Don't hate me for this..... (flute question)

[whistlin'fool]

Hey all, i've been playing the whistle for about a year now and i've gotten pretty good at it (but there's always room for more improvment), but now i'm wanting to try and play the flute. I would like to start off on an irish flute and i was just wondering how difficult it is to transfer from whistle to irish flute and then eventually a normal flute. Don't get me wrong i'm still going to play my whistles every chance i get, but i'm looking for a different sound for a change. So let me know what you guys think and tell me what problems you might've run into. Thanks for help (and not banishing me )

[falkbeer]

Hi, I don´t want to dishearten you - just do it (as in the Nike ads). But to master the embouchure takes years and in the hardest part of flute playing. When you play the whistle or the recorder the airstream is directed by the windway and hits the lip (or labium) as the maker intended. On the flute on the other hand you have to do all that with your lips. Try blowing in an empty soda bottle - it´s easy! But the high notes, in the second or third octave, on a flute can be really tricky for a beginner.

Fingering on a boehm flute is on the other hand easy. You can easily play in all keyes both major and minor.

Good luck!

/Falkbeer

[mcurry]

I'm still working my way toward getting my first irish flute, but from everything I've read over on the Flute forum, learning good embouchure is no small task. My one attempt at getting a decent tone out of a couple of Irish flutes certainly bears that out, as it was hard to even get the flute to play anything resembling a note.

Having said that, from what I've read the fingering of the whistle does in large part transfer over, so having learned tunes on the whistle should make it easier to play 'em on the irish flute once you can actually get good notes out of it. I know I'm definitely planning on keeping up with my whistles once I start in on the flute.

[BillChin]

A few people have a natural embouchure and can jump right in. For the average person, it takes steady and persistent practice to get decent sound out of a flute. That said, the control and the shading of sound allows a player to do things that are quite difficult to try on a whistle.

I've had my flute for a little over a year, after playing whistles for 15 years. The learning curve for flute is a long one, but the journey is worthwhile.

[brewerpaul]

Don't be discouraged-- the embouchure can take time to develop but it will come with time. I'd suggest a relatively inexpensive beginner's flute for starters. You can always sell this to another newbie if you stick with it and decide to upgrade in the future.

[whistlin'fool]

do you guys have any moderately priced (ie $100 or less) irish flute brand that you know of that's good for a beginner? I just don't want to buy something that is absolute crap or too expensive and difficult for a starter flute.

[mcurry]

do you guys have any moderately priced (ie $100 or less) irish flute brand that you know of that's good for a beginner? I just don't want to buy something that is absolute crap or too expensive and difficult for a starter flute.

If you're looking for something that inexpensive, pretty much everything I've seen seems to point toward a flute by Doug Tipple. If you decide to spend more, the main contenders seem to be an M&E flute or a Casey Burns folk flute, but both of those are a significant jump up in price.

[Henke]

Again, don't be discouraged. Anyone can learn the flute even though it's significantly more difficult to get the basics down than the whistle for example. You do have a huge advantage from a complete newbe if you're a whistler. The fingering translates, you probably know tunes and ornamentation (or at least you have an idea of the concept). Learning embouchure and flute grip will take time though.
If your goals are set on playing the Boehm (orchestral silver flute), then why play Irish flutes at all? Don't get me wrong, I've played both Boehm and Irish and I prefer the Irish flute hands down. But if your mind is set at learning Boehm flute, it would be much easier to just get a student model Boehm and find a classical flute teacher (which will be a lot easier than finding an irish flute teacher).

If you want to play irish flute, follow mcurry's advice. Tipples get good reviews for beginner flutes. If you want a fully feathured irish flute that you won't outgrow and that will hold it's own in sessions you may want to look at an M&E or a Seery polymer.

[Nanohedron]

Movin' this to the Flute Forum. Logical, no?

[Coffee]

I found this on the M&E site. It may prove useful. (Wish I'd seen something like it before I started.)

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

[mutepointe]

dear whistlin: do it. it's worth it. it took me about the same amount of time to get an adequate embouchure as it did to quit making those horrible squawking sounds on the whistle.

[cocusflute]

I never learned to play the whistle. Went right from the fiddle to the flute.
If you want to play the flute then it is the flute you should be playing and not the whistle.
Why spend your time on an instrument you don't want to play when you could be learning to play the instrument you want to play.
Think the whistle is easy? Listen to Brid O'Donohue or Mary Bergin.
Playing the whistle is very different than playing the flute. If you want to play the flute go right to the flute and skip the whistle.

[whistlin'fool]

hey don't get me wrong, i don't think the whistle is easy at all, i've been playing it for about a year now, and i still have more to learn. I started on the whistle because that's what i wanted to play, but after a year of the same sort of sound i'm deciding to learn the flute because it sounds different but with the same fingerings so it won't be learning a completely new instrument. I'm not saying it is going to be easy, i was just looking for something else to try and was asking for an idea of a moderately priced flute (so that if i do like the flute then i won't have to go back out and spend more money to get a nicer one, and if i don't like it i can always sell it to someone else)

[crookedtune]

do you guys have any moderately priced (ie $100 or less) irish flute brand that you know of that's good for a beginner?

I'd like to put another good word for the Doug Tipple flutes. For about the price of a midrange whistle, you can get get his best: 3-piece, offset finger holes, speckled-bore, with lip-plate and tuning wedge. It's more than just a beginner's flute --- rich, "creamy", loud, and easy-playing. It's a remarkable deal for the money, and you'll be hooked (if you're not already)! (You know you want one! ).

[Henke]

Think the whistle is easy? Listen to Brid O'Donohue or Mary Bergin.

Of corse, mastering any instrument and playing it like the world class players will never be easy. However, the basics of whistle playing is very easy when compared to other instruments, the flute for example.

Playing the whistle is very different than playing the flute. If you want to play the flute go right to the flute and skip the whistle.

And how would you know? You never did play the whistle
Seriously though, the whistle and the flute shares a lot of things in common. If you play the whistle quite well, you do have an advantage when starting playing the flute. You have the fingering, ornamentation, an idea of breath control and so on. Whereas a complete newbie would have to learn that stuff as well, you can focus more on embouchure and griping the flute, which is a great challenge all by itself.