I feel like flutists often get a bad rap for being dramatic, but in my experience, the flute community has been overwhelmingly supportive—except for one person. When you meet him, the vibe around him is condescending. He'll tell you all about his 14k special edition Haynes with gold keys, his “14k Straubinger” (which is actually 9k…), his extravagant connections to people like Jasmine Choi, flute professors across the U.S., and manufacturers. He’ll mention his conducting experience, his college years (he told people he went to Juilliard… without ever auditioning), his "platinum" Lefreque, his scholarships, his awards, his job opportunities… but somehow, he’s still at community college.

I say this having known him, our mutual colleagues, and having personally been a victim of his lies and toxic behavior. He insults everyone’s playing, is rude, and, worst of all, he lacks experience. He takes no constructive feedback—any attempt to "steer him in the right direction" is taken as a personal insult. The skill just doesn’t match his claims of being a "professional." For example, when he took over a class and started "rehearsing" a small string ensemble (of five players), his conducting pattern was backwards, and he gave no feedback. He would just say, “That was bad, do it again”—no focus, no guidance.

He even stood up during a concert to acknowledge a soloist, in a piece where he had no part. He once called a flute company to complain about the store’s environment, so obnoxiously that the owner offered him a job. He brags about "important people" giving him free things—like a plastic piccolo he tells everyone is made of wood (it’s grenadite), or his "platinum crown with a real diamond" (which was clearly just a silver crown with a glued-on gemstone).

I know this sounds a bit unbelievable, but trust me, it’s true. He once stole someone’s flute, only to "find" it later and then drop it on his doorstep, insulting the person picking it up. He called them "dirty" and said he’d have to clean the doorstep after they left. He’s even claimed to not recognize his own private lesson teacher’s name, just to keep up the lie about who he’s studied with.

What’s frustrating is that he has more money and resources than most of us in the industry. He’s had more gold instrument upgrades than anyone I’ve ever seen, and somehow, he keeps getting opportunities—though he doesn’t get asked back to most of them. As far as I know, he’s even been fired from a great gig. Every professor at the school he attends has openly said that after meeting with him for just one semester, they would refuse to write a recommendation letter for him. And yet, he still plans to audition for Juilliard, Colburn, and Curtis—despite lacking the skill and the ability to take feedback.

I guess what I’m trying to say is that I’m tired of his behavior, and I know it will never change. But to anyone starting to play the flute—make sure your teacher has real credibility and actual experience. People can look very different on Instagram than in real life. If someone claims an abbreviation like "GSSA" (which is just a website where middle school kids can pay $10 to have their face listed), ask about it! Also, be wary of people who claim titles like "principal" when they’ve just appointed themselves, especially in community-based ensembles.

It breaks my heart that he has students who believe in his lies and pay him way more than he deserves ($75 for a lesson. not even professors or people with doctorates charge that much where im from). He’s not the only one out there who takes advantage of others, but man, he’s a piece of work. We need to protect each other from bad actors in the community. If you know someone like this, feel free to reach out. It’s tough to stay hardworking and kind when others like him seem to succeed by exploiting others.

Hi there,

I posted a similar query on r/tinwhistle but I'd like to get some additional opinions for consideration.

I have been looking into beginner friendly Low Whistles and I stumbled upon the TB022D, a Low D Whistle/Flute hybrid with a swappable head.

I am interested in learning the Irish style flute, so this product on paper could kill those 2 birds with one stone.

So far as I understand, Dixon whistles are usually pretty solid, but I wonder if this product is good especially in the flute department.

Does anyone have any insights or experiences they'd be willing to provide on this matter?

Many Thanks!

Lip blush is a semi-permanent tattoo that adds pigment to your lips. Has anyone ever gotten it before? How long until you could play flute again? I think the scabs stay for a week or so, so I’m assuming it’s not wise to play during that time???

TIA!

I just got my Nuvo 2.0. Great backup flute, but there is a very noticeable buzzing noise on the F note. Even worse on the 2nd and 3rd octave. The only way to get rid of it is to press the key way harder than normal.

Any idea what's going on here? Tips?

Thx.

hi! I'm playing this for a solo and I'm having trouble playing this in cut time. I can play it in common time though. any counting tips, especially for a piece this slow (half note = 50), or anything I should know about this piece?

The title basically says it all, but I would like to purchase a piccolo and an alto flute for relatively non expensive (500-1200, preferably 1000). Is there any way I would be able to find this?

