Flute shopping

So, to my flute shopping.

A few weeks ago we were sitting talking after a family meal and the subject turned to new flutes. It wasn't the first time my husband had suggested that I should have a new flute (I think he equates them to cars and you need to buy news ones every now and again - maybe he is right). I've resisted such a thought for many years - I'll tell you why sometime. This conversation caught my imagination ad so we discussed the important thing when thinking of buying anything - how much can I spend? My husband's considered response was, "As much as you like"! What a wonderful husband I hear you say.

The Slovenian  Flute Festival seemed to be the ideal place to shop. A big flute event usually has lots of trade stands with hundreds of flutes, piccolos and headjoints to try. This was no exception. In the spacious foyer area there must have been 10-15 stands all with a huge display. It was like being aged 3 and in a toy shop or sweety shop!

So here I am with an unlimited budget and a hall full of expensive flutes. What am I going to go for? What would you go for? The most expensive? The prettiest? The most recommended? The make your friend plays? The best sounding? I'm a human being and at that moment I wanted the MOST EXPENSIVE!

First stop was the Pearl stand where we met a lovely lady but I didn't get her name. Maybe Gareth can help me out. I told her I needed to find the best flute and one she had to offer was the most beautiful I think I've seen. Gold all the way through and just so very, very pretty. Even Mark, who is a trombone player, was stunned at its beauty. Have a look at the Pearl website. I felt the urge to get my credit card out, but I wasn't sure whether she would take it - or if was a wise decision as there were so many more flutes to try.

Although I really liked this flute, I thought I should look at more. So we went in search of a Powell flute. I'd heard many good things about these flutes so I know they were worth trying out. We found a good selection on one stand. The one I tried was also stunning. It had a good sound (well all of the ones I tried did) and I was excited at the prospect that this could be 'my' flute. Here is the Powell website.

We got chatting to a very nice man called Jim Lyman who is based in Spain and represents Burkhart flutes and piccolos. Burkhart, like most of the flute makers, make flutes in silver, gold and platinum - you can see the on the Burkhart website.  I liked the gold one he showed me. Had I thought of platinum? Well, it might be more expensive but I really fancy a gold one. If I have a gold flute everyone will know I've got a new flute. A platinum one might be looked on as a silver flute. Oh, it is very confusing. Is it important what a flute looks like or what it sounds like?

Now I had heard really, really good things about Nagahara flutes. Sir James Galway plays one and I think Matej Zupan does. Well that is good enough for me. We met Gerraldine Morillo at her stand. Sure enough she had some good samples for me to try out. The flute I tried was stunning. 20K gold, quite amazing. Check out the Nagahara website. I thought, "Should I get the credit card out?" Again I wasn't sure that this was the right thing to do as I still hadn't tried everything that was available.

While we were discussing it, I spotted a headjoint.  It is so prettily engraved. Surely something as pretty as this will make me practise my flute more? But then I thought I ought to talk to a great headjoint maker - Tobias Mancke. He showed me his most expensive headjoints. Tobias makes a huge range of headjoints, you can see them on his website.  I was sold! Owning one of these would make me the happiest flute player in the world. Wouldn't it? Tobias was really pleased when he saw my trusty credit card. But then I got cold feet. Should I buy this? Oh I just don't know ... Maybe I need more time and a quieter place to try them all out.

Altus was next on my list. I had met their representative, Petra, at the party/picnic the night before and she was delighted to offer me their most expensive flute to try. Yes of course I loved it! They have a good website  where you can even download Altus flute ringtones! I like it! I know Stephen plays a gold Altus and he really likes his. Would this be best choice for me? Oh. I really don't know ... they are all so wonderful and there is too much choice.

Next to Petra was a very nice man called Rolf Hinrichs from Yamaha. The Yamaha website is worth a visit.
Now Yamaha must be the best know make of musical instrument in the world (did you know they make motorbikes and toilets as well?). Rolf was extremely attentive and explained about every feature on the Yamaha top of the range gold flute. I was very impressed with everything he told me and showed me. Oh, I loved this one as well. Did I love it enough to part with my credit card? Were there still more flutes to try? Yes, of course there were.

When I was very young I remember my flute teacher had worked on a cruise ship in the summer holiday and he'd gone to America and bought himself a Muramatsu flute. Since then I'd always hankered after one. Their flutes are really beautiful. Have a look at them on the Muramatsu  website. We met Jaemin Cheon who was busy repairing and a very helpful gentleman although we didn't get his name. I loved this flute...  ohhh ... I love them all! I was thinking my credit cards are not always a good idea so the cash came out. I wonder how much he would accept for a flute worth over 70,000 euros? I certainly didn't have enough.

So my day of trying flutes was over. I looked at flutes from 30,000 euros to almost 70,000 euros. It was great fun. All the flutes were incredible and I think it is wonderful that we have so much excellent choice as flute players these days. Did I actually buy one? What do you think? One thing I do know though - any flute, no matter how expensive, will not make me or anyone else a great flute player. A beautiful instrument may inspire us to play it more, but we don't really need to invest money, we need to invest time in practising. But it is great to shop and dream!