I am not a flute player, my 9th grade son is.
He plays fluts since 4th grade.
He takes private lessons for more than 2 years.
He got reward for young artist competition and is in area symphonic band.
He is intersted in flute but won't take it as profession.

He is playing Azumi 2000 now and his teacher recommands to upgrade to powell signature since the current flute is holding him back.
He tries the powell and likes i.t

we are middle class family, the money is still an issue for us since we need to prepare for his college tuition and I think his high school years will be very busy later, I wonder if he has time to play.

Is powell signature worth the money?
Should I go for a cheaper model or upgrade the headjoint instead?

Even if he doesn't intend to play professionally, it sounds like he really enjoys playing and is quite good. A great flute is something he can keep for the rest of his life, and if he takes good care of it, even hand down to his own children one day. Does he intend to play in college? It could be really awesome for him to have a great axe in college. He will really enjoy having an instrument that won't hold him back - I didn't get a professional flute until I was in my 30's and my Armstrong really held me back in college. If I could go back and do it all again I would have sold an organ to get one! haha!

You could always get a used flute. It's more flute for less money. Besides, a new flute doesn't stay "new" for very long...

The Azumi is a wonderful flute and I would have no problem playing it for a professional gig myself. If he does not intend to make it his profession then I would say not to go and upgrade now unless your teacher is the one that wants to pay for it
You can always upgrade the headjoint since that is most likely the thing that is holding him back, not the flute unless it is in need of some kind of service. The Powell Signature is quite pricey for a middle class family to spend on, especially with the way the economy has been! Hope that helps!

Just to add something else. He may not even get along well with the Powell Signature series. I personally don't like the headjoint cut on them and they don't work for me. IF you do decide to go with another flute don't just limit yourself to the one brand that your teacher wants him to get. The teacher is not the one that will be playing it and have to like it. Just some food for thought.

I have to agree with Kera.

Azumi is a good flute. I would try different good handmade headjoints. If he decides later in high school that he wants to study flute in college, then I might consider getting a Powell.

Get him a nice headjoint but keep the headjoint that came with the flute in case you decide to sell the flute and keep the new headjoint.

I'm not familiar with Azumi, but it sounds like a good flute and these other folks may have the right idea. Is it possible for him to try headjoints on trial? It is such an individual and personal choice - a headjoint that makes one player just sing may not work at all for someone else.

The Powell Signature is a Powell, not a Sonare. I know.. it gets confusing sometimes!

You have already received several important opinions from people here that are truly experts, compared to my experience. I would however, add a few comments on my (limited) personal experience that I hope could be helpful.

1.- I do not think that one should buy "the flute for the life", particularly when the student is very young and may soon change interests or needs. Even for an older person like me, going through 2 or 3 upgrading steps was easier for the wallet and allowed me to get experience in how to choose and what to look for.

2.- With two years of private lessons probably a good intermediate flute could be enough for several years to come. If the flute is good and well cared for, it can later be resold at a high fraction of its original price, so this is a kind of investement more than an expense. Investing in our children is one of the best investments I can think of.

3.- I understand you live in USA, so you are lucky in that you can visit flute fairs and have him try many different flutes and if possibly, different headjont/body combinations. Also you have access to the try-before-buy system available at big distributors such as Flute World and others. So my suggestion is that you take profit of these facilities there; I wish I had had it here in Spain when I had to decide going from my upgrading step one to step two, but none was (is) available locally. (I finally bought a Yamaha YFL674 in USA but almost "blindly"). In my case, the step 3 will probably be upgrading the HJ but not in this moment, maybe in one year.

I'm already confused! AHH! THE VOICES!

You hear them too? And I thought it was only me. lol!!

Great advice Jose!

Thanks Kara. I do not quite get the meaning of the AH!! THE VOICES.

Hearing voices is usually not a good thing, unless they come from neighbors creeping through indecently thin walls. This happens here all the time and of course it is not a good thing either, particularly after midnight, but still it is better than hearing internal VOICES.

