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Toni
(416 points)
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I was wondering if there are people who play the picc. who don't play the flute as well. I kind of like the piccolo better than I do the flute and I want to get one. Is there anyway possible that I wouldn't have to play flute to play piccolo? Thanks.
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AndrewB
(478 points)
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Just wondering, what flute do you play on? Years ago, my parents of course didnt know anything about flutes, and when I asked for a flute for Christmas, I ended up with a Monique  . Of course I was just a kid and didnt know anything about these brands. I tried for so long to teach myself, but I couldnt make it right to play. Eventually, I asked for a piccolo and I got a jinyin. again. But this piccolo was not as bad as the monique flute, so I practiced the piccolo all the time and hated the flute. When I finally got a new flute I got to pick it, and suddenly my flute playing was amazing!, and I dropped the now falling apart, cheapo jinyin. Nowadays I have a good flute and piccolo, and I play them both happily all the time.
Now then, the moral of the story is, you may like the piccolo more than the flute because your flute is not "working for you" and you might think that the piccolo would be better.
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Toni
(416 points)
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I made a mistake when typing my question. I meant to say that I like the sound of the picc. more than the flute. I'm not a flutist. I have a flute, but it is not getting fixed anytime soon. I was wondering if I could buy a picc. and just play it instead of having to learn the flute. Another question though, is a Yamaha YPC-32 piccolo any good?
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fauna
(90 points)
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I love my YPC-32...some people don't like that model though. However, you should learn flute BEFORE pic. It's the equivalent to playing piccolo trumpet before a regular Bb trumpet or a soprano sax before an alto, even bass trombone before tenor. It isn't a good idea.
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Toni
(416 points)
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I'm not fighting or anything, but, why not? Why can't I learn picc. first? If I have no experience with the flute, how will I develop bad habits or have real problems? I haven't tried flute and I've been told that piccolo is a whole different embouchure, like a different instrument. I just want to know why can't I learn picc. before flute? If I even want to learn flute at all.
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AndrewB
(478 points)
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The piccolo is simply a more difficult instrument to play. If you play picc first, youll develop bad habits which will make later flute playing difficult. Also, there isnt as much repetoir for piccolo.
<Added>
Oh yeah, The yamaha can sound nice but a lot of people find tuning problems in them. IN addition to that, the 32 which is only a student model is very expenssive retailing around 1000$
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Kara
(2900 points)
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Andrew after reading a lot of your posts, I must say that you are very knowledgeable beyond your years. You give good advice and know your flute.
I agree with the others, you should play flute first, but don't have to. If you only want to play piccolo, and you are just playing for enjoyment, then I would say go for it.
I have never met anyone that playes in a band or other places that just plays the piccolo. Probably because there is not always a piccolo part in the score with everything.
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Micron
(1408 points)
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Liking the sound has little to do with the issue. I may like the look of a high jumper, but I cannot learn to do it until I have first learnt to run.
Anything is possible. It is entirely possible that you could play piccolo without playing flute. However success in becoming even a mediocre player is rather unlikely.
From your original question I assume that you have little experience with playing flute or piccolo.
A piccolo player is expected to play in the upper half of the range a LOT. Perhaps you are unaware of just how difficult it is to play this instrument, in this range, with good tuning, and good volume control. FAR more difficult than for flute. If you do not master these facets of playing, then you probably should not be performing on piccolo, because you will not be nice to listen to, and you will be a major liability for players around you!
You wrote, "I haven't tried flute and I've been told that piccolo is a whole different embouchure, like a different instrument."
I actually disagree with that. The piccolo embouchure is like that for flute, except that EVERY aspect of it must be refined to be much more accurate - lip apperture much smaller, lip shape far more critical, stability of lip tissue under extreme air pressure is vital, you need far more air pressure, Direction of the airstream is veqar more critical..... The margins for error are very small indeed.
