Fipple head / lip plate

[tictactux]

Bear with me - I suck at flutes... (even more so at piccolos)

Okay, so I have an increasing amount of flutes and piccolos I have to service. While basic flute work is relatively straightforward (let's not get into details here) I naturally arrive at a point where I have to play-test them, and here comes the problem: For some reason I am unfit to reliably get a tone out of a flute. I'm playing clarinet and sax okay, but my lips don't seem to be made for flute or brass (keyword: teardrop). With brass I can cheat a bit with a "skewbouchure", but flute - forget it. And I am not going to waste a lot of teacher hours on a lost cause.

So I looking for alternative "tone generators" for flute. I have seen an accessory for Nuvo flutes - it's a clip-on lip plate that has a recorder-like windway/fipple, and it looks just like this might be the thing:

Besides this specimen, has anyone seen something similar, preferrably something that can be clipped onto a standard-ish lip plate?
Other suggestions?

I repeat - this is for play-testing only. I have no plans on getting a flute pro...

 

[Tony Fairbridge]

Bear with me - I suck at flutes... (even more so at piccolos)


So I looking for alternative "tone generators" for flute. I have seen an accessory for Nuvo flutes - it's a clip-on lip plate that has a recorder-like windway/fipple, and it looks just like this might be the thing:

Besides this specimen, has anyone seen something similar, preferrably something that can be clipped onto a standard-ish lip plate?
Other suggestions?

I repeat - this is for play-testing only. I have no plans on getting a flute pro...

Many years ago, far more than I care to think about, I saw something similar on a flute. It was made by an unknown repair man in Portsmouth, England in silver and was permanently attached (soldered, I think) to a flute belonging to the music master at the school I went to. He had a deformed upper lip due to a war wound and couldn't form a normal embouchure. I wouldn't think something like this would be too hard to fabricate, although it would require a fair bit of experimenting to get it right. It could be made to clip on rather than soldered.

 

[Carl H.]

Perhaps rather than clipping on, you could modify a rovner ligature for mounting purposes so there is nothing clipping on to any part of the instrument. Some might not care for the idea of a clip on anything on their baby.

 

[tictactux]

Yeah, I should have been more specific - something non-scratchy that can be attached to the original lip plate.

 

[pete]

Hey. Adding thanks because I've never seen such a thing. Makes me want to try one.

 

[tictactux]

A first prototype - works.

 

[kymarto]

A first prototype - works.

I suppose it goes without saying that such a fixed air jet erases just about every advantage the flute has over a recorder or tin whistle.

 

[jbtsax]

Having started hundreds of young players on the flute, I can count on one hand the number who had to switch to another instrument because they could not learn to produce a tone. Many of the students whose lips were not the "ideal" shape went on to become the better players as they learned to make embouchure adjustments that worked for them. That said, I am reasonably confident that a good flute instructor could help you to get past the mental and physical roadblocks in your way and have you on your way to getting a characteristic flute sound suitable to play test instruments.

 

[gurzil]

Just to add since it was not mentioned, that type of attachment was actually called a "cheater". A google image search will show some other examples, that might help refine your design.

https://www.google.com/search?site=....0.InqrgI452h4#tbm=isch&q=fife+flute+cheater+

 

[pete]

Which lead to http://www.blockiflute.com/Pneumo-Pro_p_1.html for me. There's even a video. I'd like to see an entire high school flute section using these all at the same time.