Hi everyone. I am a whistle/fiddle player, and i just recently recieved my very first irish flute, a three piece D flute. It is quite a nice flute, but I was wondering if anyone could give my some helpful hints on playing/getting a good tone. Thanks everyone.
Steve-o
Hi Steve-o. Congrats on your first flute – and a Tipple, no less!
My first Irish D flute was a Tipple as well, and only about 5 weeks ago.
My only suggestion is to keep trying. You don’t say if you’ve ever actually played a flute before, but my suggestion is just to keep trying. I’ve always been able to get a sound out of a flute, but it seems like your question is how to get a good sound.
Any musical instrument is a perfect biofeedback device. If you keep at it, eventually you’ll do something right, and your body will remember how to do that again. I’m amazed at the strides I’ve made in a short amount of time, and I think it’s only because I’ve played it as often as I can - at least once every day.
Don’t give up!
I’m a Tippler too, good flute! Try this website for tips on playing:
http://www.firescribble.net/flute/learning.html
added a couple more:
http://www.flutesite.com/posture_&_grip.htm
http://chiffboard.mati.ca/viewtopic.php?t=24516&start=0&postdays=0&postorder=asc
There has been lots of talk about embouchure here on Chiff-do a search. There is one post is down below now on developing good tone, and you can search here about any keyword you may think of that might help-like beginning AND flute, etc.
But, you can read as much as you like, but as fyffer said, most of the learning comes from just picking it up and playing.
I’m a beginning fluter coming over from the Low Whistle also, and that helps too, but the flute is worth the extra work for learning the embouchure just for the different tonal qualities. I’m having a ball! I hope you do too.
I’ve had a Tipple flute for a year or two now, a simple, non-tunable - the old ‘contact paper covered’ type, and just got a tunable with the offset holes. I’m waiting for the wedge.
I played the flute back in my school days (waaaay back) and the whistles off and on for several decades… I love these flutes!
Plumbing never sounded so good!
I’ve had a variety of non-D bamboo flutes for years, although at the present time I’m only aware of the whereabouts of a low C flute, which is the most beautiful sounding and horribly nonergonomic instrument I own. At a friend’s recommendation, I ordered a Tipple for my entry into irish fluting (or serious fluting at all, for that matter). It’s a gray three-piece with 8 holes. I’m very fond of it… My bamboo flute is easier to blow, so perhaps someday a flute with a different/better(?) mouthpiece would be in order, but honestly, I like the Tipple’s sound better than the fancier flutes I’ve heard at sessions, so I think I’ll be quite happy with it a long time.
As a guitarist/octave mandolin player who has done much travelling, I am really liking the idea of a small, portable instrument!
Well I have teased Mr Tipple so much here that I never imagined he would so happily deal with me! But he has and I am now the exalted owner of a dimpled bore Eb flute (with tuning slide).
I thought I was getting me a plastic PRACTICE/rehearsal flute of a reasonable standard. I was not too excited at the prospective lack of aesthetics of white plastic. I could have got an aesthetically pleasing bamboo number - a good quality Eb bansuri for a similar price. However I decided in favour of the Tipple for the advantages of tuning slide and durability.
Well this is a real surprise - this is an immaculate flute - in looks, in sound and playability! It is beyond being a practice flute, it is a PERFORMANCE piece. It shares the altar of my of my most adored flutes with the Seery blackwood and the David Chu low C bamboo.
(TBC…)
i, too, just got my first tipple, a 3 piece gray D.
suggestions
- experiment with the head joint at slightly different angles- in and out. make very small changes.
- since you have a 3 piece, maximize your comfort on the right and left hand by adjusting them as needed.
- starting with the low D, get as many harmonics as you can.
- long tones
the flute is always a matter of personal experimentation, probably more than most other instruments. grey larsons book is a great investment.
meir
i, too, just got my first tipple, a 3 piece gray D.
suggestions
- experiment with the head joint at slightly different angles- in and out. make very small changes.
- since you have a 3 piece, maximize your comfort on the right and left hand by adjusting them as needed.
- starting with the low D, get as many harmonics as you can.
- long tones
the flute is always a matter of personal experimentation, probably more than most other instruments. grey larsons book is a great investment.
meir