Othannen and Ceili whistle man’s are good advice. It will come. Just one more thing other than embouchre to think about (or hopefully soon not think about ) that hasn’t been mentioned is pushing with the diaphragm. When getting the hard tone to the point you want use the diaphragm muscles to push it. rather than blowing harder but blowing is part of it and should not be dismissed. It’s hard to explain but push the note out with the stomach. I spent a good deal of time trying to play too dynamically and now favor a harder edge. If you’re a beginner Terry Mcgee’s advice about practicing on airs is sound. I’ve been playing for more than 15 years now and I still am trying always to improve my tone. When I get a new flute it takes a good while to find out what it can do ages in fact adjusting to a new blow hole. So stop jumping around when you have a good flute. I’d take a Forbes over an M and E but that’s not saying they’re a bad flute just different.
That said the flute is not the issue as eveyone has already said:
Listen to Fintan getting the same type of tone he used to get on an old Blackman flute on an (I assume) modern keyless
which is a shame really as I have just picked up a wonderful Blackman and was hoping I would sound like him on airs 
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRmCL-rVF-s&feature=related
This appears to be the Blackman for what its worth but maybe with a different headjoint?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bJF4yG27a3g&NR=1
anyway I think he stresses things with his daphragm and may even mention so in his old timber flute tutor though my copy of said book is long gone. Try to ge tthat tone on airs and it will come with dance tunes as well. Though airs are from from easier if played right the longer notes and phrases may make it easier. Hope it helps, Pat
thanks everybody for all the comments. 
(1) i think you have to agree, one flute may be a little easier to get a certain tone on… i have 4 and they all sound different to me. some it’s easier to get the hard d, some are sweeter in the second octave, etc.
(2) that being said, it can’t be the flute, because Kevin Crawford sounds exactly like i want to sound, on a flute that i have.
so it must be the player, right? see paragraph (1), above…
so maybe it’s not the flute or the player? just kidding…
i certainly agree i need to practice more.
true. and then you don’t even have to rinse it out after.
i think i have to disagree with this one a little bit though… i think it definitely has helped me to try different flutes. for example, if i try to play a flute i find harder to play (for example, my Tipple, which has a more round embouchure hole) and then i go back to one of the ones i find easier to play (M&E, Copley) then i sound way better. i think it forces me to improve my embouchure…
but i agree that i would be wasting time not practicing chasing after the holy grail of honking flutes…
i’ve been meaning to check that out; thanks.
thanks; this was my big breakthrough yesterday… i realized that when i get to the end of a phrase i’m always out of breath–then i can’t make it bark at all. so i’ve been added a pregnant pause in before the last note so that can give it some umph.
again, thanks everybody; thanks too Pat–i’ll check out your links now.
cheers,
eric
ps is there an airs tunebook i can look for? i heard that the 100 best airs book isn’t so good…
The settings in 110 Ireland’s best slow airs are not all that bad and I like the way the phrasing is linked if you will by the long bars but I think Tomas O Cannian’s (sp.) may be better there are plenty of great settings for airs on the web as well. I think it’s best to listen to loads of different versions of an air (Spotify is handy for this) and then try to play it from a book setting where what you’ve heard will influence your phrasing but the dots will give you an outline and a guess at where the tune might go.
Well, in turn, I need to disagree with your disagreement with me.
The multi-flute improvement fallacy (to give it a name) is a commonly-held belief by beginning/intermediate flute players, but I’d be surprised if a player of 15 or 20+ years would recommend for a beginning player to own/practice on multiple flutes. My experience suggests that you’ll make the fastest progress learning on one flute. Learn to get different sounds from one flute, rather than from several, and you’ll develop a flexible embouchure, great control, and good tone. Which is what we’re all after, right?
Just realized Fintan is in Eb I think in the first clip but you get the idea. Here is another nice Hammy clip with a harder tone used on an air:
(also on an Eb flute I think) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FQ8SsbTJX7o&feature=related
While we are on the subject of airs listen to Paul Davies play the Lament for the Three Marys on Terry’s recollection of Paul page great tone there as well http://www.mcgee-flutes.com/Davies.htm also on an Eb flute but I don’t think that matters. Good Luck with your tone and I’ll stop with all the clips now.
i didn’t like the Liz Doherty & video so much, but i think it might have been the recording equipment… was that a mic taped to the end of his flute?
in the 2nd one you mentioned it almost sounds to be like he’s playing pipes. weird. i like it, but it’s weird.
i tried to download spotify; it won’t let me–they don’t have a license agreement with the US yet. bummer. 
i like the Hammy video; you’d almost swear he was playing a horn!
and the Paul Davies mp3 is really good; there’s a lot of great information on Mr. McGee’s site; i did a search for blackman flute and his site came up too; his has one on his vintage flute collection page.
but to be honest, i like your Eb Sweetheart video better. you got a great honk at the end of that one!
cheers,
eric
That’s terrible about Spotify. I will be in the States for Thanksgiving and what will I listen to. I don’t even own CDs anymore.
