I have just recently fallen in love with Irish music, and decided to begin to learn to play it. I have a rosewood flute and a whistle, and I would be appreciative of any advice anyone could give me on learning how to play them. (As of right now I can hardly get a sound out of the flute).
Thanks again!
Ben,
first off, welcome to the board and to ITM (Irish traditional music). Who made your rosewood flute?
If you’re new to flute, the problem is likely just inexperience, but if you can play a regular flute but can’t get a sound out of this flute…well, is it an eBay flute from Pakistan for between $39 to $139? If it’s the last choice, the flute may need to be reworked, recorked, and cleaned up to get a good sound.
Eric
It is a flute by Mid-East, made of rosewood and for about $200. I can sound the first three notes pretty well, but after that it just fades out. I probably just don’t have the lung capacity yet. Thanks for the pointers and the welcome, though!
It could well be the flute, but there are some easy fixes that often can get them going pretty quickly.
First, make sure there are no wooden “bits” sticking in the tone holes, embouchure hole, or the bore.
Try using cork grease on the tennons which will help seal the joints.
Finally, remove the small end cap and feel the “cork”. Most mid-east instruments don’t have real cork but this squishy material that really kills sound on the flute. If it’s real cork, you’re OK, but if it’s squishy material go get a bottle of wine, drink the wine, and use the wine cork in replacement of the cork like material in the flute. You’ll probably need some sand paper and an exacto knife to cut the cork down to size, leave the cork on the tight side, grease it, and slide it in so it’s one diameter of the headjoint’s bore back from the embouchure. The easiest way to find the cork placement is to take a dowel rod, mark off with a line the diameter of the internal bore of the headjoint, and use the dowel rod to push the cork back so you can see the line marking the diameter of the headjoint in the middle of the embouchure hole. I know that sounds complex, but it’s really not. Maybe Terry McGee’s page will help with this:
http://www.mcgee-flutes.com/Stopper.html
Also, where are you at in Missouri? If you’re around KC, we could get together, let me play your flute, and I can tell you if it’s you or the flute.
Starting flute is a struggle, but it’s well worth it. I just don’t want the instrument to frustrate you so much you give it up.
Eric in KC, MO.
I live in Sprinfield, Mo, so the get together is probably not a go. But I looked at the end cap, and it is the squishy material. I was wondering about the cork, do I remove the squishy material (because the endpice screws into the flute, there is a screw there)? How do I fit cork in with a screw in the way? Anyway, thanks for the advice and I will try and figure this out.
Shoot - I was in Springfield just last week for work!
Does the screw screw into the squishy stuff? If so, you can cut a piece of cork about the same width as the squishy stuff and put the cork on the screw part (it sounds like the end cap with a screw in it is similar to 19th century flutes with the screw being adjustable to move the cork if needed).
If the screw doesn’t go into the squishy stuff, you cut a piece of cork, shove it into the headjoint, and I’d be really surprised if the cork and screw didn’t both fit into the head joint just fine.
With the squishy stuff out and cork in, I’d bet sound money the flute will sound better.
Eric
My guess is that a cork replacement is not going to help that flute. I bought a rosewood flute on ebay that I thought that I would be able to adjust into being a playable flute. However, after about an hour’s work, I gave up in despair. I relisted it on ebay as a “flute like object”, and amazingly a woman in Washington state bought it and raved about how such a good tone it had. I guess she wasn’t that concerned about intonation.
Best wishes and happy fluting, 
However, you wanted advice about playing, not about your flute. My advice would be to ignore the flute for a while and learn to make music come out of your whistle. Much of the skill you’ll be developing will be directly transferrable–the fingerings are the same, so all you’ll need to add when the time comes is diaphragm breathing and an embouchure.
However, you can safely bracket those problems and work on learning to play the music and learning a few tunes, first.
Thanks again for the advice. I was planning on focusing on the whistle while trying to get sound out of my flute. I worked pretty good last night, though, so I may be able to make this flute work just fine. I can’t really tell if the end cap is cork or squishy stuff. I looks kind of like really tightly wound thread or something.
The whistle is a great way to get going in Irish music.
Just to clarify, I’m sure there is tightly wound string on the end cap, but the cork I’m talking about is inside the headjoint. If you remove the end cap, stick your finger in the end of your flute, you should be able to feel (and probably see with good lighting) cork inside the headjoint…that’s the cork that’s often just squishy material in a mid-east manufactured flute. Since yours is one of the higher priced mid-east instruments, you may have real cork in there which is what you want. The squishy stuff is, if I recall correctly, a foam pellet type of thing.
Eric
Ok, I get it now. Sorry, I was confused and thought you mean the actual endcap should have cork. My flute does have cork! I actually got some good sounds out of it last night, so hopefully I just have beginner’s problems. Thanks!
That’s good news! I’m sure you’re having beginner’s problems — we all did. Is your flute keyed or unkeyed? Is the body (where the tone holes are) in one or two pieces?
Do be sure and grease/wax the tennon joints, and oil your flute, too. Almond oil works great, others swear by clarinet bore oil. Just lightly oil it once every few days at first. Also, be sure and run a cloth through your flute after playing and don’t leave it put together (anywhere other than the tuning slide sections) so you’ll decrease the likelihood of cracking.
And most of all, have fun…flute is addictive.
Eric
two great websites for help and inspiration:
Rob Greenway’s site
Brad](http://www.firescribble.net/flute/%22%3EBrad) Hurley’s site
it is a keyless flute and the body is in two pieces.
I think it’s much easier starting out keyless - less maintenance involved. The sites rh listed above are great and will really get you started.
Have you gotten dizzy yet trying to play the flute? I consider it a rite of passage… 
Eric
Yeah, I have almost passed out several times now. Who needs drugs when you can get high playing the flute, eh?
There should be a law against the Mid-East flutes. What a rip off. I paid $170 for that horrid firewood and all the time I thought it was me who couldn’t get it to work. I shall never trust another store that stocks those instruments ever again. 