My flute is the Yamaha Advantage, and it's the "beginner". But my band teacher told us that we needed the "Nickel Flute", also known as the "Intermediate". He says it will give us a better sound faster. I am quite attached to my flute and I've never given away any of my instruments before (but it really wouldn't be "Giving Away". Just trading).

Do I have to have an Intermediate Flute if I'm going to just play for the rest of 8th grade, through highschool, and maybe in College?

No!

Your flute is better than a Nickel plated flute. Your band director must not know much about flutes. You don't need open holes. A lot of people have nickel allergies. In my opinion, nickel plated flutes are not as good as silver plated flutes.

Yamaha makes great flutes. Read most of the threads about flutes on this forum. You will see the name Yamaha come up many times as one of the best brands of flutes.

I am currently a music major, though in performance, not education.

The music ed majors are required to take "tech classes" in woodwinds, percussion, brass, voice, and strings. They have 3 weeks to learn an instrument. I feel that they SHOULD NOT be teaching kids how to play an instrument when they can barely play it themselves.

In short, your band director knows hardly anything about most of the instruments. They are probably quite good on their primary instrument, decent on their secondary instrument, and they can probably fake piano and carry a tune. However, if an instrument is not their primary or secondary, they don't know too much about it. If anyone says they can play "all the instruments," they probably aren't very good on most of them.

You can get through high school playing the flute you have. If you want to play in college, you need to wait and ask the flute instructor for advice.

If you just want to get an open hole flute to have one, go for it. I advise you to keep your current flute for marching band. Many flutes have been destroyed during marching band. I would stick with Yamaha, Sankyo, Haynes/Amadeus, Muramatsu, Powell or a few others for my next flute if I were you. If you are going to buy another flute make sure it is a good one.

But you really don't NEED another flute.

tbflute wrote:

I feel that they SHOULD NOT be teaching kids how to play an instrument when they can barely play it themselves.

Strange attitude and uninformed statement...
Teaching kids to play an instrument is PRECISELY the definition their job. If it were not for your band directors, you wouldn't know how to play the flute.

Evanegeline wrote:

But my band teacher told us that we needed the "Nickel Flute", also known as the "Intermediate".

Perhaps you misunderstood your teacher. Ask him/her to clarify.

An intermediate flute is not essential, but may make progress a little bit easier. It really depends upon how serious you are about playing the flute. Also, if you study privately, ask your private instructor for recommendations.

"Do you get your sports teams coached by people who have barely played the game?"

I think this is quite a good statement. Esp. with oboe you need someone who can actually play oboe to teach you oboe.

No matter which instrument you choose to learn at schhool in my country, you will be taught by an accomplished player of that instrument, often one who does "itinerant" teaching from school to school. Many of these are professional musicians who are part time teaching at schools.

That's a great way to do it, but in the U.S., the students do not typically receive that level of instruction. Here, a beginning band class typically has a single teacher and all instruments are taught in the same class at the same time - not ideal, but that's the way it is. Regular, individual instruction of any particular instrument, is typically available only through private lessons at the student's expense. If the student can't afford private lessons, the school music teacher/band director is the only instrument instruction they receive - not fair, but that's the system. A few localities may do more, but those are the exception.

"The music ed majors are required to take "tech classes" in woodwinds, percussion, brass, voice, and strings. They have 3 weeks to learn an instrument. I feel that they SHOULD NOT be teaching kids how to play an instrument when they can barely play it themselves."

Wowee!!, they have upped it 50% since I was in univ.!!
No matter, they really aren't trained well in the instruments. Relative to a flute major, they have a fleeting knowledge of flute and generally get their post-bachelor's information from....other band directors, students, and store owners.

So,

1)They should refer the teaching of the specifics of teaching instruments to private teachers.

2)They should refer the equipment choices to private teachers.

3)Without opening up a big can of worms, we in the US who have a band mentality will have a difficult time competing with international musicians as long as we perpetuate some myths that are persistent in our public ed systems regarding instrumental teaching.

4)Remember that in these three weeks of Univ. training on any one specific instrument, these music, ed. students/potential band directors may be more equipped and motivated to learn more than the average beginner student in Pub. Ed. but it is still three weeks of training. This often does not give them any time to understand or fully develop coordination and necessary muscles required to function and therefore they are in fact teaching something that they really can't fully understand. Consequently the vast amount of learning that they need for teaching band will often come if and when they actually get a job in the field.

So, as a subtle suggestion that you can take or leave, if you want to learn to play your flute well, get the best teacher on that instrument that you can find or that you can can afford, listen to that person, ask questions and practice the flute that you have as much as you are able.

