Hey everyone. I just bought a used flute and I've never played flute before so I'm not sure what to expect. I haven't been able to play F or anything "below" that note, basically anything that would require me to use my right hand. I first tried to play these notes (F, E, D) the proper way that the fingering charts have shown me, and I wasn't able to do it.

But then, I moved my fingers up a position and was able to play these notes. (So the F key was played by pressing down the button right above the key normally played for it with the first finger, and so on and so forth) and was able to successfully play F,E,D. Is there something wrong with my flute that doesn't allow me to play those notes the correct way? And now that I've moved my fingers up the flute, I'm finding it hard to play other lower notes.

Help! Thanks.

It could be you have not the right fingering chart or you might have misunderstood it. I suggest you check the fingering chart you can find at Yamaha's site.

Of course, if you had someone playing flute you could ask for some advise it would be much simpler...

Thanks for your responses. I actually took it down to this music repair place and apparently 2 of the keys were bent so air was leaking through it and I couldn't play correctly because of it. It's just so strange that I was able to play those notes fine by moving down the body of the flute.

I'd go to a good flute repair tech asap.

I would never buy a used flute unless it came with a guarantee that it has had a recent COA and as ready to play. Or, I would at least take the used flute to a repair technician after purchasing it. Would you drive a used car off of a lot without knowing how to drive or have any clue about cars and just trust that everything was okay with the car? Now that was a really hard one I tell ya!

if you have never played flute before then you might not be 'blowing' across the instrument. If you know someone who plays flute then they should know what is wrong.

You don't blow across it! Your air stream should not be directly across the embouchure hole. I hope people here know not to take things to seriously when coming from the young ones in the group. Please, don't give advice if you don't know what you are doing yourself!

I angle my air stream more downward. It is almost impossible to blow straight across unless you want to get a horrible airy sound. I don't recommend it. Who did you study under Micron?

<Added>

Oh wait, aren't you Gordon the sax player that posts on sax on the web? That would explain your flute embouchure.

Sorry, didn't see any insults in what I wrote to you. For someone who slings around insults so often, you don't have any room to speak.

I vouch for Micron, he's my teacher's teacher.

I was using all his theory in flute playing, in tone and in flute choosing (I chose a Yamaha 211 closed hole C foot student flute for the past 5 years - very good, strong and reliable flute for me), thank you Micron! I can say that without Micron I don't have today!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gwfzbTjKNV8

Master Robert recently told me the same thing as what Micron said before that "closed-hole flutes has the best timbre".

Now, my new online teacher is Patrick Dillery - he teaches me musical

Canadian Master Robert Aitken recently told me the same thing as what Micron said before that "closed-hole flutes have the best tone/sound".