Desperate - Can't Play in Low Humidity!

Irish Flute
1

I have been playing Irish flute for 4 years (Casey Burns keyless), and have discovered that I cannot get a good tone or sometimes any tone during the winter months in New Jersey, when the humidity is low. This problem became particularly embarrassing this past winter, when I failed to get much of a tone at the sessions held at my house every other Thursday.

Yesterday I performed an experiment and played in air conditioning (with it’s low humidity) and had trouble getting much of a tone. I am at my wit’s end.

I’ve read extensively on embouchure both on the net, in Hamilton’s book, and in Larson’s new book, to no avail. I very much like my tone during the late spring to early fall months, and feel that what I am doing is correct, but I obviously must be doing something fundamentally wrong if I cannot maintain consistent tone during low humidity.

I have tried drinking lots of water and using various oils and glosses both on my lips and the embouchure hole. I do not have a humidifier in my house, and feel that this solution (if it is one) is a fake one, since I play in other places besides my kitchen. I also feel that this would mask the fundamental flaw in my embouchure.

I’ve taken lessons from two well known Irish flutists in the New York area, but the method of Irish flute teaching seems to be just learning tunes; my problem was more or less glossed over.
I’m wondering if lessons with a classical flutist may be the answer, although the embouchure typically used on metal flutes for classical playing is different, with less of “putting the lip into it.”

Last Fall I took up the fiddle as something to fall back to in case I have to give up the flute, which I desperately do not want to do. I’m enjoying the fiddle very much, and am thankful of getting a sound whatever the humidity level. But it’s going to be a while before I can play at a certain level.

But the flute is driving me crazy. I’m open to any suggestions that the good members of this group might have. Thank you.

Jeffrey Zajac
Highland Park, NJ

2

Interesting that you’ve added fiddle. I’m doing the same thing for the same reason. (Sold a couple of flutes to do it, too. Darn)

In my case, I’m getting lip cracks and hard spots on the lips. Seemed particularly bad this year,…seems like lip balm only made it worse! (this is the first year I’ve tried it)

Some days I could work on it and find a new lip position that would manage…but in general that’s a real pain…

Jack

3

Lip balm, lots of it. I prefer Karmex brand, but chapstick is ok too. Never leave home without it… Don’t wait until your lips crack; always put on the protection before you go outdoors; take some with you in your pocket or purse to reapply when needed. Your lips are one of the most important parts of your instrument.

In dry weather i keep my flute and case inside a sealed “ziplock” bag when i’m not playing. I have deluded myself into thinking that this preserves the moisture in the flute between playings. This was a suggestion i got from an orchestral piccolo player, and it works for me. The hard thing is finding a ziplock large enough to fit a flute case. I steal them from my wife whenever i see them.

g

4

Just want to add two things about my post that I’ve tried doing. First, I aligned the blow hole directly in line with the finger holes. This HELPED, but playing with the flute in this position cramped by hand and created a real loss of dexterity, it was harder to play fluidly.

Second, I threw money at the problem, and ordered a Terry McGee flute with the Rounded Rectangle embouchure hole, which he claims is the most forgiving flute to play. I ordered a keyless version of the Grey Larsen preferred flute. Should have it within a month or so.

Don’t know if this will work, but am willing to try anything at this point.

5

It will help. Flutes are not easy; hang in there, it will get better. I don’t want to discourage you, but i felt a real change for the better after 20 years of playing. Even to this day, there are mornings when i pick up a flute and it just sings, and other days when nothing i do gets a good sound. It’s part of the “fun”.

I play with the middle of the blow hole aligned with the close edge of the fingerholes (that is, blow hole turned a little towards me). But most people align it with the fingerholes, as you mention.

6

One other thing about dry weather - is the finger tips. Be sure to put hand lotion on your fingers. Dry fingers don’t seal tone holes well. I found this to be the case with pennywhistle and Uilleann pipes as well.

7

Sounds like you’re not keeping the flute humidified. During dry times keep it in a sealed plastic bag with a damp sponge, and play it every day, even just a little. Within a few days I suspect you’ll notice an improvement; at least that’s been my experience.

I’ve tried a number of methods for keeping my flute humidified, from cigar humidifiers to orange peel, and the sponge methods seems to work best for me. Of course, then there’s the whole oiling issue.

I’m not a fiddler, but I imagine it, too, will need to be kept humidified. I remember a cellist in my college dorm sealing all the cracks in her room and running two humidifiers full blast when her ‘baby’ started to show signs of cracking. Winter is just not friendly to wooden instruments.

-Scott

8

Play in the bath , if you have one .I have heard that Americans favour showers , but these are probably not so good .

9

You might also consider adding a polymer flute to play on during times of very low humidity.

