I’ve been practicing tones on a metal boehm flute for all of 2 days now. I’m “searching” for a powerful, not-breathy tone on the low notes. (On the high notes, too, come to think of it.) So I played my breathy low D, held it for at least 1.5 seconds before collapsing. Then I purposely blew again, this time trying to overblow to the next D up (without lifting my left first finger). To my surprise, I popped out a LOUD low D - which I could not repeat to save my life. Man! I’d like to figure out how to do that whenever I want!
Without nagging, try and find a flute teacher. He or She can do much to help you get started on the right path.
I strongly recomend that you not worry about the low D (or lower) yet. They’re difficult notes on the Boehm flute. They will come when you get more experienced.
But you’ll probably do much better right now if you concentrate on the low octave G-B range. Try to get those notes as consistent and beautiful as you can then start expanding your range in either direction.
Thanks for the advise, I’m following it. Seems like the B is the easiest note to hit solidly, so I’m working on pulling it down to a solid G, with varying results. I’ll keep at it.
In your post, when you said the low notes are hard to hit on a Boehm flute, do you think they’re easier to hit on an Irish flute?