Resonance, embouchure "hissing"...

[Cubitt]

When I first started playing flute (my first instrument was clarinet), I reflected on the "windy" sound the flute players in my high school band always seemed to have. As a result, it was one of my priorities from day one not to sound like that. I find that it's strictly a matter of focusing the air. You will find this by trial and error, but the challenge is finding the right combination of keeping a tight embouchure while at the same time being relaxed. Sounds like a contradiction in terms, I know, but that's what needs to happen. I think the reason why we flute players find we produce better tone on some days than others is because finding and maintaining that balance is dfficult and affected by many factors, not the least of which is how tired you are when you play. Room temperature and humidity also factor in.

My best advice is to develope a good "sense memory" of how your mouth feels when you are getting the tone just right, and strive for that whenever you play. Sometimes, too, you might just consider putting the flute down if it's not happening rather than driving yourself crazy.

[cadancer]

My thought, however, was to say that there is more to embouchure development than just playing loudly, but getting a flute to vibrate is a sure sign of progress, for that cannot be done without correct embouchure focus.

Makes sense.

...john

[SteveB]

IMHO, the goal should not be so much to eliminate the all breathiness from one’s tone, but rather try to reduce weak, excessive, and unintentional breath/hissy sounds.

When I hear good players, they seem to use a wide range of tones (hard & pure, raspy, breathy, etc.) to get the effect they want. For example, some northern flute players (eg. Gary Hastings) often seem to use a less-than-clean, almost “calliope-effect” tone when they play in the upper register. I don’t think this because they can’t play it cleanly, rather they are trying to evoke a certain mood. As well, to my ear, Matt Molloy’s tone is very “breathy”. However it is a very strong and controlled breathiness, very different from the weak breath sounds that often squeak out of my flute unintended and unannounced.

The general wisdom seems to be that one should practice playing with a very hard, pure tone, not so much with the intent of playing like that for every note (of course you can if you want) but rather because is the best way to train the embouchure to produce the sound you want “on-demand”.

cheers,

SteveB

[Jennie]

Can anyone address in more detail the resonance factor? I'm curious about whether this is something that can happen continuously, or whether it comes and goes depending on volume or other things going on.

Like you, Gabriel, I love it when this happens. Don't know whether anyone else can hear what I feel, though.

Jennie

[Gabriel]

Many many thanks for your encouraging and helpful replies, lots of great tips in there!

I try to play quiet second octave notes from time to time, and I can manage it quite nicely to play a second G very quietly, but with a certain amount if "hiss" also, though I can minimize that "hiss" when I concentrate on my breath support and focus of embouchure. It's a very demanding exercise, though - my lips start to hurt quite fast, but I guess it's a matter of getting used to it. I also find it helpful to try to play second octave notes not necessarily quiet, but clear. This helps to reduce the breath noise (better word for "hiss" I guess) in the first octave sometimes...

Regarding the resonating flute, I didn't manage to get "it" today, too. Seems to depend on the settings, this happens mostly on sessions where I don't think about the technique, but the tunes. Perhaps I generally think too much when playing...

Got also a nice and very encouraging email from my teacher - he says, his everyday flute (an Aebi Rudall with a (quite) small bore and thick walls) doesn't vibrate at all, even when he sounds exactly like he wants to, but his old Metzler did vibrate and it was very thin-walled. Even though my Reviol is (or seems to be) Pratten-derived with a large and flat taper bore, it's still quite thick-walled, so it should be difficult to get it into resonance, and I have to find the embouchure and breath pressure where it resonates. But hey, I know that it works, I just have to find the sweet spot...

I think way too much...!

Thanks again, and best regards,
Gabriel

[Cork]

...I try to play quiet second octave notes from time to time, and I can manage it quite nicely to play a second G very quietly, but with a certain amount if "hiss" also, though I can minimize that "hiss" when I concentrate on my breath support and focus of embouchure. It's a very demanding exercise, though - my lips start to hurt quite fast, but I guess it's a matter of getting used to it. I also find it helpful to try to play second octave notes not necessarily quiet, but clear. This helps to reduce the breath noise (better word for "hiss" I guess) in the first octave sometimes...

