, i am new to the flute typically a whistle player, and sax, recnetly bought a Thompson delrin flute D, when playing at start its nice and clear and strong, after a few minutes it seems to dampen out , get quieter , i figure maybe delrin gets wet easier and floods the sound,so i wipe it out or maybe my embouchure is wimping out, but then i tighten up and its still dead sounding almost like it plays better cold , any advice

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Flutes "clog" with moisture, more or less varying with the ambient temperature and humidity. I found it was more of a problem for me when I was starting out--I probably blow harder now or more focused. I still find that I have to give the flute a shake or swab it out now and then. Close all the holes and blow through it, that sometimes does it. It;s worse around here in the humid summer than in the dry winter.

I bought a "flute flag" specifically designed for conical bore flutes that allows you to swab it without taking it apart

i do all of this , and it still dampens out , made a flute flag just for this flute, the flute is Perfectly built

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Ok


Also odds are your embouchure is getting weaker because the muscles are getting tired. Flute is hard

I am surprised this is happening on a delrin flute. They seem to be pretty stable. Do you know a good flute player who could give it a go? If an experienced player has the same issue there is something odd about the flute.

I know we experience different issues in the learning experience. And the question is it me or my instrument is not easily answered without experience.

could be, i played bagpies years ago and sax now, ( whistles easy blow) i dont see my mouth wussing out , but it could just be so ,,most instruments i can pick up and play decently , you could be right people are alway talking about the embouchure maybe this is my hurdle also a D is a big flute fingers are not that long average , but dam woman do it

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i have no one around, the flute seems perfect, and right off the gate it sounds great, in tune constructon awesome , no undercuts Thompson makes his holes right on spot , not much undercutting to do,,, my thoughts are if the flute was bad ,, it would never be good and then change later on,, no leaks corks good , decent thickness slide grease, stopper around 19mm,, i think my embouchure fails?, does not feel like a failure but , every flute one need to find that sweet spot even at differrent notes and octaves, hmmmmm maybe i lose the spot, maybe thats embouchure failing ,, wish i had some one who could just jamm on this baby that always builds confidence

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I, also, would suggest it is your embouchure, it takes time for your lip muscles to toughen up.

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Keith.
Trying to do justice to my various musical instruments.

well i got great flutes, so it must be me as people chime in they might have the same experiance as to confirm

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Apart from "user error" the only other thing that comes to mind would be moisture collecting at the tuning slide, which could dampen the sound, or so I have read. You could try if it still occurs when the slide is all the way in. Which model do you have?

pratten ,
i thought about that too SOOO, i used a a thicker slide grease Alisyn, i was using a almond oil and and almond oil/wax blend i made, quit nice but a tad bit to easy to slide i have a sample of tribogel 208 coming in the mail , another synth grease but thicker, add a tad of that to Alisyns firm it up even more, my thoughts anyway

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It is not so much the slide itself or in-between but on the inside of the flute, where a small crevice is created by pulling out the slide. That's where the moisture can collect. So to check if that might be it, all you need to do is push in the tuning slide completely. Then there will be no place for the moisture to collect. I am not sure where I have read that. Might have been on Terry McGee's homepage.

I only experienced this as a beginner, and as time went on and my embouchure refined, this effect went away. I suggest it is fatigue from effort, wherein toughening is indeed required for greater endurance so long as the effortful paradigm is pursued. But there is a way that is utterly relaxed and effortless, and I don't know how to describe it in detail, except to say that all one's efforts have nothing directly to do with it except perhaps as negative preparation, if that makes any sense. For me it came about on its own, and only after years of effortful embouchure; then one day all that forcing the embouchure was sloughed off, and the effortless embouchure took over and produced the best tone, volume and control I had ever previously had - not to mention ease in consistency and staying power - and there was no question of ever going back. I suspect that, like me, most people will have to go through the effortful way first in order to get there. How much time it takes will depend on the individual.

So make effort by all means, but keep your eyes on the horizon: there are breakthroughs to be had.


In my personal experience moisture is more of an issue with whistles than with flutes, but that's just me.

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ooh good one to know i can see that one happening

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i can see this , it could be one of those things that just happen, no trying , moving around positions, over thinking etc. it just happens ,, lol i have been there many times before in life as far as moisture i dont see more than i would expect,, like you stated whistles got the most moisture

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