hello everyone i have a few simple questions about the flute

is it difficult to self teach myself to play the flute?
i already play the trumpet, so is it a good combination?
i tried the clarinet and saxophone before ever considering the flute and it didnt go so well

One problem you might face (as far as I know...) is that in a trumpet you must stretch your lips (like in a smile) so you can have a vibration, just like the vocal chords.
In a flute it's exactly the opposite. You must completely relax the portions in the sides of your mouth. The upper lip muscles are the ones that work the most to promote direction in the air stream.
Although it can be tricky at first, maybe you have an aditional ease just because you would be doing completely different things.
Concerning clarinets and saxophones, the problem is that you must contract the sides of the mouth in a different way than in a trumpet. Maybe it's a little more difficult than as I said above.
But I have to say that I'm not the right person to give you advise, just because I play only the flute. There must be someone more experienced here to give you a better orientation.
good luck :-)

Forgot to mention that it's no good idea self teaching. The observation of a teacher is essential for you to succeed, yet it could make it work sooner.

I agree, without a teacher you will likely not make the progress you want and run into problems that would be easy to solve if someone showed you how to.

I do encourage you to try the flute! It is a nice instrument. I think you can learn the basics quite fast, but to really have control and to make it sound the way you want it to takes forever.

Why not try a teacher for the first six months and see if you like it? Or, if money is an issue, you can always have a lesson every other week, or maybe even once a month just as a check-up so that you are not teaching yourself any bad habits. Maybe there is a teacher that offers "buddy-lessons", so that you and another beginner share one time, which would reduce the cost and give you many duett opportunities. That is, if you have a friend that might consider learning the flute too.

This site has a lot of flute playing advice that might be useful:
http://www.jennifercluff.com/index.htm

I am afraid there may be some consensus that trumpet and flute are not best couple of instruments for doubling.

But as you already play the trumpet, trying with the flute would hardly damage your trumpet embouchure, though the opposite would not be true. I mean, if I played the flute, as I do, I would not try the trumpet (or trombones or the like).

I am also considering doubling (I must be completely crazy as I have not enough time for my present instrument) but I could choose the clarinet (though I do not like it too much) or the oboe, which I love but I believe it to be too difficult.

i play flute and clarinet (not clarinet seriously, just for a bit of fun and the occasional fill in part) but i have not damaged my flute embouchure one bit learning clarinet, it actually helped it, same thing goes for a lot of flute sax doublers(i know couple of them). the only thing you can do is give it a go, if you are at school see if the music department has a flute you can borrow for a week, but you should at least have your first one or two lessons with a teacher, but if you don't like it you can always give back the flute, but if you do and it has not damaged you trumpet playing in any way then buy yourself your own flute, (or if you don't go to school, or they don't have one you can borrow a lot of music stores rent flutes for around $20 a month)

Of course an opinion from Sir Galway must always be taken with the highest respect. But this may apply to him and some other people, but not necessary to all other player or student.

In any case there is a nice point here to debate and by the same token inject some freshness in our Forum. Just to it friendly.


<Added>

OOPS!
necessary --> necessarily

<Added>

just to --> just do

I'm mainly a bass clarinet player and I'm doing pretty well on flute (in my opinion). I learned it myself and I haven't had any problems yet except for my double jointed right pinky.

If you can't get a proper teacher (meaning one you would actually pay) you can at least get mini lessons from your flute friends. Some of you may not agree with that but it does help to get pointers. It really is a good idea to have a teacher but I sure didn't have a budget for two teachers. I don't think many people do unless they're seriously doubling.

I thought saxophone was an easier instrument to teach yourself because it's easier to hold and to get your first sound all you have to do is blow. Of course there's a learning curve for sounding good on that too.

thank you for the replies everyone

well you all certainly gave me alot to think about!!

2 days ago i managed to borrow a flute,and i've been trying it out non stop. its not going too bad the sound is better than i expected it to be, and i also managed to get most notes out!
i watched alot of videos on beginner tips, now my plan is to keep doing what im doing and if in 3-4 weeks in still keeping this up, i will go to a teacher (which isnt a problem for me), i just want to be sure that I AM going to learn the insturment first

thats cool, it is a great instrument, have fun learning, and if you ever need any help with things, you know where to ask

I play oboe and flute, and it's great. I'm not planning to be very serious about flute but I play in it my school's orchestra and around the community in chamber groups. It's really quite a fun instrument.