Lately I have been considering the purchase of a flute. One might say that I took a baby step toward side-blown instruments by ordering a Tony Dixon Trad D piccolo. As a flute represents something of an investment, and I’d likely have to get one made (more on that shortly), I intend to do research and seek advice well before I commit to a flute purchase.
As regards the flute, I’d want a six-hole simple-system model in high D. For both lower cost and ease of maintenance, I’m looking exclusively at non-wood instruments. And it would have to be left-handed (playing right-handed feels horribly unnatural to me, and I’m too stubborn to switch hands). Should I also consider other keys and/or configurations? Is Pratten vs. Rudall and Rose purely a matter of personal preference? What options would be worth spending a little extra money on?
Taking up the flute would also be contingent on finding a good teacher; my efforts in self-teaching the whistle probably weren’t the best. There is an Irish music association in my area, and though I’m not sure how badly that group has been impacted by the pandemic, I’ll see if they can help in that regard. In the event that I’m unable to find a teacher in the area, is taking lessons using Skype or similar such a worthwhile method of learning?
Thanks to all who might provide information and insight!
Do you really mean a “high D” flute (as in piccolo in the range of a high D whistle) or a D flute (as in those played in most ITM and in the range of a low D whistle)?
Makes a big difference in the availability of quality instruments.
Oops, I hope he does mean FLUTE in this context, and not another PICCOLO. I thought the piccolo was the entry point, and that a D flute (as in approximately double the length) was the intended target. Otherwise, I got nothing. Sure, plenty of simple system (keyed & keyless) wood piccolos
are available, but not much in polymers (like the Dixon, or Jem Hammond’s currently unavailable project).
I’ve been at the flute pretty hard for more than two years now, maybe closer to three. I’m not a really good player.
The Keyless Irish flute in D–I think you should get a conical bore instrument–they “play” differently and I like the way they play. I have a Boehm flute I noodle on and some cylindrical bore flutes. The conical bore flute feels different to play and if you are into Irish music it sits nicely on the conical bore flute. That being said, you can certainly play irish music well on a Boehm or on a cylindrical flute: many people do.
I have three delrin flutes ( ) and one expensive flute in Ebonite. The expensive ebonite one is the best, by a wide margin. But I’m a fan of delrin–no fuss no muss, virtually indestructable, will never crack. It lacks the real and genuine sensory charm of wood, but if they’d had delrin in the nineteenth century they’d have been over the moon with joy.
I have an M+E, a Walt Sweet “Shannon” and a Copely ringless. Two were bought used. All three are made from different materials or different grades of delrin.
The M+E is kind of roughly made. It plays easily and gets the hard Irish sound easily but it’s heavy and has a kind of a “veiled” quality. It’ not an espeially loud flute. The Shannon is very nicely made with angled holes to bring the spacing a bit closer together. It takes less air to “fill.” The Copely is extremely nicely made and plays very easily. It has a distinctive tone but to my ears a bit less timbral and dynamic range.
Any one of these would be fine to start with and you could leave them lying around assembled and if you had kids the kids would have to work really hard to damage them.
I bought one of Geoffrey Ellis’s “essential flutes,” and was very very impressed with it. That led me to buy one of his pratten style flutes in ebonite which has been a delight at every stage. Since it’s ebonite, I don’t have to worry about cracking.
Ellis has improved his essential flutes so they play a bit more, I’m told, like a conical bored flute.
If a low ‘D’ flute - then the Tony Dixon ABS one piece is a great one to start with, & quite cheap, you may not want another, (it’s a conical bore, & nice & light to hold to play).
(His delrin is also a good quality 3 piece flute.)
Edit: Damian Thompson also makes good quality delrin flutes.
I don’t have kids, so no worries in that regard. A cat-resistant case (as I believe nothing is cat-proof to a sufficiently determined cat) would be all I’d need!
Thanks to all for the replies!
