what to expect when you just start out?

Berti66 · Post by **Berti66** » Tue May 25, 2004 5:13 am

I started out this month, practice one hour a day total, and am absolutely curious as would I EVER be able to actually move my fingers easily.....it seems so unreal.
On whistle I move easily but try to do the same on the flute

no way!!
Having fun though!!

I am wondering what are realistic expectations when you just start out? How long should it take you to learn embouchure and how long before you can play something and then not even talking about TRAD playing yet

berti

jim stone · Post by **jim stone** » Tue May 25, 2004 5:39 am

Results vary. It took me three months, I think, to have
a reliable embouchure. Much self doubt that I would ever
do it. I earned 70 dollars Sat playing flute, after a year
and a half. Embouchure keeps improving.
Lots of steady, slow practice of
fingering. Best

Blackbeer · Post by **Blackbeer** » Tue May 25, 2004 7:41 am

Hang in there my friend you aint`t seen nothing yet. I still wounder why my wall isn`t full of flute peaces sticking out like some modern art piece or something. Like Jim it was months before I got any thing close to an embouchure that worked. Cramps in my fingers, in my shoulders in my neck and deep deep frustration. I couldn`t reach the finger holes and thought I would never be able to. Then, out of the blue, tone!! My fingers quit herting and life was beautiful. Some people can pick it up quite fast. It is a cursid instrument for sure. But my god, when you get it there is nothing finer. Keep plugging away, try not to fall into the trap of it being the flutes fault. Be patient and it will come.

Take care

Tom

chas · Post by **chas** » Tue May 25, 2004 8:37 am

I noodled around for awhile, but it's been about a year since I began playing regularly. The difference between when I was noodling and when I started playing regularly was getting a flute that fit me.

There are lots of things that you need to be patient about. Don't get frustrated about them. Off the top of my head:

1) Breath. You're gonna run out of it. A lot. Hopefully in the month you've been playing, you're not getting dizzy any more, but it will be a long time before you can play long phrases.

2) Sound. It will be awhile before you can get a consistent sound that you like. This tends to go along with breath management, because it's all tied up in developing a good embouchure.

3) Volume. You'll likely be a LOT louder in the upper octave for awhile. Also tied up with embouchure.

4) Mechanics. You know N tunes on the whistle, the fingering's the same on the flute, you should be able to play them all -- wrong. The flute uses different muscles than the whistle, so there's very little muscle memory that transfers. It also requires different posture. So you'll have cramping hands, my back still kills me playing sometimes. A few weeks ago I looked at myself in a mirror, and my spine was all out of whack. The improved posture also helped my breathing.

5) You're going to have bad days. Don't focus on them, though. You'll also have good days, and they will become more frequent.

So, after a year, I'd say I have some problems 25% conquered, some 75% conquered. My number one problem is still the same as it was in the beginning -- I'd like to be able to play phrases that are at least twice as long as I'm able. OTOH, I'm very pleased with my tone, I have fair control over volume in both octaves, I'm able to get at least three distinct sounds from my primary flute, and my mechanics are not half bad. I'm not able to play reels up to speed, but my goal isn't to be a speed demon anyway.

I'm hoping that I'll improve as much more after another year. After a month of regular playing, I maybe had 1 good day a week, now it's more like 5.

As Tom and Jim said, hang in there; it's worth it.

Cathy Wilde · Post by **Cathy Wilde** » Tue May 25, 2004 9:08 am

Anymore, the only thing I can expect with any certainty is the unexpected.
:roll:

So my philosophy: just keep plugging away, be pleasantly surprised when something good happens, try not to beat yourself up too badly when it doesn't, and have fun!

But mostly? Just keep plugging away.

Good luck, Berti!

Berti66 · Post by **Berti66** » Tue May 25, 2004 9:35 am

whew thanks!!!! this is exactly what I wanted to know.....
cathy, I promise won't beat myself to death when it doesn't work out soon enough LOL......usually I am not making things too easy for myself and at the end it has always worked out.
like to push my limits and like a bit of challenge

I LOVE the flute, so that should be of help hm?

berti

Cathy Wilde · Post by **Cathy Wilde** » Tue May 25, 2004 10:01 am

Amen to that, brothah!
And we all know real love is rarely easy ....

skh · Post by **skh** » Wed May 26, 2004 6:28 am

Read & post less. Practise more. It takes as long as it takes.

Sonja

lollycross · Post by **lollycross** » Wed May 26, 2004 12:48 pm

Hi,
I was sure glad to see the "list" Chas. I was about to give up.
I just can't get over that dizzy stuff!
I hadn't played my C Flute in 40 YEARS, and boy what a struggle. I can't
get any of the low notes.
The keyless Irish one isn't much better. But on this one I can't get the high notes.

Thanks for saying it will get better eventually. If the whistle had been
like this; this forum wouldn't even exist, right!
Lolly

Henke · Post by **Henke** » Wed May 26, 2004 4:53 pm

There is a reason why this board has a lot less posts than the whistle board. First, it takes months to learn to get a note (thereby rule out all the "I can get sounds but how do you play posts" *at least some*) second, it costs a lot of money initially to play the flute.

Monster · Post by **Monster** » Thu May 27, 2004 4:59 pm

I've been upstairs, at the whistle forum for almost a year. I've learned a few tunes on the whistle,

, and have enjoyed the experience greatly. But, then I started to feel a need for something more, I had a brief encounter with the recorder, I quickly decided that it wasn't for me.

Now I have just recently bought this Gemeinhardt intermediate model Boehm flute to help satisfy the urge to play some classical music. Well, what can I say but Wow! I love the tone on the lowest octave, but getting up above a second octave F is, well, a bit of a challenge I must admit. A little practice every day will hopefully be the ticket to developing a good embouchure, I hope it will at least. Thanks for bringing this topic up Berti.

Well, I know I'm just getting used to a new instrument, but now I really want an Irish flute,perhaps this will allow for a little more immediate transfer of the tunes I know, (somebody previously said NOT, but hmmm, probably would be easier than playing tunes on the G.hardt.

I have a question about the Irish flute though. What the heck do you do with an 8 holer? It would seem to be quite impossible to reach the extra two holes, are they for alternate or some special tuning adjustments? Anyway, since my supply of ready funds has just been spent, I was thinking about getting a Tipple pvc flute, hopefully a decent enough instrument to begin on.

lollycross · Post by **lollycross** » Thu May 27, 2004 6:30 pm

Henke sure hit the nail on the head didn't he!
Lolly

talasiga · Post by **talasiga** » Thu May 27, 2004 6:45 pm

Berti66,
just think of the flute as the wand of Cheiron,
the wounded healer

especially if its long and black and full of gravitas

jim stone · Post by **jim stone** » Thu May 27, 2004 6:52 pm

Henke wrote:There is a reason why this board has a lot less posts than the whistle board. First, it takes months to learn to get a note (thereby rule out all the "I can get sounds but how do you play posts" *at least some*) second, it costs a lot of money initially to play the flute.

The weak fall away.

talasiga · Post by **talasiga** » Thu May 27, 2004 7:03 pm

jim stone wrote: The weak fall away.

And the "strong"
fall in it ...

Chiff and Fipple Forums

what to expect when you just start out?

what to expect when you just start out?

the perennial wound that heals