Getting a xiao to play both 4 and 4# in tune— impossibility?

[ziman]

Hi all, I've been pondering something about xiao intonation lately.

On pretty much every xiao I've encountered, the notes played by opening the thumb hole, 4 and 4# (on a G key xiao, that would be C and C# ) tend not to both be in tune when using the standard fingering of o|xxx ooxo for 4 and either o|oxo ooxo or all holes open for 4#. I've often found this to be the case even on excellent xiaos with all other notes perfectly pitch-accurate. It's usually either 4 is perfectly in tune and 4# is flat, or 4# is perfectly tuned but 4 is sharp. The former seems more common than the latter.

*(Note: this is when using standard fingering plus a neutral embouchure, i.e. before any bending of notes)

In most cases, the amount of pitch variation is slight, but just noticeable enough to bother me and make me actively bend the offending note up or down to compensate. So one might say that this issue has a minor real-life impact, since one can always note-bend.

But the really curious question is: why is this 4/4# tuning tradeoff phenomenon so common? Does it have something to do with the acoustics of the xiao itself? And, since this phenomenon seems to occur even on otherwise well-tuned xiaos, does the tuning of these two notes present unique difficulties to the maker — difficulties that are not encountered when tuning any other notes? I also wonder what measures a maker could take if he/she were really determined to get both these notes perfectly tuned. (Also, how difficult/complicated would those measures be?)


P.S. wow, it's been a while since I last posted. Glad to be back again!

[davidmdahl]

It's great to have you back, ziman. I hate to send you elsewhere, but if you don't get sufficient useful replies here, you might try contacting Winson Liao, who makes and teaches xiao in Taiwan. He has an account on Facebook, and is fairly active there. He does communicate some in English, but you might need to simplify your question,

Earlier this year I acquired a dong xiao made of some sort of dark and dense wood, maybe granadilla or ebony. It fits my hand much better than the others I have, and sounds pretty good, so it seemed like a good idea at the time. Like you wrote though, tuning is an issue with some notes. The scale on any sort of flute, including xiao and dizi, is the result of tradeoffs on sound and practicality. Maybe an optimally in-tune xiao would have stretches and finger holes too large for most hands. This is one of the factors that led to keys on Western flutes. On the xiao, the holes must be covered by fingers, so their size and placement is restricted.

I expect that another factor in the problematic scales on xiaos is the nature of the bamboo tubes that most are made of. They cannot simply be cut and drilled in the same places from one stick of bamboo to another. The bore profile is different on each xiao, so each one needs to be tuned individually. I imagine that there is a time budget for each xiao that corresponds with the price. As you would expect, the more time tuning and other finish work, the greater the price.

The maker and dealer of shakuhachis Monty Levenson makes his Tai Hai line using cast bores of epoxy resin, which allows for a much more uniform tube, and I imagine, a more accurate tuning.

Best wishes,

David

[meoweth]

I have actually asked Winson Liao this same question, with 3 holes covered (Your hand that usually covers the thumbhole), and the thumbhole uncovered is not in tune due to the nature of the instrument. You might want to try half-holing as that would probably give you better control of the in tonality of that specific note.