Fulfilling flute?
-
- Posts: 26
- Joined: Sat Sep 27, 2003 7:36 am
- Please enter the next number in sequence: 1
- Location: Dublin
Fulfilling flute?
Hi, I'm a whistle player who would love to try flute.
Which flute have you found the most fulfilling (or the plain best fun!) to learn to play as a beginner? What flute made it happen for you?
All the best...
Which flute have you found the most fulfilling (or the plain best fun!) to learn to play as a beginner? What flute made it happen for you?
All the best...
- RudallRose
- Posts: 2404
- Joined: Tue Aug 07, 2001 6:00 pm
- plunk111
- Posts: 1525
- Joined: Thu Jul 19, 2007 3:02 pm
- antispam: No
- Please enter the next number in sequence: 8
- Tell us something.: Love playing trumpet and modern flute at church as well as Irish trad flute in a band. Been playing Irish trad and 18th century period music for about 15 years.
- Location: Wheeling, WV
- O_Gaiteiro_do_Chicago
- Posts: 549
- Joined: Sat May 27, 2006 11:59 am
- antispam: No
- Please enter the next number in sequence: 10
- Location: Somewhere between crap and mediocre.
- Contact:
I'd say if you have the funds, get a delrin Copley, they are the best bang for the buck in my opinion. I am sure Tipple flutes and dixon flutes are okay but they are not conical bore flutes, so you will not get the same effect. I've had my hands on many of the inexpensive wood and delrin flutes through working at a music store, and i've found my favorites inexpensive to be Copley delrin flutes. I think Dave tends to always have a few of these available. Another inexpensive option if you cannot afford to go the conical bore route, would be to get a Billy Miller bamboo flute. He makes some mighty fine instruments, and they are very reasonable as well.
The Tipple will get the job done, but the Folk Flute will be truly fulfilling. The beautiful wood, the beautiful smell of the wood (if you get mopane wood anyway), the rich sound, the conical bore shape. Very nice flute worth every penny.
~ Diane
Flutes: Tipple D and E flutes and a Casey Burns Boxwood Rudall D flute
Whistles: Jerry Freeman Tweaked D Blackbird
Flutes: Tipple D and E flutes and a Casey Burns Boxwood Rudall D flute
Whistles: Jerry Freeman Tweaked D Blackbird
- Il Friscaletto
- Posts: 172
- Joined: Tue Jun 13, 2006 7:05 am
- Please enter the next number in sequence: 1
- Location: Boston Area
-
- Posts: 132
- Joined: Thu Jan 02, 2003 6:00 pm
- antispam: No
- Please enter the next number in sequence: 8
- Tell us something.: I am a flute player. I play ITM pretty much exclusively. Like to browse and occasionally post on flute related discussions
- Location: Toronto
Ditto. As a learning hack (as my posted clips attest to), I’m in no position to recommend to a beginner which flute to buy. However, whenever I’ve heard this question posed to a good flute players/tutor, they almost invariably advise that the most direct path to “fulfillment” is to get a proper wooden flute from a respected maker right from day one. Living in Ireland, you have a raft of good makers (eg. Hammy Hamilton, Sam Murray, Glenn Watson, Martin Doyle, et al) right in your own backyard from which to choose.
-
- Posts: 418
- Joined: Wed Nov 22, 2006 9:05 am
- antispam: No
- Please enter the next number in sequence: 10
- Location: Hamburg, Germany
- Contact:
Just want to underline the good value of the folk flute - mine is the two piecce in Mopane. Unbelievable value for money. You won't be disappointed.
19th October, 2012:
Flute: Rookery
Flute: Musical Priest
Flute: Swinging on the Gate
Flute: Sally Gardens
4th June 2012:
Flute: Rolling in the Ryegrass, Green Gates
2 April, 2012:
Smallpipes: The Meeting of the Waters. Corn Riggs
Smallpipes: Mrs Hamilton of Pithcaithland
Flute: Rookery
Flute: Musical Priest
Flute: Swinging on the Gate
Flute: Sally Gardens
4th June 2012:
Flute: Rolling in the Ryegrass, Green Gates
2 April, 2012:
Smallpipes: The Meeting of the Waters. Corn Riggs
Smallpipes: Mrs Hamilton of Pithcaithland
- eedbjp
- Posts: 377
- Joined: Fri Jan 04, 2002 6:00 pm
- antispam: No
- Please enter the next number in sequence: 8
- Tell us something.: Been on this forum for many years, just getting back into it agin in 2019.. Tried many flutes and whistles, but keep coming back to the fundamentals!
- Location: Half Moon Bay California
- Doc Jones
- Posts: 3672
- Joined: Sun May 12, 2002 6:00 pm
- antispam: No
- Please enter the next number in sequence: 8
- Location: Southern Idaho, USA
- Contact:
I'd second the Copley or Folk flute if you can swing the dough. THe Tipple or Hammy practice flute if you can't. All are great instruments for their price point.
