I have just been learning about this in my lesson last week.
Do the flute players here find it difficult?
Do other woodwind players use it, particularly recorder players?
Beverley.

Wow! You are really getting into some advanced work now Old Bean. Recorder players use their throats, or rather their oral cavities in various ways to alter the tone quality and the volume of sound produced rather than to alter tunings although I suppose that tuning is a large part of that. If you are a singer too it helps a lot. I didn't find it too difficult but the thing that used to create problems for me was using some of the French articulations suggested by players of the baroque age in their writings. In the end I just used the ones that worked for me.

Well Ratty, he played a scale "normally", and then made his mouth and throat as though he was singing the notes , but playing them again on the flute; the difference in sound/tone quality was incredible and even I could hear a vast difference.
I can do some whistle tones now too.

Sung whistle tones or on the flute? If so I didn't know about them. (Flutey ones that is.)

What we did............play a top G on flute, then whistle it window cleaner style, then keep the shape and size of the whistle and blow that very very gently across the flute, and a noise happens. It's not you whistling, and it's not the normal flute sound. Apparently if you do it on a piccolo, it's really loud and quite pleasant.
We need Andante probably to explain the whys and wherefores.

Does the pitch alter too? I have visions of it jumping to a higher octave.

Not sure Ratty, he didn't go into great detail, because I was asking too many questions as usual, and then I can't remember everything we've discussed

Jumping in as an oboist here so am not sure if it is entirely relevant. Certainly with the oboe it makes a huge difference what you sing while playing.

I always say the note names to myself when playing (even with the piano when I'm playing several notes at once I say one line of them to myself) and although I don't think I'm consciously mouthing them I must do because "E" is always sharp whatever the octave. If I play "E" and force myself to think "O" then it is in tune. I am trying to force myself to think "O" all the time but it is not easy to break a habit I've had for years, particularly when playing scales.

I posted about whistling and singing at the same time in the singing forum and doing this down the oboe produces a much better tone. Rosfrog provided a technical explination for this in my thread in viva voice.

I had a read of the thread in Voice, and it's fascinating. Thanks.

saxophones too!