So they say

[HeyMikey]

A guy I brought my didgeridoo a couple of years ago to install a new mouthpiece has a nice selection of such flutes to sell, ...

Reudi, Definitely worth a visit. The most popular keys are F# and G which are in the mid-range. These are likely the best place to start.

Of mine the one on top is an E which is mellow and quite soothing, F# is my favorite, G#, and on bottom an A which is fairly bright and which I play the least. I had a beautiful and rare G drone (air blows into 2 sound chambers, one of which holds a constant tone) that I bought from Hawk but stupidly sold about 12 years ago when I was last out of work and desperately needed cash. I've never seen another by him for sale since, though his widow Geri still makes and sells them in a similar style. I might need to ask her to make me one some day.

 

[adorshki]

... that bad things come in three’s.

1. Sprained my left hand, torn ligaments to my little finger. Bandaged and can’t play for at least a month. Typing with one hand.

2. Threw out my back and am laid up for a few days. In a half daze from living on muscle relaxers and ibuprofen.

Still somehow managed pull my self out of bed to run a 7:00 AM meeting and put in my normal 10 hour day of work.

3. Only to be called to a meeting first thing this AM and get laid off by the company I’ve busted my rear at for 16 years.

God I hope that’s it for now.

A-yup, this COVID thing's having its repercussions in the employment market, I was RIF'D (permanent Reduction In Force, the job doesn't exist anymore) myself last month after 24 years an 8 months) and 4 months of furlough, which meant the company still paid my medical insurance while I collected unemployment.
A whole new life before I was quite ready for it.
But hang in there buddy, it really is all downhill from here! (insert double-entendre emoticon here)

 

[adorshki]

So now I’ll spend the next month on flute to clear my head until my hand is healed. I have music

"That's the ticket!".
I posted before I realized how old the thread was but see you've found a solution!

Reudi I pretty much just improvise and play by ear. A lot is based on core phrases that I've heard from recordings and I improvise around those depending on whatever comes to me. I'm not a good player but at one point was decent enough and could turn things into "songs" that I could mostly repeat. Even the simplest phrases from these instruments sound wonderful and haunting, especially with some delay and reverb. I used to have a mentor that I'd play with occasionally and would pick up some tricks each time, but he moved away so I haven't played in years. He could really make these things sing.

Wow, our experience and at least one creative method are very similar.
It's just one great big song in the end, right?

But anyway, this will be a lot of fun if not therapeutic. Sometimes the universe moves in mysterious ways and things happen for a reason.

And sometimes it just don't make no sense at all.