Provocation: Can you learn Flute in less than 5 years?

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est
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Tell us something.: Kind of a beginner with a keyless flute and an antique wooden flute with keys. Used to play accordion back some time ago, but trying to focus on the flute, until I can get some degree of command over it.

Re: Provocation: Can you learn Flute in less than 5 years?

Post by est »

jim stone wrote: Sun Jul 11, 2021 9:14 pm Controversial. There are flute monogamists, who advocate playing just one good flute. They maintain you will get a better sound and understanding of the flute by steadily playing a single flute. There are flute polygamists (I plead guilty) who say that there's nothing wrong with monogamy and playing different flutes is no worse and may even help, because allegedly the different challenges of different flutes improve one's embouchure. Also polygamy is a way of getting acquainted with different flutes, different voices, different makers and acoustic strategies and, like real polygamy, is fun.
My opinion doesn't really weigh much, considering I'm still a bit under the 1 year mark, but I find that using my "hardest to play" flute as my primary seems to help with my keyless which typically stays untouched most days, but these two are very similar in terms of their hole sizes. I have another flute with much smaller holes which I pull out every week or so and find my progress doesn't really apply there. I'm starting to think it's probably best to sell that one to someone who will play it regularly...
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Re: Provocation: Can you learn Flute in less than 5 years?

Post by Conical bore »

One vs. many for a relative beginner is a conundrum for sure. You'd want to make sure that the flute you're playing as the "only one" isn't holding you back, but how can you know when you're a beginner?

My solution was just to do as much research online as I could, here and on thesession.org, and choosing a maker that seemed in good standing with this community. It was a keyless Windward bought new, and I played it for the first two years of climbing the learning curve. A very nice flute.

I'm sure it wasn't "holding me back," but when I later decided I wanted a keyed flute, I got a secondhand Aebi that happened to fit me much better. Easier to play in the second octave, not quite as loud as the Windward, but it just felt better and played better. The Windward was a wonderful flute, I'm sure someone else might have stuck with it for a lifetime. I had to sell the Windward to be able to afford the Aebi, so I'm still in the one flute camp as I continue to learn.

So in the end, I guess I'm someone who believes it might take a few flutes to find your best fit for your embouchure and playing style, and I was lucky to find my keeper on the second try. I still want to get a second keyed D flute as a backup one of these days, so I can occasionally send the Aebi out for a tune-up and not be flute-less. But unless it's a fabulously better flute (which is hard to imagine), I think I'll be sticking with the Aebi. I would also like to fool around with a low Bb and low C flute one day, but that's a different kind of project.
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Re: Provocation: Can you learn Flute in less than 5 years?

Post by fatmac »

Re one or many, I have a few, they are slightly different, I don't profess to be a 'real' player, but I do have my favourites when I feel like a tune.

Learning embouchure, I think, is one of, or even the most important aspect to flute playing - of course, I could be wrong, I just play for my own pleasure.
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Re: Provocation: Can you learn Flute in less than 5 years?

Post by dyersituations »

I think the topic of learning to play in 5 years has been well covered in this thread, and I agree regarding the 2 hours per day (or even just 1 hour per day) recommendation. Learning a new skill is often all about the time put into it. People ask me how I've learned so many instruments, implying I'm some sort of genius. Not at all, in fact I'm slower to learn music than all of my bandmates. I just put time everyday into intentional practice. So I learned the flute in what could be measured as 5 years, though I went years without playing the instrument, focusing on mandolin, pipes, etc. Recently I got back into the flute again.

Like others here, I've heard the comment around focusing on one flute being recommended. As someone who just recently got to what I would consider an "intermediate quality" embouchure, here's my 2 cents. The flute itself doesn't really matter that much as long as it is of a certain quality. And these days we are lucky to have quality options for as little as $300 pretty commonly. Over the past year or so (quarantine project) as I've moved from beginner to intermediate embouchure, I've had 2-3 flutes on hand. Recently I even bought a flute in a different key to explore another reputed maker. What I'm finding is there is basically no difference in the quality of my playing between flutes. I currently have a more R&R flute and a more Pratten flute, so there should be relative differences, but my playing is the same if I sit with each flute for 30-60 mins.

So find a nice flute to learn on, and if you want, try other flutes too if you have the money and inclination.
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