Opinion asked regarding silver flute

[Cathy Wilde]

Also, if you're struggling with French (i.e. open-hole) keys at first, you can get replacement hole "corks" or stoppers from pretty much any music store.

[nmflutist]

Hi Steve,
As you have probably seen, there are many silver flutes to choose from. It is the opinion of many flute players, that Yamaha makes the best flutes. From what I hear even their student models are wonderful. What do I play? I play a Gemeinhardt 3SB. I have had very good luck with Gemeinhardt, some feel that they produce a stuffy sound, but I have not found that. Some key things to keep in mind :

1) Stay with brands that are well known (do not buy a chinese made silver flute)

2)Solid Silver or Gold Headjoint produce the best sound (student models are either silverplated or nickle). Silver plated flute is OK as long as you have a solid silver or gold headjoint.

A link that I found helpful is http://www.saxontheweb.net/vbulletin/fo ... .php?f=138

Good luck!
Dawn

[daiv]

Hi Steve,
As you have probably seen, there are many silver flutes to choose from. It is the opinion of many flute players, that Yamaha makes the best flutes. From what I hear even their student models are wonderful. What do I play? I play a Gemeinhardt 3SB. I have had very good luck with Gemeinhardt, some feel that they produce a stuffy sound, but I have not found that. Some key things to keep in mind :

1) Stay with brands that are well known (do not buy a chinese made silver flute)

2)Solid Silver or Gold Headjoint produce the best sound (student models are either silverplated or nickle). Silver plated flute is OK as long as you have a solid silver or gold headjoint.

Good luck!
Dawn

i agree. i have a gemeinhardt millenium standard, something or other. i love my flute, but a lot of people dont recommend gemeinhardt, but rave about yamaha. i think i ended up lucky; i played a lot of more expensive flutes, and none of them had a better sound than mine (and a couple worse). however, the upper octave came out with less effort on the more expensive ones, and the mechanisms responded quicker (but i need to get mine adjusted anyways); but all i care about is the lower octave, which is better on mine.

i thought that the yamahas were very good players, excellent construction. the one i tried was a bit too classical for me, but then again, all silver flutes are very classical.

[peeplj]

I have a Gemeinhardt 3SS-B which is actually getting pretty old now. Ironically, I still think of it as my "new" flute. I don't believe they make this model anymore--it's handmade of sterling and is a wonderful flute.

I have had a chance to try many kinds of flutes through the years. I think mine fits me quite well and holds its own against most flutes.

So far the very best Boehm-system flute I've got to spend some time with was a wonderful old Rittershausen that I got to keep for a weekend. It belongs to Dr. Eugene Steinquest and even compared against Haynes or Powell flutes, it is still in a class by itself.

Best wishes,

--James

[nmflutist]

I am not quite sure why Gemeinhardt has gotten such a bad rap in some flute circles. I have 3 Gemeinhardt flutes a 2SP, 3SHB and a 3SB. Each flute has a different Headjoint. I also have a wooden headjoint that I can attach to either the 3SHB or the 3SB, which gives the flutes a different sound . I have also found that by plugging the holes I get a breathier sound. If you would rather have a clear sound, unplug. I have found the Gemmy's to be a very versitile instrument. I play my flute in front of 1000 people weekly and always get good comments on the tone of my flute.

Dawn

[peeplj]

Just thought I'd introduce some thoughts into this thread on the differences between beginner's, intermediate, and advanced flutes.

First, there is a myth, and it's so common you will hear some teachers and band directors quote it when they should know better. The myth is "the more expensive the instrument, the easier it is to play."

What makes this myth so pervasive is there is some truth to it, but it leaves out a related and vital question: easier for who to play?

Big challenges for the beginning flutist are learning to make the instrument sound at the most basic level, learning to control the fingers, and making tongue, breath, and fingers work together. So, "easier to play" for a beginner means simply "easy to get a sound out of."

Challenges of the advanced player include playing with a wide range of dynamics and a wide tonal palette, using special techniques such as multiphonics, playing into the fourth octave, and playing with enough projection to carry a solo passage over a full orchestra without the use of a microphone. So "easy to play" to an orchestral flutist means easier to do all of that: a projective, flexible, responsive instrument which is going to respond like it's a part of their own body.

Do you get the idea that a flute like seems easy to play for little Sally Wilson, who's got two years of beginning band under her belt, won't necessarily be a flute that's particularly easy for Sir James Galway to play?

Conversely, and every bit as important--maybe more important, given the topic of the thread--is that a flute which Sir James finds to be a fine and capable instrument may barely seem to play at all in little Sally's hands.

Beginner flutes are made to be easy to get a sound out of. They are not made to handle extremely wide dynamics or a wide tonal palette, because no beginner can play with extreme dynamics or more than one kind of tone anyway.

Performance-grade flutes are made to project, to be responsive across a wide range of blowing techniques, to handle extreme volumes, to handle extremely rapid passages, to be in tune at extreme volumes...to do all the things that a beginners' flute doesn't do well.

But by the time you trade off all of those characteristics: responsiveness, projection, intonation, pitch stability, flexibility...there's just not much room left to tweak for ease of play.

So the bottom line of all of this?

When you move to a higher-grade flute, often you'll find it harder to play, especially at first. You may have to "grow into it" a bit.

But it's time well spent, because at the end of the day, a high-end flute will do things that a beginner's flute will only do with great difficulty, if at all.

--James

[Chiffed]

Well said, peeplj.

I would add my experience from the last 2 performance-grade instruments I purchased.

One I bought from an instructor who I admired. She had the experience I lacked, and made a great choice for me. Fifteen years later, I still haven't 'outgrown' it.

The next one I shopped for. I narrowed it down to three models, then spent 6 months trying 25 different instruments. They were all different. It was hard to accept that instruments in the 4-10k range could vary between exquisite and garbage, but that's what I found (even in the same model). One is allowed to be picky and opinionated when one is parting with that kind of cash. BTW, that kind of variability is not the case with intermediate Yamaha flutes.

What it really came down to was the work that went into the instrument after it was unpacked from the crate, and before it was put on the shelf. One technician did an excellent job of these 'dealer-prep' adjustments, and I've been a client of his ever since.

Buying pro instruments is certainly a tricky business.