Not just how to blow but where and how to tilt dizi Getting slightly better a it. 
Jade Flutes
Moderators: Classitar, pied_piper, Phineas
A few notes...
Nothing said here should be taken to be knocking the flutes...
I am a little further along in terms of technique, and the dragon and phoenix jade dizi, which I originally perceived as unplayable in any practical sense, is turning out to be the better of the two instruments. It's scale is closer to what it should be, and getting to the top of the second register isn't such a big deal.
The jade lantian dizi attempts a D major scale, but has a flat D note. It is still difficult for me to get it past the G note in the second register.
This seems to suggest a close correlation between the bore diameter and my initial perception of ease of play in the upper reaches of the second register both with the dizi's and the pvc flutes I made.
I am a little further along in terms of technique, and the dragon and phoenix jade dizi, which I originally perceived as unplayable in any practical sense, is turning out to be the better of the two instruments. It's scale is closer to what it should be, and getting to the top of the second register isn't such a big deal.
The jade lantian dizi attempts a D major scale, but has a flat D note. It is still difficult for me to get it past the G note in the second register.
This seems to suggest a close correlation between the bore diameter and my initial perception of ease of play in the upper reaches of the second register both with the dizi's and the pvc flutes I made.
Live and Learn
My first attempt to play a scale on these jade, dizi flutes I got the following:
DRAGON AND PHOENIX WITH DIZI FINGERING B+0.50 C# D# E F# A B+050
LANTIAN (WHITE/GREEN JADE) WITH DIZI FINGERING D E F F# G# A# C
On my second, I got:
DRAGON AND PHOENIX: B C# D# F G G# A#
LANTIAN: D D# F F# G# A A#
IT TURNS OUT THAT DIZI FLUTES HAVE A SCALE THAT PLACES THE BASE NOTE FOR WHICH THE SCALE IS NAMED AS THE FOURTH NOTE FROM THE OPEN END OF THE FLUTE!
This means the Lantian was shipped as an F# major scale flute intended to have the scale: F# G# A# B C# D E F# but arranged on the flute as:
C# D E F# G A# B, which means that I only needed to make minor adjustments to most of the holes.
Instead, I used the D based note I got as the basis for trying to shift the flute to the D major scale. It now approximates it, but the size of the top hole would have to be so large as to make C# potentially difficult to produce.
If the Dragon and Phoenix scale is F, then it should produce:
F G A Bb C D E
Instead, on my second try, it produced:
F G G# Bb B C# D# (arranged to conform to the standard Western representation of a scale).
I haven't tried to alter it, because it never sounds that much off when I play a piece on it, and I don't want to ruin it, as I very may well have ruined the Lantian flute by trying to create a D major scale flute due to the base note.
Live and learn.
DRAGON AND PHOENIX WITH DIZI FINGERING B+0.50 C# D# E F# A B+050
LANTIAN (WHITE/GREEN JADE) WITH DIZI FINGERING D E F F# G# A# C
On my second, I got:
DRAGON AND PHOENIX: B C# D# F G G# A#
LANTIAN: D D# F F# G# A A#
IT TURNS OUT THAT DIZI FLUTES HAVE A SCALE THAT PLACES THE BASE NOTE FOR WHICH THE SCALE IS NAMED AS THE FOURTH NOTE FROM THE OPEN END OF THE FLUTE!
This means the Lantian was shipped as an F# major scale flute intended to have the scale: F# G# A# B C# D E F# but arranged on the flute as:
C# D E F# G A# B, which means that I only needed to make minor adjustments to most of the holes.
Instead, I used the D based note I got as the basis for trying to shift the flute to the D major scale. It now approximates it, but the size of the top hole would have to be so large as to make C# potentially difficult to produce.
If the Dragon and Phoenix scale is F, then it should produce:
F G A Bb C D E
Instead, on my second try, it produced:
F G G# Bb B C# D# (arranged to conform to the standard Western representation of a scale).
I haven't tried to alter it, because it never sounds that much off when I play a piece on it, and I don't want to ruin it, as I very may well have ruined the Lantian flute by trying to create a D major scale flute due to the base note.
Live and learn.