What am I looking for in a Dizi??

[blackspaven]

Hi,

For a while I've loved the sound of oriental woodwind instruments so as a safety net I bought myself an incredibly cheap dizi to see if I could get to grips with it at all after coming from a guitar & piano musical background. It turns out I can, although I'm gonna need a bit of work!!

Anyway, I was looking at some stage to get a better quality dizi as my playing hopefully progresses and I saw an offer for a set of used dizi in a case for not a lot (I guess, not much call for them where I live!). However, I have absolutely no idea whether they're going to be ornamental or whether they're going to be decent quality, so how do I tell??

All I know is they cover every note and the longest is 65cm, the shortest 40 cm. They look 'convenient', to say the least, BUT are they likely to be any good and without trying, is there any way of telling? As a newb, I'm pretty sure if I showed my friends MY ridiculously cheap dizi, they wouldn't know much difference if I told them it was REALLY high quality!



I hope you guys can help me out...

[davidmdahl]

Welcome to the forum, blackspaven. It is really impossible for us to advise you on the quality of a set of dizi flutes from a small photo. My guess though is that they are not high quality. The best flutes are not sold in a set, but individually. However, there might be one or more among them that is good. Sometimes when cheap flutes are made, one or more comes out really well. In theory, a more expensive flute has had more care from the maker, so that it should be easier to play, have better sound, and play better in tune. If you buy a flute made by a maker of good reputation from a good dealer, you stand the best chance of getting a good flute. Of course, the most reliable way of getting a good dizi is to try a bunch yourself at a maker's workshop or music store, and choose your favorite. When that is not possible, and you are buying online, then you have to rely on the reputation of the maker and vendor.

Since you already have a knockaround dizi, one or two really good dizi flutes in useful keys would be a better choice than a bunch of cheap flutes in keys that you will never use. Of course, this depends on the kind of music you will play. Personally, for Chinese music, I find a D dizi a very useful key, a comfortable size, and satisfying sound. You can go lower if you want, to C or so, but much lower than that poses hand stretch problems for some people at first. Low flutes are fun after you have played a medium size for a while. G is also a useful key, but it is in the piccolo range and the finger holes can feel cramped.

I suggest checking the dizi listings on the Eason Music website. There are other vendors as well that forum members have had good experiences with, so I expect we will hear from them.

Best wishes,

David

[Flolei]

Very well written David. I was trying to write an answer in my bad English when I saw your post. I wanted to say exactly the same... but in a less accurate language! Yes, I agree with you, a very good D dizi is a must-have for any dizi player. After that, E and G are very useful for advanced learners (there's plenty of good pieces in these two keys, but they're almost all grade 7 or more).

[blackspaven]

Okay, thanks for that. I'm getting that it looks better than it actually probably will be then. It was the little metal strips in it that made me think that they're tunable and therefore must be better quality than mine, which happens to be an F dizi, mainly cos it was cheap and I didn't really care as it was more to do with learning to play it full stop rather than be worried about playing specific tunes on it. Having said that, I've read several times about different keys being easier to play than others but as possibly I've got large hands, it's not hard at all to cover sthe holes.