Thank you! I'm glad you approve!

In the last year or so I added flute after playing clarinet and sax. The main adjustment in going from clarinet to flute is the embouchure. They are completely different. With practice and the help of a teacher, which I highly recommend, you shouldn't have any trouble. It will just take practice and concentration to adjust your embouchure as you change from one instrument to the other.

reading this thread has been quite interesting for me as I am a clarinetist and I have recently started teaching myself the flute, I have a good friend who plays the flute and I had a go on it about a month ago and I decided to try and teach myself, as many people have said the fingering is very similar to that of the second register of the clarinet but also very similar to that of the descant recorder, so I found myself thinking back 7 years to when I played the recorder.

My friend gave me her old flute as her mum bought her a yamaha, none of you mentioned the make of the flute she gave me and I was wondering if it was any good, I think it's a Sapphire, has anyone heard of this make.

And does anyone have any tips for me on how to go about teaching myself hte flute, I find the bottom D a bit on/off sometimes I can play it, sometimes I can't, any tips on that, and I can play up to a C# two octaves above by overblowing, is that right? and ant general tips would be much appreciated.

Well, for starters, I have never heard of Sapphire flutes. I would be wary simply due to the huge numbers of shoddily made instruments being imported these days that your flute might fall in the ranks of these less-than-high-quality instruments. Of course, the names of such instruments are innumerable and constantly changing, so it's difficult to keep track of them all....Anyone have a definite answer on where the Sapphires are from? Assuming it is a cheap Chinese import, chances are it's not a particularly good instrument, but as I have never encountered one, it's really impossible for me to say. The low register is quite often difficult for beginning flutists (in fact, some method books recommend to start them off in the second octave, go to the third, and then return to the first). With practice, it will come. Imagine that you are blowing downward more, and the notes should sound more easily. As for the second octave, overblowing will produce the same pitches, but there are some modified fingerings (namely be sure to lift your left index finger for D2 and Eb2). For a very useful fingering chart, check www.wfg.woodwind.org. As for general tips, if it's at all possible, I strongly encourage you to find a private teacher. There are so many things that you can learn improperly that work their way into habit and are terribly difficult to unlearn that a private teacher (even if only for a few lessons to get the basics) can help you with.

First Act flutes aren't half bad as long as you have a tech set them up properly. They are better then a lot of those off brands. I think the headjoint cut/design on them plays even better then the Yamaha ones myself. I bought one before because I was curious and did have to do some handy work to it to get it right. I posted about it some time back. I will see if I can find it.

Most likely everyone's experience is different but personally I feel the same way as that guy Leporello linked to. I played clarinet for several years at school and after a couple of flute lessons I realise, by comparison, how fiendishly difficult and wrought with annoyances the clarinet is. Although to be honest, I never really got to liking the clarinet all that much, anyway.

schoolgirl0125, I definitely don't think it's a good idea to try to learn clarinet on your own. At least not at first. For one thing, you could develop some really bad habits with your embouchure. I imagine that it would also be very difficult and disheartening.

kewlclarinet13, why would you want to stick with the clarinet if you don't like the sound of it? Sounds like you're not particularly enthused. Don't do what I used to be prone to doing and get stuck in a rut thinking that there is inherent virtue in "sticking with it", even if it is not for you.