Playing a flute calls for two contrary embouchure abilities, at the same time. On the one hand, it's a matter of developing the strengh required to focus the airstream (the higher the note, the greater the strength, generally speaking), and that strength tends to tighten the lips, making them more rigid. On the other hand, however, that same strength needs to be loosened, or relaxed, such that the lips have a "supple" quality to them, and, such that the lips remain flexible, not rigid. Yes, it can be done! However, even when you have the idea of it, there doesn't seem to be any known substitute for practise, over time.

Hiss will tend to vanish as your embouchure focus improves, even at the top notes, but it may not be possible to completely eliminate it. BTW, I think hiss says it well.

[Jennie]

Got also a nice and very encouraging email from my teacher - he says, his everyday flute (an Aebi Rudall with a (quite) small bore and thick walls) doesn't vibrate at all, even when he sounds exactly like he wants to, but his old Metzler did vibrate and it was very thin-walled. Even though my Reviol is (or seems to be) Pratten-derived with a large and flat taper bore, it's still quite thick-walled, so it should be difficult to get it into resonance, and I have to find the embouchure and breath pressure where it resonates. But hey, I know that it works, I just have to find the sweet spot...

Wait a second. The resonance isn't in the wood. It's the air column that is vibrating within the flute. Right? It shouldn't matter about the thickness of the flute's walls.

Correct me if this is not on track, please. I now have a rudimentary understanding of flute physics thanks to a couple of days spent with Nelson.

Jennie

[Gabriel]

Jennie,
yes, you're right, but the thinner the wood, the bigger the chance that you can feel the air column vibrate though the walls. I guess. So if one can manage it to get the biggest possible efficiency from one's embocuhure and breath, it should be possible to let the wood vibrate, as long as the two factors "wall strength" and "size of bore" correspond in some way, i.e. the thicker the wall, the more difficult to make the flute resonate.

Apologies for my lousy english, I'm very tired and should be lying in bed for hours. Ahypnosis is great.

[Cork]

...Wait a second. The resonance isn't in the wood. It's the air column that is vibrating within the flute. Right? It shouldn't matter about the thickness of the flute's walls.

Correct me if this is not on track, please. I now have a rudimentary understanding of flute physics thanks to a couple of days spent with Nelson...

The flute business speaks of thinner walled flutes, especially thinner head joints, as having a "brighter" sound, and of heavier walled flutes as having a "darker" sound. Moreover, because thinner walled flutes tend to have an easier response, they are often more popular with beginning players. However, the heavier walled flutes can also have an easy response, but it calls for a more focused embouchure, to get the greater amount of power into the flute, to get the heavier walls to vibrate. Therefore, a heavier walled flute eventually has a greater dynamic range than a thinner walled flute, but it calls for a better player.

Basically, the difference is not worth losing any sleep over.

;-)

[daiv]

Can anyone address in more detail the resonance factor? I'm curious about whether this is something that can happen continuously, or whether it comes and goes depending on volume or other things going on.

Like you, Gabriel, I love it when this happens. Don't know whether anyone else can hear what I feel, though.

Jennie

i plan on doing a video about this at some point. i will post it when i get it done (it may not be for a while). otherwise, i will outline some basic steps to increase resonance below.

...my flute vibrates under my fingers: I feel the tone in my fingertips, the whole flute is in resonance "with the tone", even the wood seems to vibrate and everything is fine...

When the flute vibrates under your fingers, like that, you are at, or very near, full power, ffff, and a flute cannot be powered beyond that point.

Now that you have found the vibration, you are well on the way to developing your embouchure, congrats!

There also is playing very softly, pppp, but that is at the opposite end of sound production.

the flute vibrates under my fingers throughout the dynamic spectrum, though you are correct in that at the quietest, only on the low d does the flute tangibly vibrate, and at that very minimally.

[tin tin]

A bit of hiss close to the source isn't necessarily a bad thing. I was told an anecdote about the great William Kincaid (late principal of the Philadephia Orchestra, and probably the originator of the American school of [classical] flute playing). From a distance, his tone was full, pure, not airy, whereas up close, there was air noise. Apparently, this was deliberate, and he viewed it as something of a "cushion" for the tone.
The key is for one's tone to project, and not the hiss...if that's audible more than a few feet away, there may be a problem. The idea of recording oneself from a distance is a good one.
Flute maverick Robert Dick told me how he used to study his tone from a distance by placing a microphone far away and then listening to his playing live through headphones--turned up loud enough to drown out the 'under the ear' flute sound! Probably not to be recommended for extended periods, but a good way to understand how one sounds to others, and how to influence that sound.

