I definitely would have gone for the walking stick flute had they been sold there, but alas the store had none. Right now I'm staying pretty focused on my yamaha - it's a bit different playing the two and I'm trying to get some solid technique down before I start going back and forth too much.

Getting the technique right never ends, but then thats half the fun. Happy you got hooked on playing.

(Would love to hear a recording of how the wooden flute sounds like if you feel like posting a recording some time later on. I've heard one in concert, but that was a pro playing a baroque flute I think, which is very different of course...)

I'm not *quite* an adult beginner, since I started taking flute lessons at 17. Imagine that - after failing to learn to play the piano properly and years of not being interested in learning to play a different instrument, somebody decides to take up playing the flute.

Well, it was not really that sudden, as I had spent some time thinking and contemplating "now, wouldn't it be nice to learn to play an instrument?" Still, it took some time to make the decision - I had my mind set on the flute, but I still didn't make the decision right away. Part of the problem was financial - if I decided to take lessons in order to join a wind band, the lessons would be free of charge, if not, I would have to pay for them. Actually I would have liked to learn to play just for myself, but the financial aspect settled it, and I decided to go for the band - and I haven't regretted it. Since some of the pieces played in the band are quite difficult (16th notes is one thing, but 32nd note runs... oh, and some 16th note runs at an absolutely insane tempo), I have to keep up with my playing, which is a good thing. Lately I have been slacking off, but one of my New Year's resolutions actually is properly practicing every day. (At the moment I have so many things to do that there is little time for playing, but I'm still determined to return to proper practicing.)

My first flute was... well, a second-hand no-namer because that's all I could afford. It was an open G# model. Later on I rented a Jupiter flute (closed G#), and it took some time for me to get used to the "new" fingerings.

I have dabbled in jazz a little bit, and I enjoy improvising, which is part of my daily routine. That's part of the reason why I want to improve my technique - so that I'm not limited by the things I *can't* do.

Oh, and I thought I'd share this: This page includes descriptions and examples of some of the extended techniques... and a fingering tablature for quarter tones. For closed-hole flutes. Yes, I know that I won't have to play anything like that in the band, but I like learning new things. Especially new things that I am not required to learn

<Added>

Sorry! Here's the link: http://www.sfz.se/flutetech/index.htm

Adult beginner? I think I am the patriarch of them.

No musical education at primary, secondary schools and university; this was the normal status in my country of origin.

No surprise then that I was veeery slow in beginning to be a beginner. I first talked to a pro flautist somewhere in the sixties, but did nothing.
Then I bought my Gemeinhardt M3 by end of the seventies, took a first lesson and did nothing again. I was frustrated probably because that teacher put me to blow on a ribbon of paper and the like. I did not even touch the flute on that first lesson.

Finally I contacted a nice, kind and very good teacher in 2002 and began taking lessons seriously. She is about the age of my daughter but nevertheless, she understands my specific problem and interests. So I have been with this teacher since then and I now have an intermediate level (more or less).

It could be a sad story because I have lost so much precious time and life could have been different, but no way to change this now. The nice thing is that I could begin and continue, in spite of a failed start and my malignantly continuous procrastination.

i first started music when i was 7 playing a cornet in the salvation army bras band as my grandparents were the ministers
of the church in the town i grew up in it was the normal thing in my family as for generations be for them my family was quite high up in the army i dident stay with it for long as it was allways hard to practice it wasent till i was 27 that i found a old prima by kotake flute in a pawn brokers i had allways wanted to play flute so i bought it.

i bought a beginers book and within a couple bays i was playing the first and most of the 2nd octive i found a music teacher in the town i was living she actualy was one of the teachers for the local brass band and started takeing lessons
i ended up needing to have the old flute repaded so while it was away i decided to buy a yanagasawa soprano sax and took a few lessons on it the following year my business had a very good xmas tradeing so i bought myself a 14ct gold powell flute 3 months aafter i bought it i sold my company and moved to sydney.
I was only liveing in sydney 3 days and my home was broken into and my flute along with a number of other items was stolen i placed a claim with my insurance company to replace my flute along with the other items and the insurance company refused to pay out on the flute as i had not transfered its principal place of residence from my old address to my new address in sydney.
as you can imagine i was devistated and vowed to never play again allmost 5 years passed and while walking passed a pawn brokers i saw a very heavely tarnished flute in the window
i decided to take a look and to my suprise it was a yamaha 511 solid silver head joint body and foot off set g split e french pointed arms with as new french case and leather outer case for $600 Aud after getting it home i cleaned it and it was in perfect condition not a scratch,dint it was in a totaly new condition as was its case & pads in perfect condition i later found out my 600 dollar flute was worth a lot more the only 511 i have found 2nd hand was $2500 Aud and it had pitting on the keys so i think i got a real bargin.

i'm now slowly getting back to the way i was lerning all over again and currently looking at takeing lessons at the sydney conservitorium of music. i regret giving up for 5 years but cant change that now, looking forward to progresing as far as i can take my music even tho its only for my own enjoyment i have allso been asked to join a local G&L community band but havent decided if i will join yet.

