 |
| Left to right: Christina's Powell, high school flute, beginner flute. |
Flute players may begin on one flute, but how many do they
have between that very first beginner model and a pro model?
Well, it all depends on the player.
We caught up with Powell Flutes’ Marketing
Director, Christina Guiliano-Cobas, and took a closer look at her personal
story of “flutes through the years.”
From her beginning days
through the present, Christina has had a total of four flutes. In addition to her
administrative responsibilities at Powell, she is also a professional performer
and educator. Her first flute was a
popular closed hole, C foot, student model.
It served her well in the formative years, and when she began high
school, she progressed on to another flute – this one being a popular step-up
flute with open holes and a B foot. She
continued on with her studies, majoring in flute in college. In her second year of college, she purchased
a pro flute with a solid silver headjoint, solid silver body, and drawn tone
holes. The very next year, she purchased
an additional professional, custom headjoint for this flute.
Christina mentioned that most beginners play on a closed
hole, C foot flute, because it allows them to focus on developing a good tone
and facility. The C foot flute is
lighter than a B foot, and the additional range of the low B would not be
critical in a beginner’s studies. Some
teachers feel it is best to start students on an open hole flute because it
helps them establish proper hand position from the get-go. There are different schools of thought, and
they are all valid for their points.
However, Christina mentioned that there is always a point in the
development of a flutist where you need to make a change in equipment. She says, “With flute, you progress to a
point where you are providing more air than the instrument can take. You may start cracking and splitting
notes. At this point, it’s best to go to
a solid silver flute --- or at least a solid silver headjoint.” For those who have started on a closed hole,
C foot, beginner flute, this next flute is also usually an open hole, B foot
model. Her point became very clear when
she shared the following story with us:
I
had a student who came to study with me after having played for three
years. After her second or third lesson,
I felt that she could not continue to play on her closed hole, C foot flute,
because it was really holding her back.
You could hear that she had much more air than the flute could hold and
was advancing quickly. There were 16
flute players in her school, and she was 14th chair. She went with her parents and bought a new
solid silver flute with open holes and a B foot. She instantly sounded better without having
to use more air. She went back to school
with the new flute and moved up to 2nd chair.
Open hole flutes with a B foot are
important when stepping up from a beginner model, but material is important as
well. The material of the flute needs to
be firm and solid enough to hold the air that an advancing player can put
through it. Eventually, when one goes to
a fully professional model like a Powell, you have many choices on customizing
the material for multiple parts of the flute – not just the body and headjoint,
but tone holes, ribs, posts, and rings as well.
You can also customize the material for the lip plate and riser of the
headjoint.
When Christina began working at Powell in 2002, she decided
that it was time to purchase a fully professional, Handmade Custom Powell. She had the opportunity to choose exactly
what she wanted in the design and materials, and the choices were quite
overwhelming. She tested a few solid
silver models and was interested in the 14K Aurumite but was a bit concerned with
the weight. With her previous pro silver
flute, which was inline, she developed severe pain and problems in her
shoulder. However, she picked up a 14K
Aurumite with an offset G and had absolutely no problems with the weight, and
she felt no discomfort. She played for
her colleagues, and they agreed that this was the perfect flute for her. At this point in the process, it was
September, and her birthday was approaching.
She came to work and was immediately called to the president’s office,
where the entire staff was gathered.
They handed her a box with a pamphlet that came with all the 75th
Anniversary flutes. As she recalls,
“They asked me to read it, and I thought, ‘Why should I read something I
wrote?’” Well, as she read through it,
the specs at the bottom of the form said, “to be determined… Happy Birthday, Christina!” Her parents came through on the speaker phone
to wish her a happy birthday, and at that point, she said, “I knew I was
getting the flute for my birthday!”
So, there are certainly no “correct” number of flutes to own
as one progresses from a beginner to a pro, and the specs will differ based on
many factors, including a family’s budget and the popular question of “will my
child continue on with the flute?” What
is most important to remember is that the right flute at the right time will
certainly make a difference. By the time
one chooses a custom, professional flute, no two flutes (like no two flutists)
are the same. The flute should always be
comfortable for you so that you can enjoy many years of healthy, happy music
making!
