The question is, how good a good embouchure can get? Can it get so good that the player can play even a leaky flute with an amazing tone?
I thought about this after discovering leaks in my recently acquired old flute. I’m still getting used to it, but (before the leak-checking) I noticed that at times I could get that nice strong low D, but most times I couldn’t. When it worked, was it because somehow the humidity inside the flute momentarily closed the leaks, or because at times i got the right embouchure and “passed over” the leaks?
Also, read about this story on Terry McGee’s site, (under the title “Pick a flute that is played by a professional you admire”, the first one): http://www.mcgee-flutes.com/FluteMyths.htm
(Terry if you ever decide to fully come back, your valuable insight will be really appreciated )
As with all such pronouncements, you should reach for the salt shaker when you read it. This one is no exception. E.g., Terry says “Cathal … effortlessly filled the room with great playing. Genetically predisposed.”
It is easy to ascribe genetic predisposition after the fact. But is every excellence in endeavor traceable to genetic predisposition? Or is it rather a question of desire and discipline? In fact, there is no way to prove – and Terry is very big on the scientific method – genetic predisposition for fluting. It is like the word “talent.” A better word than “talent” is the word “accomplishment.” This credits the player rather than his forbears. There are plenty of great players whose parents did not play music. Cathal McConnell’s ability to play a wreck of a flute, where Terry could not, shows that Cathal has put more time into fluting than net-working.
Malcolm Gladwell (Outliers) says, and I believe him:
_* Where you’re born and when you’re born have an enormous amount to do with whether or not you’re successful.
Becoming a superstar takes about 10,000 hours of hard work.
Both of the bullet points above are far more important than the magical talent myth._
Terry’s Flute Myth is… a myth! So get a good flute and play it, a lot. And don’t waste time reading about It when you could be Doing it. Play a lot, pay attention to what you’re doing, listen to a lot of accomplished fluters, and your embouchure will develop accordingly.
Maybe my question was unclear.
I referred to Terry’s site not to ask if a player could be genetically predisposed or not, but to show that Cathal McConnell’s embouchure was good enough to play a potentially leaky flute, while Terry couldn’t (maybe because Terry didn’t practice enough, or whatever). So is this it, a good emb. can do even this?
Generally, a leak is a potential interrupt in the vibrating air column. If the leak is big enough and far enough up the tube, it will kill the entire flute’s response. I’ve got an old german flute in at the moment, which has a leaking barrel. It doesn’t play at all. Had an original Rudall in the other day, which played nicely, but the short F key was a bit weakly sprung, so sometimes there was a little leak, sometimes not. Low D was playable even with the leak, but considerably weaker.
All in all, I think even a master player can’t fool acoustics.
If the question was: can a leak be overcome by embouchure? Then I tried it out, and the answer is yes
Try gradually causing a small leak with your fingers (e.g. on the C# hole while playing G). You would notice that there is a small tolerance zone in which the tone still sounds. Then try the same, but now play with your lousiest of embouchures. The tone will die out instantly.
But if the question was: can the best player overcome the worst flute? Then I’d have to agree at “no”. (Unless she can whistle. Because taken into extremes, the worst flute is a nonexisting one. Uhh, OK – sometimes you’d wish that was true )
“Genetically predisposed” … I’m sorry, but I ain’t buying that argument from that story. Sure, people have certain physical attributes and skills that might speed their progress in this or that activity, but come on. Cathal sounds mighty on his flute because he’s played it in 10-hour sessions since the mastodons roamed the pubs and he knows his way around it. He’d darn well better, since people pay money to hear him play!
I should say, however, that this doesn’t mean different flutes/embouchure cuts/bore profiles/tonehole spacings don’t suit different people better. Otherwise we’d all be playing the same flute. And Terry wouldn’t offer three different kinds of blowholes.
P.S. I’m willing to bet your flute’s leaking. We all have good days and not-as-good days, but a committed player can compensate a fair bit, especially with practice, as Cathal so ably demonstrates.
I would not advise doing it all the time. There is only so much one should do. And when you’re not doing it you can carry on with the rest of your life including reading about it if you like.
What I am trying to say is that its not an either/or choice. One can do both things. In my experience, if I play flutes for more than 2 - 3 hours a day I need physiotherapy/massage etc more often. Thats a very expensive proposition and also every time I am crippled with overuse pain it puts my practice back a week or so.
Thanks, but I don’t need and didn’t ask for this kind of advice.
Back on topic, I put back the leaky Eb key on my flute. it seems that the D note sounds well but at times it responds quite late, meaning that it fails to sound if played too fast…
I am sorry but I was merely defending your right to discuss and read things against Julia’s advice that you are wasting time by doing these things. It was Julia that gave you the advice that you didn’t ask for, not me.
Thanks for the compliment, I am surprised that you are so impressed by hearing a 10 second snippet on a CD on which I was studio musician on short notice. I do in fact limit my my flute practice to less than 2 hours a day.
Yes you are older than me but it wasn’t about an age competition and I did say “probably”. Why I said that was because I notice I cannot practice a thing for hours on end like I used too and your comment that one should practice flute over and above even reading about it implied to me that a person had to sacrifice all ones musical time to “doing it” as you said. Not physically possiblle for me. Pain. I assumed you must have been quite younger to take that stance. Obviously not.
One thing I have noticed improving with age is that my communications have grown wiser, kinder and more circumspect. I sincerly hope that by the time I am 72 I will not have become bitter and condescending in my posts . I admit I need to practice a lot more at all this off course.
Enough guys, both of you. This said from a 21-year-old to two much older men, think about it… Now, please, I don’t want to see other responses from you on this thread, that has been hijacked enough.
Not that I think anything else could emerge, but who knows.
