What age to start the flute.

[Theendoftheday]

My 8 year old DS currently plays the piano, he enjoys it but he wants to start learning the flute as well. Is 8 a good age to start learning, or would we best waiting a few years?

My daughter started age 9. We had to get her a curved mouthpiece to shorten the instrument so she could reach the fingering (she is quite petite) but she’s picking it up well. Do you know anyone that owns one to give it a try?

Ring some local flute teachers and ask, but certainly their are 8 year olds at my kids' school learning flute. Think you might need to have your adult front teeth?

I had heard about the curved mouthpiece this might have to be something I investigate. I don't want to put him off while he is interested but I don't anything would make him lose interest faster than not being able to physically reach the fingerings to play notes.

I am looking for a flute teacher, unfortunately they seem to be scarce locally, lots of piano, guitar and drum teachers.

I started at 6 with a normal flute……..

My dd started this year at 8 with a normal flute. She is loving it and picking it up quickly. She is lucky to have lessons through school.

DD has been learning flute for a year ish, at school, she was 8 when she started. She found it very hard at first, which I think was in part due to having crazy wonky front teeth. But she's doing well with it now and really enjoying it.

I started at 11 with a normal flute and could only just reach the keys - I'm amazed 8 yo can!
My DD started at 9 with a curved head but didn't really take to it. I tried playing hers and found the curved head made it really unbalanced.
Does your DS play the recorder OP? If not I'd recommend that for a couple of years. A lot of the fingering on the descant it very similar to the flute.

I think my dd (who is small and has tiny hands) started when she was 8 - she could just about manage a full sized flute and the teacher recommended using that from the off . The leverage made it a bit heavy so at first I used to have to gently support the far end when she practiced!

I think the dealbreaker with the flute is whether they can get a decent sound out of just the mouthpiece - I tried to and couldn't get a squeak for love nor money!

Try it out first and see if they can make a sound - if so go for it and don’t wait. Dd started a brass instrument at 8 (following 2 years on recorder) and it meant she has had brilliant opportunities to play in bands and wind ensembles from an early age (and got to grade 5 level by 11 and picked up a music scholarship to private school if that’s on your radar too - but that would be a whole other thread). The main thing is that starting early has given her huge enjoyment and still reaping the rewards now aged 15

I was 10 but already had three years of recorder followed by two years of clarinet under my belt so I had some knowledge of woodwind playing, and my mum taught clarinet and flute. If a child can reach the keys, then the earlier the better.

My DS was year 3 I think when he started so 7?. He’s now 10(almost 11) and doing grade 4 this year so hasn’t really struggled - he used the additional mouth piece for a year or so but has been without it for quite a While now

I started at age 8 with a normal flute and continued until I went to university.

Sounds like he may be OK then from the feedback, but sounds like it would be best if I could find one for him to try it out.

Dd started learning the flute aged 8 and was fine with a normal flute. Your ds' piano will stand him in good stead as he will already be able to read and understand music.

Dd was grade 7 by the end of primary school and now is adding to her collection of instruments at university

I started at 8/9 and I remember having a curved head section for a while, which makes it smaller.

I’d previously had recorder lessons which apparently gives you a head start on the flute.

DD was 7. Played with a curved headjoint until she was nine - the big flute was probably still a tiny bit too big for her then to be honest - but she is pretty tiny. It was her first instrument.

There has been a bit of posture readjusting over the years as she's grown but that probably would have come anyway. No problems with teeth. She took her grade 8 at 13, so starting at that age was definitely an advantage for her as she gets fab opportunities with it.

I would second the recorder to start with if you can't find a teacher straight away, it's easy to learn yourself. He could be playing carols by Christmas if you like that sort of thing. You can learn fingerings which transfer easily to flute early flute and not having to cope with the weight of an adult instrument. Even a few weeks of recorder would probably help whilst you find a teacher. ( Maybe a flute teacher wouldn't like to be undoing recorder habits but it's a common route to take) I have tried the curved headpiece and didn't like the balance but it would be different with a proper teacher ( I'm a self-taught very bad flute player but do play recorder as well). Piano tuners often have a list of teachers or look on the websites of local independent schools or conservatoires and see who the teachers are. Or players in professional/ semi professional orchestras may teach too. Or have students who teach. Hope you find something, it's great to have a more social instrument alongside piano, which often only gets social when you are much more experienced.

Follow up comment - the best time to start most instruments is when the child is keen to, size and availability allowing. If they can manage on a flute and you have a teacher, go for it. I have seen cello teachers suggesting a retuned cello as a substitute for a double bass instead of getting a fractional size, I would have hated that as it's so far away from what the instrument is, so the recorder suggestion may not be any use, depending on if your child sees it as a stop gap for a few weeks/ months till flute is sorted. To be fair, mine all started all recorder and return to it every so often for fun.

Recorder can be a good idea anyway because more than any other instrument (except perhaps the ukulele) it lends itself to ensembles created entirely by the kids themselves.

DS started in year 3 (so 7) on a full sized flute. It was a bit big and hard to hold at the beginning for him and he used to do things like rest the head joint on his shoulder first and that needed to be corrected later on. They don't need to have adult teeth to start off, but there is sometimes a short period of getting used to playing with / without teeth at varioupoints. DS now 12 and lost a molar this week - had a couple of days of his tone sounding odd whilst he got used to the new gap in his mouth!

You can now get TooTs. They are around £30 and have a choice of recorder or flute mouthpiece (you hold it like a flute but with a recorder mouthpiece or have a flute mouthpiece) and it’s perfect for smaller fingers and it’s also really light. Fingering if I remember is descant recorder and the sound is really good. Much better than a fife.