Debate has raged in various forums over the merits of asking for an “A” or a “G” when tuning your flute to other instruments. Tuning to A is traditional (in the classical music world - I don’t know what is traditional in Irish music), but protagonists for G rightfully point out that A is often a little dodgy, particularly on first-half 19th century instruments. G is almost always a very solid note, largely because it is a decent-sized hole, and well stabilised by vent support from F#, a big hole only 1 semitone further down the flute.
I’ve been doing a lot of tuning work recently (developing some new models) and it’s reminded me how much more sensitive the notes at the top of the body are to the extension of the tuning slide, compared to notes further down the body. No magic here - the shorter the length of flute in use, the more dramatic the effect of lengthening it.
The top hole (C#) is not a good candidate though - it can be a bit dodgy because of the limitation of our finger stretch. But the next note down, B, is a good stable note on most flutes and still close to the top of the flute. One disadvantage of B is that it isn’t an open string on the fiddle, so no point in asking your fiddle player for a B (unless they are awfully good!). Your box or keyboard player can of course do a B as easily as any other note. And so can your electronic tuner.
So if you find you are having trouble getting the “auld fluit in chune”, give B a shot. Having tuned B, you should find the rest of the flute falls into place. Tuning to a note further down is not so secure, as any error will be amplified as you come up the instrument.
Another benefit of asking for a B is that everyone else will be mystified, and you will have the B to yourself, rather than having to compete with everyone else trying to snitch your A!
Hear hear … (why do we say that?), I always ask for a G.
Last week, we had a great but large session - 5 fiddle playes, three piano players (who seconded on fiddle or guitar), 3 bodhran players, two border pipes players (one of whom also played low D whistle) and me on the flute - needless to say the tuning was unsettled, and unsettling. It made me laugh when one of the fiddle players said in response to the usual “please give me an A” requests: “Which one would you like - there’s just too much choice tonight!”
I used to be a proponent of tuning to G, and still do that when it’s just flutes and whistles playing together (I’ll try B next time!), but I do think learning to tune your flute to A is a good skill to have. It’s the note of reference in most sessions, and it’s not that hard to learn how to blow an A that’s in tune with the rest of your flute. I wouldn’t want to be the one giving the A for everyone else to tune to (for that I defer to concertina, accordion, or fiddlers with a tuning fork or electronic tuner), but if someone gives me an A I can pretty consistently get my flute in tune based on that note. For a few minutes anyway, until the flute starts going sharp as it warms up
but if someone gives me an A I can pretty consistently get my flute in tune based on that note
I agree - and I can stay in tune if I sit by a good fiddle player and align my tuning to theirs. What’s horrible is when the guy to the left and the guy to the right aren’t in tune with each other and then it’s so difficult to know who to adjust to.
By being a leading tone to c and C#, the note B has a tendancy to be a bit on the sharp side on many flutes, when played to a tuner. Thus I think its a lousy note to tune to. D and G are the natural keys of the instrument - thus I would tune to these notes.
I tune to fiddlers only as a last resort–and my main instrument is fiddle.
Also, when tuning my flute, I usually check both first and second octaves against the reference pitch. I like using G or A, but I’ve noticed that when my B is “on” against general G or Em chord noise, the whole flute is “on.”
