow harder, just adjust your steam angle, slow down a little, and make your hole slightly wider and more air will come.

8-      Once you’ve got your low notes play them with a full breath and maintain a nice rich sound.

9-      Practice playing the same note an octave higher and lipping down to the low note.  Watch in a mirror to see what it looks like in the two octaves and notice how it feels different when playing low notes.

10-   Practice, practice, practice.  When you stop playing the flute the first things to go and the last to come back are those low notes.

Circle of 5ths

It is important to get to know this circle with all your heart:)

Outside are are the major scales and inside are the corresponding minor scales.

C major and A minor (natural) have no flats/sharps.  Going around the circle clockwise you add a sharp until you reach F sharp with six sharps.  Going counter-clockwise you do the same thing with flats.  

Memorize this circle and be able to reproduce it on your own and you are one step closer to memorizing all your major/minor scales!

Here is another chart that shows the flats and sharps.