I liked it. 
'course I was good with the first one…
Yeah, thanks. I’ve noticed the same thing on my simple system flute. The edgier/reedier, the sharper.
an’ Boehm is much less so.
The Boehm is better in tune with itself also.
What means that you can tune to a middle color
instead of attempting to tune to a place where all of the notes are reachable
for the color that you intend on playing in.
Chris Norman is obnoxious 
This practice holds generally true for me when I’m in the process of tuning cittern, in addition to the practical reason that a tightened string is more likely to keep pitch than a loosened one. But as to what or how we hear, see below.
Perhaps it was. I don’t recall at this point. If it was - and in that case the point wasn’t driven home in a clear way for me - I have to say that for myself the situation’s quite different, if that’s what the authorities say about hearing. When it comes to hearing, generally what I hear in pitch discrepancies is sharpness. If I’m out of tune flat to a concertina, what stands out to me isn’t my flatness, but the other instrument’s sharpness. Similarly if my flute or cittern are sharp, that is what normally stands out for me. A perception inversion, maybe?
My orchestra conductor was the one who taught us about pushing flat and bringing up–and yes, he was talking to the wind players in addition to the strings. I find it helps when initially tuning to a tuning note, even if that’s just 'cause it’s easier to push the sound flat than sharp on the flute. My university wind orchestra conductor told us about flat-ness sticking out more than sharp-ness; it’s not something I’ve ever Really noticed, perhaps due to the fact that I’ve played quite a bit of piccolo (where you want to tune just slightly sharp anyway to stick out).
I just mentioned these in case anyone else found them useful. I just try to listen…and, failing that, give it up as a lost cause. 
I think it’s true that a flat flute or a flat whistle, by as little as a couple of cents, sound worse than sharp ones, as long as it’s by as little as a cent or two. Personally, though, I’d rather everyone was in tune.
I had what was otherwise a great session last year in Drumshanbo, outside in the street on a nice sunny day. It started with me on fiddle, a whistle player, a flute player, a concertina player and a bodhrán (well, you can’t have everything 
). Anyway, all was well for about 3/4 of an hour, until, one by one, about 7 other flute players joined in. The thing started going sharper and sharper. I several times stopped it and said to people - “Hey, I think we’ve got a bit sharp; can we tune to the box?” - but it didn’t do a bit of good. The poor old concertina player, who was a really nice lady and a really good player, just had to give up in the end. Shame.
I just thought you might like that story …
You only get two options: ironic and literal. If it’s not A, it’s B. You’re pretty adamant that A is out of the question.
No, there are three options. The third is bluster covering for pride. That possibility has been posited. Like I said, I’m not a mind reader.
How do YOU deal with being in tune, s1m0n?
Been there many’s the time. That’s why, while the energy of a big session can be a wild and mighty thing, I’ve come to a preference for the small, intimate sessions, from two to four people max. Not only is there finer nuance to be had, but damage contol’s a snap. Uh, depending, of course.
Actually, it made me cringe for my possible sins, being a fluteplayer myself.
That’s been my experience, too. I also think, like Meghan Eryn says, that modern Boehm flutes are generally more consistently designed and built to the same standard. And let’s not forget history: among other things, wooden flutes’ intonation issues were a big reason behind the evolution of the cylindrical bore → Boehm flute/its iterations → and then all the various tuning systems like the Cooper scale, etc. Lest we forget, the silver flute has often been viewed (in historical as well as in some modern circles – gasp!) as a huge improvement over its predecessor.
( 
Heretics!)
Meanwhile, here’s a funny opposite – I was always told I had terrific pitch, could sing you an A, etc. and never heard Complaint One about my intonation on my Boehm (I played quite seriously through high school and college, etc.), but when I dragged out a silver flute (admittedly a different one from the one I played all through college and supposedly a better one) after 8 or 9 years on the wooden stick to play in our community orchestra, HOLY CRAP! My intonation was horrific! I kept pulling out the head, pushing in the head, checking the tuning cork over and over and over again, even took the flute to the shop to make sure the cork was correctly positioned … Anyway, I eventually got it sorted but still would get the occasional eyeball from the conductor.
The only idea I have as to the how or why of all this is the wooden flute’s timbre is ever so much different from the silver flute’s. (I also wonder if there’s anything in having the instrument in direct contact with your lip and chin as well (silver flutes’ liplates are on a “riser” which would, I think, change the vibrations somewhat)
BTW, if your trombonist pal is sharp, remember: she’s a trombonist. Perhaps she’s blowing too hard. When you have to fill a room a big blow becomes second nature. My tuning improved dramatically when I backed off.
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Nano, giving her the benefit of the doubt, what I am hearing is that she wants to hear herself, that is, she wants to CUT it.
This is an allowable thing for certain orchestral instruments in a symphonic setting (violin being NOT one of them as it is a group instrument) and that is where she may be coming from. -
My slightly more comlex insight goes like this:-
On a lot of Irish style flutes, unless you are a highly adept player of that flute, the natural articulation of some of the lower notes will be flatter than the others and she may have tuned her flute so that the low D is in tune and hence everything else is coming out sharper,
OR
she is blowing in a way toi make the lower D (which is a little flat) sharper for to make that in tune but not changing her blowing technique as she moves up.
1 is an acculturation issue and 2 is about the type of flute and adjusting your playing style for it.
Thanks, guys. I’ve already mentioned the technical whys and wherefors I observed contributing to sharpness that particular case.
Again, I’m more interested in what we hear ourselves, in ourselves and others, and how (if that can be articulated) we hear it.
Hey Nano,
If you are interested in what we hear ourselves, in ourselves and others, and how (if that can be articulated) we hear it, I would thoroughly recommend a book my nephew bought me a few years ago.
It explains why we hear sound (as in music) the way we do. There are explanations somewhere in there on tuning and why you/I hear sharpness/flatness and what it means to our enjoyment of music.
The book is called:
‘Music, the brain, and ecstasy’ by Robert Jourdan. The edition I have was released through ‘Quill’, (an imprint of Harper Collins publishers.)
I just did a quick search, It’s on Amazon, pretty cheap really;
http://www.amazon.com/Music-Brain-Ecstasy-Captures-Imagination/dp/038078209X#noop
I hope this helps,
Cheers.
Hey, thanks! Reading the reviews, it looks like that’s the sort of thing I love to sink my teeth into.