Arm Placement for Better Tone - FluteTips 180

Have you ever really thought about the placement of your arms when playing flute? What do your arms do? Some people let their arms hang, some bring the left elbow up, some look like their arms are barely holding the flute up, and some keep them rigidly out marching band style.
Do you know that arm placement can influence your tone? It can also affect the long-term health of your flute playing.
There is a lot to think about with the positioning of the arms to help create the most relaxed yet functional flute playing, and the surprising thing is that it can affect tone as well.
In this video I will explain proper arm positioning to help create the best flute player in you!
Read my Blog on this topic:
Arm Placement for Better Tone
doctorflute.com/arm-placement...
Here a link to the flute demonstrated in this video:
North Bridge Flutes
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North Bridge Series 700 Intermediate Flute
700 NB-7BEF, Sterling silver handmade McKenna headjoint, Sterling silver body, Silver-plated mechanism, drawn tone holes, French model (open hole keys), Pointed key arms, Pisoni pads, 0.016"/0.40mm tubing thickness, A=442, Offset G, Split E mechanism, C# trill key, B footjoint
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Arm Placement for Better Tone - FluteTips 180
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[@annham4136]

This is an important subject. To begin, I am 68 years old so placement is also about long term comfort, no stresses to back, neck or shoulders while obtaining the best sound. Besides what you point out, I have seen that while performing it seems now to be in vogue to hyper raise the flute and circle and dip around. That would be affectation and wholly unnecessary. Your sound is why you are performing, your comfort is for the long run.

[@DoctorFlute]

Yes, I agree. Too much movement and odd positioning is distracting and overall uncomfortable.

[@craigbetts6533]

I just got together with my former teacher today to play duets, and she shared this video with me and we worked a bit with the new placement. I definitely noticed a difference in my playing, specifically in my ability to hit notes in the lower octave but also in the clarity of tone. However, if I went too far, my tone would get fuzzy, so I knew I was going too far. I'm still going to experiment a bit, but after using the new technique, it now feels weird to go back to the straight line that I was usually playing with. Thanks for the great video tip. I'm going to continue to work with this until I get a good spot.

[@DoctorFlute]

Hey that sounds great. Experimenting to find what works best for you is fantastic. I’m so glad you worked with your teacher to find the right spot. Well done!

[@Light-B]

Thanks for these helpful videos

[@DoctorFlute]

Thanks! Are you having difficulty with your posture?

[@rlaflamme865]

Thanks for your always useful and helpful tips!

[@DoctorFlute]

Thanks! Glad you like them!

[@anthonycaruso5292]

Could you do a video on doing accents on flute? Your videos are always really helpful and I've been struggling with getting the accents out well in some of Drouet's etudes.

[@DoctorFlute]

I would be happy to discuss accents on the flute. It’ll be a bit before I am ready to record another round of videos. But look for it in another month.