I’m an intermediate level irish flute player whose been playing for three years. I have a Casey Burns keyless flute in African Blackwood. I have a problem which I would greatly appreciate feedback on.
After playing for a few minutes without stopping, I almost always develop a lot of saliva and moisture around the mouth hole, which usually forces me to stop playing and fix wipe the hole off. It’s getting infuriating, and I’m wondering if this is due to some fault in my technique, the flute itself, or some other problem.
You say you’ve played for 3 years, but not what other flutes you play. If this only happens on the Burns, it might be the cut of the Burn’s embouchure, which is different from the way your other flute(s) are cut. So, when you play just this flute, you’re losing too much air and saliva is dribbling (not a pretty picture, this early in the day!), since what you’re describing is not condensation in the flute.
Is the hole size different on this flute than on your others? Smaller, maybe? You might have to focus your airstream more on this one than on the others.
I would try different approaches to my embouchure on this flute – turning the flute head differently, or checking where your lower lip is placed. Saliva really shouldn’t make it into a flute, just hot breath and consequent condensation. Keep your head up straighter, and the flute as well – you might be leaning down into it too much.
If it only seems to be this flute, and you can’t seem to get it to play without this happening, maybe contact Casey and see what he can suggest. If it happens on other flutes, it is your technique, so play around with it a bit.
[ This Message was edited by: Gordon on 2003-02-28 10:31 ]
I had an over salivation process and then dry mouth for a few years when playing the chromatic harmonica. During that time I was using alcohol content mouthwash. My dentist recommended alcohol and sugar free mouthwash - I did - the problem/s went away.
In my experience, the more tense my mouth and lips are, the more I drool. I’ve been playing with a very relaxed embouchure the last few years, and haven’t had any saliva problem at all. I have no idea why this should be – maybe I was inadvertently squeezing my saliva glands? Shrug. As a temporary fix, you might try drinking whiskey or dry hoppy beer during sessions. Or you could take up smoking, though that of course leads to other problems.
On 2003-02-28 12:07, Ro3b wrote:
In my experience, the more tense my mouth and lips are, the more I drool. I’ve been playing with a very relaxed embouchure the last few years, and haven’t had any saliva problem at all. I have no idea why this should be – maybe I was inadvertently squeezing my saliva glands? Shrug. As a temporary fix, you might try drinking whiskey or dry hoppy beer during sessions. Or you could take up smoking, though that of course leads to other problems.
This is probably true, but the original post said it only happens on the Burns flute. Perhaps he is more tense playing this flute, or feels he has to push the air more and this causes tension. I wonder what other flutes are being played where this isn’t happening.
I’m not sure methods of drying out the saliva glands are going to solve the problem, certainly not without creating new ones.