How do you do it!? I’m baffled. I’m listening to Conal O Grada, who has such a loud, hard, honking low D, but all I can get is a quiet, weak, boring tone. When I blow harder, it just jumps up to the high D. I’m getting a little better at getting the other notes to sound strong, but the D seems impossible. Even when I start with a nice strong B and work my way down, it’s soft by the time I reach D.
Max
Hi Max,
It is hard to know what you are doing with your embouchure. You might try blowing more into the emouchure hole instead of across the hole. Also, if you try making a smaller embouchure, by tightening your lips into a kind of tight grin. You could also look at the condensation forming on the other side of the embouchure hole, it should be a very narrow stream. It just takes practice.
Jon
Good stuff from Jon. Also check that there are no leaks anywhere in the flute (and I mean anywhere - leaks are death to low D). Check also that the stopper is at around 19mm from middle of embouchure or more. If possible get an experienced player to try it.
Remember too that with the low notes you’re asking all the air in the flute to vacillate up and down. More air moving requires more enery input. Energy can neither be created nor destroyed - ie it has to come from somewhere. You need to pump more air in to stoke up that activity. So even though you want to direct your energy into the harmonics (to make the D hard) you can’t afford to starve the system. Keep the pressure up but experiment with more flow (opening the labial orifice - oops sorry, slipping into Rocksto - the opening between your lips).
Terry
Terry, good advice. I’d also recommend focusing the airstream as downward as possible. This will help to avoid jumping up to the upper octave, and will allow you to really honk that low D.
Dana
i’ve learned to think about it as kind of aiming the air stream down at your left elbow (assuming you play right-handed of course!). Keeping your head up and pulling the lower jaw bone in just a bit will help move the air there. It won’t move much. This produces, or enhances perhaps, the effect Jon C talks about with forming a tight grin. Latley though, I’ve been trying to relax some of the tension in my mouth as I used to always have really tight mouth corners.
Lots of ways to get there!
what kind of flute do you have?
while the pre-requisite for a good hard D is a tight embouchure and a concentrated quick “bark” of air to really snap the D I found that some flutes are really crap, and you can’t get a good solid sound out of them. This mostly applies to really small holed small bored type flutes.
The point about leaky keys is valid but i’ve seen the same problem with non keyed flutes.
I don’t know if this applies to your case but these cheap, poor design flutes are just not worth it, i know it’s often tough to get a good one since they tend to be expensive, but what is the price of all the frustration dealing with a bad flute and developing potentially bad habits?
it’s a good flute, one of Jon’s, I had it for a few days.
has a great low D, and very easy player.
but none the less, when I play a tune, I mentally prepare myself for the low notes before I get there.
even if I’m going from the second octave the say the low G, I have to adjust my embouchure, blow lower into the hole, anything lower then that I tighten my embouchure as well.
it’s easier on tunes that start low like Kid on the Mountain or Rolling waves…because you start tight, but say Masons Apron, even the E needs the embouchure to switch into blowing down, but you have to be familiar with the tune, and it’s just part of the dance of playing a tune, it’s not all in the fingers.
eilam.
Hey guys, thanks for the help. I’ve only had the flute for a few days, and it’s getting easier to play all the time. Once I warm it up, I can get the D harder than I was before, which is encouraging. Still working on it though. I tried blowing down instead of over, that helped for not jumping octaves.
Also check that there are no leaks anywhere in the flute (and I mean anywhere - leaks are death to low D). Check also that the stopper is at around 19mm from middle of embouchure or more. If possible get an experienced player to try it.
I don’t think it’s leaking. The cork isn’t leaking, I took the head off, blocked the end and sucked in the embouchure, but nothing came through. I think the fault is my own, not the flute, I need to work a lot on my embouchure.
I found that some flutes are really crap, and you can’t get a good solid sound out of them. This mostly applies to really small holed small bored type flutes.
This flute is not crap, and it isn’t small holed either. The more I play it the more I love it, and it’s getting easier too.
Max
I’m thinking Conal O’ G plays (or has played in the past) a Hammy as well, hasn’t he? They’re known for the REALLY barking low Ds – it seems they have a quality you can’t quite duplicate on other flutes (at least I haven’t found).
That said, you’re on the right track, Max … it’s “frown and down” (i.e., pull back the corners of your mouth, aim somewhat down (within tuning reason, of course), and, like eilam says, plan your descent to that D.
Then beat the life out of the sucka, pushing it to just at the edge of the breaking point.
After that, do it again & again until the corners of your mouth hurt, and then some more! 
catski ! you’re so strict !!!
I have a “hard D owie” 
Poor boo-boo. Kiss make better … now back to work, you spud.
Love,
The Taskmistress.
(It’s that big-stick thing.) 
I seem to be the “What flute CÓG plays” guy. He currently plays a cocus Hammy but recorded “Top of Coom” on a Rudall with Fentum head.
In a Scoiltrad assessment Conal said he tries to put as much air into the flute as he can and cuts the minimum of the stream on the blow edge.
Some of the hard sound is aided by the flute design. Right now I have an M&E R&R on loan from Mr. Cronnolly and it responds way differently to my embouchure/blowing than my bamboo Olwell (which I have come to call Bambie). It takes way more focus to get a hard D without out jumping the octave.
Cheers,
Aaron
Ooops, sorry, Aaron! That might have been me, altho’ I thought the last time I bugged you with the Hammy question it was Paul McGrattan … so I guess that makes you the go-to guy for both.
