wood flutes that are easy to play

[greenspiderweb]

I've owned a few flutes, mostly synthetic. I've owned 2 wooden flutes, both of which I had a really hard time with. I don't want to mention the makers though. I play a lot of instruments, so I probably don't spend enough time on the flute, so I know it's my own skills. But with that said, which wooden flutes have are noticeably easier to play. Low breath requirements, smaller holes? Just plain old easier? I don't care if there's a tuning slide or rings even. I just want to play with people, consistently, and easier. Any suggestions?

The Copley I had was by far the easiest flute to play, embouchure wise, and I mean into the second octave, which was amazing to me, for a beginner. I never did get a hard d out of it, though, but the low d was there, just not hard, which comes with time and practice usually.

I've never had a problem with air requirements or hole coverage or reach, so I can't help you there. If your embouchure is good enough, with your diaphram giving you breath support, the air requirements seem to diminish, at least for my playing, but I'm not a session player.

I play with standard grip on top, and piper's grip on the bottom, and have medium-large hand stretch, and thin fingers and never had a problem with coverage or stretch on any flute I've tried. Except the Tipple Low Bb, that was a beast for stretch, but had a delightful tone! I still think I could have played an inline flute better in that key, but haven't found out for sure.

Yes, I agree with Chas, you should say who's flutes you had trouble with, and for what reasons-embouchure, hole coverage, finger stretch, air requirements-that would help with suggestions, no doubt.

[Doc Jones]

The Olwell Rudall I had was a lovely, sweet thing but didn't have near the punch that some of my other flutes have. Fantastic flute though. Also bear in mind that when I say "session" what I really mean is "SESSION". When I'm playing with the family band I have serious power requirements. Mom on the squeeze box, 3 or 4 fiddlers, a mandolin and a couple of guitars, a bodrhan and a bass, whistlers, a keyboard etc etc.... You get the idea.

How's it going with that Hammy?

I have no idea. I've had a bad lip since it arrived. Looks nice though.

Doc

[Cayden]

The poster who posted this thread also just posted to the piping board, lamenting he wasn't any good on the pipes at his local session and was very discouraged by it. After barely three months of playing mind you.

The thing is: there are no short cuts, not on the pipes, not on the flute. If you can't be bothered to put in the work: just give it up, you won't go anywhere.

Playing any instrument calls for a commitment, to your music and to your instrument. You can't expect to go out and play without serving your time and putting in the work. No 'easy playing' flute will solve your problem and that's just how it is.

[GaryKelly]

Too true, Peter.

I've had my spies out looking for "the magic flute wot plays itself" for ages. No luck yet. If there were such things as 'easy flutes', everyone would be playing them.

Besides, while it's true that there are flutes that seem to require a lot less air than others, they do so at the expense of other qualities.

I probably don't spend enough time on the flute, so I know it's my own skills. <snip> I don't care if there's a tuning slide or rings even. I just want to play with people, consistently, and easier.

Hmm. But do they want to play with you? I suspect it's time to start caring about such mundane things as tuning slides, and of course your own skills.

[talasiga]

I know that Mary had a little lamb
but I cant see her anywhere.
Is that cos I am Baa Baa Black Sheep
with me eyes under me hair?

[eedbjp]

The poster who posted this thread also just posted to the piping board, lamenting he wasn't any good on the pipes at his local session and was very discouraged by it. After barely three months of playing mind you.

To be fair, I had made a post on the pipe forum. But I've actually never brought pipes to a session yet. I've been playing them for a year. My piping post was more of a philosophical one about the pipes, not a personal lamentation.

And even with the flute, I realize that there are no shortcuts, but I still would like to get a flute that I can be consistent on. I'm a solid musician, but seem to have a hard time keeping a straight embochure, and wrote the post to see if some flutes are more "forgiving" than others. And from the lists I 've seen here, that seems to be the case, so I'll consider buying one.

[Nanohedron]

eedbjp, don't forgo the tuning slide. Trust me on this one. At the very least you'll want a tenon that you can pull out of the barrel enough to do the same job and not compromise the assembled stick's strength too much, but I don't personally like that route.

In a lot of cases, there's a honeymoon period with new flutes, and then all of a sudden you wonder why the thing became so hard to get a decent tone out of. This happens with the best of flutes and tells us that the player counts for much. I've usually taken to trying too hard at such times (why, I don't know) and have to ease up. I just witnessed this with a friend who recently got a superbly killer flute. He's a really good player, and yet after only a few weeks, there he was sitting at a session looking at his new flute as if it had betrayed him; he wasn't getting that wonderful tone out of it he was able to only days ago. Like I've had to do often enough before, he'll have to "reacquaint" himself with it in order to get back tonewise to where he was in the beginning.

[Michael31856]

In a lot of cases, there's a honeymoon period with new flutes, and then all of a sudden you wonder why the thing became so hard to get a decent tone out of.

I used to do martial arts for fun many moons ago, and wondered why that kind of thing happened in physical training. I did some research and found that as we learn the mind and body assimilate information, then plateau whilst it's being mapped into the brain, nervous system and muscles. After that, it's full steam ahead again - and more.

These plateaus seemed to happen to me in sometimes weekly periods, and sometimes up to six monthly. I'd be great at techniques, becoming realy fast, smooth and flowing, then over a day or two I'd feel like a lump of lead and nothing seemed to work the same as it had. Suddenly feeling clumsy is probably a good description.

The trick, one good teacher told me, was to relax and not fight my way through it or over-train, and after a few days to a week it would all speed up again, and become even easier than before. Most people who give up, he said, haven't been taught about these plateaus.

It seems correct, as relaxing and just mooching on through the dull bit, taking lots of time to rest and sleep, brings a sudden recovery and even greater ease.

Measuring the speed at which neural signals and messages are sent to muscles during training shows that a plateau signals that a period of rest is required. It's not just the brain, but the entire body which is involved in the learning process.

They say this is why anyone can break bricks, simply by punching and punching repeatedly for months, resting at plateaus, then continuing training. After perhaps six months the nerve impulses are incredibly fast, and normal 'muscle over-use' barriers in the nerve sheaths are decreased (these stop you ripping your own arm off), and of course in this case bones become denser too. The punch is so fast that it requires high-speed cameras to record it, and delivers tremendous power.

Obviously, learning to play an instrument is about relaxing and developing fine control, but the way the brain and body learn is the same, so plateus can be expected. As someone in another thread said, there's a lot going on behind the scenes as we progress in anything - a bit of patience lets it all 'sink in', then we can carry on all smiley again.