I am wondering if something like this has happened to anyone else.
I have a Casey Burns’ large holed standard in boxwood that I had up for sale and actually sold on the forum. This is probably Casey’s most demanding flute to play and is not for everybody. Like all of Casey’s flutes the embouchure is very forgiving and is easy to get a sound out of. It does however take a focused embouchure to make it sing and it probably doesn’t work for everyone. It was returned for that reason.
When I got it back I started playing it again and turned the head a little farther in than normal and I haven’t been able to put it down all week. I don’t know if it is because I hadn’t played it for a while or I just looked at in a different light but man does this thing play! It seemed to take a little more air than normal, as I remembered it, but now it almost seems effortless to play.
I guess it never hurts to take a second look at a flute and I am fortunate to have it back.
I think some flutes that have a very forgiving embouchure can make you lazy. If you put them down and play a different flute for a while… one that has a more demanding embouchure, and then go and pick up the other flute you might find a brand new flute that you never knew you had. It happened to me.
Cheers,
Kirk
As someone new to flutes - and being somewhat humbled by the process - I’m curious about this. I’ve primarily played two flutes. One seems to have what Kirk B describes as “a very forgiving embouchure”; I can easily jump from the low register into the second and have to be careful not to jump into the third. The other flute seems more “demanding”; moving into the second register is more difficult and I often get a mix of first and second register sounds.
So the question is, what are the advantages of playing a more demanding flute; what does the more demanding embouchure offer other than more difficulty?
And a second question is, what is it about some embouchures that makes them more demanding.
Thanks and best wishes.
Steve
The embouchures on the two flutes I’m referring to are rounded rectangle vs oval. All other factors notwithstanding, the oval is more challenging because it has a smaller “sweet spot” so to speak. It challenges you to focus your air stream more precisely which is what you want. An easy embouchure may let you slide some and not adjust so much between upper and lower octaves but you’ll get better tone and be more in tune if you do make those adjustments. I find that playing different flutes helps me to be able to recognize what needs to be done and make those adjustments quicker. I hope that makes sense.
Interesting in that the challenging embouchure for me is the rounded rectangle (Olwell bamboo) while the easier embouchure is an oval (“vintage” Sweetheart one-key). Sounds like there may be something else going on other than the shape of the embouchure.
So learning to play a difficult embouchure improves a player’s skills — like getting better tone and tuning — but can’t that be done with an “easy” embouchure; is the challenging embouchure only a training technique? I’m sure I’m missing something here…
Best wishes.
Steve
Sure, there’s lot of other stuff going on other than the embouchure shape. It has been written that the rounded rectangle is more forgiving for a beginner but if you’re used to the oval then the change alone may be the issue. I played the same flute for a year before starting to bounce back and forth between different flutes because I think it’s good to keep that variable in check when you’re just starting out. But I think that after you’ve been playing a while it can be good to play different flutes. Not just for the change in embouchure shape but for all of the other factors as well. Bore size/shape, tone hole size, flute size/key, etc. I’ve seen it written here in the forum many times that a good player can pick up any flute and sound good on it right away. I think that has a lot to do with it.
BTW, I have a Wood Song bamboo D flute but it has an oval embouchure. It also has a very large bore and a very long stretch to reach R3(B3). After playing it for a while I found that I had better embouchure control of my Forbes flute which has a rounded rect and ergonomically the Forbes was a dream by comparison.
Cheers,
Kirk