I have been playing celtic music for about 20 years years on strings. I picked up the Native American flute a couple years ago, and then the South American Kena. That encouraged me to finally have a go at the Irish flute.
I have a Sweetheart keyless in purpleheart - been playing since about March, so that’s 4 or 5 months on and off. I am starting to move off the slow tunes and onto some jigs and reels. Playing the faster tunes has exposed a problem with the lower notes, particularly D.
When I attack a low D (or even the one in the second octave), it takes time before the note sounds. In a fast tune, I can never get it to sound. Same goes for trying to slur from a B or C# in the bottom octave up to the D at the start of the second octave. I am also starting to notice that the low D sounds pretty weak even in the slow tunes, and sometimes I can’t get it at all.
Checking out my embouchure in the mirror, I notice that I have the “cupid’s bow” lips, and it’s difficult to get the top lip straight - my natural embouchure opening is more like a little upward facing crescent rather than the oval that the books talk about. Could this be part of the problem?
Has anyone else had this problem? Any words of encouragement?
This is an ongoing problem for me, mostly with Pratten-style flutes, of which the Sweet is one. When it starts to creep up, I find one very simple exercise helpful. It’s simply blowing very short notes. Hold your flute normally for a low-D and blow short puffs of air into it. Experiment with embouchure, posture, flute position, etc., until you get a good solid low-D from the short puff of air. You might want to experiment with the same things with long notes, as short notes get boring quickly.
I have the same lip formation and it causes me trouble from time to time on the low D - but more on my Seery than my Sweetheart. Chas’ advice is good.
One other thought since this happens in the middle octave, too, which is rare…are you getting good coverage on the F# tone hole (the big middle hole on the right hand side). It’s pretty large, and if not covered well the D won’t sound as well.
This was my thought also. Some things to try would be to hold your right elbow up a little more, move your right thumb a tiny bit more towards the bottom of the flute (it is easier to stretch your index finger up to reach the hole, than to stretch your middle and ring fingers down), and think about pulling your right arm out. Imagine someone gently tugging on your elbow, so that you feel it in your shoulder. Not too much, just a little.
Well, I know that for me it almost caused my poor beginner flute to sail out the window and into the dumpster numerous times since I have a very pronounced cupid’s bow. Much to the disgust of my former flute teachers, I compensated with a tighter and radically off-set embrochure which to this day still brings on shudders whenever flutists watch me play. It’s even more pronounced now that I’m learning Irish style and really want to make the flute bark.
When I was a beginner on Boehm I had a heck of a time getting a big, reedy sound in the low register and I finally figured out I was completely constricted in the head, throat and chest. The mental image I use is one of keeping everything from my sinuses to the bottom of my chest wide open so the flute can resonate through it all. When I used to inflict myself upon students I think I described it as trying to fog up an entire window with one breath. It was kinda fun to watch the poor saps hyperventilate and slouch to the floor but that’s another story…
It is the hole that vents the F#, closing it creates the E.
A flute maker would refer to it as the F# hole, as it is the vent for F#.
The E hole, while common usage amongst players, would be somewhat incorrect.
It is the hole that vents the F#, closing it creates the E.
A flute maker would refer to it as the F# hole, as it is the vent for F#.
The E hole, while common usage amongst players, would be somewhat incorrect.[/quote]
That makes sense!
I have tried the short notes idea - which does work! I guess that’s because it helps build up a good pressure right at the start of the attack.
Yep I use to do a similar exercise. Only with scales
Puffing each note that isn’t a slur, I would play G,G,G,G slur to F# Breath F#,F#, F#, F# slur to E Breath E,E,E,E slur to D
The trick is to keep the volume and clarity of the first note and bring it into the next. By going up and down the scale in trouble spots I was able to quickly extend the range I could play.
Flutewench’s “fog up an entire window with one breath” is a great way to describe the relaxed feeling you should have when blowing, hopefully you can extend that feeling to the embouchure.
