Hi everyone!

I'm aiming for grade 8 flute in the summer (*fingers crossed*), and my teacher has advised me to upgrade. My current flute is a Yamaha 211sii. I know people have said that it is possible to do grade 8 on a student flute, but my teacher says I am reaching the limitations of my current flute.

Can anyone give me some idea as to makes/models etc. that would be suitable to take beyond grade 8? I'm planning to go and try some out, but if I had a bit more of an idea before I went i think it would be really helpful....

Any help would be greatly appreciated.....Thanks!!

What is your budget? For under £2000 you are looking at a solid head flute by makers such as altus, muramatsu, sankyo and miyazawa all very well made flutes.
For £2000-3000 you can afford to get a solid silver tube flute with plated mechanism.

You probably wont need a flute with a solid mechanism.

Look for the good quality flute brands such as Altus, Miyazawa, Sankyo, Muramatsu and Powell.

I don't really know about other makes of flute, but i play a Trevor James Masters which my teacher decided was a pretty good flute (and better than hers which she did her diploma on). I absolutely love it!!!

You would definately be better off in the long term buying a make other than Trevor James. Generally the makes that I have listed are of the highest quality and will last many years with a high level of mechanical reliability.

I did my performance diploma on a 311iiGL and it was absolutely fine and I got it for about £600 if the ones sags suggested are out of your price range - it really depends on how you see your self as a flautist in a few years time - if its a hobby then the yamaha would be ok and they still have a reliable mechanism and it wont break the bank!

Alternatively if your resources are limited you could look at keeping the Yamaha body (as long as you've kept it in good condition with regular servicing etc.) and upgrading the headjoint. For £500-£1000 you could get yourself an excellent headjoint, and there are many to try.

So many options... what's your budget? If you're looking at under £1000, you're likely to be limited to a headjoint upgrade to a solid head and a body equivalent to the 211 (although as AinC says, you could buy the headjoint and keep your 211 body), but for £1000-£2000 there are lots you can try! When I upgraded from my Yamaha 311 (that's the 211 body with the solid headjoint), I tried the Miyazawa 302, Sankyo 201E, Mateki 021 and Jupiter Di Medici 1011 and bought the Miyazawa. Others to consider are the Altus907 and 1007, Pearl Elegante, Powell Sonare and Yamaha 574/674. The Mateki 031 and various Muramatsu models are also big ones to consider if you have more than £2000 to spend!

Are you at a non-private school/sixth form? If so, consider buying it through the Assisted Purchase Scheme - when you're talking this amount of money, it saves a lot!

Thanks very much everyone for all your help!

I'm looking in the region of £1000-£2000ish, but preferably less than £1500. I'll have a look out for those models that's a big help thank you!

Soph - I am at a non-private school and I have heard of the scheme - is there any chance you could tell me a bit more about it? Thanks!!

In that price range, the two flutes you should definitely try are the Miyazawa 101 and the Altus 807. Most of my students have found they have a strong preference for one or the other of those, as the two flutes are very different. Don't write off secondhand flutes either; I recently bought a Muramatsu EX in excellent condition for £1500.

For information about assisted purchase the basic rules are on this page.
If you put 'assisted purchase' in google you might find your own LEA.

I've just seen the yamaha 411 on the internet which has a silver head and body, but is still a reasonable price.

Anyone know what these are like?

Again, thanks for your help!

They are OK, but not the best you can get for the money in my opinion. I usually describle them as similar to a higher level Ford car, whereas Miyazawa and Altus are more like lower end Mercedes. With the latter two makes you are getting the bottom end product from professional flute manufacturers. The Yamaha 411 is really not much more than a solid silver version of the 211 - the cost is in the material rather than the workmanship.

I'm having a similar dilema over the 211 flute as I'm planning to do grade 8 flute within the year. I may go as far as first diploma but certainly no further. It's likely I would do grade 8 on the 211 but I'm looking into the 311, which I know people have got quite far on. Also as I now teach flute and my 211 is quite old I want something better for demonstrating in lessons.

Does anyone have solid advice on the higher Yamahas (but below £1000), or similar like the TJ Virtuoso?

As for the Yamaha's, i have found the 311 and 411 to be very similar. There is a slight improvement in tone moving up from the 211 and 311, but not as significantly as a 211 plus handmade headjoint might offer.
I played the 500 series a few years back which i thought was a great flute, built well with a nice EC headjoint, although i think it is around £1500.

Trevor James flutes are better as you go down the range, the student flute is easy to play. Overall I'm not sure about the design, they just look very cheap and the mechanism isnt favourable over other brands. Have played the cantabile - nothing special.

I've been doing some research on the models suggested (very helpful - thank you!)

Yamaha 500 series looks good (AinC - does this still count as a Ford? I like the analogy it's useful )
I also came across the Altus 907.
Opinions on these?

Thanks again!

The biggest influence on a flute is the headjoint. Any of the solid head flutes that have been mentioned have a factory made head - you could be lucky & get 1 that plays well or not so lucky & get a mediocre headjoint albeit a solid one. A hand made headjoint on a decent reliable student/intermediate body will be the way I personally would choose to go - you could look for a secondhand flute (miyazawa/altus/sankyo -or something similar) & then try different handmade headjoints. Or put a good headjoint on your current Yamaha.

Top wind give you the option of buying any of their flutes without the headjoint so you can pick one out yourself, so you could go for a cheaper yamaha solid body and pair it with a better headjoint - they have a good selection.

Musical K - I have a Yamaha 574 if you have any questions about it

I liked my 311, my flute teacher has a 411 and I wouldn't upgrade from a 311 to a 411. Maybe have a look at the Jupiter Di Medici? Better than the 311 and I preferred it to the 411 too but it's not quite as good as the Miyazawa/Altus etc. I upgraded from my 311 before doing grade 8 - there's no reason why you couldn't take one to grade 8 or diploma, but maybe look into the Di Medici and the Sonare too.