Hello Everyone -

Being new to the forum, I'd like to introduce myself. I'm a professional musician (I teach voice and piano at the college level) and performer in New England looking to expand my musical horizons and take up the flute. I played oboe, clarinet, and alto sax in junior high and high school, but my real desire was always to play the flute. (When I started band, my parents didn't think it was a good idea for a boy to play the flute - that was only a "girl's" instrument, LOL) Now, at the ripe old age of 33, I've decided to give myself a gift I've been waiting over twenty years for!

Since I'm proficient at reading music and have a good foundation of breath support from singing (I'm told flute breathing is very comparable to breathing for singers), my big challenge will be learning fingerings, technique, and the like. I also need to get a flute to start playing!

I'd love any advice or words of wisdom anyone would care to throw my way, especially on purchasing a flute. What do you recommend for an adult beginner? The only thing I think I'm really set on is having an offset G. Otherwise, open-hole vs. plateau, C vs. B-foot; I have no preferences with regard to these matters. I'm not looking to go professional, but would like to eventually be able to play some of the standard classical repertoire. Should I consider getting an inexpensive student model first, or should I make a bigger investment with a higher-quality instrument right from the get-go?

Thanks for reading, and I look forward to hearing from you!

Hello, and welcome to the forum. You'll find everything here from junior-high age schoolkids to college flute performance majors to symphony flutists and talented flute technicians. There are a few of us adult amateur/flute students, too. You will also get some different opinions, but that's what makes it a forum.
First, I would say that you would do well to buy a Yamaha student flute (200 series) to start out with. This will keep you on the right track for a good couple of years. When you are ready to upgrade, you can simply buy a pro headjoint for it, and you'll have a really nice-playing flute.

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The Yamaha is often recommended for its quality, dependability, repairability, and its good scale. The standard CY headjoint (silver plated in the 200 series) is a good, versatile 'vanilla' head that is usually pretty easy for any good flutist to play well and get a good sound from.

I would second Tibbie's suggestion of a good quality student flute to start with. Intermediate flutes don't really offer a huge advantage for the most part (some offer nicer headjoints, but most are just student flutes with more silver, open holes and a B foot....None of which really impacts how the instrument plays), so they really could be skipped over for the most part by upgrading to a pro head, and eventually a handmade body to match that head, with no real detriment to your playing. Yamaha makes a very good student flute, but there are other options out there if Yamaha doesn't appeal to you for one reason or another, so don't feel locked into buying a Yammie. Aside from the flute question, I have one other suggestion....Get a good teacher. As I'm sure you're aware from your time playing piano and singing, there's no substitute for a good (live) teacher. Even if you just take a few at the beginning so that you learn the basics and (hopefully) prevent potentially harmful bad habits from forming, that's better than nothing.


Also, welcome to the forum! Tibbie's right that there's a huge variety of people here, as well as a vast wealth of knowledge....Hopefully you'll enjoy your time here!

Micron, I don't think your link came through.

Welcome to the forum. I agree with everyone else. Try and get your hands on a student Yamaha. Many times these student Yamaha flutes do out play even the so called other top dogs. I love them and can't say enough about them. I have never heard that it is any harder or takes longer for an adult to produce a decent embouchure then a kid, so that is news to me. I think you should do just fine. Good luck with it.

Wow, thanks for all the advice and encouragement. I was thinking a Yamaha might be the way to go; glad to have that hunch confirmed. Any advantages to starting right out with an open-hole model vs. plateau? Any other brands or companies you can recommend or advise against? Thanks again!

For the vast majority of flutists, open holes will never serve ANY purpose. They're good only for extended techniques (bends and glisses and the like), pitch shading, and some notes in the fourth octave, which are all things it will take you several years to get ready to do, if you ever do them at all. There's no harm in having them (they can always be plugged if you have difficulty sealing them), but there's really no advantage, particularly at the beginner level, either. If you are planning to stick with whatever you buy now for a long time, and think you might end up doing a lot of contemporary literature, then French keys might be a good spec to have, but odds are you will never need them. I personally wouldn't worry too much about whether or not the flute you buy has them....If you find a good quality flute in good repair for a good price, don't worry about whether it has open holes or not. Without knowing what kind of a budget you're looking at it's difficult to suggest companies, but all of these produce good quality flutes at the student or intermediate level:

Yamaha
Pearl
Gemeinhardt
Trevor James
Amadeus
Azumi
Brio
DiMedici
Jupiter
Armstrong
Emerson
Muramatsu

As for what to avoid...Don't buy colored flutes, or those from a company without a professional looking website (not just stores selling them), and generally if it seems like the deal's too good to be true, steer away from that flute. You can save a good deal of money by buying a refurbished (or just well cared for) flute, and as long as you have it approved by a tech from a condition standpoint, you should have no problems with it. Most new flutes need some setup out of the box (and most used flutes benefit from at least a little attention), so you might plan on taking it to a tech for any work that's necessary.


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Edit:

Should read "You can save a good deal of money by buying a refurbished (or just well cared for) *used* flute

I'm kind of in the same boat as you. I play sax and started flute later in life. I would second the opinion on the yamaha student model, it will serve you well for a lot of years. Do yourself a favor, buy it new with a warranty. Also, I would suggest offset G (like you said), closed hole keys, and a C foot. No reason to struggle with open hole keys and although the B foot changes the tone a little and improves resale value, you won't need the low b. Keep it as simple as possible while you learn. The more simple it is, the less frustrating it will be, and the more fun you will have.

Actually, the B foot does not change the tone. It extends the range exactly 1/2 step downward, and is used very rarely. You're right that it will improve the resale value if you're selling in the US, but in other parts of the world, B foot flutes are somewhat rare, and C foot flutes are the preference. Some people complain that the very upper end of the 3rd octave is harder to produce with a B foot than a C, but my experience does not bear this claim out. Just as with open holes, it doesn't really matter what footjoint you have. Odds are you won't actually need the B foot, but it won't do you any harm to have it....Once again, if you find a good quality flute in good repair for a good price, don't worry what kind of footjoint it has.

The B foot does in a sense change the tone a bit. Meaning, it does make the sound darker. I notice when changing to a C foot that my flute does play more bright and also has a tad better response. I think that is more or less what onedawg was referring to.

I use my B foot quite often with advanced music, but it is not a must to have as stated earlier. I would miss it though if I didn't have it. There is more and more repertoire out now that requires a low B.

I disagree. A B foot does not necessarily add darkness. It's perfectly possible to find a C foot flute that plays exquisitely darkly, and a B foot that's singularly bright sounding. That rumor has been around for a long time, though, so I would not be surprised if it was a psychological effect more than anything...You expect a darker sound, so you subconsciously alter the tone. Any minute changes can likely be attributed to the fact that it's a different footjoint with slightly different quirks (just like if you were changing a silver plated head for one in sterling of the same cut), rather than the fact that it's a B foot rather than a C foot.

I still respectfully disagree on that and have never heard of that as a myth before. Give me a double blind test between the two and I can always tell you which is which.

Sorry.. not myth but rumor.

Nothing wrong with disagreement...It keeps things interesting here. I've never heard of it as anything *except* rumor...But then there are plenty of rumors that can't be conclusively proven either way within the flute world. As for the double blind test, I have never heard anyone claim they could distinguish a B foot from a C foot before, but I think that would be an interesting experiment. Unfortunately I lack the proper recording equipment. If anyone else could help out in that respect, I'd be very interested in the results.