FlutePunk: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Boehm

When I was a teenager, I bought a 5 hole ocarina from Songbird Ocarina. I was a big fan of Ocarina of Time, of course, and I had a budding interest in playing music. I did not have the opportunity to participate in school band, because my tiny school did not have a music program after the band director quit. I wanted to play the flute but was a bit intimidated by the key system in concert flutes, plus there was the issue of who would teach me, how would I afford it, and the classical band scene seemed too pretentious anyway, right? So instead of begging my parents to invest hundreds of dollars they did not have available, I bought the $20 ocarina with a range of one octave (12 notes were more than enough to challenge me).

My original ocarina. It was repaired with sugru after a nasty fall.


I had a lot of fun with that ocarina. I played Zelda songs, obviously, as well as Christmas songs, anime theme songs, and popular melodies to anyone who wanted to hear them. After a few months, I seemed to squeeze all I could out of that instrument, when I discovered the sound of the Native American flute. I bought one from a local maker at a pow-wow. This was so meditative, deep, and mellow. It had a limited range, but I loved how it felt to play and the sound was so soothing.

I was not done. Over the course of over a decade, I bought and taught myself to play more flutes from around the world. I bought a Peruvian quena which required me to learn how to make embouchure with my lips. I bought a Chinese xun and a set of shakuhachis that were of similar complexity. I got a Clarke tin whistle that I used to learn harmonics and more breath control. I even tried my hand at making my own instruments, from pvc overtone flutes to 3D printing some Viking-style panpipes

Some panflutes I designed and printed. I painted the right side one.
I recently came across the some youtube channels that discuss Concert Flutes, also known as Boehm style. AKA, those complex ones in orchestra and band. After watching some introductory flute playing videos by JustAnotherFlutist, I decided I was ready to give it a chance, because I was already familiar with many of the concepts and techniques. The keys aren't there for pretentious over-complexity. Instead, they allow a great range of notes in four octaves. In other words, you don't need separate flutes for different keys like in my other instruments. I wanted the range and flexibility. I wanted the deep resonant sound of a big metal pipe. I bought another instrument. You'd be surprised at the low price if you know how much these fancy tubes can cost, plus the reviews made me confident I'd have fun with this!

Glory brand flute in all it's...glory.


So far I've only had the flute for about a week, but I make time to play as much as I can and hope to use it to help with the music theory class I'm taking next fall. For me, music is not a competition or a career choice. It's all about self expression as well as a form of dynamic meditation. Also, I want to write some flutorial content here from what I learn (I've got a tab system in development right now to make a fingering chart for myself).

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