Why is my flute always flat?

Dear Fluters,

A flute student who is trying to figure out why their flute is consistently flat. even though the headjoint is pushed all the way in, wrote to me on my "comments" this week, and so I thought I'd just add a checklist here for those who find their flutes seem consistently flat.

What could be the cause of a flat flute?

Most common causes of "flat" flutes (will not play in tune at A-440):

1. Headjoint cork is out of position.
The crown of the flute if twisted to tighten it, actually pulls the flute's headjoint cork outward a millimeter at a time for every revolution of the crown (many students don't know this.)

Check your headjoint cork position with your cleaning rod to see if it's set at 17.3 mm. The mark on the end of the rod should show in the center of the blow hole. Some cleaning rods are mis-marked. So if you suspect your cleaning rod's mark is incorrect (as some are) measure the cleaning rod's marking with a fine ruler in millimeters. The marking on the rod should be at 17.3 to 17.5 millimeters from the flat end. (double click picture to make larger, then use back button to return here.)



2. Your lower lip is over-covering the blow hole.
For playing in the low register, be sure that your lower lip is not over-covering the blow-hole. For low and middle register the lower lip should only cover 1/4 to 1/3rd of the blow hole of the flute.



3. You are trying to check your tuning with a cold flute in a cold room.
It takes a few moments for a flute to come up to pitch if it is cold. If you are trying to tune a cold flute, it will always sound flat. So, before tuning, close all the keys and breathe slowly through the closed tube to warm it up. Do this prior to beginning to tune, and in rehearsals, do this after several bars rest, so that the flute is warm when you re-enter the piece of music.

4. You are blowing too softly, too slowly, or too timidly.
This is very very common.
To learn to play a flute with a large, resonant, round sound is one of the first things you'll learn in private flute lessons at the intermediate level. Almost all beginners tend toward playing too quietly, and wasting their air (too large a lip-aperture, or unknowingly allowing air to escape through their nose as they blow).
To correct this, see this article on how to learn to play forte with a full sound.

For more information about common reasons for flat pitch see these articles on my website:

Why would novice flute band students play consistently flat?

How do I tune in a cold room or rehearsal hall?

How can I fix a flat low register?

Dozens more general Flute Tuning articles for beginners, intermediates and advanced players are here.

In general I think that it is possible (but very very rare) that the student who originally wrote to me about playing flat in pitch is playing a flute that cannot be made to play in tune at A-440. Some antique flutes still exist that are pitched at A-435 to A-439, and there are miscellaneous old band flutes (more than 40 years old) of unknown origin that may have a slighly larger diameter, or oversized flute length or headjoint length.

However almost every modern flute I've ever seen that played "flat" had either the headjoint cork in the wrong place (too far out) or the student was playing with slow air and a small sound and often too rolled in on the chin as well.

In general, to bring a flute up to pitch, if flat, the student needs to practice on a daily basis on increasing the amount of air speed that they blow the flute with. They need to increase the FORTE end of their dynamic range, and work on a smaller and more precise aperture in their lips to create a more vibrant and full, colourful sound. This takes time, and is best done with the help of a private teacher.

Once you've learned to play with a full rich and resonant sound, you may find that you indeed are pulling the headjoint out because the flute is now too sharp.
You may also find that you need to raise or lower the flute's pressure on the chin so that the "air-reed" is lengthened. This is all part of the learning curve for novice and intermediate flutists.

Once a flute's headjoint draw position allows the flutist to be consistently in tune (when warmed up) over all three octaves, and their skills are starting to develop for playing in tune using dynamics, it's a good idea to mark the best headjoint draw with a shiny-surfaces permanent marking pen, to allow quick assembly each and every time you put the flute together. Having a single placement of the headjoint develops consistency that is necessary to further discoveries about tone quality, air-speed and tuning.


You can always remove the mark and re-mark using such a marking pen (remove with alcohol)if your embouchure and style of playing changes over the course of your own tone development.

However I find that once located, the marking method is a boon for daily consistency. Student flutists can pre-set to their normal marking and then just heat the flute gently in order to play in tune with any ensemble.

For the novice flutist who's still working on all the variables (air speed, blowing angle, tone quality, pitch, etc.) marking the headjoint's draw is still an excellent method to guage what changes are being made over time.