IMO, on piccolo, without the experience of first learning pitch and volume control on flute throughout the range - which even many flute players never achieve, shock, horror! - you are VERY likely to learn to overcome your difficulties on piccolo by developing 'band-aid' techniques that will be very detrimental to your future success, and very difficult to correct later. That is, unless you have a piccolo teacher of a very high standard. I believe that such a teacher would EXPECT you to first be reasonably accomplished on flute.
It would be like trying to teach a toddler to hop before it can jump, or teach you to be a racing car driver before you can drive a normal vehicle, or learning to sing in tune before you can talk, etc.
As for playing opportunities for dedicated piccolo players...
Very few indeed. In SOME countries, not my own, there are brass bands which have a piccolo added, so that they can play music such as "Stars and Stripes" which basically require brass + piccolo.
The marching bands of USA? I don't know - I've never met them - but I think you are probably expected to play flute as well, when the need arises.
In any symphony orchestra the piccolo player is always a flute player as well, often 3rd flute. No dedicated piccolo player.
In flute choirs and chamber music, I think you would be expected to be primarily a flute player.
You would be totally useless in pit playing.
I guess there are one or two dedicated piccolo soloists around the world, but even if you like the novel, unique sound of the piccolo, most audiences quickly tire of it or even hate it. The ears of some just cannot cope. Therefore if you were performing a solo concert, then I think you would need more than just piccolo.
So I think the opportunities for you if you do not play flute (well!) as well, are few.
Playing flute is part of the normal learning curve towards playing a piccolo.
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Toni
(416 points)
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Well... all of that makes perfect sense. The only thing is I can't get my flute fixed, and we're really tight on money now. A $150 repair job is a "NO DEAL" to my mom. I want to learn different instruments, I just can't afford them. I could take the fund raiser money I earned and buy a new flute, but I want to use it as tuition for an orchestra. There's still the thought of selling my trumpet, but I haven't really given it a fair chance yet. I want to practice that one too. I found a cheap Yamaha picc. and I was going to bid on it, but I wanted to ask questions first. Now I guess it was a bad idea to ever think of doing anything else, so I guess I'll just stay with clarinet and sax. I can't continue wasting my life over dumb dreams and hopeless fantasies.
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Lera
(1391 points)
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fauna Your sort of wrong becouse I lerned Soprano and Tenor Saxes before alto.
It was easey Sins non of them have same embroshure.
It also dipends on what kind of person you are I can easely tell you thet I picked up Soprano sax first and then Tenor, and I got my Picc. and flute at same time I lerned how to play them both side by side. and had evrything prefect most of the time. Thet is what you can do.
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AndrewB
(478 points)
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Thanks Kara! That comment really made my day!
Toni- Similar to me you play many instruments at a young age. You sound to be very passionate about your music. My family is also in a bit of a squeeze financially too, because my mom was laid of from her at&t job, and is now accepting less than half of that payment as a catholic high school librarian. My advice would be to work on the instruments that you have now, and perhaps in a few years or sooner (i dont know how old you are) you could get a part time job and purchase a flute. The patience may seem unbearable, but focusing on less instruments at once will allow you to excel on those, and when you raise enough money to buy a flute of your own, or repair your current one you will truly be able to succeed musically.
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Toni
(416 points)
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Thanks Andrew! Your words were very encouraging! I am thinking about getting a summer job this year. Maybe work at the animal kennel here in my town. I think that maybe I should lay off for a bit and think about a few other things that I would like to do. Thanks for all of your help!Thanks for everyone's help.
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Erin
(84 points)
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Toni,
Don't get too discouraged. You're still young and will have plenty of oppotunities to learn more instruments. Now to answer your original question, I personally like the sound of the piccolo a little bit more than the sound of the flute and when given the choice of playing the flute or piccolo in a piece I always chose piccolo. I started flute before piccolo and I recommend learning flute before the piccolo. I think knowing how to play the flute will make learning the piccolo a lot easier.
On a side note, I looked at your profile. Is your birthday really on October 1st? If so, we have the same birth date, but I was born in 1979, so I'm a wee bit older.
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