S.O.S. - Desperately Seeking Advice for a Newbie!

[Sillydill]

I recently sold my Casey Burns Folk Flute to a Newbie flute player and he is feeling discouraged and is close to throwing in the towel. HELP!!!!

I've tried to offer instruction, but it is difficult having never received any! I just kept beating my head on the wall until it finally knocked my lips into an acceptable embouchure.

Can someone PLEASE!!! offer some Sage advice on producing a sound out of an Irish Flute and getting started.

THANKS!!! for any assistance!

Jordan

[vomitbunny]

Having never recieved instruction, I looked to the devil-net for answeres. Still in the dark about whether I'm doing worth a hoot or not. Anyway, I remember this page on getting those first sounds out.
http://www.nemusicpub.com/tips/flute.html

[Unseen122]

The [urlhttp://www.irishflutes.net]M & E Website[/url] has some very useful tips. Also I know you sold that Flute quite recently so they really jsut need to be patient with it.

[Lambchop]

What's he having problems with, exactly?

The best advice I got was to expect to take several months to be able to get a decent sound out of the flute. Three months, I was told. Then, after that, you can kind of start playing something. It was close to that.

A whole lot of things have to come together to make sound happen. Far more things than with a whistle. You'll get one thing to work and a partial sound will result, then maybe you'll get another and better sound, then everything falls apart.

But, bit by bit, as you work at it over time, more and more things come together. If you can play a whistle, or have some clue about music in general, then I think things will eventually happen for you.

You have to begin, I think, with just trying to get sound out of the headjoint. Plan to spend a number of days to a week doing that. When it's instinctive and you can do it every time you bring the flute to your lips, then move on to trying to cover the holes and get a sound, too.

Especially if you are alone, you have to find the sound and how to make it by trial and error. The tutorials are good, but you will have to follow them and still go by trial and error.

I second the M&E website, www.irishflutes.net. The Cronnolly's have good instructions there for getting started. I found it most useful. Very down to earth and understandable.

http://www.irishflutes.net./mef/Tutor.htm

[Denny]

The M & E Website has some very useful tips. Also I know you sold that Flute quite recently so they really jsut need to be patient with it.

Three months to get sound most of the time sounds about right...

If you practice enough you can get good sounds, almost all of the time, in 2 or 3 years.

[Doug_Tipple]

Come on guys, I think that playing the flute is fairly straightforward, with not too much of a learing curve. It's easy, actually. OK, so you won't be a great performer in the beginning, but at least you will be able to blow the notes and play a tune. Give it a try.

[Lambchop]

Come on guys, I think that playing the flute is fairly straightforward, with not too much of a learing curve. It's easy, actually. OK, so you won't be a great performer in the beginning, but at least you will be able to blow the notes and play a tune. Give it a try.

Sorry, I couldn't. It took me three months, almost exactly to the day.

It took six to get sound out of it on any kind of predictable basis. And to kind of start getting notes chained together.

So, now you know why all those music teachers threw me out of class because "This child is develomentally retarded. She is just never going to be able to play a musical instrument."

And now you know why I have little interest in trying to satisfy the preconceived notions of some teacher.

People have different abilities and learn at different speeds. You have to approach them on their own . . . not tell them they just need to "give it a try." It appears that he already did "give it a try" and is frustrated. Maybe now he'd like some constructive advice.

[Crevan]

I picked my first flute out of the box and easily played all the notes on the first try. My girlfriend took the same flute and tried for an hour before she made a horrid squealing sound. For some reason she was very mad at me. The only advice I can offer for learning is to pick it up and play until you get it. I found it very difficult to follow written direction.

[chas]

Rob Greenway's site has some a good program, too.

http://www.geocities.com/SoHo/Canvas/9199/

I found perusing the archives of this board to be helpful, too.

But there's no substitute for lessons (even one) with a good teacher.

[dow]

Come on guys, I think that playing the flute is fairly straightforward, with not too much of a learing curve. It's easy, actually. OK, so you won't be a great performer in the beginning, but at least you will be able to blow the notes and play a tune. Give it a try.

