People ask many different types of questions about the flute. They ask about types and posture and performing and many other areas for flute interest. I decided to answer some commonly asked questions. What questions do you have about the flute? Send them to me or put them in the comments on my YouTube channel. Here are my answers to 10 commonly asked questions.
Question #1
Do I need to stand when I’m practicing?
The answer to that is maybe. I think that standing is the best way for you to get the best posture.
My teenage daughters like to practice in their room with the door closed. When I open the door, they are sitting, not standing! For them, when they sit, they do not have great posture. Since I am their mother as well as their teacher, I can go in and take their chair away. Then they have to stand to practice. Plus, I tell them to stand up straight and tall, and keep their head up. (It doesn’t always go over well!)
So, when I say that “maybe you need to stand when you practice” my daughters point out that I sometimes sit when I practice. You can sit to practice once you have learned to sit with a good posture so that your airstream is straight. Your airstream needs to be straight, coming from below and going all the way up into your sinuses. Most young flutists cannot do that sitting down.
It’s all about that straight airstream. If you are slouching or you don’t have of great posture when you are sitting, then you should be standing. Now there’s something to be said for having the sound come from your feet and go up. You are grounded when you stand, and your sound comes from below and comes out.
However, on a practical basis, some people are injured. They can’t stand for long periods of time. For you it is not wrong to sit. So, if you are having trouble standing for your whole practice time, it is okay to sit. But just make sure that you are sitting with great posture. Make sure that your back is straight so your airstream can come out completely straight, and that there is no bending that interferes with that path.
So, the answer is that you probably should stand to practice but there are circumstances that allow for correct sitting practice.
Question #2
Do I need a new flute?
The simple answer is that you might need a new flute. If you have been playing on a beginner flute and you feel like your skills have come up and your tone is developing, then it might be time to step-up. The bottom line for what you need is a solid silver head joint. The body can be something else. Many step-up flutes have a silver-plated body and a solid silver or Sterling silver headjoint.
If you have that, it can take you a, a long way, depending on your goals. If you want to be professional flutist, you will eventually need a professional model flute. You are the best judge as to whether and when you need a professional model flute.
Now you can get a good tone on a beginner flute but at some point, you are going to hit a wall, and your tone is just not going to get any better until you “step-up” to an intermediate level flute. These flutes may add silver or gold, and a more responsive finger action from a higher quality mechanism.
If you go from a step-up flute with a solid silver headjoint, to a professional model flute, you are not going to see quite the same immediate jump in tone quality. You will have to work for it. But the professional model will allow you to go so much further than the step-up.
Professional models are well worth the money, depending on your goals. I have had many students go to music school with a good quality step-up instrument. They have not needed a professional model until they are in grad school.
I think that you do eventually need to go from a beginner flute to a step-up flute to continue your progress as a flutist. But, if you are the amateur flutists that plays a lot, perhaps you are in a community band, the step-up flute is probably all you will ever need. It can take you a long way.
However, if you have the extra cash, then I would say, yes, move up to that professional model flute. If not, and you are stuck with a beginner flute, don’t be discouraged. You can still get a nice tone on a beginner flute. Just make sure that its maintained. Get a regular clean oil and adjust; have the pads checked and replaced when needed. Then you can be sure that the beginner flute will work for you.
Question #3
What are flutes made of?
That depends on whether you are asking about beginner, step-up, or professional model flutes.
Beginner, flutes usually have a mixture of metals, like silver and nickel. This mixture makes it a hardier flute for younger students. It doesn’t bend or dent as easily, and it will therefore withstand rough handling.
Intermediate flutes will add silver, which is a more pliable metal, and therefore more delicate than beginner flutes. Step-up flutes usually have a silver-plated body and a solid silver headjoint. But some step-up flutes have a solid silver body as well. You also may have the option of adding gold to a step-up flute: gold to the lip plate, to the riser, to some of the keys, or sometimes they are gold plated. This of course adds to the cost of the flute.
Professional model flutes have a lot more options as far as the metals that are being used, including silver, gold, and platinum in various combinations, and even in mixtures called an amalgam. For example, Haynes produces a 5% gold alloy professional model flute. It is a solid silver hand made flute with a small amount of gold mixed in with the silver. The flute looks silver, but the gold gives it a different sound.
Powell makes a flute out of Aurumite. My friend Nicolle Chamberlain plays on a Powell Aurumite 9K.
Additionally, you have options to add certain metals, such as a gold head joint, a gold body, a gold lip plate – or platinum. My professional model Haynes flute is solid silver with a 14K gold riser.
Question #4
Why are flutes so expensive?
The main two things that make flutes expensive are the content of precious metals, and the amount of time required for master craftsmen to make a flute by hand.
The price of flutes will fluctuate with the market prices of silver, gold, and platinum. Beginner and step-up flutes cost less, as they contain less precious metals, and more of their components are factory made. Some step-up flutes will have a handmade Sterling silver headjoint, but a silver-plated factory-made body.
So, of course if a flute has more factory-made components, and less precious metals, if will cost less. This is the case for beginner flutes. The step-up flutes have a range of prices which increase as does the value of the metal and time put in it.
It pays to read the descriptions closely, so you know exactly what you are getting.
Professional flutes are the most expensive because they contain the most precious metals, and of course they are handmade. If you read the book Johnny Tremain, it was about a boy who wanted to be a silversmith. So, he apprenticed with a master to learn the trade over a period of several years. Professional flute making today is similar in that master craftsman spend years learning how to form the metals into flute heads, bodies, and keys. It is this care and precision that makes this level of flute so phenomenal and expensive.
