Choosing the Right Wooden Flute for You

For the second time, here is a question submitted by Bill Goelz. To paraphrase, is it better to stick with one flute or play a mix of several flutes? For the sake of full disclosure, I will say that one of the flutes that Bill plays is a Skip Healy flute, not that that would influence my opinion or anything...heh, heh, heh.

A Lesson About Embouchure on the Wooden Flute

Skip Healy here again shooting straight from the lip this time. This tip is inspired by a question sent to me by Bill Goelz.

Maintaining Consistent Tone and Volume When Playing Wooden Flute

Skip Healy here once again after a short post Wind On The Bay hiatus. Here in the States, our Thanksgiving holiday has just passed. Hanukkah is upon us and Christmas and New Years loom imminent before us.

WHO HAS TIME TO BLOW ON A DANG FLUTE ANYWAY!

But for those who do, here is something to think about.

How Bore Design Impacts Your Playing Wooden / Irish Flute

Skip Healy here for another inner voyage into the Zen behind the Zoom. In past columns, I've tried to offer advice on both the physicality and philosophy that I feel is involved in playing flutes or fifes well. Today, I'd like to talk about the "feel" generated by various bore designs existing in flutes, fifes, and piccolos.

A Quick Repair Kit for Irish Flute Players

Third Octave Fingerings for Wooden Flute

Skip here once again with a few thought provoking and hopefully helpful words to say about flutes and related themes. First off, we always encourage people to contact us with comments or suggestions for topics for me to bloviate upon. In the past several months, we've received more and more comments and we thank you for them.

Today's topic is "Advanced Fingering Techniques." Getting nervous yet...?

The Zen Behind the Zoom in Irish Flute

Welcome you all, old and new members, to another chapter of Dante's...oops, I mean Skip's Tips. Many of you know that I sometimes do very technique-oriented tips, and sometimes very Zen tips. This is a Zen tip. Or, as I like to call it, the Zen behind the Zoom.

How To Play a Roll on the Wooden Flute

The next stop on our whimsical mystery tour through the wonders of ornamentation takes us to the magical land of rolls. There are different kinds of rolls for different situations...a jelly roll with coffee in the morning, for example or a lovey kaiser roll for your hamburger in the afternoon. And of course, the furious rolling of your fingers as we play Irish tunes.

More Ornamentation on Wooden Flute

I'd like to continue on with the subject of ornamentation that was begun in the past missive. The next two components of the seven venial sins of ornamentation that I'd like to talk about are vibrato and glissando. There are two main styles or techniques of vibrato. One is a finger manipulation while the other is done through breath and muscle control.

A Short Guide To Ornamentation on Wooden / Irish Flute

First off, I'd like to thank all the folk who responded to my request for future subject matter in this column. All of the suggestions were thought provoking, though some may prove anatomically impossible to achieve. More on that later...