I’ve read through some of the other posts for/by beginners and they’ve been very helpful and show the fantastic assistance by the more experienced forum members. However I’m left a wide range of questions.
Wood
I think I understand the basic pros/cons of wood vs poly, and I think I’d like to go with wood. Is there a preferred wood for a beginner? I see lots of wood types in the $350-$600 range (from there up it’s all ABW and other exotics I can’t afford)
Keys
I understand that keyed flutes will widen the range of playable music. Do the keys in any way hinder learning? Or is it better to learn on a simple flute then buy another later? Can keys be added later (by the maker)?
Seller Shorthand
When I’m looking a sellers’ info, and they list the keys on the flute are they indicating the notes they keys play or the music Key playable, or both? When I see a flute listed as “DD” is that indicating it plays in Low D? And what is considered “Low D” for a flute?
Beginners in General
What is the biggest pitfall for beginners buying a first flute?
What is the biggest problem for beginners with regard to playing technique?
Is it worth it to learn fingering on a whistle (if one couldn’t afford a flute right away) then transfer? Or is it better to get some flute and then upgrade?
Whew! I’m done now. (I warned there were a lot of questions ).
A lot of these questions are controversial. Also if you use the search
function at the top of the page, you will find lots of discussions.
A D flute has a bottom note D. This is standard for Irish music,
which is the spine our musical repertoire. You should buy
a D flute.
Blackwood is very good wood for Irish flutes. A blackwood flute
would be a good idea, all things being equal. However there
are other good woods, e.g. mopane, boxwood, and so on.
Casey Burns makes a good beginners flute of mopane,
the Folk Flute. You can search on his site. This is widely
thought a good place to begin and the flute can be sold
if/when you move up to something better.
Personally I think it’s better to start without keys. Holding
and sounding a flute are hard enough initially. Keys
can seem like useless clutter for a good while. However
some people here think one should start with keys,
so it’s controversial.
Several makers do retrofit an unkeyed flute for keys,
so you can get keys later for the flute you bought.
Whistle playing fingering transfers to flute, but there’s no
reason not to start with flute. Others may offer their
opinions on this. No reason not to play both.
Encourage you to do some searching–lots of helpful
material in past threads. Best, Jim (4 1/2 years flute,
more whistle)
read this thread & buy from a maker not a retailer
“DD” & “What is the biggest pitfall for beginners buying a first flute?”
See read this thread…
Again, get one that is not a flute like object, it’s hard enough learning how to play one that plays…
“What is the biggest problem for beginners with regard to playing technique?” embouchure, breath control.
Is it worth it to learn fingering on a whistle (if one couldn’t afford a flute right away) then transfer? Or is it better to get some flute and then upgrade? It’s better to get one that doesn’t need to be upgraded.
Casey Burns makes a good beginners flute of mopane, the Folk Flute.
Nice! I went to his site and learned more than I did going to 6 other resellers. The resellers only had Manufacturer Name, Wood Type, # of Keys, and a Price. I suppose if you knew what you wanted that’s fine but it didn’t help me any.
A D flute has a bottom note D. This is standard for Irish music, which is the spine our musical repertoire. You should buy a D flute.
Ok… then a “DD” flute means it plays Low D? In other words an octave below a regular flute? Or was this just some slick tricky sales jargon? Regardless, I’ll stay away from such things, but I’m just curious.
Denny -
Do you have any experience playing any woodwind?
Yes, some. I was teaching myself (successfully) to play the modern Boehm flute some 8 years ago or so. Unfortunately, my daughter confiscated it so she wouldn’t have to rent an instrument for Middle school and High school band.
Yeah, I saw the sticky on Pakistani flutes, and having heard from my piper friend all about “Paki-pipes” I thought “No surprise there!”
Jim’s advice is excellent. I will add something he did not address about buying a flute. Try to get an experienced player to try whatever you are considering. I can personally vouch for Casey’s flutes, as I have two of them. I also have a vintage keyed flute, but I agree with Jim that as a first flute, it would be a bad choice simply because it is so much more expensive. If you get to a point where you want one, be assured that doesn’t mean you’ll stop using your keyless flute.
