Hi!

I have been playing the piano for approx. two years now, and am considering taking up a second instrument. I love the flute, but I'd like to know if it's hard to learn? I know that every instrument is hard if you take it seriously but watching someone playing the flute, I often wonder how they know which buttons to press and when to press them!
I know that there are several people on this forum who play the flute, so please could you inform me as to what it's like?
I've tried my friend's flute and as soon as I did I wondered how anyone can play it (!) because I didn't even know how to produce a single note!!! There must be some sort of technique though?

Thanks in advance.

I'll be very brief as I'm finding it very hard to stay awake at this hour!

The flute is relatively straightforward to get tunes from, but not easy to master. It's easy to get into bad habits, so some form of tuition from a good flute tutor, in my opinion, is essential. Watch out especially for poor finger position, your posture, and embouchure (lip and mouth position/shape) problems. You squirt air across the hole on the lip plate, not into it. And initially you'll tire after a few minutes practice, but this will improve with time as your embouchure strengthens.

Apologies for not going into it any deeper tonight, I'm sure other flautists will add to this little post tomorrow!

The flute's a great instrument to learn because of its versatility (can be played in orchestras, wind/military bands, folk groups...). It's difficult at first until you find your tone, but remembering "which buttons to press" comes naturally quite quickly! I read somewhere flautists tend to have a really quite good tone or an rubbish one, and in my experience that's true (probably there's an optimum mouth shape or something!) The best thing is that you don't have to do more than one thing at once with your hands (does that make sense?) like on the piano, and there's very few variations on fingering so you don't have to work it out first like piano etc. (usually anyway). And there's lots of lovely music for flute. My music teacher at school told me flutes were "wussy" the other day!

The flute is a fab instrument and it's quite easy to pick up and become competent at . Though this inevitably has its downfall as there are LOTS of flautists out there who are very talented . For example in an orchestra there are only usually 2 or 3 flute players compared to 20 violins or something, so there will be far more competition for the flautists .

The flute has a wide and varied repetoire of music and as Braceface flautist said , the flute can be played in lots and lots of ensembles .

If you decide to take up flute then definitely get a good flute teacher and have regular lessons . When i first began i fell into bad habits through fingering which took months to get rid of ! Which was annoying as I had been having lessons and the teacher ( clarinet player ) had never picked up on my bad habits .

Good luck !

Julie x

that's the problem i might have! i want to audition for the city and county wind band, but there's going to be so many flautists at grade 8 standard that i don't think there's much chance of me getting in! oh well, might as well try anyway!
flute's great, the fingering is quite similar to recorder (descant? - the one that they teach at primary schools). getting notes out of it becomes natural after enough practice and as braceface flautist said, there's loads of really nice music. just the slight problem with playing with braces..they tend to like attatching themselves to the inside of your cheek when you play.. :s

Thanks everyone for your nice replies! They were really helpful, and I think I will give the flute a go now, since you say that it's not too difficult. But I think that I will definitely need a teacher, as you said, barry-clari. By the way, thanks for posting a reply last night even although you were tired! I wasn't expecting anyone to reply actually at that 'unearthly' hour!!

Julie, thanks for your info and for wishing me luck! I don't get the feeling I'd be very good at playing a wind instrument, but there's only one way of finding out! That's another question, how much do flutes cost???
Oh and by the way, did you take your grade 2 piano recently? If so, which pieces did you play? (Sorry all for the change of topic!)

True, playing with braces can be a nightmare - trust me! My tone was completely mucked up after getting them for weeks and have only just got it back (sort of). But I'm getting them off soon - will need a new username! Anyway, flutes vary in price (I think there's a few threads with that sort of information) - they can start at £200 ish and go all the way up (you get what you pay for). My Miyazawa was about £1500...

Yay !! Glad you've decided to take up flute !

The price of a flute depends on quality etc and this variies from instrument to instrument . For a beginner though .. I'd suggest buying a yamaha 211 . I think they cost about £400 - £500 brand new but you could always buy one second hand for a much cheaper price . These flutes are expected to take you up to about grade 5/6 before upgrading . I had a yamaha 211 for about 4 years and it was superb for a beginner .