In 7th grade (1968) we were required to take either an art or music class. My girlfriend's mother had a flute in the attic so she was signing up for Band. I thought why not? I had taken piano lessons from 2nd - 6th grade (and hated it, but wished I had practiced now) and had played those plastic toy flutes (more like a recorder). So I signed up for the band to play flute. At first, I could not even get a sound from it.
My first flute was an Armstrong.

I progressed quickly (since I could already read music) and was playing Mozart Concerti in the 8th grade so my godfather bought me a Selmer Open-Hole solid silver flute. For you youngsters out there, it was Bundy (student flute), Signet (step-up flute) and then Selmer. What I didn't know at the time was that he had bought it in Hong Kong so it was probably an A=442 (when we were tuning to A=440 (actually Bb in Band). Was wondering why I had to pull the headjoint out so much.

I got really serious about flute playing (was practicing about 3 hours a day) and had a scholarship to study at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music while in High School. In my junior year, I cleaned out my savings account and with some money from my father, ordered a Haynes Flute which was $1195 (I still have the receipt). That was 1972 and waiting 6 months for it seemed like an eternity for a high school kid. I had played in an orchestra all through high school.

When I got to college, my mother (bless her heart) got on my case about majoring in something so I could get a "real" job. She wanted me to be a CPA or a teacher. I decided to major in Information Technology (Business Information Systems) instead and am now a VP at a Fortune 50 company.

I stopped playing the flute from 1974 - 1989. Started up again when my now ex-husband starting teaching PC classes at the local community college. Signed up for band and orchestra.
Have been playing ever since and have been Principal Flute in the Orchestra since 1993.

I attended my first Master Class (Patricia Harper) in early July, and that has renewed my love for flute playing. I am practicing daily now, instead of an hour per week, and am eagerly awaiting my new Brannen flute in September.

I am proof that you can love music as a child, stop playing for 15 years, and then pick it up again and then play for the sheer enjoyment of it.

I started playing flute in the fourth grade. My teacher told me I couldn't play oboe( probably because my mouth wasn't thin enough) so I chose my second option, flute.

My first teacher was horrible, and not very encouraging, so it wasn't until fifth grade when I started to improve. Fast-forward 3 years, and I'm the best flute player in my middle school band.

Then, freshman year of highschool, I go for private lessons with the best teacher in the Harrisburg, PA area ( my teacher teaches at Millersville U). There I learn that some of my rhythms are off, thanks to wrong teaching in the beginning. I get a lot better, but not good enough for Districts. On the bright side, I did get into County, and I played in my school's orchestra pitt.

Currently, I am going to be a sophmore in my marching/concert band, and districts are looking brighter, with the Hindemith Sonate.
And I do try oboe...but I'm not very good. I'd say that Mr.Hodges was right, but who knows...maybe if I had regular lessons on it I could be fantastic. The point of this speal is to say that a second pick instrument can sometimes be the best.

I started playing when I was 7. It was partly because I was already learning the recorder and it was the same teacher for flute. However, to be honest the main reason I decided to play the flute was because it was shiny and I thought it looked nice!! Since then, with the encouragement of my awesome teachers, I have taken my grade 7 flute, won a young musician of the year award and started learning saxophone and bassoon!! If I hadn't liked the look of that pretty, shiny instrument I saw in the music room that day I probably wouldn't be doing much music at all xx

It's so nice to hear that other people on here are novices too. Like so many, I started playing flute in 5th grade band, but dropped it in junior high. As a young adult, I picked it up again for a while, but once I had kids and started my teaching career I didn't have time for it and sold mine about 20 years ago. I got interested in guitar and took lessons for a while, but didn't have time to continue. Now my kids are all grown and I'm starting my last year of teaching, and the music bug bit me again. I pulled out my guitar and I'm keeping it in the living room where it invites me to pick it up frequently, and I bought a Gemeinhardt student flute which I LOVE. I got some books and amazingly, I am still able to read music and remember most of the fingerings, even after all these years. My tone isn't great, but hopefully that will come in time. My only problem is getting low C. Guess I'll ask the band teacher at my school for help. Some day I'd love to find others to play with. Are there many people (novices!)who just get together to play for fun? How does one find them?

Well, it's maybe not entirely easy to find people to play with. The best opportunity I have is the music school where I take lessons. It's run by a music shop specialised in wind instruments, and most of the teachers are graduates from the (high quality) music college in the city. The music school is for adults in all levels. The ensemble is free if you take lessons, and is two hours once a week. They also have a jazz-group learning improvisation, and arrange classes in rythm and timing and so on. Going to a summer camp is also a great way to get to know other players at your level. Finally, I was lucky to meet an old university friend by chance and it turned out she plays the piano, so that also lead to some playing opportunities.