With all due respect, I'll have to agree with Doug (Hey Doug!). When I got my Tipple in August, it was my first experience with the flute, period. All I had to go on was the information that I read on C&F, and an instruction sheet that Doug sent out. In part, it says:

Making a nice tone on a flute is easy but may take time to master. You may need some instruction to help you with this. Personally, I think that it is well worth the effort. Just place your lower lip next to and centered on the blowhole or embouchure. Now, with pursed lips blow a steady stream (not too forceful) of air towards the opposing edge of the blowhole. Imagine that you are blowing through a straw. Now flatten the straw with your lips so that a flat stream of air hits the sharp edge of the embouchure. Rotate the flute until the best tone is produced and continue to hold the flute in that position. Many beginning players blow too hard and become out of breath. Blowing too hard will also sharpen the note. An experienced flute player can make a strong tone with only a small amount of air, mostly directed down into the flute.

This is what I had to go on when I got my flute, and you know what? It worked. Now Doug doesn't go into as much depth as some others that I've read, but it gave me the insight that I needed to at least get the flute to sound.

I"ve also found Terry McGee's instructions to be very helpful (http://www.mcgee-flutes.com/Learning.html), along with others that I can't think of right now.

[Denny]

But there's no substitute for lessons (even one) with a good teacher.

and it doesn't matter what kind of side blown flute, style of music, etc. the teacher prefers...

The trick is getting started... I taught myself, no options.

[Doug_Tipple]

Sorry, Lambchop, I didn't mean to sound flippant with my comment "Give it a try". I should have added the good advice from Poor Richard's Almanac, "If first you don't succeed, try, try again". I also could have added "IMHO" to my comments.

I remember trying to teach my younger brother how to ride a bicycle. I thought that he would never learn. I would get him started, but shortly after I left go of the bicycle he would crash. Trying to explain to him that if you start to lean to one side, you must turn the wheel in that direction to stabalize the bike, wasn't very helpful. Riding a bicycle, similar to playing a flute, takes whole body understanding. Once you learn how to do it, it seems incredibly easy and natural without having to think about it.

[Whistlin'Dixie]

I remember trying to teach my younger brother how to ride a bicycle. I thought that he would never learn. I would get him started, but shortly after I left go of the bicycle he would crash. Trying to explain to him that if you start to lean to one side, you must turn the wheel in that direction to stabalize the bike, wasn't very helpful. Riding a bicycle, similar to playing a flute, takes whole body understanding. Once you learn how to do it, it seems incredibly easy and natural without having to think about it.

How I remember my oh-so-patient Uncle Bill teaching me to waterski at Granny's lake one summer when I was 16. He kept turning the boat around to pick me up, time after time. He told me the same thing, over and over, and he never got annoyed. Once I finally got myself up out of the water, I could do it every time after that. What a feeling!!!!

For flute, I totally taught myself, but I started with a Boehm style flute. So I did what that first site shows. It is easy once you get the hang of it, but I would never minimize how difficult it can be for some folks. But I don't think Doug meant that.

If you're driven to play and learn, you will achieve this to at least some extent, I think.
Interestingly, a person I know could make every flute I have sound good, but almost couldn't get a sound out of one of them. So there's a learning curve even with our individual flutes! Aaaaaaggghhhh!

M

[Cynth]

I don't play the flute, but I've come to the conclusion that our bodies are actually different, based on other experiences I've had both in learning and in teaching. The way we hold things, what feels comfortable, how much something will bend, the shape of our lips, how they purse, just all sorts of tiny things. And past experiences in doing things that take a certain type of skill can make a difference too. I think these sorts of things have a lot to do with how quickly a person starts getting how to do a new thing. Some people may have to make more adjustments to the way their bodies would normally do something to play the flute, or do anything out of the ordinary. Just a thought.

[Denny]

some people may have higher standards for basic competence also!
Or
some people may be they're own worst critic!

YMMV