It was 6th grade when I got my first flute – a Bundy. $135.00 and brand new! I sat in the 4th seat back in the second row in Mr. Leavitt’s class. The flute sat on top of my desk after band that day and I kept peeking inside to look at the shiny new instrument in the beautiful blue velvet-lined case. I could hardly wait to get home to play with it after my first lesson with my trombonist band teacher, Mr. Myer. My Mother had insisted that I play in the band. I thought the glockenspiel would be the perfect instrument because it was laid out like a piano keyboard and that would be easy for me. No, that wouldn’t do – it had to be something else! Mr. Myer needed more flutes and said I had the perfect lips for the flute – so, the flute it was. (I really had imperfect lips for the flute, but he was right about my fast piano fingers and I’m truly glad that flute became my instrument.)
If you’re a flutist, do you remember how long it took to overcome the dizziness you experienced during your first attempts to blow the flute? No, I don’t either, but I think it was about 3 weeks. It’s easy to hyperventilate on the flute because only half our air actually goes into the instrument! Until we learn to focus and control the air, dizziness is just part of the game.
Probably the first question you want to ask another flutist is: ‘What kind of flute do you play?’ And the answer at least partially determines whether you rank this person as a comrade or competitor! If it’s gold or platinum, the brand will probably be preceded by the appropriate adjective, as well as whether it has open-holes, low B key, C# trill, split E, gold-riser in the embouchure, etc. Partly an ego-trip, but those features do truly determine the way the instrument handles and performs for the player. As with some car lovers, the search is always on for a more perfect union between human and machine.
I loved the flute as much as the piano and became equally adept at playing it. Of course it took away time from the piano, but the two complimented each other in many ways. Usually the piano is a solo venture while the flute is nearly always played in some kind of ensemble where teamwork and intonation are necessary to learn. These are generally not concerns of the budding pianist! For others who play both instruments, there is a novelty piece you really must try: Wilhem Popp’s “Bagatelle” is for flute (left hand) and piano (right hand) – that’s right, ONE performer! It is always a crowd-pleaser!
Dynamics are treated differently, too, just because of the nature of the instruments. Piano bass strings are longer, thicker and even wound with copper in comparison with the thin, shorter treble strings. Thus, bass notes on the piano are just naturally louder, but those beautifully vibrant sounds must not overpower the melody, which is usually in the treble. The flute, on the other hand, generally sings in the treble most easily and can become shrill, if not controlled and the lowest flute notes tend to be airy and soft. So – for an example – the pianist must slightly crescendo going up the keyboard to make the notes equal, whereas, the flutist must decrescendo slightly going higher and higher to make the notes seem equal and crescendo going downwards to try to match the tone quality throughout the registers.
Although playing the flute has brought me a lifetime of joy, there have been those moments when… well, I don’t think I have to explain – you can see the image of “First Flute” and come to your own conclusions. Luckily, each time I acquired a new flute, the joy was replenished and carried me through longer practice sessions to new levels of proficiency. Actually “First Flute” was inspired by the memory of my first real flute teacher telling me about his small son sitting on his flute which had been stretched out across the two arms of a chair. I don’t know if the flute was ever fixed, but I do know the son still lives!
From the Bundy I went to a Gemeinhardt going into college. As a flute minor, the expectation was that this would be my flute for life. HA! By my sophomore year, I was seeing the open-hole, B footed Haynes and Powell flutes all around me and soon just HAD to move up. By telling you that it was $600, you can only imagine how many decades ago that was! Years later when I was having TMJ problems, I thought that a thin wall model might help relieve stress in my jaw. Within a few more years, I just had to go back to the heavy weight Haynes because of the bigger sound I could produce. By this time, Lewis Deveau, owner of the Haynes company, had developed a much better “scale” to correct some intonation problems which had always plagued flutists, so I was doubly pleased to perform on this new instrument. For the professional flutist, it never stops there. We’re just like golfers who continue forever to seek out the newest design for a new putter – only our eternal search is for the perfect headjoint.
The headjoint is the top third of the flute into which we blow. It looks like the simplest part of the flute to make, but, in fact, it is probably the most difficult – and certainly, the most important. It can be of the same material as the body of the flute, or some completely different material – even wood. But, it must fit properly into the body and respond easily in any range of the instrument. Some flutemakers specialize in building headjoints.
And while we’re at the subject of specializations, there are some who specialize in manufacturing flute pads – and here, I have a recommendation: Straubinger pads are the greatest! When I moved to Florida 16 years ago, I had already been using the Straubinger pads for about 20 years. I had just purchased a new flute that did not have the Straubinger pads and the humidity in Florida just didn’t work with them. Finally, after getting the Straubinger pads, my flute would respond quickly again without an annoying wet, squishy sound from pads being released. Check out www.straubingerflutes.com and tell Dave and Joel I sent you!
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