Selmer 981 Black Song Flute - Perfect for Music Lovers

Maika: It's all in 1 piece, and it's quality plastic so I don't really worry about it breaking, even when little ones play it. It sounds good, and when it starts to get a little squeaky, you just have to put your finger over the top hole (closest to your mouth) and blow hard to get the moisture out. Then it sounds perfect again. Great quality and fun times for the money, great for kids to learn flute/music in general. An awesome starter instrument.

United States on Sep 17, 2019

Penny: I ordered the Seler 981, but received a generic unnamed brand. The flute was very cheaply made. Though it did play, the sound wasn’t much better then a dollar store recorder. I wasn’t happy with it at all.

United States on Jan 22, 2019

H B: Both the flutophone, and the songflute are very close brothers.
They share the same volume body, same fingerholds, and same materials, and both are tuned to the key of C, and both are about as loud as the other volume wise.

Both have extrusions on where the fingerholes for easier playing, and the same distance of the fingerholes from the soundhole.
Both have 7 top holes and one bottom hole, although the flutophone has an eight hole right next to the low C, to play the C#.

The differences are minute.

While Selmer's songflute is more basic and cheaper made, it has better finger positions, curved with the hand. The Flutophone's holes are more straight (in line), like on a recorder flute.

To play a low C# on the songflute, one has to halfway remove the pinky from the tonehole, which can be tricky, while the Flutophone has an extra hole there for the C#. This does not affect playability in any way, as it's just as hard to play the C# on either one of the flutes, and the extra hole isn't felt anyway.

The Flutophone has a wider, but more narrow mouthpiece by a millimeter or two, resulting in slightly less airflow, but a more defined tone (like a...

United States on Oct 16, 2015

Victor Eijkhout: For a pedantic point: despite the name, this is not actually a flute. If it were, it would have needed to be longer to get a C as fundamental. It is really a very stretched out occarina. But I don't mean this in a negative way: in fact I think the idea is brilliant.

The instrument is reasonably in tune and has a pleasant sound, not strident like a recorder can be. (Speaking of recorders: this uses "German fingering" for the F. I don't see that as a problem for children that later will move on to an actual recorder. For children that will move on to keyed wind instruments it's in fact probably the better design.)

This is by far the cheapest and easiest way to get children to play simple tunes that I know of. Recommended.

United States on May 30, 2014

Dustin Exum: My 11 year old daughter was struggling and frustrated with her schools recorder music program, as recorders are hard to master due to the design with level holes that are hard to seal properly, resulting in the squeak and difficulty playing the notes that use the double holes at the bottom. The song flute has raised holes which are much easier to cover, and the tone is more pleasant and requires less breath control, allowing for more contrast in volume while in tune.

Now that my daughter does not have to focus as much on her tone and slow air flow, but more on the rhythms and pitches, she is learning music much easier and enjoys it more now that the frustration has been minimized.

An excellent and cheap(but durable) alternative to a recorder. It saved my daughter from quitting band class

United States on Apr 15, 2014