Flautists... help! I need advice, please!

[Ellbell]

I have just been told off by a local flute teacher for getting dd1 a flute for her 8th birthday next week. (This is after her saying she wants to play the flute for a year or so.) Apparently she will be too small to hold it properly and will develop bad habits which will be impossible to cure and I should have talked to a flute teacher first and waiting till she was 10 or 11.

Aaargh! I did play the clarinet myself (started when I was 9) but I am a bit of a musical non-starter (got to grade 6, but am totally devoid of natural talent and practically tone-deaf) and now I feel about this >.< big.

The teacher did say that she might be able to learn if I got a flute with a curved head. I have bought a nice second-hand Trevor James flute, which I don't really want to take back. Can I buy a curved head separately? And will it be ridiculously expensive?

The question is, what do I do now? Do I:

1. Let dd have the flute for her birthday and give it a go. Let the teacher have a look at her with it, and risk disappointing dd massively if the teacher says she's too small to play it?

1. Try to get a curved head? (Or take back flute I've got and try to swap for a curved-head one?)

1. Hide flute for another year or so and concentrate on teaching dd the recorder instead and getting her to read music, so that she can start learning the flute in a year or two's time. (I think this is what the flute teacher would like me to do!)

WWYD?

waited

I'd do no.3 - it builds the skills she'll need to play the flute, but will be much easier for her. I started with the recorder at 7 and then went onto the flute at 11, and it was a good transition.

I seem to remember hearing that all woodwind and brass instruments (apart from the recorder) weren't a good idea until 11, but can't remember why.

Thanks Starlight. She has done some recorder at school, but at a very simplistic level (30 kids with recorders all learning at once... not ideal.) I could teach her a bit more and get her reading music OK... But then I'll have to find her another birthday present !

My DD started the flute at 8 yrs and 3 months - not a curved head.

She has had no problems and has just taken grade 4 ( all other grades passed with distinction!. She is 11 now.

Hope your dd enjoys it!

I learned recorder, then fife, then flute.

fife

I used to do 5 mins or so at the end of each lesson on the real flute.

Teacher is right imo especially as she is small, but as long as she can hold it up okay for the time she is on it and doesn't let it roll in, might be okay.

Depends how big she is perhaps.

She can practice blowing on the head, not attached to the rest!

I think I was playing the proper flute age 8, albeit for only 5 mins at a time.

Agree that for now the most important thing os reading music, theory, and playing the recorder, the fingerings for which are really similar to the flute anyway.

HTH!

Teacher says it would bugger her embouchure if she played till she was big enough.

The trouble is, it's heavy and that means your hand gets tired and rolls in to support it, which is terrible posture and will need to be sorted before she can tackle the harder notes!

To play properly, she should be able to hold it using chin, and thumb and little finger of right hand only. It takes practice even for a grownup.

i had a curved head for my altus flute- i started playing at 9yo, went on to play for county youth orchestra etc and got music scholarship BUT i could aleady read music when i started!

i would teach a child basic score reading first- and piano if possible! recorders have similar fingerings to the flute though!

Lots of flute exercises to do to get ready though, I recall a plastic bottle being carted around in my bag, to practice blowing across the top. Brilliant for embouchure control!

(my teacher never explained what an ambouchure was! I thought it was in my stomach)

Teacher is not making it up - I had to put off learning the flute for a year because my arms weren't long enough for correct positioning. I started when I was 10.

Before that I learnt the recorder at school. Fingering is similar, and that plus being able to read music (if she does recorder first) will mean she gets more from her lessons when she does start.

It takes a while to learn correct positioning of the lips to get a good sound too, so if she's not grappling with that as well as fingering and reading music she'll make faster progress and maybe be more likely to persevere.

Hmm... Starlight... but see my comments about my own tone-deafness. I can teach her to read music. No way can I 'train her ear' [wishful thinking emoticon]!

Don't have a piano wontbepreg (great name, btw) and I can't play anyway.

Legoleia... dd is brill at blowing across bottles. 'Twas a 'bottle band' that got her started on this idea!

Thanks to all of you for your advice. Am still undecided, but your advice has been very helpful.

Have just spoken to dh and we think we may hide the flute and give it to her next year instead.

Now I need to start a new thread: 'What can I buy an 8-y-o for her birthday that's not a flute?'

Thanks again for all your advice.