Trying to describe what the most important element is when it comes to “good” flute playing can often be overly reductive and simplistic, but if there is one element that is widely recognized as the most important factor in accomplished flute playing, it is a beautiful tone. The word “tone” itself can seem abstract and ill-defined, but for the better part of the 20th and 21st Centuries, the international standard for what constitutes a beautiful tone has been primarily set by the “French” or “Paris School,” or rather, the work of renowned flute teacher Paul Taffanel and his equally renowned students Philippe Gaubert and Marcel Moyse.
As such, it is standard practice today for flute students to use Moyse’s concise and yet demanding tone study textbook “De La Sonorite” as a launching point for developing a beautiful, clear, resonant, and penetrating tone/sound. Rewarding though they may be, his exercises demand patience and concentration. Most of his exercises center on “long tones,” that is, setting the metronome to a relatively slow tempo and then doing extensive work on tone matching (playing two notes consecutively and doing one’s best to make sure the two notes have an excellent quality that is consistent between the two pitches). This is best achieved when a student is capable of creating a clear and beautiful sound on one note, after which they can attempt to slur from that note to other notes at varying intervals attempting to replicate a similarly beautiful sound across all intervals and on all notes. Furthermore, every note should sound as though it is effortlessly obtained no matter which articulations, dynamics, or tempo are being used.
A sublime tone also requires a solid grasp of the overtone series and the way each pitch on the flute is actually a resonant layer of various pitches vibrating in harmony together. There exists a comprehensive tone studies series by Trevor Wye which especially highlights and focuses on overtone exercises for flutists to practice at various skill levels.
Professor of Flute at Lee University, Kristen Holritz, said that one should always imagine their sound is filling their performance space and making everything sparkle. As though the sound is causing the very air throughout the room to resonate. Whether one is playing very softly and delicately, or very loudly and bombastically, the air in the room should be captivated, as though by magic, by the resonance of one’s sound. Another way to conceptualize this is to imagine a candle sitting all the way in the back of the room, the flutist’s sound should cause the air around it to move so that the flame flickers – flickers – but doesn’t burn out. Instead it trembles and sways.
Developing my own flute tone, even with the aforementioned skills in mind, was not an easy task. I used to get severe headaches when I practiced. A mere fifteen minutes into my practice session and I would feel out of breath, dizzy, and ill. It turns out that not only is an undeveloped tone unseemly and unappealing to the ear, but it can also take a toll on the player. It turns out that a good tone makes the most efficient use of the air, or the “air column.” No air should be wasted, and there must be enough ebb and flow that your body is also receiving the nourishment that it needs. Keeping these factors in mind a great tone can be obtained by any dedicated flautist, amateur or professional alike!