In order to get to the starting line (an accomplished performer with good tone and technique) there are several methods I fully endorse. It all comes down to basics and your foundation. A correct and regular practice schedule from the very beginning, spending the right amount of time on TONE, TECHNIQUE, SIGHTREADING, REPERTOIRE, ENSEMBLE & SOLO PERFORMANCE. The best exercise of all is – SCALES!!!!! Played slowly theses will help develop tone,played quickly they will develop technique. Learn ALL your scales and you will become a better player. SCALES – SCALES – SCALES!!!!!! The BEST tool in your arsenal. ALL music is scalic!
Check how other flute players perform. How they stand, how they present their programme. How they execute their playing. Below you can compare the stance and position of the music stands of both Sir James Galway and myself. The similarities are there for a reason!
These following tips, developed over many master classes, may help answer many of the questions that seem to arise again and again from performing students.
TONE:
When I was a young player starting out I spent countless hours each day warming up with the Marcel Moyse “Sonorite” exercises. These are without doubt (in my mind) the best studies ever written to produce a great tone. However, they do have one fault and that is – they are completely boring! When playing the Moyse Sonorite it is so very difficult to keep the mind on the task at hand. It is so very easy for the brain to wander and we then forget to LISTEN! If you work the Moyse correctly it will considerably improve your tone (although perhaps not your English). 
Tone Production:
· Use the French sound: "Tu"
· Keep your head up!
· The first part of a yawn opens up the throat.
· When playing soft stuff keep your throat. open.
· Never hold sound back
· Relate the flute to singing. "No one would sing it like that, so you shouldn't play it like that."
· "It is much better to be standing still, than to see someone doing the same movement over and over again."
· Don't keep time with your body.
· "Using Vibrato all the time brings the sun out...and it isn't sunny all the time."
It all comes from singing – Sing your parts – vocalize before you play. If you can sing it – You can play it!
· Relate the flute to singing. "No one would sing it like that, so you shouldn't play it like that."
· Play a line on the flute and then sing it.
· You can sing with different colours and different styles. It is the same on the flute.
· Get the song inside you before you start.
· Listen to Singers
Vibrato:
· Say "Ha" through the flute
· You don't have to practice vibrato a lot.
· Set a metronome, and have your vibrato start with quarter notes, then eights, triplets and finally the sixteenth notes.
· Don't do it with your throat.
· Use vibrato sparingly.
Breathing:
· Gaubert once said: "You should breath after a long note."
Music Stand
· Should be a flute lengths from your body
· Try putting it to the left and down a little.
Hand Position: Right Elbow should not be too high. If you do find a problem with your hand position, it will be hard to fix. Set a timer and play for 3 minutes, then check where your hands are and play for another 3 minutes.
Don't squeeze your flute on the keys or the lip plate. If you squeeze your keys gently a few hundred times, then you will damage your computer.
Don't hunch forward while you are playing.
On the right hand, the Knuckles should be parallel to the keys.
Your head, right elbow, and right foot should all be in line.
Listen to recordings of the great flute players to hear how they perform and execute a piece.
Always LISTEN and ALWAYS – ALWAYS HAVE FUN!!!!
And that is "As I See it!"
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