Want to learn more about why you play out of tune on the flute and how to fix it?

The difference between tuning and intonation on the flute

Well, your first step is to learn the difference between TUNING and INTONATION.

The bad news: It's really confusing (when most people explain it)

The good news: I loooove making things simple for you, and am proud to say I have succeeded in creating a short, helpful explanation!

Here's the 5 minute video to get you on track to playing more in tune!

As a young flute player...

When I was a kid in Sydney, in Australia, I played in a youth orchestra and the conductor was a violinist. And she always said this weird thing to the flute players. Whenever we played a wrong note, she would yell out intonation, fix your intonation. And we would always go, what is she talking about? Intonation?

We were actually playing a B flat instead of a B, that's not intonation. That was just a wrong note.

And all these years later, it's led me to do this video explaining actually what intonation is, but more specifically the difference between tuning and intonation.

Little changes to make your flute playing easier (and in tune!)

So my name is Jane. I love demonstrating tiny little techniques that quickly improve your flute playing. In this case, it's a tiny little demonstration of a concept to really explain what this means, because when you understand this, it will make you a better player and a better musician.

Might sound super nerdy or super boring or if you're like me, you'd be like, wow, what is the difference? That's cool. Cuz I'm kind of a super flute nerd. Just maybe a nerd in genera.

Playing the flute in tune

In a nutshell, tuning is where your instrument is physically set the way it's put together for a flute where this head joint is and how far it's in. Intonation is the way you play your instrument.

Playing in tune is a combination of having good tuning and having good intonation.

The difference between tuning on the flute, and intonation.

But sometimes casually when we speak, we talk about make sure you play that note in tune. When you're talking about playing that note in tune, we're always talking about intonation so just to confuse you, but wait, I have some enlightening examples. Okay. So I'm gonna go through some instruments. Some of them don't even need to worry about intonation.

Playing the flute in tune

Okay? Example, number one is a piano, to play a piano in tune. It's the way the instrument is tuned so much so that we have professional piano tuners. That is their job to tune an instrument.

So I was at a piano concert the other day and it was always a delight to hear a piano being played, an in tune piano being played because it doesn't matter how beginner the person is. They sound amazing because they're in tune.

The concert I went to was world class. So not only was he an amazing player, but of course he played in tune because his instrument was in tune. Piano, 100% of playing in tune is the tuning of the instrument.

Playing other instruments in tune

Let's move on to violin, to play a violin in tune. It's 50% tuning of the instrument. So they tune the strings. They're four strings, the start of an orchestra concert. You hear everyone tuning and they're getting the pegs in the right spot for their strings. 50% of it is getting their instrument in tune. The other 50% is in intonation.

So where they put their fingers when they're playing. That's intonation, the way they play the instrument. For a flute and for most wind instruments, I'm making this percentage up.

But this is my version of this percentage. I think it's 20% tuning of the instrument. So getting that in about the right spot and 80%, the way you play the instrument. So it's 80% intonation that contributes to playing the instrument in tune.

If your flute cork is in the wrong spot...

So it's quite a lot, right? A lot of people fiddle with this thinking that if they're not playing the flute in tune, it must be because this is in the wrong position. This does affect it. There's no question about that. If your corks in the wrong spot, it affects whether you play the instrument in tune or not. But most of the time, it's the way you're blowing the instrument.

Your flute embouchure

The way you have formed your embouchure, the way you've learnt to blow how, hard you're blowing, how soft you're blowing, how steady you're blowing, all of this affects your tuning when you play the instrument. That's what I mean. It's confusing. I'm saying tuning, but I mean the way you play the instrument in tune.

The Flute Academy

So that's why when I teach in The Flute Academy, which is my online program, the paid program, and hi to you if you're in it, a big shout out to you. The reason that I concentrate so much on embouchure and the way you blow, this one of the reasons is because it makes you play the flute in tune. This is actually how you play in tune. That is only part of the story.

You might have seen my video on all the things that affects tuning of the instrument. There's a whole list of things that affects where you need to put this. But remember, that's only 20% of the story. 80% of this is how you blow, how you form your embouchure, how you use your embouchure and how you use your air.

These are  exactly the kind of things that I talk about in the flute academy. So if you wanna learn more, I totally encourage you to come and join me there.

Free mini-course to instantly improve your flute tone

But in the meantime, if you haven't done the mini course absolutely do that. It shows you how to set up your embouchure to be able to play with a good sound, which means you'll be able later to play in tune.

You'll be able later to play with so much air that you'll never run out ever again. No, I'm kidding. Of course you'll run out of air. You're a human but you won't run out anywhere near as fast as what you've done in the past.

So if you'd like to do that mini course come and join me at www.flute.school/free sign up there and I will see you if I haven't already. All right, bye.