Q&A for How to Play the Piccolo

If you are unable to make a sound in your piccolo, consider doing this: Make your fingers in a "2" shape, then put the horizontal under your lower lip, then blow out of your mouth, adjusting your lips until you feel air on the finger farthest away from you.

The simple answer is to practice supporting your sound and breath. Focus the air you blow into the embouchure hole, support your sound using your breath and stomach, and the easiest solution: practice!

If you have a cloth in your carry case or bought a cleaning set, you should have a white cloth, which can is used to put up the instrument to clean the inside. The velvet-feeling cloth is used to polish the silvery outside.

The piccolo is considerably smaller than the flute and has a much higher range.

First finger on left hand, pinkie on right. Google a flute fingering chart.

Yes, unless you want to sound drunk or vibrato all the time. We stop the air by touching the tip of our tongue to the roof of our mouth (called tonguing) to make separate notes.

For a low and middle range F, place the first, second and third fingers, along with your thumb, on your left hand down, and the first finger on your right hand down. For a high range F, use the same fingers, but remove the second finger on your left hand.

It does not necessarily depend on how long you have been playing, but more so on your ability. However, if piccolo is 100% what you want to do, then learn it regardless of your flute skills.

Practice. Try using notes in that range and continue playing lower and higher. Adjusting your embouchure could help as well. Other than that, make sure your Piccolo is working, that it's nothing wrong with the actual instrument itself. If you are not sure if it is you or the instrument then see if someone else who plays will test it for you.

If you're proficient on flute, you may pursue piccolo. You use a larger amount of air on a piccolo, but there's plenty else that's the same or similar.

Practice as often as you can. As everyone knows, practice makes perfect in many cases. Also, read articles such as this one as they can help you.

The piccolo's embouchure is smaller than the flute's.

Sure. The piccolo uses more air to play, though. So, you can start with a piccolo, but it will be harder to learn than the flute.

Make a peace sign or #2 sign with your index and middle finger and put your index finger against your bottom lip. Blow and adjust your mouth shape and position until you feel the air on your middle finger.

Yes, although learning the flute first might make it easier for you to learn the piccolo.

The same way as a regular piccolo. You just have to cover the holes entirely when you press it.

Breathing exercises aren't going to help you learn to play piccolo, however if you'd really like to learn some, just do a search on YouTube, there are bound to be instructional videos. Being good at the flute takes a while. I suggest taking lessons from a professional flute player. Just remember, it takes time to be good at an instrument. It doesn't come overnight.

Yes, it is. Any fingering you use for flute is the same for piccolo. However, there are alternate fingerings that you may use in order for notes to be more in tune, or simply easier to play.

First, make sure that your fingerings are correct. If they are, and A and Bb still sound the same, there may be be something wrong with your piccolo, such a loose screw or some pads needing to be replaced. If your piccolo only has holes and not keys, make sure you are fully covering the holes.

The thickness of your lips doesn't matter—anyone, with any sort of lips, can learn to play the piccolo well.

The piccolo only has one pinkie key, which differs from the flute's two or three. Since the piccolo doesn't have that second key, it simply can't go past a low D.

The piccolo range only goes down to D below the staff, written. Partially covering the end of the instrument can make it go lower, but I have yet to come across a piece that calls for it.

C8 is the highest a piccolo can go. Earplugs will help you a lot when playing higher notes.

On the piccolo, it is an octave higher than it would be on the flute. That is most likely why.

No, try changing embouchure or make sure you are forcing your right pinky key down hard enough.

Do you mean should you finger the notes the same as you would playing a flute? The answer is yes, the piccolo is designed to sound an octave higher than the music is written.

Aim down a little more and push your piccolo a little farther forward. practice your chromatic scale going down until you hit the lowest note (D) consistently.