Yup i took my grade 2 piano on the 27th and i played :

List A : Musette
List B :Barcarolle
List c : Get in Step

What about you ?

Julie x

same here! but i've got about a year at least now before they come off so i can work on trying to get my tone a bit better than it is!! i've been playing loads today so i have a nice little cut on the inside of my cheek...*shivers*

Thanks for your reply Julie!
Wow, flutes are far more expensive than I imagined....... ! You're right, a second-hand one would be good though to start with. I don't know exactly when I can start though as I'm wearing braces at the moment..... On the 10th of last month, it was a year since I got them fitted, so I still have a while to go yet unfortunately!

Regarding grade 2, you took yours not long after I took mine! My exam was on the 20th and I played

List A: 'Rigadoon'
List B: 'Deutscher No.2'
List C: 'Get In Step' - same as you!!

Thanks for asking, and how many points did you get for each piece?

it's still possible to play with braces it just hurts a little and you have to stop occasionally to pull the wires out of your cheeks
but don't let a little thing like that put you off!
hoxie
x

EDIT: with the second-hand thing, there are two flute shops in london (if you wanted to go that far) called 'just flutes' and 'all flutes plus' (? i think that's correct!) which have loads of second hand instruments. i'm hopefully going down there sometime to blow all my savings on a new headjoint (second hand because i can't afford a brand new one )

I think you can start playing the flute even if you have braces ! Fair enough your tone won't be superb but you can concentrate on the technical side of things , learning the fingerings etc until you get the braces out . For the first couple of grades you won't be expected to have great tone anyway .

With regards to the piano exam , I still haven't had my results hopefully i'll get them soon !

Good choice of pieces . The List C pieces were pretty bad i thought .. apart from Get in Step which i luuuurved !! I couldn't help but laugh when i read the information about "Rosamund's March" by Colin Matthews ... " The sign + indicates that the chord or note is to be played with the fist " and "it doesn't matter if two or four notes are occasionally hit [instead of three] "
How can attacking the piano with your fists show that you can actually play ??

Sorrry everyone ... rant over !

Julie x

Oh btw what marks did you get for your pieces ?

Thank you for this post! I do think I could manage to play with braces actually, as most of the time I don't even know they're there!




Hi again Julie!

I read this posting with interest, and then had to laugh at what you said regarding the 'C' section in the grade 2 book - it's soooooo true!! C seems to get the worst pieces usually, but I've never seen a poorer selection in a while. I also think that C seems to get all the 'jazzy' pieces. I was really pleased when I found Get In Step as it's quite a pain getting hold of an alternative piece.
As for 'Rosamunde's March'.....I've never seen the like! Is this called playing the piano!?! I couldn't believe it when I read that you're supposed to play the notes with your fists! And three notes next to each other - what a horrible tune..... "It doesn't matter if two or four notes are occasionally hit (instead of three)" *Hehehehe* That was so funny also!!!

Thanks for asking about my results - it's a shame you haven't received yours yet. Will you tell me what results you got when you do? I'd be so interested!
I got:
A2: 28/30
B3: 28/30
C3: 29/30

Much more than I expected, as the second piece in particular didn't go well enough to deserve 28!!!

That's ok! It is possible, I'm just warning you it might hurt a bit! But mine cut in because my orthodontist doesn't want to cut the wires too short so they stick in when I play the flute. You could be lucky and have a really nice ortho' who will cut them nice and short for you!

Playing with braces will probably be a pain, but it may also mean that when you get them taken off it all seems a good deal easier!

Playing the flute *well* is no easy task, as with any instrument - getting a note out of it and getting the fingerings down is the eay bit, developing great tone and excellent technique is very difficult! However, it's a lot of fun and (obviously!) I think it's a great instrument. As with any instrument, though, I would strongly advise you to take it up because you like it/like the sound/want to play it, rather than because "it's easy" - because it isn't, to actually get good at, and playing any instrument "because it's easy" rather than because you like the sound it makes, is crazy.

I can look forwards to that next summer! Yayay!

Yeh i think it should be fine playing with braces .. it'd be worse if you were wanting to take up clarinet or something . I was at a residential course where you practise for about 8 hours a day and by the end of the weekend the clarinet players lips were all cut because of the braces digging in .. Oooouch !


