Different Flutes, and whether one is better than another Options

[andante_in_c]

This is the James Galway flute test: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0n3n3N3SOY

I wonder how much the cheapest flute he tried was?

I'd like to see him do a similar video with flutes in the price range of typical beginners.

The cheapest flute was the Murumatsu EX, which costs just over 2K GBP. These were his own flutes which is why most were very high end. (IMG:style_emoticons/default/smile.gif) I have heard tales of him playing a student Yamaha at a masterclass and sounding just the same, but I don't know how apocryphal this story is.

Most players sound very similar whatever they are playing as far as their overall sound goes. However a student flute headjoint does not allow for the subtleties of tone colours needed for advanced performance.

[randomsabreur]

At a masterclass I went to with Paul Edmund Davies, he picked up a John Packer curved head childs flute (the one without the footjoint which just goes down to D!) and made it sound amazing - so much power and expression. No way could I do that.

I do think that one flute may well be better for a given person than another, but not so convinced about intrinsically better within the same "type" i.e. silver head, silver plate, silver everything etc!

[schraeubchen]

I am pretty concerned, that the difference in tonal quality diminishes the better you get. My teacher always has an old something flute laying around and if she rarly is going to play anything during the lesson, it takes her one attempt and then it sounds nearly as beatiful as if she takes up her Brannen & Cooper.

[It'sMeC!]

At a masterclass I went to with Paul Edmund Davies, he picked up a John Packer curved head childs flute (the one without the footjoint which just goes down to D!) and made it sound amazing - so much power and expression. No way could I do that.

I do think that one flute may well be better for a given person than another, but not so convinced about intrinsically better within the same "type" i.e. silver head, silver plate, silver everything etc!

I agree that it all comes down to a matter of personal preference. Interestingly though, I took a pianist friend with me to one particular flute shop and I played to him a yamaha (don't remember what model number but it was in their semi-pro range) with solid head, plated body, open holes, b foot etc. I then played to him the next model up, which everything is silver (even the keys) and he immediately said that one was better - I hadn't told him which was which and they were identical to look at. I ended up buying the fully solid flute and it's absolutely gorgeous. If someone had said I'd end up with a yamaha I would have laughed but I'm so glad I did! (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wub.gif)

[Lemontree]

I guess it comes down to ones preferences as well as to the make. I had a cheap Chinese flute for EUR 20 which sounded great. The keys were quite resistent which - in the aftermath - might have added to my hand problems, but everyone said the Chinese flute sounded much better than my 511 Yamaha (with the much better keys).

However, I recently tested quite a lot of flutes in the EUR 2000 to EUR 6000 range and I have to admit that aside some minor quality issues the flutes somewhere between EUR 2000 and 5000 had only very slight differences. None, whatsoever that would have made adding another EUR 1000 to to purchase a necessity. The first flute, which had a considerable difference were above EUR 5000, and even there not all of them. I am not yet through with testing, but the keys were much more responsive, the sound quality significantly better, but also preferences here, some sound warmer, some clearer. In some cases it might even be wise to add another head with a different mouthhole cut to get tone warmth variety.

A student of mine plays a very nice Pearl 505 and I really like the sound, key resistance and the easiness with which a tone is produced up to C''''. So, when deciding what flute to get, in my opinion, it means testing, testing, testing, as much flutes as you can lay your hands on.