Fantastic, either you or your child have decided that you would like to start playing the flute. But before you get too excited your going to need to decide if you are going to purchase or hire a flute. You’re also going to need to find a good teacher but that’s a topic for another time. Both deciding whether you want to purchase or hire a flute and finding a teacher can seem a little daunting.  But hopefully, you’ll find this article points you one step further in the right direction.

To Purchase or Hire a Flute

When it comes to acquiring a flute, you have two main options: purchase or hire. I cannot explicitly tell you which option is “better” for your unique situation. I can, however, give you enough information to make the best decision for you personally.

Like most things in life, there are a number of advantages and disadvantages to both purchasing or hiring an instrument so I’m simply going to lay them on the table and let you choose.

First off…

Hiring A Flute

Advantages of Hiring a Flute

You are not responsible for maintaining the instrument

Every flute, actually all brass and woodwind instruments, need to be serviced on average once a year. This is simply because they have moving parts which are frequently exposed to the moisture in your breath causing a natural level or wear and tare. It’s much like getting a car serviced and helps to maintain the value of your instrument and keep it in working order. An average service will probably cost you around $120 AUD. When you hire a flute, the company is responsible for keeping the instrument serviced so there is no additional cost that you need to worry about.

You can try out different features on a flute before committing to it

Flutes come with lots of different options and features and if you’re not sure what you prefer, or what works best for you, hiring a flute allows you to properly test the instrument and get a decent feel for what you like. Just some of these features include: offset or inline G, split E mechanism and the material the flute is made from. When you’re a beginner flautist this isn’t really something you need to worry about but its good for those looking for a step up flute.

Potentially cheaper to hire a curved headjoint flute for 1-2 years than purchase one

If your son/daughter requires a curved headjoint flute (your teacher will let you know) it is, unfortunately, going to add an extra few hundred to the price.  Then, if you add the cost of a yearly service it can be getting a little on the expensive side. Many times, you will find it cheaper to hire a curved headjoint flute for the first 1-2 years and then look at purchasing when you’re ready to move to the straight headjoint.

If you decide it’s really not your thing you’ve potentially saved yourself some money and you’re not stuck with an instrument

If you are prone to indecision, your son/daughter frequently changes their mind or you’re not too keen on committing to something. Then hiring an instrument is an excellent solution. This allows you to work out if you like playing the flute without the initial financial outlay required to purchase one. If you don’t like, its then no big deal you have invested the money in a once in a lifetime experience and don’t need to worry about what you’ll do with an instrument you’re never going to use. If you like it, great you will now be able to test play your flute before you buy it (which I highly, highly recommend).

You can use a nicer instrument than you could afford to buy

When you are tossing up between purchasing a cheap flute or hiring an instrument please hire an instrument. A bad flute can be enough of a deterrent to make anyone stop playing for life. (Most cheap flutes are bad!) It’s like trying to cut pumpkin with a supper blunt knife, it takes way too much effort, doesn’t work and results in tin pumpkin soup for dinner instead of the delicious, mouth-watering homemade soup you had envisioned.

Gradual more affordable payments

If you’re not in a position to dip into your pre-established savings account (and few people are) then hiring a flute gives you instant access to the instrument without requiring a large financial outlay. Once you have fallen in love with the instrument you may then find you have the motivation to save up for one.

Disadvantages of Hiring a Flute

Will reach a point in time when it becomes more expensive than purchasing a flute

If you hire a flute for too long, you will eventually reach a point in time when it becomes more expensive than purchasing one. For example: if you want a $700-$800 brand new student flute + $120 per year for servicing and it costs $200 per year to hire than after… (I hate math)

And so forth… Of course, this would change if you looked at getting a second-hand flute. It’s also worthwhile noting that after 5 to 8 years of playing you’ll be ready to upgrade from your student flute to an intermediate flute.

If something happens to it you have to pay for it and you don’t get to keep it

Provided your careful this shouldn’t be a problem. But, if you lose a hired flute or severely damage it, you are responsible for the repairs/replacement of the instrument. This means you may end up purchasing a replacement flute and then not getting to keep it.

Purchasing a Flute

Advantages of Purchasing a Flute

You can keep it

It is yours to keep for as long as you want. This means you can pass it along to other children in your family or give it to your own children when they are ready to start playing. Who knows maybe one day you’ll become a flute teacher and you can hire it out to new students.

If you’re playing for the long term it's cheaper

By long term I mean 5 or more years. This is especially the case if you purchased a good second-hand instrument from a reputable brand that will hold its market value.

One large outlay of money and then aside from servicing you’re done

It means you won’t have to worry about a monthly/quarterly/yearly bill for flute hire this has both its pros and cons and really just depends on your individual financial situation.

Disadvantages of Purchasing a Flute

You have to front the costs of servicing

If you choose to purchase an instrument you and you alone are responsible for the maintenance and repairs of your instrument. Provided you look after your flute well this should only involve a once a year service. A flute service will cost approximately $120 depending on where you get it serviced.

You are locked into what you’ve bought and can’t change your mind

Once you have invested in your own flute that’s it, what you have is what you have. You can no longer decide that a split E mechanism may have actually been a good idea after all. Unless of course your willing to purchase another flute. Unlike cars, many features cannot be added in after purchase because it will affect the entire design of the instrument.

If you no longer wish to play you have an instrument to sell

While there is a second-hand market for flutes (gumtree is good) selling anything requires time. Plus when selling an instrument it really helps to know a lot what you’re selling. Information like its market value and all the different features it has can be very important. Without this information, you’ll never know if someone is trying to rip you off. Or, on the other side of the spectrum, if you’re ripping yourself off because you don’t know how much you should ask for it.

One large outlay of money plus yearly servicing

Coughing up a sum of money all in one go can be a challenge for many family budgets. If you add to that the maintenance of the instrument it might be just a little beyond your reach. If this is the case then perhaps hiring a flute will be a better option for you.

Conclusion

As you can see I have laid all the cards on the table. It’s totally up to you to make the decision. I have tried to be as unbiased as possible. Part of what I do here at The Techie Flutist is instrument hire. However, this is because I believe music should be accessible to everyone and I want to help make that happen. The other reason is I’m a human. Sadly, like all adults, I have to make some form of income so I can pay for food and rent.

The music industry is a tough industry to work in. As much as people love consuming music they don’t like paying for it. But that’s okay… another topic for another time.

If you’d like to know more about our instrument hire please visit here. Alternatively, if you are looking at purchasing a flute I have an article that you should find highly beneficial here.

Happy Fluting!
And, don’t forget to let me know in the comments below whether you decided to purchase or hire a flute or if you have any questions. J