Learn 2 good tips on how to play the Super Mario Bros theme on flute sound more fluid. If you're keen to learn how to make this Latin-vibe fabulous video game tune easier to learn, check out the lesson!

Super Mario Bros theme played on the flute

You can download the sheet music for this song for free here

This is the theme from Super Mario Brothers, played on the flute by me, Jane Cavanagh, and the composer is Kondō.

Famous flute tune

This is the best piece for flute and I will explain after I play it, why it's so good on flute. And I'm also gonna give you a teaching tip on how to learn this more easily and have it sound better. 

Okay. I have to apologize for two things. My brain flat in the middle where I went to repeat and it wasn't a repeat. So sorry about that. And the second one was in the fourth last bar, my dodgy low C. So I can normally play Lucy. I don't know why it didn't come out then, but, oh, well, that's what happens.

It's a good reminder to not aim for perfect because there's always something that's not quite perfect with your playing. So I always advise my students to aim for 99%, which honestly is pretty down amazing and very high standards.

But if you're aiming for perfect, you'll always find something that wasn't just wasn't quite right. So try not to be too much of a perfectionist when you are learning something, but at the same time have high standards.

Proper flute technique

Okay, so my name is Jane Cavanagh, which I mentioned. I teach flute students. I'm a flute teacher and I teach them how to get faster progress through proper technique. And proper technique is learning all aspects of the flute that are technical based.

So that's everything from blowing the flute, embouchure, faster fingers, posture, hand position, the balance of the flute, the proper way to tongue, the proper way to play high notes. There's so much about flute technique.

The Flute Academy

Sometimes people think that flute technique is finger speed, and that is part of it, but it's not the only thing. That's what I teach, and I teach people that in my flute academy. So if you're interested in learning more, go check it out.

Theme played on flute

Super Mario Brothers, I've got a tip for you. When you learn this, learn it in four in a bar. Now, you might be looking this at this going, oh, there already is four in a bar. There's actually two beats in a bar. So there's two minimum beats per bar or two half note beats per bar.

And that's because the time signature, it's a little C and it's got a line through it. The line means that the time signature is two two. The two two is very similar to four four except that it's faster. So instead of counting or tapping four beats in a bar like this, 1, 2, 3, 4, 1, 2, 3, 4, you'd change it into two in a bar like this. 1, 2, 1, 2. So da da da da da, dumb. Oh, I think I sang the wrong notes, but there you go. I'm not a singer.

Slower flute playing

So my tip for you is to slow the piece down and learn it in four in a bar to get the rhythm right. The rhythm is, I was gonna say tricky. It's not that it's tricky. It's very syncopated and it's much easier to learn if you're unfamiliar with these sorts of rhythms, it's much easier to learn if you learn it slower and counting in four, then speed it up and do it in two.

Two makes it flow better. So counting two in a bar is great. It's a great time signature for this piece.

Okay, the reason this piece is so good on flute is because Super Mario Brothers, I mean, I think I'm a child of the eighties. I grew up in the eighties, but I don't think I ever played this. I think Super Mario himself, I think they're Italian like the characters. Now, the composer, Koji Kondo, looking at his name, I think he's Japanese. I suspect that the company is American. But regardless of all of those countries, the style of this piece is Latin. So it's Latin music.

Latin flute music

We all know that the flute belongs in Latin music so beautifully. You have listened to Brazilian music, Choro music, that flute is in so much Latin music, and that's why it suits this piece so perfectly.

It also suits this piece because it's a computer game, a computer theme. I don't know if you've heard this piece already, it suits a solo instrument. It's not like there's a massive orchestra that's missing when you play this piece by itself.

So there you go. I just overloaded you with all these reasons and tips to help you play your Super Mario Brothers theme better and more easily.

The Flute Academy

There you go. Come and check out my flute academy. If you really wanna learn good technique on the flute, that helps you improve a lot faster. So I call it faster progress through proper technique.

Come and have a look at www.flute.school/academy and I'll show you more there. See you later.