Just by knowing that you played in tune for a week or two at a certain headjoint draw, and always lining up the same way, you may find that if you do find your flute playing flat, you'll know that it's only because you are:

a) playing in a too cold room
b) playing with too slow an air-speed.
c) rolling the headjoint inward, or over-covering with your lower lip.
d) aiming the air downward too far in angle.
e) and, last but not least; playing with other instruments that are sharp (un-tuned pianos, sharp string players, clarinets that are squeezing their reeds and sharpening unexpectedly etc.)

At least you aren't moving the cork around anymore, without realizing it, because you know now to leave the crown alone. hahahahaha.
:>)

Remember to check your cleaning rod's cork placement mark for accuracy.
There were a slew of cheap flute cleaning rods with wrong markings around for a decade or more. Doh. :>)

Hope this helps,
Jen

Opera Arias for flute & mp3 backing tracks

Dear Flutists,

My good friend from Australia, Matt Taylor, has FINALLY got a blogspot website so he is now able to offer his fabulously fun, well-known tunes for novice flutists, The Opera Aria book for flute and backing mp3s

This book is terrific for students, and the backing tracks are lovely and orchestral.
Do take a look. Samples of the pages, the full index, and complete flute soundsamples (helps to have those to practice with for students.) are all at the site. $15 for the Opera Book with backing mp3s. All very handy for teachers and giggers too.

My students really adore these pieces.
Marvellous maximous!
Thanks Matt!

And there are plenty of FREE flute sheetmusic items on Matt's site too.
All for fun!

Best,
Jen

Subtle blending of Pahud in St. Matthew's

Dear Flutists,

There is nothing more sublime than perfectly balanced woodwinds and singers in a big hall playing Bach's Passions. So you might just want to hurry on over to the Berlin Phil Digital Concert Hall to see this great live film clip of Pahud playing J.S. Bach's St. Matthew's Passion live from a concert on April 11th this month.
Subtle and sublime, just like J.S. himself. :>)



Notice how beautifully simple, the flute becomes blended with other distant woodwinds, but never competes with the Soprano. (mp3)

Press the play button here to listen:



To see the short film with clips the St. Matthew's Passion online, to to the Digital Concert Hall website here, then click on the right most of the three banners when you arrive that says NEW in the CONCERT ARCHIVE. (little arrows will take you to the latest teaser clips; in this case it's Simon Rattle and St. Matthew's Passion with novel staging.)

And here's the actual flute part for the Pahud film clip taken from the free online flute part. To make the music large enough to read, just click on the music-jpeg below, then use back button to return to this page.)



Wow. I just love being able to see these "almost live" films from the latest Berlin Phil concerts. With the sheetmusic online in pdf, you can even play along!
Such a delight this new technology.

Best,
Jen

new Azumi curved beginner flutes

Dear Flutists,

A great piece of piping whose time has come. :>)
Just love this new kind of curved flute for beginners.
Check it out (German text and photos in pdf).

Azumi Wave-Line flute (English translation)

A perfect flute, right from the beginning
AZUMI Wave-Line flutes: opening new dimensions in young student development with excellent sound quality, richness of tone colours and ergonomic design.

AZUMI flutes offer teachers and non-professional flutists a range of instruments which individually facilitate optimal musical development through instilled motivation and success in teaching/learning. Through continual technical development and exceptional craftsmanship, the brand AZUMI has been regarded as a standard for exceptional quality in the flute market for several years. The support and levels of quality one would expect from ALTUS Handmade Flutes is inherent throughout the AZUMI product range.

Thus, flutists of all ages have the opportunity to profit directly from the innovation and knowhow of Shuichi Tanaka's ALTUS flute making tradition.

Close collaboration with experienced music educators (led by Prof. Barbara Gisler-Haase from the University of Music and Performing Arts Vienna) has allowed AZUMI to innovate further than has previously been achieved resulting in individually perfect instruments for performers of any age.
This revolutionary new patent allows AZUMI to build specially designed instruments for an early start on the flute. Not only do flutes of the AZUMI Wave-Line series offer an excellent playing experience but they further provide a solution to the, previously unresolved, problems which occur when using conventional flutes with curved head joints.

