Lip it up...

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MeMyselfandI
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Re: Lip it up...

Post by MeMyselfandI »

Although the embouchure is a valid answer, I'll throw out my alternative. If you want to take a little "risk", or are willing to make a "small" change in the flute itself, you could just slightly enlarge the C# hole. That will bring up the C#, but it will also bring up the C natural, which could pose a problem in making your C sharp. But anyway, that's a solution. probably not the best though....
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bradhurley
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Re: Lip it up...

Post by bradhurley »

Speaking to the original question, I don't actually "roll out" the flute but instead I adjust my blowing angle by nodding my head up or down. I don't actually move the flute itself; the rolling effect happens because my chin either rises ("lipping up") or drops ("lipping down") to bring a note into tune. Maybe some people actually roll the flute in or out with their hands, but I think it's a lot easier (and more reliable in terms of consistency) to nod your head up or down.

If you watch some of Matt Molloy's videos on youtube, for example, you will see him doing this a lot while he's playing; his head nods up and down quite a bit even in dance tunes, but it's fairly subtle. These little compensations become unconscious after a while, just as a fiddler learns to play notes in tune even though there's no fretboard.

On my D flute it's no challenge to play all the notes in tune, or close enough, with subtle lipping up or down, but on my Bb it requires more dramatic compensation to get some of the notes even close to where they should be.
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Julia Delaney
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Tell us something.: I play fiddle, concertina, flute. I live in NH. Lived in Kilshanny, Co Clare, for about 20 years. Politically on the far left. Diet on the far right (plant-based fundamentalist). Musically in the middle of the pure drop.
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Re: Lip it up...

Post by Julia Delaney »

you could just slightly enlarge the C# hole

The only people who would do this are flute makers or people who have crappy flutes that they really don't care about. Those of us with good flutes wouldn't think of doing this. This is the worst advice I have ever read on this site.
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Gordon
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Re: Lip it up...

Post by Gordon »

Unsurprisingly, Brad's right - the flute really isn't rolled, the embouchure is shifted, and (usually) only slightly, done largely with a slight head position change. Rolling the flute itself, you'd need to change hand position(s), and that's not a good idea, since we work so hard getting it right in the first place. I did do the flute roll-in thing a bit more when I was playing at Baroque flute techniques - the tuning on Baroque flutes, note to note, were wonky and adjustments often meant you needed to roll the flute in and out just a bit. Even then, most adjustments were done with the lip and head angle, not turning the flute.

Regarding the hole enlargement suggestion? Really not a good idea, and for two reasons. Unless you really know what you're doing, you're likely to ruin a perfectly good flute. Secondly, adjusting one hole to "match" your embouchure angle on others is tail-chasing. Some other note will soon be off. Do we continue to carve away at the next hole, and then the next? Best to train your ears and lip to make incremental pitch changes - we do it anyway, may as well control it - rather than blaming the flute and carving away. If a flute is truly off-pitch, note to note, get a better flute, learn to deal with it (see Brad's post), or have a professional work on it.
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Re: Lip it up...

Post by MeMyselfandI »

Julia Delaney wrote:you could just slightly enlarge the C# hole

The only people who would do this are flute makers or people who have crappy flutes that they really don't care about. Those of us with good flutes wouldn't think of doing this. This is the worst advice I have ever read on this site.
Yeah, I know, but then, I fit into both categories. That's what I did to my $30 ebay flute. You can understand why. Anyway, that would only be a reasonable solution if the notes were out of tune so much that you can't just "lip" it in. So, in this case, yes, it is a bad idea. As I said, it's the "last resort" solution.
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