I’ve been playing for well over a year now and I’m having trouble playing on pitch with good volume (and tone). I can do one or the other but not both together. The problem is when I play louder my low G to high E are too sharp. It’s most problematic on the low A which, if I throw caution to the wind and play very loudly can approach A#. I know volume isn’t necessarily a good thing but if I play at a level where I get the best tone and can be heard at a session then I’m in trouble. I can lengthen the tuning slide but then the low notes (low F# to low D) go flat (this is what I to do in sessions, with the tuning slide way out, and then I quietly bluff the low notes). By changing how I play I can correct the pitch and take the slide back in but then my tone is very thin and I’m too quiet to be heard in a session. Also when playing like this the flute isn’t as responsive and so cuts aren’t as effective and I can’t play as fast.
I must stress that the problem is with the player and not the flute. I’ve got an M&E keyless polymer flute and it’s an excellent flute. I’ve heard good players play it wonderfully, right on pitch with heaps of tone. Also, I’ve got the same pitch vs volume effect when playing two other handmade flutes (one was a Sam Murray, I’m not sure what the other was), so the problem is most certainly with the workman, not the tool.
I was wondering have others experienced this? I’ve practiced a lot to try and get pitch, volume and tone together but I’m don’t seem to be getting any better. Can anyone suggest specific things to practice? I’m learning new tunes and my fingers are getting faster but this problem is holding me back. I’d gladly relearn from the ground up if I knew what to work on. Any suggestions?
I hesitate to give advice thanks to my own beginner status, but have you tried tilting your head forward on the higher notes? This is something my teacher strongly recommends and I find it works rather well.
Pitch is always more important than volume, and you’d probably be surprised to hear - from a listener’s standpoint - how loud you really are when you are in pitch, particularly on your higher notes, without trying to push volume. Many/most players, in fact, pull back a bit on volume as they play into their second octave for this very reason; flutes go sharp if overblown, and the higher notes don’t need this as much to cut over pub noise. Assuming your cork’s in the right position, etc., you are obviously overblowing to get volume, which not only ruins your pitch but your tone, too. Chances are good that you were being heard by others just as clearly as when not overblowing. And you were in pitch.
In short, I think what you’re doing is trying to compensate for not being able to hear yourself by blowing way too hard. Find a good spot in the room where your sound bounces back at you a bit, and stay in pitch!
Whatever you are doing to play louder is wreaking havoc with your embouchure. The harder you blow, the more focused your embouchure must be. The corners of your mouth will be a bit tighter and your lips will press against your teeth more. It’s about control. You can’t simply blow harder without an adjustment to what your mouth is doing. Practice and experiment. You’ll get it.
All you need do is play into a tuner and be mindful of your intonation.
Try to sit next to a player with a fixed pitch instrument, such as a concertina, in a session. Avoid sitting next to fiddler or fluter who also has intonation problems.
And as has been mentioned… don’t over blow. A great exercise is to see how quietly you can play in the upper octave. If you can play quietly on the high notes your embouchure will be strong and flexible and you will discover that playing with good volume is effortless.
I just remembered another idea that was suggested by Ivan Goff at the Augusta Irish Week flute lessons - “The Tuning CD”. It has multiple drone tones for you to play along with. I bought it and use it. There are also a couple of iPhone apps that are similar - got them,too, but the CD is better.
Here’s what helps me maintain quality of tone (i.e. more reedy/edgy) and keep in tune:
I aim more for the low end of the tone’s intonation spectrum, particularly on notes that tend sharp. Each note has a wide range of intonation possibilities from sharper to flatter. As I play louder, I aim more lower in that spectrum.
Also, work on going to the second octave by tightening/reducing your lip embouchure hole maintaining airflow down into the flute rather than either blowing harder or redirecting the airflow stream higher.
My teacher says put a tack on the wall and look up to focus the air up. Also, can raise eyebrows. His point is to focus the air up on the high notes. Also, long tones on the high notes and slurring is what I am having to work on.
This technique, in my experience, is what classical, Boehm flute players do. I was trained to do that in my young classical days. For the conical Irish flute, that technique does not work. I guarantee you’ll play sharper in the second octave if you do that exclusively, i.e. move your lower lip forward to direct the airflow upward. I find that trying to maintain a downward airflow but tightening/reducing the lip embouchure hole (making it smaller) is a much better technique for not only Irish flute but when I play Boehm flute as well. The airflow does get pushed up a little with the tightening technique, but minimally.
Thanks very much for all the replies folks, I’m taking them all on board. It’s good to know that others attend to these things and they don’t necessarily happen naturally for everyone. I could sort of feel some of you cringe at the thought of me in a session somewhere playing really loud but really sharp. Rest easy, I do make sure I’m in tune for most of my range, it’s just my low notes which are a bit flat but also quiet.
I’ve been practising quite a bit and I am certainly playing in tune now. My focus is now on tone and I’m concentrating on not over blowing. A very informative exercise, as mentioned by Julia, is to try to play quietly in the second octave. This has created a new type of embouchure for me and made me play the flute in a way I hadn’t previously done.
As I mentioned, I am now playing in tune, but it still remains to be heard how my volume will compete in a session with others. Pitch will remain paramount though.
Thanks again for the replies and any further discussion would be much appreciated.
Since you are exploring your embouchure, I offer this thought: along with playing quietly in the second octave, you might have a go with a piccolo. Jem’s little black beauties are cheap enough and amazing instruments. When you can command the high range on one and do so quietly, you’ll really have developed some chops. Perversely enough, I find the high end work on my piccolos strengthens my command of the bottom end of my full size flutes.