hello, i’m interested in starting the flute, and the one i am looking at is described as “student” quality. will this limit the ability to do funky flute sounds, like the “breathy” flute or the trill that you do by flipping your tongue up and down(kind of like a machine gun in your mouth)? the flute is really cheap and i figure it’s probably better than nothing to start on, and i also keep in mind charlie parker who sold his saxophone for drugs and bought the cheapest one made out of plastic in a little department store and put on one of the best shows of his life(that was in toronto canada- massey hall)
yeah i’m sorry i gave a vague description… i’m going to get all that tomorrow the music store happens to be around the corner from my house which isn’t usual in my life
mrtunes, I’m guessing from the “music store” comment that you’re talking about a metal, Boehm-style flute? If that’s the case, then only a limited subset of people on this board will be able to help you. Mostly this board deals with wooden simple-system flutes (and other simple-system flutes made of other materials), although some of the people here also play Boehm flutes.
If, on the other hand, you’re looking at a wooden flute, lots of people here will be able to offer lots and lots and lots of advice, much of it conflicting, but at least it’ll be a lot of fun and you’ll learn far more than you hoped to.
No, it shouldn’t limit your ability to do funky sounds. Play that funky flute white boy!
Assuming it’s a metal flute, “student quality” will show up mostly in the quality of the plating (it’s probably not solid silver), that is, the plating will probably come off in a few years give or take some. Also the quality of the mechanism: the keys may have to be adjusted more frequently. They probably have little screws in them to make that easier.
One of the best flute players i know plays a student model (albeit an old French one) that has lost most of its plating. Looks horrible, sounds great. Sometimes you find one of these. My own metal flute is an old Miyazawa student model and i won’t trade it for anything. My previous one, though, was an Armstrong and i hated the action of the keys in it. The keys more than anything else may end up being the reason to move to a better instrument.
does anyone know any forums that deal with metal flutes specifically? i kind of realized after my post this is a wood flute forum(and i hope it’s not a skin flute forum
so thanks for the replies they are very encouraging. i figure you just have to start somewhere, and there is no point on starting on a $1,000
“jazz” flute - since i have none of those funds espcially for an instrument that i’m not even sure if i can get a sound from yet.
