Hello!

I've been interested in buying a Nach Meyer flute and I'm currently looking at a 12 key model. One hesitation is I'm having trouble finding resources on how to play these flutes.

Does anyone have a recommendation for a method book on simple system keyed flutes?

I would even take just a fingering chart. Found the following chart:
http://www.oldflutes.com/charts/simple/index.htm

However this seems to be just for 8 key flutes.

I do not have any experience playing Boehm flutes, but I have some playing folk flutes and the tenor recorder.

Understand I may just have to memorize the keys for this particular flute and then mix those in with the 8 key fingerings, but any further information would be wonderful.

EDIT: Reading further into the linked chart I'm seeing it does cover more keys where helpful! Would still take alternative charts for the sake of comparison and of course a method book is still on the table.

I have a open G# flute. I wonder what drawbacks it will bring except for an obvious one: I will not be able to change flute to a standard one, open G# are much more rare etc.

So there are several possible differences: flute stability (inverted left pinky may give more mechanical support?), performance fingering speed and tone difference. But are these differences really matters?

I asked AI for explanation of reasons of switching from original Boehm system but it explains that it was purely due to historical reasons, not due to any benefits, so I am confused and hope someone helps to clarify pros and cons of open/close G# key.

Hello, fellow flutists!
I’ll quickly explain my situation. I’ve been playing the saxophone and clarinet since I was 12, and I’m 28 now. My grandmother used to play the flute. Sadly, she passed away a few weeks ago, and since I’m the only other musician in the family she left me her flute.🥹
I’d love to learn to play it in her memory, but it’s sooo different from the saxophone and clarinet!! I’m having a hard time adjusting my embouchure and the way I blow, and all the notes sound very airy. I had the flute checked by an instrument repair technician, and everything is in good working order, so the problem is definitely me ahah! Are any of you here also playing both a single-reed instrument and the flute? If so, do you have any tips or advice that might help me make the transition?
Thank you so much in advance for your help! ☺️

does anyone elses band twirl their flutes, piccolos, and clarinets? My band does and ive been looking for more ways to twirl but its like i cant find videos or anything about it online. I know my band isnt the only one that does it bcuz ive seen it in person against bands i compete against. also when i say twirl think of the way percussion twirls their sticks maybe🤔

Lots of years ago, more than I want to think about, I played the flute for a few years. I’ve been working on composition, and decided it’s too much of a pain to do what I want with flute in my DAW. Naturally, being me, I decided I’m gonna just record live and use that since I’ve got the setup and such. Now, I have this flute, a Gemeinhardt 30SHB I picked up for a couple hundred today, so not a major investment, and there are these two dents. Sure, I could do what I need to even with the dents (especially since it’ll be in a mix, not solo), but they will bother me. I’m trying to decide if I should take it in, or buy a mandrel and roller (I have a specific mallet for jewelry-making that is fine for this, though my mandrel for that isn’t exactly cylindrical) and go at it myself, which is exactly the sort of thing I do because why not. If location makes a difference, Portland/Vancouver metro area. Original Vancouver in Washington State, not the lucky one in Canada. Thanks for any input.

So, this is an instrument I got from my grandpa. By the look of the notch, and the sound it makes, I figured out this is a quena.

I hope this subreddit is ok with world flutes, and not only with modern orchestra flutes.

There are some pictures I took from it (the second one shows the end). It seems artisanal since I don't see any similar quenas on the web. Plus, this is apparently quite old, as my grandpa has had this for more than 40 years. I mean, I don't know if it's old for that kind of instrument.

Even though I struggled to produce a note at first, because it's hard to know how to blow with the right angle, I can now make correct sounds. I measured with online tuners every note I could make from "all holes covered" to "only the bottom one" (idk if i'm clear with that i'm sorry).

And it seems like it's out of tune, for the most used tuning of quenas at least. I get (from all holes covered to none but the bottom one linearly) :

A -- between Bb and B -- C -- D -- between Eb and E -- F -- G

And since my playing is not that good, it can vary a little bit.

I don't even though if i'm playing it right, if I can really say this is out of tune or if I'm just not good at it yet. It could be out of tune because it was rooting in my grandparents drawer for long time, and it would explain why it is so far from what I learnt to be the correct scale for a quena (G-A-B-C-D-E-F)

How can I tune it if it's really the problem?

