Getting started with Flute

[sonicapogee]

Hello

I would like to know a few things about the flute.
I am someone that has some classical music theory and harmony conservatory studies ,so I can read stuff.
Here are my questions:

1.is the flute hard to get a sound out of it ? Does it depends way too much to the instrument?
2.How long would it take to learn to play relatively simple songs?

I can play guitar and piano ,but no windwood experience so far [I have picked the sax but playing only for 3 days...]
Thanks for reading this & Kind Regards ,
George

[James_Alto]

Hello

1.is the flute hard to get a sound out of it ? Does it depends way too much to the instrument?
2.How long would it take to learn to play relatively simple songs?

I can play guitar and piano ,but no windwood experience so far [I have picked the sax but playing only for 3 days...]
Thanks for reading this & Kind Regards ,
George

Hi George - welcome to the forum.

If you can play guitar and piano, you'll pick you the flute just fine.

Even if you had a mouth shaped like a doughnut, you would still manage eventually to learn how to blow it until it sounded beautiful.

Shouldn't take you long, given your disciplines

[Istamid]

Hello,

Welcome on the forum.

Getting a sound out of the flute is not difficult. Getting a good sound that will please you might be harder though.

For your second question, it really depends of your practice time and your dedication. With a couple hours per week, you could probably be comfortable to play simple songs after a couple months (depending of the song).

Hope you enjoy the flute.

Take care.

[sonicapogee]

I decided to try the flute

After reading your excellent Flute FaQ , I found a second hand Trevor James Tj10x flute on ebay & bought it.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... K:MEWNX:IT

I was lucky enough to win the auction ,& now I'm waiting for flute to "arrive".

[Bo]

Welcome to the forum!
I play the piano and the guitar too, although the flute is my middle child (I started with the piano, then the flute and then the guitar).

You shouldn't have any problems. Just have some patience at the beginning.

Congratulations also on your purchase! Usually it is a good idea to have a second-hand flute checked before starting to play it (it has been removed from eBay, so I don't know if it has been maintained just recently, maybe it has). Otherwise good choice!

Good luck!!!

[sonicapogee]

hi

Thanks for your answer.The description didn't mentioned anything about maintenance ,but ,as he says :

"IT COMES IN GOOD CONDITION WITH ALL KEYS MOVING FREELY & ALL PADS INTACT."

I checked the price for Tj10x and was well over 230-40GBP.
I won this auction for 41GBP ,so basically a bargain

But I will consider checking this with a pro technician.That's a great suggestion ,thank you very much.
Regards,
Giorgos

[Bo]

Yes, you can find great bargains on eBay! I once bought a chromatic harmonica that was practically new for 1/5 of its RRP....

[Mindermast]

After roughly four weeks of trying, I finally got a recognisable sound out of a persian ney, which is said to be the hardest flute in the world, concerning sound production. On the contrary, it took me about half an hour to get a clearly pitched sound out of a crappy transversal flute with bad response, also without any help. It took me another few weeks until I was able to play simple tunes on a bamboo flute (also transversal, same blowing style as concert flutes), then it took my teacher the first lesson to turn these "sounds" into flute sounds. The last step was the start of sound control. Before, it was the flute, which controlled the sound, from that day on, I have started to take over and the flutes only set (yet theoretical) limits. Saxophone is a completely different instrument, although it is woodwind too. My teacher, who plays and teaches both, told me, that there is also a big difference in breathing techniques. But, as a matter of fact, I think, that it is fairly easy to produce reasonable sounds on a transversal flute, and bamboo flutes (bansuri for example) are even harder than our concerto flutes, because they have no keys and bad fingering fires back hard on open holes.

If you are still unsure, if you would like to give it a try, buy a real cheapo pvc or bamboo flute (must be transversal though) on ebay - about 10 Euros max., or simply take a short pvc pipe or bamboo of size and shape similar to a flute, drill a hole on one side, close the pipe end on the same side (something like this: |=°========= ) and start practising with that one single pitch. That is how I got into flute playing...

PS: oops, I just realised that you have a flute already