I am doing a choir item and I want a student to play her flute with the choir - she's about G4. However, when she plays an A, it sounds like a G!!! And I can't get it up to A (pulling the top bit in/out a bit - you can tell I know nothing about flutes!!!). Please advise me what to do?

(disclaimer: I don't play the flute)
Pushing in may raise the pitch a little, but if it's that far out it's probably either something wrong with the instrument, or more likely the way the student is blowing it. Can you have a word with her teacher?

Chris

I agree with ChrisC - either the position of the cork in the head joint is a long way out or the player is blowing incorrectly. Is her posture bad?

It isn't by any chance a baroque recorder is it? Some are tuned to 415 baroque tuning rather than 440, which would make it sound flat.

If it's a wooden flute it's quite possible it's either not at modern A440 pitch or also possible that it's a flute which is not in concert pitch. I have played marching band flutes which transpose, usually in the key D flat to help fit in with the number of flats that wind band instruments like to have at their concert pitch.

Hi thanks for replies! It is a metal flute. She seems to make a good sound with it - just flat! I can't manage to speak to her teacher either, I'm afraid.

Sounds like the headcork to me. Take the headjoint out and stick a cleaning rod up it bottom end first. There is a little groove on the cleaning rod which should be exactly in the middle of the hole when you push the stick up as far as it will go. If it isn't then the position of the cork needs changing or it needs replacing.

Hope that makes sense!

Cork-Bag x

EDIT: Sorry completely irrelevant reply. Not sure why I read recorder instead of flute!!! Maybe because my sub-conscious was telling me it was time to get down to some recorder practice.

Bad day today,