Greetings all. I’ve just begun playing the flute (almost a week now), and although I’ll start lessons with a teacher in a month or so, in the meantime I’d like to learn some basics - proper embouchure, hand position, maybe something on breathing, etc., so I’m wondering if anyone can suggest a tutorial book (perhaps with cd/tape) to get started with. I read music and play other instruments (whistles in ITM) as well as my burgeoning interest in the flute. Appreciate any recommendations - thanks.
Probably the only thing on the market for you would be the Mad for Trad CD-ROM. Click here to see the website. There’s also a book out by Fintan Vallely but the tape is out of production.
Do you have your bamboo Olwell yet?
Cheers,
Aaron
Try this for starters:
http://www.woodenflute.com/playing
especially Paul Mulvaney’s tutorial essay.
Hammy Hamilton sometimes has copies of his book and cassette
http://www.hamiltonflutes.com
And Grey Larsen’s book should be out any time now:
http://greylarsen.com/catalog/books.html
I’d email him and ask.
Good luck! But don’t be disappointed if it’s slow going. Having lessons with a teacher will make a huge difference.
You might get some help from Skip’s Tips at the Skip Healy website. The link to the tips is at the bottom right of the intro page.
Steve
I second the Mad for Trad CD. However, don’t expect too much for one short month. This flute stuff can keep you busy for years.
I got the CD after playing lonely for six or eight months. After spending about six weeks with it, I got a much better feel for what Trad flute playing is all about. I put it away, and kept absorbing (limited amounts) more info about trad music by playing and mostly, by listening a lot.
I recently pulled the CD out again, and went through the lessons. I found them even more instructive and worthwhile after letting them simmer for that time. The tunes he uses for instruction are very well selected and carried out.
My only complaint is that when Seamus Egan is playing at anywhere above dead slow speed, I cannot for the life of me see his fingers move when he performs a roll. 
He has absolutely the fastest fingers I have ever seen (or thought I did). Some of the top players are so good that it just makes you want to take up golf, just to reduce the frustration level.
Appreciate all your suggestions - I picked up Fintan Vallely’s Timber[i] tutorial book the other day, and have looked at a few of the online resources, which should get me going just fine until I decide on a teacher in the next month or so. I can see already that learning the flute is going to take quite a bit more patience (and practice!) than the whistle (even the low whistle), but I’m sure it will be rewarding in time.
Thanks again -
Stephen [/i]
I know what you mean stiofan. I was in about the same position as yours a couple of months ago. I dear to say, already, that you’ll probably find it worth all the effort. The wooden flute is the most magical instrument I’ve ever come across, but they give you so much trouble in the very beginning, and still does so for me, ofcourse I am still very much a beginner. A couple of months is nothing, I’ve noticed when learning wood flutes. They do take a lot of air, even with a fairly good embouchure. I have problems with it. I don’t know how good my embouchure is but I think I’ve got a good tone, and I’ve got compliments from my teacher on my embouchure, but that’s on the Böhm flute, wich I find a lot easier to play wind wise. Anyway, there is nothing like getting a hot flute to honk real good. 
Expect three difficult months.
I’m not so satisfied with the Seamus Egan tutorial for a few reasons. Firstly despite reiterating the importance of breathing and embouchure, he barey covers them at all. Which isn’t very useful to one who’s starting out on the flute. Secondly, the tutorial is just him playing tunes fast and slow, with sheet music. Very little is covered stylistic-wise and most times his playing on the video clips are a little on the non-descript side, i.e. any competent flute player could have done the video. I think I have certainly gained more from the information circulating on the internet, being on the wooden flute list etc. than on this tutorial.
My 2 centavos!
Well, Eldo, you may have been past the point where you really needed the CD when you ran into it. I probably started at (and stayed at) a lower level than you did, and found some solid grounding from studying the CD. There is nothing quite as instructive as actually watching somebody correctly do tips, cuts, rolls, and crans.
As far as embouchure and breathing instruction, I don’t know if there is an instructional CD that could possibly do those subjects justice. I have asked all of the talented flute players that will listen about what constitutes a good embouchure and how to develop one. Their answers are as varied as can be. I don’t think that teaching embouchure can go too far to help a person, as individual as each person’s physiology is concerned, as well as playing style.
One fellow who was teaching a local workshop plays with his lips so close to the embouchure, and covers so much of the hole, that if he got any closer he would have to stick his lips inside the flute. He plays great that way. In imitating his style, I can’t get anything resembling a tone. A flute teacher I had for a few months played her wooden flutes with an embouchure that varied little if any from what she used on her Boehm flute, and got wonderful tone and expression from all of them. :roll: It’s all too complicated for little ole me.
