A few weeks ago I asked what you guys knew about Richard Cox flutes and eventually someone told me about the Rosewood Sweetheart that AndrewK was selling for tsunami relief… I just wanted to thank everyone for your help… Andrew was remarkably kind about the whole thing, even though I had some trouble figuring out how I would get the money to him originally…
In any case, the flute has arrived and it’s absolutely wonderfully beautiful! I have a question or two though about playing it!
So far I’ve been able to get most of the notes okay, but I consistently have trouble with the low D and E… Does one need to change the embouchure for those? It seems almost impossible to make a sound… Occasionally I’ll get a nice D or E if I drop down straight from a G, but if I just try to play a D or E alone without any notes played before it nothing comes out… I guess it’s just practice?
Also, one last question which concerns maintenance… If I’m playing the flute and I take, say a ten minute break, do I need to dry the inside right at the beginning of that break? Or will the flute be okay?
Thanks for everything and thank you a million times over to Andrew who was very helpful throughout the whole ordering/sending process…
P.S. I’ll try to post some pictures of it some time when I don’t have an overdue paper to be writing!
I’ve been working on it for the past few minutes and it’s getting easier.. Though as soon as I think I have it I lose it again… Can’t expect to get everything figured out at once though! I still can’t get over how beautiful looking it is…
Anyway, my head hurts like hell now! What a difference it is from a whistle – though at least I’ll have strong lungs in case I need to swim anywhere anytime soon…
Although the fingering is the same, playing flute is a big ole switch from whistle. Like Andrew advised, give it time. Low notes are often difficult as well as the high notes…the easiest are the middle notes at first!
If you break for 10 minutes or so, I just let my rosewood sweetheart sit. I’d suggest breaking it in a bit slowly after a transatlantic flight (and I’m guessing it hasn’t been played too much recently) - playing maybe 20 mintes per session for the first few days, oiling weekly, and moving up the time to play per day by 10 minutes or so - just to be on the safe side.
I love my rosewood sweetheart, and I’m glad you’re liking yours, too!
Yea I’m trying not to play it too much, though it’s hard because I find myself thinking about it all the time… I’ll take your advice and maybe play 10 minutes a day this week and slowly add more minutes next week…
I was actually surprised how similar the fingering is to whistle… I was expecting the holes to be much further apart and much larger than they are, and I imagined that I’d have a lot of trouble just reaching them… But compared to my Susato Low D the holes are tiny… It’s quite a nice surprise, as I’d rather wrestle with the embouchure than with the fingering…
Anyway, thanks for the advice concerning letting it sit for ten minutes… I was worried I might have to dry it out everytime I put it down! Beautiful instrument really… Almost hard to believe it’s actually here
I love the look of rosewood myself - a fiddler at my session’s first comment, before I’d even played it, was that is was beautiful. Luckily, its tone matches it’s look.
I think you can play more than 10 minutes per day. Or, if you’re worried, try playing 10 minutes twice per day if you can fit it in. I think the key is simply that you’re trying to gradually rehydrate what may be a drier flute…although Ralph’s flutes are sealed/soaked in tung oil which makes than quite hardy.
As for finger spacing, low whistles are much more difficult than a conical flute.
Second all of this.
When starting flute there is a rather lengthy
struggle to develop an embouchure.
In my case it took three months
before I coudl reliably get the notes–
some days there, some days…
I wondered if I would ever get it.
So do persevere. Definitely worth
the trouble. As I was told when I long ago wrote
my despairing post that I would never
be able to play: Flute is not for the faint
of heart!
Sweet flutes are soaked twice in tung oil,
which is meant to protect them from
moisture and decrease the need for oiling.
Be careful with playing time
if you wish, nothing to lose, and these
flutes are less likely than others to
be damaged by overplaying at first.
So, take it easy initially but don’t
worry if you go a bit over.
Thank for the advice – that’s good to know about Sweetheart’s being soaked in tung oil… Anyway, I’ll make sure to keep at it, and hopefully after a few months I’ll have decent embouchure…
I’ve decided to do about 10 minutes in the morning and 10 more at night, and slowly I’ll increase it… Thanks for all the help!
Yes, you’ve really done it to yourself now.
One of the most difficult yet seductive
instruments in the world–embouchure
improves steadily for years, just holding
the thing is an art that improves
for years. Always something wonderful
just out of reach, attained and then
replaced by something new.
God help us all!
I forgot to mention holding the damned thing… I’m almost scared of going past ten minutes because at the end of it I can barely hold my whistle anymore… I guess that’s another thing that gets ironed out with time hehe…
Lots of threads here about holding flutes.
Rockstro grip–search.
Also a lesson with a wooden flute
teacher is well worth the trouble,
to get you started,
and probably not expensive.
One doesn’t need lots of lessons,
I think, but the occasional lesson.
Also workshops at festivals
can be very helpful.