Hi,

I went to the Flute Spa by Patricia George a couple of weeks ago. It was amazing...but there was a real brief discussion about piccolo tuning. Real brief...I mean it was mentioned and nothing more. But, what was mentioned is what confused me.
It was said that piccolo corks are sometimes adjusted to where it is intune with a D. My questions are:
-what D?
-where is it to be in tune at...pushed all the way in?
-or did I misunderstand and it is something else...like piccolo should tune to a D? But, again...what D?

Please help...I have been trying to figure this out!!!
Sara

Well, "in tune" is a very relative term...No piccolo is naturally going to play perfectly in tune with itself, and even if you play "in tune" with an electronic tuner, it doesn't mean much, as pitches served different functions within chords and need to be adjusted either sharp or flat to be in tune with a group. As for which D, many piccs have a sharp D2, and a flat D1, so you can take your guess. If she discussed tuning a flute using harmonics, then likely she meant D1, but there's no way to be sure. As for where the piccolo head should be, most piccs will speak much more easily at the top of the third octave if the head is pulled out slightly (approximately the thickness of a nickel), and are made to be played in such a manner. I have a Zentner that I play with the head pushed all the way in, but my Powell I keep pulled out slightly...It's a personal thing, and once again, we can't really be sure what she may have meant.

<Added>

It's not unheard of to move the cork of a piccolo slightly to the right (toward the embouchure hole) to affect a better response in the third octave, and likely this was what she was discussing that confused you.

Well, that could be...she and Carl Hall (piccolo ASO) were talking about it. He seemed to understand. I really got the impression it had to do with the cork...we were talking about flute cork placement at the time. If anyone else has any ideas...let me know. Oh, and I know 'in tune' on a piccolo is a very vague thing to say. It did seem to be my impression that they were talking about 'tuning' to a tuner and placing the cork in a specific spot based on the 'd'.