The AZUMI Wave-Line flute is evenly balanced along its length, experiences no tilting and plays in every way the same as a standard concert flute.
The AZUMI Wave Line flute, with patented O head joint, permits the building of a reduced length flute for beginners of an early age whilst maintaining all the playing properties of a standard concert flute. Problems in balancing the flute, as experienced playing flutes with curved head joints now belong in the past. In addition to this, the AZUMI Wave-Line flute features the same sound quality as a concert flute - the hissing produced when using curved head joints is completely eliminated. A further design feature is the level finger buttons which are positioned as close together and are as accessible as is technically possible. Allied to this, the light build, without trill key pivot and E-mechanism, further allows neat and non-restrictive fingering for players with small hands.

The O head joint model with C Foot features finger buttons which are set a little further apart to allow every player to find an individually perfect instrument
which meets his/her personal needs.

In broadening the range of instruments, the models with V head joint and C foot now facilitate a gradual change to a standard concert flute. The finger buttons are set further apart and the resulting comfortable playing experience also allows young intermediate players to achieve musical expression supported by an ergonomically comfortable play. From the beginning on.

Models AZUMI Wave-Lie Series
Head joint: Nickel Silver 925 Sterling Silver Plated
Body: Nickel Silver 925 Sterling Silver Plated
Mechanism: Nickel Silver 925 Sterling Silver Plated
Tuning: A = 442 Hz

Model AZ-WLOD
AZUMI WAVE-LINE flute with O-head joint and D-foot joint for the perfect early start
O-head joint
Finger buttons positioned as close as is technically possible
Simplified mechanism without additional trill-key pivot and split E-mechanism for unrestricted handling for small hands
Low weight and easier balance with D-foot joint

Model AZ-WLOC
AZUMI WAVE-LINE flute with O-head joint and C-foot joint with increased button spacing for taller players for whom the weight of the flute only represents a minor concern.
O- head joint
Increased button spacing
Simplified mechanism without additional trill-key pivot and split E-mechanism for unrestricted fingering even for players with small hands
C- foot joint

Model AZ-WLVC
AZUMI WAVE-LINE Flute with V-head joint and C-foot joint for comfortable and ergonomically correct play facilitating a smooth transition to the standard concert flute.
V- head joint
Increased button spacing for an easier transition to the standard concert flute.
Simplified mechanism without additional trill-key pivot and split E-mechanism for unrestricted fingering even for players with small hands
C- foot joint

Ideal balance of the AZUMI Wave-Line flute
Stability at the embouchure

The AZUMI Wave-Line is played like a standard concert flute

Ergonomically correct and relaxed flute playing
The AZUMI Wave-Line flute allows the spine, the shoulders and the neck to relax.

No more tilting and turning as experienced with a conventional curved head joint

The right flute for any age

O- head joint with D / C - foot joint
V - head joint with C - foot joint
AZUMI Z-cut series

Excellent sound
Richness of tone colours
Ergonomically correct playing experience.

Just thought you'd all want to know about this new flute.
(I'm not related to the company or sellers in any conceivable way.)
Comments welcome.
Best, Jen

TMJ & the weight of gold

Dear Jen,
Recently my daughter's flute was stolen. It was a heavy wall Miyazawa with C# trill and gold-riser headjoint. We are going to replace it with an identical model, which should be fairly easy to find, but my daughter, who is auditioning for performance programs for first year University is considering a gold headjoint or gold flute.
She also has recently developed TMJ, and is being treated for headaches with a splint. As a caring father, I wanted to ask an expert, does the weight of a gold flute adversely affect TMJ?

Dear Dad,
Gold flutes, to be perfectly candid, are to my mind, simply a passing fashion.
I have an article about gold vs. silver, with links to scientifically run tests where no one can tell gold from silver in blind tests. Rampal and Galway both could not tell which record album they were playing which flute on; both gold and silver sounded the same when recorded, even to the expert player's own ear.

If you're going to invest thousands of dollars for precious metals, you'd be smart to spend the money differently. For example, for me, as a professional performer and teacher, I find that in the long run, it's far better to have two moderately priced silver flutes that are almost identical in playability, and that can fit the same top-quality headjoint.

I send a flute out for repairs about evern 6-10 months, (this is what the rate of repair is for heavy use of more than 5-6 hours a day practicing) and having two flutes makes the whole ordeal almost effortless.

