[A Greene]

So I'm a pretty good flute player but I have this one issue that's driving me crazy. I can't tell if it's me or a 'flute thing.' Third Space E (In the staff) just wants to jump up the harmonic. If I really focus pre-hearing that E - I can usually make it work without any issue. On the other hand, if I'm zooming along it will almost always have a chirp. Driving me nuts and the more I work on it - the worse it gets.

I really don't remember thinking about it until the last 4 or 5 years. Bizarre. Any thoughts are welcomed.

 

[Benny]

Pretty common, it’s a note that is easy to overshoot

 

[turf3]

Well, I'm probably just putting out stuff you already know, but I'd work on the various harmonics to get (or re-establish) the feel of pitching the note where it ought to be. I find that when I haven't played flute in a while, I have a tendency to overblow things (like playing an entire passage a fifth up in harmonics before I realize what's happened). That would be especially typical of grabbing the flute in a doubling situation without enough warm-up, and blowing a solo suddenly. It's so much easier to blow all the harmonics of a given note on flute than it is on sax.

The other thing is interval exercises - I have one I come back to whenever I'm trying to re-establish a handle on an instrument - the key of these exercises is to change from note to note with careful attention to the change, making it smooth and free of tonal and finger bobbles, and matching tone quality across the change. This means you play very slowly, each note having a long duration, but of course the intent is for the change to be as fast as possible. Again the intention is to internalize the location of the "slot" where the note is voiced so you can put each note right in the center of its slot, whether you're coming from below, or above, or hitting it from out of nowhere.

 

[turf3]

One other thought - your fingering may have gotten sloppy over time. Check, for example, if you play open hole, that you're not inadvertently cracking open one of the holes in shifting the RH pinky on and off its key to finger E.

 

[adamk]

You should try it on a bass, after that a concert is positively easy.
That E and the one above are "special" notes as is the C# below and high F#.

 

[bruce bailey]

First guess is that the Eb key is not opening enough to vent. Although it helps balance the flute while pressed, it is a major vent for E. Another possibility is the D key is set to closed.

 

[A Greene]

First guess is that the Eb key is not opening enough to vent. Although it helps balance the flute while pressed, it is a major vent for E. Another possibility is the D key is set to closed.

Thanks Bruce - For me it's consistent on all flutes. I have a lead on the issue and we'll see if I can figure this out in the next couple weeks.

 

[bruce bailey]

Try playing the E without the Eb and see if it is worse.

 

[Humbardi]

Third Space E (In the staff)....Bass Clef ?

 

[A Greene]

Third Space E (In the staff)....Bass Clef ?

Yes apparently counting to 4 is a problem these days. Darn glasses. ��

 

[Taragot]

If you open the second trill key a little bit by touching it with the ring finger, it stabilizes the e as an octave vent. This is usefull for fade-ins/outs. Propably not exactly your problem, but anyway.

 

[turf3]

Out of curiosity I tried that middle E on both my alto and C flutes and it seems dead solid to me. If anything it has a faint tendency to break down to the low E, not up (which would make sense since it's the first note in that octave where you don't lift the LH index finger for an octave vent).

 

[kymarto]

Thanks Bruce - For me it's consistent on all flutes. I have a lead on the issue and we'll see if I can figure this out in the next couple weeks.

If you do some harmonics (bugling) from low C through E (play the fingering for the low register and vary embouchure to play up the overtone series) it will, I think. help you to get more control. It sounds to me like you are blowing too hard with too small an embouchure, which will tend to make the note break up to the second partial. As others have pointed out, D2 is played opening the top C#, meaning that you don't have to blow quite as hard to get D2 (it's not a straight overblow). It seems strange to me that your D#2, though, doesn't give you the same problem, breaking up to G#2.

 

[turf3]

If you do some harmonics (bugling) from low C through E (play the fingering for the low register and vary embouchure to play up the overtone series) it will, I think. help you to get more control. It sounds to me like you are blowing too hard with too small an embouchure, which will tend to make the note break up to the second partial. As others have pointed out, D2 is played opening the top C#, meaning that you don't have to blow quite as hard to get D2 (it's not a straight overblow). It seems strange to me that your D#2, though, doesn't give you the same problem, breaking up to G#2.

Because D# is also played with the LH index finger up and serving as an octave vent. So it's easier to play so he doesn't push as hard.