On Doug Tipple’s D flute I’ve tried every combination of fingering c natural that I know:
oxoooo
oxxooo
oxxxoo
oxoxxx
It sounds really flat no matter what I do. I went to his site, but couldn’t view his fingering chart. Will I need to half-hole?
Don’t worry, this is quite normal for many flutes and whistles. The best sounding natural C’s tend to be from keyed flutes or by half holing.
I used to use this OXXXOX when I had a Tipple, it sounded the best to me.
You might write to Doug directly–e mail or PM him here.
Also it is possible to lift the tone of a note by rolling out
the flute, so you are blowing more over the hole than
in it. You may be able to ‘blow the flute in tune.’
Also blowing a bit harder at the same time may help.
Half-holing is unlikely to serve if you are playing
at speed–it’s hard to do it quickly on a flute. Maybe
you can do it for sustained notes.
Better to find a way to play more or less in tune by
cross-fingering.
I just checked the C nat on my personal low D flute with a glued-in wedge with a Korg digital tuner. I have no trouble playing the C natural right on pitch with OXX XOO. For me, the secret is to blow more down into the flute so that the first octave notes are near the breaking point. I think that many ITM players tend to blow this way because it brings out the overtones, making for a more complex sound. However, if I blow flatter acros the embouchure hole, I blow the C nat somewhat sharp. I don’t understand why the C nat should be noticeably flat. By the way, my personal flute has a C nat thumb hole, and I get the same C nat reading on the tuner with an open thumbhole as I do with the cross-fingered
OXX XOO. Please contact me if you still have problems with the intonation of the flute.
I used oxxxoo with a tighter and more forceful airstream and it’s working out. Thank you for all of your suggestions.