Just wondering which the most popular one is, and how many other flautists there are out there!

Hi Jade I play the flute.

YES- another flautist! What grade are you on?

Hi Jade I did my Grade 8 twenty two years ago, OMG was it really that long ago. I carried on having lessons and at one time was probably Diploma standard but I don't play too much now as I am too busy learning the piano so I am not as good as I used to be.

I play flute (badly), and oboe

I play clarinet, and am trying to teach myself flute

Bring on the saxophones!

QUOTE (Katet @ Jul 5 2004, 06:08 PM)

Bring on the saxophones!

Bring on the saxophone teachers

I voted for clarinet and 'other' (recorders) as the poll said 'instruments' but I noticed as I clicked to vote that the clarinet one had gone blank again. It should be possible to vote for more than one in this sort of poll!

I tried voting for recorder as "other" too and it didn't seem to take!
The poll didn't seem to take multiple instruments.

I put clarinet but I play sax as well.

well i voted for clarinet but i also play sax, flute and recorder

I play bassoon and Im gonna take a G5 exam this yr..
Im thinking if im capable to take G7 bassoon 'n G8 piano nxt yr.
Anyone else play bassoon either or other lower woodwinds?

QUOTE (Emma C @ Jul 5 2004, 05:32 PM)

I play flute (badly)

im sure you dont lol!!

QUOTE (Mr. Curious @ Jul 7 2004, 04:08 PM)

Anyone else play bassoon either or other lower woodwinds?

don't take this the wrong way but i hate the bassoon! i dont know why i just can't stand it!

QUOTE (clarinetlover @ Jul 9 2004, 09:56 PM)

QUOTE (Emma C @ Jul 5 2004, 05:32 PM) I play flute (badly) im sure you dont lol!!

I do!

Matter of opinion really, isn't it, I mean to a begginer on flute (and it was only the other day I realised how awful begginers sound- how my parents put up with me... (no offense to beginners)) you would sound wonderful I'd guess, but in conparison with you first instrument, you think you play badly.

Then again, it could just be the flute, I had a long, quite heated debate with a friend of mine recently, who insisted her playing was dreadful because her tone was nowhere near as nice as mine, which ended with me thrusting my flute in her direction, sayin "try this". She couldn't believe the difference, and is now saving frantically for a silver headed flute!

Another convert!

Why do people always put themselves down??

i play clarinet and oboe, but have only just started oboe and am g7/8 clarinet so i voted clarinet

QUOTE (tamsin @ Jul 11 2004, 11:29 AM)

Then again, it could just be the flute

It could be the flute - it is very old and a little battered... I taught myself because I wanted to play in the church music group, so never really got to play any 'serious' stuff, and haven't played for years. So it is pretty bad!

Then I fell in love with the oboe, taught myself that for a couple of years, and had lessons. I just adore the oboe, even if it is hard! But I'd love to play cor anglais and bassoon, and simply can't afford it (nor the time!).

i cant even get a sound out of the oboe!!!!

QUOTE (clarinetlover @ Jul 12 2004, 09:44 PM)

i cant even get a sound out of the oboe!!!!

Ok.... point taken!

However, Nat if you had the right reed I'm am convined that anyone could get a note out of the oboe. I have reeds here that are next to useless to me - I bought them to try out when I was looking for a good reed. I can't get a note out of them now, or they are too much hard work to play for any length of time. But now I've found a good one, Mozart sounds much better!

And with practice you will sound less like a painful duck - it's just to do with air escaping where it shouldn't. It may not be you at all - it could be a bad reed!

But then you know all about having the right reeds....

By the way, I've often wondered, but never dared ask, why do clarinettists spend so much time not just getting a good reed but having different mouthpieces? Flute heads I can understand.... and why different widths of reed as well as strength? Just curious!

No idea!

And people wonder why I chose to play the flute, no faffing around with reeds, no fussing about head pieces (until later on)...

Although actually (remember I was 10), I think it was more, Clarinet looked too like a recorder (which I'd been playing for years) other instruments were too expensive, flute was a 'pretty' silver colour, and my mum wouldn't let me learn the viola- what I really wanted to play (but that was only cause my best friend wanted to play violin, and I thought we could duo together!)

I play clarinet and flute. I am trying to teach myself to play oboe but it's not working quite to well.



Chelly

Yay- lots of flautists!!!!

i dont play a woodwind instrument but flutes seem 2 b really popular! except in my skool orchestra of course where our only flautist has left!
jess

QUOTE (nutter @ Jul 16 2004, 05:53 PM)

except in my skool orchestra of course where our only flautist has left!

I'm the only flautist in my school orchestra. you can't even hear me cos there's loads of brass players, a few clarinets, a violinist and the drums!

QUOTE (clarinetlover @ Jul 10 2004, 05:58 AM)

QUOTE (Mr. Curious @ Jul 7 2004, 04:08 PM) Anyone else play bassoon either or other lower woodwinds? don't take this the wrong way but i hate the bassoon! i dont know why i just can't stand it!

Well, I agree dat bassoons sound a bit bizzare.
And it's not easy to do double tongue, flutter tongue....
....in short, it's troublesome, but challenging!!

I cant believe how many people play the flute its great! Here you can have some of our flutists we have about 20! We are the biggest section! Great fun mind u we still cant play louder than the trumpets!

QUOTE (Emma C @ Jul 5 2004, 05:32 PM)

I play flute (badly), and oboe

Emma C,

I also play oboe and flute. I have just done my grade 8 oboe exam and started playing flute for 1 month. I find that I feel very dizzy when playing flute, do you know why? I use the 'wrong airway"?

Hi Winnie,

No, I don't know why that would be, though it is a different breathing technique, and I guess uses more air.

