my knowledge of flutes is extremely limited. i’ve only played 3 flutes: a pvc I made myself, a hall crystal flute, and a student silver flute. i like the sound of my crystal flute it has a nice full echo-ey kind of tone. my silver flute reminds me a lot of a trumpet. i just don’t think this flute sounds like a flute. could this be due to my way of playing (totally self-taught) or is this because i’m hearing and feeling the sound of the flute?
i’m planning on making a tour of the local music stores that sell flutes to try out other flutes and i wanted to hear what you folks have to say about this.
It’s hard to know exactly what you mean from that description, but I don’t think a “nice, full, echo-y kind of sound” that reminds you of a trumpet would ever be a bad sound.
When looking at flutes, look for an instrument with a full, clean, round sound. If it’s a modern Boehm-system flute–if I understood, that’s what you are shopping for?–a flute in good repair will play easily all the way down to its lowest note without having to use more than light finger pressure on the keys.
Check the flute by playing a 3-octave chromatic scale from middle-C to the third C above middle C. The high notes should speak clearly and easily and there shouldn’t be a drastic transition between registers.
Three problem notes on the Boehm-system flute: the first octave C-sharp (all fingers up) will tend to be very sharp on some flutes. There is no way to adjust that note (other than embouchure) so that might be a flute to avoid.
Also on many flutes the high E and high F-sharp are quite hard to make speak cleanly. There aren’t any flutes where these notes are perfect, but they shouldn’t be excessively hard to control and they shouldn’t “stick out” from the rest of the scale.
mute, I don’t know how long you’ve been playing flute. You may want to consider taking an experienced flutist with you when shopping to help you check out the flutes.
james, the crystal flute has the nice echo-ey sound. it’s the silver flute that sounds like a trumpet.
i have no intentions of buying another silver flute. one of the things that i wanted to know is if all silver flutes is going to sound like a trumpet to me because i happen to be playing the flute. just like when folks say a whistle sounds different if you’re the person playing it compared to the person listening to it.
May I suggest you take a look at Casey Burns site. He makes an excellent Folk Flute of Box Wood. It’s the real thing (Irish Flute) and is a good flute to learn on. Also, the wait time is not too bad, plus good price for the kind of instrument you are getting. I should perhaps mention the Tipple Flute which is made of PVC and is very inexpensive and has a really nice tone. I was thinking that the Folk Flute by Casey might be out of your price range and if that is the case then the Doug Tipple Flute would be a good flute to learn on. Anyway, take a look at both sites. You couldn’t go wrong with either one and that’s for sure.
Mute, maybe the mute is the problem.
Here is the way it works.
Trumpets use mutes to soften the sound,
else they tend to sound, you know, brassy.
On the otherhand, you don’t need a flute mute, Mute.
A flute shouldn’t sound like a trumpet.
Maybe you need a second opinion, like James says.
If he says that your flute playing sounds like a trumpet,
we may reconsider using the mute, Mute.
Actually, if you are making a silver flute sound like a trumpet, there is a chance that you may be doing something very RIGHT.
Please don’t change anything until someone can hear you play–in person would be best–and give you some feedback on this.
You may be describing the beginnings of the big, booming, orchestral sound that so many seek and so few achieve. (For an IrTrad example, listen to Joannie Madden on silver flute…she can pull more oomph out of a silver flute than most can get out of even the best wooden ones.)
If you are approaching that sound, if what you’ve got is a diamond in the rough, you don’t want to lose that.
Related question: when you are playing, can you ever “feel” the tone in your chest?
Perhaps it’s not so much that the flute sounds like a trumpet but rather that a trumpet, at least the one in his/her mind, sounds like a flute. People can be calibrated.
i am playing a wooden headjoint, as in my picture, made by dave copley.
for the price, a wooden flute will get you this sound much cheaper. the student model silver flutes are just about junk. for the price of a student silver flute, you could get a delrin flute from dave copley, who made my headjoint. http://www.celticlands.com/page3.html or http://www.celticlands.com/PriceList.html?OrderForm=Price+List . the delrin flute goes for 440 and the blackwood without a tuning slide for 500. if you could afford it, a tuning slide is nice, but there are many who swear by flutes without them–the hall crystal flute you like does not have a tuning slide.
you would be much happier with a copley than a hall or your inexpensive silver flute. irish musicians are blessed with the inexpensiveness of quality flutes. out of the two best flutes i have played, one was silver and costs $10,000, and the other was a keyless irish flute in boxwood, which would go for about $1,500. this boxwood flute–in my hands–easily outplays a silver flute i tried once that cost $13,000.
