Has anyone experienced this (two flutes)?

Irish Flute
1

I had been playing one flute almost exclusively since late last spring. In’ a beginner and had heard or read in many places that sticking to one flute is a very good idea, which makes perfect sense. The flute I’ve been playing is a Bleazey Rudall; it’s easy to get a good sound from it, and it’s easy on the air. Plus it’s small-holed, so ornaments are very crisp.

I’ve begun lessons, and one problem I’ve been addressing is not overblowing in the second octave. I was having a dickens of a time with anything above about the G after a few weeks of trying to learn to be breath-conservative. Well, I had a Thin Weasel that I gave to my wife a couple of years ago, and which she wasn’t crazy about. I had tried to learn on it, but it always left me breathless. Glenn has told me that this began as a Rudall design, but rapidly became his own. It’s big-holed and plays nothing like the Bleazey.

So I tried it out about a week ago. It played like a dream! VERY easy top of the upper octave and bottom of the lower, not all that difficult to play up to the third-octave G. I was having trouble with it last night, so I switched back to the Bleazey today, and now it’s easier.

This goes against all the conventional wisdom. I had thought that the Bleazey had taught me a focussed embouchure and that the Schultz was a little more forgiving. But shouldn’t that be a one-way street? I wouldn’t think that a flute that allows one to be a little sloppier would benefit your playing of the other. I suppose the other possibility is that I progressed that much in a week, but I don’t feel that way.

Any theories or, better yet, has anyone else felt like playing two different flutes has made you progress faster.

Finally, I picked up a soprano D whistle today, evidently for the first time in awhile. Gawd, it sounds wimpy. I’m really worried that I might drop the whistle completely. Anyone else felt like this when they started to get into the flute, coming from a whistle background?

2

Thats very interesting. I have heard people stated very often that one should get used to a flute and stick with it. And indeed, most great players have one flute that they use for almost everything. But I have also heard often that people feel that a particular flute teaches them about the others and vice versa. There is probably alot of things that you do subconciosly with one flute to make it sound better or be more economic of air that you wouldn’t automatically do on another. Then you pick up the other, and without thinking about it you keep some of these adjustments. Sometimes you get a great result and sometimes you don’t.

3

Dear Chas,
I knew simple system fingering from Indian “all tin” whistles since childhood.
I learnt transverse on cheap bansuri-s in the 70’s.
I generally only practice on my D :slight_smile: Seery blackwood now though
I will play on a range of bansuri-s also.

Seery is the longest and most challenging flute for me
and the one that invites most inspiration.
The Seery flute practice makes playing the others a cinch.
(I do not play the base bansuri-s, only the folk ones)
The only thing I dont do on the Seery that I do on the others is half holing.
But I had already half holed half my life so this doesn’t concern me.

I feel its good to have many flutes to ply the waters
but only one as your rudder.

As for your “wimpy” tin whistle -
I find the strength of my whistles comes to the fore in the upper notes
in an acoustic context with a large group of strong singers.

I only ever practice whistles in the bush, especially by waterfalls.

Kind Regards

4

Charlie –

I think there are a coupla things happening here.
First, (and a quick read of your post) the second flute sounds like the better flute, but you “lost your lip” on it and needed to return to your comfortable flute to get it back. This is because you are familiar with it, and your muscles, particularly in your lip, have “memorized” what it takes to play that flute. In short, you know the first flute best. Knowing how to play any flute well will allow you to play other flutes; it’s how someone (like me, for instance :wink: ), can give any sort of opinion on a variety of flutes while in fact I only own and regularly play a few specific ones, and generally stick to a “main” flute.

The logic behind the “one flute” idea is obvious, but it comes with a caveat I think most people talk around. The idea, of course, is that working with one flute, exclusively, with one embouchure, tone holes, etc., allows you to really get to know the quirks and strenths/weaknesses of the one flute and bring them out, rather than knowing them casually, between several flutes, and not really mastering any one flute in particular. I think this is more than sound; it’s true.

The unspoken part to this idea, though, is that beginners take a long time to get to really know any flute at all. It’s hard, the first few years, to hold your embouchure together consistently, hit all octaves strongly, and do all these things in different settings, etc., “main” flute be damned. So, even when sticking with one flute, a relative beginner often has trouble off and on, to one extent or another, on any flute. Then, along comes another flute, particularly a better made flute, and it give them a glimpse into what its like to suddenly sound better. But then their own playing flaws kick back in, and – in the end – the flute didn’t actually make them better, only gave them a glimpse. Only time and practice make anyone better, on any flute.

My point is this; on flute, in general, it is always best to stick with one flute as your regular flute – preferably a very good one. Even slight variations in embouchure or fingering, neck craning, etc., changes the game slightly. But trying and playing other flutes is a learning experience, too. I don’t personally believe that playing other flutes hurts your learning curve, and, in fact, it may lend insights into your playing. A smaller holed emb., for instance, will force you to focus more. Big holes will force you to spread your fingers more and learn to cover the holes better, etc.. But each flute type will change what you’ve been working on a bit.

Getting a good, strong, flexible lip is the thing; it will allow you to play a variety of flutes pretty well. This is our ultimate aim, right? Still, I think to be a really consistent player on your main flute, it is really a good idea to stick to a favorite flute, and really get to know it, and then you’ll be able swing occasionally to other flutes and sound decent – or even better – on it. If you are then completely taken by the other flute, that’s when you should tell yourself, okay, this is going to be my next, main flute.

Finding a main flute can take as many years as learning to play well, and many great players change their minds as they change or grow. But during their changes, they usually stick to a main choice (or two), so that their playing becomes an organic thing.


