Hey,
I just built a D flute out of PVC 5 days ago. Its not much, but its in tune. I figure it will give me something to practice on until I save up enough for a decent beginners flute. The first day or so after I built it, I was able to produce a tone, but it was very breathy, especially the low notes. I wasn’t able to play a song at all either, 'cause I was running out of breath so quickly. I kept trying to tighten up on my embrochure, and I finally found my flute’s sweet spot. Now the tones are more pure sounding, and the low notes resound with a decent volume as well. I can almost play an entire song without needing air every 2 beats, and I don’t feel like I am ready to pass out from lack of O2 after I am through practicing. I have been non-stop practicing too, I take this PVC flute with me everywhere! I throw it in the car with me, I play it at stoplights, I play it when I walk to go get the mail, play it when I walk out to the car, the neighbors are all wondering when I suddenly turned into an elf. I just thought I’d post about my progress, I am really enjoying the flute compared to the whistle, there is much more room for expression and flute is more pleasing to my ears (And wife’s ears). Just thought I’d let the wonderful people on the flute board, who’ve helped me with their extensive knowledge, have another reason to pat themselves on the back.
Thanks
A really, really well played whistle can be downright ethereal, but overall I prefer flute to whistle, too. I’m glad you’re making progress. Have you noticed how hard it is to whistle after a long practice session? My advice is never let your dog escape from the yard when you’ve been playing because it’s darn near impossible to get them to come back if you can’t whistle…
Eric
P.W.
A flute’s embouchure can be from approx. 1/4th to 5/8ths of the inner bore diameter and is the choice of the designer. The smaller sizes are more practical for cylindrical bores with a ratio borelength/diameter of 1/30 and larger. Most renaissance tenor and bass flute voicings did not exceed 1/2 of the inner diameter to conserve the players wind. (Tapering conical bores are more efficient with wind because of backpressure within the instrument.)
Helpful hints on embouchure design.
An expanding (inward) angle of at least 7 degrees helps resonation. A slightly rounded lip edge for the airstream to hit is better than a sharp one. Proper spacing of the cork/plug face is critical to the instrument and the upper registers will be off key if this is not set correctly. The formula for spacing distance from the plug face to the center of the emboucure hole is…
7 X D/6, seven times the product of the inner diameter divided by 6
This will give a “compromise tuning” between the 1st and 2nd registers. it can be adjusted slightly closer to the voicing favor the 2nd register or farther to favor the 1st.