Slight airiness in tone

Ronald · Post by **Ronald** » Mon Jul 10, 2006 3:47 am

HI, I am starting to get some good sound in both octaves on some notes.
A lot of airiness in the sound is now gone.
My question is this.
Is it normal to still have some trace of that (wind) sound and will some trace of this only be heard by the player and not the listener?
I play a student flute.
Ronald

fluttiegurl · Post by **fluttiegurl** » Mon Jul 10, 2006 5:38 am

Yes, this is pretty common. Without seeing you play, I have two suggestions. 1. Spread your teeth more. 2. Make sure you are directing the air correctly. Misdirection of air into the headjoint can cause airiness.

It also sounds like you may be ready for an upgrade on your flute. MOre silver on your flute will make a better sound (proven fact). With even a silver headjoint, you will notice a big difference.

flutepicc06 · Post by **flutepicc06** » Mon Jul 10, 2006 1:11 pm

I'm sorry to disagree, Fluttiegirl, as I usually feel your posts are dead on, but the amount of silver in a flute affecting the sound is hardly a proven fact. Some people do believe it (and I'm sure the various makers are glad that they do), but many also believe material has little or no impact on the flute (after all, it is just a tube to contain a vibrating air column), and that the sound is affected far more by the cut of the embouchure hole (silver heads do usually have more care taken with the cut than plate heads, though this is not always the case), as well as size and shape of the embouchure hole, riser height, etc. etc. While it may certainly be true that Ronald could sound better on a flute made of silver, the silver content may or may not have anything to do with that (think of the plated Louis Lots that sound better than some modern solid silver flutes). The various studies that have been conducted are conflicting in their results and as yet, it is impossible to say how much material affects the sound of an instrument. And yes Ronald, even the best play with some air evident to them that is not evident to the audience. Sitting next to William Bennett this becomes particularly obvious, as there is noticeable wind noise near him, but a clear, singing tone out in the audience.

ick27 · Post by **ick27** » Mon Jul 10, 2006 7:51 pm

Ronald,

It's always exciting when you improve your playing signifcantly, nice job! It is possible to play the flute with absolutely no wind in the sound at all. Some types of wind noise are noticeable in the audience while others are not audible at all once you get a little ways away. Many orchestral players have wind in their sound (if you were to listen to them up close) because their goal is to create the best possible sound in the audience. Studio players learn to play with no wind noise at all, since the microphones are place so close to the flute.

Head joints do influence the sound of the instrument, but remarkably, one can get a clear sound (without wind) out of just about any piece of tube with a hole in it provided all the surfaces are very smooth and the material is sufficiently rigid.

Tone development is something we all keep working at all the time. The best thing you can do is to listen to lots of good flute playing and follow your teacher's instruction. He or she will help you work on whatever needs the most attention.

Phineas · Post by **Phineas** » Mon Jul 10, 2006 8:40 pm

fluttiegurl says:

It also sounds like you may be ready for an upgrade on your flute. MOre silver on your flute will make a better sound (proven fact). With even a silver headjoint, you will notice a big difference.

I will not argue the fact that a silver headjoint may sound better, I will have to respectfully dis-agree with it having anything to do with the "airyh" sound.

Well, airyness really has little to do with the amount of silver in an instrument. I play on bamboo flutes alot, and I am able not to sound Airy, even when the hole does not have a special cut. Some headjoints are easier than others to get rid of the airy sound. Just so happens that most good heajoints just happen to be silver, the some of the best ones are solid silver.

Just my .02

Phineas

fluttiegurl · Post by **fluttiegurl** » Fri Jul 14, 2006 6:10 pm

I guess I need to clarify what I was trying to get across. First, I strongly believe that a silver headjoint will make a difference in most flutes. Yes, other factors always count. I say this out of many years of experience play testing flutes for many makers. As a general rule, a silver headjoint usually has a great deal more attention paid to it (especielly when we are talking about a factory produced flute). Not many makers will do things such as hand cutting to a plated head. This is done with the hopes that you as a consumer will eventally invest more money. With that said, there may be a few companies that are an exception to every rule. Let me stress that I am talking about common market, factory produced flutes.

Because of the quality of the headjoint, if you are at a certain level, you will most likely produce a better tone. No it won't take care of all air problems, but some times when a student thinks he/she hears air, it is a problem controling the tone of the flute. This is "usually" much easier on a better designed headjoint. Again, this is from years of experience and seeing this happen to many students at all levels. When I suggest a student upgrade, I always offer the advice to seek out a good headjoint. In most cases (again we are talking about the common market flute), more attention is paid to detail in the silver models. Sometimes, a headjoint is all a student needs when upgrading.

All of this is simply an oppinion, and I appreciate all of your feedback. However, I let my ears make many, well . . . all of these decissions. I have never been confrunted with a plated "factory" headjoint (the kind that many - I would wager to say most - students here play on) that sounds better than a silver one. Not even in blind tests where we involved twenty different heads from various manufacturers. Without seeing this player play, I cannot make that judgement, but I can offer a suggestion. I should have been clearer on my opinion.

Yes, tone is a constant growth effort on the part of every player, and we will all continue to strive for the perfect sound.

That we all agree on!

MeLizzard · Post by **MeLizzard** » Sat Jul 15, 2006 10:51 am

A flute tone is an edge tone (physics, anyone?), and, thus, will always contain a little air. Often, students are really frustrated in their attempt to remove ALL air from their sounds--that's simply impossible. Also, tonal perception of a player, right beside the flute as it's being played, is very different from that of a listener at 10-50 feet (usually farther) away. I sometimes have students record themselves from a distance, as a recorder would be placed during a recital. They're often quite surprised at their actual, audience-perceived tone!

apleasuretoburn · Post by **apleasuretoburn** » Sat Jul 15, 2006 2:40 pm

MeLizzard wrote:I sometimes have students record themselves from a distance, as a recorder would be placed during a recital. They're often quite surprised at their actual, audience-perceived tone!

I've done that, and it is really strange! For awhile my instructor would record my lessons and then burn them off on to cds to give to me, so that I could make notes on them and return them to her as a journal of sorts. It was really interesting to hear myself play, it's similar to how a person speaks sounds different in their head than it does on a recording or to other people. I've always thought that I had a harsher sound than most other players I've heard, and while I do to a point, it doesn't sound near as harsh to other people or on a recording as it does in my head. It's definately something worth doing if you've never heard yourself play on a recording before!