Bought a Baroque flute

Nov 30, 2011 · 3 minute read · Comments
fluteBaroque flutemusic

I got a Baroque flute today. The one I got was the plastic Aulos, since it is by far less expensive than any wooden one, and recommended by a number of people I know. Also, it was the A440-tuned one, rather than the A415-tuned one, since I want to be able to play it with people on modern instruments.

Why did I suddenly get this instrument, when less than two weeks ago, when discussing my recent return to the modern flute, I explained all the reasons I didn’t expect to try Baroque flute anytime soon?

Why now?

It turned out that I got more information than I had then. For one thing, when I announced to everyone at the last meeting of the local Pittsburgh chapter of the American Recorder Society that I was playing the modern flute again, of course they said, “How about trying the Baroque flute?” and told me about the affordable plastic one. Also, finding out that I could get an A440-tuned instrument mattered a lot. I don’t want to invest anytime soon in an instrument that I can’t play in a wide range of circumstances.

Finally, by chance it turned out that Abby needed to buy some musical supplies from a place that had the precise Aulos Baroque flute I was looking at (and the lowest price online), and so we added it to the order to get a discount all in one order.

(Update of 2012-10-30)

I didn’t think it was important to mention at the time, but when I wrote this blog post, I had just two weeks earlier checked out of the library, by sheer accident since it was on display, a book/CD set called “English Airs and Dances”, from a “Baroque Around the World” series, and begun working on playing the music in it, on modern flute.

What now?

Well, I picked up Boland’s “Method for the One-Keyed Flute” from the library, and it looks very good. At some point I’ll start working on it.

I’m also pretty enchanted with the modern flute these days, and have been working hard to improve rapidly and considerably on it, with some hope of playing it when I see my sister later this month.

Other flutes?

It turns out that on Thanksgiving, I saw at the host’s place some tubes with holes that I couldn’t figure out how to make a sound on. I was told they were plastic kavals. I had certainly heard and seen such instruments being played many times before, but not looked at them up front. With some guidance, I spent a large amount of time trying to make sounds on the kavals, and only partially succeeding.

I guess now now that I have increasing experience with flute-type instruments, I am finding variations on the concept kind of fascinating. I might want to try figuring out the kaval at some point.

Conclusion

I am grateful for the opportunity to own a relatively inexpensive Baroque flute to play around with. I have to be careful, since I am attracted to novelty and variety but need to discipline myself in order to excel at a smaller number of endeavors, rather than be a mere dilettante at a larger number.