A bass player takes up the flute

[DownRound]

For ultimate "stealth", it's hard to beat a wooden Fife.

Brought this to mind.
There's a different video that shows how Othar Turner made his own fifes.

 

[dbsfgyd1]

I'm at a gig a few weeks ago. Flute player to my right as we get ready for our set. I ask him, "If I wanted to play the flute, is it very hard?" Dumb question, I know. "Yes, it's hard," he says. He's a former middle school band director. He gives me a few pointers about how to tell if a used flute is any good, and says there's a lot of good information on YouTube.

A week later, I buy a used Gemeinhardt SP-2 student-level flute on Facebook Marketplace, from a mom of a high school kid who doesn't play it. I take it home and watch a bunch of videos about how to get started. These videos are made by kind music educators and aimed at middle schoolers.

On the first day I try several times and cannot make a sound from the flute. On day two I can make a sound that is unsteady - the initiation of the note has a chirp to it. I consult YouTube and some LLMs for advice. I'm on about day 4 or 5 at this point and I can play a low C pretty consistently. That's middle C on the piano for reference. It sounds amazing.

My goal in the next few weeks is to play scales - C, F and Bb to a slow tempo on the metronome. From there I'll continue around the circle of fifths and look for some very basic melodies. I've downloaded a bunch of visual charts showing where to place one's fingers for each note, and mapped them to the C Major scale.

In my favor is the fact that I read treble and bass clef at a rudimentary level and will have no problem reading the notation once I match it to my fingers. On the other hand, I've never played a wind instrument and have never attempted to control my facial muscles in a precise way, and coordinate that with my hands and my brain.

I tell Mrs. DCGuy of my intention to learn the flute. She gives me a better than 50 percent chance of success within two years. She has been very supportive of my music over the years and makes what we both think is a realistic assessment. We both acknowledge that there are gradations of success. I'd say my initial goals are to play a flute solo on one of my gigs, or play the flute part of a classic rock song I've played a million times. This would probably be at a laid-back winery gig. One of my bands would be very receptive to this, I think.

I'm not afraid to fail at this, but I'm going to give it a rather persistent attempt.

I'll update this thread periodically. In the meantime, I'd welcome any advice or feedback. I'm especially interested in pieces of music/etudes for an adult beginner.

Go for for it. Well be expecting your version of Cross Eyed Mary by Jethroe Tull….seriously both of my sisters became pretty good flautists. Of course that was after ruining my sense of pitch learning clarinettes…

 

[WRM]

The Fife "Collection" (including the El-Cheapo plastic tube model)....


(Edited) Because they are so inexpensive, and good practice for the Embouchure, everybody, and I mean everybody, should buy one of these and learn how to blow it (highly recommended)!...

Amazon.com: FLAUTA DULCE TRAVESERA - Yamaha (YRF21) Plastico (Tipo Pifano) 2 Piezas : Musical Instruments

Buy FLAUTA DULCE TRAVESERA - Yamaha (YRF21) Plastico (Tipo Pifano) 2 Piezas: Recorders - Amazon.com ✓ FREE DELIVERY possible on eligible purchases

www.amazon.com

 

[tvbop]

Wind instruments seem to have a even steeper learning curve

I'll give you that and raise.... Cello even tho I did seriously look at flute but kinda figured it would be too loud to practise where Iam.. Cello tho is quite easy to dampen down to a scratchy whisper when needed. .
Played violin in school decades ago and quit when I left. 50 yrs later and figured these stubby fingers might handle a cello. How wrong was I.. its incredibly hard but Im getting there.

 

[WRM]

That Yamaha Fife is in the Key of "C" (like Flute & Piccolo) and has over two full octaves of Chromatic Scale. Music is written in Treble, but "Middle C" (on paper) is "Treble C" in pitch. It has Flute/Piccolo "mouthpiece" molded-in (slip-joint can be rotated to your preference).