My Current Piccolo: Pearl 105/OM Piccolo

Hi everyone,

In todays post I will be talking about the piccolo that I currently own.

I purchased my piccolo back in August 2020, and I decided on the Pearl 105/OM Piccolo as it came highly recommend to buy as a first piccolo.

Piccolo Specifications

• 'Grenaditte' head joint and body 
• Omnipad Pads 
• Silver-plated mechanism
• Split E mechanism
• Thick wall high-wave headjoint
• French-style Pointed key-arms
• Pinless mechanism

The Pearl 105/OM features a Grenaditte head joint and body, and this is a composite that has the tonal qualities of grenadilla wood. With it being a composite material it also won't crack when temperatures vary, which also makes ideal for playing performances outdoors.

Omnipads

The 'Omnipads' have a unique three layer structure, which is made up of a plastic backing, a harder foam middle layer and the playing surface foam. The 'Omnipads' help the piccolo to produce a warmer sound, which is ideal for the piccolo.

It's also a nice option if you want the feeling of a Grenadilla wood, but with something more durable to withstand playing outdoors.

This is a fun piccolo to play, and it suits me as I prefer a slightly darker tone. Also, due to the piccolo having a wave head joint; it makes it easier to direct the airflow. 

Flute Loops Blog Break - December 2025

Hi everyone,

The Flute Loops blog will be taking a short break over the Christmas period.

The final post of 2025 will be on the 25th November at 9am, and the blog will be live again on the 6th January 2026 at 2pm GMT/ BST.

I've decided to move the time that my blog goes live from 9am to 2pm for 2026.

Wishing you all a fantastic Christmas & New Year, and we shall see you all in January.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

Team Flute Loops xx

Flutes & the Materials They are Made Out Of

Hi everyone,

In todays post I will be talking all of the different flutes that flutes can be made out of, as I get asked about this a lot.

It's only going to be brief overview to give you an idea in todays post, but I am hoping to touch on this some more further down the line.

Silver Nickel

Silver Nickel flutes are nickel flutes that have been silver plated; and this is what most student flutes are made of to start you off on your flute journey. Silver Nickel flutes are also very durable, and free blowing to make easier for a beginner player to get used to playing the flute.

Silver 

There's a few variants when it comes to having silver on your flute; and you can have a silver headjoint with a silver nickel body, silver body and headjoint with silver nickel mechanism or silver body, headjoint and mechanism.

With silver you are able to produce a lot more tonal colours, depth of sound and also the sound projects a little further. 

There's three types of silver on the market for flutes, and they are :-

925 Silver - Produces a brighter sound

958 Silver - Produces a darker sound

998 Silver - This is essentially pure silver, and there's only one or two flute brands that produce flutes made up of 998 silver. 998 silver produces an even darker sound compared to 958 silver.

Gold

You get flutes made from 9k, 14k and 18k gold, and these can either be yellow gold or rose gold. Yes, rose gold flutes are an actual thing.

All gold flutes can be a bit too much for some flutes, due to them producing a naturally rich tone, whereas rose gold flutes are a little more mellow within there tonal colours.

If you do want a gold flute, but you find it a bit much; what some players do is opt for an all silver mechanism just to mellow out the sound.

Another thing to also note is that gold flutes don't project in the same way as a silver flute.

Platinum

Platinum flutes are some of the most expensive flutes on the market, and also some of the heaviest flutes on the market. 

A platinum flute produces a rich tone that has a lot depth to sound, but they also produce a very powerful sound. So, projection shouldn't be an issue with a platinum flute.

If you fancied a platinum flute, but they are outside your budget there is an option for a platinum clad flute. A platinum clad flute is a silver flute that has a thick coating of platinum over the top.

You can also buy full platinum flutes or platinum flutes with a blend of either silver or 14k rose gold.

I hope this post gives you a little more of understanding of the different metals that flutes can be made from, and a little more understanding on what different tonal colours and projection each metal has.

Struggling while Practicing Pieces for Your Music Exams

Hi everyone,

In todays post I will be talking about struggling while practicing pieces for your music exams.

One of the first things I would like to say is that it's going to be completely natural that you may struggle with certain aspects of learning and developing your pieces to get them up to exam standard. 

Tricky Passages or Finger Placements

For tackling any tricky passages I would recommend that you break the passage down into more manageable chunks, and slowly work through the passage. I would suggest that you work on between two or four bars at a time, and do this slowly to start off with until you get used to playing it smoothly. You could also run the passage through fully a few times to see how it feels in its entirety; and then see what it sounds like included within the piece as a whole. 

  When playing the piece through as a whole just play it at a nice, steady pace to help you to get used to playing it fully.

With tricky finger placements; the only thing I can suggest is slowly break the fingers placements down within the bars that you are struggling with to get used them, and to also some scales within that octave to help you to smooth the finger placements out. This should become easier the more that you practice it. It's still important to also take your time while adjusting to tricky finger placements.

Tone

While working on tricky passages and/ or finger placements one of the things that you might loose temporarily is your tone.

  So, to try and counteract this try some simple tone exercises for your instrument over a period of a few days/ weeks; depending on how long your tone will take to come back. By doing this, your tone for your exam pieces should start to slowly come back.

Take Your Time

Please don't overwhelm yourself when practicing pieces for your exams; and if you do start to feel overwhelmed then take a step back.

