Sorry for mentioning you could be not following the thread. I am glad to read that you were, although, as is frequent in these Forums, it may sometimes go a little astray, but usually it comes back to the main subject.

I am sure your decision will be the best for your family and your child.

I wish you all good luck and success.

Hi Coomom

I was interested to read your comments about not being near any good flute shops. I have the same problem living in Leeds, UK, and it's likely that if my pupil does decide to buy new, we're going to have to make a trip to London and the rail fares are pretty pricey - probably something like £100 each, but set against a £2000 flute it's not much money.

I'd still say the most important thing is having a good range of instruments to chose from, so it may be worthwhile making the journey if you're going to spend several thousand dollars on a flute. I'm sure people on this forum could recommend some good ones (and some of them are vendors themselves.

I take your point about some flutes playing in, but if it doesn't say something to you when you're trying it for the first time, it's probably not going to.

Given the comments you've seen on this forum about flutes from the same manufacturer being very different from each other, you'll never be quite sure whether you've bought a dud or not, and neither will your son. At least if he's tried from a group, he'll identify one he thought was the best.

Good idea to suggest he pays for half of it, too! I also agree that a good flute can make a mediocre player better - flutes are very sensitive to padding problems which can be difficult to detect but are also unlikely to occur on a new flute.

As a final caution, if you're trying to buy from a shop and the vendor knows you won't be able to compare it to others, there is a small chance they may send you one that nobody else likes, for instance if they had two Powells, and one was much better than the other (not every vendor would do this, I hasten to add). There's a lot of individual taste involved, but there are also some flutes that most people don't like.

So really, try to find a way that he can chose a flute from a good selection, even if it means travelling a long way to do it. Not just for the best instrument, but for your peace of mind.

Best of luck

I like Bilbo's point of protection? Perhaps he should keep a professional at home, and use it fo testing or auditions only?

True. Anderson isn't the best master of the instrument that I can think of by a long shot. But I did find it interesting that his early stuff was all on student level flutes. That does show that you can perform professionally on almost any flute if you have a decent amount of talent. I've heard hundreds of better musicians all playing on various midrange flutes over the years. And a few that have more expensive ones of course. But it clearly was more about the skill than the instrument. I suspect Galway could make a cheap wood recorder sound fantastic.

Generally speaking, the flute as a tool is pretty much beyond the level of most people to get a better sound out of at that point. Even I, with a different headjoint, only managed to get a different sound - not a better one. Kind of like playing an electric piano. You can fiddle with the sound settings but it won't make you play any better - just differently. Of course, I like the sound of a conical bore(wood), so to me it was a good decision. Same as how I don't really like piano but do like organ.

Oh - on the subject of the tours. No, he mostly did the work himself between stops, commenting that he'd often have parts from two or three flutes by the end all cobbled together into one that was playable. So there is *some* raw talent there, evidently. Try touring with three beat up old ex marching band flutes... Heh.

I am still wondering why an Azumi would be holding a 9th grader back.

Granted, it might not be really "The" perfect flute for him, and you could really only find out by having him play lots of different flutes. But at this stage, an Azumi in good condition should not be holding him back.

So that leaves me thinking there is a problem with the flute- either
1)The flute is out of adjustment, maybe it needs new pads, and it simply can't respond fast enough- maybe there are leaks that he is compensating for by pressing the keys really hard (which can further deteriorate the pads or the adjustment). When you have to blow harder, or press keys harder to make a note sound, you will lose nuances of tone as well as losing speed in your technique.
2)The "hand-carved headjoint made by Altus" is a dog, and should have been melted down rather than sold as an Azumi- which is essentially an Altus headjoint with a more inexpensive body. These "big name" flute companies have a good deal going- Powell has Sonare', Haynes has Amadeus, and the list goes on. But some of us have noticed that while one Sonare is a fantastic flute for the price, and it DOES respond like a Powell, there are others that just aren't that good.

I recently played two Amadeus flutes. Haynes hand carves the headjoints and puts them on a nice but inexpensive flute body. One HJ was sweet, fairly responsive, even, not great in the low range. The other HJ was not as good up high, but really rich in the lower octaves. I looked carefully at the embouchure holes and was SHOCKED by what I saw. The first one, paired with the solid silver flute, was fairly oval, and quite symmetrical. The second one (paired with the silverplate body) was simply weird- it was oval on one side, more square on the other, and the overcutting bevel was really uneven. It looked to me like someone had made a series of mistakes, and did a terrible job. However, the headjoint played well, and that is what ultimately matters.

So I think that some of these 'hand-cut' headjoints on these flute lines (Sonare, Amadeus, Azumi) might have been a)training for the people learning to cut headjoints for the expensive flute lines of the same company (Powell, Haynes, Altus) or b)not good enough to go on the expensive flutes, but good enough not to melt down.

In conclusion, I would advise:
1) A complete Clean, Oil, Adjust service by a good FLUTE technician. A band-instrument repair tech might not be good enough. (A few are, some aren't.) If you should need to sell the Azumi to buy your son a new flute, you'll want to get the Azumi in good condition first anyway.

2)If that doesn't fix things, find a new Powell headjoint to stick in the current flute body. He has already responded well to one Powell, you may be able to find another.

If you can't find a Powell HJ that agrees with him, there are others to try. A headjoint alone has many fewer mechanical susceptibilities in comparison to the whole flute; a used HJ might need a new cork but it probably won't need a $350 overhaul/repad job, so buying one off an internet source is not too risky a procedure, as long as you can have a trial period.

In any case, if your son needs a more responsive flute you can probably get him a Yamaha 300 or 400 series body, and a pro headjoint (a Powell, if that's what floats his boat) for $1750 or less.

I have three handcut headjoints, a Prima Sankyo NRS-1 that cost $750 new, a Miyazawa MZ-5 that cost $350 used, and a wood Powell that cost a lot more. They all play beautifully in my Pearl 501 silverplated student flute, or my Yamaha 881 silver handmade flute.

what i still dont get is why a high schooler, who isn't going to pursue flute in college or higher, would need a "better" flute???

most of the kids in the high school I went to - which has one of the best music programs in the state of Michigan - played on student Gemeinhardts! Didn't mean that they couldnt play some hefty music or score high ratings for their solo work... It just meant that there was no reason to spend $5000 or more on a flute that would get banged up in band class (because kids are mean. I once had my Muramatsu DS kicked off stage because of a mean girl) just so they can say "i have a better flute than you"

I'm in college as a performance major and I still see some of my fellow studio mates playing on Jupiter flutes and such.

I played a Gemeinhardt 3SHB throughout High School (and still do). It may not be the best flute, but it took me through All State and I was much better on it than some of the other girls (there weren't any boy flutists in my school) in my band that had much more expensive flutes. As far as I've read it seems the Azumi is a superior flute to my 10 year old Gemeinhardt and I would think that it would work just fine. Most 9th graders are upgrading to some type of open hole, not professional.

I suppose if its an upgrade or a side step entirely depends on where they started. Most everyone that I started with in elementary school had a nickel flute. And so, the purchase of an open hole made of silver is an upgrade. Of course, if you started with a better beginner flute, it is more of a side-step.

But we digress from the original purpose of the thread.