Woooowee great marks for your pieces ! Well done ! I don't know how well I've actually done with my pieces to be honest .. it's all a bit of a blur now . Though i remember Aurals were really good . I was asked all the hard scales ... B minor hands together.... e mayor contary .. and some other ones .

And yes I'll let you know when i get my results Though i don't think i'll get as good a mark as you ! Well done on the Distinction !!

Julie x

I wish I had an excuse today, lol - I just sound rubbish for no good reason. I'm blaming an incipient cold and hoping that I am right...

That didn't sound very nice at all - the poor clarinet players!

Thank you so much for your kind comments about my Grade 2! It means so much to me....
I'm sure you did very well in your exam, please please do let me know! You should get a good mark in the aural if you remember that it went well - I know what you mean about the pieces! I kind of play on auto-pilot, on instinct alone.... I was soo nervous! The examiner was trying to make me relax I think, making comments on the weather etc. He was running early though!
I too got asked B minor (oh no! Isn't the fingering horrible? lol. It does so not fit well on the piano keyboard!!) and E major contrary motion - the two I was expecting to get for sure. So glad I wasn't asked E minor though! Did you do harmonic or melodic minors?? Did you get asked for any seperate-hands scales? How do you think your scales went? I bet you got asked your chromatics!? I got both, one after the other. Did you start the exam with your scales? Sorry for all the questions.... I'm sure you did VERY well, considering I never took Grade 2 at your age....

My examiner didn't really say much to me , he smiled a lot though which made me feel a lil bit more at ease .

I was nervous too and I started with the scales because some of the people who had went in had said the piano was hard to play and to get a feel of the piano before starting my pieces ( if that makes sense to you ? ) . I thiink i was asked A major hands seperately .. i really can't remember about the other ones ! Were you asked any arpegios .. i was only asked one or two thankfully

I did the harmonic minor scales the easier ones . Yes i was asked chromatic starting on D with right hand first then left hand . I haaaaate the fingering pattern for the E major contrary though , I always missed out notes when playing it :S

arghhh I'm getting so impatient about these results now !!

So when are you planning on sitting grade 3 ?

Julie x

haha, yeah I do that one a lot! Oh, I've got the curtains closed, it must be ruining the acoustics....

Considering how I feel today, I think it *IS* the cold, though that's not much comfort when I was hoping to do lots of practice before the concert. Ho hum - such is life!

HI,
I wouldn't say it's very hard. It does require technique and good embouchre, but they usually come in t ime and through practise. Pressing all the buttons just sticks in your mind once you've learned them, and for the bottom two octaves, the fingering is quite logical. Different people take shorter and longer to pick it up, or so I've found. Perhaps you should give it a go and see what happens after a few months? Good luck!

Oh don't worry about it! I was planning on doing loads and loads of practice this weekend, and it happened yesterday but I've been really tired today - I tried and got through the first few bars of a study before giving up Maybe tommorrow..(though that isn't generally my motto for anything other than tidying up!)

Yeah - it was just bad timing. With the concert coming up I thought I'd do lots of practice so I am at my best - wham, I get a cold! Grrr. Oh well, that's life!

Thanks for this Julie! Sorry for the delay in replying... Yes of course that makes sense to me about starting with scales - the keys on the piano I had to play on were hard to press down and I actually didn't get some notes out in my pieces!.... Scales are a good way to warm up and get a feel of the piano. And yes, I did get asked a few arpeggios (or 'arps' as my sister calls them! ). When I first saw that I had to do two octaves I thought it was really hard, but I really like apreggios and they went smoothly thankfully. I actually played all my scales and arpeggios faster than I had intended! Must have been the nerves...lol.
Oh, and I also thought that E major contrary motion would be difficult too but it really fits well on the keyboard, and when you see A major contrary for Grade 3 it makes E look easy!
I can understand that your impatient for your results!! Luckily I didn't wait long for mine....

By the way, have you taken all of your exams in the same centre?

I'm planning on taking Grade 3 in the autumn term - how about you???

Thanks for the reply ! I really don't like scales .. i just wanna play my pieces .. but i know they are important So i must bear with them and learn them all .

