I need help please!! I have been playing my Seery for a few weeks now, and I can play both octaves fairly comfortably. However, my top octave is sharp and the lower octave is in tune. I didn’t really notice this until I finally tried playing with a banjo player and I sounded terrible so I checked my tuning with an electronic tuner and found my upper octave is sharp. Is this something that will fix itself in time with more practice? Or should I be rolling the flute in to flatten it when I play up high, or what?? Any and all suggestions would be very much appreciated. Sorry if this has been covered before, but I don’t get here often. Thanks.
When I first got my Seery, I thought it had the exact same problem.
After spending a couple of months with the flute, I discovered the flute was fine, and I had been the problem: I was failing to provide the lower octave with the breath support necessary to keep pitch up. It’s an easy mistake to make with that make of flute; I had played flute for years before I ever touched the Seery.
You might have a different flutist try your flute. I can’t swear you are experiencing the same thing, but I sure did get “deja vu” when I read your post.
–James
If it doesn’t sort out in a couple of weeks,
maybe it’s the cork.
that’s a fairly typical challenge and james probably has it pegged right on.
this might help:
try blowing first octave G, long tone, and have it break into second octave (long tone). keep working the note (looong tones) like this so that you can manage to have it break octaves without losing out on the tuning. play around with the breath (blow slightly lighter) and/or the aperture of your lips (don’t tighten too much) as you go into the second octave. you don’t have to be spot on to make a beginning, just try to stay within ± 20 cents and keep working it so eventually you can predictably get it down to ± 5 cents and ultimately 0 cents (which is ideal but nobody gets it perfect all the time so roll with the punches until it comes naturally).
the A note is a bit more challenging to control on the flute and will tend to go sharp in the second octave so it isn’t a good note to tune on. get the G going (in both octaves) and then learn to blow the rest of the notes into tune. takes time.
everytime one picks up the flute (even after getting it to blow in tune) the angle of the lips to the blowhole may change so be aware that it has to remain somewhat constant too. so even though you maybe in tune with the banjo (ha good luck) on the first set of tunes, on the next set of tunes you need to be aware of the angle of blow (keep it somewhat consant) and the volume (or how hard you are blowing) as this may affect overall tuning (pitch) too, so try to keep it constant as well. if your blowing is erratic it tends to make it harder to stay in tune. flutes can and do go all over the place until you learn to blow 'em and keep’em under control as best you can.
producing a full tone enhances/stablizes the internal tuning on most (conical/wooden) flutes…intonation. so tone production and tuning are very closely related. work on blowing long tones, cleanly and focused, and blowing in tune becomes way more manageable.
Whistlepeg, at the risk of sounding like a broken record: Take some lessons, or at least get together with a good player a few times. As a beginner, it’s so hard to know for sure whether it’s us or the equipment. A teacher will be able to help sort these things about, and will also be able to help guide you as your learn to play. In addition, they can help you avoid bad habits, which can be difficult to unlearn.
Enjoy your Seery!
Dana
James is probably right on, and Rama’s advice is great, but just in case Jim has hit the nail on the head…I’d also check the cork.
Use a chopstick or dowel rod to measure how far it is from the end of the cork to the middle point of the embouchure hole (mark it with a pen or marker). That should be just about the diameter of the head joint (measure this based upon the diameter on the end of the flute after you take off the cap). If it’s much less than one diameter, the cork sounds like it’s too close to the embouchure hole and that can raise the upper octave.
Eric
Eric and Jim are right, the cork can do this, especially if it’s particularly the top of the 2nd octave that’s sharp relative to everything else. This will also reduce the power and ease of the lowest notes in the first register.
That should be one inner diameter, by the way, not outer.
–James
To check the cork, try the second and third Ds, they should be in tune. The first D is usually low anyway, and not a good note to check.
I’d be surprised if the cork is in the wrong place, unless this is a second-hand flute. If you’re a beginner, the problem is likely to be with breath support and embouchure.
g
Thanks guys you are the greatest!
I will try your advice and get back to you.
As far as taking lessons from a good teacher - there are none within several hundred miles. However- we have June McCormack coming in September and I want to be ready to get the most out of my lesson with her - so anything I can do now myself to improve, I want to try!
Cheers!
Hi Whistlepeg:
IMO, a Boehm flute teacher could help you with the basics of embouchure, tone production and breathing. Some people believe that the Irish flute embouchure is quite a bit different than the Boehm embouchure. Then there are those of us that don’t… At any rate, I think a good, open-minded Boehm player-teacher could be a big help as you get your feet wet.
Dana 
Dana, you raise an interesting point, if one not really related all that closely to this thread.
I played Boehm-system flute for many years before I started playing Irish trad; I also played traverso through some of those years.
I do use a different embouchure now than I did before I started Irish music, but not exclusively on Irish flutes–I now play Boehm and traverso with the same approach I use on the “Irish flute” and find that it gives me a much better tone than I ever had in my college days.
The differences: in college, I was trained to blow over the embouchure hole and my goal was a very “open,” free-blowing sound using an absolutely loose, relaxed embouchure; now, I blow a more forceful and focus airstream angled a bit further into the embouchure hole instead of just across it, with a tighter, more muscular embouchure, and my goal is to get that “woody” resonance that I love. Rather than prefering a flute to feel “free-blowing,” I now roll it in quite a bit so that there is a feeling of definite resistance.