In my case, I think I more than compensate that nuisance at home with my flute practice. I suppose that for my closest neighbors, sometimes it can be worst than hearing any voice(s)...

Now that I have started with the intricacies of Piazzola etudes, with its 5, 6, 7 and 9th's tuplets, it must sound close like hellish music to them, I'm afraid.

A few things to add, trying to keep reality in perspective.

Agreed, so I am going to address some mistake in the above post.

I rather doubt that. At this level of flute (Azumi), by far the most limiting factor is likely to be the player, rather than the flute. To illustrate, this recording was played on a flute probably around 1/10 the cost of the Azukmi

It is an Azumi model that we are talking about, not Azukmi. If you do a google search Micron, you can find out more about this Azumi model. They are quite good. As such an experienced tech as yourself though, I am sure you have seen at least 100 of these by now.

Jose, it was a joke! The forum needs this from time to time. Sorry for having a sense of humor, I can't help it.

I'm joking too and I appreciate humor very much.

My question was direct, it's just that I was not getting the meaning of that joke, probably because of my language limitations or my being out of context, but it is not important!

From an engineering and physics perspective, a flute is basically a tube that creates a resonating air column. It's really not a lot different that a fancy version of a penny whistle.

As such, 90-95% of the sound is coming from the headjoint. Once the air column is created, all the body and keys do is basically adjust it to create different pitches. The fundamental tone(s) are largely unchanged.

Think of it as like a car exhaust - a V8 will always sound like a V8 despite the pipes attached to it. A Harley will always have that distinctive sound. The headjoint is essentially the all-important "engine" in a flute.

So the body and what metal it's made out of actually doesn't really matter nearly as much as the headjoint. This is a good thing as it changes the focus from "what hugely expensive flute do I need" to "what headjoint do I need that I can get sized to fit?". This can lower the cost down to well under $1000, or under $500 used. With a Powell headjoint, his current flute will sound about 90-95% like the same Powell. It's not an optimal solution, but it will work.

Many professional players(actually almost every one) has more than one headjoint, so it's a very common thing to do to improve the sound. Most of us are working(and all too often poor) as well, so we understand the value of pinching our pennies, just like you. $3000+ is a lot of money, to be honest. Most of us DO have such flutes, but that's because we play them for years or decades. For a student who's not sure, it's a bit overkill.

Have him try out several high-end flutes and find one that he plays well on and likes. Get that headjoint only. (obviously make sure it will fit - some flutes are really oddball diameters). Most flute dealers will gladly sell you just the headjoint if it's a normal production model.

"From an engineering and physics perspective, a flute is basically a tube that creates a resonating air column. It's really not a lot different that a fancy version of a penny whistle.

As such, 90-95% of the sound is coming from the headjoint. Once the air column is created, all the body and keys do is basically adjust it to create different pitches. The fundamental tone(s) are largely unchanged."


The problem with this example is that the flute does have an interaction between the different parts and as such it is only as good as the weakest link. For example:If the HJ cork is bad, then the whole thing will not function to it's optimum. If a key/pad is not functioning, then the best head joint in the world won't fix that problem. Which is where the problem with Micron's argument comes into play and where the law suit that First Act won against someone was flawed. So, sure someone can play a Telemann Fantasy pretty decently on a First Act flute (Bad recording quality BTW) the question that should be brought up is, how durable is the instrument in a school environment? This is where the quality of the body and mechanism comes into question. Playing that Telemann Fantasy in such a manner does prove that "a flute is basically a tube that creates a resonating air column." any flute is this. Of course the issue with that recording would be, now that we've heard this played on a First Act flute, lets hear the same person play their best on a Nagahara or a Powell~ pro model so that we have a reasonably accurate comparison.

And that the head joint is the engine of sorts. Sure the engine can modify the output but a question comes into play, is the engine enhancing the learning curve of the student or enabling the student to just sound better because it's making things easier for them?