I also use Deezer for stuff thats not on Spotify but it doesn’t have as much Irish music. Does Deezer work in the US? Iam listyening to Harry Bradley and Seamus Tansey on Deezer as I type this.
The clips were just examples of the type of heavy tone used in air playing. Like I said thinking about pushing with my diapraghm and practising this and a tight embouchre I found helpful playing airs as there is room to push the tone because of the held notes. The Sweetheart clips were made before I was concentrating on this type of tone.
As much as we say its not the flute that particualr Sweetheart flute is against all odds one of the easiest to fill and loudest flutes I own. It is made of a relatively pourous wood (Paduk?) has a small embouchre hole. I bought it off Ralph for 35 dollars as he was selling off stuff in the shop. It was a prototye and has an extra ring if wood glued on the end as the original design was too short. Sweets are great flutes. I find they are often in the hands of beginners and got a bad rep because said beginners found easier to play flutes or didn’t try hard enough before moving on. I rarely find a flute I can’t find something I like about though that’s the fun of them.
The Blackman I have looks relativley like the one in the second FIntan clip but still has all the keys. It is an excellent player.
Take Care, Pat
dear Pat,
sorry for the slow response… i got killed at work for a couple of days, no time for fun!
anyway, deezer seems to work. i also use Pandora, if you’ve ever tried them (i have it on my blackberry
$35. wow. an obsessive-compulsive instrument buyer’s dream come true.
fyi, i have a copy of Timber and got it out again; he does have a section on breathing from the diaphragm. he calls it “body breath control” (as opposed to “breath control from the mouth”; ie, tonguing):
“regard the diaphragm’s role as being like the plunger in a bicycle pump; the internal organs push or pull on it, the tense muscles of the upper body act like the barrel of the pump, the throat acts like the connection to the inner-tube, and the controlled tongue, and lips and mouth act as the valve.”
“Practice controlling your diaphragm by breathing in while pushing down with your stomach.”
anyway, i’m going to start another post to see if i can get the recordings that went with the book…
cheers,
eric
For my 2 cents worth, I also think it’s good to play just one flute. Mind you, I only have one Irish one, but I feel it’s important to work everything out on the same instrument and not be switching. It seems to me that would cloud things.
For playing on the edge and honking no one has mentioned Conal O Gráda - that’s a big part of Conal’s playing.
In fact, some classical flutists also work on playing on the edge. My former teacher, Canadian flutist Bob Aitken, talked about this a lot, and had his students practice a series of notes which included sounding 2 octaves at the same time, for the resonance and harmonics. So I’ve been trying to do this for years before I took up Irish playing. 
i was going to let it go, but since someone else brought it up again…
i was almost convinced, but it just doesn’t jive with my experience. playing different embouchure cuts has helped me a lot, i think, as a beginning player. maybe i’m imagining it, but when i try to use a flute with a different cut it forces me to learn how to use my lips to get a nice tone on the different cut, then when i go back to my main flute it sounds better. how can that not be helpful?
(i guess i could just keep working with the flute with the most difficult embouchure cut, and maybe that would make me better faster… but i’ll just be honest, it’s too frustrating. at some point of blowing for 10 minutes and still not being able to get the bottom d to sound right, i’m switching over to an easier flute.
you might be surprised to find a player of 15+ years recommending practicing on different flutes, but my experience is also that experienced players have forgot what it was like to be a beginning player. a lot of the tutor books i’ve used for whistle and/or flute playing clearly come from the perspective of someone who has been playing the flute for years, and maybe has forgot was it was like to be a beginner.)
anyway, i personally don’t believe playing other flutes or not playing other flutes is necessarily going to make anyone better, but just that i’ve found it helpful.
(that being said, i’ve sold my Cochran and in the process of selling my Copley and Forbes. i’m keeping the M&E… and just between me and anyone that reads this post if you tried the polymer M&E, but not the ebonite, do yourself a favor and give the ebonite version a spin…)
cheers,
eric
I entertained wrong headed thoughts in this regard.
The more you know the more you realize you don’t know jack.
If someone wants to horde flutes and play them to learn the differences and similarities of types that’s great.
It’s an interesting hobby and I’m guilty as charged.
That alone will not make you a better flute player.
What I have learned so far is this.
Every flute is different.
Even those made by the same maker.
The more time you give to one flute and emb cut the more it will give back to you.
Unless you invest in the journey you won’t find the magic locked inside… because the magic is in your discovery.
Play one flute.
I can buy that