I’m thinking of upgrading from my Yamaha 272 and have been looking into the Azumi AZ-S2 and AZ-Z2. Both are the REO variants with a C foot. From what I’ve read, the Z2 seems to be really popular, but the S2 seems to have better specs on paper and the price reflects that too, so I'm curious why the Z2 is getting all the hype?

A bit of context:

• I’m in Taiwan, where Azumi flutes are significantly cheaper than in Europe.
• I found a suspiciously good deal from a local store: a brand new AZ-S2 for 1074 USD (retail price here is 1411 USD). That's a chunky 337 USD discount! The catch? I have to pay cash...
• I’m wondering if this means an under-the-table deal, with no warranty, or if there’s something else going on. Maybe the flute is defective, B-stock (meaning they're lying about it being brand new), or the model is just that hard to sell? The store rating is 4.5 stars with 400 reviews
• For comparison, a Z2 (with no shady deals) would cost me 1151 USD.

In any case, I’ll be checking out the S2 in person tomorrow, but my knowledge of testing flutes is pretty limited. Any advice on what to look for? Or should I just play it safe with a Z2 without any weird deals? Or should I even go with an Azumi at all? lol

Thanks!

I’d love to learn to play Vivaldi’s Four Seasons on flute but not sure how to go about it. Any suggestions? Should I learn the violin solo just on flute? Physical copy or digital? Any specific arrangement you’d recommend? I should mention Max Richter’s recomposed version is my favorite ever since it came out, but I can’t seem to find it anywhere.

Hello! I’ve been practicing my low C harmonics but struggle to go higher than high E. While I can play the high G and high Bb, with the low C fingering it feels like no embouchure change gets me closer to hitting those notes. What advice would you give me? Any tips and resources are appreciated.

https://jmp.sh/s/m4X4bsdVGaG0oy9l3sCg

I have played a small composition, forgive my breath capacity, I have cold rn, but my playing, the tone, doesn't sound sweet at all, what could be my mistakes?

Hi everyone it is my first time teaching a beginner and I’m just wondering how to plan out a 30 minute lesson? TIA

Stop buying $100 flutes! No they won’t be any good and no they’re not worth it!

It will be of bad quality, hard to play, and irreparable if it breaks (and it almost definitely will!). If you’re serious about learning the flute please please please don’t buy one off Amazon or god forbid temu

Go to a music shop and get a second hand flute from a reputable company or you will be out $100 and stuck with a lousy flute

Looking for suggestions with this excerpt, I am hitting the wall here. I am not terribly advanced flutist, but my playing is more or less functional for my purposes. Apart from certain technical difficulties here, I don't seem to have enough breath for this; the composer does not play woodwinds, so apparently breath spaces were not taken into consideration at all. Also, there is not a lot of time before this fragment to breathe deep, and afterwards there are long notes, so one can't arrive there out of breath either. And due to the tempo I am not really able to snatch a quick one in the middle.

There is no strict requirement to perform it live although that would be nice. So what do you think I should do? What would you do?

1. Drop a note or group of notes. I thought about it, but cannot find anything that could be omitted without ruining the build-up in dynamics. On the other hand, it is played in unison with piano, so maybe it is not as important.
2. Record it bit by bit. That would be easy to do, but I do not like to put my name under something that I cannot physically play.
3. Record it with echo effect - as you see every two notes are repeated, so it could be made into a kind of question-response or bounce-back that would sound like an obvious artistic tough and not something that was artificially assembled from individual pieces.
4. Persevere, there is nothing here that any self-respecting flutist couldn't play.

Thoughts?

https://preview.redd.it/qi2afjxpsk4e1.png?width=842&format=png&auto=webp&s=9b0c930f0fd01ebfb9a3cf8028b767f3befadff1

I'm a high schooler and I'm playing the liebermann concerto for a competition in about two weeks. I've been working on it since May and up until a month ago or so I had been feeling pretty good about it, but I don't now! Now I'm wishing I had chosen something easier or hadn't spent so long working on this one piece. Also, I'm scared it's not impressive enough/someone else will have something that's just a better piece. This is my first competition like this and I'm not sure how to get rid of these nerves and actually feel confident about it.

tl;dr help I'm scared for my competition and i'm worried I chose the wrong piece

My flute should arrive in the mail tomorrow. I’ve spent some time on YouTube looking at various channels, but would like to know if anyone has any personal favorites. Starting from Day One.

Thanks!

