One of the first flute studies that I've noticed flute students all over the world tend to want to learn is Gariboldi's Study #1 in C major.  So here's a recording of it for you, complete with a breathing tip!

Playing Gariboldi's first flute study

> Download the sheet music for this song for free here: https://www.flutetunes.com/tunes.php?id=1782 

Cute studies for the flute!

This is Etude Mignonne #1 by Gariboldi. It means cute studies. So this is the number one cute study.

I'm Jane Cavanagh. And I'm going to play you this piece. And at the end, I'm going to give you a little bit of a tip for how to get through the passages in this piece, because they can be quite long.

Knowing where to breathe in this flute study

And if you don't know where to breathe, it can really trip you up. So I help you with that at the end.

I agree. I think that is a cute study. It's got a real cute feel to it.

So you'll notice that there's breath marks in this piece. There's commas. Now breath marks are just guidance. They don't mean that these are the only places that you breathe. Obviously, if you've got a rest, you're going to breathe in the rest because it's an opportunity to take in more air, more air is good. Always is more good because you can get through longer phrases that way. That's obvious.

Breathing on the flute

So the tip for you is two things: Don't think that the breath marks are black and white and add your own breaths. If you need them, everyone is at a different stage with how far they can get through a phrase and a top tip: It's not your lungs, it's your embouchure. And I'm going to tell you more about that in a second.

And the other tip to adding your own breaths. If you look at where I breathe, they were actually quite different to where it said in the piece.

You'll notice on the fifth line where it's got quavers, which we call them in Australia and eighth notes in America. You'll notice that I snuck little breaths between each quaver.

That's a great way to get in extra breaths especially through long phrases like that one.

Now the best way to get through longer phrases is to improve your tone. And you might think that is kind of unrelated. It's directly related.

How to very quickly improve your flute sound

I suggest that you come and join me in a free mini course at www.flute.school/free  And I'll teach you exactly how improving your tone is connected to getting through longer phrases.

So good luck with your playing and I'll see you next week.