BEST INDIAN FLUTES FOR BEGINNERS
Are you a lover of Indian classical music? Does the sweet melodious sound of a flute transfer you to a different zone? If yes, then it is never too late to start learning on your own.
Apart from its very pleasant tune, which is one obvious reason to start playing a flute, it is also very easy to learn. Amongst all the instruments used in Indian classical music, a flute is probably the easiest to learn. The most common name of a flute player is a flutist. The flute is also known as “Bansuri” in India. This “Bansuri” can be found in every nook and corner of this country with prices varying from Rs 50 to a few thousand commonly. There are flutes even at the price of $80,000+ but these are often seen as a piece of art, not a creator and mostly found displayed in a museum. To start your journey of being a flutist a budget of Rs 1,500~Rs 3,000 should be more than enough.
One of the most important factors to consider while looking for the best flute for beginners is the determination of the correct scale range of the pupil. According to most flute experts, the C scale flutes are the best option to start at ground level. Some experts vote for the G scale as well.
One essential point to be noted is that one needs to keep the tone of the flute attuned to the right frequency to hear the pleasant sound one is expecting to listen to.
Classification of Flutes in India
Flutes are majorly classified into two different groups namely,
North Indian Hindustani Flute (6 holes) and South Indian Carnatic Flute (8 holes)
It is then further classified based on its scales. Scale means an array of the comments in any scheme of music in climbing or sliding sort of pitch – frequency of the note “Sa” The frequency of the flute changes due to the length of the flute. The longer length of the flute can accommodate more range of notes in different scales thus it will have a lower frequency.
Top five flutes for beginners in India
1.Punam Flutes C Natural Medium Right Hand Bansuri 19 inches
- Type: Flute Or Bansuri ,Key Note Or Scale: C,Has Good Frequency And Complex Tone ,Warm,Sweet And Seamless
- Excellent For Classical Music,Orchestral Playing,Studio Recording And Other Musical Effects
- Suitable For Beginners As Well As Professionals ,Made From High Quality Material,Designed For High Level Performance ,Hard Case Included.
Punam is the most famous flute manufacturing company in India. It is one of the only few companies in the world that makes professional bamboo flutes for all. Every flute made here is precisely customized as per the buyer’s individualistic requirement. It comes with engraved names of the flutist and also beautiful threads attached with the colors chosen by the buyer.
Keeping up with its marvelous looks it also provides great sound quality. Pleasing natural sounds, with great touch on higher and lower tone. Being purely made of bamboo it is very light in weight and the 19 inches length makes it pretty easy and comfortable to hold in hands. It has 7 holes in total (one optional hole for extra note). Thus this flute is used by professional flutists of the country and it is also used for playback purposes.
It is fairly a bit exclusive as of its proficient excellence and worth for capital. The bamboo material it uses is the natural best and lasts long. It also provides you with customizable flute covers. Honestly, the best flute for beginners in India we would recommend you buy.
Pros:
Long-lasting and durable
Extra 7th hole for extra notes
Long enough for easy hold
Provides top level sound quality
Cons:
Bit expensive
2. Punam Flutes C Sharp Medium Right Hand Bansuri 18 inches
- 1) Premium Concert Quality C sharp Medium size Indian Bamboo flute Bansuri
- 2) It plays the C sharp note when the upper three holes are covered. Indian scale Black 1 ( Kali 1 )
- 3)This flute will play the G sharp note when all the six holes are covered according to western style.
- 4) Famous flute maestros who play our flute include Pt. Hari Prasad Chaurasia, Pt. Ronu Majumdar, Pt. Rajendra Prasanna, Pt. Amar Nath, Pt. Parveen Godkhindi, Pt. Paras Nath, Pt. Chetan Joshi and Pt. K S Rajesh, among many others.
- 5) The big names of the Indian Film industry including Nepolian Selvaraj ( ilayaraja flute player) Naveen Kumar, ( A R Rahman flute player), Paras Nath , Pankaj Nath, Navin Iyer, Amar Oak and Rajesh Cherthala also play our bansuri.
With a C sharp scale, this one is a bit different unlike the one above. This flute has a C Sharp medium-scale tone. This scale is also really handy for beginners. Being manufactured by the same company, it has the same sound quality, structure, and furnishing details. Just the small difference in scale makes the music have a very special end variation according to the way one is playing. In this particular scale, the sound that comes out gives special attention to endnotes which are on a sharper, more crisp level. This change is hardly ever noticeable by a novice. With an impressive length of 18 inches, it is also very easy to hold and play with. One of the best flutes you can get your hands on.
Pros:
Very lightweight so easy to hold
Well polished finishing of the bamboo material
Best sound quality for a beginner
A suitable length for comfort
Value for money
Cons:
Sharper end notes due to C sharp scale
3. Sarfuddin flutes Scale C Bamboo Flute
- C Natural Medium bamboo Flute/Bansuri is a professional quality medium sized Bansuri.
