Last summer at Willie Week Cathal McConnell had a blow on my flute. It met with his approval, although he said it needs more playing. Well after I got the flute back from England in the late autumn with a new headjoint I’ve been playing the flute fairly regularly and since five days ago it has really come into it’s own and sounds well, louder and with a nice strong tone.
Now I wonder is this due to the flute being played often, every day, something inherent in the wood that has come into being, that the flute has become “played in”, or is it more likely that I have become more accustomed to the flute’s embouchure. I haven’t actively focused on trying to change my own embouchure in order to make the flute sound better. Prehaps I have without thinking about it?
Another flute I played while this flute was in England, also sounded much better after it had been played regularly on for some weeks. Even now if I pick it up it still sounds strong and has a nice tone. Just thinking about Cathal’s comment about the flute needing to be played more. Is it just a matter of the wood absorbing moisture and becoming more airtight?
If I were an animist I would say that the flute has been given proper tender loving care. But, not being an animist, I would still say it needs TLC but only to keep it moist. Flutes sound their best right after being oiled. I also think you’re right saying that, perhaps, your embouchure and ability contributes to the improved playing.
When we play an instrument we give it TLC by using it, cleaning it and proberly storing it. I thnk that has a lot to do with your improved ability and McConnell’s “. . .it needs more playing.”
I don’t know why, but I do think flutes get better the more they’re played. Maybe it’s simply that their more humidified and get oiled more often if they’re played regularly, but I don’t know for sure. I recall James saying an antique flute he had seemed to improve after he’d played it for a year or two.
I’d discount this whole “needs to be played” more theory as simply we just adjust to the instrument better, but Cathal’s statement and statements from several makers seem to support the theory that the flute itself somehow changes and improves with playing.
If I become a reformed druid, can I worship former trees with tone holes?
I remember reading an article with a scientific basis for instruments sounding better when played regularly. Unfortunately, I can not find it, nor remember the premise or the explanation. I seem to remember the article focusing on old violins. There is a ton of research, that goes into trying to replicate the sound quality of the old ones.
It seems like wood flutes (and piccs) do improve with playing. I’m not certain whether this is merely due to humidity, or if there’s something else going on. I do know that once I kept my wood instruments humidified, they played dramatically better, even if I hadn’t played them for a long time. I have a wood flute and piccolo that are much “happier” now, and seem ready for me, even if I haven’t played them in a while. Still, they feel better after a few days of solid playing. As to how much of this is me, and how much is the instrument, I’m not sure.
I might add that my 1958 piccolo just sounds better than new ones being made by the same maker. My opinion is that something happens as the wood seasons. The newer piccolos are shriller, and don’t have the depth of this instrument.
-String instruments like guitars, mandolins and fidddles also season with playing and aging.
-A maple-body dreadnought guitar I’ve played since new fourteen years ago has developed nice character whereas it sounded a little raw at first. -A 1911 Gibson A-1 mandolin played for a while was extremely sweet, as was a 17th century violin I was permitted to handle briefly by a music teacher. There seems no substitute for decades or centuries of seasoning.
-The thing these instruments all have in common is pine or spruce tops, and I don’t know whether the same seasoning improves flutes made of the common flutewoods.
Tom, what flutes were you referring to when you spoke of needing to be played more?
String instruments have vibrating (tympan) bodies that contribute to the sound, unlike flutes, that depend on a vibrating column of air.
I think the improvement is more due to the player than to the flute. If you play the same flute for a lot of time you will become more adept at discovering how to make that flute sound its best. Steampacket alludes to this unconscious response an experienced player makes to the ‘needs’ of a flute.
In my experience the more a flute has been played,and the better it has been played,the better it will sound,no matter who is playing it at the moment. Not that a total beginner could take a well played flute and sound great,but a reasonably experienced player will generally sound better on a well played flute than a new or little played one.
In the care instructions he sends out with his flutes,Casey Burns says something to the effect that a wooden flute starts to sound it’s best after a year or two of playing.
I dunno what exactly makes it so,maybe just the moisture and/or oil,or maybe the bore changes shape, or maybe the wood gets used to vibrating at certain frequencies like a guitar or fiddle or whatnot (this is a Paul McGrattan theory),or it’s a figment of the imagination,or maybe it’s magic. I think it’s real though,and I like it.
A friend who just got flutes from two of very well-known makers mentioned the crucial importance of ‘playing a flute in’ to get it to sound to it’s full potential (a period from 6 to 12 months depending on maker). The Gentleman who made my flute (and no slouch at that) however, echoed David’s comments exactly saying that the flute doesn’t rely on moisture absorbtion or further seasoning (these are already very-well season woods!), OR sympathetic vibration to re-shape it or whatever to make it sound ‘better’, saying only the player’s familiarity to the instrument’s particular charcteristics are what contributes to a more satisfying sound after a period of time.
And what do you know, my flute after about 7 months has come into it’s own tone, and flexibility-wise, but I rather doubt it’s physical changes in the flute and more my embochure’s development as also sound much better than I ever did on my Olwell Bamboo flute when I pick it up.
I think it’s real though,and I like it.