I started the grade 3 scales last week at my lesson I think they'll be ok .. not so sure about the broken chords though

No .. I've only ever taken the one exam .. my grade 2 piano . I was going to take piano grade 1 but i was ready to sit it in december and had missed the november exams . So i just sstarted away at grade 2 . And i haven't taken any on flute either because I don't have grade 5 theory . Though I'm working on theory just now fun fun fun !

What pieces did you play for the grade 1 ? I remember playingthe Andante in list A luuurved it !!

I'm hoping to sit my grade 3 in Autumn tooo !!!

What are the pieces like for grade 3 ? I've not got the purple book yet !

Julie x

Sadly yes
The only thing that really bugs me is every time I get a cold I have this sudden urge to constantly sing..when it's pretty near impossible
Oh well...

Yes, pieces are a lot more enjoyable than scales, and I'm not sure about the broken chords either!! Which pattern are you going to choose? Or will your teacher help you to choose?

So will you take Grade 3 at the same centre as you did Grade 2?
That was a shame you missed the November exams, but if you were ready anyway it doesn't really matter!

To answer your question, I played Giga, Arabian Air and In The Pink for Grade 1. I loved Andante in list A as well!! It's a lovely tune.

I haven't decided on my Grade 3 pieces yet as I only got the book a few days ago! I've just started on A1 and I like it a lot. I'm thinking though (since there's plenty of time until autumn!) that I will learn them all and then decide which ones I like best for the exam. But to answer your question, I think that it's a good selection this year! The pieces seem to be very nice - a lot better than the Grade 2 syllabus!!

Oh, and I understand about theory, when you said 'fun fun fun'!!! Are you good at it??
Look forward to your reply...

Steinway xx

Erm .. for the broken chords I think I'm going to play the first pattern ! I think it'll be easier than the second .. though I'll play through both ways a some more and see what i prefer . What about you ?

Yup I'll be taking my grade 3 exam at the same centre as I did grade 2 . Why do you ask ?

Oooh I was going to play In the pink for my grade 1 exam too ! I loved the Arabian Air too !

Yay !!!! The grade 3 pieces are better than the grade 2 ones .. well it wouldn't have been hard .. the grade 2 ones were pretty bad . I might do the same as you and maybe learn all the pieces and then chose my favourites .. that seems like a good idea ! For grade 2 I just chose my 3 pieces at the start and then only learnt the 3 pieces Which got boring after a while ...

As for theory .... no , I'm not very good at theory ! I've only started theory recently and have managed to get to grade 3 quite quickly . Though this was mainly because I knew quite a lot of the grade 1 and 2 stuff from playing the flute . I'm hoping to be able to sit grade 5 theory in June .. don't know if it's going to work though !! And then sit grade 8 flute in the Autumn term ... hopefully ..

Have you started any theory ??

Julie x

Hi musicbox!

Thanks very much for this, I'm sorry for the delay in replying, but I only saw and read your post today!
I suppose knowing which buttons to press etc. would come naturally once you've learnt. How many buttons are there?! Yes, I would really like to give it a go for a few months at least, to see what it's like, but flutes are so expensive (as I've learned on this thread!) and I don't know of any teachers...





Hi Julie!

With regards to the broken chords, I think I will go for the first pattern as well. :-) I've already tried a little of both and in my opinion the first choice sounds better!

I was asking about your exam centre out of interest, because some people go to different places for each grade.

In The Pink was a good one for Grade 1. :-) What were you going to play from list B?

Yes, I've been doing theory recently. The teacher I used to go to said that I didn't have to do it if I didn't want to, after Grade 5, but I want to continue as it's all part of music! As well as enjoying to play, I also want to be able to have some knowledge of music. I'm not actually sitting the exams, but my sister has all the theory books up to Grade 6, so as long as I go through each book, I'll know the theory for each grade. It's very hard though!!! :-(
Wow, you're hoping to take Grade 5 theory in June!? And Grade 8 flute in the autumn term!!!? Same time as Grade 3 piano? :-) You must be really good on the flute!