Folks
Most times weak low Ds are not the problem of the player but of the flute.
As I said: most times.
Sometimes it is. Too much playing in the upper makes it difficult to drop to the lower quickly and precisely. It’s an exercise you will overcome with practice.
But…
the most common reasons for weak (or non-existent) low D are typically:
– leaky pads (for keyed flutes) Even when they seem to be sealing, sometimes you hit the key once and it off-sets in the seat and, boom, a leak. I have a Boosey-Pratten that was just not working well or consistently on the D. Bad thing. Then, after playing for about an hour, I looked at the short-F key pad, lifted it and noticed moisture on the outside of the seat. That told me one thing: a leak. I repadded the key and boom…perfect strong D every single time.
– leaky joints. This one is usually the single worst offender. And by joints I mean everything from the cork on down. The slide is too loose; the cork is not in there tightly; the joints wobble even a micro fraction. All of these things play into it. The joints, unless it’s a boxwood flute which should not be tight joints, should be sufficiently snug so as not to crack the socket or crunch the tenon. BUT…should not have enough play in it to allow for leaking joints.
– Cracks. The world’s worst offender to wood flutes. But avoidable. Even a micro crack will cause pain to your tone. I have a Hudson-Pratten that had a teeny teeny (did I say TEENY?) crack at the foot joint socket. I would never have noticed it. The D was okay, but only after I had “played the flute in” and it was “wet” as we say. Then one night at session, i set the flute down and noticed a water droplet at the socket. What’s this? On closer inspection, the crack. It was seeping out. Water had plugged the crack when the flute was played in, of course. When out of the box, a moderate D. There you have it.
– Oil/dryness. I cannot emphasize it enough. Oil your flutes regularly and swab them out when you are done. Period. I often wondered about this practice, but it is imperative to good overall wood conditioning. All my flutes get a once-a-month oiling in winter and every 2 months in the summer. Outside and inside. Once a year I immerse them completely (keys off, of course) and let them hang drip and then I rub them down. Not only do they look beautiful, but they play immensely for many many months.
And not a single one of my flutes has cracked as a result of the oiling/drying/playing process. None.
I meant to add:
If by then, after doing all the above, your D is still poor or not strong…
and a “player” can’t make good tone either…
it’s possible it is the poor construction of the flute and not you.
It happens. Especially on cheap flutes.
In the light, the bores of all my flutes are glass-like smooth.
Yours should be too.
If not, then you need to get the maker to re-ream and re-polish the bore.
Contrary to popular Boehm style belief that you should keep the same embouchure for every octave, it is not true with Irish, as well as Baroque style flutes. Definitely try to relax your embouchure, making your lips “flatter” on the flute when a low note comes by (note too relaxed of course), also try to blow more voluminously during these notes. What I mean when I say voluminously does not mean to blow harder or faster, but to have a denser breath. This is one of the Boehm flute techniques that I, as well as famous players, incorporate into Irish music. Very hard to explain… perhaps one of these onlookers may make a better description of this technique, for I cannot. When playing in the upper octave, tighten your embouchure and have a less voluminous breath, so that all the notes in each octave are tonally balanced. It may seem a bit difficult to do this during fast songs (let alone slow songs) at first, but as the cliche goes, ‘practice makes perfect’.
The bore of my Sweetheart keyless is definitely not glass-smooth! However, I asked a more experienced player to toot a few notes, and he pronounced it Ok. I think it’s more likely to be me - after all, I still have a long way to go with this instrument. Thanks anyway for all these tips to watch out for.
the unsmooth bore will definitely, in time, affect the tone. The grain will continue to lift, as it does with most new flutes.
Cocus doesn’t do this as much as blackwood, but it still should be smooth. A rough or poorly-finished bore should not be acceptable to any player.
I’m having the exact same problem blowing good low notes. Hope to improve soon as well…The fact that I should have a flatter, relaxed and “denser” breathe is interesting to read.
