Flute Lessons

How to play Flute for Beginners

Flute lessons are available in public and private schools. You can also get personal tutor or individual course of study designed just for you. There are also online tutorials like this site where you can learn more helpful tips on how to play it well. I hope you’ll have fun learning how to play the flute.

Start your practice session with a warm up, warm ups are long tones. As a beginner, make sure you are playing every note in tune. If you have a metronome, set your metronome on quarter note = 60. This will help you track of the length of your notes. If you don’t have a metronome, hold out every note in your range for as long as you can. A good range for beginners would be a two octave from low D to high D. You might find a fingering chart for this exercise.

I suggest starting on a comfortable note like middle F and working down chromatically (i.e. half steps) to low D, 

then jump directly to high D and work your way back down chromatically to middle F.

Flute Lessons

Flute Embouchure

To begin the Flute Lessons, start develop the proper flute embouchure to begin getting a sound on the flute.

Embouchure is a French word for the position of the lips and muscles around the mouth. The primary objective with the flute embouchure is to keep it relaxed. Don’t develop a tight,”Smily” embouchure because you will find it a difficult habit to break. A tight, pinched embouchure results in a tight, pinched tone. Learning how to play the flute is much easier with a relaxed embouchure.

A tight embouchure also leads to bad intonation. The high register, in particular, will be extremely sharp compared to the lower octaves. The low octave will tend to be flat in comparison. In short, you will be out of tune with yourself!

To make sure you have a proper embouchure, try blowing across the top of a glass pop bottle, it’s a great way to demonstrate the loose, relaxed embouchure. Certain "extended techniques," such as whistle tones, are helpful and fun for developing a relaxed embouchure.

Flute Breath Control

The breath is the most important element of flute playing. Breathing to play the flute is totally different from normal breathing. You must take a large amount of air and breathe quickly then you exhale the air over a sustained period of time, push it out with your abdominal muscles.

Flutists must develop the same supported air stream that other wind players need. Blowing on the flute is so easy compared to the other wind instruments. A mild puff produces a sound, puny and wimpy though it may be. 

Now play with the same strength on your flute. It makes the difference between a rich, full sound and the wimpy, puny, airy sound that most beginners play with. When inhaling, avoid tensing your neck and raising the shoulders.

Various tools are available to help you develop flute breath control.

1. Breath Builder Training Device is an isometric exerciser for lungs and diaphragm muscles. The objective is to keep the ping pong ball inside at the top of the plastic chamber.

2. Ultrabreathe ASI7492 Compact Breathing Exerciser (right) is device designed to boost respiratory performance.

When you have developed a strong stream of air, be sure it is not impeded as it leaves your mouth. An open throat is essential for allowing the air stream to rush freely from the diaphragm and lungs. Proper posture when playing is also important. If your body is strained and tense, your lungs are crumpled and you won’t have the beautiful sound you are striving for.

In order to develop better flute breath control, turn your metronome on as you play long tone and try to hold the tone longer and longer each time. Another technique for improving flute breath control is though circular breathing. Circular breathing allows the player to sustain the air stream by breathing in through the nose to replenish the air in the lungs.

Flute Fingerings

You must learn proper flute fingering from the very beginning to avoid developing bad habits that are difficult to break later.

The flute has a three-octave range but for beginners, beginner to intermediate level players, use a two-octave section in the middle which includes the top half of the bottom octave to the bottom half of the top octave. 

An important guideline for flute fingerings is that each C, D, E, etc., has its own fingering. Don't make the mistake of using the same flute fingerings for each note in all three octaves.

C Flute fingering

There are actually four C's that we can play, starting with middle C. This note has all the fingers down. In the next octave, almost all the fingers are up. In the next octave going up, you use the same fingering as previously.

C-sharp / D-flat

The middle C-sharp and top C-sharp are fingered the same way, with just the right little finger down. This note tends to sound very hollow because of the lack of fingers down. To counter this, add the right second, third, and fourth fingers to give the tone quality more body. This also helps stabilize the pitch of the C-sharp, which is notorious for going wildly sharp and generally out of control.

