My new flute chose me

[Taterflute]

Hello all! So long story short, I got my BA and MM on the flute back in the 90's and then moved to Vegas and totally gave up music to be a costume designer. I had a Di Medici 1011RBS with a gold lip plate and my back up/step up was a Pearl 525RB, and I sold both of them years ago. So now, several years later, I decided I wanted to play again so I went to the store and tested some flutes. I had never even heard of Trevor James before, but I done a blind play test with a TJ Cantabile with the Voce head joint, a Pearl 665, an Azumi AZ2 and a Miyazawa 102. And I really seriously super duper WANTED a Miyazawa........it is my dream brand of flute. But to my shock and awe, I didn't "love" the MZ 102 like I did the TJ Cantabile CV. Now I did play the MZ 202, which is the Miyazawa equivalent to the TJ flute, and I totally lived for it! Unlike the 102, the MZ 202 has the partial Brogger System on it and it just made for an entirely different type of flute. But it also shot up to a $5k price tag, and I wanted to be under $2k. I love the way my TJ flute's head joint is made. It's heavy......VERY heavy compared to most. But it feels weighted like it counter balances the flute. I really like how light and quick the mechanism is too. And I appreciate how different it both looks and feels compared to other instruments. A lot of instruments, like the Azumi, just feel like a mass produced instrument with a really good head joint stuck on it. And I will say that you could have stuck that Altus head joint on anything and it would have sounded good, but I wanted more than a head joint, and I got it in my TJ. However, just as soon as I get this car paid off, I'm gonna get the Miyazawa that I always wanted! I'm going for the gold baby!! Happy playing folks!!!

[Soupy1957]

As a beginner (rookie) I can’t even BEGIN to be able to appreciate all the nuances that go into the various models you offered up!

I’m sure you are flute-speaking in a way that accomplished flutists fully understand; but ya left ME in the dust!! LOL

I have listened to countless video comparisons between very high-end flutes and cheaper ones, and don’t hear THAT much of a difference between them.

It makes sense that the more expensive ones have more functionality, and are built with superior mechanisms, and may “feel” better to touch, or respond better to air and so forth. THOSE types of arguments would make perfect sense!

[pied_piper]

Just as it takes time to develop skills playing a flute, it takes time to develop and train your ear to hear minute differences between various flutes. Right now they may al sound very similar but as your playing improves, so will your ears and you will begin to be able to discern those small differences.