Tuning up

Jennifer Cluff

Tuning Up
The basics for setting up your flute
by Jennifer Cluff ~ Printed in Flutewise Magazine U. K. in 2003

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I remember that when I was 11 years old, in my very first orchestra class in school, that
the music teacher would have us play an A and say to each of us individually: Youre
flat, youre sharp.. flat..really flat..very sharp and so on down the row. And
since I didnt have the tiniest clue what to do about all this flattening and sharpening, I
would idiotically twist the crown round and round at the top of my flute, and then sit
there hoping for the best. (Fat chance! Twisting the crown tighter and tighter actually was
putting my flute more and more out of tune!) And thats why as a flute teacher, I believe
its entirely possible that there may be some beginners out there who will want to know
how to truly tune their flutes. So lets start with the basics.
The first thing to know is this: The longer a tube is the LOWER the noise it makes.
Think of a bass flute with its long yards of pipe.
The shorter a tube is the HIGHER the sound it makes.
Think of a short little piccolo.

How do I make my flute play lower or higher, flatter or sharper?

The length of the flutes tubing can be changed in two ways; firstly by changing the
position of the cork thats inside the crown at the top end of the headjoint, and this only
needs to be done once (thank goodness). Once its correctly set up, you simply leave the
crown alone, and dont tighten it any further (which would pull the cork out of position
again.)
Checking the cork in the crown:
The headjoint cork has a silver plate at each end and should be pre-set to a permanent
spot, which is 17.3 millimeters from the center of the embouchure hole.

Tuning up

Jennifer Cluff

Check on your own headjoint that your cork is in the correct position using the marker on
your cleaning rod. Insert the marked end of the rod and look to see if the tick-mark is
visible exactly in the very center of the embouchure hole. You may want have your
teacher check your cork with their cleaning rod as well, as unfortunately, some cleaning
rods have the tick-mark in the wrong place!

If your cork is set too far to the left or right, ask your teacher to show you how to move
the cork to the exact center at 17.3 millimeters. Moving the cork has to be done
cautiously as some important flute bits can get bent or dented. The cork should also not
move easily. If the cork is too loose, and slides around, you may need a new one
(inexpensive; but requiring a trip to the repair shop.) Once the corks position is set,
remember: dont over-tighten the screw-on crown ever again. It should be turned and
tightened only up to finger-tightness and no further. If you have an older flute with a
loose crown that keeps coming undone, or vibrating when you play, one or two tiny dabs
of clear nail-polish around the crown rim will hold the assembly more permanently in
place.
Drawing out the headjoint:
The second way of lengthening or shortening your flute starts with the pulling out of the
headjoint from the flutes middle section. This is something youll do every time you play
to fine-tune the tubes length.

The farther you draw the headjoint out, the longer the flutes tube becomes and the flatter
will become the pitch of your flute. The further you push in the headjoint the shorter the
tube becomes and the sharper will become the pitch.
The flute makers standard is that the headjoint should at all times be pulled out
anywhere from three millimeters to as much as fifteen millimeters. The number of
millimeters depends on the flutists individual embouchure, the design of their particular

Tuning up

Jennifer Cluff

brand of flute, and on the temperature of the room that theyre playing in. If one day you
were playing in an icy room with a VERY sharp piano, for example, you would need
these extra millimeters for emergency sharpening.
_______________________________

Middle D matching experiment:

