I’ve been undertaking the conversion from the boehm flute to the wonders of wooden simple system, and loving it. After about three years, I feel I’m starting to get somewhere. But I still struggle with tuning, especially in the second octave. Here’s the problem:
Give me a tuner, I can get roughly there with the tuning slide, then of course with the visual feedback the tuner provides, adjust my embochure to get in tune.
The same is true when I have audio-feedback, such as playing along with one other instrument, or even in unison with a solo singer. I seem to be able to get in tune’ with the other player.
But there are two tricky situations - if I launch into a tune myself, then others join, it often seems that some tuning discrepancy has occurred. And if there’s more than one other instrument, and they’re not bang in tune (and they rarely are…) then my tendency to ‘follow’ what I hear gets thrown into confusion.
I don’t know if I should give any advice on this considering my ear, but two things that I have found to be useful is playing arpeggios, up and down the scale, listening to tone, and playing a tune with a drone note. Those two drills gave me a better feel for keeping a tune in tune with itself without playing along with a recording.
It’s great that you can hear the tuning issue. It isn’t an unusual problem. The real problem comes when you don’t hear tuning differences. You probably blow differently when you start a tune than when you’re swinging along with others. So my advice would be to try to blow consistently and, when you start a tune, try to relax and don’t over-blow.
I have the same problem you do, and I just try to adjust so that I am in tune.
It’s easier when you’re playing with better players or with a solid fixed pitch instrument. But you know that.
Who ever said this would be easy?
One of the advantages to playing flute is that you get a good variance in tuning by rolling the embouchure in and out to get flatter or sharper. After awhile, this becomes second nature, which allows you to instantly tune to another instrument that is close, but not dead-on. Of course, if you start the tune, you have no point of reference, so you may need to adjust when the others come in.
Now, in the case of a third instrument that is out of tune. . .well, sometimes you all just have to stop and tune up. You can’t adjust for two separate standards of tuning beyond your own. The best bet is to tune with instruments that have fixed or difficult tuning. Flute is usually the most adaptable, unless you have an instrument that tends to be sharp to begin with, and you have to keep pulling the slide out further and further.
Well I have no problems at all playing in tune with a single concertina or melodeon, even to the top of the second octave.
But I kind of expect that I’ll be able to play in tune across the octaves when playing solo, firstly for the benefit of golden-eared listeners, but also so that when other’s join they are immediately in tune with me. What worries me is that with all this continual feedback adjustment to be in tune with others I’m never going to habitually form the first embochure for each note to be in tune when playing alone.
Actually, I may have just answered my own question, since playing along with well-tuned fixed pitch instruments like the concertina might get me into the right habits!
There are two kinds of tuning in common use today, one is equal temperment, as a piano is tuned, and the other is “just”, as based on pure, sweet harmonics. Moreover, to get to the root of your question, for the moment forget about equal temperment, and focus on a truly musical, just scale.
To begin, use a SINGLE reference note, such as from a tuning fork, and then do your best to replicate that very pitch on your flute. When you have nailed that note perfectly, then tune ALL of the other notes in harmony, or dissonance, to THAT reference pitch, and to no other.
Once you get a good grip on just scales, all other tuning issues will simply fall into place, piece of cake.
Interesting subject, I agree with Cocus its good that you can hear the problem that means you can sort it. For me personaly the best way to get in tune is by ear but more recently I al.ways check it with a tuner. The flute naturely goes out of tune I think the futher up the scale you go so what I do is play bottom D until in tune with the tuner and then do the same on the bottom G note and then move the head of the flute to suit that note. I find I can still get the D in tune if I adjust my embroture, so for me if the mid range notes are in tune I find its a good compermise for the low notes and high notes with a little movement in the lips of course.
Not having any formal training in flute playing take this advise with a pinch of salt but somewhere in my head it makes sense to me. More important is to keep playing and enjoy enjoy enjoy !!
Thanks for some interesting replies. As I said originally, the problem with tuners that provide visual feedback, or tuning forks is the unconcious tendency to adjust the embochure to get bang in tune. Now, when practicing away from the session I leave the wonderful tuner software from http://www1.ocn.ne.jp/~tuner/tuner_e.html running on my laptop, then take a glance across at it on longer notes, trying to catch sight of the tuning before I get a chance to adjust it!
He’s far too modest…he and Jeff B. played together one night in Manchester…and it’s the only time I have ever heard two players play, not only in tune, but in phase ! An absolutely unique experience…
