I was frustrated!

Irish Flute
1

Hi there,

I’m a beginner whistle player (6½~ months of playing). Fortunately, I have a great teacher, and I’m quite happy with my progress, since I’ve not played any other instrument before.

As some of you might know, I got my first flute about 4 months ago or so. It’s made of bamboo and the finger holes are horribly difficult to cover. Not that they are very big, because they aren’t, but the stretch is even worse than my Susato low D!
When I first bought it, I was TRYING to play it at least 20 minutes per day, but my hands started to cramp quickly (yes, of course I use piper’s grip). So, after practicing 20-30 minutes almost every day for the first month, I didn’t pick it up almost anymore, because I wasn’t able to play even the scales (I had problems with the lower notes and with the higher ones). I was frustrated with it.
The fact is that I really want to learn to play the flute, and since the beginning of this month I started again to practice with it, and decided to order a Tipple flute next week.
Incredibly, it seems that it’s not that bad to start with difficult instruments as many could think. Let me explain what I mean…
The last week, when I went to my whistle lessons, I asked my teacher to let me try her wooden flute (conical). I picked it up and I could play some tunes quite well without much effort! WOW! I was so excited, and that encouraged me to continue practicing with my bamboo flute even more!


So, here are 3 recordings with my bamboo flute, please, tell me if I’m doing it well and what do you think. I obviously still have problems with the breathing, lower/higher notes, etc…:

O Son Do Ar:
http://audio.xanga.com/Bothrops/fd7461984047/audio.html

The Kesh Jig:
http://audio.xanga.com/Bothrops/2bb9f1984053/audio.html

The Curragh Races: http://audio.xanga.com/Bothrops/9b08b1984063/audio.html (I learnt this tune yesterday and I was reading the sheet music, sorry for all those mistakes!)

Regards,
Martin

2

Nobody ever said that playing a flute could be a “natural” thing to do, and it really does take some getting used to!

One of the best exercises to practice is “long” tones, holding a single tone for as long as one deep breath could last, and the benefits of doing so are many. For instance, while playing a long tone, try using that time to adjust your grip, to give you the most comfortable hand and finger positions for each tone, one at a time. By doing that for each tone, and getting each tone most comfortably right, it then later becomes much easier to get the fingers in just the right places when changing tones.

In so many ways, long tones really are a player’s best friend.

3

Hi Martin,

As a beginner myself I think you’re making great progress on the flute. It definitely takes more time adjusting as compared to the whistle.

I’ve been playing a Tipple D since the end of November and it’s been a great flute. I’ve had some cramping and bad tone days to say the least but the outcome has been well worth it.

Michael

4

From your description of your troubles I expected something awful. Instead, I thought you sounded great! Good job!

You should find the Tipple easier to hold than what you describe about your bamboo flute, so you are going to be unstoppable!

5

Cork: Thanks for the tip, very helpful. I’ll practice it!

MichaelR: Yes, it’s not only the difficulty of covering the holes, but the holy embouchure! It’s really not easy.
BTW, I’d love to hear a recording of you playing your Tipple.

sbfluter: Thanks for the compliment! I can’t wait till I have the Tipple flute on my hands! I’d be very happy if some day I can play as good as you, really :wink:


Cheers,
Martin