[Cork]

...the flute vibrates under my fingers throughout the dynamic spectrum, though you are correct in that at the quietest, only on the low d does the flute tangibly vibrate, and at that very minimally.

True! Sound and vibration go together, so there should be some vibration throughout the range of the flute.

With the 1001 things to flute playing, I am still learning to adapt flute playing concepts to this Internet medium. At times I have had to stop and think about how to say something, after thinking carefully about what had been said. In this instance, it seemed as though the player had experienced a greater, more noticable amount of vibration, and, so, it appeared that a relative maximum of vibration had occurred. Anyway, I saw it as a good sign.

Then there was the time when I had to invent a practical technique, in regard to shifting registers, simply because the technique I use was, and is, virtually impossible to describe!

Flutes and the Internet, what a combination!

;-)

[Cork]

...From a distance, his tone was full, pure, not airy, whereas up close, there was air noise. Apparently, this was deliberate, and he viewed it as something of a "cushion" for the tone...

Exactly!

"Cushion" could also describe the resistance of the flute. That is, to get the full tone out of the flute, full power needs to be put into the flute, and because there is an upper limit as to how much air can be put into a flute, once that point of fullness has been reached, the flute is then at its resistance limit, and any extra air then spills over the embouchure hole, causing a deliberate hiss to occur. In practise, when a flute is at or beyond its resistance limit, a player can feel the air pushing back out of the embouchure hole, yes, like a cushion of air.

Knowing the resistance limit of your own flute will allow you to 1) play at full power, 2) reduce the hiss, and 3) save air.

[daiv]

gabriel, when you get your flute to resonate, does it resonate in your mouth, as well?

resonance is one of the most important aspects of tone production, because--as you pointed out--it all just clicks when you get the flute to resonate.
how do you achieve this resonance, or does it just happen? i'm guessing the latter, because of your hiss problem.

first i will outline a suggestion on how to learn to increase your resonance, and then i will outline how i practice resonance when i pick up my flute.

when you start to get a hang of it, you will be amazed at how easy that low D can be! when my flute is resonating properly, i never have to worry about my low D cracking, or that if i push to hard it won't speak.

i will attach a sound clip of my playing tomorrow.


how to learn resonance
1. open throat
a. learn to hum and play the d major scale in 2 full octaves

2. learn to hover right "at the line" where the flute jumps the octave

3. find the harmonics of the flute



1. the first way to work on resonance is to get that throat opened up. first of all, you need to learn where the muscles are! the quickest way to find them is to hum quietly while you play. i dont suggest playing tunes like that, just a simple d scale in 2 octaves. fyi, the high d is fingered OXX OOO and for c# just leave all the fingers off. it does not matter if it is tune.

you should be able to get all 15 notes to sound well and in the correct octave. after being able to do it the first time, you should immediately notice an increased resonance in your low d when NOT humming into your flute; learn to play the flute with your throat in the same position but without your vocal chords vibrating.

when you learn to play your full scale and humming, not only will you have learned to open your throat, but you will have improved your embouchure. this is simple: it is impossible the hum and play with bad embouchure! you will probably find that you thought your low d was fine and solid but it took a lot of work to get it to speak when you were humming.

2. a good, strong second octave strengthens the bottom octave immensely. the junction between the first and second octave is the most flexible place to be for your embouchure, and just so happens to also be where most irish flute players hover around to pull out the harmonics.

for this next exercise,pout your lips like a little kid who is mad, fully forward. put the flute to your face, fingering a B: blow. it will come out as a buzzing sound. start pulling back the corners of your lips until the flute sounds. it should sound a really raspy, ugly, second octave b. this ugly sound is the foundation of the exercise.

start at that ugly, pouting b. keep pulling back the corners of your lips until the octave drops. repeat for every note (b, a, g, f#, e, d) below that in the octave. mess around with that for a while.

once you get the hang of that, start at ugly, pouting b again. pull back the corners of your lips until it drops the octave. pull back up the corners of your lips until it jumps the octave. play with that until you can jump the octave not with wind force, but only a miniscule movemetn of the CORNERS of your lips. do this for every note in the octave.