I the Eb key is only part-time leaky, why? Worn/bulgy pad? Play in its action that means sometimes the key falls true onto its bed, other times not? Spring weak or not acting properly due to catching somewhere? Damage to pad-bed? Combination of any of the above? First diagnose and sort the physical problems!
I believe the neoprene pads are just too hard to always seal properly. Of the six keys, only two of them, Eb and Bb, have this kind of pads (the others look like standard white pads), and both failed my leak test, the others were fine as far as I could tell. Which is a pity since they are more silent than the others.
Two very fine musicians from Ireland are here in Rome for holidays and yesterday we had a lovely session. The D note responded surprisingly well despite the Eb key, that I didn’t remove to give it a try (Bb hole was closed with blu-tack though). The irish whistle/flute player couldn’t get it very much though. The power of “getting used to something” I guess.
I think tomorrow I’ll go to the music shop to see if they have some clarinet pads, or I’ll have to order them from abroad…
Got the pads. The Eb key seems fine now (the pad is probably touching a bit the wood on the side close to the end of the flute though…).
For the Bb I have a problem: the smaller clarinet pad is too small, the medium one is too big! I tried cutting the medium pad but apparently the inside is not homogeneous, meaning that it has more parts, a leather one around and a soft porous one inside. Cutting the pad meant that the leather went off, and the inner soft part doesn’t seal… The shopkeeper gave me this pads after seeing the ones Jon put, and said them being leather and the best quality they had (although they cost the same as the others, 18 euros). Ideas?
There’s a bit on Terry’s website about doctoring pads, from which I learnt/adapted what I do if a pad is too thick. As for diameter, they’re available in 0.5mm graduations, so it really should be possible to get ones that will fit any key-cup fairly well in that respect. I would not try to cut one down around its circumference, and one should not need to. The problems that arise in using them for old flutes tend to be with their thickness - they’re 3mm deep and we tend to want about 2mm. You certainly don’t want to just try cutting the whole pad!
You can open the pad by moistening the crimping of the leather on the back to dissolve the glue and use a blunt blade or tweezers to open it up and take it all apart. I usually slice the felt disc in half laterally with a very sharp razor blade, and if necessary also make a thinner (or thicker) card disc to get the right final depth, then reassemble the pad (mind you don’t lose the little plastic waterproofing disc that goes between the leather and the felt!) and glue it back together with a drip of PVA glue on the back of the card - the glue will spread onto the leather as you work at it. The tricky bit is holding it still. Use a pencil point or probe of some kind and press the pad onto a damp cloth or into a custom-drilled shallow hole in a block of wood (I use a block of hard wood with a series of holes drilled about 4mm deep in 0.5mm diameter steps, with a smaller hole through the middle so I can push the pad back out!) - and damp the leather so it shrinks on drying) and re-crimping the leather evenly and getting a smooth face to the pad/even tension in the leather without a button/pilling machine! One other thing I have done (for my own R&R amongst others) with shallow salt-spoon type cups is to use the razor to cut away at an angle around the shoulders of the card disc to get a less shouldered (truncated cone) finished pad that is still the same depth at the middle but fits better into the cup. No need to do that for later flat-bottomed cups.
You didn’t pay €18 for each pad, I hope! They’re about 70-80 pence each (about €1) from Windcraft in GB - plus P&P.
Lorenzo, remind me what flute you’re working on - got any pictures?
If you are willing to try cutting your own why not try these folks: http://www.rhnuttall.co.uk/Our_Products/Sheeting/Rubber_Sheet.html. They may even have gaskets already cut to your size, but a small sample sheet of 2 or 3 mm will probably last a lifetime of Vegan flute pads…
The pads on my antique are probably the original leather (dark, almost black at this point, and when dry hard as a rock). They seal pretty well, but only after the humidity inside the flute builds up a bit. Would you suggest that I replace them, or leave well enough alone?
@ Latticino: thanks for the neoprene link. I’ve already got some 2mm thick closed-cell foam sheets, but that stuff doesn’t work too well as pads so far. I’ve also bought synthetic cork sheet and tried that - not great either - 1st is too soft, 2nd too hard. Haven’t tried plain neoprene yet.
Those aren’t the clarinet pads I use/can get - and they don’t seem to offer the smaller sizes one often needs, but they would serve just fine if they fit. These are my usuals: Windcraft or Wind Plus Ltd. They’re made by an Italian firm called L. Pisoni. The other main pad-making firm is Italo/American; Prestini - they also offer several different suitable ranges of clarinet pads, e.g. Kangaroo leather pads - I’d like to be able to get these as they are available in white and black as well as tan - which would be smarter on a wooden flute! Unfortunately I haven’t yet spotted a British stockist, plus I have a pretty full stock range of Pisoni tan ones. They also offer slightly cheaper Nappa leather pads.
No current manufacturer supplies thinner leather pads designed specifically for antique (style) flutes - you either have to adapt (if necessary) or make your own. Obviously they have the technology to make to order, but one would need to be looking at high volume! It ain’t gonna happen!
There used to be a range of synthetically covered felt pads from some US manufacturer (would have solved my vegan issue, perhaps) but they’ve been discontinued according to Windcraft.
As for your old pads, it’s a cleft stick! If the old ones (“purse” pads?) are still functioning reliably, why disturb them before you have to? But if they’re unreliable and a nuisance, change 'em! You could always make up your own replicas (Jon C as done it). Bottom line is you need a reliably performing instrument and there’s no virtue in persisting with knackered old pads for historicity’s sake. Your flute isn’t a museum piece! But if, when you remove them (and I’d go for a full repad and key-regulation, not a piecemeal approach) the old ones are in a condition that makes it worthwhile to save them with the flute just to keep the assemblage and for interest’s sake, why not? Stick 'em in a snap-seal bag, label it and put it somewhere safe (in the case if there’s room).
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