  Please take your time on working through your exam pieces, as this is how you catch anything that may not sound right, fingers that might not be in the right place, tone could be off, or your rhythm could be slightly out due to an odd time signature. By taking your time you are able to catch what it is, and then you are able to start working on it and improve upon it.

Ask for Guidance

If your still struggling, something else isn't quite right or there's an area of a piece of music that you can't get your head around - then ask your teacher for help and advice, as they will be able to guide you and offer you advice on how to tackle whatever it is that you are struggling with.

You will overcome the struggles for your pieces for your music exams; it will just take a bit of time to work through.

Christmas Books for Intermediate Players

Hi everyone,

In todays post I will be talking about Christmas books that are available for intermediate players.

All of the Christmas books that I have chosen for intermediate players come from the Classical Players range of books from Hal Leonard.

Favourite Christmas Carols

This book features a range of well known Christmas Carols, but some of the arrangements can be a little tricky as it does feature some changes in time signatures, and the key signatures go up to five flats and sharps. I would say that this book could also be pushing it to players who are early into the advanced stages of their grades.

Pieces featured in 'Favourite Christmas Carols'

- Angels we Have Heard on High

- Away in a Manger

- Coventry Carol

- Deck the Hall

- The First Noel

- God Rest Ye Merry, Gentleman

- He is Born

- In Dulci Jubilo

- In the Bleak Midwinter

- Infant Holy, Infant Lowly

- Joy to the World

- Lo, How a Rose E'er Blooming

- O Come, All Ye Faithful

- O Holy Night

- Once in a Royal David's City

- Silent Night

- Still, Still, Still

- Sussex Carol

- What Child is This?

Christmas Songs

This book features a range of well known Christmas songs, and most of the pieces seem pretty manageable for an intermediate player. There's one piece that uses five flats within the music, but apart from that the music seems pretty straightforward.

Pieces featured in 'Christmas Songs'

- The Christmas Song (Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire)

- Christmas Time is Here

- The Christmas Waltz

- Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas

- I Wonder as I Wonder

- I'll Be Home for Christmas

- The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

- O Christmas Tree

- Silver Bells

- Sleigh Ride

- Waltz of the Flowers

- White Christmas

The Nutcracker

This book features ten pieces from Tchaikovsky's ballet 'The Nutcracker'. These are arrangements are really nice for the intermediate player, and the key signatures that they have chosen are also lovely. They maybe some tricky finger placements and passages throughout, which might be a bit of challenge for someone whose just starting to play at an intermediate level.

Pieces featured in 'The Nutcracker'

- Arabian Dance (Coffee)

- Chinese Dance (Tea)

- Dance of the Reed Flutes

- Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy

- March

- Miniature Overture

- Pas de Deux

- Russian Dance (Trepak)

- Spanish Dance (Chocolate)

- Waltz of the Flowers

If you are looking for Christmas books for an intermediate player I would highly recommend the 'For Classical Players' series by Hal Leonard. Just make sure you have a browse inside the books before purchasing, as I have looked inside one of these books for the violin and it looks to be on the more challenging side. Whereas for the flute, these books aren't actually that bad.

Free Resource: IMSLP

Hi everyone,

For todays post I will be talking about the amazing free resource IMSLP.

I've been using IMSLP for years to gain access to free sheet music; and this is available across a wide range of different instruments, ensembles, orchestral works and genres.

IMSLP offers a wide range of works across a range of styles and genres for free; and you can print these works of at home or sent them straight over to ForScore. The scores that are on offer on IMSLP have expired on the 70 year copyright rule; which means that these can be made available via public domain.

IMSLP also offers a paid per month option, but I'm not too sure of what the benefits are for the pay per month option.

If your in need of sheet music either 'in a pinch' or just to tie you over until you get a proper version of that sheet music; then I would highly recommend that you check out IMSLP to see if they have on there what you may be looking for. At least this way, you will have a version while you are waiting for your official copy to arrive.

It's also a great resource for exploring works of less known composers.

What IMSLP also offers variations and different sheet music formats for a range of pieces from really well known composers. So, you have loads of variety on offer and hopefully something close to what you may be looking for.

Trevor Wye Daily Exercises for the Flute

Hi everyone,

In todays post I will be talking about the Trevor Wye Daily Exercises for the Flute. The Trevor Wye Daily Exercises for the Flute is aimed at intermediate to advanced flute players.

The Trevor Wye Daily Exercises for the Flute is a compilation of different studies and exercises from a variety of well known flute composers including Trevor Wye. The exercises cover everything from Orchestral Excerpts, Daily Studies and Chromatic Studies just to name a few of the areas that this book touches on.

A few of the composers that are within this Trevor Wye Daily Exercise book are :-

- Reichert

- Brahms

- Reinecke

- Greig

- Maquarre

- Boehm

The Trevor Wye Daily Exercises Book is divided into six sections, and each section focuses on different area of development.

These sections are :-

Section 1 - Tone Exercises, Warm Ups & Vocalise

Section 2 - Scales & Scale Exercises

Section 3 - Arpeggios

Section 4 - Chromatic Exercises

Section 5 - The Third Octave

Section 6 - Daily Exercises

The Trevor Wye Daily Exercises book also contains a Practice Card, which can be moved and used around the book. It also gives some tips on the Practice Card for you to use if you are an intermediate or advanced flute player; just so then you can get the most of the Daily Exercises