D

The D is one that is commonly mis-fingered. The low D has the left index finger down, but the middle octave has that left index finger up. A trained flutist can tell if a flutist is playing the middle D with the left index finger down--it sounds stuffy and closed. Don't make this mistake! The top octave D still has the left index finger up, but the right fingers are up with the little finger down.

E-flat

The E-flat is similar to the D. In the low octave, the left index finger is down, but in the middle octave, it is up. High register: The "all-fingers". Every finger that can press a key is down, including the left little finger on the "A-flat" key.

E
Flute fingerings for the low E and middle E are the same. For the high E, lift the left ring finger.

F
Low and middle Fs are the same. For the high F, lift the left third finger.

F-sharp
Low and middle F-sharps are the same. For the high F-sharp, lift the left third finger. Note that you cannot use the thumb B-flat and play the high F-sharp. The high F-sharp is often hard to play, it either doesn't speak or it screeches. Keep a relaxed embouchure as well.

G
Low and middle Gs are the same. For the high G, simply take off the left thumb.

A-flat
Low and middle A-flats are the same. For the high A-flat, lift the left thumb and left index finger.

A
Low and middle As are the same. For the high A, switch the index fingers: Left comes off and right goes down.

B-flat
Low and middle register B-flats are the same. There are three ways you can play this B-flat. Why was the flute designed this way? Who knows, but it's to your advantage to know all three and use them in the appropriate situation.

• One and one - Left index and right index fingers, along with the left thumb and right little finger. Use this fingering when playing in sharp keys and situations where you don't have B-flats or A-sharps except as an occasional accidental.
• Thumb - Slide the left thumb to the left key and you no longer need the right index finger. This is great when you are playing in flat key signature. Use it at all times in flat keys!
• Left B-flat key - This is the one I have used the least. Some people swear by it, though, especially in chromatic scales. Try it and see how you like it.

The major recommendation for B-flat that I make is to use the thumb B-flat in all flat key situations. This avoids the use of the right index finger.

B
Low and middle Bs are the same. For the third octave, you get an odd fingering. Add left ring finger and play the two trill keys in the right hand. And you really must blow hard to get this.

If you have a B-foot joint, you can play the B below middle C. Keep a relaxed, very loose embouchure. Your right little finger needs to reach that last roller key.

Flute fingerings on the third octave and beyond

There is a fourth octave, your flute fingerings chart might not even go that high. It is extremely difficult to play the notes in the fourth octave. It takes a lot of air support and they can sound like the most horrible shrieking noise you ever heard.

Flutists who use extended techniques often play in this fourth register and contemporary composers will write pieces with these notes--just because they can.

The bottom line is to learn correct fingerings thoroughly from the very start of your flute career. You'll learn how to play the flute faster and much better!

Grab your fingering chart and start practicing!

Flute Vibrato

Flute vibrato is that shimmery variation in pitch that warms up the flute's tone.It is produced very much like a singer's vibrato.

Sometimes, vibrato can be a difficult concept for the flutist. Because it is an internal process, it is hard to grasp. But it occurs naturally in the flutist’s tone, as results of having good breath support.

Here’s a few exercises will help develop the vibrato.

1.    Try saying the syllable "ha" into your flute. Now do it several times in a row. Don't worry about make it fast. Turn on your metronome to a slow speed of about 60, and blow the "ha" sound three times to each click. Keep on practice until you are confident with it.

2.    Long tones are a good way to practice vibrato. While practicing long tones, play with a straight tone (no vibrato) and add vibrato in varying numbers per metronome click. Practice this exercise until you can do it naturally and without straining.

Flute Intonation
Flute intonation is an important aspect of playing the flute. An out-of-tune flutist is hard on the ears-no one wants to hear bad intonation!


Poor flute intonation is often caused by a poor embouchure, most likely a too-tight embouchure. This type of embouchure results in a flat low register and a sharp high register. In short, you are out of tune with yourself.

The tension should be in your abdominal area. That's where the air is being forced up and out. Try to use a digital tuner, it is a big help in developing flute intonation. Turn on the tuner when you are practicing long tones and try to make the light stay right in the middle. If it is going sharp, especially in the high register, relax your embouchure.