Doc
Doc
Doc's Book
Want to learn about medicinal herbs?
Doc's Website
Want to become a Clinical Herbalist? Doc's Herb School
Want to learn about medicinal herbs?
Doc's Website
Want to become a Clinical Herbalist? Doc's Herb School
- Chiffed
- Posts: 1298
- Joined: Mon Aug 08, 2005 1:15 pm
- Please enter the next number in sequence: 1
- Location: Pender Island, B.C.
Hey, if you've got the dough, go with something traditional and beautiful (if you like traditional and beautiful). On the other hand, PVC flutes are a ridiculous amount of fun for the price, Hammy's practice flute sounds great and is an audacious bit of engineering, and FF's are highly praised by folks who play a lot better than me. Just as long as you have fun, be patient with yourself, and listen to great players.
I wouldn't sweat the choice too much - fulfillment is in the music and the friends.
I wouldn't sweat the choice too much - fulfillment is in the music and the friends.
Happily tooting when my dogs let me.
Re: Fulfilling flute?
If you got the bucks get something good. It will satisfykirikee wrote:Hi, I'm a whistle player who would love to try flute.
Which flute have you found the most fulfilling (or the plain best fun!) to learn to play as a beginner? What flute made it happen for you?
All the best...
you for a long time, maybe for the rest of your life,
and you can sell it if/ever you
move on and maybe even make money.
Prices keep going up.
The Martin Doyle flutes are great for beginners
and pros play them too.
-
- Posts: 26
- Joined: Sat Sep 27, 2003 7:36 am
- Please enter the next number in sequence: 1
- Location: Dublin
Thank you all for responding! Perhaps “fulfilling” sounds a bit pretentious, but I’m interested in what you have found rewarding. I’m enjoying this business of looking for a flute, and this board is an invaluable and fun guide.
The feel of a wood flute appeals. I recently made my first attempt at fluting in a music shop. I tried a wooden Dixon & a De Keyser (heftier than the Dixon, with an easier stretch, it rewarded this novice with a clear low D – fun!). I liked them, but a polymer might be a better fit now. It would be nice to have a flute that I can leave assembled for a tootle, much like a whistle. (And it might be more toddler-proof.)
This steers me to Copley and Tipple, and nearer home to M&E and Seery. I notice Seerys don’t often get recommended for novices on these pages. (Though I’m tempted to visit his workshop – he seems a card!)
How does an M&E compare with a Copley Delrin? (I’ll resist asking “How do M&Ms compare with Delrin?”) I know Copley flutes get great reviews on this board.
Cheers!
The feel of a wood flute appeals. I recently made my first attempt at fluting in a music shop. I tried a wooden Dixon & a De Keyser (heftier than the Dixon, with an easier stretch, it rewarded this novice with a clear low D – fun!). I liked them, but a polymer might be a better fit now. It would be nice to have a flute that I can leave assembled for a tootle, much like a whistle. (And it might be more toddler-proof.)
This steers me to Copley and Tipple, and nearer home to M&E and Seery. I notice Seerys don’t often get recommended for novices on these pages. (Though I’m tempted to visit his workshop – he seems a card!)
How does an M&E compare with a Copley Delrin? (I’ll resist asking “How do M&Ms compare with Delrin?”) I know Copley flutes get great reviews on this board.
Cheers!
- Henke
- Posts: 2193
- Joined: Wed Feb 26, 2003 6:00 pm
- antispam: No
- Please enter the next number in sequence: 8
- Location: Sweden
I don't know why Seery flutes don't get recomended. From my experience they have a larger sweet spot (easier embouchure) than an M&E, but the M&E sound better IMO (fatter, sweeter and woodier sound than the Seery). Perhaps there's the notion that the Seery takes lots of air to fill because it's a Pratten, but the difference to the M&E in that department seems very slim.
I have not played a Copley, but Dave Copley is a top notch maker, I would imagine he finishes his instruments slightly better than Michael (M&E) does. The obvious disadvantage of Copley delrin is that it's a budget version of a top notch flute, it lacks a tuning slide and possibility to retrofit keys, like a delrin version of the Burns FF. The M&E is a "full on" irish flute, and in my honest opinion, it's as good as most of us will ever need, it holds it's own against pretty much any flute out there.
Just my 2 cl of
whisky
I have not played a Copley, but Dave Copley is a top notch maker, I would imagine he finishes his instruments slightly better than Michael (M&E) does. The obvious disadvantage of Copley delrin is that it's a budget version of a top notch flute, it lacks a tuning slide and possibility to retrofit keys, like a delrin version of the Burns FF. The M&E is a "full on" irish flute, and in my honest opinion, it's as good as most of us will ever need, it holds it's own against pretty much any flute out there.
Just my 2 cl of
whisky