Which pieces did you do for your oboe exam? I've never done any, but I'm looking at the Mozart concerto kv314 at the moment - that makes me hyperventilate in a few places if I'm not thinking about my breathing properly. I'm not playing it up to speed yet either, which doesn't help... wonderful piece though. Any other recommendations?

Dizziness when playing the flute, particularly among beginners, is really common and nothing to worry about! Even now, after playing for 5 years, I still get my moments, if I've been playing for some time and its warm.

The expalnation I was given for this, was that the flute is the only woodwind (except piccollo etc, of course) where the mouth piece gives no resistance, this means that you blow out more air to play it, than with other instruments, and of course, if you're blowing out more air, your brain can get a bit short of oxygen, and you get dizzy.

I dont know exactly how accurate that explanation is, but the only way I find round it is time, during which you get used to breathing enough to prevent the oxygen debt, or playing sitting down, which helps a lot~ just be careful when you stand up again!

Hi Emma C,

My grade 8 oboe exam: List A - Albinoni, List B - Britten first 2 movements, List C - J.s. bach, all these 3 pieces are not difficult. Comparing to Mozart K314, they are easy!!!!!

I just start working on K314, my teacher said it's one of the pieces of ATCL, I haven't checked the syallbus.

hi tamsin,

thank you.

I play the clarinet, oboe, flute, and recorders - so I didn't know which box to tick either!

Cat

Hey I play Flute and Clarinet but Flute is by far the best!!!!!!
Alex
xxxx

flute is not the best!! SAX IS!!!

So, Natalie - will you be changing your forum name to 'Saxlover'?!

Viva la FLUTE!!!!!!!!!!

lol!!

but i play the recorde and pennywhistle too:)

QUOTE (jo.clarinet @ Aug 21 2004, 01:37 AM)

So, Natalie - will you be changing your forum name to 'Saxlover'?!    :lol:

...very confused...

--------------------
~tremolololo~

Natalie used to just be called Natalie, then she changed her forum name to Clarinetlover because she liked clarinet best. Now she likes sax best, so......

well im not suer if the administrators would let me change my name AGAIN!!!!LOL

but if ur reading this administrators...................................

QUOTE (Emma C @ Jul 13 2004, 07:45 AM)

By the way, I've often wondered, but never dared ask, why do clarinettists spend so much time not just getting a good reed but having different mouthpieces?

Hmm I'll assume that wasn't a rhetorical question.

There are three parts to a mouthpiece - the mouthpiece itself, the ligature (the bit which holds the reed on) and the reeds.

1) The mouthpiece - mouthpieces have different tip openings - the wider the harder it can be to get a note out, but the easier it is to do things like bending the pitch. They also have different baffles (curves on the inside) which change the sound and also the bore (the tunnel down the middle) can be different widths. They can also be plastic, ebonite or metal (and there's a lot of differnt metals) each one has it's own tone. It's far more confusing than the simpler "silver is better than nickel" in flutes

2) The bigger the ligatures surface area, the stronger the grasp on the reed and the better it is.

3) Reeds are more confusing. They're not different widths though on the same instrument - all clarinet reeds in this country tend to be the same width, although a few countries use mouthpieces of a different width. Different reeds use different quality materials, some are even made of plastic or covered with plastic to make them sound different. Each reed is cut differently and has different amounts of wood, and some are thicker than others, while others keep the thinner part of the reed for longer before reaching the part of the reed you put the ligature over.

For example of the differences:
On the clarinet I have a single mouthpiece which covers jazz and classical work very well. For classical work I use one set of reeds, and for jazz I use another set of reeds. For work when I don't have a chance to prepare (i.e. a lesson when I'm not in the mood to use the sax) I put on a synthetic plastic reed.

On the saxophone I have 3 mouthpieces. Although one is a backup, I have an ebonite one for classical work, which I use with two sets of reeds, for pure classical or slightly jazzy classical. the metal mouthpiece is very loud, and I use this with one reed for light jazz and small group jazz, one reed for solos and performances when I need to stand out, and another reed in jazz bands.

I also choose all my setup to make sure i have a dark sound, as bright sounds irritate me, and it's never good when you can't stand your own playing.

As you can see, the setup changes the sound of the instrument. I don't believe that non-single reeded woodwind and brass instruments are quite as versatile as the single reeds, in terms of sound, just by changing a tiny part of the instrument.

I admit my explanation is very brief and I could go into this in much more detail but I'm certain you wouldn't want me too

QUOTE (jo.clarinet @ Aug 21 2004, 02:38 PM)

Natalie used to just be called Natalie, then she changed her forum name to Clarinetlover because she liked clarinet best. Now she likes sax best, so......

I think I know this already because of the Web Site forum...........

If you do try to change it, KEEP IT LIKE THAT!

--------------------
~tremolololo~

FAO David Music:

I have a Ligaphone clarinet ligature (not the gold sort) and it is excellent, it gives a good dark sound. I would recommend it!

Cat

QUOTE (DavidMusic @ Aug 21 2004, 06:19 PM)

Hmm I'll assume that wasn't a rhetorical question.

No it wasn't a rhetorical question!

Thanks for all that. I'm glad that it is just a little simpler with the oboe reeds, but if I was making my own.....

I play the oboe too so bring on the oboists!!!
It's good to know that the Mozart K314 is still going strong in the syllabus and yes it is also on the diploma LCM syllabus!!!

bassoons are great! contrabassoons are even better!

Bassoon and Flute

Bassoon is cool! I would like to play contrabassoon...

Ceri

so would i! think i'd better stop taking up instruments now though...

I play the flute and oboe too. (It seems like a popular combination). Though I've recently become obsessed with the baroque oboe so as soon as my teachers found an instrument I'm going to learn!