One slighly less expensive flute is my backup (fits my main headjoint which, as it happens, has a gold riser) and this backup flute is used when the primary flute goes for repair. Otherwise it stays in perfect "tweaked up" condition, ready for emergency flute switches if the main flute goes on the fritz right before a performance.

This is more of a reality check, that at times you in fact need two flutes if you are a performer with a full performance schedule. As a teacher, I've even had my backup ready for exam or recital times for my top students, who, as they practice more and more prior to a big event, tend to bring on mechanical problems on their student flutes.

So by all means replace the stolen flute with a good quality moderately priced flute (under $8000), but perhaps consider be practical and save the rest of money you would have spent on gold to purchase needed musical items (a keyboard, a masterclass, a plane ticket to a big flute event), or to pay for repairs or a backup flutes in the future.

Perhaps by the time your daughter has completed two years of University, she will require a different flute. Or perhaps by the time she is 28 or 30and is performing full time she will have changed her mind about which headjoint or which flute she prefers, and a good quality (but under $10,000) flute purchased now will be eventually be upgraded. If you spend all the insurance money on gold now, the problems are:

a) she may change her taste in flutes
b) her University flute teacher may advise her toward a different flute after 1-4 years of University
c) selling a used gold flute is more difficult because of the narrow market (few people can afford it so you're selling to a very small group)
d) gold may not be the answer to her actual musical needs.
e) flute mechanical stability and scale may have future improvements that will make future flutes more desireable.

If she doesn't become a performer, one basic good quality flute is sufficient, and a gold riser or gold headjoint can be purchased in the future, if gold still seems to be the answer for her.

In all honesty, the gold riser alone is enough of a precious metal content for me. I have arm problems, and wouldn't want a heavier flute. (In 2005 I happened to be trying out Nagahara headjoints in side-by-side testing, and the gold-riser happened to be the best headjoint I tried that day. However this was chance. I've tried plenty of good headjoints that were not gold, and they played as good or better than my best one with the gold riser.)

Now to the affliction:
TMJ is inflamation of the jaw hinge area tissues and is treatable by a dentist or musician's medicine specialist.
The weight of the flute (if heavier than normal) can lead to arm/neck/hand problems, but I haven't heard of increased weight of a flute (by several ounces) affecting TMJ.
Although I suppose that a heavier flute can cause some discomfort somewhere in the body, compared to a lightweight flute; but I've never heard anything about this in all my reading.

Here is an email that I wrote and that orginally appeard on Galway's Flute chat about TMJ and flute playing.

What should a flutist with TMJ do?

Usually the first thing to do is to visit a good dentist who can assess and possibly correct the bite (file down some small points on certain molars to correct "occlusion"). Only a dental professional can guage the necessary bite corrections to ease the stress on the jaw hinge, and determine absolutely whether dental problems are causing the TMJ.

A dentist may also suggest a night-guard if night tooth grinding (bruxism) is a contributing factor.

As a flutist who's had TMJ, the next correction after the dentist, and resting the joint that worked for me was finding a deep-tissue massage therapist who specialized in musicians/singers/actors, and who worked on the over-developed jaw muscles to break up habitual tension in those muscles. Alexander Technique may also help.

Finally a change in flute embouchure/jaw technique may be warranted if the flutist with TMJ has been thrusting the jaw forward and back to change octave or dynamics. Many flutists accidentally strain the jaw hinge because they don't really know what "jaw forward" means.It can be confusing as it is often mis-explained.

However Walfrid Kujala explained it very well in several articles he
wrote on "Jaw Boning".

Using Kujala's jaw-open/jaw-closed "FULP and PLOT" method is a huge improvement on thrusting the jaw forward and back horizontally.

See this previous blog article on reducing overuse of the jaw in flute playing:
http://jennifercluff.blogspot.com/2009/05/jaw-motion-for-flute-is-your-jaw.html

If on the other hand, the flute player's jaw is being thrust forward because they mistakenly use it to counteract left hand index finger pressure against the body of the flute, you may want to change your headjoint alignment to "modified Rockstro".
See headjoint alignment articles here:

http://www.jennifercluff.com/lineup.htm

All the best, and let me know how it turns out.

Comments on this post from experienced professional teachers and performers are welcome also. Just use the comment button below for your TMJ or gold vs. silver comments. Thanks.

Jen