Nope Ron, I was a total beginner to the flute when I got the tutorial. I had a couple of years of whistling under my belt before though, so things like cutting, rolling and weren’t my biggest concerns. What I was needing help with was stuff like how to get a decent tone out of the instrument, how to sustain this tone, basically the real fundamentals of how to play the flute. I felt disappointed when I found out that this tutorial does not cover those subjects at all, even though it has been reiterated that they were important factors. The tutorial doesn’t describe glottaling very well either and months after buying it I still didnt have the foggiest idea on how to glottal. Hence I do not believe that it is especially useful to rank beginners on the Irish flute.
However like you said, it will benefit those who would like to see someone perform finger ornaments like cuts, rolls, crans etc. Other than that, I think resources from the internet, like Brother Steve’s whistle website, the wooden flute list, or whistle tutorials like LE McCullough’s would easily cover everything featured in this tutorial(and more), especially when it doesnt really go in depth about things that are unique to the flute, or flute stylistics.
I also agree that it is difficult to teach embouchure due to the reasons you cited. However I still think it should be covered in some way or another in a good flute tutorial. Maybe not in an strictly instructional context, but giving a rough idea what the process of finding your embochure is like etc etc. Its a bit bemusing to see Seamus Egan belt out tunes - albeit melodically simple ones, and wonder if there’s anything wrong with you when you can’t even get a half-decent sound of of your tube. Breathing can be taught with more ease than embouchure though, and some pointers should be given at least, in a comprehensive flute tutorial. If such fundamental topics aren’t covered, then I don’t see how I’d be worse off if I got myself a good whistle tutorial instead.
Incidentally, I think the madfortrad whistle tutorial is pretty nice.
Im with Eldarion on this one. I was totaly disapointed with the Mad For Trad Tutorial. The 3 or 4 secounds it spends on embouchure are laughable. Nothing on breathing and realy at the time I got it it was way over my head. Heck the tape put out by Lark in the Mourning is ten times better, IMHO that is, then the Mad for Trad. When I first got the CD my biggest problem was embouchure. I wouldnd have cared if there was 5 of 6 different styles if I just could have gotten an idea of how to develope one. Alas I was left to my own devices on that score. So it has spent its live in my desk drawer and I have had to struggle along on my own and with the help on the net and of course here. Anyway, as a rank begginer I do not recommend this CD. Try the Lark in the Mourning tape for half the price. I think you will get more out if it.
Tom
I just scanned the previous posts, so I may be redundant, but I’ve heard several people say they like Scoiltrad better than Mad for Trad.
I did Mad for Trad myself, but quit using it after I’d printed out all the ‘dots’ in the lessons (but I do agree, I found the Seamus video basically useless because I couldn’t see, but I blamed it on my monitor) (whoops!) 
But conceptually, I could see the value in it. Maybe Conal Grada’s version is better. I like that Scoiltrad gives you the opportunity to send in mp3s of yourself and get feedback … at least there’s some engagement there.
Good luck!
cat.
All of that is true. I guess the best way to learn how to develop your embouchure, aside from using a knife on your flute, would have to be done one on one by a good teacher.
I still don’t have a clue as to why I manage to play with an acceptable tone some days, then can’t manage a good squawk on some others, no matter what I try.
I think that wooden flute playing and golf must have been developed by the same crafty evil geniuses. they are both great sources of pain and joy, not to mention frustration.
Never follow in the footsteps of the master-especially if he is on a horse.
Couldnt agree with you more Rondo. Perplexing to the max. Lately Ive have quit trying to learn songs on my flutes and have just been playing them. You know, what ever comes out. Total lack of disaplin on my part I know but I think it is realy helping. I guess I am kinda learning what the flute has to teach right now. It would be nice to know what it would be like to take a course in flute playing but I doubt that I would stick to it. Inventing your own course may be bad news but its better then no news.
Tom
Hello Lads
Conal O Grada here from Cork & Scoiltrad. The recent discussion about teaching embouchure echoes my own experience as a young fella and also that of my current students starting out on the flute…it has to be the most frustrating aspect of flute playing to both teach and learn.
My own approach is to explain the mechanics of how a flute makes a sound in the first place and then try to get the student to focus all their efforts in that direction…its fairly impossible to describe the tiny adjustments necessary in any meaningful way so the most important thing to impart to the student is what they should be aiming for…that and the fact that it won’t occur overnight
I also agree that breathing and development of breathing patterns, breathing adjustment on the fly etc. is an essential part of learning the flute.
Lastly folks, it should not be forgotten that the most important part of learning is practicing…the teachers job (apart from general encouragement & feedback) is to ensure that the student knows what and how to practice…after that its up to the student.
Beir Bua
Conal O Grada
http://www.scoiltrad.com
…the virtual music school
This might be a dumb question but, does the beginner’s course on scoiltrad have all 11 individual lessions or are the 11 individual lessions to be taken after the beginner’s course as further instruction? I can’t tell by the website.
