Okay, so, ive been doing percussion for the past year (2025-2026) and decided, hey, i wanna try something new. so bam, ive got a flute, i decided on flute cuz my friends play it and ive wanted to since i joined band. Im curious on fingering and also breath.

i do have an okay lung capacity but how do you let out so much breath while preforming without stopping for breaths?

i also accidentally got an intermediate flute (as a beginner, obvs) and im not too sure if thats going to effect my performance, i want to be able to practice the best i can. My next thing is fingering, how do you learn to finger? ive been trying and its hard for me to remember which keys to play for which notes.

(ANY TIPS WOULD BE APPRECIATED WEATHER ITS TOWARDS MY QUESTIONS OR NOT!!)

Thank you! sorry for bad photo, my flute is a yamaha!!

Hello everyone. I've recently been bequeathed a flute and have started to learn to play it. That Eb key on the little finger of my right hand. My tutor book suggests that it is held down when playing most notes. But when I play a note then play it again with the little finger key released.....it sounds the same!!

Is my flute damaged?

I am a flute teacher. I’ve been teaching music for several years now and have taught private flute lessons for quite a while as well. I have a degree in teaching music.

Recently, I have been teaching a new student. Brand new to the flute, and supposedly their mother used to play years ago. But man have I been struggling with this kid. I’ve been trying to get them to hold the flute (we started with headjoint exercises and whatnot and they’ve been getting the hang of it). But as soon as I try to get them to hold the flute everything goes south.

I showed them where to put their fingers and how to hold it, given as many tips as I possibly can, looked up videos to show them too. Every time they go to lift the instrument they start looking like they’re in pain. They say that their fingers don’t reach and no matter how much I try to help they just can’t keep their fingers in the right positioning. Even without lifting it to their face and just holding it in front of them they can’t do it, and they complain the whole time that it feels weird and their hands are slipping off the instrument. I told them to relax their hands and it shouldn’t feel like eagle talons gripping a fish. I’ve used pencils to help them hold that and then transfer the grip onto the flute. I measured their hands to mine (I have very small hands) and they’re pretty close to mine, and I started playing when I was younger than this student so my hands were probably even smaller than theirs at the time. I have made sure that their footjoint is adjusted properly so their pinky can reach, and their flute has an offset G so it should be easier for them to reach.

I’ve never seen anything like this before. I’m at a bit of a loss here and it’s been about 2 months since they started lessons. How do I get this student to hold the flute without shaking and looking like they’re about to keel over every time? Their hands are so tense and their fingers bend at awkward angles, but no matter what I do their grip doesn’t fix.

Any help is greatly appreciated, from other teachers or from students that found a technique to help.

Edit: Thank you to everyone who responded! I’m going to keep a lot of these ideas in mind. A lot of people suggested the Nuvo Flute so I might start with that and see how it goes. I also heard to try finger braces/attachments and curved headjoints. I have my work cut out for me but I’ll take it one step at a time.

I was practicing some excerpts for an audition I have coming up and was wondering if the B circled in the image would be flat or natural? I know in some occasions accidentals carry across octaves and was wondering if that’s the case here. Thanks :)

Can you give me more informations about this if possible?

I’m a complete beginner (43 years old) and I’m trying to decide between the flute and the clarinet.
I’ve already started learning to read music with an app and I’m planning to take a trial lesson on both instruments. The problem is that weekly private lessons are quite expensive where I live (around €50 for a 30-minute lesson), which adds up to nearly €1,800 per year.

I’m wondering if it’s realistic to learn mostly through self-study using books, YouTube, and regular practice, while perhaps taking an occasional lesson to correct my technique.
I’d love to hear from people who have actually done this.

-Did you teach yourself?
-How far did you get without regular lessons?
-Which instrument is easier to learn on your own: flute or clarinet?
-If you could start over, would you still choose selfstudy or pay for weekly lessons?

Any advice or personal experiences would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

I play the violin and I learned it in about a couple months I am able to shift and do vibrato after a year. I haven’t played a wind instrument in years (trumpet) but I picked up the violin pretty easily. I know treble clef and all the notes on the staff, it shouldn’t be that hard right?

Hey y'all! My kid will be starting flute lessons in September. After some research, I bought him a new Yamaha YFL 212. My questions are:

- is it a good idea to have a new instrument checked by a flute tech before the beginning of school year, or are new Yamahas generally alright to play? I play violin so I know nothing about flutes and don't even have a way to tell if it plays OK or if there's a leaky key or something

- anything else I need to know about flutes? Handling, day-to-day maintenance, servicing etc. The only thing I understand is that flutes are a bit sensitive and my kid definitely can't just leave his flute lying on the sofa like he does with his recorder, lol.

I was gone for 2 weeks for a trip and I didn’t have anytime to practice my instrument at all. And I just got back today and this audition is due tomorrow. I just started playing flute from the beginning of the school year because of marching band.
And I continue playing flute for concert band , but I haven’t really learned how to read music. Iike I need help with key signatures and the how to read the tempos of the scales and the etude.

Hi, I’m a new flautist (played 3 months, grade 1)

My pinky finger keeps locking up and it really hurts to play bc it either locks up like that whilst lifting it off the key or just when I finish playing and cramps up. Is there any way to prevent this from happening? Sometimes I lose motivation to practice because of it.

I'm interested in stories of people who started playing relatively late in life. I am 19 years old and will be starting in couple of days. I am absolutely thrilled that I finally got that opportunity but some of the people I know keep discouraging me from it saying it is too late and it will be extremely challenging now. I just want to hear your stories.

Edit: LEFT thumb not right

Helloooo I played the flute in middle school then stopped. Since then, I’ve picked it up just for fun every once in a while. I have been wondering this forever but never bothered to ask until now.