To clarify, the larger flute is what I’m thinking about here. With that clarification made, it also brings up more questions. Those larger flutes may well require the piper’s grip; is there a way (i.e. glove size or measuring my hand) to better gauge if I will need to use it?
I have looked into both Forbes and Copley flutes. Forbes charges a small fee for left-handed embouchure, while Copley offers that feature at no additional charge. I’ve also run across Doug Tipple flutes, but know next to nothing about them. If anyone has experience with them, I’d be interested to hear it. As I find my Dixon whistle to be superb, I would consider a flute from him. Would one of his low D whistle/flute duo sets work okay, or am I better off with an instrument designed solely as a flute?
The Tipple flutes are cylindrical in the bore with a head modification that allows for better intonation. They are very affordable and nicely made for what they are. The down side is that they tend to be larger in external diameter and spacing between finger holes than the conical bored instruments. I had one early on and it was great for developing a good embouchure but less good for the fingering aspects.
I’ve played a number of delrin flutes with varying success. Copley flutes have been great and, without rings or tuning slide, are relatively inexpensive (but more than a Dixon or Tipple). Well made and would carry you well into a developing experience as a flute player.
Forbes are also very well made. My personal experience is that the one I had just didn’t fit my hands well. (My hands are, well, “experienced” with some of the changes that years can bring. This may not apply to you.) The Forbes played nicely in tune and, again, was affordable.
Walt Sweet’s Shannon model is also nicely made and well in tune. And, if I recall, is the lowest cost of the delrin models.
All that being said, my current delrin instrument is by Francois Baubet. I like the tone and feel and it fits my hands comfortably.
However, you may find that you experiment with a number of flutes over time to find “yours”. That’s not a bad thing and something that many of us here have gone through. And it helps stock the Used Instruments Exchange Forum. What works for one player doesn’t necessarily work for all.
I bought one of the Dixon flute/whistle duos and did not like it at all. As a flute I found it very hard to play, very limited in the timbres it can produce, and weak sounding. i just picked it up–It’s unpleasant to play: it won’t do anything I want it to do. It can only make a sort of bland sound. I dunno, possibly a better layer than me could make it sing like a bird, but I really dislike it. It was in the trash bin a month ago and I pulled it out at the least minute, thinking “well maybe it’s just me–I’ll try it again.” It’s still terrible. It could be just me, but I can play other flutes and have it be a pleasent and musical experience.
Doug Tipple makes an inexpensive cylindrical bore flutes out of PVC pipe. He generously shares informtation about how to do it. His flutes get good reviews–I’ve never tried one
As I find my Dixon whistle to be superb, I would consider a flute from him. Would one of his low D whistle/flute duo sets work okay, or am I better off with an instrument designed solely as a flute?
I think when you go down in key it is more difficult to produce good tone, & whilst I really like my Duos, (they are really good for what they are), I’d hesitate from buying a combo low ‘D’, (I could well be wrong, but my ‘A’ hasn’t as strong a tone as my delrin low ‘D’ flutes, & I don’t mean because of its key, it just isn’t as full sounding). I’d suggest a single purpose flute in the lower keys.
I feel that’s part of being a musician, so having to try several flutes before finding “mine” doesn’t worry me much. The handedness could be an issue if I decide to part with any flutes I may acquire, though. Considering that even the most basic Copley flute would run three times what I’ve paid for a recorder and six whistles, experimentation in finding just the right flute could get expensive. I would also like to find something that I won’t feel I’ve outgrown after three months. Therefore, I am going to great lengths to do some due diligence.
I’ll keep the Dixon duo set in mind as an option, primarily because I want to eventually acquire a low D whistle…but I’ll consider it as less than ideal. A Copley seems like a pretty safe bet.
Meanwhile, I have sent the local Irish music association an e-mail enquiry about taking lessons locally.
Thanks again to all for the advice, information, and insight!
With Covid and flutes online may be the safest, given that breath is blown from both the teacher and the student throughout the lesson. Since many gigs have been canceled for pros all over the world, many who didn’t have time to give lessons are now teaching online.
