I agree with Meme. You cannot get much better than James Galway, and you read his quote earlier in this thread. Priscilla, I think that you are just too scared to say that you don`t think you could cope with the change of instruments. I believe that if you are narrowminded enough to think that to become a great flute player you must play just flute, you have either not read the thread or how Meme quoted him, or you are ignorant enough to believe that what applies to James Galway doesn`t apply to you. So, you may say I`m being unfair? Well, I think it`s ridiculous what you said if you have read this thread. Ok, enough said, but you get the message, you get how I feel about what I feel was a ridiculous response.
Bye,
Beth xxxxxxx

i wouldn`t say so. i am one of the best saxophone players in saskatchewan for my age, and I double on Bassoon. So does that mean i will screw up on sax? No. I only suggest changing if you are extremely good on your instrument and never use a fingering chart.

yes yes it is true. When playing the sax (any kind)and clarinet (any kind), your cheek muscle will get numb, and if u play it often and long enough, your lips will be ruined so u cant play flute anymore

Utter nonsense.
Either
1. Any numbness reflects inexperience, or
2. The player gets used to ignoring any feelings such as numbness, and playing well in spite of it.

8 minutes playing clarinet ppp without a rest, ppp, or a long time in the top clarinet register, has more effect on the lip than any other reed playing, yet with practice it is possible to play a piccolo solo delicately, 3 seconds later. This is the expectation in some shows. I initially thought it impossible, but now know it to be absolutely achievable. Practice!!!!

Hmm..well my question might seem impertinent to this thread..but anyway let me go ahead with it.
I am zero in musical instruments. I have developed a liking for the flute after listening to it for years in adventure games. Now, that I have found some spare time in my student schedule I want to buy a begineer flute to start off with. I have also noticed that most of the student flute disussions circle around two flutes germeinhardt 2sp (G) and yamaha yfl221 (Y).
I also am not sure if I am too old to start (i am 22) since most of the posts were talking about students in 4th grade - 9th grade. I find that the yamaha flute is exorbitant in terms of cost. I am not sure if such an investment is really needed to become a decent flutist. The germeinhardt is reasonable cost wise but then again most posts speak against it.
well it seems that the other flute making companies either suffer great loses or sell flutes to people who donot want to spend time analysing the market.
let us take the discussion away from Y and G and please enlighten me with your experience in flutes from other companies that dont cost that much. Especially because I am a beginner and want to learn the flute on my own as a hobby.
Lets try to keep our focus on a couple of aspects: sounds good(loud and continuous),economical, and easy to learn.

I think the problem most wind players have with swapping instruments is that a good embouchure has not been established on one before starting another. I picked up my saxophone a few months ago after not playing for almost 3 years. I had continued playing flute for that time, but my saxophone tone and embouchure were still fine...if anything, they had mysteriously improved through my lack of practice

...and bassoon was fine too. Oboe and clarinet felt a bit strange because they don`t use as much air, but did nothing negative to my flute playing. Maybe this is because I learnt flute first. Most doublers I have spoken to have trouble with flute when they start on another woodwind

Celine Dion (!!) wrote "I find that the yamaha flute is exorbitant in terms of cost."

Then target a 2nd hand one.

As flutes get cheaper, you lose more money on buying new ones because they depriciate so fast.

They are much more likely to have very expensive or frequent repairs to get and keep them playing and reliable.

They may are more likely to have corrosion problems that make them look and feel like sand paper.

They are more likely to have a weak, fuzzy tone, poor response, and out-of-tune notes.

Celine Dion (!!!!!) wrote:

"I find that the yamaha flute is exorbitant in terms of cost. I am not sure if such an investment is really needed to become a decent flutist."

You could consider hiring an instrument.

"...let us take the discussion away from Y and G and please enlighten me with your experience in flutes from other companies that dont cost that much."

My last post generalised. That is because there are literally dozens of brands on the market, and there is little point in being specific. New brands (mostly from China but now some beginning from India) are coming on the market monthly. An importing or sales agent needs only to order a dozen instruments from a Chinese exporter and they can get any brand name they like stamped on it.

There are well-known, well-established brands such as Jupiter, Trevor James, Selmer, Artley, Armstrong, Boosey & Hawkes, Buescher, Buffet Evette, De Ford, Emerson, Pearl... which have merit, but in my well-founded opinion they all have significant down-sides compared with Yamaha, in one way or another. They are probably currently a better bet than other student flutes coming out of Taiwan & China, but that could well change within 5 or 10 years. These manufacturers have been complacent re quality for decades now, and other makers will surely rise to take their place.

I hate to say it, but some complacency seems to have set in with Yamaha also... non-level tone holes used to be rare but are now common.

I`ve heard that it CAN screw up your embouchure if you haven`t played the flute for long enough, but if you`ve been playing the flute for many years then it should be alright. My friend whose played the flute for about 5 years wanted to learn the oboe and our music teacher discouraged her from it.

Some teachers tend to say these things because they want you to dedicate all your practice time to THEIR instrument.

That does not mean there is any truth in it.

Thanks meme,
your experience with flutes is indeed, felicitous.
I was there at steve`s music store (montreal) yesterday.
The shopkeeper was selling an intermediate level chinese-make flute for $322.
The brand name was "SUPER"
I decided not to buy it. However, since as I already mentioned that I am 0 in musical instruments, I also am considering the clarinet and the saxophone. They look worth the money they are sold for (i mean more complicated and with more degrees of freedom). my friend here in mcgill music tech is forcing me to buy a saxophone which is way too expensive..but both of us like the music.
please help me decide. Do u have links to mp3 /wavs (not midi..its too artificial) that have good clarinet, flute and saxophone music (solo..without other instruments).

btw, yesterday when i tried to play the flute..some sound was coming and the shopkeeper told me that he was very impressed. i wonder if thats a marketing strategy or is it really hard for beginners to make a sound with the flute for the first time.

I have no such music file links.

It is not common for a first time flute player to get a good sound immediately. Many students struggle for a long time, but that is almost always becasue of poor teaching - no specifics, "keep trying - it will come" approach, which is not actually teaching at all.

keep trying it will come is inefficient..ur right.
well i think i am going to rent a flute and see how i do with it for a week or so..and then go ahead and buy a decent one.

ROCK ON RACHEL!!! not me the one on the 1st page!!! my director plays like 12 diff.ones and she still sounds awesome when she goes from sax. to flute!!!