~bilbo
who BTW has a B.M. in Mus. Ed and an M.M. in Fl perf.

4)Remember that in these three weeks of Univ. training on any one specific instrument, these music, ed. students/potential band directors may be more equipped and motivated to learn more than the average beginner student in Pub. Ed. but it is still three weeks of training. This often does not give them any time to understand or fully develop coordination and necessary muscles required to function and therefore they are in fact teaching something that they really can't fully understand. Consequently the vast amount of learning that they need for teaching band will often come if and when they actually get a job in the field.

A story that relates to this.

I am back in school and I sit in front of the practice rooms and study when I am not in class. Some of the "noises" coming out of the rooms from the student's trying to learn to play the basics on the instruments are hysterical. One young man asked me what he was doing wrong when he was trying to get a clarinet to play. I told him that I play the flute, not the clarinet. He should ask the person who plays the clarinet. He was told to try a softer reed and there was an improvement. But he is in his last week and he can barely play a scale.

I agree that the band director should ask the professional for recommendations for instruments.

I was asked by a client what kind of French Horns are good. I immediately called a friend who plays for the symphony and got a good answer. I had no idea what was good and the horns I would have thought would be good, were not the ones he recommended.

Always ask a pro.

relative to this, in the past two years I've had two adults ask me for beginning guidance for band directors. One who actually is working in the field and one who was a student in the "methods class". Neither of them followed up on actually taking a lessons because it was not considered all that important to them.

Also relative to the Univ. level classes, the instructors aren't even often the private instructors on the respective instruments. So even when they have what one would consider the top "Pro" in residence of a univ., they may not care to use them for educating band directors.

~bilbo
N.E. Ohio

1)They should refer the teaching of the specifics of teaching instruments to private teachers. 2)They should refer the equipment choices to private teachers.

I agree in principle, however, in reality, that's not always possible. I taught in a very small county school system. There were only three band teachers: one middle school, one jr. high, one high school. No other private teachers were available without driving 50 miles or more. The economics of that area were such that many couldn't afford private lessons even if they had been available. I also ended up doing a lot of repair work for my students because there were no shops within 50 miles either.

3)Without opening up a big can of worms, we in the US who have a band mentality will have a difficult time competing with international musicians as long as we perpetuate some myths that are persistent in our public ed systems regarding instrumental teaching.

No doubt! In the U.S., many (but not all) school music programs are treated as the ugly step-child. Music and the arts are often the first to take a hit during a budget crisis.

4)Remember that in these three weeks of Univ. training on any one specific instrument, these music, ed. students/potential band directors may be more equipped and motivated to learn more than the average beginner student in Pub. Ed. but it is still three weeks of training. ... Consequently the vast amount of learning that they need for teaching band will often come if and when they actually get a job in the field.

That last statement is essential. Good teachers are developed through experience. Univ. training and classes only show the way and get them started on the right path.

So, as a subtle suggestion that you can take or leave, if you want to learn to play your flute well, get the best teacher on that instrument that you can find or that you can can afford, listen to that person, ask questions and practice the flute that you have as much as you are able.

Good advice. If a private teacher is not available or is not affordable, then getting opinions here is probably your next best option

~bilbo who BTW has a B.M. in Mus. Ed and an M.M. in Fl perf.

Bob
B.S. in Mus. Ed and M.S. in Comp. Sc.

"Good advice. If a private teacher is not available or is not affordable, then getting opinions here is probably your next best option"

All of your points are very good Bob.

Opinions are good. One can get a good general understanding of what people are doing from asking questions around the internet. Where we often run into problems is when students believe that they can solve problems that can only be dealt with in person. Things like correcting a tone quality issue is so subject to very fine adjustments of muscles and the amount of muscles being used so it is very easy for a person to not get an intended message about tone production (as one example).

~bilbo
N.E. Ohio

Bilbo - I always enjoy and respect your advice and opinions too.

I definitely agree that it's always preferable to get one-on-one private instruction. A person can teach themselves a lot through a combination of books, internet or peer advice, and a trial-and-error/discovery method, but it will take that person much, much longer than having someone to mentor them and guide them on where to go and how to get there. The advantage is that a serious student who receives private instruction vs. one that is self-taught, is that the one with the private instruction will always progress faster and further. All things equal, the self-taught will always lag the tutored.

Okay, some of you may remember me, others not. Regardless, as a music ed major, I just want to clarify one thing: we have more time than that with the instruments, it depends on the school. Secondly, I completely agree do not get the nickle-plated flute. And honestly, "not teaching instruments we barely know how to play" - not every music ed degree is like that. I have to pass MTEC to student teach. So don't say we don't have to know how to play the instruments because at my university we do.