Are These Flute Embouchure Mistakes Sabotaging Your Sound?

Whether you're a beginner player whose picking up the shiny tube for the very first time OR an experienced player, the flute embouchure (pronounced om-boo-shore) is a playing concept that's like oxygen. 

You can't do without it.

Go to any flute forum, Quora or Facebook group, and you'll see its one of the most talked about topics.

Take a look.

Why?

Well,  mastering control of the embouchure is critical for 

• beautiful rich tone
• effortless leaping between high and low notes 
• control over dynamics (volume) and
• intonation (playing in tune).

So let's get started.

This article is your guide to mastering and understanding the flute embouchure. 

(If you're struggling to zero in on crystal clear sound, we recorded a quick, super practical workshop to help you figure out the tiny changes that can lead to huge improvements in your flute tone including the step by step process for correct embouchure formation, tonguing, air support, posture and more...

We called it the 'Optimize your Flute Tone' workshop, 

What is the Flute Embouchure

The word embouchure is rooted in the French for ‘mouth’ and refers to the shape of the facial muscles, tongue and teeth when we blow into a wind instrument. 

The  opening in our lips is called the aperture.

Its shape and size helps to channel our breath and regulate its speed and direction into and across the flute. This makes it one of three vitally important factors in good sound production,

• Embouchure 
• The material a flute is made of, and
• The physical cut of the head joint

can make or break the quality of your sound.

(By the way, before you buy a flute, make sure you know how to spot a dud by  clicking here .)

The flute is an exception in the woodwind family.

Along with his little brother, the piccolo, its the only modern orchestral instrument without a reed.

A reed creates resistance, causing vibrations which then produce sound.

With the flute our mouth is effectively the reed – the conduit through which the air travels into the instrument.

No reed - no sound. 

How does the Flute Embouchure Affect Sound Quality?

Three major factors - the embouchure shape and size, its positioning on the flute’s lip plate as well as breath control all work together to make great sounding tone (or sound quality).

To make a ‘sound’ on the flute, the air needs to travel diagonally down across the embouchure hole.

The shape and size of your aperture creates a jet of air. 

The length, thickness, angle and speed of this air jet all act together to produce the vibrating column of air within the flute that makes sound.

Change any one of these parameters and you'll produce changes in pitch, volume or flute tone.

For example, if you play with too little air speed, it means the column of air will vibrate slower, which means you’ll play flat (under pitch), softly and with a raspy, weak sound.

What is a Flexible Flute Embouchure?

As your playing ability improves, there's new skills to master.

 You'll expand to playing notes at the extremes of registers.

Playing over a large dynamic range from very, very soft to very, very loud.

As well as playing in tune. 

To do all of these things, your embouchure needs to remain ‘flexible.’ This means it’s actually necessary to make subtle modifications as you play. 

Your face and throat can't be tense or locked into just one position. 

Your embouchure is dynamic.

Here's an example of using embouchure flexibility...

To make the interval leaps in measure 40 above, you need to increase the air speed and modify the direction of air into the flute. 

Instead of just ‘blowing harder’ you can modify the aperture size to become smaller.

It forces the air through a smaller hole, naturally causing an increase in speed without the side effect of playing loudly and sharp.

You also need to angle the air higher by moving the centre of the bottom lip and jaw ever so slightly forward, covering more of the embouchure hole.  

In another example below, to increase the volume in measure 26 you need to use more air. 

But if you simply blow harder and faster, you'll raise the pitch and eventually over blow into harmonics. Instead you compensate by increasing the size of the aperture  and allow more air to flow without the overall speed increasing.

(Incorporating harmonic exercises regularly into your practice time will help you leap smoothly and effortlessly between octaves. We cover specific exercises you can use in the >>> 'Optimize your Flute Tone' workshop to help you troubleshoot airy, inconsistent tone). 

My Easy Guide to Forming your Embouchure

The embouchure is so polarising.

Some people seem to be naturals. They have no issues producing sound relatively quickly. 

For others,  the struggle for sound takes longer.

That's OK. I've got some pointers that will strategically help you zero in on that sweet spot.

If you've tried these and are still struggling, I'll show you how I go about forming my flute embouchure, step-by-step, in my video below...

The Flute Embouchure Mistakes That Sabotage Sound

So I realise I've given you a general guide to embouchure formation, but the problem's obvious isn't it?

We're all unique.

Our lip thickness, the straightness of our teeth, wearing braces, the shape of our chins and jaw bite will mean each embouchure shape will be a little different to the next.

And that means it’s really a case of trial and error to find that sweet spot, so get in front of that mirror and start experimenting. 

There's been a lot of talk in this article about what the embouchure 'is', but what can be just as helpful in this search for sound, is understanding what the embouchure definitely ISN'T.

So to wrap up, here's SIX of the most common embouchure mistakes many beginners make, and why they matter.