Jazz Flute for Beginners

The last thing people think of when they picture jazz bands are flute players rocking out with the other members of the band. The usual stereotype is for jazz bands to consist solely of brass, keyboard, percussion, bass, and maybe the occasional other instrument thrown in for variety's sake. Flute players are considered more appropriate for concert band and orchestra. After all, what place would prissy flute players have in jazz bands?

Turns out, flute players can be right at home in jazz bands. Jazz flute has been a sort of underground phenomenon since the early 20^th century. Although flute players weren't considered ragtime material, a few ragtime bands featured jazz flute players as soloists who would perform a song or two with the band. By the late 1920s and early 1930s, jazz flute players featured with jazz bands were quite common.

Still, gaining acceptance of the jazz flute was a slow process. Only recently have jazz bands truly begun to accept the jazz flute as a deserving member. The factors that helped to bring this about was the many improvements in technology since the emergence of the jazz flute. Because flute players usually play soft, it is easy for them to be overpowered by the rest of the band. But if the flute players play too loudly, they quickly lose their pitch and tone and the quality of music will diminish greatly. Fortunately, new technology allows the jazz flute players to play softly enough to control their pitch and still be heard among the louder instruments of jazz bands.

Any flute player who yearns to be a jazz flutist simply needs determination to practice and courage to improvise. Improvisation is probably the most difficult jazz flute technique for a jazz flutist to master. The best ways to improve improvisation skills are listening to a recording of a jazz flutist and perfecting all major and minor scales, as well as diminished, pentatonic and wholetone scales, sometimes referred to as "jazz scales." An aspiring jazz flutist should practice the jazz scales daily, in a variety of rhythms and tempos.

The most entertaining way to improve jazz flute skills is to play recordings of jazz bands and just jam out with them. Don't be afraid to experiment with the improvisation-this is how a jazz flutist learns what sounds good with a jazz flute and what doesn't. Take one favorite song and do as many completely different jazz flute improvisations with it as possible.

Jazz flute is gaining popularity in jazz bands, and all you need to do to be part of this trend is practice your jazz flute scales and learn how to improvise.