Start a thread asking specifically for recommendations for teachers.
You are correct. Whether online lessons are a good option may be a moot point, as they could be the only option for a while.
Edit: I may well have found a teacher. We’re going to do a trial of a whistle lesson on Wednesday of next week. Should that go well, I will contemplate putting a deposit on a new flute.
I don’t think anyone will stop with the Tipple flute–I’ve owned several.
There is, IMO, a quantum leap to the level of delrin flutes by good makers,
as these are virtually of professional quality and will serve for a long time.
I’ve played a number of them, and my main busking flute is a bottom of the
line, ringless, Copley, which is a pretty impressive flute. I’ve played the Forbes
enough to want to play it more, and the Somers is also good, IMO. A lot of people
spend money on instruments they will need to replace soonish, and my thought is
to start at the cheapist solidly good flute available. I continue to prefer the sound of wood
but if the apocalypse comes and I’m left with the Copley delrin, it will be good enough.
I have a D flute by David Angus and it seems very nice. I’m not the best player and havent tried a better one so I don’t know how it compares to more expensive ones. But its definitely nicer than my dixon 1 piece low D. And it looks amazing, which is half the battle haha. And it was like $200 usd shipped, so is much les expensive than my other high end options.
You can also keep your eyes open or make a “Want to buy” post in the trade section here. Quality flutes hold their value well anyway but you can still get a extra good deal on something good. I dont know a whole lot on the specifics of the different makers but if I was to get something different I’d go Copley, Walt Sweet, or M&E. I’ve heard many amazing things about all of them, and they dont break the bank. Well they at least break the bank less than some other options haha.
And going keyless is a good excuse to get some whistles in other keys (whistles can be a lot cheaper than flutes). Depends on what your trying to play tho. A song I want to play that requires a Low F can be played on my Bb whistle but not well because I have to play the verses an octave higher because I cant hit the low notes. So on that logic a keyed flute can hit the notes but it might not be able to play the song the way you want, or may be harder to play than on its ideal whistle.
Editing because I missed the left handed thing- I’m technically left handed but I use right handed everything in life. Computer mouse, guitar, flute, etc. I found switching to easily accessible right handed things was easy. That being said any of these makers should be fine with making you a left handed version. I just tried playing my angus flute and it seems to play fine left handed. The embouchure hole looks the same on both sides, so some makers flutes could already be set up for either. You’d obviously want to look in to that before picking something up though. Best of luck.
Those with a dominant left hand don’t have things easy in that regard. I’m actually mixed-handed to some degree; in some cases, that’s because my dominant hand (right) and dominant eye are on opposite sides. Playing a whistle left-handed is what felt natural to me. I didn’t consider handedness when I picked one up for the first time.
I will add Walt Sweet flutes to the list of those under consideration. The gentleman who will be giving me my first whistle lesson also plays the flute, and he said he will also give me opinions on what flutes may be good options.
So far I am considering Copley, Forbes, Sweet, and Tipple. Any other makers I should add to that list? I’d prefer those based in the States, as I’m unsure about how U.S. Customs may have changed over the past two years or so.
Joke aside, I just wanted to say that I had a Copley (6 keys) for a couple of years and it was a great flute. The only reason I sold it is because I moved to an 8-key flute. There are two things I really liked about this flute (besides its excellent intonation): it was very ergonomic (it was quite slender and the holes were not too large) and the embouchure was very forgiving. From what I understand, Copley’s low end model is acoustically the same model. I don’t know about the other flutes on your list, but I doubt you would go wrong with a Copley. On his website, he mentions that he can configure the flute for a left-handed player at no additional cost.
) and one expensive flute in Ebonite. The expensive ebonite one is the best, by a wide margin. But I’m a fan of delrin–no fuss no muss, virtually indestructable, will never crack. It lacks the real and genuine sensory charm of wood, but if they’d had delrin in the nineteenth century they’d have been over the moon with joy.