LFP 030 | What Does Pull Out and Push In Mean On Flute

Hi, it’s me Rebecca here for another educational and interesting podcast all centered around learning how to play the flute really well. Today we’re going to be discussing what it means to pull out and push in on the flute and why you really need to know.

It’s a great day here again at Learn Flute Online. I’ve been really busy busy creating content for you awesome online flute learners. And I hope that you will find value and interest in what I have to offer you. I know you are learning how to play the flute and probably have a lot of questions. I love your effort and I will do my very best to get as much information out to you in as many ways as possible.

Because I remember what it was like to be a beginner and learn how to play the flute, and I tell you it was kind of rough. There were just so many things I didn’t know. If I had a resource like this podcast and the other lessons and information over on the Learn Flute Online website I would have rocked it even sooner.

Well this reminds me that I had a new premium student come into my online studio just  this week, and he has been literally binge watching the lessons. Every day he is in there learning and practicing. It’s so much fun to watch and know that this content is exactly what he (and you) needed right now.

Let’s get to it. I see many students each week, and one thing I notice with the newer students is definitely how off tune they are. Does this sound like you? Haha probably. I think it’s basically impossible to be a perfectly on tune flute student when you’re first starting. In fact, it takes quite a while- years even- to get the hang of having your pitch match exactly where it should be because basically there are so many different factors that go into good sound and tuning it’s difficult.

I bring this up because it honestly does not matter what stage of the flute-playing game you are in… everyone can learn to be better at what they already know.

So, today’s subject of ‘what does it mean to pull out or push in your flute is – well you guessed it- all about tuning.

When we assemble our flute, most people think that all of the parts should fit tightly together. Well, this really isn’t true. The foot joint DOES twist all the way together nice and tight with the body of the flute, but the head joint is not supposed to.

Perhaps many, many years ago – I’m talking like before the 1960’s they were. But the flute head joints were all made a certain length back then. And, it was noticed that tuning with certain other instruments was difficult – especially if the other instrument wasn’t on perfect pitch.

So, they started making head joints longer to accommodate for this. It was really helpful.

So when we assemble our flutes we now know that we should ‘twist’ our head joint into the body of the flute… but not all the way. 

Basically, we need to stop before it gets all the way into that silver. Now, if you look at your flute you’ll notice that there’s a part of the end of the barrel – you know, the side that does not have the cap on it…the other side the open end where the shiny silver is not there. You should actually see part of that still even after you put your flute together.

If you accidentally twist it all the way into the body, you’ll need to pull it out a bit in order to have a fighting chance at being on pitch when you play. Now of course, we fine tune this the more you learn how to play but for right now this is important to just understand.

So, when I say “push in” you’ll know that you need to twist the head joint even farther into the body so that it shortens the flute – but never all the way unless your cork is off… and then that’s a subject for a whole nother day.

If I say “pull out” – you’ll simply twist and twist until more of the head joint is out of the body which makes the flute longer.

Haha, I know this might sound kind of elementary, but it’s one of the basics of learning well. There are so many learning flutists who never even get this kind of important information.

One of the reasons I thought to talk about this today is that I was helping a group prepare for a performance the other day and I had them all lined up so I could listen to them one at a time on just a single note. This single note was their tuning note. 

On flute we like to use the first and the second octave A because it seems to be one of the notes that is most on tune for us naturally.

As each student stepped forward and played their A for me, I would instruct them with one of these three commands. I would say “Pull out”, “Push in”, or “Perfect, leave it right there”.

I hope this is opening your eyes to the world of better flute playing because it is real, and I’m happy to teach you as well.

Well, that does it for today’s subject. I want to remind you that I would love to hear from you in the comment section here or over at the LearnFluteOnline.com website where you’ll find a very very large pool of information on this subject including hundreds and hundreds – actually approaching the point where I can say thousand- of video lessons where I demonstrate exactly what you need to know and learn in a step-by-step, sequential manner. It’s awesome, and it’s all for you.

As usual, I want you to feel free to ask me any question you have. All students are in their own stage of development and learning at different times, so just let me know and I’ll make sure that what you need to know makes it into an article, podcast, or a video lesson.

The flute-learning community is a nice one – full of the very   best people on the planet. Let’s continue to rally and help each other.
See you again soon!