Are you ready to experiment? Lets start by pulling the headjoint outward a full ten
millimeters from the flutes middle section and lining up the embouchure hole in your
normal playing position. Play for a few minutes various notes and tunes in different
registers high and low, do some relaxed long note warm-ups to get a great ringing tone
and good hearty breathing, and let the games begin!!!
Ask your flute teacher to have tuned their flute to A-440 using an electronic tuner and
then to play a series of longtones on the middle D on the staff. This is an easy note for
students to start tuning with as its not very bendable, and both hands are balanced on the
flute. When your flute teacher is playing their middle D mezzo forte with a clear and
unwavering tone, open up your ears and really take in the sound of an in tune D.
Then, with a pre-warmed flute, add your own mezzo forte D to the air. Play with your
normal lips, and most clear tone. Listen to the two Ds with the completely clear ears.
Ask yourself Am I in tune with their D? Am I sharper or higher in pitch? Or flatter or
lower in pitch than their D? If youre not sure which, (and during the first few
experiments a feeling of not being sure is entirely normal), listen closely for several
repeated middle Ds. Then take your flute down and careful not to squish the flutes keys
or rods, gently twist to push the headjoint into the body one more millimeter. Play your D
again against their D. Is your D getting closer or farther away from theirs?
After listening analytically, slide your headjoint inward another millimeter and listen
carefully again. The two Ds may be gradually getting closer together, and youll want to
hear just HOW close. When they become identical, the sound will go very smooth.
Several minutes later, when youve pushed in the headjoint until there are only three or
more millimeters left to go, youll either be playing the exact same pitch as your teacher,
or youll be so incredibly far away from their note it will feel like your eardrums are
beating themselves like bats wings. If this is still happening, pull your headjoint back out
to the ten millimeter starting mark and begin experimenting again going in the opposite
direction. This time twist to pull the headjoint OUT one millimeter after each set of
longtone Ds. Make sure that your millimeter measurements are very precise and small.
At some point (and it may take several experimental sessions, but theyre all well worth
it) any bats flapping your ears noises will noticeably slow down to only the most
occasional flap, and then theyll start to disappear, and the two Ds will sound identical.
What youll sense at that instant will be a smooth, slightly louder and clear sound and
there will be a serene, singing and easy-blowing quality to the pitch coming from the note
D on the two flutes: Mmmmm

Tuning up

Jennifer Cluff

When that smooth sensation of an absolute D-match is achieved, your flute is tuned up!
Now youll be in a position to learn to tune it further for future melodies and harmonies
using even more refined embouchure and airspeed techniques. You will be able to
continue in future lessons to learn to tune the flutes harmonic overtones (low D
overblowing to middle D to match the octave) and then learn to tune your scales, (do-remi) your melodies, and your flute duets.
In the future, more advanced how to play in tune lessons will help with the flutes
tuning in orchestras and ensembles, and how to play perfect harmonies with your pitch
beautifully blended into a ringing chord. But it all begins with the basic tube length that
youve started with today.
Playing arpeggios to place your basic embouchure:
Because there may be times when youre not sure whether youre using your normal
embouchure and blowing style, its very useful to play a whole arpeggio of long notes,
experimenting with various dynamics before sustaining a middle D (or when tuning to A440 which youll come across in the future).
This is also a clever method of tuning with piano on stage, before a performance. Ask the
pianist to play D minor chord while you experiment with the notes of a D minor arpeggio
[D F A] testing in turn various pitches and dynamics.

Tuning up

Jennifer Cluff

Here are some important points to remember when tuning:

1. When tuning to another instrument or when using an electronic tuner, make sure
the flute is well warmed up. Cold flutes are always too flat, and a warm flute is what
youll actually be playing, realistically, when youre in the middle of a performing a
piece of music. So if your flute has gone cold, always blow through it gently with all the
keys closed, sending warm air down the tube for at least three lungfuls before tuning.
2. Always use your best, clearest tone. Warm up your lips until your tone is truly
centered and non-fuzzy first before matching pitches with anyone. You want to first
establish your normal embouchure for low, medium and high notes before deciding if the
lip shape, flute on the chin placement, and airspeed and angle are what you normally use
while playing.
3. When matching pitches avoid rolling your flute in or out using your wrists, or
creating deranged gargoye-lips to try and mangle the mouthpiece into being in tune.
Instead you must use the embouchure and normal blowing angle that you use to have a
beautiful tone at a mezzo forte. You will blow normally and then simply move the
headjoint in or out of the body, a tiny micron at a time until you find the matching pitch.
Speedy Gonzales tuning: Over several months of tuning experimentation you may
notice that you usually draw your headjoint out to approximately the same spot over and
over again. A tarnish line or two will start to form at this point on the headjoints tenon. I
find it very helpful not only to mark this line with black permanent marker (ultra-fine tip)
so that I can more easily guage the tiny distances Ill be moving it each day, but also to
place lining-up stickers on the headjoint and middle section in order to quickly line-up
the blowing angle as well. (see drawing below)
These markings, out of sight on the back of the flute, help me set up my flute instantly at
rehearsals and lessons, and very close to perfect length for fine-tuning every time I put it
together.

Jennifer Cluff is Principal Flutist of The Vancouver Island Symphony and is a private instructor in Canada.
Jen is currently writing a practise book for intermediate flutists under the working title: 'The Magic Flute
~ How to Play the Flute Really Well, Really Quickly' which will be published next year.