Posts by Christie Gallen

Breath Support: The Why, What and How…

by Christie Gallen | November 25, 2018 | No Comments

When it comes to playing a wind instrument such as the flute, the way we breathe and blow is really the cornerstone of our performance. We’re all told to use this concept of ‘breath support’ when playing. Despite being a critical playing concept, the actual muscle mechanics of breathing and breath support during playing is poorly understood by both players and teachers alike. Because of this we all have a different definition of what breath support means. And that’s lead
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Should We Bother Setting Goals??

by Christie Gallen | November 9, 2018 | No Comments

For me, I’ve always liked setting goals in all areas of my life – be it finance, hobbies, career etc. Particularly around the start of a new year, I feel a sense of excited anticipation and hopefulness about what lies ahead. But most of us (myself included) despite our very best intentions, fail to meet our often noble resolutions or goals of doing more exercise, losing weight, quitting smoking or learning a new skill like an instrument or language… Why are we
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Amazing Types of flutes: Discovering the Flute Family Tree

by Christie Gallen | October 26, 2018 | No Comments

My parents are in the middle of constructing our family tree. Amazingly, they’ve been able to go back ten generations. As they chase down birth and marriage dates, photos, and names long forgotten, it’s been a fascinating journey to put together the pieces of our history, understand where we came from and unravel connections we never knew existed. Today I’m going to take you on a similar journey and introduce you to some of the types of flutes (call them your
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How to Play Lush Low Notes and Heavenly High Notes Effortlessly

by Christie Gallen | September 30, 2018 | 2 Comments

One of the most common beginner challenges is understanding how to subtly modify your playing technique to produce the lowest and highest flute notes and still maintain beautiful sound. In this short article I’ll explain the note range of the flute, how you can develop a flexible embouchure to leapfrog between high and low notes effortlessly, and I’ll share some tips to help you troubleshoot problems. Flute range The range of notes playable on the flute span three octaves from
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Flute Vibrato: Breath Life into your Flute Playing

by Christie Gallen | September 4, 2018 | 3 Comments

Do you feel like your flute playing lacks that ‘something extra’? That it’s sounding flat and lifeless and no matter how technically well you play a piece, it’s just plain uninspiring? The breathing technique called ‘flute vibrato’ is one of the main ways in which a flute player can add tone colour, intensity, emotion and life to playing. Using the vibrato technique in the appropriate musical pieces at the appropriate times is a skill expected of players as they advance
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13 Flute Practice Mistakes you Might be Making….

by Christie Gallen | July 13, 2018 | 7 Comments

As flute players that are learning online at home, it can be easy to slip into some bad habits that ultimately make flute playing more difficult for you. I’ve had a brainstorm, canvassed the crowd and collated some of the most common practise mistakes that beginners (and certainly even long-time players) make. Only a few are made out of deliberate laziness (and I’m calling you out of them folks!). But many of them you may not even realise you’re doing,
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Why You Should Convert to Digital Flute Sheet Music

by Christie Gallen | July 13, 2018 | No Comments

Why You Should Convert to Digital Flute Sheet MusicAs flute players seeking to be challenged and becoming the best players we can be, what is our number one need? Flute sheet music of course! And lots of it!So much has changed in the music world. Even in the 20 years between when I began playing and now, there’s been the advent of the internet (questions answered by experts within seconds), online shopping (browse and compare a dizzying range of flute
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The BEST flute player you’ve never heard of…

by Christie Gallen | March 31, 2018 | No Comments

I’m a big believer that the more flute music you listen to, the better flute player you’ll become. There’s something quite exciting about discovering a new favourite flute player or a genre of music that features the flute in a way you didn’t know possible! Actively listening to another flute player can benefit your own playing journey and appreciation for music in so many ways.Here’s how… check You develop a better internal sense of rhythm. First, you may start with
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12 Reasons Playing Flute as an Adult is Easier than You Think…

by Christie Gallen | February 23, 2018 | 7 Comments

Whether you’re learning flute for the very first time or relearning after a long break (decades anyone?), it’s never too late to start. Adult learners enjoy tremendous success in learning a musical instrument, with progress at a rate that often leaves younger students in their dust. And that’s despite having the additional time demands and responsibilities that adult life brings. So how do they do it?? Based on my own experiences and those of fellow adult learners, I’ve listed 12 reasons why learning
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Don’t Let These Three Reasons Sabotage Your 2018

by Christie Gallen | December 20, 2017 | 1 Comment

Another year has passed us by and a new one is just around the corner. It’s around this time that we reflect back over the past year’s goals, where we succeeded and fell short, and look towards the potential of the coming year. We all like to get the most out of life, but for some bizarre reason we have a habit of only planning our dreams and goals out once a year in a New Year’s Resolution. An estimated
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