- When the upper three holes are coverd by finger, it’s the Indian C natural medium scale.
- Sized : 19 inches approx
- This flute very suitable for Beginners students.
- Material used – 5 years old bamboo
Sarfuddin flute is an additional renowned flute producer of India that sells Indian Flutes and Bansuri all over the world. They are specialists in making the flute from Assam bamboo. They provide great furnishing on each side of the flute. It is perfectly tuned to C Scale which provides a very melodious tune. The wonderful sound quality produced by it makes it a good buy for both beginners and intermediates. This flute also comes with a sophisticated and elegant cover for protection from external hazards. The 19 inches length also makes it very easy and comfortable to hold. As it is a C scale natural Medium scaled flute it has 6 holes finger placements fortunes. This surely provides the best value for the money. You can get it for the best price on Amazon and it is another one of the best flutes for a beginner in this country.
Pros:
Good length for great hold
Assam bamboo provides a great finishing
A perfectly tuned C scale can be very helpful for beginners
Cons:
Seasonal change may cause damage
4.Radhe Flutes Middle Octave PVC Fibre Right Handed
- BEST ALTERNATIVE FOR BAMBOO FLUTE Requires No Maintenance - Washable. NO Cracks. NO effects from direct sunlight. NO split opens even after loose threads or ageing. No damage from a drop of 8 feet height.
- Tuned With Tanpura on A=440Hz.
The vital characteristic of this flute is the fabric used to make it. The entire flute is made up of PVC fiber. PVC is a tough chemically resistant synthetic resin used for a wide variety of products. One benefit of PVC pipes is that they don’t have any regular effect on them. That is, it stays the same throughout the year and does not get easily damaged. Whereas Bamboo flutes develop slighter dark shades as an effect of the change in temperature and moisture content in the atmosphere. Its sound value is tuned very fit and is equivalent to what bamboo flutes offer. However its quality of sound is a bit below average, the sound is little on the huskier side. It is lightweight at 299 grams and has 7 holes. The lip plate can be used to easily blow if one is having a hard time learning the blowing technique and skip it altogether as well as save time. This PVC flute also comes at a very cheap price. This price difference is sole because of the original manufacturing material difference. These flutes are also given a yellow color finish to provide a resemblance with the actual bamboo flute.
Pros:
Much cheaper
Seven holes provide a better range
Much more durable than bamboo flutes
Cons:
Poor sound quality
Pitch is lower
5. HISCIN 17Inch Handmade Bamboo Flute
- Transverse indian flute 17 inches long, type- G SHARP transverse(Side flute) Traditional craftsmanship bansuri flutes are artisan crafted in india using time-honored techniques
- Professional this indian musical instruments is designed.
- Premium materials bamboo flute is produced from the finest reeds luxury thread
- Unique gift this handmade flute is an ideal gift for any musician
- Can also be used as décor
This flute made from bamboo is appropriate for both kids and adult beginners trying to take the initial lessons in flute playing. This flute is handmade by the manufacturers with precision and is also often used by professionals for stage performance purposes and even for professional audio playback recording. It stands at an impressive length of17 inches which is a fairly comfortable size for holding and playing. It is one of a type and a immense piece of art in itself. Since this is a man made flute, it can have some minor statue or variations of skill. But this does not inflict any outcome on the sound quality itself. This also appears with a stunning cover for shield.
Pros:
17 inches of measurement lengthwise is very much appropriate for beginners.
The manufacturing of bamboo material produces high-quality sound.
Protective cover maintains long-lasting durability.
Cons:
Can have some minor carving problems or variations of crafting as it is entirely handmade.
Choose the Right Flute
It is absolutely of no question that whatever instrument you are learning, the instrument you choose to buy from the manufacturer will determine the learner’s progress. A flute is like any other musical instrument that exists, some are of good quality, some are average, and some are just simply bad. As there are going to be some parts that some will find hard to master while some can do that easily, the last thing we need is a flute that has faults of its own and limits the learner even more.
It is an inevitable fact that a good quality instrument will push a new learner or a professional through any difficult phases in the learning process and helps to stay firm with the learning process. With a little amount of diligence and attention, one should be able to separate the good from the average and the bad instrument while shopping. To get the best out of your first flute, one must be having a good knowledge of the instrument, including its basic structure points, the different material choices it is manufactured in, and how it produces its sound.
The more informed you are about the instrument the more it will help you to decide what are the important features and which ones are the less important ones. Learning how to assemble and disassemble the instrument also becomes easier when one has complete detailed knowledge about the entire structure and knows where each part belongs to. At its most basic form, the flute has the head joint, body, and foot joints.
These parts can be taken apart and reassembled when one wishes to clean their flute for better sound quality. Cork can also be used to seal the parts together to prevent any leakage of air.
