the wet flute syndrome

Berti66 · Post by **Berti66** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 1:16 am

recently I noticed I do currently suffer of wet flute syndrome.....flute gets wet very soon, say half an hour of playing. have to be careful not to drip everywhere I go.

no idea what exactly causes it.
now is there a way to train myself to get rid of this.
or is it just the changing weather?

berti

jtrout · Post by **jtrout** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 2:21 am

berti: Why be concerned about something that is very natural and harmless and inherent to all instruments into which blow warm air is blown? Your breath is warm, your instrument is cooler. The harmless warm moisture produced by your respiratory system is condensed in the bore of your flute, like it is in a clarinet, trumpet, saxaphone, etc. Most of these other instruments have a valve or "key" from which this condensation can be expelled. With your flute, it exits the footjoint. No big deal. Most people think its yucky, and vile, but its really nothing more than the moisture which drips down the sides of a cold beverage glass in a warm room. Listen carefully, and you'll discover that when your flute is "wet" it sounds a lot better than when you first begin to play it.

Berti66 · Post by **Berti66** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 3:09 am

of course I do understand that already.
but lately I have noticed things are much wetter than I was used to.
so I am looking for some explanations , what makes it so.
and if there is something in the technique of my playing that makes it happen, or if that it is just the weather, room, whatever.

berti
only into this game for 3 years

Dana · Post by **Dana** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 4:33 am

If you're playing in a colder room (i.e. in winter), you can expect to have a lot more "leakage". I wouldn't worry about it. There's no way to "train oneself", since all one is doing is exhaling. If the fluid bothers you, I highly recommend the "Flute Flag". http://home.nethere.net/roger45/fluteflaga.htm

Dana

flappy · Post by **flappy** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 4:45 am

Do you have some hygrometer home? Look sometimes at the changes. Maybe have variations some effect on more or less leakages. With some high value for exemple, it should start earlier and more (???!!!)...

chas · Post by **chas** » Sat Jan 20, 2007 12:26 pm

Other than switching flutes, about the only thing you can do is pre-warm the flute. Hold the headjoint in an armpit for 5-10 minutes before playing. A lined head will absorb no condensation, while an unlined boxwood head will absorb more than just about anything else. Taking breaks so that the head cools down again will make condensation worse, too.

To alleviate the effects, you can swab the head frequently or hold the flute upright and blow through the embouchure hole. I like the latter better because I sometimes get condensation on the blowedge.

Tweeto · Post by **Tweeto** » Sun Jan 21, 2007 12:42 am

It's from spit blowing into the flute with your breath. I was playing in a nice, warm room today (has a big, south-facing window which lets in enough sun to make the inside temperature almost hot) and the flute still had huge beads of moisture collecting in the bore. This flute is 100% plastic, so I doubt the moisture was condensation from warm breath meeting a cold flute. My personal feeling about it: I try not to let it bother me, but it is disconcerting to feel it exiting the finger-holes and getting onto my fingers. Then again...lubrication! But that's counterproductive if it gets on your thumbs.

psychih · Post by **psychih** » Sun Jan 21, 2007 4:39 am

it's just part of playing the flute i guess, those random quirks make up its eccentric character.

apart from blowing the condensation out, wiping it away, or letting it drip - there's not much that can be done. condensation will be present unless one has superhuman qualities. hehehe

peeplj · Post by **peeplj** » Sun Jan 21, 2007 5:22 am

In my experience, plastic flutes are worse than wooden ones when it comes to condensation gathering in the bore.

Play a plastic flute outside on a cold day and you'll see what I mean.

In the case of plastic, wood, or even metal, the cure is the same: cover all tone holes, place your mouth squarely over the embouchure, hold the flute pointed down and not at anybody (or their drink!), and blow suddenly and with great force.

This will cause the water droplets to come flying out of the end of the bore.

However, if done properly, it produces a loud whinging sigh that sounds like an orgasmic water buffalo...so pick yer time wisely.

--James

Tweeto · Post by **Tweeto** » Sun Jan 21, 2007 8:00 am

It certainly wasn't cold where I was playing it.

When people constantly blow a focused airstream, saliva blows out with it. Might as well call it what it is.

The only way to stop it would be an active way of keeping the saliva from leaving your mouth. Would you be willing to focus some attention on trying not to spit into your flute, or would you rather focus all your attention on playing?

peeplj · Post by **peeplj** » Sun Jan 21, 2007 9:58 am

I've played flute of one form or another for most of my life.

I don't agree that the condensate in the bore is saliva...at least, it's not in my flutes.

If you are spitting in your flute, you aren't blowing it right.

--James

Berti66 · Post by **Berti66** » Sun Jan 21, 2007 9:59 am

[quote="Tweeto"] Would you be willing to focus some attention on trying not to spit into your flute, or would you rather focus all your attention on playing?[/quote]

you have a point there ....

berti

crookedtune · Post by **crookedtune** » Sun Jan 21, 2007 10:06 am

When you breathe on a mirror you see moisture. I don't call it spit. I have to say I'm with James on this one.

peeplj · Post by **peeplj** » Sun Jan 21, 2007 12:12 pm

In the interest of fairness and truth I must amend my answer a bit: when you play any wind instrument, there is inevitably going to be some transfer of saliva from your mouth to the instrument; for instance, trumpet and other brass instruments collect quite a bit of saliva. Oboe and other reeds I would say much less. And I would say flute collects probably the very least of all.

I would like to present my thoughts on the matter, calling to our common experience: playing a flute.

Let’s take for example a cold flute. When you start playing it, if the liquid in the bore were saliva, you would start accumulating a little pool of it right under the embouchure hole and pretty much no place else. It would stay in place and grow larger until its own weight overcame its surface tension, at which it would flow down the bore until it ran out of the end of the flute, at which point the process would start over.

We all know this isn’t how it happens.

When you start playing a cold flute, after a few minutes look in the headjoint. There will be miniscule droplets of liquid over the entire bore of the headjoint, even the upper surfaces where gravity would work against liquid pooling. Also, it’s not only right by the embouchure hole, but pretty much the entire inner surface of the headjoint will be covered.

This liquid accumulates as you play until the droplets finally grow large enough that the tone and response of the flute is affected, at which point you either dry them out manually or blow them out, and the process starts over, but because the flute is warmer, it takes much longer this time before you have to dry or blow out the bore again.

To me, that says this liquid is condensate from the moisture in your breath: essentially, pure distilled water.

---James

jtrout · Post by **jtrout** » Sun Jan 21, 2007 12:32 pm

James: Well said!