The easiest way I can think of is to start lessons, because then you naturally start to meet other students and musicians. So when you are ready, someone will tip you about suitable oppoertunities.

I first started music when I was as young as 5. My parents were both huge fans of music, esp my dad who was in complete shock when he first heard a vinyl recording of Mozart in his 20s (he lived in a place where he never heard classical music ever...). I also had an older sister who played piano and violin. She was born with absolute pitch, which was identified at age 4 (no suzuki, no nothing, very beginnings of her first piano lessons). Sadly, I wasn't born with that gift although I had a good sense of gift, and I was always surrounded by music wherever I went. Of course, I took that all for granted. I started piano lessons at age 5 pretty casually. Then I moved to the US at age 5 and continued to play piano pretty casually while my sister played violin quite intensely. After I started 1st grade, I took lessons with a doctorate student from Eastman. I began to enjoy playing the piano (not that I haven't in the past).

Starting 4th grade, all the kids in the class had to pick a musical instrument. Apparently, many of the teachers thought I had a lot of potential in playing a stringed instrument, but I refused b/c the idea of playing the same instrument as my sister's was just repulsive at the age of 9 lol. I debated btwn a flute and clarinet, but I eventually picked the flute. I really fell in love with the flute, and practiced more than an hour, went ahead in the method books etc. My music teacher urged my mom to have me take private lessons but she wouldn't because of $$ issues. Eventually, I moved out of NY to CT when I was in 5th grade. I switched to an excellent Russian piano teacher, who taught me the joys of music and trained me up to the level I am right now. Music became a very important part of my life.

However, I still didn't have any flute private lessons, which upset me. My sister who was a superior violin player in CT would always criticize my flute playing. Of course, we have sibling rivalry...so she kept picking on me, saying how terrible my tone was and how awful my technique was compared to the flute player in the state symphony! It really hurt me. I knew I couldn't compare b/c I had no private instruction. The summer before my 8th grade, I finally got my mom to give me private lessons for flute with a local teacher nearby. I was so determined to improve my tone and become a better player, so I practiced constantly during summer. I improved gradually. By sophomore year, I switched to a teacher in a college music school community division. With her, I learned to open up more with expression/musicality and work on finger technique. I can proudly say I accomplished my first big repertoire and performed it soph year. Junior year I switched again to an exceptional teacher, who I can truly connect with. I learned to open up even more with my expression and learned how to practice more productively. I quickly passed through a lot of essential repertoire and became more aware of the theoretical parts behind the music I was playing. I am proud to say that I have progressed extremely rapidly and caught up to a very advanced level.

Now I am a flute player in the state symphony (so much for my sister constantly criticizing me in the past)! I am also going to be in a certificate program for music, which I am VERY excited about...unfortunately, I don't think I will get into music in my future life, but I'd like to keep it as a hobby. I really really love what I am playing and just music in general...

Wow - I'm not sure whether I should be thinking that some of you have had bad experiences or good experiences when starting off with the flute!

I'm a late starter - thus the numptiness. I played other instruments but I really like the sound of the alto flute at the moment. It's not like I hear a lot of flute music either. All I hear is mostly jungle beats and pop music from my neighbours. Living in the quiet countryside, I realised how beautiful it was just walking out in the woodlands and lakes. I thought it would be great to have a piano out here, but it's a bit harder to carry than a flute.

A flute it is

So many stories here! A lot of people on this forum seem so talented! My story seems really dull compared to everyone elses... In fourth grade I can remember being told that this was the year that we could start instrument lessons. It took me weeks to get a sound out of the lip plate (I live near the woods, so I went out to our driveway and just blew away) Haha..Ever since I've been playing.I can remember going to go to Robert M. Sides to want to have my flute fixed only to find out that it wasn't the instrument but the player. That happened a few times. A bit embarrassing? Yeah, but that's behind me now. Now, I'm in band, marching band, and also play at my church choir weekly. I hope I'll get the chance to be in district, and (possibly) regional/state band when I get older, and of course orchestra sound really fun if I can get to that point!

started band the summer after 6th grade. My best friend and i both thought trumpet was "cool"
played trumpet until 10th grade, picked up saxophone in 9th.
i loved playing with my friends piccolo so in 10th grade, i bought my own. The winter of 10th grade, i realized i had to play flute to play piccolo in any ensemble. Then in 11th grade i switched over to flute, made the top band at school, and played sax in the top jazz band.
Now i am a freshman in college, majoring in music ed, playing above the level of people who have been playing for years longer than me.(thats what hard work and dedication does for ya )

Yeah, my story pretty boring.