Hello there, everyone - just thought I would introduce myself. I love music or virtually any kind, but flutes tend to be my favorite instruments. I play a modern transversal flute and a picc in my high school band and take flute lessons for this instrument. However, I don’t want to only play classical. Rock is one thing I’m looking at, folk is the other. I do play fair amount (but not tons) of Celtic music from books and I’m starting to ear-train various folk tunes. Also, I tend to play snid-bits of a lot more instruments that just the two I mentioned – Irish whistle, fife, harmonica, whatever I can get my hands on. Right now, I’m thinking of becoming fairly serious with the fife. I want to learn a lot more about the different types of flutes out there, how to play them, maybe how to make them, and definitely how to play folk songs. I also want to learn more about what kind of opportunities are out there for folk musicians and if there is any way I could make my living doing this.
Hi, Rae,
I don’t know if anyone else has mentioned it to you yet, but we concentrate mostly on Irish flutes here, with occasional forays into Native American, crystal, and modern Boehm system flutes. Some of us also play whistle and Bb fife (like me). We do have a few flute makers here at the list. You can learn a lot by reading the posts and asking questions. When I started reading here, I was surprised to see how many different types and makers of flutes there are!
Have fun!
Linda S.
madfifer9
Welcome Rae, you have found a very friendly place to dabble in. I think you will have a good time taking advantage of the wealth of knowledge contained here both in the talented players you will meet and the links to other sites dedicated to Irish Trad, folk, and of course flute and whistle. Don`t hold back with your questions or your answers for that matter. I think you will find us a loose bunch who love to make music. Have fun
Tom
well heck, while all the WA state posters are online, I’ll contribute 
Like Linda said, we’re a group of primarily Celtophile woodwind enthusiasts, so that’s what you’ll hear us spouting about mostly. Although we have people from very diverse backgrounds - a treasure-trove of information.
I personally wouldn’t count on making a living playing traditional music of anykind, and judging from most of us here (who play for sheer entertainment/masochistic reasons) that rings true. Although if you love it enough and are gifted who knows…
If you want more information specifically on the Irish flute, Brad Hurely (who is a regular, informative and entertaining poster here) has an excellent site that was my primer on the flute in traditional Irish music at http://www.firescribble.net/flute/index.html tons of good info there.
Regards,
- Ryan
I feel I must post just so you know not everyone on this board is from Washington… 
Seriously though, welcome aboard. While most of us play conical Irish flutes, as Linda mentioned above some of us are a fairly diverse lot. Also, there is no reason why you can’t play Boehm flute for Irish if you’re interested - check out Joannie Madden with Cherish the Ladies amongst others who do so.
Here are two other good links:
www.woodenflute.com
www.flutesite.com
Along with Irish traditional, several folks here also play baroque flute (the old one keyed conical flutes).
Anyway, welcome aboard.
Eric
Thanks for the warm welcome, and for the web pages. I checked them out, but probably won’t be able to ingest all the information very quickly. Also, I didn’t know Joannie Madden played the Boehm flute – is she as good on those as she is on Irish whistle?
I think she’s remarkably good on the silver flute. She gets it to sound very “conical” through her playing technique. The silver flute really is quite versatile. The Flutesite.com link has a comparison of wooden, polymer and silver flute - to me, it shows how much the player influences the sound.
Eric
Okay, then I need to look into getting some more recordings of her. I’ve only ever heard one CD, and that was with the Irish Whistle… but I love it. On both her slow and her fast songs, the technicality, tone quality, and musicality amazes me.
I couldn’t even venture a guess as to which flute is which… Can anyone, or it just that I’m not used to identifying flutes? Also, on the older samples (the whistle ones), they list the instruments in a particular order – is this the actual order, or is it up for us to guess as with the new flute one?
If you’re talkings about James’ flutesite.com, except for one sample where you can guess which flute is playing at what point in the recording, he records in the order he lists the instruments (i.e. - Seery, M&E, Boehm - that’s the order he plays on the track). The differences can be very subtle, but like many things in life - the more you listen the more you can tell a difference.
Yeah, that’s the site I meant. Thanks!
Welcome, even though I’m late in responding.
I picked up a two volume CD set called “Wooden Flute Obsession”. It is excellent. Try Elderly Instruments.
Once two young women were going for a walk, and suddenly heard a voice calling out for them: “Please, dear ladies, stop and hear my words! I’m an enchanted trad flutist, and only you can save me. Kiss me to break the charm, and I will play the sweetest tunes for you the rest of your life!”
One of the women kneels down, looks around and discovers a small green frog with begging eyes softly croaking at her. She picks him up, looks at him closely and then puts him in her bag. “Erm, won’t you kiss him? People say it really works this way, you know?” the other asks her. “Ah, no.” the first one says, “As a talking frog, he can make us a lot of money - but as a flutist?”
Sonja
geek4music, what do you like being called? and that sounds like a kewl CD set. Where could I find more information on it/buy it?
Sonja, lol. It seems like nothing in music actually pays… maybe I could be a high school band director, that pays a little. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to get into this – or any kind of music – for the money. But I will need to earn some eventually, to pay for food and instrument up-keep.
I have two words for you, Rae - military band. I was in the Navy for eight years and played in the Navy Band at Pearl Harbor. All I had to do was show up on time, wear a clean uniform and play my oboe and sax. When we weren’t performing, we were rehearsing! sigh What a great life. And the Navy paid for housing and food as well as wages! The military lifestyle is definitely not for everyone, but it sure worked for me. And it made me a professional musician.
Linda S.
madfifer9
That sounds like an idea… you won’t have to go into combat or do anything nasty like that? hmm. Do you know where I could find more information on this and on how I would need to prepare to get in?