Gross, but on topic - drainage issues

Irish Flute
1

OK, I’m going to venture into the realm of spit, condensation, flute drippin’s or whatever you want to call the stuff, but I know it’s an issue for many of us.

Having moved from a shorter footed Dixon to the long C footed Seery, I’ve noticed that some of the stuff seems to get caught up in the open C and C# holes in the foot (which is odd since they face up).

Anyway, what I was wondering was if there was any reason NOT to turn the foot upside down so the holes face down? It might just facilitate drainage so I have to “blow clean” my flute less often when playing during session.

Does anyway play this way or see a reason not to do so?

Eric

2

If the flute sounds OK to you, do it, I say.
I know that people playing a six keyed flute
sometimes turn the foot around so they
can get their pinky down on tunes where
they don’t need the bottom key.

3

If you play a keyed flute and you want the Eb key at the ready, down isn’t a good idea. You’d be mucking around with the footjoint all the time. I think I might have seen a player or two use the holes-down position. I blow out condensation, and so even the toneholes (F# in particular, for some reason–poor finger seal?) will sometimes catch and vent the moisture! So I just sigh, and wipe it off. BTW, in my experience most of the condensation collects close to the cork and will muddy the lowest notes, so either I’m playing a tune mostly in the upper registers (no problem) and the condensation achieves a sort of critical mass and flows away on its own, or I’m playing w/ a lot of low Ds, and have to blow out anyway sometimes.

As I recall, notes simultaneously sound out of both the embouchure hole and the open tonehole just below those covered (the upper edge of the C# opening is the “boundary” of the low D, for example). For performance purposes, it might be a good thing to angle the holes toward the audience.

The C#/Cnat on my M&E RR angle forward just shy of 45º as that’s the best spot for my pinkie to work the Eb key.

4

those extra holes in the foot are not actually C and C# holes, they’re just vent holes so that the low D doesn’t come straight out the end, I usually face mine outward so the bottom D projects more.

5

Doh! I know the hole beneath the last covered one influences the tone from making my own bamboo flutes! I guess those holes will stay upward to help vent the low d…

I think the whole condesation thing is worse now because my flute always starts off cool with winter coming on.

Eric

6

If those holes aren’t keyed, you’re right. If you cover them with blu-tac or the like, you should get those notes out of them, though. The keyless flutes I’ve had with extended feet on them had those pitches relative to those holes, and so I guess it’s just my habit to refer to them as such, even though w/o keys they are not in fact functionally “C#” or “Cnat” holes.

7

I think that’s logical, Nano, and of course they’re based on the C#/C holes. The difference is that they’re usually tweaked to bring the low D into tune, and not to sound out in-tune notes themselves.

I recently asked Pat Olwell about whether or not he would be offering eight-key flutes. He told me he’d have to redesign his footjoints so that the C#/C would be in tune . . . they’re not in the current design.

Interesting.

As for playing, I don’t think it matters on a keyless flute what direction those holes on the footjoint face. We certainly aren’t concerned with moving our other fingers completely out of the way of the other toneholes when we play an A, for example; also, most people can’t really play a flute with the toneholes facing the audience. They usually point upwards.

Stuart

8

My thoughts and experiences with condensation…as well as a few speculations…

First, I don’t think changing the angle of the footjoint is going to do much to keep the tone clear. If the water flows down far enough to drain through the vent holes, it only has a bit further to go to drain out the end.

I think it is the water in the headjoint more than anywhere else in the flute that affects the strength of tone. Especially if the water beads, so that surface tension keeps it from running down until there is quite a lot of it, it really deadens the the sound, and makes the whole flute stuffy. My own thought is that it effectively constricts the headjoint bore; I suppose another view would be that the water droplets absorb some of the energy from the standing wave within the flute, lessening the power of its tone.

Polymers build up water like nobody’s business–playing outside at night before, I have had a continuous trickle out of the end of the flute, almost like a faucet left barely on.

Some flutes are more affected by droplet buildup than others. The M&E flutes, for instance, don’t change much at all, and neither does the Boehm-system Gemeinhardt. The Seery and the Hamilton don’t stop responding but they don’t play their best either. The antique 8-key can get so stuffy it almost stops responding until you blow or swab it clear.

Sometimes the water will run out on its own, and you’re ok; other times it’ll bead up. There doesn’t seem to be much rhyme or reason, but the weather does seem to affect it–especially the wooden flutes seem to play their best on rainy, moist days. Dry sunny days aren’t the best, especially for the antique flute.

I have always thought one reason oiling the bore improves the tone is it gives these droplets of water a smoother, lower friction surface to run down so that they exit the bore on their own. I think the reason the silver flute doesn’t have much trouble is it already has a very smooth, highly polished surface for the water to run down.

Now for all that, I wish I could tell you I’ve come up with a better way to handle the moisture. I haven’t; if I’m playing informally I just blow it out with force and ignore the awful sound that makes–if I’m playing in a more formal setting then I find a minute to swab the moisture out.

–James

9

There is actually a technique for holding the Boehm flute that faces the toneholes upwards and outwards towards the audience…I believe it’s called the Alexander technique, but I may be wrong about the name…it’s been many many years since Dr. Stweinquest introduced me to it.

It works on the Boehm flute because you can balance the key mechanism on top of the flute, and with some alteration of hand position, you can play supposedly with greater volume and projection.

I don’t think it can work on the simple system flute, as that is an unbalanced position for that kind of flute.

For what it’s worth, I never found it improved tone or projection…for me, it just made the flute somewhat painful to hold. It’s possible that even back then my joints were not quite what they should have been. Now, Rockstro grip is the only way I can hold just about any flute.

–James