I am considering a Casey Burns small handed ergonomic folk flute, but it does not come with a tuning slide. I have played boehm-system 30+ years and am now in a slow practice session group with Dr. Chris Smith (coyotebanjo, O’reilly’s Allstarts) who has begun a traditional music department at Texas Tech University. I know how important a tuning slide can be in group work, there are about four other flutists in my group all MUCH more experienced than I.
Is a tuning slide necessary for the folk flute, if so can they be added?
The Folk Flute is tunable, by opening the tenon. It is not as widely tunable as a flute with a tuning slide. (That is, the tone and tuning degrade enough to be objectionable if the tenon is pulled out as far as is physically possible.)
On the other hand, tuning slides were invented for a time when common pitches varied by as much as a half step. The Folk Flute’s tenon should be perfectly adequate now.
A tuning slide is not an option on Casey’s Folk Flute, from what I’ve read. They are available on his higher end flutes only. The Folk Flute is made with no options and a simple design to keep the costs of manufacturing down so he is able to offer it at a low price. At least that is my understanding of what I read on his website, and elsewhere on the board here.
Hi Judy
We’ve met before; I play at the pub session every week.
Casey’s folk flute is a fantabulous value for a wood flute. Probably the best you’ll find anywhere. I think you might be ok w/o the tuning slide because (as you know) you can make some adjustments by rolling the flute in or out, and you can pull the headjoint out a little bit on a slideless flute. However, tuning slides make things a little easier when playing with people who are sharp or flat of concert pitch, and that’s something you may (or may not) run into often. You may find that you’d be better off with a tuning slide. All that being said, Casey’s folk flute is great and should get you by. But if you decide that you need a flute w/ a tuning slide and also a great value, you might check out Jon Cochran’s flutes. He’s a member of this board and you can see lots of pictures of his stuff here if you run a search. Another option would be to get one of Casey Burns’s basic mopane flutes (not the folk flute) which runs about 450 I think and is upgradable. That way if you decide down the road that you’d be better off w/ a tuning slide, you could send the flute back to him and he could put one on for you. Later!
unless you naturally play flat, you should be fine without one 99% of the time. David Levine, who posts here, has mentioned a few times he plays with someone whose instrument (or their ears) are so far off he couldn’t imagine not having a tuning slide, but I’ve not come across a similar situation myself (I play a slideless sweetheart flute) and I’ve played in sessions in several cities as well as playing at home with my wife (who plays piano and/or guitar). I find I can lip up/roll out to go +/- .50 cents without even adjusting the headjoint.
I’m one of those who plays naturally flat. I have three very nice slideless flutes, made by quite respected makers, that I can’t get into tune to save my life. Fortunately I have flutes with slides lest I ever play with others.
On that same note, I know some very good players who naturally play flat. I personally have encountered a couple of flutes that I play very sharp. Sometimes there’s not a lot you can do w/ that if you don’t have a tuning slide.
One other thing I’ve thought about that doesn’t seem to be mentioned that often if at all is the fact that if you have to lip up or down a great deal to get in tune with whoever you’re playing with, it’s possible that you’re no longer hitting the “sweet spot” on the flute, and your tone and/or volume will suffer as a result. Has anyone else experienced this?
Sure. If you’re needing to play in tune with other instruments, you really need a flute that you can easily play in pitch. Otherwise it’s a constant battle, and the tone will definitely be affected.
Once I get myself in tune with someone else, or with a recording, it becomes harder for me to tell what I sound like at all, unless I goof.
Does anyone else experience that?
Have you talked with Steve Cooper? He plays regularly
at the Lubbock sessions and I believe, has a Casey Burns
flute. I bet he has a pocket full of information he would
pass on to you.
Also good to talk with is Casey Burns himself.
If you phone him, he’s usually there.
If one is going to go into Irish flute a long way (as some of
us have found, it can become a passion), then a slide
is sooner or later a good idea. But all wood flutes
are beautiful, one probably won’t have just one flute,
and so one keeps the slideless flute (which has
its place) or sells it, which is often possible
without losing money.
I find that if I’m playing with other instruments
under less than intimate conditions,
a lined head helps, along with the slide,
because the flute ‘cuts through’ better.
The folk flute is tuned to 441 Hz with the tenon pushed all the way in (according to Casey; I haven’t tested). So even if you play flat you should be OK, and if you play at concert pitch you just pull the tenon out a bit.
Hey Chas, I too play flat also usually, which means that I need to push the flute together more, so there a tuning slide won’t help me or you play in tune, just rolling the flute away from you will make it sharper. The farther you pull it out, the flatter you get, right? It may help you play in tune with other instruments or recordings sometimes though under the right conditions.
So, some flutes, like the 3 you have that you can’t get up to pitch from being flat, a tuning slide wouldn’t help that situation, but would help just tuning to others if they are playing flatter than where you are to begin with, when the flute is fully closed. Does that make sense? I hope so, because it was starting to confuse me!
By the way, those slideless flutes that you have that are hard to bring up to pitch, could they be made to play sharper by an easy fix by a flutemaker? If they could, then I could see a tuning slide being an advantage, once you can play at standard pitch.
I’m not sure I understand. The handful of flutes with tuning slides that I’ve had or tried were all at standard pitch with the tuning slide out at least a little allowing adjustment in both directions. This includes my new Cochran flute. I tend to play a bit flat also, and I still have room to go sharper if needed.
Are there some flutes with tuning slides that are designed to be at standard pitch with the tuning slide pushed all the way in?
Yes, that’s how they are designed, but not always the way they work for different individuals. Everybody’s instrument is different, since your head and mouth, teeth, lips, embouchure make up a good part of the flute, and has a big influence on the sound coming out of it. The angle at which you hold the flute, how much hole coverage…etc-all variables.
