i go through stages of playing the flute but always get dispirited when i can’t make the progress that i think i am capable of
i could really do with some help when it comes to getting decent volume out of it
i am reasonably competent when it comes to fingering and breathing (although i don’t think matt molloy will be knocking down my door for tips)
i’ve been to 2 flute workshops and didn’t feel that there was enough time for the teacher to really get down to the basics of developing a good embouchre - on one occasion the teacher played my flute (a martin doyle) and showed what a wonderful instrument it could be in the right hands but didn’t really know how to impart his technique, which i found frustrating
please post or pm me with names and contact details of people who might be able to help me
thank you
john
Have you tried asking at a local session if there is a local who will teach you. It sees a good place to me (I had my first flute lesson at the pub).
Chris Corbett is in Sth East London and teaches a bit. plays a Doyle too.
http://www.ecorbett.plus.com/
John, I wonder how long you have been playing? I know that bit about the teacher not really being able to teach embouchure is frustrating, but it’s almost inevitable. A teacher might give you a few pointers, but the process is so subtle, and so dependent on the particular flute and, even more, on the curvature and musculature of the individual player’s mouth that there is no way around many, many, many hours of trying. Some people are just lucky and hit a good embouchure within a few months of playing, for some it takes several years, literally. I don’t believe that has much to do with how good or bad a player they become in the end. It may be that you just have to keep plugging away.
It is true that hearing your flute in the hands of a good player is a help, otherwise you can keep blaming the instrument and join the endless hunt for the next flute - the one that, you imagine, will really give you a honking sound. (After all, it is true that there are such things as bad flutes.) I had the benefit of that myself - I bought my flute from a very well-known player, and in the run-up to agreeing the sale he sent me an MD with samples of himself playing it. So long, long afterwards (yes, it was years), when I might have been tempted to think that I needed an X or a Y (insert names like Murray, Hamilton, McGee, Wilkes…) I could listen to those recordings and knew that I might as well save my money - the weak sound was due to what was happening on this side of the embouchure hole!
thanks lingpupa, for the same reasons you have just so well explained I’m convinced that I (as John probably) need to find a good teacher, even before a good flute.
having time with a face to face, high skilled flute player, could help you a lot giving a direction for your exercises and playing…
…
but I’m looking for someone in co. Avon (uk) 
??? “Avon” hasn’t existed as County for about 10 years now??? Anyway, it was one of the new counties invented in 1972 out of bits of Somerset and Gloucestershire and Wiltshire plus the City of Bristol.
Mind you, I live in what used (similarly) to be Clwyd and that too is long gone, but we still get mail using it addressed by out of date Post Code search/reference resources… Annoying!
On topic, for john there’s Goretti Anglim in East London as a possibility, or the London Comhaltas branches might be able to help.
Also, have you (both) thought of checking out the Teachers listings on Woodenflute.com? Asking on the discussions on The Session.org might get some help too. It might be worth considering a few lessons from a classical teacher if you can’t find a traddie to hand - there should be plenty of those just about anywhere and if you specified you wanted to work particularly on embouchure/tone fundamentals for a few lessons it would be bound to be helpful, even if they didn’t really understand/relate to our kind of flutes and music or embouchure style.
anyone can give me (PM) a contact (mobile? or email) of Paul Gallagher (London)?
Hi, I’ve just realised that James Carty also is London-based
if someone has his contact please pm me… thank you!
I’d try the Camden Irish Centre - I believe Karen Ryan who organises the Return To Camden festival teaches there she’s a fiddler but I reckon she might have contacts for James Carty and Paul Gallagher and perhaps some other flute teachers
The music section of their website is here
http://irishcentre.org/?page_id=135