Thats the exact same pieces i done for my grade 2

Steinway, why not invest in a Yamaha Fife and Liz Goodwin's Fife book? You can get a "Fife pack" from Jonathan Myall Music, and starting on the fife will both encourage good flute habits later, and give you an idea of whether you like the sound of the flute, whether you are suited to it, etc, all for 10.95. A lot cheaper than buying a flute and then finding out it isn't your instrument after all, and the fife itself is an excellent little beastie and a lot of fun in its own right

Wow! Thank you so much sarah-flute!!!! This is such a good idea, and I didn't know you could get the whole lot for such a cheap price! I will, I will, I will!

Simple little thing but a lot of fun - don't know why I didn't think to mention it before

Hope you enjoy it

Thanks for the pic! I can't believe there's an oppotunity of getting my very own flute to try it out, at such a low price! You were right when you said in your prvious post, that I wouldn't want to buy something expensive and then realise it wasn't my instrument. I will certainly give this a go! Thank you again!

I'll warn you in advance that the chromatic notes are pretty difficult to get to sound good, (it is just a simple instrument) but to play simple stuff (and even Ravel's Bolero, by the end of the book) on, mostly in C major, it's a lot of fun. The added advantage is that the fingerings for C major are just like those of the flute, so all the skills are transferable.

If you want to hear what it sounds like, go here, about the 7th recording down is me playing a duet with myself (clever, eh? ) of Amazing Grace, on fife

Thanks for the warning. Somehow I don't think I'll get the hang of it very well!
I really want to hear your recording, but it's not working at the moment..... I did something wrong, so I'm going to try again later - my brother's wanting on now!!!

When you get back there - right click on the title, and then select save target as.

Hope you get to listen. No reason why you shouldn't get the hang of it

Take care

HAD to log-in again quickly! Because I managed to hear you playing! I clicked 'Save to Computer' before I tried what you suggested and I'm listening to it right now - it's LOVELY!!! Isn't it strange that I can hear you play and yet I've never met you?! My dod Ben was with me when I first played it and he was listening too! I must have listened to it about 5 times! lol.
Btw, I'm going to ask my sis about the minor scales before I reply on the other thread.....

Thanks, I'm really glad you enjoyed it yup, it's pretty mad - I've heard many, many more people playing and singing on here than I have actually met!

Ask your sister where she heard/read that about melodics, I'd be interested to know. Strikes me as the musical version of an urban myth... though I'm willing to be proven wrong

Micky-d you have good taste in music The grade 2 syllabus for piano was pretty bad this year though ... have you had your results yet ?

Steinway , for my grade 2 i was going to play the "Das Echo " from List B .

Yeh .. I'm hoping to take grade 8 flute in Autumn ... but that depends on whether i pass the grade 5 theory ...which might be a bit of a problem cause i'm having some trouble with compund time lol ! And I'm having to learn all the grade 8 flute scales from scratch because i'd never done any before . I'm looking forward to the challenge though .

The idea of a getting a ife is really good ... or you could always rent a flute for a couple of months . Most music shops let you rent it for a about 6 months and you pay for it .. and then if you decide to buy it ... the money you have paid renting it comes off the final price of the instrument .

Julie x

Yikes, poor you!

Be very good for your playing though, getting all those scales absolutely under your fingers really ensures you have the 3rd register fingerings hardwired into your brain

If you want some ideas on ways to learn and practice scales (and why ) check out this thread.

Which pieces do you plan to do? Or have you not finalised them yet?

Thanks Sarah-flute ! I'll have a look at that thread !

As for the pieces ... I was going to play Syrinx as one of them .. but i noticed it was off the syllabus And Goddard's Valse from Suite de trois morceux isn't on the syllabus anymore either ..

Just now I'm just covering lots of different grade 7/8 material and then i'll probs decide from that ..

Have you sat grade 8 flute ?

Julie

Hope you find it useful


Oh dear! Bit of a bind if those are two that you know . It will change at the end of this year I think, but if you plan do so it in the autumn that doesn't help much! One of the ones that isn't currently on there that I love is the Prokofiev Sonata 'sgorgeous


Sounds like a good idea - there's some lovely music around that level, so you might as well use the time to broaden your repertoire


Nope! I've only actually taken one flute exam ever - grade 4 almost a year and a half ago. I've had a look at some of the grade 8 pieces though... to play, I like the Bach in list A, & the York Bowen in B... but there are some lovely pieces I haven't been brave enough to try there too!

