Wondering if anyone has any ideas on this. Tradition says the best way to get a nice dark reedy tone is to roll the head joint inwards. Rolling the headjoint on my Seery seems to actually weaken the tone, especially the bottom D, yet I find it more comfortable to play than with all the holes inline. Is it possible that rolling the headjoint in only works with elliptical embouchure holes, and not the larger more rectangular embouchure on the Seery?
Corin
Corin,
back on my old Dixon, I always rolled the head joint in pretty far (embouchure backside about even with the mid-point of the tone holes), but after I got my Seery that just didn’t seem to do it for me. I was sounding better with the embouchure not quite inline with the tone holes (just a slight tilted towards me). Whenever I turned the embouchure further in towards me, it killed my tone.
However, just 3 nights ago, I tried turning the embouchure hole way back in towards myself, and it sounded great. I had a better, more carrying tone. I can only guess that after 3 months on the Seery something had changed in my embouchure that allowed for this to happen, but I sure didn’t consciously do anything different.
So in answer to your question - I’m totally clueless! Four days ago I would have said yes turning in a boxed oval embouchure weakened tone, but now I don’t think it does.
I swear, the more I play, the less I know…
Eric
Use whatever works best for you. I set mine the same as my Hammy: far edge of the embouchure hole in line with the center of the finger holes.
Kevin Krell
Seery webmaster
That’s where mine is now at, too, Kevin.
Corin - have you had your Seery long?
Eric
I’ve had it for a few months. The problem is partly intonation. My tuning slide has to be way out, 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch if I keep the embouchure inline. If I turn it inward though, the low F# to D just sound poor. If I were to blow lightly the slide can be a bit more towards its normal limits, but to open her up and let her rip is another thing. I’m pretty sure it’s not my embouchure, as I’m pretty used to playing some big bore flutes. I’m just not sure if the boxed oval embouchure requires a little different positioning or amount of lip. I’m used to elliptical embouchures
Corin
Hmmm, interesting. I just tried turning in the headjoint again, but this time altering my embouchure. Instead of covering a bit with the lower lip as one would do with the elliptical embouchures that most simple system flutes have. I tried holding the flute against the fleshy part of the lip, so that the airstream is still focused somewhat across the hole, but not as much as if one were playing a Boehm. That seems to do the trick. For now anyway! Interesting. The tone is definitely better. The only problem though seems to be a bit of volume loss, it’s not as easy to blast away in full session mode.
Corin
Have you tried having other players have a go at it? I’ve tried a number of other Seery flutes beside mine, and they seem to behave just as a wooden flute, no significant embouchure difference. The slide should normally be closed, although tuning to a session you might need to go out a 1/4" or so. Are you having any difficulty properly closing the lower hand holes when you have the headjoint rotates (since you will be holding it in a different position)? You should be able to put a lot of air into it.
Kevin Krell
Kevin - I’d always assumed all flutes with slides were made so they were to be pulled out a bit (about 1/4") so you could tune sharp if need be (to deal with evil fixed pitch accordions and such). Am I wrong in that?
My Seery plays in tune with the slide out 1/4" or so when warmed up - sometimes a tad more but never more than about 3/8".
This is just more of a curiousity issue for me…it doesn’t truly matter to me where my slide is set because I know I as the player can have a huge impact on that issue - it’s more of a design question.
Eric
Kevin,
I actually hold the flute with the tone holes in the same spot. regardless of how the headjoint is adjusted. no problem closing them. I think changing that, for me anyway, would invite injury. As far as the embouchure and stuff, your’re right, it isn’t radically different from a wood flute, but different ebouchures do require different techniques. Most of the flutes I’ve played in the last 4 years have been R&R types with smaller elliptical embouchures. These require a bit of a different blow.
As far as the slide thing goes, I may just blow sharp, but if I’m cranking out the tunes and getting a nice Prattenesque tone. The flute is WAY sharp, even with the slide out about 3/4 of an inch. I’ve checked it with a Korg tuner numerous times. The cork seems to be in the right spot too. If I pull the slide out too much more, I could through my octaves off too much.
Corin