Polymer flutes don’t change their playing characteristics with humidity or weather like wooden flutes do, so you would at least be able to tell how much is the flute and how much is you. Also, it would give you a very stable and rugged flute to learn on or as a second instrument when playing in places inhospitable to a wooden instrument.

I’m not saying blackwood is especially fragile, by the way–but any wood is fragile compared to a polymer flute.

At one time there were only a few makers using polymer rod stock; now, most makers can make you a polymer flute if you want one.

–James

10

Curious, does your flute have a lined head?

It certainly does sound as though you
should try other flutes, frankly.
I’ve played flutes in the desert,
no problem.

P. S. A humidifier is inexpensive and there are ample independent
reasons to have one. You might want to get one
and see what happens.

11

I, too, have to chime in on the value of humidification. When I got my flute back from a “tuneup” in Ireland this past winter, after about two days my playing went to (excrement expletive deleted). It played worse than when I’d sent it over for repair!

I teflon-taped the joints, etc. because they seemed loose, etc. and basically stewed until my next flute lesson, when I asked my teacher about it. He played it and said yeah, it’s pretty cranky, etc. But it was only when I mentioned that a ring had fallen off the barrel and another one was loose that he said “AHA!” After pointing out that the relative humidity in Ireland was, like, 80% sometimes and the relative humidity here in our neck of KY was 25% in the winter, he suggested that my flute might literally be in culture shock. (I think it just missed the pub sessions in its homeland, but …) Anyway, I followed his instructions: got one of those cheap thermometer/hygrometers ($9.99 at Wal-Mart) and a cheap humidifer ($49.99 at Wal-Mart) and put both in the smallest room in my house, aiming for a relative humidity around 40-45%.

Anyway, after about three days I had a whole new flute. Even my flute with the lined headjoint played better, and I was able to remove the Teflon tape from all joints because they’d returned to normal.

Now that it’s summer (RH 50% on an average day) there’s no more need for it, but I still keep a small-instrument humidifier (a cute little thing for guitars & fiddles; $12.99 from most fiddle stores & online sites) tucked into my flute roll and a soaked piece of sponge wrapped in Saran wrap in a cutout in my hard case.

Also, playing the flute a little bit every day helps a lot. (And it’ll do wonders for your playing, too!)

My experience going to Tionols and out-of-town sessions this past winter has been that the flutes will continue to behave reasonably out of their humidifed environment for at least a day or two (that’s only as long as I’ve been away, though; they may go longer), BUT I do keep those soaked bits of sponge and the small-instrument humidifiers in there for those not-so-rainy days – and of course, I’m playing the flutes a lot then, too.

Anyway, after all this I’ve arrived at the theory that if you have a piece of wood that was seasoned for Lord knows how many years in a certain environment (non-forced-air-heated in a damp country), etc., it’s going to do its best in a similar environment. And as both my flutes are from Ireland & the UK, I guess that’s what I’ll continue to re-create here for them. It also makes me ponder some of the stories you hear about certain flutes from Ireland, etc. cracking during transit or upon arrival here. Granted, seasoning time, wood quality, etc. are all factors … but I wonder how many of them traveled in the winter and did indeed dry out, to boot?

In fact, I’ve become such a believer that when I recently purchased another flute from Ireland, I asked if the owner might consider wrapping the case in plastic before shipping it over, just to see if it helps retain any homeland moisture through those dry plane bellies, postal-service warehouses, etc. (I’ll let you know what happens.)

Anyway, in my experience humidification really, really pays off. Personally, I can’t thank my teacher enough, because I was ready to chuck the danged thing out the window.

Like I said, it’s made all my flutes at least 45% percent – actually, more like a million percent! – easier to play.

Good luck!

12

I have a book on the erhu (two-stringed Chinese fiddle) that claims that the humidity is so high in Taiwan that wood simply cannot be cured below some specific moisture content, which is what makes wooden objects exported from Taiwan prone to cracking in drier climates. I can’t put my hands on the book at the moment, and I don’t recall the figures he mentioned.

Going back and forth between Taiwan and the US and Japan, I eventually learned to have wood carvings and furniture treated with linseed oil prior to shipping. Before that, I lost a lot of guitars and bamboo flutes and whistles. There’s nothing like lying in bed at night in Central Texas, listening to your guitars exploding.

A water buffalo lost a leg, and I have a large lion that looked like it had been attacked with an ax–and they were in this condition by the time they arrived in Japan (by USPS). Well-sealed wood has more time to dry without cracking. Fortunately all my furniture, which got the best pre-treatment is still fine over 25 years later.

