That Yamaha Boehm flute just might surprise you, for the Boehm flute really has a wide range of voices, from bright to dark. Now, you mentioned the classical world and boredom, and if you’re speaking of Classical, Romance and beyond, then yes, I generally could agree with you. However, let me suggest that you check out the music of the Baroque era, which generally is comprised of only a few instrumental voices in combination, and where each of those voices is allowed great freedom to be expressive. For instance, it’s rare to have two of the same instruments in combination, quite unlike the Classical era, and beyond.
Really, it might not have been until the coming of Rock and Roll that such an independence of instrumental voices could be heard, once again!
BTW, the music of the Baroque era really isn’t far away from ITM, after all, and in many cases can quite successfully be played on an ITM flute. That is, even a keyless ITM flute could play Baroque music, although transcription may be required, but a keyed, chromatic ITM flute should encounter no particular difficulty.
Then again, although the Boehm flute was invented about one hundred years after the demise of the Baroque era, it appears that Boehm players have been successfully, er, pilfering from the Baroque era, ever since the Boehm flute was invented!
the best silver flute i’ve ever played was a brannen brother’s flute. it was going for $11k used. that, or my uncle’s almeida–it’s been years since i played it, so i’m not sure which is better. all i know is that the dealer who was selling the brannen said he had an almeida and no, he would never part with it.
i can surely tell a difference between wall thickness, as well as soldered and drawn tone holes. i’m not sure about material, but i’m sure there is a difference. i think it’s less about the innate characteristics of a material, and more about how it can be machined and how it feels in your hands. a different instrument may sound the same to the listener, but FEEL different to you, and thus you will play it differently.
i would never buy a flute without open holes. they are very useful for doing slides in irish music, as well as making certain harmonics/overtones possible. also, they reduce the weight of the keys and are more comfortable to me. i dont like split E, i prefer my keys all in a row. it is true split E is more comfortable, but i just cant get the same pop on rolls without them all in a row.
the lower end instruments surely are great. i think we are pretty lucky, though, in irish music. our best instruments do not cost half of a hand-made orchestral flute. for the cost, in my opinion an olwell is a much better player than a silver flute that costs the same (and for keyless, better than one that costs twice as much).
i would never buy a flute without open holes. they are very useful for doing slides in irish music, as well as making certain harmonics/overtones possible. also, they reduce the weight of the keys and are more comfortable to me. i dont like split E, i prefer my keys all in a row. it is true split E is more comfortable, but i just cant get the same pop on rolls without them all in a row.
I think inline-G and offset-G is what you’re talking about, here. Open-hole (“French”) flutes are usually inline-G, where the keys are in a straight line down the body of the instrument. Plateau keys (solid keys) are usually offset-G, where the G hinges on a separate steel and is moved over to make it easier for the third finger to reach. There has been a growing demand for open-hole flutes with offset-G as more and more players became aware of ergonomics and the possibility of repetitive-motion injury, so that many makers are now offering offset-G, open-holed flutes.
Split-E is a mechanism that allows for the two G pads to move separately so that the high E can be properly vented; however, it comes at the expense of losing several of the third-octave trills. Some flutes have a split-E that can be switched on and off by moving a little lever.
Inline G keys can also cause some slight binding troubles in the mechanism, but offset G keys don’t.
A split-E mechanism has long been popular, but the way to avoid all of those troubles is to play a flute with an Open G# mechanism, where the G keys are separate from each other, and the G# key is closed by pushing on its lever. Boehm’s original design included an Open G# key.
Today, Open G# Boehm flutes are something of an odd duck, but such flutes indeed do have a loyal following.
In fact, Open G# Boehm flutes are rather rare, these days. In the US, Open G# became largely obsolete several decades ago, although until more recently Open G# was commonly used in Australia, Israel, and the former Soviet Union including Eastern Europe, among other places.
