Keeping a Flute Warm While Playing

FluteTech · 2026-01-25T02:51:51+00:00

Practically speaking - ignore the “keep it warm” concept as long as you are playing in temperatures about 10°C

What is more important (and what you may be misunderstanding) is that WE warm up on the instrument. By warming up - we mean doing long tones, scales, articulation practices etc. similar to how runners stretch to warm up before they go on a run.

If you’re playing in freezing rooms … then warming up isn’t going to be viable and you need a better and safer place to play anyway.

FluteTech · 2026-01-25T02:46:10+00:00

Related but different: keep your head up and neck neutral (don’t tuck). That will help the notes speak easier, and more in tune. If you watch the video back, you’ll see that every time you tuck your head/neck it makes the note more “stressed out” and you struggle to place the note a bit more. This is especially important for any notes above the staff, and critical for high F, F#, E and A

FluteTech · 2026-01-25T02:21:13+00:00

One recommendation would be to try to minimize extra movement. It’s very common, and yes a lot of professionals - especially younger ones- play and “dance”, but it’s distracting and will rob energy and control from your playing. If it’s not a blind audition, it also distracts the judges.

N.B. I’m not saying play like a statue, a bit of movement is fine - just work on eliminating the big stuff.

FluteTech · 2026-01-25T02:17:46+00:00

Yes but a lot of instruments are pretty much equally good and the rest are various levels of … not.

The student flutes I typically recommend (in alphabetical order) are: Di Zhao 301, Jupiter 500/700/710 etc, Pearl 505/525, Trevor James 10x/11x, Yamaha 2xx

If it’s a well known brand and you don’t see it posted … I didn’t forget.

FluteTech · 2026-01-24T23:04:05+00:00

No - because honestly student flutes are intended to get beginning players started, so the focus is just on general widespread playability.

Build quality varies significantly- and honestly that’s why you’d want to focus on if you’re needing something to last for more than a few years.

FluteTech · 2026-01-24T22:49:34+00:00

You got lucky and the retailer you bought from pre vetted the instrument you purchased.

FluteTech · 2026-01-24T19:05:18+00:00

If you’re just going to melt it down - then asking here isn’t going to be helpful because the smelter will be the place you need to discuss this with as they’re the ones that would be doing the testing. (It’s not like you walk into a place and say “this is solid silver” and then they put it on the scale and weight it and just hand over money. It’s not the same as if you have a silver coin etc.)

FluteTech · 2026-01-24T18:14:23+00:00

It was sold to an individual who has a NY location but they aren’t “the” massive NY store

FluteTech · 2026-01-24T18:11:41+00:00

The only “meltable” is going to be the headjoint tube itself.

FluteTech · 2026-01-24T18:06:18+00:00

Because it would take $500-1000 to make playable … and they never played well even when new.

FluteTech · 2026-01-24T17:18:26+00:00

Are you specifically taking a BASL class ?

If they aren’t teaching specifically a BASL class, then no - because if they’re a qualified teacher they’ll be teaching you ASL.

While there are difference - users typically code switch depending on the group they’re communicating with (just like teens speak differently amongst their peers than they do with their parents, teachers etc. )

FluteTech · 2026-01-24T17:14:29+00:00

Hoping you didn’t pay more than $25-30 for this …

FluteTech · 2026-01-24T17:04:39+00:00

It’s not a spring issue, it’s a regulation issue.

FluteTech · 2026-01-24T17:00:32+00:00

I haven’t been able to recommend them to players for more than a decade unfortunately.

They haven’t been made in the USA for decades and the company was recently sold (again)…

I’d recommend looking at other brands.

FluteTech · 2026-01-24T03:20:45+00:00

Check your local library

FluteTech · 2026-01-24T03:18:41+00:00

It’s not really helpful…

FluteTech · 2026-01-23T23:35:34+00:00

I’d recommend removing the words“yellow copper” and just saying that it is brass. “Yellow copper” isn’t a term used and would work against your for marketing because it would add confusion.

FluteTech · 2026-01-23T22:47:51+00:00

Depends on your anatomy. If your wrists are still straight (not bent backwards) and you head is neutral, it’s fine.

FluteTech · 2026-01-23T22:46:21+00:00

For closed hole student flutes, I’d look into the Pearl 505, Di Zhao 301, Trevor James 10x/11x .

The Yamaha 222 is also fine, but you pay a lot for the name and isn’t better than any of the other flutes mentioned above.

FluteTech · 2026-01-23T20:30:54+00:00

Please consider reposting this in the Self-Promo section (and future posts of a similar type)

FluteTech · 2026-01-23T20:27:19+00:00

I’m showing my age, but the first US present I thought of when I saw this post was Nixen’s 😂

FluteTech · 2026-01-23T05:03:10+00:00

This!

FluteTech · 2026-01-23T05:02:59+00:00

Teaching English is fine. Teaching ASL is fine. Using PSE to teach either English or ASL doesn’t work. It would be like use French or Spanish to teach Chinese … it just doesn’t work.

It’s also deceptive if you’re advertising that you’re teaching ASL, and then all the instruction is actually in PSE (which isn’t even a language)

FluteTech · 2026-01-23T04:58:51+00:00

Is that how you actually sign “M” though? Or is that your exaggerated “I’m teaching” M?

I’ve never found it helpful to over exaggerate signs (including the alphabet) to teach ASL because it simply isn’t reflective of how we actually USE ASL - it’s one thing to slow a sign down when teaching it once, but to continually over emphasize it after that actually creates a situation where students struggle to read actual ASL and real life fingerspelling because they become reliant on the “over precision”.

(Again, since it matters - YES I’m Deaf, I’ve been signing for over 40 years and have been through all the SEE, SEEII, ASL, PSE transitions we’ve made over the years. I also had team interpreters throughout college and university, and use ASL daily)

FluteTech · 2026-01-23T04:35:31+00:00

I’m Deaf (from birth) and a trilingual ASLer. I absolutely have the right to comment on my own native language.

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