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OUCH!! Tried a flute
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Has Achieved Nirvana
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For some unreasonable reason I wanted to learn to play a flute.
Ordered one and a couple of books. Watched some videos on how to form the embouchure.
Practice the embouchure sometime when you want to fell inept.
Got the flute and after a few days I got the flute sound for a bit.
The sound was extremely bright and penetrating. Had read that the sound of the modern flute had become too bright.
Shipped the flute back this morning.
Will try a simple wooden Irish flute. Should have written that I will continue to try my wooden flute.


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Several people have eaten my cooking and survived.

 
Posts: 25713 | Location: Still living at 9000 feet in the High Rockies of Colorado | Registered: 20 April 2005Reply With QuoteReport This Post
"I've got morons on my team."

Mitt Romney
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Get a teacher. Proper embouchure is the key, and a human guide is really helpful.

"Simple" and Irish flute don't always go together.

Take this, for example:

Patrick Olwell Flutes

We knew of him because he's here in Virginia and because youngest's Baroque flute instructor at Oberlin told us that he's the best!
 
Posts: 12541 | Location: Williamsburg, VA | Registered: 19 July 2005Reply With QuoteReport This Post
(self-titled) semi-posting lurker
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Recorder?

A nice wooden instrument usually sounds warmer, in my experience.


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Posts: 18564 | Location: not in Japan any more | Registered: 20 April 2005Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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I have a lot to learn. My embouchure is hit or miss, to put it mildly.

The flute I have is a maple tube with seven holes counting the embouchure. I call it the blow hole. It is an Irish Flute.

PD,
Thanks for the information on the Olwell flutes. Those look like flutes for the very skilled. Maybe some day.

Looks like I will not be replacing Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull fame or James Galway after all.


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Several people have eaten my cooking and survived.

 
Posts: 25713 | Location: Still living at 9000 feet in the High Rockies of Colorado | Registered: 20 April 2005Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Not for flute, but you gotta love the concept.


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“It's hard to win an argument with a smart person. It's damn near impossible to win an argument with a stupid person." -- Bill Murray

 
Posts: 13817 | Location: The outer burrows | Registered: 27 April 2005Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Was surprised to see that a lot of flute material referred to the blow hole as the embouchure.

Would like to thumb through the book of the embouchures of horn players.
I may never develop the proper embouchure for flute, some don't. Haven't quit yet.


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Several people have eaten my cooking and survived.

 
Posts: 25713 | Location: Still living at 9000 feet in the High Rockies of Colorado | Registered: 20 April 2005Reply With QuoteReport This Post
czarina
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Developing a good embouchure is not easy. I studied the flute as a kid and played up until college. In high school I practiced six hours a day and played in a local community symphony.

I remember my earliest attempts to develop an embouchere as very challenging. It would give me a terrible headache and I had to stop. I think because I was a kid and my father was a professional musician I didn't expect it to be easy.

I cannot imagine learning how to do this from a book, or even from videos. Take a few lessons from a teacher before you give up.


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fear is the thief of dreams

 
Posts: 21352 | Registered: 18 May 2005Reply With QuoteReport This Post
Shut up and play your guitar!
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Definitely seek out a teacher.
 
Posts: 13634 | Location: Wisconsin | Registered: 20 April 2005Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Thank you
Yes, have learned that a decent embouchure is a bi...
May have found a teacher. She teaches concert flute, not Irish. Will have to order another if I do that.
Time to assess.


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Several people have eaten my cooking and survived.

 
Posts: 25713 | Location: Still living at 9000 feet in the High Rockies of Colorado | Registered: 20 April 2005Reply With QuoteReport This Post
"I've got morons on my team."

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If you can master the blowing technique for a silver flute, you can play an Irish flute. It's just blowing across a hole ... the old coke bottle thing. Yes, I know there are differences, but if you master getting a decent sound from the silver flute head joint you can figure out the smaller hole of a wooden flute.
 
Posts: 12541 | Location: Williamsburg, VA | Registered: 19 July 2005Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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I had a small handful of Hall Crystal Flutes. They are one-piece flutes made out of borosilicate glass (Pyrex). I developed a functional embouchure, but I didn’t get much beyond that. I have many recorders and I also tried clarinet. What I have consistently found is that my breath is too moist to play wind instruments. Harmonica is right out, too. With the glass flutes, the moisture condenses in the flute and it sounds horrible very quickly. I sold them as a set on Craigslist.

I have a handful of Chinese flutes which are simple bamboo tubes, closed at one end with six or seven holes. I’ve had limited success with them.

The one flute I’ve had the best luck with is a quena. It’s an Andean flute that’s a simple tube with finger holes and open at both ends. The end you blow into has a small round notch so it works like the fipple on a recorder, but you form the rest of the mechanism with your lips. They say the only way you can play it is to smile.


Good luck with the flutes. They are lovely and portable.


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pj, citizen-poster, unless specifically noted otherwise.

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Posts: 30038 | Registered: 27 April 2005Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Saw an instructional flute video by Lizzo a while back. are you remembering to twerk while you play?
 
Posts: 10334 | Registered: 20 April 2005Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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quote:
Originally posted by Piano*Dad:
If you can master the blowing technique for a silver flute, you can play an Irish flute. It's just blowing across a hole ... the old coke bottle thing. Yes, I know there are differences, but if you master getting a decent sound from the silver flute head joint you can figure out the smaller hole of a wooden flute.


I think you are right. The number of decent notes I have sounded it too few for me to determine anything.

Yes, flutes are lovely and portable. I don't know why I like portable, I don't go anywhere.

The main problem with twerking while playing the flute is deciding which thong to wear. Watching Lizzo helps me make that decision.


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Several people have eaten my cooking and survived.

 
Posts: 25713 | Location: Still living at 9000 feet in the High Rockies of Colorado | Registered: 20 April 2005Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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Does “twerking” involve standing on one leg?

https://youtu.be/pqxwXla3-Bw

(Clearly, they were doing a Milli Vanilli in this one.)


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pj, citizen-poster, unless specifically noted otherwise.

mod-in-training.

pj@ermosworld∙com

All types of erorrs fixed while you wait.

 
Posts: 30038 | Registered: 27 April 2005Reply With QuoteReport This Post
czarina
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quote:
Originally posted by Piano*Dad:
If you can master the blowing technique for a silver flute, you can play an Irish flute. It's just blowing across a hole ... the old coke bottle thing. Yes, I know there are differences, but if you master getting a decent sound from the silver flute head joint you can figure out the smaller hole of a wooden flute.


if only it were "just blowing across a hole." It's not. It requires the development of facial muscles that aren't usually in use.


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fear is the thief of dreams

 
Posts: 21352 | Registered: 18 May 2005Reply With QuoteReport This Post
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