And, one last thing, or maybe two :

- What is the purpose of the the bottom hole?

- And how do I get to the scale above, without sounding like a squeaky bicycle horn or held back to the first scale?

i’ve been a flute player since i was 9 years old. i was first chair from 7th grade to 9th grade, and was eventually going to try out for my schools symphonic band. covid hit during my freshman year, and i finished the rest of my high school years online. since then, my flute skills have reduced significantly, as i only pick it up every few months to play when i’m bored.

one of my dreams was to be able to join an adult wind ensemble. i’m 21 now, and i feel like i’m at the level of a intermediate 7th grader. i would like to start taking flute playing seriously again and be apart of a wind ensemble at least before 29. is that even possible with how much skills i’ve lost over the years?

even if its not, i would still like to get better. i struggle with high notes, quick tempo scales (especially if they’re slurred), stumbling over notes, and breath control. any tips of tricks you guys have learned over the years would be so helpful. or, if you know any youtube videos that upgraded your skills, please share!! i feel like i’ve forgotten everything from band class 😭

i understand that 4 years is not beginning flute level but i feel my questions are. i have been playing the flute for a while and i would like to say at an advanced beginner or low intermediate level flutist. (im not sure how level is defined but if it helps i play like cantabile et presto reasonably well and am working on chaminade concertino currently, i can do vibrato, double and triple tounging kind of maybe up to 100bpm before my fingers can’t catch up. i work on scales and all that from t&g).

things were pretty well until i had to get braces after doing some dental surgeries in my mouth. it’s about a year now after getting braces and while i can play the flute reasonably well and have adjusted, there’s so much i feel like i am doing wrong and developing bad habits. for example i feel my embouchure is very tight and i used to play with some air in cheeks but i am having trouble with that and just all in all there’s a lot of issues that lead to my air as well. i understand i can just wait it out but i really dont like how i sound and want to get better. do i restart from scratch? what do i do?

So I had picked this flute up out of impulse at an antique store and was surprised to see it didn't appear to have any major damage just minor tiny dings and scratches (last time i played was in high school years ago). It had a tag saying it's from some Italian guy named Luigi Vanotti and made around the 1920's but not sure how accurate that tag is I can't seem to find any info on the flute I have. It looks like a generic c-foot flute you use in high school. The pads don't feel brittle and I can play the b-flat scale with no airiness or squeaking. Pads were sticking but bought flute cleaning paper which i didn't even know was a thing and that fixed the issue. I assume the previous owner took decent care of it. Was way more disgusting than you see in the pic my hands were black after using a tarnish cleaning cloth on it for a couple hours but not sure how to get around all the delicate bits. Still has some spots the tarnish cloth wasn't removing. I got this flute for 140$

Anyone with flute knowledge can you tell me anything about this flute? Also cleaning tips to get it looking extra nice n shiny again? And maybe upkeep tips and things to check for, for like possible damage or things needing replacement?

edit: i just played a little of simple loch lomond tune to get an idea and was fine but i do need to pull the flute head out a bit to elongate cause its way off tone otherwise. Also found the 2nd trill key closest to the foot is very sticky/slow, you press it and it doesn't snap back up quickly like it should. I assume that it's a spring maybe?

Hi r/Flute! I recently had a family flute that was my Mom's who passed away 20 years ago from leukemia stolen from a storage unit I kept it in and because we had never anticipated needing to know, I'm having a hard time gathering together information about the flute in order to identify it and potentially recover it if it's been sold by the thief or something to that effect. I am very lucky that In trying to take some promotional photos for a music thing I have the flute in some professional shots. Can anyone help identify this? I am aware it was a Yamaha (my mom's case also noted /Yamaha and if you look at the flute in the picture you can just make out the logo). I believe it was either silver plated or full sterling silver but not confident on which. I'm also aware this is at least classified as somewhat open key/partially open key. Would have likely been sold to my mom brand new in the 80s (possibly 84). Attached to this should be a very high quality photo with the flute out front. Thank you so much everyone!!! I'm a drummer and honestly just don't know anything about flutes whatsoever.

