What to do if flute clogs during performance?

[headwizer]

Do you just stop playing, disassemble the flute, swab it out, reassemble and then pick up from where you left off? If it's a solo performance, the silence can be jarring to the audience.

[David Levine]

Tip it up, tip it down, move it all aroun'. Noonan stops for a Noonan second and gives a hard snort to blow the gunk out.
Mostly you just struggle through the tune. I've found that blowing more softly helps the tone when the flute is clogged up.

[bradhurley]

Yet another reason to only play the flute at home. Don't perform, just play music.

Seriously though, just put your mouth over the embouchure hole, tip your head to the side so the end of the flute is pointing at the floor, and give a good hard blow. The audience will appreciate the whistling shriek, the accumulated moisture will spray out onto the floor, and your flute will sound good as new.

[Cathy Wilde]

If it's in the middle of the tune, I tip sideways a la David's description. If there's a place to break, I go for Brad's flute-clearing honk. Also, in a session, I make a habit of holding the flute upright on my knee & sometimes gently bouncing it between tunes, during tunes I don't know, etc. to let it drain.

[glauber]

the silence can be jarring to the audience.

On the contrary, it's often their favourite part.

[andrewK]

If a violinist's string breaks in a performance the audience expects it to be replaced, and doesn't worry about it. Perhaps they are more sophisticated than Irish music audiences. Or is it just the sensitivity of Irish style flautists ?
Is it possible to give a clearing puff before it is needed, but when it is convenient ?

[Doug_Tipple]

My dictionary gives the definition of "clogging" as ".....beating out a clattering rhythm on the floor." I would say, that if your flute starts to clog like that, I think that I would try to dance along with it.

With regard to a violinist with a broken string, I heard that Midori played on three violins during a performance of a concerto, without missing the beat. She was bowing with such ferocity that she kept breaking strings. Frist, after breaking a string on her violin, she grabbed the violin of the first violinist in the orchestra. Bamm! Another broken string, and now the second violinist was without a violin. All ended well, however.

[andrewK]

Good job she wasn't playing in a quartette !
Sounds like pretty sloppy bowing.The assistant leader should have been dispossessed when the leader's violin was purloined.
I doubt if the first violins thaught the outcome was so clever !
I once made a string pre- stretching machine for the Fizwilliam Quartet for use in just such emergencies so it would not be an unstretched string used (and retuned) for the rest of the concert.

[Doc Jones]

The audience will appreciate the whistling shriek, the accumulated moisture will spray out onto the floor, and your flute will sound good as new.

It may be helpful to tell the audience that this "accumulated moisture" is condensation and not spit. Particularly those on the front row.

Doc

[mvhplank]

With regard to a violinist with a broken string, I heard that Midori played on three violins during a performance of a concerto, without missing the beat. She was bowing with such ferocity that she kept breaking strings. Frist, after breaking a string on her violin, she grabbed the violin of the first violinist in the orchestra. Bamm! Another broken string, and now the second violinist was without a violin. All ended well, however.

Good job she wasn't playing in a quartette !
Sounds like pretty sloppy bowing.The assistant leader should have been dispossessed when the leader's violin was purloined.
I doubt if the first violins thaught the outcome was so clever !

I dunno...she was 14 at the time of that performance and everyone seemed in awe of her cool, calm way of dealing with a very difficult situation. I saw a film clip showing the violin hand-offs on the evening news shortly after it happened. No one seemed annoyed.

An article from Midori's own web site (www.gotomidori.com) says she...

• ...made her legendary debut at Tanglewood with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Leonard Bernstein conducting. The work was Bernstein's Serenade after Plato's 'Symposium' for Solo Violin, String Orchestra, Harp and Percussion.
  
  In the fifth movement, Midori broke an E string and was quickly passed the violin of the concertmaster, continuing to play without missing a beat. When the unthinkable happened again and she broke an E string on the concertmaster's fiddle, she took the violin of the associate concertmaster. Both borrowed instruments were different in size - and both were larger than her own instrument - yet Midori was unfazed. When she came to the end, the audience and the orchestra erupted in applause and Bernstein fell to his knees. The front page of the New York Times the following day read, "Girl, 14, Conquers Tanglewood with 3 Violins."

I couldn't (and still can't) imagine how anyone could make the adjustment between violin sizes so quickly and seamlessly.

There's an urban legend (totally unsubstantiated, apparently) about Itzhak Perlman finishing a concert on 3 strings.

However, I HAVE witnessed my favorite contradance fiddler limp through part of a set on two strings after two tuning pegs popped loose. It is as unthinkable to stop in the middle of a contradance as it is to stop a concerto performance. He was the lead performer in a trio and the other musicians were a piano player and a bass player, so it's not advisable for the only melody player to drop out either. He was able to improvise on two strings until there was a reasonable place for him to drop out and quickly get the two strings back in tune before continuing. (I confess I was laughing at his dilemma, watching from my spot beside the piano, and he was making faces at me.)

I'm grateful for the tips on dealing with a clogged flute. One of mine seems to be disposed to do that so now I have something to try.

M

[Dana]

I recommend Roger Holman's conical bore "flute flag". It allows you to quickly clean the entire bore with the flute fully assembled. It's expensive, but worth it in my opinion. http://home.nethere.net/roger45/fluteflaga.htm

Dana

[andrewK]

Of course Paganini used regularly to contrive to break strings to impress the audience with his ability to carry on regardless.

[rama]

if you feel the need to perform, then before a set of tunes, it is a good idea to blow the snort out of the flute ala brad's method. but be sure to also cover all the fingerholes as well as the mouthole though, which i'm sure brad does but forgot to mention.
it's a good idea to do this constantly thru out a gig, and in between sets, so that you don't have to do it in the middle of a tune.
just after giving it a good blowin out, and while the flute is still tilted downward, i used to like to tap the bottom of the flute with my open hand, giving it a few taps, to expel any remaining droplets. it also gave me a 'read' on how much condensation had built up and drooled out. if it still poured out then i knew it needed a couple more good blasts so i would give it that. i would wait 'til the break for any mopping out action, as i really didn't like dismantling the flute during live tunages.
it is a very simple and effective procedure, and helps to saves face until you can perform and not give a fiddler's f*rt, like noonan.