Question #5
How do I get a better tone?
Well, I have a lot of videos on how to get a better tone but let me just give you my bottom-line ideas for improving your tone.
1. Drop your jaw, open up the space between your jaw.
2. Open up the space between your lips. Your teeth can be apart, and your lips closed in every octave, whether you’re doing high octave or low, the answer almost always is more space.
3. Open your throat, take a yawning breath, and keep the throat open while you play.
4. Use great support.
If you concentrate on those four things, you’ll be on your way to a fantastic tone.
Question #6
How do I tune the flute?
Well, the easy thing to say is you move the head joint in and out. But we need a much more subtle method of tuning because I can be in tune with my A, but my high D is wickedly out of tune. Or my low D is wickedly out of tune. What we must do is manipulate the airstream with our embouchure. That is how we raise and lower the airstream. You don’t want to raise and lower your head. I don’t want to get flat or sharp and change things with my head. I want to move my jaw to lower or raise the airstream because if I use my jaw, then I will maintain my sound. If I move my head, the tone is going to not be the same. So, if I change the intonation by rolling in or rolling out, not only is it flat, but the tone becomes dull. And if I raise it because I need to go sharp, it becomes just airy. Thus, I using my jaw to move the airstream up and down is going to help me to tune better while maintaining a good sound.
Question #7
Are all flutes in the same key?
Well, no, they’re not in the same key. However, most of them are. So, if we talk about the four basic piccolo, C flute, alto flute, and bass flute, three out of the four are in the key of C. The alto flute is the in the key of G. If you have the bass, the C flute and the piccolo, they can all play the same music. If you want to warm up with etudes or something without accompaniment, then all flutes can play the same music. It is only when you add accompaniment or you are playing in a group that you must worry about the different key.
Since an alto flute is in the key of G, it is not going to be able to play the same solo that a C flute can play in, unless the music is transposed to a new key.
There are bigger flutes, the Contra bass and the double Contra bass flute. There is a hyper base which is an interesting low flute. But of your main flutes, three out of four are in the key of C.
Question #8
What is support?
Well, support is a long and involved issue. So, I won’t take that time right now to fully explain it. You can read my other blogs and watch my videos on support. But I’ll just give you the basics. Support is when you breathe from your stomach and your ribcage then you tighten the muscles you will then create pressure inside. That’s what support is – internal pressure.
You should be playing with support 100% of the time. If you do not play with that kind of pressure built up inside, then you are not getting the kind of tone you really could get. Support helps you to get resonance and to get a lively tone that really carries in a group, in a band, in orchestra and in solo performances.
So, you want to use support. When I’m teaching my students, I often just use the word pressure. Do you have pressure? Because I think that depicts exactly what support is doing for your tone. Support is creating pressure inside by tightening my muscles and then pushing up on my tone.
Support is just like the beams in a house that help hold the ceiling up. It’s holding it up and you want to think of support as holding your tone up. It is this cushion of air that pushes up on your tone.
Question #9
Is gold or silver, better in a flute?
Well, that answer is preference. The one that you prefer, is the better one for you.
Gold gives you a warmer golden honey kind of sound. Silver gives you bright and edgy sound with a lot of color types in that sound.
If you do a flute trial with similar flutes except one is all silver and the others have some gold in part of the head, or the entire head, you will clearly hear the difference in the sound. Gold and silver sound different on a flute.
However, what your ear tells you sounds good is what is good for you. One is not better than the other.
In fact, teachers of old, like the famous teachers and concert flutists when I was growing up, they really criticized the gold trend because to them, the gold just doesn’t give you the same amount of color as silver. They insisted that silver has so many more colors than gold. I have never quite determined if that is true or not. But I do like to have some gold on my flute. I have a gold riser in my head joint, and I think that gives a nice edge, a little bit more bigness to my sound.
The only caution that I would give is that if you are not a really big player, I would not recommend a lot of gold in your flute. Gold is a softer metal than silver, so it takes more air. I’m not the biggest air player around. So, for me, it doesn’t do enough for my tone, for me to switch over to gold. I like that I don’t have to work quite so hard with a silver flute.
That is the difference between gold and silver.
Question #10
Do I need an open hole flute?
That is a question for you to answer. I’ll tell you just some of the benefits of an open hole flute, and one reason not to get open holes. But it is up to you to decide.
The benefit of open holes is that it gives you a tonal resonance that you do not get on a closed hole flute. If I were to play a closed hole flute, I think you’d probably say my tone is still pretty good. You may not hear a huge difference if played on a closed hole professional model.
The openings of the holes give you a little bit more sound, a little more resonance. It is in how they make those holes, and how they make the keys. In this way there is more resonance and more tone.
Additionally, in late 20th and 21st century music there are a lot of extended techniques that you need open holes to be able to play. So, it’s important to have for these reasons.
However, if you have some hand problems, closed holes will make it easier to play for you. You can still get a great tone without additional stress on your hands. So don’t feel pressured that you must have an open hole flute, if it is not going to be the best thing for the health of your hands.
Use your best judgment when deciding an open hole flute is right for you.
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I hope you enjoyed my answers to these questions. Let me know what other questions you still have about the flute. Keep learning about the flute and keep practicing!
Have fun!
DoctorFlute
Watch me answer these questions:
10 Commonly Asked Questions About the Flute – FluteTips 143