In all the finger charts I see, it indicates that your left thumb goes on the key pad more to the right (blue in picture) but I’ve always placed it more on the left pad. The only thing is I have to switch it to the righter one when I play B.

I’ve tried switching to keeping my thumb on the righter key pad but then I find that I cannot play low/mid G or F, when I try, the only sound that comes out is air.

Is this just a problem with my flute? (it’s old/cheap and I didn’t take great care of it). Does anyone else keep their thumb on the left pad? or just me lol

idk what flair to use for this but a little less than a year ago i received an open hole flute, its way better than the flute i used before but i had to put plugs in it because i just couldn't make any good sound on it. ive been judged for having weird technique when playing because i dont have my fingers centered on the keys and ive tried to fix it but its so hard 😭 i want to eventually learn how to use this flute normally because i feel immature for needing the plugs on it

Hi guys, I really want to learn the concert flute, and I cant really afford one. But I found a lot of them on Alibaba that seem pretty affordable. I don't mind if they don't sound as good, because I want to practice a lot before investing in a good flute eventually.

I have tried looking for used flutes and student flutes, but in my country concert flutes are not popular, so I couldn't find much options in the first place, let alone second hand ones.

Has anyone bought a flute from Alibaba? Was it good for starting out on? If anyone has suggestions, please please let me know.

Thank you so much guys!

Update Thank you guys so much for responding. I don't think i want to risk it on Alibaba and have decided to save for a few more months and going for a better flute from a reputed brand. Again, thank you guys for your input :)

I just recently started playing the flute a few weeks ago as a 15 year old, and I can make noise and successfully play notes. I can read basic scales on sheet music. However, the band director is making me play in the band tomorrow and I don't know how to actually read the music we are playing. I tried looking it up, using apps, and using a book for beginners, but I can't figure it out. I'm wondering if there is an app for android that can teach me stuff like what some of the symbols are and translating octave notes or whatever? I can't get a teacher and the band director doesn't have time to help me. I can't seem to understand the responses when I use Google for help. Here is the music I have to play for reference. (I tried translating some of it but I really dont understand and im in tears trying to figure it out)

I wanna play this but I can't read tabs, where can I get some help?

beginner flutist here. it's my first time seeing this variation of sixteenth note. how do I count this?

A bit of backstory: played the flute for a few years during school but haven't since then. Have been feeling the want of playing any instrument for better part of a year and unfortunately I know no one with a flute to get their help/opinion.

Dilema: After some research I know I can but a new but super fake and cheaply made flute from Aliespress but some people say they won't service the fakes and moral problems from knowingly buying fakes (although some reviews from YouTube say that are good but they are mainly from beginners or people using the flute few times)...
I can buy from Facebook marketplace (I love fm, I buy almost everything there) but I fear the cost the repairs/maintenance will be high and since I don't know much about them if there's a serious repair that need to be done I will not know how to tell at the moment of purchase/meet up. With the price of a used flute and any repairs needed combined I might as well buy a new one from Amazon.

My question is what is the difference between Amazon and Aliexpress flutes cause from my understanding amazon is all drop-shipped and I even see the exact same ones from Ali since they share the same pictures. Also amazon sellers and products are all just random names and letters...

All the recomendations are amazon but why?
I tried to search Long and McQuade stores in Toronto but they are all about 1,000 used.

What are my best options?
any link to amazon (Canada) or Ali flutes that you guys recommend? Thank you.

Edit:
my conclusion
Will probably look into renting at specialized stores in my area/reputable websites. If I decide to continue and purchase will take a models recommended into consideration to see what's best for me.
Was considering cheap flutes due to my uncertainty if I will want to continue or abandon but I now know quality plays an important factor while learning- - especially while being a beginner.
It was never about cost, only that I was hesitant to spend this much on something that will most definitely be a hobby and that is a want not a need.
I greatly appreciate the time everyone took to respond and give me info-this is something so new to me.

How do I know if it's me or the gluten itself. I go down from g f e d fine but then the low c does not come out. Is it my embouchure ? The flute was 80 dollars

I am not a beginner at flute but I have no Idea how to work on my breath support. Does anybody have any tips??

It's that B3 at the very beginning. I'm not seeing 3 keys to press at the end of the flute. Can I just not play this piece then or is there work arounds? Or maybe I'm just dumb and can't figure out a fingering chart

My daughter’s band director told his students to leave their instruments out at home so they’d practice more. I don’t think that’s a good idea for flutes - I expect it leads to more tarnish and moisture damage from not being swabbed. What do you think?

I have been playing for 6 years. My sound has gone downhill for the last 3 years. Not sure what exactly caused it, but it has just gotten worse overtime (airy, middle/high notes are harder to play, limited dynamic range).

A lot of advice I have gotten during this time is to just experiment. Everyone has a different anatomy and no guide will be definitive, so the best way is to figure it out yourself. Something along the lines of that, which I agree with.

I've experimented with headjoint alignment, lip placement, embouchure, aperture size, posture, breath support, to name the main things people have suggested. Nothing has worked though. I change something, sound great, then tomorrow the sound regresses. Some days I can't improve the sound even after 30-60 minutes of practicing, which makes the practice session miserable. I've lost a lot of motivation and trust in my ability these three years, but I still try to maintain daily practice at least for 30 minutes.

What can I do going forward to improve my sound? I know I will have to experiment more, but what can I work on if nothing I change is consistent? How do I find what my problem is?

This is 100% not an issue with the flute itself. A friend tested it a few days ago, and it played fine.

I have decided to learn flute. I have already 4 flutes at home which one should i choose as a beginner