I recently bought John Skelton’s “A Few Tunes.” For those unfamilar with it, the book consists of 45 jigs and reels and a CD with the tunes recorded. The recording is great because it’s just the flute (or whistle) with no accompaniment. I recommend it highly.
Anyway, I started with one of the tunes, recording myself playing it and then listening to John play it. I found myself plunging into a clinical depression over the first issue: the attack. John always launches off with a crisp start and each note of the tune is seperated clearly. When I play it, it sort of runs together without the crisp little…seperation for lack of a better word…of the notes.
Any suggestions for improving in this regard. I’ve tried the “K” sound and the “T” sound but it still sounds pretty week. Not sure which is better. Is it a matter of continuing with the “T” and “K” sounds or are there other ways to work with emboucher to develop this clear, crisp tone?
One of the things John does terrifically well is cut or tap that first note at the same time as he throats or tongues it (“K”, “D”, or “T”). It’s a lightning flash of a movement, barely discernable, but it gives the note a bit of a pop.
But the MAIN thing he does is actually push just a wee bit of air into that first note; it’s basically a mini-pulse where he sort of “leans into it” with his breath just a bit, for just a millisecond.
You may also notice that a lot of times he’ll play that first note clear and long – i.e., no rolls or anything – and even hang on it just a shade. That also gives an “announcement” – i.e., “the tune’s starting now” sort of feel.
Anyway, that’s what I’ve observed and what he’s tried to get me to do over the last couple of years (not that it’s necessarily helped !). Hopefully I’ve translated it correctly …
Finally, FWIW, he’s often reminded me that he’s been working at this very hard for a very long time, so don’t feel stupid if you don’t get it right away; it can take years to develop such subtleties.
But good on you for hearing and noticing the difference!
And that’s coming right from the source (well, once-removed).
An opening cut works well for some tunes, and for others just the “pulse” of air will do it. Getting to grips with glottal stops is a good idea for this: if you hold your breath and then let out a controlled pulse right at the beginning of the tune, you’ll get some of that crispness you’re after.
Some flute players will do that “tuh” or “duh” tonguing at the beginning of a tune or a phrase, but I prefer the glottal stop.
That separation between the notes that you described is done by glottal stopping too. It takes a while to get the hang of it, but once you do, you can create those clean separations between notes without the music going all herky-jerky.
Another thing to think about with getting a good attack is just good, basic breath support. You’ll never get an abrupt note if you don’t have a lot of breath to put into it in addition to a good focussed embouchure.
In addition to all the good things Cathy, Brad and everyone else has mentioned, another big aspect of having a strong attack is embouchure development. You need to get to the point where your embouchure knows immediately and innately how to position itself for every note in the scale. This does take a good deal of time to develop, years in fact. The challenge is akin to the challenge of making big leaps in the midst of a tune - like from a first-octave note up to a high B, or dropping down from the second octave to the first to throw in a set of drone-like triplets, like in the second part of Harvest Home: cd|eA 3AAA fA 3AAA|gAfA eA 3AAA |eAfA gAfA etc. (Lots of newbies don’t even put in those As…) If you have trouble doing stuff like this cleanly, then you’re not gonna have a good attack either. It just takes practice to get the airstream and the lips working in perfect synchronization to pull off a perfect attack on each and every note. Work on it, experiment around to find out what works for you, and then keep trying to duplicate the technique each and every time. Eventually, you’ll get it.
Johnkerr is absolutely right, and it is very small differences in the position of the lips. I think it’s good to think about the whole throat as well. If you can adjust the inside of your mouth to the different notes (the longer ones anyway), I think that can be quite rewarding regarding the quality of the sound (and also in the attack)
Thanks for the feedback. After nearly ten years of playing I still don’t think I REALLY know what a glottal stop is. Conal O’Grada talked a lot about that when I took a Scoiltrad lesson. Thanks again for all the good info.
Glottal stops are easier than you think. We use them daily in our speech. It’s how we separate vowels without consanants. Just do it with the slightest bit of a cough and you should have a firm attack. Try it while whistling (the human kind not the fipple kind).
The cough analogy works pretty well, but a glottal stop can happen both before and after a note. It’s kind of similar to close (staccato) piping: the default situation is that the chanter is closed and silent; you make notes by lifting fingers and putting them back down while keeping the chanter on the knee.
On the flute, when you’re playing a tune or a passage where the notes are separated cleanly, think of it the same way: it’s as if you’re holding your breath and letting it out one short “pop” at a time for each note. You close your windpipe at the end of each note and open it for the next one, then close it again.
Just as most pipers don’t play in a totally staccato style, most flute players use a mix of staccato and legato. For me, I find that the tune tends to dictate how much staccato I put into it…a reel like The Mountain Top, for example, wants to be staccato in the first few bars, with the notes clearly separated and emphasized. I have a clip of Catherine McEvoy playing it both ways as a demonstration: clearly articulated with glottal stops (the way she normally plays it) and totally legato.
You can listen to it here (436 K MP3, thanks to StevieJ for shrinking it from 2 megabytes!):
It’s up there now…just go to the previous page and you’ll see I added a link at the bottom of my message.
This is from a workshop she gave in New York City in 1997. I drove down from Vermont with two other flute-playing friends…8 hours driving roundtrip for a 4-hour workshop, but it was worth it – I was blown away by her music and those four hours completely changed my approach to the flute.
McEvoy is one of the best. She’s got it all in spades: tone, rhythm, expression, technique, nuance, and knowledge of the tradition.
I drove an hour to catch a 90 minute ferry ride then a 30 minute walk to catch a 90 minute class with Catherine at the Friday Harbor camp. What a flute epiphany.
!). Hopefully I’ve translated it correctly …
