Men (especially) are into gear: golf clubs, fishing tackle, cameras, and musical instruments, and accessories.
I moved through three flutes before settling on my excellent Sankyo silver flute. First I bought a used flute made by the Blessing company long ago, when they still made flutes (now, I think, they make tubas and such). Then I bought a slightly better used flute, an Armstrong. I played that until my flute teacher said that I'd made enough progress to deserve a better flute, and I bought a DiZhao flute that had been privately imported to Israel by a flute student who hoped to make some money by dealing in instruments (and soon gave up the idea).
That flute was a nice instrument with open holes and a B foot, and I played it for two years or so. Then I took it to Ginzberg, the excellent instrument store in Tel Aviv, intending to trade it in for a slightly better used instrument. However, I was persuaded to buy a much better used instrument, for considerably more than I had intended to spend, after spending comparing a number of flutes for quite a long while.
Last winter, on a trip to the US, I went to the Flutistry store in Boston, thinking I could improve on the Sankyo either by trading it in for a slightly better instrument or buying a new head joint. The people at Flutistry reassured me that I hadn't overpaid drastically for my instrument, and that it was a very good one. So I decided to see about improving on then head joint. After trying out a dozen or more of them, I ended up buying a second hand head joint by Emanuel, a highly reputed Massachusetts flute maker. I was convinced that it gave me a richer sound than the one that came with the Sankyo.
Over the months that I've been playing on the new head joint, my sound has improved (at least to my own ear, and my teacher is pleased). Erica Schiller, the vice president of Flutistry, who helped me pick the head joint, spoke about "sound concept," which is not a term I was familiar with, but I like it. The Emanuel head joint has enabled me to produce a tone closer to my concept of the tone I would like to have.
This morning, just out of curiosity, as it were, I took out the original Sankyo head joint and tried it out again, playing the same thing first on it and then on the Emanuel, and vice versa. The truth is, I could barely hear or feel any difference. So, did I waste the money I laid out on the Emanuel head joint? I don't think so. I think the new head joint taught me to play closer to the way I hope to play, and, having learned that, I was able to get a similar sound from the old head joint.
By way of demonstration, at one of my lessons my teacher had forgotten to bring his own flute with him and was playing the Armstrong flute I once owned, which I donated to the conservatory where he teaches. He has a full, strong, focused sound on his professional quality flute, and, not surprisingly, when he was playing the Armstrong student flute, he had a full, strong, focused sound. That's the way he plays.
Gear can only get you so far.
I moved through three flutes before settling on my excellent Sankyo silver flute. First I bought a used flute made by the Blessing company long ago, when they still made flutes (now, I think, they make tubas and such). Then I bought a slightly better used flute, an Armstrong. I played that until my flute teacher said that I'd made enough progress to deserve a better flute, and I bought a DiZhao flute that had been privately imported to Israel by a flute student who hoped to make some money by dealing in instruments (and soon gave up the idea).
That flute was a nice instrument with open holes and a B foot, and I played it for two years or so. Then I took it to Ginzberg, the excellent instrument store in Tel Aviv, intending to trade it in for a slightly better used instrument. However, I was persuaded to buy a much better used instrument, for considerably more than I had intended to spend, after spending comparing a number of flutes for quite a long while.
Last winter, on a trip to the US, I went to the Flutistry store in Boston, thinking I could improve on the Sankyo either by trading it in for a slightly better instrument or buying a new head joint. The people at Flutistry reassured me that I hadn't overpaid drastically for my instrument, and that it was a very good one. So I decided to see about improving on then head joint. After trying out a dozen or more of them, I ended up buying a second hand head joint by Emanuel, a highly reputed Massachusetts flute maker. I was convinced that it gave me a richer sound than the one that came with the Sankyo.
Over the months that I've been playing on the new head joint, my sound has improved (at least to my own ear, and my teacher is pleased). Erica Schiller, the vice president of Flutistry, who helped me pick the head joint, spoke about "sound concept," which is not a term I was familiar with, but I like it. The Emanuel head joint has enabled me to produce a tone closer to my concept of the tone I would like to have.
This morning, just out of curiosity, as it were, I took out the original Sankyo head joint and tried it out again, playing the same thing first on it and then on the Emanuel, and vice versa. The truth is, I could barely hear or feel any difference. So, did I waste the money I laid out on the Emanuel head joint? I don't think so. I think the new head joint taught me to play closer to the way I hope to play, and, having learned that, I was able to get a similar sound from the old head joint.
By way of demonstration, at one of my lessons my teacher had forgotten to bring his own flute with him and was playing the Armstrong flute I once owned, which I donated to the conservatory where he teaches. He has a full, strong, focused sound on his professional quality flute, and, not surprisingly, when he was playing the Armstrong student flute, he had a full, strong, focused sound. That's the way he plays.
Gear can only get you so far.