Once you have your flute (and what a happy day that will be!), try to find that experienced player again, and have him or her show you some things. Not necessarily be your teacher, but just a few things that separate the ITM player from the classical player.
Several makers do retrofit an unkeyed flute for keys,
so you can get keys later for the flute you bought.
There are two kinds of keys; block mounted, and post mounted.
Post mounted keys have an extra bit of metal that screw straight into the barrel of the flute, allowing the keywork sit clear of the barrel.
Block mounted keys have the keywork seated directly into the wood, meaning that the wood has to be a different shape to start with. (ie, thicker or with bumps where the key needs to be.
It’s considerably easier to retrofit the former than the latter. Most makers will use one or the other of these techniques, rarely both. If you’re thinking retro, it’s a good thing to know in advance.
~~
On the whole, it’s my belief that block keys are better and more common. For this reason and for the hassle factor, I think changing flutes rather than doing without while a maker adds keys to yours is the commoner (and likely better) strategy.
If you love your flute and learn to blow it perfectly*, getting its successor from the same maker or even using the same head piece isn’t a bad compromise solution. (ie, buying a new, keyed second section or tailpiece to match your earlier flute.
*ideal embouchure varies from flute to flute and maker to maker.
~~
By all means, start with a whistle. Right away. Techniques and repertoire you acquire will be directly transferrable.
Once you have your flute (and what a happy day that will be!), try to find that experienced player again, and have him or her show you some things. Not necessarily be your teacher, but just a few things that separate the ITM player from the classical player.
Excellent, thank you. That reminded me that typical “tonguing” technique used on the classical flute is seldom used with ITM, yes?
Irish music is more commonly played legato, with irregular articulatons of various kinds. Classical tonguing isn’t a common one. It’s not that it’s never used*, but if that’s something you’re very very used to, you’ll need to do some retraining of your instincts.
*every so often you run into a tune that seems to work in no other way; the a part of the little fair cannavans seems to require it, at least the way I want to play it..
I’d recommend a good polymer flute given your price range. A good polymer (e.g. M&E) flute is a good instrument. Whatever you do, don’t make the same mistake I made when starting out: I bought a Pakistani made wood flute. It really held me back. A plastic flute will allow you to see if you’re going to stick with it and, if you do, then you can step up and get a good wood flute.
Keys: If you’re interested in Irish music I don’t think you need keys, especially if you’re just starting out. Sure, you may decide you REALLY want to learn a certain tune in that isn’t in D or G, but the vast majority of tunes will be accessible to you if you have a D flute. If you get a good flute keys can definately be added later.
Low D: Generally, in Irish music you’ll have two octaves, or registers. There’s a high D and a low D. Just make sure the flute you buy is a D flute…that is if you plan to play with others.
Technique: The pitfalls I fell into was playing too fast. People - adults especially - want to play the same speed as they hear on recordings. This is a mistake b/c playing fast lends itself to sloppy ornamentation. Play SLOW and focus on a good tone and correct ornamentation.
About retrofitting–I’m in process of having an Olwell Pratten
keyless retrofitted for keys. These will be block mounted, of course
(what this maker does).
My understanding is that I will keep
the old flute while new blocked and keyed sections are made,
then trade the old keyless sections for the new keyed sections.
The maker buys the keyless sections back, thereby defraying the cost of
getting keys. The point is that, throughout this process, I
have the old keyless flute to play.
There will be a
period at the end when we swap the sections, and the maker
may want the old headjoint then to insure the new
sections fit, but I take that to be quite brief.
Dave Copley does this too, I think Hammy Hamilton does it,
who else?
Yes, by all means, start playing whistle!
P.S. Gobae, if you can get some lessons at the beginning
from a teacher of Irish flute, that’s a great help.
Also there are workshops at festivals. You don’t necessarily
need lots of lessons, but that’s the best way to begin, IMO.
Worth traveling to get a lesson, if necessary.
It contains a wealth of information about the Irish Flute and links to even more. It also has a rather comprehensive list of Irish Flute makers for your perusal.
I recently went through all your questions myself. I don’t have answers to them all, which is why I decided to start with a Folk Flute – because it has no keys (how will I know what keys I need until play enough tunes to go ‘I wish I had an X key’) and it’s not too expensive.
