Hi everyone,

Although I've been playing NAF for some time now, I haven't had the opportunity to participate in any NAF communities (online or otherwise) and there are no flute circles in my area, so now as I meander through the Flute Portal I've come across some specific terms with which I'm not familiar. The one in particular that comes to mind is "back pressure."

Can someone kindly explain this term for me? Does it refer to the amount of air required to produce certain notes on the NAF or woodwinds in general?

Hi Desiree,

Back pressure is a term that refers to the amount of resistance you feel when you blow into a flute. Imagine taking a thin straw and blowing air through it. Then imagine blowing air through something like the cardboard tube to a roll of paper towels. In the first instance you will feel a great deal of resistance--you can puff out your cheeks and blow as hard as you like, and a thin stream of air will pass through it. In the second instance you will meet no resistance whatsoever--it will be just like exhaling a breath under normal circumstances.

Those are the extremes of the scale when discussing back pressure. Normally, the flute maker wants to achieve a happy medium with back pressure. Somewhere in between these extremes is desired, but there are different opinions from player to player as to how much is too much. Some folks like to feel a bit of resistance while others don't. It is a subjective "personal taste" thing, but a very important aspect of assessing a flute.

Thank you, that was a very clear and helpful explanation.

I guess that back pressure is something that you don't think too much about unless it is excessive or not enough (for your preference as Geoffrey points out).

as usual, Geoffrey has a way of explaining things that make you say "duh, i see the light now!"

now how it affects your flute playing is another thing.

at first, i liked the idea of having a lot of back pressure as it made it less likely of making squeaking noises. however, once i started to get better breath control, i wanted less back pressure. i have found that i can do overblows easier and controlled. so now, i like just a tad of back pressure.

i find it fun to jump an octave. for example, one of my favorite things to do is blow a fundamental note and without lifting a finger, do the fundamental overblow. i learned this from Mary Youngblood when she played Beneath the Raven Moon.

have fun!

Hello Desiree - A quick reply to your backpressure question! From a technical point of view I understood the meaning of the term but it really did not strike home until I recently purchased a couple of PVC Irish whistles. They play well enough but I soon realized that I was unable to play any long passages. Why? The whistles had little to no backpressure and I was unable to sustain my playing of songs. The air I put into the whistle was gone in a very very short time and I was constantly having to replenish my air. These are not fun to play and needless to say these whistles are gathering alot of dust.
Peace/Peter

I have found that a little back pressure is fine. I have one flute that has more, and that likes to play in a new age style, which works fine for me.

For the most part, I like just enough to make controlling the flute easy.

Here's the simplest way I know to describe it: too much back pressure means you quickly run out of breath because you're forcing too much air out of your lungs; too little back pressure means you quickly run out of breath because you're expelling too much air without resistance.

What's too much or too little? Depends on your lung capacity, breath control, and playing preference (how much you like to "push" the flute). I like to be able to play the basic scale three or four times at a comfortable, steady pace on a single breath, or a single tone for about the same length of time, and still have enough left in my lungs at the end before taking another breath.

If you find yourself continually short of breath as you play, it could be the flute or it could be lack of breath control. The only way to know is play several flutes from different makers. If you run out of breath on all of them, then chances are it's time to practice better breathing techniques. Learn to breathe--if you don't already--from the diaphragm, not from the chest.

Added later: An important addendum to this is health and stamina. I've recently decided one of the best ways to improve my playing (as well as health and mind) is to get into the gym most every day for some cardio exercise. This way, I might also live longer to play my flutes well into old age.

Angel, since you're the king of flutes in terms of numbers and makers represented, I wonder if you would identify some makers whose flutes have acceptably (to you) less back pressure and those whose flutes have acceptably (again, to you) more back pressure.

Thank you, that desciption helps a lot. I'm worried that I don't have enough experience on a wide range of flutes made by different makers to completely decide what I prefer as far as back-pressure. I've also recently been going to the gym and I hope to start bellydance classes again, so I'm getting in more cardio to help me out