Getting started
- Hold the instrument in your palm with the narrow part at the top of your hand and the concave surface facing you.
- Place the flute firmly but gently over your mouth and position the curved inner ridge of the flute firmly against the septum or bottom part of your nose.
- Open your mouth, pout your lips on the surface of the flute and move your mouth/face muscles until you get the most comfortable position.
- Take a deep breath and blow a steady stream of air using both nostrils into the small chamber at the top of the flute that has a narrow slit While it is even possible to play the Clarytone with a blocked nose, the best results are achieved when the nose is clear.
- Keeping the flute in position simply breathe in through your nose, mouth or both at the same time. Each inhalation should be fast and deep going down below your rib cage. The breathing is very similar to that used when singing or whistling.
- Try inhaling after each sound or note you play and progressively speed this up. This is a good practice for learning how to breath properly and after a while you can then play a number of notes before having to inhale. Avoid getting to the point where you have no air in your lungs.
- If you are not getting a sound try subtle position changes of the flute, movements of your face muscles, shape and tension of your mouth and/or changes in the position of your lips especially your bottom lip. Make sure you are directing a flow of air down into the flute. It is important that the fipple or opening on both sides of the flute are keep clear at all times.
- Changes in pitch (high to low) are made by altering the tension and shape of the mouth and throat. Singing or humming the “ do re mi “ scale involves similar adjustments in your mouth. Tensioning and flattening the circular shape of the mouth raises the pitch while relaxing and rounding the circular shape of the mouth lowers the pitch. During these changes in mouth tension and shape, it is important that the position of the lips firmly positioned on the inside surface of the flute, are kept unchanged.
- The lowest notes produced on the Clarytone are softer while the highest notes are louder since they require an increased air flow.
Going further
Once you are able to create sounds on the Claryitone, you may like to try the following:
- Begin playing WELL KNOWN TUNES, MELODIES and SONGS that are in your head starting with simple ones like Happy birthday, Jolly good fellow, Row your boat, etc. Do not be critical of how you sound at first and embarrassed when you are unable to hit the proper note. You will start making progress very soon and all that is required is to spend some time practicing. CD’s are available with backing tracks at a small additional cost.
- After only a few hours practice you will observe marked improvements in your note range, clarity and volume
- Go UP and DOWN the scale (range of notes) and try to hold each note clearly without changing the pitch. The higher and lower notes are more difficult to control so focus initially on learning to play the mid range notes (1,5 to 2 octave range) accurately and consistently before turning your attention to the lowest and highest notes.
- Learn to SLIDE in and out of notes which requires a smooth and gradual change in mouth tension and shape.
- Creating a VIBRATO effect which involves a slight oscillation of the pitch to enhance the expressive quality of the note is achieved by subtly moving the back part of the mouth up and down. Note that when doing the tongue should be in a fixed position at the bottom of the mouth.
- Create a TRILL effect which involves a rapid alternating of 2 different notes. This is achieved by rapidly tapping the front part of your palate (top of your mouth) with the tip of your tongue.
- SINGING and HUMMING through both your nose and mouth while playing the flute can with some practice and note matching provide some very pleasing and unusual effects and sounds
- Put on some of your favourite music and try to play along by finding the correct KEY in which the music is being played. Also experiment with playing in higher or lower octaves. Be prepared to spend some time doing this and remember that compared to time required to master other musical instruments, the Clarytone enables you to become a skilled and active co-creator of the music that you love.
Begin to create your own original tunes and songs and experiment with volume(high notes can be heard 800 meters away), walking and running while playing and playing along with music that is unfamiliar to you