I’ve been playing tinwhistle for a little while so I thought I’d expand a bit and purchase a bamboo flute (happened to be in the right place at the right time, but that’s beside the point). Anyway, I’ve been having serious trouble getting clean, consistent notes out of it because I cannot figure out the whole blow-over-the-hole deal (there is some French word to describe that, I believe). I know it’s not the flute because I had the guy that makes them play my particular flute for me and it sounded excellent. The problem is clearly me but unfortunately the flute guy could offer little assistence other than “look at my lips”. I know you guys will be able to help me.
~Thanks
have another flute player try it out…if he or she says it plays easy and sounds great, ask to take lessons from em. If they say its not a very good instrument, have them help you purchase one that would be easy to learn on
Ben
The french word you’re looking for is embrouchure. When I was starting, my first bamboo Olwell came with some instructions on how to do it, which I of course, have lost. There should be some information on the web somewhere though.
Rob Greenway has some information on his very helpful flute website:
http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Canvas/9199/tone.html
Did you ever blow into an empty soda bottle to make a sound? You actually hold your mouth in much the same shape as that. It’s actually less like a pucker than you initially think – a very common beginner mistake.
Don’t be discouraged. You will figure it out eventually. Getting the embrouchure right to play that first note is truly the hardest thing about learning the flute.
You might want to consider getting a few starter lessons if there’s a teacher in your area. Sometimes a little advice in real time is worth 1000 words.
Good luck!
why must it be french to describe it? hmmm
i have learnt bamboo flute in india, hmmm let say introduce, untill i broke it (or the amps shall i say)
the bamboo flute is the most difficult instrument i know, even though you can spend mouth training it, you can not achieve proper sound without some guidance.
check that: - the hole is placed under the midle of you lower lip
- their is no leakage with the finger (difficult to see at the begening)
- you dont blow too hard nor to soflty
- you have the proper inclinason to blow (try to turn slowly the flute up or down looking for the note)
begin with a Do or a Mi ( A or C ) do not try the lower scale until you master the higher scale.
also, when holding the flute, do not hold it like a metal one with the bottom of the finger but with the midle to avoid leakage.
l¨embouchure:
you must place the lower lip on the hole of flute, but covering less than a half of it i think, and let the lower lip lie on it while blowing downward in the hole (difficult to discribe with word…)
ouf!
i hope this was usefull, crystal flute is easier 
Hi there Weirdbeard,
I have been going the same route as you for the past 6 months and if it may help, I’ll tell you what has worked for me so far. I use a piper’s grip for the bamboo flute because I find it seals better. And those times when I have a good sound and it just disappears, I check all of the holes to make sure that they are well sealed. That seems to be a problem for me at this stage. You seem to have gotten some pretty good advice for embouchure practice. The only other thing I can tell you is that if I skip playing the flute for a day, I sound like I missed a couple of days practice when I get back to it. I try to keep up the consistency… Well most of the time anyway.
I haven’t played a bamboo flute specifically, but I have gotten a good sound of a reed flute and play other transversal flutes regularly. In regard to getting out a tone, looking at how other people do it DOES help – but only if you use a mirror. Once you know what types of embouchures you could try, you have to see if you are actually using them by looking in a mirror. Another way to get the embouchure is to say “puh” and freeze while the lip opening is still pretty small. You can also see if you’re getting your air stream-focused enough by again looking in a mirror and seeing if you can see a sort of triangle going away from the hole. You might not be able to see this triangle though – it depends on the color and stuff – it’s easier to see on a metal flute. Another problem you might be having is that you might be aiming your air at the right spot. This right spot is different for every flute. One way to find is to take a drinking straw and use it to experiment. Hold your flute against something to make sure you’re not shifting it, and then use the straw to blow at the opposite side of the hole at a 45 degreeish angle in the middle of the hole. Experiment from there – different angles, more to the left, more to the right, etc. Once you find where you are getting the best tone, mentally mark the spot and then use the mirror to see if your left/right orientation is correct and visualize the angle as you blow. If you have any questions, please ask.
Patience.