List A the Schubert is lovely, I just can't play it fast enough, and I like the Mozart too.

The Widor in list B sounds gorgeous (don't have the music - it's expensive! ) I also like the Martinu, the Taktak, and the Mouquet - haven't tried to learn any of them yet though! I quite like the Rutter too, but I think if I come to do grade 8, it's the kind of piece I would get sick of before I could play it well!

I don't know any of the studies, though I think I'd like to try one or two of the Telemann Fantasias, and both the Feld and the Piazzolla sound intriguing The Honegger is really popular, I don't know it though.

Oooh .. I'm going to buy some new music this week sometime so I'll try and have a look out for some of the pieces you've mentioned ! I could spend thousands on music and i already have boxfulls

Slightly off of the subject but .. I've just moved on to playing an open hole flute ... wondered if you had any suggestions of some good technique books ? i have the Trevor Wye ones .. which are really good !

I have the Rutter and i like it aa lot

I'm going to buy the the CD with the grade 8 pieces on it .. though i can't seem to find it anywhere

Julie xx

Me too


Anything in particular technique wise or just(!) finger technique?

Probably worth doing a search in viva woodwind for tehcnique and definitely worth starting a thread and asking for ideas, there are lots of v knowledgeable teachers who frequent the forum

Well just finger technique I'm having trouble playing at the same speed as i could on a closed hole flute ... my right hand 3rd and 4th fingers sometimes don't cover the holes completely .. but this is getting better now . And when playing the low C and B .. my fingers again sometimes don't cover the holes completely . Though all these problems will probabaly get better once I'm used to playing the openhole .

What pieces are you playing in your lesson just now ? ( sort of random but oh well )

Julie x

Once you're used to the openhole you'll be fine - I find closed hole flutes really weird to play on now!

Do you still have your plugs? Sometimes it's easier to put the plugs in on the problematic holes while you get absolutely used to the feel, and then take the others out. It seems to be the RH G and the LH F# (if you know what I mean) that cause probs for most people.

I don't have low B on my flute! Lucky you I think there are some exercises for strength & flexibility of the LH little finger in the Wye techniqe book?

I'll have a look through my stuff tomorrow, and think about starting a thread because people will see that who might not be reading this one.

I haven't had lessons in a while - my health is rubbish and my teacher lives on the other side of a town that's some miles away, so it's just not been any point. Need to sort one out after Easter though. She is fortunately very flexible with adult students!!

At the moment I have been having a go at the 2st movement of the Bach E major Sonata and a mess around with the 2nd movement (I learned the Siciliano for grade 6 but didn't do the exam in the end) - I have an ambition to eventually learn the whole thing, I'd like to be able to play a whole Bach Sonata.

Been trying to learn the York Bowen slow mvt, not spent enough time on it though. Was trying to brush up all those semiquaver bits.

Playing the middle movement of the Hummel D Major in the concert a week on Saturday should be OK but just not as happy as I could be with the higher/quietish and lower/louder bits, bleh!

Have been learning the first of the Schumann Drei Romanzen which is scrummy - eagerly awaiting the music to arrive for the other two.

Trying to think what else I have been playing recently... I have been just doing bits and pieces, not really concentrating on anything in particular - I need to get back into better practice habits I could probably list squillions of pieces I've done little bits of but those are the ones I can think of that I have been actually practising something like a reasonable amount!!!

Yep .. I still have the plugs but I've been told not to cheat and use them

I'll start a thread tomorrow sometime about some good technique books to buy

Ooooh I've played the Bach Sonata in G minor Tis' very good music . I bought this superb book and it has 5 or 6 Bach flute sonatas in it I had a quick run through the E major sonata when I bought the book .. one of the movements is in the grade 8 syllabus isn't it ??

I think I'll need to buy the York Bowen Sonata .. I've heard a lot of people say its fantastic !

Good luck with the concert on saturday !!!

I usually just wander from piece to piece , like you .

Julie x