Thanks
As a newbie to flute (got it a few months ago, was horrified at how difficult it was, back tracked for a while, and just did exercises, and found out this week that I can finally manage to play slow tunes whoo hooo!). . .I just went to the Healy site and it was GREAT!
But the first part…getting the tone…that is rough. A few people advocated just getting a tone, holding it, tightening the embouchure to learn what it does to the sound, then doing it all over with another note. I started on B A and G, and worked up and downward from there. I still can’t reliably hit the high B and A.
Anyway, my advice is to just start with a note and figure out what this embouchure thing is all about. One note at a time…hold it for as long as you can. Take a breath and try it on another note. Then try going from one note to the next. Slow slow slow. Doing it right is better than doing it fast.
Lastly folks, it should not be forgotten that the most important part of learning is practicing…the teachers job (apart from general encouragement & feedback) is to ensure that the student knows what and how to practice…after that its up to the student.
Conal, this is an intriguing line. Can you expand on it a little?
Yes, I am convinced just about anything musical was invented by the same mind that spawned golf, dressage, housework, and Catholicism. (yeah, I’m Catholic)
Anyway, I completely agree with the Esteemed Mr. O. Grada. It’s hard to imagine, especially when you’re just starting out, that this lumpen, unresponsive block of wood across which you’re blowing your everloving lungs out is ever going to sound like anything less than a Coca-Cola bottle (and a cracked one at that).
(This is why so many people go/are pushed into this when they’re children; that way you can’t remember the initial pain later.)
However, it will get better. It’s a very Zen thing; it’s in the process. In the meantime, take advantage of whatever tutelage you can find (we’re so blessed to have things like scoiltrad & mad for trad & all the learning CDs today!), listen to great players, get to any workshop/clinic/seminar you can (even it it’s not, say, Conal O Grada teaching), talk to people, take what you like and leave the rest, and above all, GET MILEAGE. Play, play, play. Get to know your flute inside & out. Fool around with how bad you can make it sound; then work backward from there. Play long notes, play short notes. Play the D scale, jumping octaves (a great warmup always). Play while you’re looking through the junk mail. Play with your lips loose, then tighten them and see what happens to the sound. Aim your airstream down, up, left, right, all over. Try to mess with the flame of/blow out a candle while playing a note. Just be curious and experiment! Observe other players, but remember they’re doing what works for THEIR flutes & embouchures. Find a session or start one. (We actually have an Irish/Bluegrass/old-timey session here, and it’s a blast. I’m continually amazed at what I learn from not only better players and other disciplines, but also from players who are less experienced than me)
You will continually reach amazing levels of “conscious incompetence” – usually the day after you think you’ve mastered something at last! – but just keep plugging away.
Also, a suggestion: even if it means taking a few lessons from a classical – gasp! – player in your area – embouchure control is, basically, embouchure control, lip exercises are lip exercises, and a good teacher is a good teacher.
If it helps, I’ve played classical flute semi-professionally for about 30 years and trad flute for too long not to be better at it … and it never ceases to surprise me what there is to learn – or alas, un-learn and re-learn – next.
Aw, darn. I’m sorry for the rant. Honest, it’s just because I care.
Cathy.
(And I agree about these crazy wooden flutes. Talk about temperamental! They have their cloddish days – the odd leak? lack of humdity? – but I know my embouchure and brain have plenty of cloddish days, too.)
Tyhgress
In relation to the point I made about practice being the most important aspect of learning, I’m not sure there is much more I can add. Musical technique must become instinctive in order for the musician to be able to exeucte flawlessly…this only comes with practice (assuming that the techniques are being practiced correctly). Its fairly easy to attend a class once a week, its a bit harder to play EVERY day in between and honestly apply the feedback/direction received at the class and address the evidence of your own ears…this is what leads to improvement. Playing in a session is a great way to practice but is only effective in leasding to improvement if you listen to your playing while doing so and work consciously on the different aspects of your fluteplaying.
I hope this answers your query Tyghress…let me know if it doesn’t.
Jim
The Scoiltrad course consists of 10 classes. It is aimed at the complete beginner. The student will be introduced to different tune types and techniques in each class with each class building on the learning of the previous class. Techniques covered include cuts, pats, glottal stops, breathing technique & patterns, triplets and rolls. The student also gets to submit several mp3’s of their playing for assessment throughout the course.
The other 11 classes are seperate from the course and you a right..this is not clear on the web-site…I’ll get this fixed.
Just a quick word on “bad tone days”…if you are a regular player, who normally (i.e. 99% of the time) gets a reasonable tone from your flute, then in my experience these off days generally are due to variations in the instrument (leaks from the slide/joints/ keys, misplaced or leaky end-cork, poor oil maintenannce etc). Mind you a trip to the dentisht can caush dis az well.
Beir Bua
Conal
http://www.scoiltrad.com
…the virtual music school