Do you play different makers' differently?

[y-nought]

This is a newbie question and it may be one of those "duh" questions for some of you veterans out there.

First of all some background....I have been a member here for two years playing whistles and have only been playing flute for about 10 months. I don't have a teacher, but I have learned a lot here, and at other websites.

For those of you with a collection of flutes, I was wondering if you adjust your emboucher for tone and intonation depending on the make of the flute. I don't know that much about voicing flutes and whistles. But I have made a few rudimentary PVC whistles and I know that the last step is to play each note and widen the tone hole until it is in tune. If it is the same with flute making, wouldn't the end results depend greatly on who was blowing the flute?

If this is true and I buy a new flute and find that the A and B are flat, for example, that would tell me that my emboucher doesn't match the flute-maker's emboucher yet and I need to make adjustments. The maker would never send a flute out the door with that bad of an intonation problem. And the same would go for a flute that plays flat across all notes, right? So in effect, the flute teaches you how it is to be played.

Or do most all flute-makers have the same basic emboucher and I'm just making it more complicated than it is?

As always, I am grateful for the benefit of the collective experience here.

Ed

[Akiba]

Yes, each flute is different and requires subtle changes in embouchure, breath to play in tune and with good tone. It does change from maker to maker for just the very reason you stated. I just posted this thread of me playing 3 very different types of flutes: the Murray is a Rudall-type flute (slender bore, smaller holes), the Olwell is a Pratten-type (large bore, bigger holes), the Burns is in between.

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=77274

I don't play any of the 3 perfectly but am probably closest to the Burns because I've played it the longest, the Olwell second best because I've played it 2nd longest, and the Murray I'm still figuring out since I've just had a week. I did the recordings in one session in an hour. Because of this, I'm not playing any flute as well as I could. It does take time to mold one's embouchure to get the best out of any flute.

Hope that helps.

Jason

[chas]

I'm sure you'll get many different answers, but my short answer is yes. Some of this is just that they demand it -- to get the best sound out of one flute, you might need a more focused, relaxed, or rigid embouchure. For example, Olwells tend to have very good tuning, so you can play with hard embouchure. Many other flutes, especially antiques, might have a note or two that needs to be lipped into tune, in which case your lips need to be much more flexible. Some makers offer flutes with different embouchure cuts -- a modern-cut is going to be much more forgiving, so someone who normally plays a modern-cut is going to have to really adjust to a Rudall- or Pratten-style embouchure hole.

The other half of my experience is that I tend to use different flutes for different styles of music. This is partly so that I don't have to make subtle changes in embouchure between flutes. English and Irish music have completely different styles in playing -- phrasing, ornamentation, and sound -- so I find it easier to develop a repertoire and sound on a particular flute for a particular style. I do have a couple of knockaround Irish flutes, but they're both very forgiving, so I can either as though it's an Olwell.

Don't even get me started on the adjustments between different Baroque flutes -- they're extreme.

[Sillydill]

Dear y-nought,

Each maker blows differently and some flutes require you to duplicate their maker's embouchure to get the best intonation and response from the flute.

For me half the fun of a new flute is experimenting and trying to figure each flute out!

Enjoy your Flute Odyssey!

[eilam]

also, the keys are a bit different maker to maker.

[Denny]

yup

[mutepointe]

Yes. I play with other people and I do adjust my playing unconsciously to be in tune with them. When I play by myself, I play for a pleasant sound to me, I'm not using a tuning device to check my pitch. I do practice a lot on a cheap Yamaha fife because it's convenient, fits in a pocket, is indestructible, and this sucker requires a tight embouchure.