I borrowed a grinter flute which does have a tuning slide, something I have never used since my dixon poly has none.
Could someone please explain to me how to use this.
I know you tune it to A=440 using a tuner but that’s all I know, what do you do when you get too sharp or too flat?
When tuning this flute, my notes below A all go flat (g, f) and I have to back off a lot to make the a and b not go too sharp…
Could be my embouchure or can I adjust the tuningslide and how?
Ok I realize this is a double question thanks for any help!
Greetings
berti
If you’re flat, the slide goes in. If you’re sharp, out.
Flutes sometimes play flat when they’re cold,
so you might start with the slide a bit in
and later pull it out a bit.
Sometimes flutes won’t be quite in tune
on the tuner–I don’t think it matters
terribly. Pushing the ebouchure hole away
raises the tone slightly, in flattens it.
Also lipping notes can raise them.
Sometimes one must play a flute in tune
by rolling it out at certain notes, or in.
Anyhow these things tend to work
out in time, with a good flute.
to make things even more complicated, sometimes a note on the flute is off with the rest of the flute. for example, most saxophone players know that the c# is almost always slightly off and is probably the worst note on the saxophone…probably playing a low D on the flute is a bad idea to tune it because they are generally flat (unless you want to adjust your embochure, but this kind of defeats the purpose of tuning)…just a thought…
If you’re tuning to A=440 on an electronic tuner, try using the note “G” on your flute to get it into concert pitch instead of using the A. The A on most good simple-system conical bore flutes (including Grinter) is likely to be sharp, so if you tune to that then the notes below will likely be flat of concert pitch, unless you know how to play the A in tune with the rest of your flute (by lipping down a bit, directing your air more into the embouchure hole to flatten it).
G is the most stable note to tune with: if you get the G on your flute in tune with the G on the tuner, your other notes probably won’t be so far off.
But be aware that the Grinter, being based on a Rudall and Rose flute, will have some notes that will sound out of tune until you learn how to blow them into pitch…the D will sound flat, the E will sound sharp, the A will sound sharp, the C# will sound flat. If you want to work with the tuner, you can experiment with getting the flute overall in tune to A=440 (using the G as the note that you tune to the tuner), and then lip the out-of-tune notes up or down to learn how to get them in tune. As your embouchure develops (i.e., as the muscles around your lips become stronger) and you produce a more focused tone, you’ll discover that it takes very little adjustment to get those notes into tune, it’s pretty subtle, at least on D flutes. On flat flutes like a Bb, you may have to do some pretty extreme lipping up or down (or opening keys if you have them) to get those notes into tune.
I don’t use a tuner myself, but instead rely on playing with other musicians to figure out what I need to do to get the rest of my notes in tune.
Does this also hold true for second octave adjustment? I’ve had to reset a cork and would like to check it. I don’t use the third octave and never go higher than A in the second. Thanks.
I would first get the first-octave G of your flute in tune with the electronic tuner, and then play the second-octave notes to see where they stand. It’s normal for the second-octave A to be sharp, maybe even a little sharper than it is in the first octave, and the F# will still be flat, but the G should be pretty close to in tune between the two octaves if your cork’s in the right place.
Note that on certain more modern flutes that are designed just to be played for Irish music, the tuning will be different…some of these notes won’t be as far out as they are in flutes designed to be played in 3+ octaves. I’ve even seen a few Irish-made flutes in which the A is flat, not sharp! But the G is still usually the most reliable note to base your tuning on.
In sessions I used to ask people for a G rather than an A when tuning my flute. But then I decided it would be a better idea to just learn how to blow my A in tune reliably, so now I can tune to A and my flute will be in tune (well, not always, as people who’ve played with me will no doubt agree!!!).
Thanks Brad! This has been causing me much consternation since getting a tuner over the holidays. I think I was happier without one, but others may be happier now.
Depends on its overall intonation. If you’ve got a sharpish A and a flattish E, say, then tuning a whistle to G would probably be a good idea.
Re: second octave flute intonation: embouchure counts. I used to have my stopper WAY in as my 2nd octave was always flat. Now I have it set only slightly inward from standard position (for the timbre I like best), and the 2nd octave is in tune just fine. The whole flute plays more easily, now.
Coming from a background on the pipes, I find it useful to play a tuning phrase rather than just relying on one note (this is when I am tuning to other instruments, rather than an electronic tuner). Granted, G is usually the starter note, tuned until it is…well, in tune! But then, I would play a short phrase, just a series of notes to check that the overall tuning is set. This helps in that you don’t concentrate on a single note which may, in fact, not be truly representative of the overall tuning.
Brad is spot on when he says that the better your blowing is, the less you have to adjust for individual out of tune notes. So much of the playing is in the blowing!
Cheers
Graham
PS - I know electronic tuners have their place, but be very wary about putting too much faith in them. Far better to use your ears and concentrate on getting your blowing and tone correct, the tuning will follow as sure as “The Longford Collector” follows “The Tarbolton”
thanks for any help!