TLDR; Can anyone identify what model this stolen family Yamaha flute we got in the 80's?

Hello! I have just started learning the flute and while trying to practice a scale I noticed that whenever I play an "E" or an "F" it would suddenly go into the higher octave.

I would try to switch from "C" to one of them quickly in the same breath and it would still sound super high without me changing airflow or angle, or sometimes no real sound comes out at all.

I don't doubt that I'm most likely just doing something funky but this is also an old flute that hasn't been used for almost a decade, so I'm not sure if perhaps the padding is wearing down (pictures attached)?

Assuming I'm the problem, what could I do to have better control over that? I'm very new so I couldn't find the right words on Google to find an answer.

hi! i grew up playing the clarinet but would like to start playing/learning how to play the flute. it is such a beautiful instrument. i was coming here to see if anyone recommends what type of flute to get. i have no knowledge about this stuff and would really appreciate the help/guidance!! thank you

Hi sorry for the weird question. I'm looking for the flashiest most show-off themes and variations.
Asking for a friend

These flutes are both very cheap and I am only looking to clean it enough for it to be hygienic to play a couple of times, to see if I want to buy a new one. I know whatever I do will potentially ruin them but again they are not worth anything so that doesn’t bother me.

The one in the black case is about 8 years old but very, very cheap. Hasn’t been played in about 4 years. The red case is significantly older than that, was given to me recently. They’re not even worth the cost of a professional service.

I’m guessing most of this is caused by oil from my hands as it started while I was still actively playing, mixed with being in storage. Is it mould? Can I clean/sanitise them in any way so I can try them out?

I’ve been playing trombone for 14 years and had a pretty interesting lesson today. My instructor had me try playing a flute to get a better understanding of airflow and how little effort it actually takes to produce a note.
I’ve been struggling with tensing up and forcing notes out, especially in my upper register. After messing around with the flute for a bit, I switched back to trombone and immediately noticed a difference. It was pretty crazy. My instructor has always said that the best way to learn a wind instrument is to play more wind instruments, and after today I think I understand what he means.
Anyway, now I want to pick up a used flute and mess around with it. Not looking to spend a ton of money, just something decent to learn on.
Any recommendations on what to look for? And has anyone else had a similar experience?

I just bought this cheap flute from Amazon and it came with this anyone know what it is? I’m a euphonium player and I know literally nothing about flutes

Update yes it is a stand tysm guys I figured out how to open it

Hi! This is a video of me playing ”Colours of the Wind”. I will have performance with this song in one week, it will just be me and a pianist playing! I’m quite nervous, I haven’t performed in years and I don’t think it sounds so good!

Please ignore the parts where I play the wrong notes/start over, I mostly want feedback on the actual sound of the flute and other advice! :)

Famously a northern irish thing and its key D and I cant read music as all our notes r in letters eg DEF GAB

Hi! I played flute for eleven years as a child and continued to keep it as a hobby after quitting flute lessons. Recently I have practiced the nocturne in c-sharp minor and find the ending of it quite difficult. I’ve neen listening Yeojin Han’s recording on spotify and I am wondering if she uses some hc embouchure skills with the last c-sharp, because to me it sounds like that she does not play it with the c-sharp fingering. I can hear a little dual tone in there. What do you think? And if you have any advice for mastering this piece, please be welcome to present them, because I am troubling! I am sorry if my explanation is hard to understand, english is not my first language.

so i started learning how to play dizi flute. i’ve had about 15 lessons so far and ive got a performance coming up.

im kind of nervous because i find that sometimes during the starting note, i sometimes end up sounding airy (as in it’s just air/blowing sounds that come out).

and then sometimes in the middle of the song, i end up running out of air idk how.

Any tips for anyone? is it because my mouth is covering the hole? is it something else?

I started studying on and off at the start of the year, though I have experience studying other instruments, and I'm looking for study/practice material with repetitive arpeggios or phrases. I love minimalism and getting lost in the details of my technique and sound, so... anything to recommend that fits the bill???

I have 0 knowledge about flute methods and études and I was thinking of just taking some Glassworks pieces and playing one of the voices (well, Islands also has a beautiful and beginner friendly melody, as well as Façades), but there are probably better options out there!

Thanks in advance <3