Fantastic Flutists on sub-par instruments

[Tibbiecow]

I was watching 'Top Chef Masters' on TV the other day.
Four very accomplished chefs competed for money (to go to their favorite charity) and the chance to go on to the champion round, for more money, prestige, etc. I like the show.
Anyway, the 'challenge' for the chefs was to cook an outstanding meal (one that you might get in an expensive restaraunt) in a college dormitory room, with one plug-in burner, a microwave oven, and a toaster oven.
Of course, the chefs came up with fantastic, fancy meals in these compromised circumstances, and proceeded to win money for charity, etc.

This got me thinking about how we so often say, it isn't the flute, it's the player, Sir James (or any accomplished player) can sound fantastic on that old Bundy flute.

I absolutely agree. I've heard it. But then, there would be no reason for anyone to have a well made flute, with a reliable mechanism, a good scale and a well designed headjoint, besides vanity. If the chefs could produce something that good in a dorm room, why do they have commercial kitchens with fancy equipment in the restaurants?

I think the answer is 1)extraordinary talent will make do, and excel, even with poor equipment and 2)any talent (even extraordinary) will progress faster and be able to do more with appropriate equipment.

So my point, in the end, is that if a person is trying to be the opposite of equipment-conscious, and using that old beat-up 60's vintage Bundy flute because "Sir James could make it sound fantastic" is doing him/herself a disservice. (I am assuming that $250 or so for a better instrument is not completely out of the question.)

I'm not saying that we all should run out and put thousands into our instruments. There are Yamaha student flutes, Pearls and Jupiters that have an excellent scale/well designed headjoint, usually obtainable for $500, or in a pinch, $250 used.

I'm just thinking that using an instrument that is not very well designed is going to create issues (headjoint response, pitch) that take effort to work around. It would be better in most cases to put those player resources to better use, playing a better designed instrument.

And for what it's worth, I did live for two years in a small cabin on a ranch with two burners, a microwave and a toaster oven. There were some things you could improvise, and some things you just couldn't do (dinner party for more than four people, for example), but mostly for two people the food was pretty good.

[littlewailer]

A well maintained, sonically sound instrument is not going to impeded your playing/ learning process.

A piece of junk will.

[Kelpie]

In my limited experience I can say with certainty a good horn is easier to play than a cheaper made student one and can make a so-so player like me sound good. An example is my Yani 901 alto. I also played a Yamaha pro flute with the EC head and it was easier to play overall than my Emerson.

[Stretch]

Bill McBirnie has a Haynes flute with a custom head joint that he uses on his gigs. However, he has a generic student flute with a head joint that has an unusual flat finish that he uses for woodshedding on and yes, he amazing on that too. By the way, Bill is giving a jazz clinic at the flute convention in New York in August.

[Gordon (NZ)]

I reckon Pyrioni does very well at age 14 on a student Yamaha, not that that's a crappy flute.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BgwiPZpQ7RY&feature=channel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KW7cmd3HJeE
Listen to his other youtube clips also.

[hgiles]

Yes, our egos, pride, privilege (whatever) get in the way of our realizing that a good functional instrument doesn't have to cost a million dollars and have a designer label.

[kymarto]

Let's not forget that Marcel Moyse, arguably the best flautist of the 20th century, played on an old nickel flute.

I have two handmade flutes--a Powell and an Almeida, and an old Artley O18 and a Yamaha 211, the last two cost 25 and 20 dollars. Frankly, I don't think anyone could tell the difference between these four in terms of sound. There are minor differences, but without direct comparison I can sound pretty good on any of them. Now the keywork: that is an entirely different matter. The student fluties click and clack and are generally pretty miserable in terms of feel, whereas the handmades are silent, responsive and smooth as silk.

This might go against the conventional wisdom, but it is true: headjoints are much simpler to make than bodies. To make a good body with tight keywork machined and finished to tight tolerances takes time and skill. If someone asked me whether I wanted a good body with a student head or vice versa, I would not hesitate to take the former.

Toby

[Gordon (NZ)]

"The student fluties click and clack ..."

A Yamaha 211 does not need to click and clack.
A good technician can see to that.

