the movement from whistle to flute

[jim stone]

I must take Peter's point that other instruments
have a claim to extraordinary expressiveness,
especially violin. I got a bit carried away there.
Still, with whistles there is a
whistle that makes the sound--the player, while
important in tone production, is less so than in the transverse
flute, where his/her lips do what the whistle does
on whistles. There is a lot more control of
the tone. Which is not to deride fipple flutes;
different instruments that can do things
flutes can't do, or do less well.

However I think many people find flute, at least partly
for this reason, very satisfying to play.

About expense, the point is also taken:
still, while there are good whistles
at a very low price, one can get a playable
flute at the price of a high end soprano whistle, FWIW.

[Chiffgirl]

I never intended to pick up the flute as I was pretty happy with the whistle, but on a visit a few months ago to the town of Julian (a little apple-pie baking touristy place in the mountains east of San Diego) I ran across a ceramic flute that was so pretty (cobalt blue glaze, patterned by pressing lace into the clay before it was fired, etc.) that I had to have it. I also had to have it because it was 30 bucks and I could make noises on it that sounded like notes. Really, it was a workable instrument but heavy as hell and not in D. Just recently, I bought a Tipple flute (the grey PVC with offset holes) and have been cheerfully making noises on that (sometimes these resemble Christmas songs). I really love the sound of this flute but I'm having a couple of problems. I'm trying to remember, to put it bluntly, where my diaphragm is and what it does (after about a 6-8 second phrase, I sound like The Simpsons' Mr. Burns trying to play the flute). Second, my left thumb gets cramped in the first joint. I've asked a flute player to show me the proper way to hold my flute so this doesn't happen, but it still happens, and it's sore right now. But it's worth it when I make it through either "O Holy Night" or a slow air...

[GaryKelly]

my left thumb gets cramped in the first joint. I've asked a flute player to show me the proper way to hold my flute so this doesn't happen, but it still happens, and it's sore right now.

That's not right CG... you don't need thumbs to play simple system flute... if you're a righty the left thumb can hang quite relaxed away from the flute and not touch it at all, the weight of the flute is carried by the bottom of your left index finger.

Back on topic... I always wanted to play the flute but made the mistake of buying the world's biggest POS 'student' flute: the "Acoustica." How to describe it? A piece of plastic electrical conduit with a cork stuffed in one end. Dreadful thing. So while I was trying to get a note out of it (and failing) I came up with a Cunning Plan: buy a whistle, learn the tunes on that, so that by the time I *could* get the POS to sound, I'd be halfway there. It was a good plan until WhOA kicked in.

My Carl Bell Bb flute gets most of my air these days, except at weekends when the Bleazey D and Allan Eb get a look-in. And concertina at night, when I don't want to disturb the neighbours.

I keep the 'Acoustica' propped up in a corner of the living-room to remind me that no matter how clever I may feel, I am capable of acts of incredible stupidity (like buying that POS and imagining for a moment it was a flute, and that I could learn to play with it).

And I still play whistle, so no, Emm, you can't have it, it's my prrrrreecccciousssss!

[Chiffgirl]

Thanks for the tip, Gary! I will keep working on it (I don't want to ruin one of only a pair of thumbs, after all).

[chas]

Flute is extraordinarily expressive, maybe the
most expressive instrument in the world except
for the human voice. But it's much harder
to play than a whistle.

And a whole bunch more expensive.

I agree with Peter (and Jim's later statement) that many instruments are very expressive. But the flute (or fiddle or U-pipes) is still much more expressive than the whistle.

As to expense, that depends. There are a lot of flutes out there costing under $100 that play perfectly well and can generate many different moods. For the most part, when you want to change moods on the whistle, you have to reach for another whistle. A Clarke, an Oak, and a Water Weasel and suddenly you've spent as much as an Olwell bamboo costs. A Thin Weasel, a Copeland, and an Abell, and you've spent almost as much as an Olwell wooden flute.

That's not to say that I don't intend to have a few different flutes eventually, nor that many people don't choose to have just one or two whistles. But once one starts collecting, it's possible to spend as much or more on whistles as one does on flutes.

[emmline]

And I still play whistle, so no, Emm, you can't have it, it's my prrrrreecccciousssss!

[sitting in corner, pouting.]

[Nanohedron]

As for expressiveness, it's all in HOW an instrument is played, IMHO. I've heard some technically impressive playing on pipes and fiddle that didn't sound all that expressive to me. More like being paid by the note. On the other hand, yes, the fiddle and pipes are capable --in the right hands-- of great expression. So is the flute. It depends on the approach, I think.

[dubhlinn]

As for expressiveness, it's all in HOW an instrument is played, IMHO. I've heard some technically impressive playing on pipes and fiddle that didn't sound all that expressive to me. More like being paid by the note. On the other hand, yes, the fiddle and pipes are capable --in the right hands-- of great expression. So is the flute. It depends on the approach, I think.

I'd go along with that.It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing...

Slan,
D.

[Paul]

I got going on the whistle while waiting on my Pipes. I thought at first that I would probably just move on once they got here but I still play my whistles all the time.

-Paul

[jim stone]

There are people who are meant for the whistle,
no doubt about it, and it merits their attention.
No sensible person would say to Mary Bergin, Hey,
why aren't you playing a flute?

[Nanohedron]

There are people who are meant for the whistle,
no doubt about it, and it merits their attention.
No sensible person would say to Mary Bergin, Hey,
why aren't you playing a flute?

She probably can play flute, I'm guessing. Even if not, the whistle's noble enough in its own right.

[jim stone]

Yes, I think she does sometimes play flute,
but the whistle is her main squeeze.

[Stine]

I started the (classical) flute two years before my whistle...I actually found out that the fingering for a D whistle isn't too different from the fingering on my flute. The biggest problem I'm having is that after I play my flute for a bit and switch to practicing my whistle, I tend to overblow (my flute needs more air) until my lungs adjust. Workin' on that...

[mvhplank]

.... Second, my left thumb gets cramped in the first joint. I've asked a flute player to show me the proper way to hold my flute so this doesn't happen, but it still happens, and it's sore right now...

You might be doing something I'm sometimes guilt of--a death-grip on the poor instrument.

I think my old Bundy must have had leaky pads and I developed a grip to seal the tone holes. I even do it to the whistles sometimes, and it really isn't necessary.

You can't play very nimbly if you have to unlock your fingers to move them, so I try to relax and lighten up. It does seem to improve with practice (as do all things).

M

[mamakash]

Then I had a chance encounter with a little girl who was learning to play the (Boehm) flute in her school. She showed and told me that she made the flute tone by blowing a "t" sound. More than a year later, I was at The House of Musical Traditions and they have an Olwell bamboo flute. I picked it up and tried what the little girl had told me. To my astonishment, it worked!

Jessie, you're a genius!!!

I have an inexensive wood fife I had the hardest time getting a note out of. I just tried your suggestion, and it worked! And feels very different than all the blowing and sputtering I was doing.