Of course, this is my approach now. It may yet change again through the years.
All of that aside, I agree that a good Boehm flute teacher can certainly help with getting the basics down, including matters of embouchure and tone production. You have to know the basics to be able to build on them or alter them–without the background I had in college, I would not play flute nearly so well as I play it today (however well that may be, depends on who you ask). 
–James
Interesting stuff, James. On the Boehm flute I have a pretty relaxed embouchure, but I use lots of air pressure, and aim the airstream somewhat down into the flute, and have for years. (This seems to be more like the English style of Boehm flute-playing). I find that it gives me more “oomph” and a darker sound. It actually translates relatively well to the Irish flute, although I’m certainly a baby-beginner at that style. (I can make just as reedy a sound as anyone, however!) For me, having a relatively relaxed embouchure helps me to be flexible. I can go from my Boehm flute to the Irish flute, with little difficulty, even though they certainly feel different.
Enough of my OT meandering!
Dana
Supposedly that’s how Jimmy Galway plays too.
g
Oh, please not Galway!!! 
I’ve always thought his playing sounded like he was driving his flute too hard, or at least more than his flute could take. H’mm, maybe he should dump his gold Muramatsu, and get a Hammie!
Talented guy, though. 
Dana
I think he gets that “driven” sound from years of having to make his flute project unamplified over a full orchestra.
Orchestral flutists have to deal with producing volume in a way that most flutists don’t believe possible till they hear it in person.
–James
Yup, I experience that phenomenum regularly. (I play principal flute in a small professional orchestra). One really does have to learn to project. Of course, I’m not having to blast over the Berlin Philharmonic, either.
Dana
Edit: Sheesh! How did I get us so OT? Sorry guys. 
Oh dear, still OT, but I’ll also try to skew it back on a bit – 
I was always trained to have that dark, knife-blade “frowning” sound on my Boehm flute – i.e., the tighter you can pull back the corners of your mouth and aim your airstream down, the better. But oddly enough, I’ve actually had to go to a slightly more RELAXED embouchure on my Hammy – if my experience holds across all Hammys, Mr. Galway might actually break that flute’s poor low D in half or worse, create the rather disturbing Doppler effect I ran into about two months ago. (30+ years playing flute, and never have I had a straight, vibrato-free note actually go frequency-crazy ala “wah-wha-wha-whawhawhawha.” But if you bear down hard enough on at least my Hammy, you can make it happen!)
Whistlepeg, don’t be surprised if you have to tune every note at first. Even Boehm players do, but after a while it’ll become second nature as you develop ear and muscle memory. And, of course, as you get to know your flute better. Anyway, as has been mentioned earlier, long tones are good, as are octave jumps. And finally, you might want to consider a few slow airs. In fact, the beauty of these is that they let you experiment with training your ear & lip by going slightly OUT of tune on certain notes – but of course, only momentarily – and then coming back in to “shade” or “color” things a bit. Regardless, I’ve found this “reverse” process (i.e., learning to play out of tune on purpose) as another good way to learn to play in tune. Just be vigilant that at all times you know about where “in tune” is!
I second Dana’s emotion. Any flute player who has more or different experience than you has something to teach you, even if it’s a different- style instrument – the basics like holding the thing right, embouchure, relaxation and intonation are essential for everyone.
Finally, about the tuning cork. My teacher’s method seems pretty simple (cover your eyes again, Glauber) and effective: ,play a bottom D, then lift your first finger to play a middle D. Go back and forth a few times and see if there’s an audible tuning difference. If there is, the tuning cork’s probably off one way or another.
Goodness! Listen to me pontificating! Must have been that meeting I just got out of. Funny, that – I listen to someone else pontificate, and it sets me off. Anyhoo, I’ll get off the soapbox now …
What happened to the $75K platinum flute?
I think he blows down (which makes the pitch go flat) and compensates by blowing real hard, bringing the pitch back up and giving him that “Irish” reedy sound.
But what kind of flute was that? Many conical flutes have somewhat phlat low Ds.
Besides changing the relationship between the octaves, the cork changes how the flute behaves: moving the cork away from the blowhole will favor the low octave, and moving it towards the blowhole will favor the third octave and allow you to play into the fourth octave. So there’s no one perfect position, it’s a compromise. This kind of manipulation was more common with Baroque flutes (many flutes have a so-called screw cap connected to the cork to make it easier). But with the modern metal flutes, nobody moves the cork anymore.
Darnit, i’m afraid of posting this kind of material here, because someone will surely find it necessary to clobber me over the head for disagreeing with me. So let me end by saying that it’s ok to move the cork, as long as you have a way to put it back where it was if moving it doesn’t solve your problems. Often people will draw a line in their cork moving stick that’s in the center of the blowhole when the cork is in the prescribed position. Whatever you do, make sure you know how to undo it. Usually moving the cork 1 or 2 mm is plenty. Baby steps. And keep in mind that most people seem to do just fine leaving the cork where the flute maker put it.
g
Moving the cork doesn’t actually affect the first two octaves much at all, it starts having some effect at the top of the 2nd octave but where it has profound impact , as Glauber points out, is in the 3rd octave and higher.
I believe flutemaker Terry McGee has some charts illustrating this on his site.
–James