try and play a low D. pull up your first finger, but DO NOT change your embouchure; if your second d does not speak with just a finger change (or sounds airy/not vibrant), you need to work on getting "right on the line" between the octaves some more.

although the sound you started with at the beginning of this section was horrible, i think you will find that the resulting tone now is much nicer. now, take this OK sound and work with it. move it around. find something you like. always, when you come to a sound you might like, see if it can jump the octave as easily as the "ugly b derivative" sound; a good embouchure can produce tone that jump the octave effortlessly (especially on low D which will jump with only finger movement) and sound pleasing (or barky, or whatever).

your embouchure should not change from high d to high a. it is very important to get your high a into the shape of d; with a good high a/d, your lower octave will be stronger, more flexible, and above all your low d will never crack. to get a good low D, start on highest d and go all the way down to the low d, changing embouchure as little as possible.

3. now you need to find the harmonics of the flute. this is where your resonance will start to increase even more. if the harmonics of the flute are not set up correctly in your mouth and in the body of the flute, the flute will never be as loud, as resonant, or be capable of as much tonal possibilities. what is most important, is that you will not be able to get that honking low d you've always wanted if you dont get your flute to resonate well.


the harmonics you will use for this part are as follows (the strange fingerings are harmonics):

finger high a regularly, and then try to keep the same note while fingering a low D.

finger high b regularly, and then try to keep the same note while fingering an E (you may or may not need the Eb key depending on the flute).

work on the tone of the harmonics to make them strong and vibrant. when you lift off the harmonics to the regular notes, you should notice your a and b will sound stronger, clearer, and more in tune. if not, you need to work more! try this out: play a, then a harmonic, then try to finger high d (OXX OOO). if you need to change your embouchure for high d, change it, and then try a again with that embouchure; the goal is the same as the first part, to get your harmonic a, regular a, and d to have all the same embouchure. note: if you try to go straight from harmonic a to harmonic d, it will be the same fingering, but it wont work unless you change your embouchure. work on that if you want, but for this exercise, stick to only regular high d to regular a transitions to check embouchure.

after you can get that down, you can work on your resonance. play the harmonic a and try to relax the insides of your mouth and tongue. next, try to increase the volume of harmonic a by adjusting your jaw position and NOT increasing or changing air pressure. when you get it right, the note will be louder, more focused, and seem to come from the center of the flute. mess with your jaw position, trying to get the note to tangibly resonate. (if everything up until this point isnt solidly developed, you may not experience this sensation). for me, the note gets so loud that it becomes uncomfortable. this is not only because the note gets louder, but because your mouth is relaxed and your jaw set up so that the note goes up the backside of your ear canal. this is the first step to making your mouth actually resonate the note.

the next step is to work with your throat position. open it up! open it up waaaay more than singing while playing does. then open it up some more. if you think it's open enough, dont believe it. one day it will open more. you will eventually begin to feel the note resonating in your mouth, beyond just being able to hear it louder.

work on playing your b harmonic the same, as well as checking it against third octave d.

work on playing all your notes with that resonance, as well as being able to feel the notes centered in your mouth. it takes a while to "taste" the resonance (my word for it, not very accurate, i'm afraid to say!) on the lower notes, but you will be immediately hear and feel the difference, especially on your low d. hint: an open throat prevents notes from cracking when you push them hard, especially that low D. if all the notes resonate well and your throat is open, you can wham that low D without thinking and it will not crack.

[end of third part].

by the time you get the hang of it all, the third step is the only step you really need to increase your resonance if you find on any particular day that your resonance is down. personally, i have found that i back off my default volume a lot now, because the notes are too loud in my ears, which is a good thing, as it gives a player more room to mess with musicality.

note: i have to go to bed now. i will reread/edit this post friday evening and hopefully get a recording done. i prepared something, but it's too late to record.

[jemtheflute]

Brilliant post, Daiv, thankyou so much! Even just reading through it and trying (not seriously practicing) some of your suggestions I can feel what they do/offer. My throat was already quite open and I could do the humming thing - have actually used it for a performance effect - and on good days my tone can be close to what I would like, but it is never consistent or reliable and I'd never even thought about "making the flute resonate"! I know I don't practice enough/properly - am not well motivated/lack self discipline - and embouchure focus is my constant bugbear, but I shall be spending some time on these exercises for sure - and passing them on, no doubt.
Thanks again.