Anyway, thanks for the info (& sorry for the moment of ‘duh’ on my part); I thought both those fellows did. I’ve been having so much fun listening to the wonderful “Flute Styles for Suki” stuff (thank you again to my hero) lately and soaking up all the Hammy festivity there. It’s nice to be able to put my Hammy into a context; they really are unique and wonderful flutes … in a universe of their own as far as a certain kind of sound goes. In fact, I think of Hammys as some of the few flutes whose voices you can recognize from afar; they’re that different.
Of course, whether it’s a voice you like or not is another story, but I think most everyone would agree Hammys are maniacs for hard Ds.
i realize this was in jest to some extent, but… is it really necessary to pull back the corners of the mouth so much it hurts, at least initially?
i’ve been getting loud & hard low D’s from a mild degree of pull at the corners if i keep the front of my lips as relaxed as possible. otoh, i’m going for a minimal air blow, unlike what CO’G is reported to use.
i have found that one key to a good low D is how even my breath pressure seems to be. much of this seems involuntary. with lots of time playing, our blow will (eventually…) become more relaxed, which makes it easier to blow a low D right at the edge of how hard it can be.
one way to approach this is to start w/ the softest, easiest low D you can blow, and play long tones on that until it is very consistent and natural. then, make that soft tone hard by blowing even less air through a smaller gap in the (relaxed) lips. it doesn’t take much to make a soft low D hard.
do different flutes need differing techniques to get a hard low D? for instance, do Hammys require lots of air for a hard low D?
enjoy! /dan
Building a really tight mouth-corner (?) was definitely the case for the hard D flavor I favor, and I did indeed find that the my mouth-corners got pretty tired at first. And then, interestingly, when I started playing a McGee I noticed it required even more effort to get the same quality D as what I was used to on my Hammy or Murray (altho’ the tighter you get on the Murray the more “English-horn-like” it can be, which is kind of cool in and of itself). I’m guessing it’s because both the Murray and the Hammy, especially the Hammy, have smaller embouchure holes – almost focusing the airstream by default just by cutting off stray “fluff” outside the blowhole. Meanwhile, the McGee has a blowhole as big as Texas, so … it was up to me to carve out my little corner of it for the hard D I like, and that took more work (and more sore face; for a few minutes after playing I often felt like a freshman during sorority rush!).
Anyway, it’s just my theory. But THAT said, it’s not really that you have to blow so hard on a Hammy – it’s that you CAN blow pretty hard (tightly focused airstream and lots of push) on a Hammy and get a reallly unique, reedy honk that, to me, doesn’t sound quite like any other flute. It’s not necessarily what the flute does, it’s what it can do when pushed, n’est ce pas? And with Hammys that’s part of the fun; they’re buiilt to take it.
Finally, though, sounds like you’re fine in your approach. Different players have different styles and thus get different sounds, from buzzy & barky to dark & rich to wispy & ethereal, out of their flutes. But in most cases, it’s not about blowing hard; do that and you’ll push the flute out of tune fairly quickly (the why of this I do not understand but I’ve heard about it from authorities on the subject and have been surprised myself more than a few times during sessions – especially when I first got the Hammy and was merrily blasting away, albeit incorrectly 
, for all I was worth – and then trying to fix it by pulling out the tuning slide farther and farther until the whole flute would go whacko (double )). It’s more about supporting the tone with your diaphragm and focusing it with your embouchure. A strong steady push (appropriately pulsed of course ) and a well-focused embouchure should do the trick.
And for a truly rock-hard D on flutes that will take it – and the Hammy seems to take it even more than most – you do basically the same, only more so.
That, at least, is what Conal’s & Paul’s playing sounds like to me – a big solid push from the diaphragm, tightly focused, on a flute that’s built to bark big-time.
I think what Jon said about the mositure stream on the opposite side of the embochure is probably one of the greatest and most informative discoveries I have read on this forum in a long time. I know someone brought this up and posted pictures a little while ago and it was extremely helpful. Makes your realize what to strive for…
I like the bell tone on Jon’s flutes, very good.
Maybe if you blew down the hole and towards the back of the flute your bottom d would sound stronger. Bear in mind when playing the flute for the first time, that the amount of air isnt what is important. The use of it is. To this end, imagine using your lips as a pressure hose. You know when some one squeezes the end of a water hose to increase the pressure, the water comes out faster and harder? Well, its basically the same principle. Be careful with the amount of air you are overblowing and therefore wasting. Try to be direct with the air you use and close the distance between your lips as you go. Also some flutes play differently, and sad though it is, some flute makers flutes can be a little on the substandard side where the ds are concerned. The technique I use was given to me by a long list of flute players in my area whilst I was still learning, I have always been able to achieve a bottom d on any flute Ive ever played. Oh yes, and dont forget about long bouts of painful practising. Also a good way for finding out what NOT to do when playing flute
thanks maire, i was told the same waterhose anology. i like it.
Yes, I just discovered the neat little trick of using the diaphragm to push with, it does send a blast into the flute! And when your embouchure is right, as Cathy said, it works; hard low D, whenever you want it! Of course, some flutes are harder to get the low D than others, but you can put the odds in your favor by using your diaphragm to help. I noted too that I had my mouth corners tight, just by luck, or instinct. So, now you can have at least two body parts getting sore. Or can you support with your diaprhagm without your stomach muscles tightening up? I feel mine now!
I can visualize the TV commercial; Introducing…The AB-FLUTER! 