Chiff and Fipple Forums

It was Shannon Heaton who told me "you never tongue, until you do." It was also Shannon who told me "rhythm first, melody second, ornaments third." Therefore, I think a better question might be "what's the way I can best play this passage cleanly?" I found myself too of...

I have used the post here by pancelticpiper to learn some "lazy" (or in his words, efficient) fingering for fast phrases. I have found it helps immensely. In what he calls "D grip," the A suffers a little - but when it's a passing note in a fast run, I think it's worth it to achi...

The Tipple is well-regarded for an inexpensive start. Although it still might be a reach for the fingers (being a cylindrical bore), Doug does try to make them comfortable. I don't really see any advantage to getting one of the flutes smaller than D (E, Eb, F, G) for learning. I know this might see...

AuLoS303 wrote: but if I put a whistle head on it, giving me a fully chromatic whistle, won't I lose the flute dynamics?

Um, yes.

This discussion, however, had descended into pure drivel and bluster. Insufferable.

But I heard that "insert famous player/maker" thinks another thread's drivel was insufferably more blustery. So you just watch it....

You can buy three Tipples for the cost of one of the others mentioned and be well satisfied for many years, particularly by the low D honk, tone hole configurations, responsiveness, handsome finish and lightness. How many years, exactly? I lasted about 6 months before realizing the Tipple was not d...

As a classically trained (albeit out of practice) Boehm player making the transition to Irish flute, my teacher (Shannon Heaton) occasionally encouraged me to straighten my fingers out a bit in order to facilitate ornamentation. Nothing overly dramatic - I'm not fundamentally changing my grip - but ...

That's as may be, but let's keep the politics to all that's strictly pertinent and fruitful to the CITES matters, shall we? Interesting to reprimand the original poster for commenting on his OP. Especially given that the OP includes this commentary: A friend of a friend who makes high end guitars b...

I've never been much of a composer, but now I feel the need to write the Meat Sweats Reel.

As someone with no interest in this sale, I can say that Baubet's flutes are great value for the money. I just had mine (also a Delrin 4-keyed) played by Shannon Heaton who described it as "perfectly in tune, with great responsiveness, and enough volume" (let's not pretend it's a honker). ...

I agree with you completely, and nowhere have I suggested that anyone blow hard, and I hope I didn't come across as a blowhard...:) I think we are describing the same thing, you are just doing a generally better job of it - it is diaphragmatic breathing along with the embouchure/aperture that give y...

I agree with the musical notion (it's a tune, not a breathing marathon - and maybe my stopwatch exercise removed all notions of musicality from the discussion!), but I'm not sure if I agree that stamina is unimportant. It comes out in both the ability to play longer phrases (which allows one to make...

Yes, nice tone indeed. Is your stamina the same regardless of whether you're playing a single note or a tune? I had never thought about this myself, but your post had me checking with a stopwatch - I can go about 11-12 seconds on a low G (an easy note to hold the flute with one hand while fiddling w...

I wholeheartedly agree with both suggestions, and long tones help build both embouchure and diaphragm. Playing harmonics is another great way to train for a more focused embouchure. And, in terms of actual breath control, think about your posture as well. Sitting up straight (or standing) allows for...

If I wanted a flute to leave made up in all conditions, take away on casual holidays etc., I'd go straight for Delrin and not even consider wood, so the presence or absence of a tuning slide (which my Copley Delrin doesn't have) would be way down my list of priorities for such a thing.... Fair poin...