The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #84521   Message #1560630
Posted By: Kaleea
10-Sep-05 - 04:57 PM
Thread Name: Flute stuff
Subject: RE: Flute stuff
The above info from Papa Blues sounds great! It warms my heart to know that there are some great Music programs offered out there.

I started out in 5th grade on an old used leaky armstrong flute. I didn't know for a few years till I played another girls' flute that I was almost blowing my brains out just to get a sound.
   You will need to get a non-folk music type flute--the kind you see people playing in an orchestra (not an open hole flute). The most important thing I can suggest is to
    ****find a good quality flute!****      Used is fine if it was a good one to start with & is working OK! Sadly, what they are selling & renting nowadays as "student" instruments should be considered cruel & unusual punishment. The brand name is not that important, as most every instrument company sells pro to student lines, and you can spend a couple hundred or $40,000-$50,000! Even the "good" flute brands make garbage now & call it a "student" flute. Ask everyone you know, & strangers on the street if need be, if they have a decent flute you can beg, borrow or buy. Find a flute player/instructor & ask them if they know of any shops with good flutes at reasonable prices which you can find in your area--also ask them to assess any flute you find. As an educator, this is something I have always been willing to do for anyone-potential student or no. Sometimes you can put up a notice on the bulletin board of the Music dept. at a local college that you are looking for a good used instrument & some starving Music student might sell you their 2nd instrument. Ask them how far along in their playing years they were when they got it (beginner in 5th or 6th grade, highschool?). Ask them to play it for you. Take your daughter, and ask them to show your daughter how to play just using the head, or mouthpiece portion of the flute, and maybe then the whole flute.
Ask the Band instructor to suggest a good private flute teacher. Often you can find a local college student-Flute major-to give lessons. Be careful of local those who'll "teach beginners only." Often they don't know what they are doing, & cannot properly teach the all important, basic flute embouchure (what ya do with yer mouth when ya blow).
    Good Luck!