I’ve been playing whistle for a couple years and started learning to play Irish flute recently. However, whenever I play a low D on my Baubet flute, it sounds almost 30 cents flat! The rest of the notes in the first two octaves are spot on, so I wasn’t sure if it’s just something I need to improve through technique or if it’s indicative of an intonation problem with the instrument. It does make the experience of playing the flute less fun when the tonic sounds out of tune!
On thesession, several discussions recommend rotating the head joint away from your lips to make the instrument play sharper, but this it seemed like this raised the pitch of every note, which meant the relative intonation of the low D was still problematic.
Does any veterans have suggestions to help diagnose or address the problems with a flat low D?
I’m not a veteran player by any means, but I’ve chatted with a few in the course of my journey making conical bore wooden flutes. I, too, had noticed that on a few flutes that the D note was a bit flatter than the rest of the scale. One explanation offered for this is the fact that ITM players often bear down and “honk” on that lowest note. The dynamics of that technique causes that note to play a bit sharper, so some makers compensate by flattening the note so that it lines up with the rest of the scale. I have an Olwell bamboo D flute that has this type of tuning as well.
I have no idea how universal this practice is. Admittedly a 30 cent difference does seem pretty big–but a lot depends upon the player. I’d be interested to know what more experienced players think of this and whether they have observed this practice among other makers.
I think that’s the way Francois designs his flutes…so you can honk the low Ds. I’ve had two of his flutes (unkeyed and keyed) and they both had a slightly flat low D, but I wouldn’t say 30% flat. I think as you become a more experienced player you’ll find that bottom D less flat than you think.
You can also just slightly roll out the headjoint when playing a low D to get it sharper, but try emphasizing/honking that low D!
Playing any flute in tune is an exercise in perpetual adjustments. Blow harder and you’re sharp, be sheepish and blow quietly at session and you’re flat. Fingers slip and the headjoint rolls in/out a bit and you’re out of tune again. You have to always be listening when playing…she’s a harsh mistress.
Often, I look longingly at the accordions and concertinas of the world and think…you bloody b@#$#@rd! That’s not a real instrument if you don’t have to try to play in tune!
So am I to understand that the Bottom D is flat on these flutes, but Middle D is in tune?
Say, “going over the break” playing up the scale
A B d e f#
every note is spot-on?
(I’ve leaving the complicated Cnat/C# issue out of it.)
Back when I would visit Mickie Zekley’s booth or shop and spend an hour or so playing through dozens of mid-19th century 8-key London-made wooden flutes it became apparent that a flat Bottom D was quite common with these historic originals of the modern “Irish flute”.
Presumably the orchestral and military band flutists who were the market for these flutes weren’t “honking” Bottom D as trad Irish players do.
While not honking you did need to give extra suport to Bottom D.
Interestingly the two 19th century flutes I played for decades, a c1830 Rudal & Rose and a c1860 Pratten Model, had spot-on Bottom D and footjoint C and C# as well.
What these originals did have was F# being a bit flat. They were meant to be played with the Eb key open for F#, which helped, but to get low-octave F# bang on without special blowing you had to open either, or both, of the Long F and Short F keys (which the Boehm flute cleverly does for you).
Given that you are a fairly recent inductee to Irish flute, would you say you tend to blow across the hole, aiming at the far edge, or blow down the hole, aiming for the “bottom of the wall below the far edge”?
The reason I ask is that the second approach tends to shift the energy away from the fundamental to the 2nd and maybe higher harmonics, which gives a “harder” sounding note. And if the middle D is well tuned but the fundamental (low) D is flat, this can disappear the flatness. The note still sounds like a Low D, but harder and in-tune. The reason we still perceive it as Low D is because our ears hear the spacing of the harmonics, and the spacing of the harmonics is still Low D. You can have some fun seeing all this happen if you download an audio spectrum analyser app to your computer or phone and watch the spectrum as you experiment with embouchure approaches. Play the Low D in an “across the hole” way, and note that most of the energy is in the low peaks. Now blow down the hole, and you should see the lowest peak lose energy while the 2nd and maybe others gain energy (height). Then shift to playing 2nd D (oxx xxx). The low D peak disappears, but you’ll also see the gaps between the peaks have doubled, and their number have decreased.
A good analogy to the “blowing down the hole” embouchure approach is imagining you have a grain of rice on your chin and you are protruding your top lip and withdrawing your bottom lip to direct a stream of air at it.
Hope that works for you. Let us know either way and we’ll all be happy to rethink, depending on what you’re finding.
A number of makers pitch the low D on flute flat, so the player can lean into it. A good way out of this problem is to strengthen your embouchure. Long tones with some emphasis on the low D. Practice rolling the flute in and out, but above all practice. Give it a few weeks.
Yeah like everyone else said - half of the fun is blasting out a bone-rattling honk on the bottom D, then it’ll be in tune. When you find the embouchure position where air is pouring perfectly out over your bottom lip and down into the flute, it feels like you’re a fountain.
When you find the embouchure position where air is pouring perfectly out over your bottom lip and down into the flute, it feels like you’re a fountain.