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Flute Lessons
Learn to play the flute. Flute tutors throughout the UK; more welcome.
The flute is a member of the woodwind family. The Western Concert Flute (as opposed to its ethnic variants from Asia, South America and Africa) is played transversely - ie the instrument is held parallel to the floor and at right-angles to the flautist's body.
Air is passed through the flute by blowing across an embouchure (or mouthpiece). A sound is then produced by the vibration of the air in much the same way as a milk-bottle does when air is blown across the top. The flautist controls the pitch and emphasis of this note by opening and blocking of holes in the body of the instrument using their fingers.
Flutes may be open or close-ended and may be open or closed hole. Open-ended means just that - the flautist blows in one end and the air may exit anywhere including at the end. Closed hole means that at least one hole on the body must remain open. Most flutes have closed holes which means that there are keys which engage rubberised blocking pads when depressed.
Beginners may prefer this to open hole flutes since depressing a key guarantees that the hole is covered whereas it is easy to only partially cover it if you are not fully proficient with the instrument. For a professional flautist, the open-hole flute allows a much wider range of sounds to be created.
The Western Concert Flute is actually a group of instruments which include:
Treble, Soprano, Concert, Alto, Bass, Contra-alto, Contrabass, Subcontrabass, Double Contrabass and Hyperbass flutes and the piccolo.
Western Concert Flutes for beginners are usually made from brass which is polished before it is then silver-plated and lacquered; the latter operation to prevent corrosion. More accomplished players will choose flutes made from silver, gold, platinum and alloys. The inside of the flute is either gold or silver plated. Copper and silver are the two most popular alloys as they can help prevent the growth and culture of mould - a problem all wind-operated instruments suffer from.
The best quality flutes have bronze springs which further help to prevent corrosion - the principal enemy of any metallic woodwind instrument.
Care of your flute
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Do not play the flute immediately after consuming food. If you have no choice, then make sure you rinse your mouth out until it is free of any food particles since these can cause both mould in the body of the instrument and the keys to stick.
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At the end of each session, make sure you thoroughly dry out the inside of the flute. Push a clean dry cloth through the flute taking care not to scratch the instrument. Clean the headjoint and the footjoint in this way, too. Clean and dry all of the joints of the flute and take particular care over the wiping out of the embouchure.
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When you have cleaned the inside, wipe fingerprints and other marks off of the surface. Be careful not to knock the keypads out of alignment as this will cause the flute to distort the notes next time you play it.
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If a keypad sticks then the best way to clean it is to insert some clean paper or cloth beneath the key and then depressing the key very firmly (a bit harder than you would normally press it when playing). This should remove the fluid from the rubber pad and stop the key from sticking.
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Never use any proprietary silver polish or the like as it will tarnish the surface of the instrument.
Woodwind instruments can produce a wide-range of melodic sounds and are very relaxing to listen to so why not make today the day you learn to play the flute?
Other Instruments
Click this link to find prices for flute lessons.
Look for information on another musical instrument.
Search in our directory for a flute tutor.
Go to this link to become a flute teacher.
Flute Lessons
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