I’m new to this forum, and new to flutes in general. I’ve been learning to play a Native American flute, and a simple bamboo bansuri. I’m interested in purchasing a slightly better quality Irish flute to progress from here. I don’t know how to read music as of yet, and was interested to find out many Irish flute players play by ear. I learned to play a recorder early on as a kid.
I’ve been reading through the posts on flutes for beginners and have found lots of info, but haven’t seen Heritage Music flutes listed anywhere. Here’s their site: http://www.heritagemusic.ca/heritage-music-flutes.html Has anyone tried these wood flutes? They sell Dixon and Sweetheart flutes too.
I’m debating between getting one of Doug Tipples PVC flutes, or a Casey folk flute, I like the idea of wood better, but am not sure if I can justify the extra cost of the wood flute as a beginner.
I am a landscape painter, I paint on location or “en plein air” in oils.
Hey Paris - welcome.
My two cents is that if you want to learn to play Irish music (and it’s not clear from your post whether you are interested in Irish music) on an Irish flute then get a REAL Irish flute. By real I mean one in D with tone holes and embouchure kind of “standard”. Now I haven’t played any of the Heritage flute, nor heard of them before; but they look a little weird. They might sound and play great for all I know, but the placement of the tone holes are for sure, while not unheard of, not standard - in fact some of them look pretty extreme. This kind of thing is usually done to accommodate people with very small hands. The problem is when/if you ever go into a higher end Irish flute you’ll likely find yourself having to relearn where the holes are. The Dixon and even more the Sweethearts on that site are closer to the mark.
I’ve played a couple bamboo flutes that were great and many many that were terrible with very odd and extreme tone hole placements. For playing fast Irish tunes these mostly don’t work very well in my book. I think of the flutes you mention the Casey Burns folk flute is the best for a budget minded beginner. It is well worth the investment for a beginner. In my view getting a very cheap instrument in the beginning is a mistake. Students trying to learn on something that is awkward and difficult to play do not progress as quickly, get discouraged and often quit - thinking “I can’t do this…” Well, no not on a poor instrument. Making the transition from the folk flute to a high end instrument will be pretty seamless. Also it will hold it’s resale value.
Clark
I am familiar with Heritage Music. I have bought several instruments from them. The vagaries of exchange rates has made them a best price supplier at times. I have not played their flutes. And you are correct that they are not mentioned around here. It may just be the aesthetics or the choice of soft furniture woods used on their flutes . But even so I would think that some flute junkie around here would have bought one, especially at that price, and told us about it at some point. Sometimes silence speaks volumes. But maybe not. You may draw someone out of the shadows with this thread.
Heritage have been a good retailer otherwise and I would not hesitate recommending them as a seller. As noted they do sell Dixon and Sweetheart flutes. Of the flutes available there I would recommend the Dixon DX030 or Walt Sweet’s Shannon.
There are lots of references to Erik the Flutemaker here. You can search the forum for the collected wisdom on these. Use the “Search” function at the top of the page. I’ve met the maker and played the flutes. I do not recommend them.
The Tipple flute is a good place to start. Doug makes a good flute for the money. They are very playable IMO. And it makes a good backpacking flute even if you buy a more expensive flute later on.
The Burns Folk Flute is a good flute. It is a good flute to start on and could be as much as you would need for many years to come as well.
At a similar price point to the Burns you might also look at the delrin flutes of Dave Copley and Gary Somers.
Just listened to a couple of the sound clips and wouldn’t say they do.
Yes, I got a DX203C whistle from their eBay shop and had it shipped back to the UK after Tony Dixon discontinued the heavy brass C, and found them absolutely excellent to deal with in terms of value, speed and friendly communications. But afraid I just couldn’t be tempted by those flutes…
I agree, Heritage Folk Flutes are not suitable for trad if you’re after that reedy, stentorian, overtone-rich sound that’s come to be expected in trad fluteplaying: this is probably because of the embouchure’s low chimney height. They sound kind of tired. They seem to be variably out of tune, too, which I think is sort of scary. Add to that their fanciful looks and it becomes clear that they can be considered amusements, but not good instruments. Which is fine, but don’t go there long-term if you intend to make a serious try of it.
Thanks for all the helpful feedback and welcoming me to this forum.
My two cents is that if you want to learn to play Irish music (and it’s not clear from your post whether you are interested in Irish music) on an Irish flute then get a REAL Irish flute. By real I mean one in D with tone holes and embouchure kind of “standard”.
I’m not sure if I want to play Irish music, though I do enjoy listening to it, as much as just learning to play tunes that are familiar to me. I’ve been accompanying a few musicians at my church in after church jam sessions- when they play in the right key for my flute to follow. The Native American flute I have is in a pentatonic scale, so hymns or folk songs that I grew up listening to are not always playable on it. My Dad has a silver concert flute, but it seems overly complex to me- I am a very intuitive person, so the simple-system flutes seems to be a good way to go.
There aren’t any sellers of Irish flutes in Memphis where I live, or I would go try some. There are some concert flute instructors though.
I will be playing the flute primarily as a way of relaxing when I’m not painting, but possibly also playing along with other musicians.
I don’t think that matters. The so-called ‘Irish’ flute is basically just a 19th century simple-system flute (now replaced by the Boehm flute for the modern orchestra etc.) and well-suited to diverse kinds of music, though typically optimised for trad rather than Romantic repertoire. In short, just a flute!
There aren’t any sellers of Irish flutes in Memphis where I live, or I would go try some. There are some concert flute instructors though.
While you may be able to get help there, be aware that the embouchure required is quite different and some with only modern Boehm flute experience may not appreciate or understand that.
If you are learning by ear and playing with others, you want a flute that the tuning can be adjusted. Also, the flute has to be in tune with it’s self. It’s very hard to play with others and learn tunes, if the instrument isn’t up to what you are trying to do. Instruments like the Shannon, Copley, Burns, Somers, are serious instruments, that will not disappoint.