Do you hear clicking and clacking from the 211 in the utube links I provided? Just a tiny bit maybe? But that can also be reduced.

[jmathesonjr]

An excellent flute allows the player to play and create.
A poor flute allows the player to fight to play and create.

That is the way I think of the difference between a great instrument and a poor instrument.

[kymarto]

An excellent flute allows the player to play and create.
A poor flute allows the player to fight to play and create.

That is the way I think of the difference between a great instrument and a poor instrument.

I agree, but I think we need to describe the qualities of a poor instrument. Flute intonation, since Boehm, has generally been better than for any other wind instrument (save perhaps the clarinet)--certainly better than saxes and oboes. My only real beef with most student instruments is the keywork. Gordon, I agree that the 211 could be better, but the main problem is the tolerance with which the keys are fitted. Not bad--much better than the Artley--but nowhere near the handmades.

Toby

[JButky]

Some of you have heard this before,

But here's a first act flute being played

First Act Flute (http://www.langemusic.com/Files/first_act_flute.wav)

It proves only 2 things,
1. If you stick with Boehm's design, it will work wonderfully.
2. I'm not a half bad flute player <G>

Joe B

[Gordon (NZ)]

It also proves your flute setting-up skills are excellent. :-)

Did Boehm specify no leaks, and specify the shape of the embouchure hole? :-)

[kymarto]

Boehm & Mendler flutes had the same rectangular embouchure hole seen on almost all flutes today. Rudall, Carte and others used an oval design that is now extinct.

Toby

[Gordon (NZ)]

I learnt on an old wooden Rudall Carte. I would expect most guys today learning on one of those today to give up learning. Looking back, I'm surprised I didn't give up. I'm glad they're extinct.

[kymarto]

I learnt on an old wooden Rudall Carte. I would expect most guys today learning on one of those today to give up learning. Looking back, I'm surprised I didn't give up. I'm glad they're extinct.

I played one recently and was surprised by how weak a sound I got with that small oval embouchure hole. To be fair, I had an old wooden 1867 system flute that was quite good.

But again, much is down to one's embouchure. It is an acoustic fact that a smaller embouchure hole cannot develop as powerful a sound as a larger hole, but it can get much closer than you might think, although you might not like the feel of the way it blows.

Flute playing style has changed. Not as much perhaps as sax style, but it has definitely developed in the direction of more power and less delicacy, and the modern head cuts certainly reflect that. There is nothing magic about modern chimney designs--all of this was known to earlier makers, but they were simply designing for what was in fashion.

Toby

[NYMeyerLansky]

You can find cheap flutes that play well if you try enough individual examples. I've got
a pot metal Emerson for rough trade, big band gigs, etc. that I enjoy nearly as much as
my Prima Sankyo.

[DanPerezSax]

I'm not a very good flute player, but I can get a pretty nice tone. However, when I play, for example, an intermediate model Pearl, I sound a million times better than I do on my Ghemeinhardt. If I were a better player, I'm sure there would be less difference, but there's no doubt in my mind that the Pearl is just a BETTER flute...

[Gordon (NZ)]

"If I were a better player, I'm sure there would be less difference, "

I don't think so.

And how do you find the current student Yamahas?

(I like the way they play, and also find that servicing typically takes about 1/3 less time than Pearl.)

[Saxnflut]

I've always felt that there is a far greater difference between a funky, student, or off-brand sax, than there are between a decent flute, & a super expensive one. Well, almost always believed that, it began the night I saw a cat in Chicago play his *** off, with a tone like Hubert Laws, only to find he was using a Bundy student flute!

I'd say the difference between a $1,000 solid silver flute and a $10,000 hand-made one, is nowhere near that of a $1,000 sax, and a $4,000 top line one, especially when you see you're paying 10 times the price for the flute.

And as far as any of these making a huge difference to the average listener, well, we all know the answer to that one....

[leftiowa]

What I know is that I really love playing my Haynes and my Heritage handmade flutes...I mean I really love playing them...that's got to count for something!

[Gordon (NZ)]

Perhaps you'd love others even more!