I'm a new flute player and just got over the initial difficulty of making a consistent sound. Can play B nicely so I'm moving on to A. However, when I try, I get the note Bb instead of A. I'm doing the exact fingerings I've been shown, which is left thumb, left index finger, left middle finger, and right pinky down. I'm wondering what could be the issue.

I’m aware that the contemporary, keyed “Irish” flute is based on a large-holed version of the simple system, conical bore flute popular in the 19th Century.

I’m also aware that players of the contemporary Boehm flute sometimes play Irish traditional music. But do players of the contemporary “Irish” flute ever play classical music on their instruments? Searching YouTube, there are easily more examples of the former than the latter. Why?

Do you swim against this current? If so, tell me about it.

We tend to get excited about Baroque music played on the traverso. Why wouldn’t I be similarly excited about classical and Romantic music played on the so-called “Irish” flute?

i kinda feel dumb asking this cuz there are some major differences between them, but in essence they both really are flutes right? i mean i could be very wrong, there could be a lot more and jus.... keys and no keys

So my band is playing sleigh ride with the orchestra and I have been playing the piccolo part but my band teacher want me to also play the flute part. I don’t know how to play the trills so any tips would help. The only 2 who know how to do it are gate keeping and my band teacher is new and doesn’t know anything about flute trills. There are 4 flutes btw including me. I have the concert soon so any help would be great, Thank you.

Before I begin, I am aware that nothing can beat a metal flute and/or grenadilla flute in terms of sound quality and all that.

I will have the opportunity either this coming summer or next summer to go overseas and visit a different country for ministry reasons, and I had the idea of bringing my "light-weight" woodwind doubling instruments. The country I'm visiting is a very tropical one in Southeast Asia, and thus, I'm a bit uncomfortable in bringing a good Di-Zhao into that kind of climate, or even any metal flutes as the pads would fail easily. I do not believe there is a good tech/music repair shop in that area of the country.

I remembered hearing about Guo from popular flute channels, and I thought about getting the:

Guo New Voice C-Flute
New Voice Piccolo
New Voice Bass Flute (Only if I can afford it)

I am not sure if the Grenadite versions of the above would be worth the extra cost considering what I need the flute for. I also do not want to get the Tocco Flute, since I do not like the way it looks, at all (I hate how the end of the head joint is so close to the lip plate unlike metal flutes).

Are the Guo Flutes actually good flutes, or are they just "hype"? Are there any alternative solutions to my situation?

like..... i wanna start playing but they're pretty expensive but i also don't want a flute that sounds bad or anything... so is the $100-150 range any good or should i blow my savings just a little more💀

This is the place to promote yourself! Whether it's a performance you are proud of, offering teaching, or anything else flute related.

Hi all, hope the sub is the one to ask at (andeanmusic and quena have little traffic, so) - I would like to play the quena, and I have one in C (base tone,); but my hands are small and fingers short, so I am not able to besides a few tones. as to others, the normal size flute (horizontal metal flute) I am able play without difficulties; recorder: alto is good, tenor works somehow .. which size is recommended? thank you

May I know what’s the difference between E-mechanism and the E-mechanism hinge please? Attached Japan price list. Thanks in advance!

Can you suggest which kind of flute should a beginner get. I have never played any musical instrument but I am very much interested in learning.

Hey y’all! I recently got into the pit orchestra life (my primary instruments are clarinet and sax) and I’m in need of a flute since my upcoming gig has it in the woodwinds book. I’d say my skill level aligns with an average high school flute player. I’ve always loooved the flute and have done a couple gigs on it, but never truly got around to buying one. My school ones are pretty crappy.

Do y’all have any names or types of flutes that I should keep an eye out for when I’m on the hunt? I’m not super picky as long as it’s something on the cheaper end and still has a decent sound. Can play the instrument pretty damn well but know nothing about the intricate life of it lol. Thanks in advance!

EDIT: Sorry, probably should’ve mentioned that I’m a full time music educator, lol. Been in the business for a few years

I played flute from age 9-18 and then stopped when I graduated HS. Looking to get back into it (age 36 😭 now) but struggling to find a good place to locate someone to teach me lessons. Any suggestions?

I’m currently using Tonal Energy (TE) Tuner. Is there any reason to invest in a physical tuner? I remember we used the Korg Wide 8 Octave Chromatic Orchestral Tuner in school, which I really liked. Would getting one of these be worth it? Is it more accurate at discerning pitch? Or is the price not justified? Family and I usually make wishlists and I wonder if I should include it as a potential gift. The only other music related item on there is a yellow Manhasset music stand 😂 Thanks in advance everyone!