1. As far as i know, the fingering for flute is easier than clarinet, and the fingering for the lower and middle register are the same.
2. you dont need a lot of air to get a nice sound, given you have a good embouchure.
-->but how hard is it to support a good sound?
I think the embouchure is more influential, and the support for good sound is only slight, it needs more when you are playing higher notes and again that is only when you have developed good embouchure, which can take some time to develope and also depends on what you focus on when you practise
3. I have an armstrong 80B and had a cheap Yamaha one. I personally think my old Yamaha was actually easier at producing good sound. I remember I was able to produce much better tone when I was at Gr 3 with my old flute than I can with my Armstrong 80B which is all silver with gold plated lip plate. My tone was so good that other teacher would come in just to check who was playing the music. I really regret selling my old flute, and i think i'll probably buy another Yamaha one when i can afford it.
4. As i have mentioned the speed is improvement is hugely depends on what you focus on when you practice. If you do lots and lots of boring long note and often experiment with your embouchure; changing the shape, moving your jaw, pushing/pulling the corners of lip forward and back ...etc then you will improve a lot quicker than just trying to learn the piece.

N.B. I'm only got Gr 6 and these are all based on my own experience so they could be, pls feel free to correct me.



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N.B. I've only got Gr 6 and these are all based on my own experience so they could be wrong, pls feel free to correct me.

Hi,
The difference in fingerings with the flute from the clarinet basically come from a different pitch (flute in Concert C and clarinet in Concert Bb) and the fact that the clarinet overblows differently than the flute. This generally causes the clarinet to have different fingerings at the octaves and differings than the flute all the way around. This is overcome by learning the correct fingerings for either instrument and practicing until they are solid.
The Embouchure is different on the flute of course and without trying to teach something to a student that I can't see, I strongly recommend having a good private instructor to work with. You can practice tone studies all you want but if you don't have a good concept of the proper sound and have it explained how to get the sound you aren't going to have much success in your improvements.

One problem with recommending a good brand of flute is that they seem to vary in quality from place to place. That one brand in the US may be of good quailty here and that outside of the US it's not considered good. Even at that, one brand is recommended by people and another is frowned upon for whatever reason can be confusing. That being said, I can feel somewhat comfortable with the price, playing and durability of the Yamaha line.

As with any instrument, learing your way around the notes can be relatively easy. Getting some artistic playing can be more difficult.

~Bilbo

Yes, the third octave is indeed complicated, but by the time you can hit the high notes really good, you'll have all the fingerings remembered.
When I started flute, I actually took 2 hours to make a note come out, but I heard that some people take few days and weeks... I'm sure with much determination, it will be easy for you, since I am guessing you have a strong mouth after 6 years of clarinet!
I would suggest getting a Yamaha student model, new or used, whichever if it's in working condition. I started off with the Yamaha YFL221, the lowest in their line I believe, but it was amazing, the sound was so clear, responded fast, bold, energetic sound, and nice projection, well, compared to my flute now. I think if you chose a Yamaha to start with, you'll learn fast, and enjoy flute playing.

kcho, I just want to make a small correction so people don't get lead into a rather bad habit.

The fingerings on the flute for the lower and middle registers are NOT exactly the same. I just didn't want someone fingering the D and D# in the second register without popping the left hand index finger up. It's an annoying bad habit to have to get rid of, and the notes really do sound better if you finger them correctly.

Carry on...

Mike.

Yes the octave fingerings from E1 chromatically up through C#2 are the same as one octave above. Otherwise, all fingerings of octaves are different.

~Bilbo