Gordon

5

All i can say about the Schultz flutes is that they’re wonderful to hold, and play like a dream. Not the loudest flutes in the planet, but maybe the most comfortable to hold and play!

6

Glauber, this is a very comfortable flute, and absolutely one of the most beautiful examples of wood turning I’ve every seen. It doesn’t bark (yet) but has a very versatile sound that even I can vary from reedy to pure and sweet.

Gordon wrote:

The unspoken part to this idea, though, is that beginners take a long time to get to really know any flute at all. It’s hard, > the first few years> , to hold your embouchure together consistently, hit all octaves strongly, and do all these things in different settings, etc., “main” flute be damned.

Gordon, thanks for these remarks (I italicized the part that really jumped out at me). I’ve been dabbling for a couple of years, playing pretty regularly for maybe nine months, and playing like mad (well, not like Blackbeer, but a lot anyway) for the last few months, and sometimes I feel like an absolute moron my progress is so slow. I know you take playing pretty seriously, and it’s encouraging to know that I’m really not outside the norm when it comes to progress.

I gave up on the harp because it was too hard, but dammit I’m gonna stick with the flute.

7

Don’t give up. In my case, i felt a real difference after 20 years; i felt i moved to a different stage, where i don’t have to work so hard on it. But i had a lot of fun all along the way. When i listen to stuff i recorded maybe 10 years ago, it’s very comforting to see how much i’ve progressed.

8

As someone who plays many different flutes, I thought I might offer my answer to the question.

Each flute I have played has taught me something new, and I would be less of a musician and a flutist today if I hadn’t had the broad base of experience on many flutes of different kinds and makes that I have.

When you are first learning, you will probably not have access to many flutes, so on a very practical level it makes sense to have one flute that is your main instrument.

As you grow over the years, encountering and sometimes aquiring other flutes will happen naturally, as a result of your growth.

If you think in terms of playing one flute and of molding your playing around that one flute, if that flute is stolen, lost, or damaged, what happens to your playing?

If you learn that you can play many flutes, you will be able to switch easily from flute to flute and from one kind of flute to another. You will be able to center your embouchure in a matter of seconds to a wide variety of embouchure styles and cuts. You will become expert in quickly finding the strengths of a given flute and learning to exploit them in your playing. Rather than having your learning limited by being “spread too thin over too many flutes,” you will find that each flute has its strengths and its unique qualities, which you will learn to quickly identify and adjust to.

And you will discover a few important facts: no matter what flute you are playing, 90% of the way you sound is going to come from you. But that other 10% can make a critical difference.

–James

9

I’ve got two wooden flutes I play regularly, a Sweetheart one-key Irish flute and a 19th-century 6-key. Generally, if I find I’m having trouble with one, I can just switch to the other, and I’ll be fine. It could be either one that’s better on a given day. There’s a subtle difference in embouchure that causes this. Just some days, I can’t get focused enough for the 6-key, others, I’m too focused for the Sweetheart (being too focused makes the lower notes very difficult).

I discovered while playing outside in ±60 degree weather a couple of days ago, that cold weather does wonders for a focused air-stream. I was getting huge sound out of my 6-key, which is normally fairly soft in tone. On the other hand, my fingers were not happy at all. :roll:

10

Playing different flutes, however ill advised,
is fun. Also I seem to be steadily improving.
Good enough for me. Best

11

Well, we’ve all gotten into this before, so let me try to simplify the idea of the “one flute” theory, because it seems to be continuously misunderstood.

Working on one main flute helps the player focus on the many things that need to be focused on, without messing around with various deviations that occur per flute, such as finger spread, slightly different embouchure muscles used, etc.. It allows you to really get to know this flute intimately, which is a plus, but it’s also particularly important when playing wooden flutes because they tend to vary enormously in styles and design. Just like you wouldn’t keep changing a weight-lifting routine day to day, you do yourself no good re-adjusting your muscles in your lips and hands on a daily basis.

That said, doing this IN NO WAY limits that player to that one flute for all time, should their main flute become lost, stolen, or broken. A good player, on any flute, adjusts to changes, having mastered some semblance of technique and abilities. I likened it to exercise equipment – a person in good shape can certain change their routine to other equipment, but then they’d make that their routine. It takes about ten minutes to get used to another flute enough to perform on it; that you might sound much better on it a month later, better still a year after that, if it were to become your new “main” flute, just goes without saying.

Now, as a bit of a caveat, let me add that I think James is right in saying that every experience on a different flute can teach you something valuable. For eg, I’ve learned a lot playing a baroque flute this past year, studying baroque music, and I think it’s taught me things on my main Irish flute I wouldn’t have learned otherwise. My Boehm flute playing, never my strongest, has mysteriously improved without practicing on it much.
But, it is essentially my one, main flute that I go back to – I don’t switch from a Rudall to a Pratten to a Rudall-Pratten-Hawkes, etc. and expect to really solidify my personal playing style in any kind of timely or constructive manner. If and/or when I change main flutes, I will then devote the majority of my playing time to that flute, not my old one. That doesn’t mean I can’t ever go back, or give it a tune now and again; it might even be healthy to do that. It just means that I concentrate most of the time on one instrument, in order to not have the instrument(s) come between me and the music.
As for playing all those Rudall-Prattens, originals and hybrid moderns, though, I gotta side with Jim; it is fun. I would never advocate NOT picking up other flutes – what fun is that? But working on one main flute will focus you more, and strengthen and speed along your practice/playing time more efficiently.

Gordon’s Rambles, Number 90002 in O’Neill’s 90003 Lesser Known Non-Really-Irish Tunes.

12

Very clear.