Hello everyone, I’ve been playing the guitar for just over a year now, and I’ve been thinking about picking up a second instrument after getting a few more years worth of experience on the guitar. I realize that’s very far off from now, but If I don’t figure this out now it will stick in the back of my mind forever. What “it” is, is the question of, what wind instrument should I learn? I’m looking for something (in order of importance): that is chromatic, that has a 2.5 octave range or greater, that is keyless (i.e. without buttons if I have my terminology right), that doesn’t have a fipple, and that falls within the sonic range of the western concert flute.
Now to go a bit deeper on that first point. I was hoping that the chromatic capabilities of the instrument would be practical. By that, I mean that I’m looking for something that can play chromatic notes easily (hopefully, just as easily as playing diatonically), and not just as a type of ornament. I say this for two reasons. First, one of my favorite genres of music is jazz, so I’d like to not be restricted to one key. Second, I was reading a “history of flutes” page that mentioned that the baroque flute was invented to help with chromatic accuracy, so I’m guessing that playing a keyless instrument chromatically would be atleast somewhat more difficult than a keyed one (then again if you look at the indian venu and bansuri players this seems to be a moot point).
Now onto my last question. The thing that is most difficult about really deciding on an instrument is the variety of wind instruments and hole numbers. I’ve seen them ranging from 4 to 10. According to wiki some 6 hole systems can already reach into 2.5+ octave range I’m looking for (from the bansuri article), so why shouldn’t I pick a bansuri over the 8 hole venu, or let’s say, the 10 hole skiphealy keyless flute (assuming we didn’t factor in that ridiculously huge $1,500 price tag as a con)?
It sounds like what you want is a … western concert flute. Either a silver Boehm flute or a fully keyed timber flute. Your criteria are basically incompatible. If you want to play chromatic western style jazz, then an unkeyed simple system is not apt, nor is Baroque cross-fingering. You can get a very decent silver flute for not much. The common element to all is embouchure training, which you must overcome whatever the choice, which is far more fundamental for a beginner than specific fingerings, but which largely transfers from one flute to another.
As for thinking in terms of the number of holes, that’s frankly a bit odd. Any flute has exactly the right number of holes to do what it’s supposed to do. So it really depends on what you want it to do.
Thanks for the welcoming and the reply. I had pretty much come to the same conclusion as what you said in bold, but I wanted to be sure. I stumbled upon the skiphealy 10 hole keyless flute (I’m not quite sure how because this was a while ago that I discovered it), and it is advertised as a “keyless chromatic flute,” so I figured something of that nature–a 10 hole keyless flute–might be what was necessary to have the versatility of a keyed concert flute. Then I began listening to some indian music and the whole idea of microtonal playing either suggested that the flautist that played bansuri and venu, which range from 6 to 8 holes, were either extremely talented, or maybe playing chromatically on a keyless flute wasn’t as complicated as I thought. Ultimately, the reason I was so interested in keyless instruments was because it seemed that they would ultimately be less expensive and require less maintenance.
One such instrument that comes to my mind is the bulgarian kaval.
I don’t say it’s easy, though.
For an idea of jazz played on kaval, google “Theodosii Spassov”.
Hey Jack: You’ve really asked a huge question. Without knowing more about you and what kind of music you’re playing, at what skill level, at what level of interest, and at what price range, this is like asking someone, “What’s the best place for me to live?”
Here’s my two cents:
If you’re going to take professional lessons, go ahead and learn a silver flute. Jazz flute rocks. If you’re going to be teaching yourself and if money or other things are major considerations, start with a pennywhistle. A $20 investment will get you right in to playing a wind instrument. If you place the left hand on top (I didn’t) this is step #1 to playing the silver flute since all knowledge transfers. Step #2 is to learn the simple 6 hole flute, that teaches you embouchure and you’ll already know the fingering. This can be as little as a $50 investment. All knowledge transfers again. Step #3, Learn the silver flute. Get as good a flute as you can afford.
I did the same without a goal of learning the silver flute until one was gifted to me. I taught myself all this in 3 years, including fife and ocarina but I had to spend an extra year learning how to play right-handed because I goofed on square one. I also wasn’t trying to beat the clock or anything, I was just plaing for fun.
Also, just because an instrument says it can play 2.5 ocataves doesn’t mean you’ll be able to play 2.5 octaves. On some of my instruments people will only really want to hear me in 1.5 to 2 octaves. After that, I sound like two cats mating while they scratch their claws on a chalkboard. I don’t have a particular need to go into that extra octave, so I don’t bother spending much effort learning to achieve that skill level. If a song really requires that big of a range, I’m going to play my guitar or a keyboard. I’m just playing for fun.
And one last point, before you overlook the whistle or simple flute, you really need to listen to what some folks can achieve with these instruments.
I play some jazz standards and there is a really cool sound that you can make by sliding your finger over the large holes of a flute or a low whistle, especially a bamboo instrument. I don’t talk in musical terms but I bet the word is “bend a note”.
