So, I’m just interested, because through some of my reading here, some folks evidently enjoy their flute’s taking “work” to get the “sound” the person is after.
What does this mean exactly?
A few people have mentioned in the past that “when everything is just right” they have a few minutes where they “see what the flute can really do”. They are unable to reproduce that sound reliably, but look forward to those upcoming moments of pleasure when they are wrestling just the right “sound” out of their flutes…
Does this quest never end?
I am finding myself less inclined to want to “work” at this… Is it wrong to want to just have a few tunes and enjoy it?
I think it’s just the challenge and sense of discovery which is fun for alot of people (myself included).
However, after ‘figuring out’ my flute (took many months), I was just happy to cruise along, playing what inspired me and enjoying the tone I’d managed to coax out of it.
Since developing tone is a life-long thing, really - I’m happy to let my flute continue to teach me new things, but I’m not ‘working’ at it nearly as much as I used to.
Some folks just plain obsess more than others too, Mary
I am still grappling with this concept of “tone” that people keep going on about. I blow on the flute and noise comes out. Is this tone thing that people keep talking about something that is more noticable to the player, or to the listener? I guess the different recordings I listen to are all by players who have great tone, as I’m not sure what bad tone would sound like. I wouldn’t know the difference if it fell on me.
A whistle is ‘pure’ or ‘breathy’ or ‘chiffy’ or whatever, and there’s really little you can do about it (well, okay, there’s plenty of tweaking to try. But, no playing technique can change the characteristic sound of a particular whistle.)
Any decent flute is any of these things that you want it to be. Getting the character of sound that you want is where tone comes in.
The mechanics of tone are, basically, that the sound changes depending on whether your
lips are close to or far from the embouchure hole edge (turning in and covering part of
the hole with your lips and so on affect this), how far down into the hole your airstream is
angled, how wide or narrow of a stream you’re blowing, and how hard you’re blowing.
Blowing deep down into the embouchure hole, with hard breath and a wide stream sounds
very different from blowing almost level across the embouchure hole with a softer breath and a narrow stream.
“Good tone” means two things… -consistent- tone (a tune shouldn’t generally be shifting all over from a soft, airy sound to a hard, reedy sound. Of course, some players on some tunes do just that very deliberately. It’s still ‘consistent’ in terms of the player getting what they aim for, and fitting the music.)
The other thing it means is ‘a tone the listener likes’.
Personally, I usually aim for a hard, clear sound that is just a touch reedy. It doesn’t mean I always get it, but usually. Many Irish players aim for the darkest, reediest sound they can manage to coax out of a flute, and consider that the best tone.
Of course there’s nothing wrong with just having a few tunes and enjoying them. OTOH, I don’t think there’s anythgin wrong with working to get the tone you’re looking for. I’m one of those who’s remarked on having good days with a flute. I’m still pretty new to it, and I have no idea whether it will be a never-ending quest to develop the tones I’m looking for.
The Olwell is pretty good at making all sorts of tones, but I haven’t come across another flute that can sound like the Hammy or the Bleazey. I still find the Hammy very difficult to play, though, and that’s something I’ll continue to work on, because I think that tone is worth it.
well…for me “work” means the following.
you could have a flute, which is easy to play, you get a good sound out of it pretty soon…kind of a give away, no challenge…
or you could have a flute, which makes you work to get the things out of it that you are looking for, which does not reveal its secrets too soon and you really have to put efforts into it to discover what it can do.
BUT
to me, this does NOT mean, that there might be just those rare moments that you sound good for only a few minutes.
that each time you will have to wrestle to sound good.
then, you do have a flute that is too hard for you to play and this completely misses the point what I meant with a flute that makes me "work on it.
There is absolutely nothing wrong with being happy with your playing the way it stands. This is definitely a YMMV topic!
I am a mathematician, but after I finished my postdoc in math, I went back to school as a freshman music major, to improve my oboe playing. I spent two years of incredible dedication. I practiced six hours daily. I played principal in the orchestra and the wind ensemble. I played in a jazz combo (as long as people promised not to laugh at me). I lived and breathed oboe. I got paid to play. And I got a LOT better. I bumped myself up to the “next level.” It was incredibly satsifying, but not something I could sustain (unless I found a benefactor, that is).
Yes, there is a satsifaction to seeing just how good you can get at something. But there is also a different kind satisfaction to just playing. I don’t practice six hours daily any more. I found that I need at least three hours to keep improving, and I can stay at the same level with one hour or 1/2 hour daily.
I choose to spend most of my life at the 1/2 to 1 hour a day level, but when I have the time, I can also choose to set a short term goal (three to six months) of working to get better. So I alternate a lot.
There is a phrase that I heard a lot in music school: “How good do you want to be?” IMO, that is not a derogatory phrase. We can all decide at what level we want to play, and then do what needs to be done to reach/stay at that level. We all decide what is important to us in life, and set our activites accordingly. Practicing enough to get really good cuts into things like earning a living and spending time with the important people in my life.
Music is a big part of my life, but it’s not everything. Balance is important.
Hmmm, my flute must be broke, or maybe I need a new lip, or … something. My flutes go on or off, mostly off. I think I will worry about tone when I get to the mostly on stage.
Not wrong at all. It depends on what your goals are. Some people hear in
their mind a certain timbre they want to sound like. (Each note has a
series of overtones which give it a characteristic sound.) If what comes
out when you blow, is not enough like the sound in your mind, you will
almost instinctively try to do something to make the sound more like you
want. That’s all there is to it. It’s a matter of trying to get certain overtones
which make the flute sound “reedy” or “edgy” or some other descriptive
term. Other people aim for getting the notes to just come out of the fingers
without bothering about anything else. Much easier, but also this can be
less efficient in terms of amount of air needed. The more you increase
your beauty of tone, the more air you have. I think on the Seamus Egan
tutorial he said something like this gives you freedom in your phrasing.
As far as enjoyment, if you want more air and more of a certain sound,
working through obstacles towards that will make you happy when you
can hear the results. If you’re happy with your tone then never mind all
that and have fun!
Two points: 1) HOLY SHIT, man, I can’t imagine going through the umpteen years of training in math, then dropping it all, even temporarily. I admire you. I’ve always had two passions, math/science and music. I figured, I can make a living as a physicist and still enjoy my music, whereas a career in music with physics as a hobby – well, you get the picture. I do some of the coolest work on the face of the earth (for me), and come home and play the flute!
Second, anyone who laughs at your jazz oboe, just point him toward Yusef Lateef (preferably not his first album with oboe, though, a few growing pains there).
IMO, whenever you are more accomplished at playing any instrument, it will feel less like work when you practice. In the beginning you have to concentrate and struggle with playing the right notes. With time you don’t have to think about that anymore, and your playing can be more relaxed and feel less like work. An exception that I can think of has to do with getting ready for a performance. I always seem to get stressed out when I think about performing, so, at present, I just play for my own enjoyment. If I mess up and miss notes, I don’t care.