13

In Montana, relative humidity hovers around 20 percent, although winters can drop it to single digits, and wet spring storms send it ‘soaring’ to 40 or 50 percent for a day or two. To give my Copley blackwood a more stable, tone-enhancing home, I keep it in a tupperware tub with a tight lid, adding moisture (with a sponge in a plastic spice jar with holes in the lid) as needed to maintain a 50 to 70 percent humidity level. I also don’t swab out the flute every time–I just shake out the drops and leave the residue to moisten the flute inside out. And I oil the whole thing every week. Basically, I live in a desert, but my flute still thinks it’s in Ohio, and the tone stays consistent.

14

Do you have thread lapping on your tenon? I have a CB folk flute and occasionally have the same problem. Try unwrapping a foot or so of thread, then rewind it and grease it well (I use “natural” chapstick). It makes a lot of difference for me. I think the thread compresses after a while and needs to be rewound. Mine goes from no tone lower than G before rewrapping to a strong low D after. Sometimes the joint feels tight, but still leaks some air, and this method has worked for me.

15

You may have to add more thread, Father. Or just add grease. The nice thing about thread tenons is that they’re easy to maintain. But they do require some maintenance.

16

Few things Jeffrey,

You said you have only been playing 4 years. Well some of us have to
work harder than others! I’ve been playing 5 years and I still am trying
to figure it out. The never ending quest. Plateaus and even steps
backwards happen all the time.

I have found it helps when this happens, to switch off to a more difficult
flute. For example I have this bamboo thing from a friend from some
festival crafter in Pennsylvania, it has an embouchure which is a 1"
diameter circle. No maker marks (maybe that is fortunate). But let me
tell you, play on something like that for 15 minutes and you sound pretty
good when you get back to your regular flute.

Secondly most of the posts have talked about humidity for the flute but
the thing is, have you done the ol’ suck tests to see where yr flute is
leaking? (It does sound like a leak since it happens in low humidity
where something has likely shrunk) Do you have keys? (even more
options for leaks..)

The other thing is to work on long tones to build up your muscles. Even
when I was using a poor embouchure with too big an opening, the long
tones made my tone better.

Hope this helps. I know how discouraging it can be. Cheer up, keep at it
and you will have a breakthrough.

Lesl

17

Jeffrey, I don’t know much about this
but I have experienced in Australia that my Seery blackwood sounds better in rainy weather.

I have noticed my bansuris (north indian bamboo as well as aussie bamboo flutes) tend to be more constant in response despite the sudden weather changes here. I speculate that bamboo holds its own under a variety of conditions better than woods.

Speculation supported by the fact that in India there are extremely dry spells and extremely wet spells, steam, snow, wind and ice and the flutes are played in all these conditions and with little maintenance.

I would be inclined to get a good bamboo flute in D as an understudy
for your wooden D.

Just my opinion at this point in time.

18

I was just reading some of the posts higher up in the thread, and thought what was mentioned about leaks was so important I want to expand on it. Read or not, but it’s one woman’s journey over about 8 years living with these things …

Anyway, when my flutes feel kerflooey, the first thing I do is check for leaks at the joints, tuning slide, tuning cork, under keypads, etc. You’d be amazed how often they leak, esp. when the flute is cold or dry. Teflon tape is a good quick fix for joints, but it’s not the safest idea to leave them wrapped all the time in case the wood expands again. Hair elastics are outstanding for holding down balky D# keys and even short Fs or long Cs (again, it’s good to remove them when you’re not playing). Rewrapping thread tenons is great, as is cork grease or natural chapstick or beeswax or whatever. And for looseness at the tuning slide I’ve had good luck just rubbing the ol’ beeswax/linseed block on it. Eventually the beeswax goes away or can be wiped off, which is good.

Anyway, I am amazed at how my flutes’ responsiveness can change from day to day depending on the humidity and yes, leaks.

And of course, it can all change even as you play the flute – condensation builds up, joints tighten up, and suddenly after about 20 minutes you have a leak-free, honking little bit of happiness in your hands.

And as several people mentioned, just gently shaking the flute out in dry weather after playing is also good. I think Hammy Hamilton discusses that somewhere or other on his site.

As for oiling, I’ve heard pros and cons of doing it too often from various sources. It might be good to check with your flute’s maker on that subject.

19

P.S. As an example, today’s RH was 72%, making today the first day I didn’t need to tape the Murray’s foot before playing – and it just soared, the best it’s ever gone.

P.P.S. I think talasiga’s points about bamboo are interesting, too. My bamboo flutes are much more fibrous-seeming – would this make a difference over a close-grained hardwood? I’d be inclined to think so …

P.P.P.S. And Darwin’s not kidding about the exploding guitars. This stuff happens a lot, esp. during shipping – I have a friend who has a nice sideline buying and rebuilding formerly-expensive new guitars that don’t make it thru the UPS warehouse intact.

Call me a Humidity Believer.