Newbie questions on intonation

Irish Flute
1

I’m new to the flute, although I’ve played classical music as a semi-professional trombonist for almost 30 years. (Believe it or not, the embouchures are very similar!)

I purchased a good, used, simple (no keys, tenon w/o tuning slide) wooden flute and have been surprised and dismayed by the intonation tendencies of the instrument. Using the RTTA and playing simple D and G scales, I found that when the tenon was all the way in, the flute was very sharp overall, but the scale was inconsistent. With the tenon out about 1/4" it was closer to pitch (trying for A=440, but managed to center in on A=435, slightly flat), but again it was inconsistent. More importantly, the octaves were not in tune–they were very wide, about 1/4-step for some octaves, almost a minor 9th!

By chance, the head cap (no screw; just a simple plug with waxed thread) popped out when I was mopping out after a practice session. I put it back in carefully (gentle taps with a rawhide mallet and dowel), measuring the distance with a flute cleaning rod and lining up the mark with the middle of the embouchure hole. I then played D and G scales with the RTTA. Same result. I then played D and G scales with the cap further from the embouchure hole–similar results. And again with the cap closer to the embouchure hole–similar results.

Are most beginner’s grade flutes this wild with intonation?

I know it’s hard to diagnose without pics or a video, but does anyone have suggestions? Embouchure? Posture? Rolling in or out more?

2

It depends what you means by a “beginner’s grade flute”. What make is it? Do you have a picture?

Some flutes sold as beginner flutes are in deed awful, but it is also, from my own experience, common for beginners to overblow the upper octave instead of achieving the upper octave with embouchure adjustment. If you get the upper octave simply by blowing harder, you may well get this effect of it being sharp compared with the lower octave.

It would be worth knowing what flute it is, though, in case it’s not you. :wink:

3

As Benhall suggested these things can be blown sharp or flat with embouchure adjustment. When starting out I found that embouchure excercises and playing scales against drone notes helped my intonation - I’d try to get an experienced flute player to test the flute if possible. Plenty of stuff on this forum about embouchure/intonation and also on Terry McGee’s site -

http://www.mcgee-flutes.com/