Volume On Flute?

[calisaxman]

Hi,

I'm a sax player that's been teaching myself flute over the last ye`r. I think I'm progressing fairly well. However, my main problem seems to be volume. I've heard flute players play loud enough to play with my jazz quartet without a mic, yet I can't get anywhere near that volume! I'm wondering now if my problem's with my technique or with my flute. Can anyone give me any direction?

Thanks!!!

[Gordon (NZ)]

Many makes/models of flute simply do not have the volume available. This applies particularly to older ones, and those from makers who simply have not got up to speed in incorporating recent developments in head design over the last couple of decades.

What age/make/model are you playing?

Other factors are:
1. Covering too much embouchure hole with the lower lip. 1/3 to 2/5 is OK.
2. Blowing down too much. Actually a player can direct the air straight ahead. The mere presence of the embouchure plate below the airstream diverts the airstream downwards. yOu do not need to consciously blow down.
3. Head tilted downwards.
4. Insufficient air pressure in the mouth. i.e. blow the air harder - faster. Nos 1, 2, 3, tend to be band-aids a player resorts to when 4 is not attended to.
5. The airstream must not be turbulent. Causes of turbulence are pulling the lips tight against the teeth (resulting in a very short focusing 'windway' between the lips), leaving the tip of the tongue high in the mouth while playing a note, pulling the lips upwards such that the upper teeth protrude into the windway, or closing the jaw too far such that the lower teeth intrude.

[calisaxman]

Hi Gordon,

Thanks very much for replying! I've read a lot of posts referencing your flute knowledge. You seem to be quite the guru! The flute I play is a silver W.T. Armstrong with a B foot. I don't know how old it is (I purchased it used), but it's serial number is 90 7 99xx. Do you know anything about this particular brand? I'm considering getting a new flute. Can you shed any light on the B foot versus C foot controversy? I've read opinions stating both that one really doesn't use the B foot much and it's unnecessary as well as opinions that having the B foot improves the tone of some of the higher notes.

Thanks again for your help!

[Gordon (NZ)]

I have a low C flute. I think the difference low B might make to the top notes of the third octave and above is really quite slight. I do not find the third octave a problem without low B.

Really, serious and professional orchestral players need a low B for those occasions when they meet the note. But in standard classical works that really is pretty rare. Modern works may incorporate it more.

When a low C flute player plays low C, he just slams his finger down on that roller. With a low B flute the finger must be VERY accurately placed for the C, to avoid hitting the B roller. You could find this a nuisance unless you do quite a bit of practise.

Almost all my playing has been show music. In 150+ productions I have come across a low B I think only once. The 2nd flute player beside me happened to have a low B foot, same make, that fitted, but I found it a real nuisance. So in preference, I just slid a piece of soft plastic tubing over the end of the flute the right amount to turn low C into B. No problem at all; good tone. This made low C temporarily unavailable, but it is most unlikely that you will encounter a low C close to a low B in any music. It also made the low c# a bit flat, but I was able to lip it up.

With the extra leverage, the lower tenon joint of a low B flute is more subject to damage that makes it loose, but that is readily adjustable with the right specialist tools unless the damage is to the tenon socket.

The low B flute means you have a longer case, which means it probably no longer fits inside a brief case.

In short, my advice is don't get it unless you really need it. To be honest, I think there is significant snob value attached to the low B, and i don't think it is just a local phenomenon. If that is what you want, then go for it.

I don't think it is anywhere near as important as the low A on a baritone sax, or the couple of lowest note keys on a bass clarinet.

[Gordon (NZ)]

I've read a lot of posts referencing your flute knowledge. You seem to be quite the guru!

I have had relatively little contact with the 'party line thinking' of the flute-playing fraternity (to put it euphemistically). Perhaps about enough of it to lose interest in it! However I have been perhaps a little more questioning and analytical than most flute players ever get.

So if you want balance in opinion about matters flute, perhaps you should not regard me as too much of a guru. But thanks all the same.

[Gordon (NZ)]

The flute I play is a silver W.T. Armstrong with a B foot. I don't know how old it is (I purchased it used), but it's serial number is 90 7 99xx. Do you know anything about this particular brand?

I've serviced (hence played) enough of the Armstrong student models to be pretty disappointed in them, relative to Yamaha's. I doubt that many open-minded professional players play their pro models. I do not seem many of them. Perhaps that is because there is no American nationalistic fervour in my country, and players tend to select quite objectively, with suppliers selling what they select. It would be difficult to sell a professional Armstrong here.

However, every so often I come across an Armstrong that impresses me.

Bear in mind that SOME, but not all makers, now incorporate huge improvements in the design of flute heads in their products. These improvements have been around for the last couple of decades. Most of the tone/volume/response of a flute is in the head design, so many older flutes, no matter how wonderful they were in their day, are rather disappointing by today's standards. Some players rave about the flute that they play without even being conscious of how much better a modern, well-designed flute would be.

[MS]

The low B helpos in response and clarity of C4. Might be helpful if you're an orchestral player doing a lot of Debussy.

[calisaxman]

Gordon, thanks again for the great information. One more question regarding buying a new flute: Is the solid silver headjoint really that much better sounding than the silverplated? Any opinion on some of the new cheaper flutes hitting the market, for example Jinyin? I know I've heard great things about Jinyin's saxes.

[Gordon (NZ)]

Sterling silver certainly does have different acoustic properties. If you hold the blocked end of a student head, and flick the open end, it rings. on a silver head the sound is a dull 'thuck'.

However there is excellent evidence that it is the acoustics of the air column that are relevant, not the properties of the material of the air's container. Some people, especially the scientifically less educated, will argue black & blue that this is wrong, that the material makes a huge difference.

I believe that it is entirely possible that the precious metal heads sound better simply because they are designed so well, not be because of the material. No maker is going to market a solid gold flute with a crappily designed head!

I have played many student range flutes with silver heads, where the flute performs a lot worse than my current student flute standard - a current model student Yamaha (from Japan) WITHOUT a silver head. This seems to anecdotally back up the possibility that the issue of head quality is design rather than material.

I have not had a decent look at Jinyin, or played it. I have read both praising and condemnatory reactions to both it and the saxophones. This is typical of anything that is new on the market, and cheap. Some very 'blind' people are capable of seeing wondrous things. I would be cautious until they have stood the test of a little time. On many cheap Taiwanese & Chinese instruments there are significant problems such as severely non-level tone holes, plating that blisters in a year or two, soldered parts that keep falling off, sloppy pivots, pads that die within a year or two, etc. But any time now, Taiwan at least, is going to give the rest of the world a serious challenge regarding good quality, low price instruments.