The nice thing about the Folk Flute is that it is way better than it looks in the pictures and it smells nice. I have a rosewood fife and I don’t like the way it smells at all.
I think you should get a whistle. You’ll need something to do while you wait for the flute. The fingering is the same. It’s portable so you can play it anywhere. It’s cheap so you can ruin it and buy another. I take my whistle to the beach and practice tunes during lunch. Since the fingering is the same, it helps my flute playing of the same tunes. And why not know how to play both?
As a beginner, the hardest thing for me is embouchure, breathing and simply learning the tunes and playing them well.
I too am a newcomer to the wooden flute (at it for just over a year now) and I too have been very happy with the Casey Burns Folk Flute. My first D flute was a Tipple PVC with in-line fingering and it was too much for me. The holes were too far apart. I’ve since traded it for a Tipple with offset fingering and it is lots easier for me to make the reaches on this one. The Tipple has a surprisingly good sound and is a real bargain. But the Burns is really special to me.
If you were to order the Folk Flute, I would recommend getting the Grey Larson Guide to Irish Flute and Tin Whistle book at the same time. The book has been the subject of a heated discussion on another thread, but I have found it informative and (more important) useful. The bag he offers for $25 is also very nice. All you would need then is some bore oil and a swab and you’d be on your way.
These flutes are really easy to sell used, by the way, should you decide you don’t want it.
As for a whistle, that depends. Do you like whistle? Even though i’ve got several of the things, I don’t care much for their sound. I prefer fife. Yes, the fife can be unbearably loud and shrill, but it doesn’t have to be. But whistles are cheap and can be handy.
By the way, the term “low D” usually refers to low-pitched whistle rather than flute. A “high D” flute would be called either a fife or piccolo.
i struggled a bit with flute-playing posture and sometimes find the Folk Flute a little heavy, even without the keys. But I’m a wimp. If you are already comfortable with the silver flute, you should have no problems.
So that’s my approx. 2.4 yen’s worth (at today’s exchange rate). Hope it helps.
In regard to this thread, Beginner’s Questions, I see some good questions, but, I also see one other thing, that apparently you have not yet begun, and, provided that you do get on with it, there no doubt will be more questions.
Go with a polymer flute, to begin with, for most of these flutes currently are well worth playing, and have very little in the way of troubles.
The biggest pitfall for a flute beginner is in not having enough self confidence in one’s abilities. Go for it!
DD is an old fashioned way of referring to what is now referred to as “d1” which is the D above middle C or “c1”. I think that DD and CC and the like is part of the Victorian legacy thanks to the British Raj in South Asia.
BTW, Gobae, the jury is still out on the issue of manmade materials versus wood. The jury is actually having a break with coffee and tea out of polystyrine cups. Some are drinking coke with plastic straws. One fanatic is sucking up carrot juice with bleach free, beeswaxed, paper straw. The latter may be me, mind you.
My Tipple Eb and E flutes are as nice as any for the price I could get in bansuris or wood.
I voted in favor of polymer, especially for a beginner. The reason for that has to do with the idea that 1) there are flutes, and 2) there is flute playing, which basically amounts to two different subjects. Moreover, because polymer apparently is such a successful flute material, which has virtually no maintenance issues, no warping and/or cracking troubles, and remains thermally stable, as to not so much change in tuning as it warms up, it is hard to find any negatives to polymer, at all, which in effect then leaves a beginning player free to learn about flute playing, while largely free to ignore the flute, whereas a wood flute would then impose other obligations.
And, apparently beginners are not alone in their choice of polymer flutes.
As a beginner with about 2 years of playing a Folk Flute, I endorse all the others who suggest the FF. The only thing I can add is to point out that Casey does not retrofit keys on the FF, so you would need to trade it in (or keep it as a spare) if you want to move to a keyed flute. Personally, I now love the sound of my FF so much that I don’t plan to part with it even though I have another flute.
I don’t know about the biggest pitfall … you have already some experience with a Boehm, so you know it won’t be a quick and easy path to learn Irish flute. For someone without that experience, the biggest hurdle is probably maintaining enthusiasm and constant practice until you start getting some music out of the thing.
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