A flute is an aero phone instrument, that is, not like other woodwind instruments; a flute does not utilize reeds with its spokesperson. In a flute, there does not exist anything of the name mouth piece, instead of which we have an embouchure hole on the middle of a lip plate which is situated on the side and towards the top of the head joint. For that dissimilarity, the western performance flute is well-known as a sloping flute.
While in Indian flutes there is an opening at the top as well as at the side too. The instrument can be thus held and played sideways as well, across the entire body. While the identical configuration of the instrument from other parts of the world are typically end-blown. Standard flutes may be too long for younger kids as beginners and might be difficult for them to reach all the instrument’s keys and still play comfortably with their small arms.
Because of this reason, the head joint of some beginner flute models sometimes is slightly bent to help younger players greater reach and play more comfortably. The dissimilarity in holes is an additional vital point of characteristic to differentiate between flutes. The open hole or French-style flutes give the flutist more control over the tone and pitch modulation of the instrument but they aren’t the easiest to handle for new learners.
If the player is a young child with smaller fingers, they will even fight back with casing the holes entirely to end any air leaks. Thus for beginners or novices, it is better to begin their learning course with a blocked hole or the German style flutes. This type is also known as plateau holes. Closed holes help the beginners to play the instrument much more easily and comfortably.
Once at a pro-level, one will have to upgrade to an open holed flute as it definitely provides much more control over the tune and pitch and also produces better sound quality. Another available option at the hands of the flutist is open holed flutes with removable plugs that seal the holes. These flutes are a viable option as one does not need to buy another flute when the time comes for an upgrade. But these detachable plugs are liable to an influence the instrument body’s character, which is vital for a even flute sound.
The best flutes are made of Silver but those may not be practical for beginners. Flutes should ideally be of metal bodies. But it is not uncommon to find beginner models made of plastic or bamboo, which is the material for authentic Indian flutes. As one would have predictable, plastic flutes will not offer you the finest resonance value. But for beginners, these may be the additional realistic option over metal flutes.
However, the best option for beginners will still be the classic bamboo flutes found and manufactured only in India. Metal flutes perhaps are too fragile for young hands to focus on. Even though the character and quality a flute produces depend mostly on the material used in its structuring we cannot heave away the issue of the width of the wall of the instrument out of the entire picture.
Particular flutes prepared from chrome or nickel, silver, wood, or plastic will sound noticeably dissimilar. Needless to say, plastic or bamboo flutes for beginners also come with affordable prices and provides quality which suffices the value it is given. Flutes are also prepared of silver, rare gold, and less frequently platinum. These come at very high prices and are used by professionals only. Sterling silver is considered the best material possible and it is also a favorite of Theobald Boehm the inventor of a western flute.
It is also preferred for its sweet tone and elegant looking industrial finish. For beginners, however, silver might not be the most suitable of a choice, mainly due to a typically huge price which is forbidding for most new learners. In India, therefore, the best option for beginners is a flute made of wood, preferably from bamboo as it provides a better sound quality than any other wood.
Some flutes are also made from some different alloys and given a silver plating. Even though wooden flutes are the best option for any beginner they are not always the easiest to maintain. Gold, platinum, and wooden flutes are not pleasant options for beginners. The quality of keys will make or break the sound of the flute. If the keys on the flute do not fully cover the holes, playing the flute instrument is going to be a frustrating experience as it will not allow any air to come out which is the primary mechanism of the working of a flute.
Other than the potted seal, the keys be supposed to also be prepared of strong, hard-wearing material. Thus the choice of proper material is of the most important while buying your first personal flute. We all will be more likely to choose a material that provides the best it can till the longest of times.
Conclusion
As the world is progressing more and more everyday India is also turning into a westernized society day by day. The crowd these days likes to jam to the pop and rock of what America is listening to rather than dedicating any time to know their own culture and heritage. Indians today have almost elapsed the immense artistry that is Indian classical music and the artists that continually gave their blood and sweat in maintaining this appearance of art alive. In earlier days these musicians used to travel around the country and the world showcasing their art and bringing pride to the nation in return.
So I respect whoever you are reading this article, deciding to buy your first flute, to start on this wonderful journey of music. I sincerely hope you fall in love if you already haven’t, with the rich and soulful genre of Indian classical music or you use the power of music, through your flute too, blend and mix genres and languages cause music to have no boundaries of genres or languages.
I hope this article was able to provide you with desirable information about the various types of flutes for beginners and I could somewhere make your selection process a bit easier as that is all I wish from this. Hope you have a wonderful journey with your flute and you keep creating the sweet melodious tune from one of these authentic Indian products I mentioned above. And as I have said at the beginning of this article, in that same thought I would like to say there is no wrong time for doing the right thing. No matter what your age be or any other point of factor that is making you second guess on whether you should pursue this or not, if you have dreams – fly high.
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