As I am entering my tenth year as a flute player, I can't help but feel a sense of camaraderie with those who have shared in experiences unique to playing the flute (or at least unique to playing wind instruments). Here is a list of eleven experiences all flute players have at some point in their career.
1. The Way It Sparkles
Even before you ever made your first attempt to play it, you probably ogled at the glittering keys of your flute and fell in love. Now, every time you shine it up for a performance (or just because you want to see the sparkle) your heart flutters the same way it did back then.
2. Horn Angle Woes
Is it parallel to the ground? Is it wedge-shaped forward and slightly down? Thanks to the different protocols of different situations (and directors), flute players everywhere are constantly training and re-training their muscles to hold their instrument "correctly."
3. Playing the Part of Birds
If a composer is using nature for their muse, they're more likely than not going to use flutes to cover the parts of birds. For example, the tenth movement of Saint-Saëns' work "Carnival of the Animals" is titled "Aviary" and it is written for piano, strings, and solo flute.
4. Trilling
Akin to playing the part of birds, trilling was likely the first thing you learned on the flute that made you feel extra fancy, or you taught yourself a very rough rendition of the "Jaws" theme.
5. You Know Your Key Signatures
Considering the fact that flutes actually read concert key signatures, it's not as hard for us to pick up memorizing keys (or scales) as it might be for another instrument.
6. Peeing Keys
At first, the spit valve on brass instruments seemed gross. Now, every time the condensation runs out your keys, through your fingers, and down your arm, you think of how lucky you would be to have such a luxury.
7. Crowding
Whether your flute is in front of your neighbor's face or someone else's flute is in front of your face, sticking the flute section too close together is a good way to make a lot of people really uncomfortable and unhappy. If this is a pep band occasion, and you have horn flashes, black eyes could occur.
8. Love-Hate Relationship With the Piccolo
The piccolo is like the Regina George of the flute section, you hate her, and at the same time you want to be her. Once you get there, though, you realize that you still hate the piccolo, especially when "Stars and Stripes Forever " comes around.
9. Reading in the Stratosphere
For me, the "stratosphere" is anything above a high F (that's three ledger-lines above the staff, not the one at the top of the staff). While I can play up to a D above that, I have to rely heavily on muscle memory in order to play passages that have a lot of notes up there because it gets really tough to read.
10. The Gizmo Key
If you have a B' foot flute, you have a gizmo key. Do you ever use it? Probably not, because its only purpose is to make the stratosphere C sound a teensy bit less shrill and blood-curdling. It is fun, though, to know that there is a key on your instrument that is technically named the gizmo key.
11. Being the Best Section in the Band
Yeah, we're the bomb dot com and we know it. For all you non-flutes reading this, did you really think I wouldn't say this?
