(Quick intro) Multi-instrumentalist (strings, winds, percussion). Flute player in many forms, mostly endblown, never played Irish flute. Very early on pennywhistle currently. Understand the embouchure for Irish flute is tricky, thus…
Does anyone have advice on buying just a half-way decent mouthpiece for an Irish Flute. My thought was to practice with the whistle much more and get a feeling for the music, but just have a mouthpiece handy for constant embouchure practice. Eventually, after I get a consistant and practiced tone, I’ll probably buy a decent flute rather than trying to save money on the entire instrument. I’m a firm and practiced believer in the school of “a beginner needs a good instrument to learn on because a cheap crappy instrument just makes it harder (i.e frustrating) to try to learn.”
if you’ve never played side blown then get a Tipple
you can just play the headjoint by itself if ya want…not a bad idea to get started
It’ll take a while to get the feel of it and even longer to get the muscles to work
A Tipple will give you everything you need to learn how to play side blown and
if you decide to stay at it…you will have a year or two to research what flute you want next.
Doug Tipple is a member here.
You can search for mention of his flutes.
I did play sideblown orchestral for a bit (not much fun, but I’m a folk music person). Considering the $120 cost for a D Tipple with all the bells and whistles, that sounds like a really good option. I’d thought that I’d spend about $100 on a mouthpiece, so that’s a great idea.
I agree with Denny - go Tipple - you’ll get a perfectly decently playable and usable complete instrument to use when you’re ready to assemble it. No point whatever in trying to buy just a head-joint, whether for modern Boehm flute or Simple System wooden one. Sounds like you already have a “silver” flute - or if not you can easily acquire school level second-hand ones for under £/U$100 off eBay or even free off Freecycle if you want a cheap basic head to experiment on, but don’t expect the body and mechanism necessarily to be in good fettle… Early stages practise on head alone without assembling the flute is indeed good and normal practice for beginners.
Thought I’d bookend this thread with a note that I got my Tipple on Monday and love it. The Irish Flute’s a fair and complex maiden, for sure. No doubt it’ll take me a long time to become comfortable with her nuances. Thanks all. I’ll be around listening, but seem to have a lot of practice time to go before I have anything intelligent to say.
