Dixon 2 piece PVC flute help needed

[piperman07]

I just received one of these flutes, I am a beginner on the flute.
I play the bagpipes, and wanted to get a good starter flute, to play in sessions.

I am having a terrible time getting anything to sound in the lower register, especially below A. I can get good sound above this, but as soon as I close the next finger coming down, I either go up to the next octave, or it just goes quiet. I have tried moving, rolling, blowing harder softer. Nothing seems to make a lot of difference, is there something that I am doing wrong? Also, it seems to take a lot of air to blow these, I play the pipes, so I know about taking a lot of air, but just seems that it takes too much.

Any help on this would be greatly appreciated.

Cheers,
Steve

[Henke]

I have a Dixon 2pc, that I started out on. It's a good beginners flute, and I know from personal experience that they are quite difficult to blow embouchure-wise. I had a lot of trouble hitting the first octave myself initially but you sort of get the grip of it after a while. It's a difficult flute but the good thing is that when you move up to a better flute, you'll probably have a very good embouchure technique already. Also, the fact that it takes a lot of air to play is also an effect of your starter embouchure.

I'd say: keep playing it and good things are going to come out of that flute. It's not really a session flute though, the cylindrical bore makes it really difficult to play in tune accross the octaves.

Cheers

[AaronMalcomb]

I was in the same boat a couple years ago, Steve. I play GHB and the Dixon Combo was my first flute. I had a tough time with D and E at first too. It's all about embouchure. Let your lips, not your lungs, do the work. The toughest thing for me to get used to going from GHB to flute is leaving out notes to take a breath.

Cheers,
Aaron

[Lambchop]

I'll second what Henke and Aaron said. It's all in the embouchure.

Being that I work on these issues daily, I have to make a conscious effort on them. I'm not a flute expert, by any means, so what I am going to say is not worth anything more than perhaps enabling you to get your sounds long enough to figure out how to do it for yourself. (My problem is the reverse--I can get the lower easily, but the higher is a problem.)

I tighten up for the second and blow higher up across the hole to get the second register. For the lower, my upper lip is further out (or my chin is further back), the airstream is directed down more into the hole, and I don't blow harder, but the airstream is compressed more inside my mouth so it's faster, but not by blowing harder.

Pretend this emoticon is the hole . . . . . . the airstream for the upper register goes between the top of the circle and the eyebrows. The lower goes between his eyebrows and his eyes.

The oral cavity has to be more open and relaxed, slowing down the air. Form a slightly larger hole with your lips and open up the inside of your mouth by dropping your tongue. It's the difference between saying a tight, compressed "ayyyyy" and a big, round, low "ommmm." Ayyy for the upper and ommmm for the lower.

My Dixon does better and requires less air if the joint is well-greased. If the joint is dry, it's nearly impossible to get the bottom two notes. I suggest using something thick and gluey, like Bol-Wax or Vaseline, to fill in any gaps. Check the inside of your Dixon to make sure there aren't any stray bits of plastic inside.

[piperman07]

Thank you to everyone that responded. I will keep working on my embouchure, and I am seeing that it is starting to come together. I have been able work down to the G and have even heard the D. It will definitely take some time, as with anything, I am just glad that it is me and not necessarily the flute.

[Cathy Wilde]

Ditto, ditto, ditto, I bought the combo as well, and even tho' I've been playing for years I think the Dixon takes a little more thought and work & thought then my wooden flutes. So the good news is, you'll be in better shape if you do move up eventually. So hang in there, and also ... make sure you're completely covering the G/A and D/E holes! Mine doesn't tolerate any laziness in that department. But it's handy when I need an extra piece of plumbing, too ...

[piperman07]

Well that sounds like this is a very playable flute, now just getting it to work for me. Must keep practicing....

I can play a Boehm flute pretty well, but getting the low on this one, well that is something to work on.

I am not giving up.

I had hoped that this would be a descent session flute. Is there something that would have been easier to learn on? What would be a good flute to upgrade to without breaking the bank?

Cheers,
Steve

[Henke]

I'd say, M&E, M&E or maybe an M&E for your next flute. Others will have other opinions and there are many other options that looks nice, but to me this is the best deal I have come across. The fact that they have all the things you would look for in a great session honker and you can still be as careless about maintenance and stuff as with your Dixon is great. They don't cost a fortune but they play like the best of them. I can't say enough good things about these flutes and the maker, Michael Cronnolly. You keep working with the Dixon, but when it's time to upgrade you should definetely consider M&E.

http://homepage.eircom.net/~mandeflutes/

Also check out James Peeples site were he has some soundclips of flutes including M&E original and M&E R&R: http://www.flutesite.com/flutes.htm

[piperman07]

Thank you for all of this help, I also got a reply from Tony on this problem, as he was suggesting, it may be because of the thin wall. Not having played a thin wall flute before, it will take some time to adjust to it. Also he has an embouchure plate that can be clipped on that will give it more chimney, which should make it a little easier to work on.

I definitely like the M&E flutes, I listened to the sound clips, and I have to say that they sound great. I am wondering if the 3 piece Dixon sounds similar or not, I have not heard them.

Definitely looks like an M&E in my future, would have liked to get a wood flute, but those sound just great.

Cheers,
Steve

[Henke]

I think the Dixon 3pc might be a good flute aswell, but it lacks a tuning slide and it has also got smaller holes than most traditional flutes which might make it less suitable for session playing.

If you really want wood Michael can make you an all wood flute, or maybe you can ask him to do the same as he did for me just reasently, a wooden headpiece to fit the polymer body. Scroll down a bit and you'll see my thread about my new beautiful 5-keyed M&E with two heads, a standard polymer head and a partially unlined Cocobolo head. I would have to say though that I don't really think the wooden head is better, it's just different, with a slightly different sound (wheter this is mostly due to the material, unlined vs. lined head or the slightly different embouchure cut is impossible to say). But they are just as good. I don't really think it's nessesary to go wood, although I'll probably do that with my next flute, but the polymer flutes are great and very wood-like in terms of sound. It also looks quite similar to African Blackwood if it's not examined too closely. Also the polymer is not going to crack, ever and they are available with zero wait.

Cheers