Romy Benton Flute Question

[Bretton]

Hi. I'm thinking about ordering one of Romy Benton's flutes (http://romyb.com). He makes his flutes with a "lip plate" that looks similar to what you'd find on a Bohem style flute.

My question is: If I spend lots of time playing one of these flutes with a lip plate, is it going to mess me up when I eventually get a regular simple system flute without a lip plate? I'm currently practicing on a simple system PVC flute, but I hope to have a keyless Olwell in a year or so (+/- a couple of months).

-Brett

[Henke]

I don't think it will be a problem. All different flutes takes a slightly different approach, wether thay have a lipplate or not. I play both simple-system wooden flute and Boehm (tough not very often these days) and I don't have a problem adjusting. In fact the Boehm flute has tought me stuff about the simple system flute. If you learn to play with a lipplate it will be easier to play without one than if you hadn't played at all.

[tomcat]

romy also makes them without a lip plate. i have such a critter. i believe they are less expensive those with. its a great flute. beautiful with outstanding tone, imho.

[talasiga]

.......My question is: If I spend lots of time playing one of these flutes with a lip plate, is it going to mess me up when I eventually get a regular simple system flute without a lip plate? I'm currently practicing on a simple system PVC flute, but I hope to have a keyless Olwell in a year or so (+/- a couple of months).

-Brett

Flexibility will never mess you up.

[sturob]

Well, to disagree with Talasiga a little bit, I disagree on the flexibility issue. It takes quite some time to develop an embouchure, and in my own experience (duly disclaimed) you don't really realize how immature your embouchure is until you settle down with one flute and learn it.

Then, once you've actually gotten to where you can play, it's not all that difficult to change flutes. I can remember when I was just starting out, I had a few D flutes and I would practice on one of them one day, another the next, and so on. My progress was really stunted, I think, since I had the (I think incorrect) notion that it's important to pay several flutes to "work out" your embouchure. When I finally stuck to one flute for a while . . . meaning months or more, I really learned how to play.

Now, when I pick up a different flute, it's easy to determine what it needs. Sometimes I can't give it what it needs, of course, and sometimes I don't like it, but it's not as hard to change around. Probably because my embouchure has matured.

So, my own opinion, and it's just an opinion, is that a lot of us stunt our development by being sleazy with flutes. Not only do I think you need to learn on one, but it takes a while to learn a particular flute. And a lot of people, myself included, think that it takes a particular flute a year or so of regular play before it starts behaving the way it's going to behave.



Stuart

[Nelson]

I look at the picture in the web site and see the embouchure as very similar to all flutes. Silver, bamboo and all thiner walled flutes should provide a 4 to 5 mm chimney for impedance matching purposes. This is automatic with a wooden flute with an approximate 5mm wall thickness in the embouchure area of the flute. In other words, the wall thickness of a wooden flute around the region of the embouchure is chosen to provide the right chimney height. Same applies for all the tone holes. The chimney height in the tone holes is chosen, though, for inhancing (or deminishing) the amount of second and third octive sound to "throw in" with the fundamental. Remember that the uniqueness of any tone is determined by the amount of overtones and their phase with the fundamental. In the tone holes, the chimney hight (and taper) acts like "mini flute", called a wave guide below cut off. When they started making silver flutes, they built the chimneys up to be about the same hight as wood flutes.

[talasiga]

Well, to disagree with Talasiga a little bit, I disagree on the flexibility issue. It takes quite some time to develop an embouchure, and in my own experience (duly disclaimed) you don't really realize how immature your embouchure is until you settle down with one flute and learn it.

Then, once you've actually gotten to where you can play, it's not all that difficult to change flutes. I can remember when I was just starting out, I had a few D flutes and I would practice on one of them one day, another the next, and so on. My progress was really stunted, I think, since I had the (I think incorrect) notion that it's important to pay several flutes to "work out" your embouchure. When I finally stuck to one flute for a while . . . meaning months or more, I really learned how to play.

Now, when I pick up a different flute, it's easy to determine what it needs. Sometimes I can't give it what it needs, of course, and sometimes I don't like it, but it's not as hard to change around. Probably because my embouchure has matured.

So, my own opinion, and it's just an opinion, is that a lot of us stunt our development by being sleazy with flutes. Not only do I think you need to learn on one, but it takes a while to learn a particular flute. And a lot of people, myself included, think that it takes a particular flute a year or so of regular play before it starts behaving the way it's going to behave.



Stuart

Stu,
Taken out of context, I actually wholly agree with you.
But the context was that Bretton was going to spend
a lot of time first on the lipped flute
and only later try the other one.
That would probably mean that "once [he has] actually gotten to where [he] can play, [it will not be] all that difficult to change flutes".
Cheers

[Bretton]

Thanks for the comments! Although, I've now been sidetracked by a Glenn Schultz cocobolo flute. I'm going to give that a try. If it's a keeper then I may skip the Romy B. flute for now, If not then I'll order the Romy B.

-Brett

[Azathoth]

Ok guys, fess up: who thought the "Kill Bill" 5ft bamboo flutes on Romy's site were way cool?

..

..

..

OK, OK. I did. I admit it.

*G

[Whistlin'Dixie]

Well, I wouldn't want one, but they were cool, all right.

BTW, loved KB 2! I was traumatized by KB 1, though.

Mary

[Henke]

Well, I wouldn't want one, but they were cool, all right.

BTW, loved KB 2! I was traumatized by KB 1, though.

Mary

I was really sad when I noticed they had skipped all the manga sort of effects in vol. 2. That was part of the art form, that was why vol. 1 was so special.