No, it’s not another horror story about a broken tenon. . . I’m the proud new owner of a one-year-old Copley flute. It’s everything everybody says it is – easy on the breath, good volume, very versatile even in the hands of this novice. It ought to be my goto flute for the next year and possibly beyond. But I’m going to have trouble letting go of my beloved Bleazey. At this point, I’m not sure how much is emotional attachment, how much is resistance to change, and how much is that it really is a nice flute and I’m comfortable with it.
On the one hand, the Copley is much more versatile, and has a more traditional sound, so it really ought to be the flute I play all the time. On the other hand, the two flutes play very similarly, so, once I get used to the Copley, it should be easy to change between them. Does anyone think this would be a problem for someone who’s been playing a scant year?
BTW, getting my first high-end flute, I’m that much more impressed with Phil Bleazey’s flute. I had thought it wouldn’t grow with me, but it has, and I thought a “real” flute would be a huge adjustment, but it’s not.
I’m at about the same point with regard to my playing as you are - a tad over a year of serious playing - and I switch between two flutes myself (75% of my time on my old German flute, 25% on my Seery). Switching between the two is no big deal to me despite significant differences in flute build (vastly different embouchures, bore sizes, hole sizes, not to mention keyed vs unkeyed).
I think the better a player you become the better ALL decent flutes become. I was playing the Seery last night for quite some time, and I realized that despite not having played it for more than 15 minutes here or there over the past month, I sounded much better on it than I used to.
I’m still rather new, so I could easily be wrong - but the above is my experience so far.
This is an interesting topic you’ve brought up. I think you should keep both flutes. But that’s not quite the issue you raised. You raised the issue of which will be your go-to flute. Know what? It’ll probably go back and forth. It sure does for me. Even with whistles. I have one favorite, but somehow it isn’t always my go-to whistle.
In fact, it’s possible that the less expensive flute, the Bleazey, will be your go-to flute because you may feel you don’t have to treat it with as much respect as you do the Copley (swabbing out, oiling, etc.) and the ease of leaving it together (if you do that sort of thing) might make you more likely to pick it up. I have found that sort of thing happening to me.
There has always been dialogue on this subject and will continue to be. On the one hand I was properly told - when I began wooden flute - to stick with one flute until I got it down. And I did that. Not that I truely “got it down” but got comfortable with my embouchure, so to speak. I now have a few good flutes - Copley, Healy, Burns and Ormiston - and I usually play the Copley more but often feel the need to play one of the others. I can comfortably go from one to the other and each is DIFFERENT. No one of them is BEST. They all have separate and distinct characteristics and sounds. Its almost like hemeostasis (your body tells you when it needs salt by craving for, say, pretzels). My lips and ears want a certain feel or sound and I just go to that flute and enjoy it. I’m in my third year and so far to go!
There is only one rule in flutedum as far as Im concerned and that is that you can never have to many flutes :slight_smile: . Luckely I like bamboo flutes so I feed my fetish without going broke but I have yet to find my ultimate keyed wooden flute. However, after a short email chat with David Magoya I may have found a contender. I know that my upcoming trip to Alaska will be dedicated to aquiring one of the Rudalls we talked about. Oh ya I forgot to tell ya, Wyoming is out and Ketchican Alaska is in. Ill be driving teams of draft horses up there. Anyway the wooden flutes I have are my teachers, my lovers, my toys, and my responsibilty. All four of them require my attention and get it. Though my go to flute is still Mr. Dixons incredible rosewood D the antiques never have a day off. Playing the flute has become a true absession with me and the day it becomes my true voice will be the most wounderful day of my life. So keep that other flute and watch how much more you learn about each of them and yourself. You just can`t go wrong.
I’m with Jessie; I hope you have 'net access in Alaska, Tom.
The second day with the Copley didn’t go as well as the first, but I think I was just having an “off” flute day. One odd observation I made is that the condensation really pours out of a blackwood flute with a lined head, compared to a boxwood flute with a partially lined head.
Yeah, best thing to do is to play for a few minutes (till either the tone starts to go south or you can look in the embouchure hole and see lots of water droplets on the liner, which ever comes first), then swab out the the headjoint - you’ll find you have better tone and response after that. Just part of owning a lined headjoint flute, happens with all of 'em.
Thanks, Loren – it probably should have occurred to me. The sound had been becoming a little muddy after half an hour, and this morning I swabbed the head out and it improved considerably.
