Hello!

I am a high school senior and I have been playing the flute for a number of years. I have always had the most trouble playing mid-register E natural- I mean, the tone is not as lovley as the rest of the notes mid-register. I'm also having trouble making octave jumps from the low register to E natural, but none of the other mid-register notes. Is there some secret I haven't heard about yet, some secret to help "fix" my E natural problem?

Without seeing and hearing you play, I can only speculate - your teacher should be able to identify the problem.

If the tone deteriorates going down from middle F to E and then recovers playing D, I would be suspicious that the flute needs adjustments to close the F# key properly with the E key. This problem can't occur on some flutes. However, I would also expect a low octave E issue.

If the tone problem is only apparent when the previous note is in the low register, I would suspect that you need to compare the embouchure you are using playing the jump vs the descending scale. (Try videoing it).

There is such things made for flutes called a split E or G donut to help with that note. That is the nature of the flute for that particular note to be harder to play.
Use more air pressure for that particular note, more then you would use for the surrounding notes.

Check the cork position with the cleaning rod (also you can search recent posts about this). I had this problem with middle E and Eb. The cork in my almost new Yamaha was in a wrong position and when I corrected it, these two notes greatly improved.

If you have a B foot, you can also try replacing it temporarily with a borrowed C foot and check. It could be a venting problem.

The experts here may have a lot to say in this issue.

Dear "trouble w/E natural":

Assuming that the flute is in good condition and that you are assembling and blowing with some velocity, you can also change the "vowel opening" (the position of the inside of the mouth) to a feeling of "eeee"-- say "eeee" without moving the lips, then keep that same shape of the mouth while blowing.

This can be combined with small changes in the jaw (forward) and bringing the upper lip down to make the embouchure hole smaller.

Of course, this is all without seeing or hearing you play; however, the above is what usually works on my students.

There is also some "inertia" to overcome with most flutes; that is, it is easier to hold the E than to get to ie.

Hope this helps.


Jason Blank, Haynes Artist
jblank@wmshaynes.com

Haynesflutist,

I would like to try your suggestion of changing the mouth to vowel "eeee". But my mother tongue is Spanish and I am confused on how you pronounce those "eeee"· For me it would be along "e" sounding as in forgeeet, but I think most often these repeated vowels sound as in "tree"

Thank you for clarifying...

Your second suggestion was correct--- it would be eee as in the english word "Tree".

Let me know how it works for you.

~Jason Blank, Haynes Artist
jblank@wmshaynes.com

Please specify which E you are referring to.

I indeed was speaking about the third octave E.

-Kate
Powell Artist

It is interesting to note that the Spanish "i", more or less equivalent to the English "e" is a comparatively difficult vowel to use when singing and - I still have to try it- when flute playing.

So difficult is it that 90% of the vocalizations with one of my sing teachers are made exclusively with the Spanish "i". For male singers it is by far the most difficult vowel, almost impossible at the highest notes, but not so for for female singers, that find the Spanish "a" (as in "are") more difficult.

When I try to produce with the flute a round, fuller sound in lower notes I have been using a throat/mouth position closer to the Spanish "o" (as in "communicate"). I adopted this position by copying, in a way, what I do when singing lyric music.

I will consult today with my flute teacher concerning the use of the Spanish "i" and will let Jason know, as he asked.

Concerning consistency of languages, I find that every language has its own advantages and drawbacks.

English has been adopted as a kind of "Lingua Franca" or "universal" language because it is simpler (not having noun gender, orthographic accents and with its simpler verb structure) and so it is considerably easier to learn.

As a drawback it can be ambiguous in those aspects that have been simplified in the grammar, its correct spelling is very difficult for foreigners and the value of vowels is difficult to guess (if you do not know them in advance). I have been told that this can sometimes happen among different areas within USA.

Another interesting advantage of English is its ability to adapt very quickly to new concepts, by expanding its vocabulary without much academical complaining as would be the case with new words in Spanish or French.

Of the western tongues (I do not know others not being western), German is probably the most "consistent" (not sure of this meaning) of all. There is a good reason, as it was systhematized by Luther very recently (in the XVI century), using the structure of Latin and including lots of redundancy, derived from its three noun genders and four declination cases. For this reason it has been the language of choice for the most complex Philosophy studies

Only if it was easier to learn....

Some people claim that the mouth cavity makes a difference for flute playing. I can accept that it might for clarinet and sax, where the reed is is inside the mouth, but not for flute, neither by scientific intuition, nor by experience.

There actually is a name for that particular effect (which escapes me at the moment...oh I remember buccal resonance) as it applies specifically to the flute. It will not affect one note on the flute, but is theorized to affect aspects of projection and timbre. The basic concept of that theory is that the embouchure and it's attached oral cavity act much like a proscenium arch to reflect certain wave propagations as they emerge every half cycle of the standing wave.

It is one of the explanations to explain why various flutists sound differently when playing on the same instrument.

Joe B

Bad E naturals..things to look for outside of obvious leaks and not enough practice...

1. Improper cork position
2. Inadequate key venting
3. Ditto 2, particularly the D# key

"But I find that other players can be highly affected by mind images, such as thinking of the sound as broad, or placed further from the body, in the stomach....... I suppose it is all to do with how differently people's minds actually operate"

Micron, I am also "engineer minded" and I tend to disregard many claimed effects or solutions when I cannot find a solid physical explanation to support them.

Now, the way each one thinks about his own body and most important, the feedback between what we are actually doing while playing and what we hear we are doing, does affect the result, at least in my own case.

True is that the mechanism of sound production is quite different in the case of singers compared to flutists, but I resist to accept that the whole complex system sustaining the air column with its pressure and speed is mainly regulated by the lips and their embouchure (at least that is what I understand from you reflections, sorry if I misunderstood them).

In fact, that is what I believed until I met a flute orchestra soloist who listened to my playing (a very simple slow piece, BTW) for a couple of minutes and concluded that "you are doing everything with the lips).

He then produced a long explanation, a kind of equation between pressure and speed that, according to him, was the basis of good sound production. This equation had the abdominal and back muscles as the main components and he insisted that the lips can only give "a final colour" to the sound.

In my case, one of the most urgent things I need to improve (apart from better dexterity in fast passages) is the "roundness" and "full character" of my sound. I have been working with my teacher on it and we both believe I have been able to sound much better. What I am in fact doing is mentally concentrating on the sound (now that I know well the piece we are working on) AND using part of the technique from my singing lessons (in particular, the raising of the back of the throat (certainly, not the tongue). It does work for me, although I still do not understand why.

To Jason, we have been discussing the "eee" (Spanish "i") issue with my teacher. I also tried to use your suggestion, but it did not work for me. She (my teacher) thinks it is not applicable, at least for Spanish speaking people.

I must say that right now I have no particular problem with the middle E. I did have a problem with middle Eb, but I solved it by correcting the cork position. The cork was some 4 millimeters (5/32") off, towards the tenon side.