After several months of studying with my Yamaha 674 (EC cut, B foot) I still have a problem with the second octave Eb. It sounds feeble and airy, compared to surrounding notes in the same octave. It requires a lot of air pressure and changing the air stream direction (lower it a little) to have it sound just barely acceptable. Other notes are OK. Probably not a pad problem, the flute is fairly new.
Anybody else having this problem?
Could it be a known problem of the EC cut?
Or a cork position problem?
Or just my technique problem?
Hi Jose-luis,
It has been my experience that if one note is out of focus then it cold be the flute or specifically the pads.
I don't think that this is the case because your flute should be in good shape and i assume that this has been an ongoing thing since you received the flute.
I would not necessarily blame the cut of the head joint. As a tecacher, id' first check your fingering. (All fingers down for high Eb)T123G#456D#.
then I would go on to inspect the embouchure and support.
So one question would be, how is your high E3 natural and high F#3?
<Added>
Jose
Alas it was my fault that I misunderstood the octave. I was thinking of Eb3. Tomorrow, I will try my Yamaha EC and see how it is in that range.
After several months of studying with my Yamaha 674 (EC cut, B foot) I still have a problem with the second octave Eb. It sounds feeble and airy, compared to surrounding notes in the same octave. It requires a lot of air pressure and changing the air stream direction (lower it a little) to have it sound just barely acceptable.
You could have a combination of problems. The most obvious is simply that the venting for the Eb is too little. If that is the case, the foot joint keys are probably also a little low adding to the problem. It is also possible that the headcork needs an adjustment as well since E and Eb in that octave are affected by stopper placement as a result of the bore to length ratio and a vent misplacement problem.
You simply need a good tech to look at it for setup issues. Nothing here is out of the ordinary.
After several months of studying with my Yamaha 674 (EC cut, B foot) I still have a problem with the second octave Eb. It sounds feeble and airy, compared to surrounding notes in the same octave. It requires a lot of air pressure and changing the air stream direction (lower it a little) to have it sound just barely acceptable.
You could have a combination of problems. The most obvious is simply that the venting for the Eb is too little. If that is the case, the foot joint keys are probably also a little low adding to the problem. It is also possible that the headcork needs an adjustment as well since E and Eb in that octave are affected by stopper placement as a result of the bore to length ratio and a vent misplacement problem.
You simply need a good tech to look at it for setup issues. Nothing here is out of the ordinary.
I notice I might have defined the note wrongly. It is the second Eb available on the flute (the note on the 4th line of the staff), not the Eb3. That is why I called it second octave Eb. Fingering for it is all fingers down except left index finger (that is, same as E2 but with RH pinky down). I have checked the problem with my teacher, I am sure about the correct fingering.
E3 and F#3 in this flute are difficult but obtainable. I remember I moved the cork position because I had problems with these notes (probably they were too sharp) and the rod mark was about 4 mm off centre. At that time I posted here about it and finally I decided to move the cork to have the rod mark centred in the blow hole.
I have slowly managed to get good sound from the instrument for practically all other notes, but Eb2 remains a problem.
And yes, my embouchure has some problems that I am still working on, such as putting too much tension, as well as the need to increase my from air column pressure.
The problem is that this note is so resistant that I can find no way to make it sound similar to its surrounding neighbours. Increasing air pressure to the limit I can will make it approach "normal" sound but this is an added difficulty in fast passages (and I have several in Haendel sonatas)
I did not have this problem with my old M3 Gemeinhardt....
After writing this last sentence, I ran to try the C foot of the M3 on the 674. It fits a little loose, but it can still be used and the Eb2 sound quality improves noticeably. It looks like it could be a venting problem?
This is why I would like to hear from other Yamaha EC/B footers, to see if there is a common problem there.
<Added>
Sorry, "same as E2" is wrong. I meant "similar to D2"
Jose-Luis, I think you have great advice from previous posters about venting, pad leaks, etc.
When I test-play a different headjoint, usually it will be more notes, say 4 or 5, that sound weaker or stronger- more of an 'area' of difference rather than only one or two notes causing a problem. For example, my Miyazawa MZ-5 sounds lousy in the middle octave if you blow pretty hard, that's from about D2 to A or Ab above the staff. If you back off, they get better.
So anyway, sounds like JoeB is right about a flute problem.
I had the same problem. My Eb was terrible sounding and my E wasn't the hottest either. D and F, etc. were fine. I'd get to that Eb and it would stick out like a sore thumb! For me it turned out to be an embouchure/ blowing angle problem. Lots and lots and lots of long tones in that range of the flute was the answer for me. If you are certain it isn't your flute, then long tones can't hurt and can only help.
<Added>
This was on a yamaha 681 b foot, cy cut headjoint just in case you're curious
If you have pulled the crown cork out a whole 4 mm - that's a l-o-n-g way! - to adjust pitch of third octave notes, that is SURE to have messed up E &/or Eb in the second octave. These two notes are very sensitive to crown cork issues.
The flute came new from Fluteworld with the cork that far off from centre, as measured with the black plastic rod that came with the instrument. I do not understand why.
After the accident,(my SOS post), the cork assembly was set by the technician, using only his metalic rod to center it seems to be a sort of professional rod, with two marks, one for piccolos on one side and other for flutes). In whole, it seems to have improved the Eb2 problem. But I still have to check the 3rd octave tuning (I need more time and I must do it with a tuner, I am not so good to do it by ear).
One thing that was corrected was tightning (sp?) the round nut that presses the cork, crown side. It was completely loose (some 3 mm away from touching the cork). Do you think this can have any effect on the Eb problem or in any other way?
<Added>
Maybe it was not 4mm off but just 3 mm (I should check my old posts)
And as for the round nut that you mentioned, These loose things can affect the tone. I'd be suprised if you didn't notice it vibrating when you played. Also, a loose cork, (cold have happened when it was moved, loose head joint, foot joint or any leaking keys can affect the tone. I just tried a Yamaha 200 series last night that had a trill key leaking. It of course messed up the sound all the way up and down the range. I'm not saying that it's true, but it could be that Yamaha has relaxed their standards now that they have a good piece of the market or it could be that certain issues are popping up as we see a lot more of them around here. It is not uncommon for a flute to need some things from time to time as it is used.
searching...
.JPG)
