Hello all…I’ve been enjoying the discussions and now that I finally have my lovely new CB Rudall keyless (and slideless) flute I have some questinos. I know that it is difficlut to stay in tune without a slide and eventually I’ll have one added, but for now, I have a few notes that are just waaaaay off and others that are a little off and some that are perfect. I know how to angle my air differently and turn the flute for sharper/flatter sound, but on my middle D, G and C# no amount of tweaking does the trick. So, i’m hoping for some advice…or maybe someone will just tell me it’s OK and that nobody plays totally in tune. I should say that I’m classically trained on a Boehm flute…performance major in college…but I dropped out over 10 years ago to now take up my true love of Irish traditional and celtic. Thanks!
This is the part that puzzles me…what note are you tuning to?
If you’re using a tuner, try tuning your flute to the G (tune your bottom G to the G on the tuner) and now see how the other notes behave. Your A should be sharp, your C# should be a bit flat, the F# is probably a bit flat, and the E might be a little sharp. If this really is a “rudall style” flute, the bottom D might sound quite flat as well. All of this is normal, although not having played this particular model of Casey’s flutes I don’t know if they have their own particular tuning idiosyncracies.
Being slideless in no way should hinder your ability to tune your flute - all a slide does is increase the range you can tune sharp or flat overall.
Brad has given good advice, do keep us posted.
Eric
Just by way of clarification, when I say ‘tune your flute’ to G, I realize that you don’t have a tuning slide, but you will have a little “wiggle room” by pulling the headjoint out slightly if the G is sharp.
But anyway, try playing the bottom G against your tuner: if it’s sharp, you can pull the headjoint out slightly. If it’s flat, adjust your blowing angle (blow more across the hole than in it). Then check the other notes.
Hope that helps!
The slide will do nothing for the relative internal tuning of your flute. My old Casey Rudall had a very sharp E (for me), but was otherwise pretty good – as Brad pointed out, a flat C#, though not as flat as some flutes I’ve owned.
At my last lesson, my teacher was remarking how flat I was at the top of the second octave. I responded with, “Yeah, I just can’t get this flute in tune with itself.” He took it and blew perfect over 2.5 octaves. He said, “It’s not the flute, it’s you.” He did point out that he’s been playing simple-system flute for 35 years (and he’s younger than I), while I’ve been playing for 2+ years. I don’t know whether I’ve just been more aware, but I think I’ve become much more in tune with that flute since then. Still can’t bring the C# up in the first octave, though.
Welcome, and best of luck in your flute endeavors!
You can be a great flute player and still play out of tune. You will be a great player who plays a bit out of tune. Being in tune isn’t the most important thing about making music, though it (tuning) should be to a flute maker.
Being out of tune is most noticeable when playing an air or a waltz-- less so for faster tunes. I play a couple of flutes that lack slides-- an Olwell and a Doyle – and I can go a long way towards better tuning by rolling the flute in (to flatten it) or out to make it play a bit sharper. On my old Rudall several notes are out, as Brad pointed out. The more time I spend playing it the more I am able to bring those notes into tune without even thinking about it. It’s perhaps a bit like playing the fiddle.
You’ll be amazed at how you can blow a flute into or out-of tune, just by rolling the flute towards you or away, or just by ‘thinking’ a different embouchure. And I do love the darker, less-focused sound of a slideless flute. So does Catherine McEvoy and Ronan Brown. Do we know of other top-tier flute-players who play slideless flutes?
On the middle D, you also have the option of venting or not venting the top hole.
Venting is a little sharper than not venting, all else being equal.
I think, the tighter your embouchure for a more focused stream, the more dramatic the difference that angling that stream can make in pitch. It may take a while to regain lip-strength though if you haven’t fluted in 10 years. There are probably other factors. Of course, my flute isn’t a CB, so I can’t speak specifically to that scale.
The best players certainly get exactly the pitch they aim for, whether that’s exactly ‘in tune’ on the modern scale or not (well, within maybe half a cent… ). Middling players are generally satisfied with being within 5 cents of true, I think.
OK…I may have figured out the issue here 
Tuning should be done at 441 correct? I was tuning at 440! At least I hope this is the mistake. At 441, my middle D is still waaay sharp, but I at least can fix it with exaggerated rolling…everything else is very close…even the low D is almost perfect.
I have however learned a lot from everyone’s posts and thank you! I have not played daily in 10 years…picking up my classical flute and being bored to tears wishing I had a lovely, simple wooden flute instead…so I imagine my embouchure isn’t what it could be and this is adding to the issue.
So, what pitch are you tuning to?
Isn;t that Casey’s recommendation for a new flute, with the intention that it will “settle in” to A=440 over time?
I just tune my A to other instruments. My flute’s from the 19th century and some notes are way sharp and some are way flat. I hated that at first, but now it’s just the way that it is, and I’m OK with it. 
Isn;t that Casey’s recommendation for a new flute, with the intention that it will “settle in” to A=440 over time?
He does say that he tunes to 441, but I don’t recall why. Although he does say that as with any new flute, the voice develops over time. Perhaps that is what he is talking about.
I tune to the other players at my local session, otherwise I just tune to myself these days (my ear is pretty decent and I know how far out to pull the headjoint - I have one flute with, one without, a slide).
I have spent time in the past with an electronic tuner, and it was helpful for learning to play to each flute’s strengths and weaknesses with regards to tuning. I think David is correct for all wooden flutes that they’re a bit like playing fiddle when it comes to playing in tune.
I also believe Wormdiet is right that Casey expects the flute to “settle in” a bit if it’s new which is also why he has his “tune up” at a years time for a new flute. One thing about wooden flutes is that they do change - with time and the more often you play them they seem to improve (then again, it might just be me improving). 
Eric
oK…I found it now…he says that he tunes to 441 or more because as the flute ages the pitch will drop as the bore changes shape.
I have a lot to learn and adjust to from my other flute!
I also have to say that I LOVE my flute…it is mopane…just pure and simple, lovely red wood tones. love the craftsmanship and ease of playing. All the octaves just flow out very evenly…me thinks i’m a rudall lover… I have yet to play a pratten style though
Okay, confused newbie here. How do you discriminate between tuning to 440 and 441 when the actual pitch of the flute is so dependent on the playing parameters? I can easily swing the low D on my CB folk flute 20 cents either way from A440. If I am expected to roll the flute in and out to adjust pitch as I play, is there really a single position from which the low D is invariably tuned?
I have just assumed that when I play alone then I only have to be in tune with myself, and if I play with anyone else (which has not happened yet, nor is it terribly likely to) then the tuning just has to be close enough that all other on-the-fly adjustments are comfortably reached.
??
Roger
Um, yeah, me too. I’m +/- 5 on a bad day or when I switch between instruments. (Although I play the fife)
Oh, and Erica, how does the embouchure differ from your old flute and the CB flute? Both round, oval, rectangular? Just basic description.
Just to add–if you have a persisting problem, don’t hesitate
to call Casey and ask him what to do. He’s a swell fellow.
I’ve played a good number of his flutes and sometimes,
very rarely indeed, a flute needs to be tweaked by the maker.