Although T. Boehm introduced the Open G# mechanism to the flute playing world in 1832, as a wood flute with silver mechanism, apparently at that time there were numerous players who were already accustomed to the then conventional Closed G# key, meaning that they would have to learn a whole new fingering for G# in order to play Boehm’s new flute, and then later, in particular after Boehm’s all-silver model of 1847, Boehm’s flute became modified, to include the customary Closed G# key, the same arrangement as so common to Boehm flutes today, for instance, as goes the teacher, so goes the student, etc.
However, Boehm’s Open G# key really does have some advantages, and apparently nothing in the way of drawbacks.
The only drawback is that G-sharp works in reverse to the way it works on most other kinds of keyed flutes, where the key is normally closed and it pressed to raise G to G-sharp.
For those who are only going to play just Boehm-system flute and no other instrument, it makes perfect sense; however, for those who play other instruments, especially other flutes, it does introduce some complexity.
True, the order of operation is reversed, that is, pushing the Open G# lever produces the tone G, and pushing the Closed G# lever produces the tone G#.
In general, it seems that Boehm players go with one system or the other, but not both, the Closed G# system being much more conventional.
However, in my experience with one-key flutes and with keyless flutes, I haven’t had any such troubles, and on keyless flutes I generally play with my LH4 and RH4 slightly up, as if ready to come down on a (non-existent) key.
Yeah, Boehm - way to go! The price/performance on offer at the lower end of the Boehm spectrum is staggering for one used to the hand made simple system wooden flutes. Adam Smith was right - economies of scale and competition can benefit the consumer.
I met the shock going in the other direction (moving from Boehm to simple system) though my Boehm flute was in fact more expensive than any of my wooden ones. I do not however feel the need to own a range of Boehm flutes, like I do wooden ones. One good one is enough.
The boredom reported by many with modern flute playing is more about modern taste (on the part of players and what they believe the listening public expects of them) than about the intrument. The flute hasn’t really been a dominant solo voice in music since the baroque and it is only in modern times that the solo flute has really started to inspire more new compositions. And not all of them are to everyone’s taste… My classical flute teacher is in fact currently being driven to reconsider his understanding of Baroque through exposure to my traditional tendencies (and CD collection).
Interestingly there is still a “junk” pricepoint somewhere around the $100 where not very good flutes are sold. And the price range upwards extends far beyond what the simple system flutes can reach.
yes, that is what i was referring to. i wasnt aware that you could get an offset-G without a split-E, but now that i think about it, i have a student model flute which is offset and it certainly does not have a split-E. i guess i’m also too young to realize that they used to not offer offset-G’s in open holed flutes. i dont think i’ve played an upper range or professional flute* with plateau keys, and i’ve played both inline and offset.
@cork
I’ve tried modifying a fairly worthless pvc cylindrical flute that I had kicking around and the RH thumb was not a problem. I found the RH4 open Eflat hole and the LH4 open G# holes much harder to cover due to the difference in lengths of my third and little fingers (Maybe I would have needed a piper’s grip?). RH1, RH2 and Thumb down is E, RH1 and thumb down if F# and RH1, RH2 down with RH Thumb hole open is Fnat. i.e. leave your thumb on and it plays like a standard keyless. Takes some getting used to (I never did…) since the thumb hole is not where my right thumb would normally sit.
As of a couple of years ago, they were still making hand-made, high-end flutes with plateau keys, although I’ll grant you that they are not as commonly encountered.
Some artists prefer them for various reasons, such as small hands or fingers, or damaged hands or joints, or trying to be as ergonomic as possible to proactively avoid that sort of damage.
Although European players have long favored the split-E mechanism, twenty or more years ago it would have been rare to have seen a flute with a split-E mechanism in the US. And, also back then, offset G keys with open holes would have been a rarity, too.
@cork:
It is not actually a problem moving the RH thumb since when you need to do it your left hand is fully on the flute. I couldn’t get used to it either but in my case, it was the G# and Eflat holes that caused me problems.
I assume that T.Boehm himself must have considered any and all possible simple system fingerings, in order to have a keyless chromatic flute. And, I’d be willing to bet that he, too, at some time also considered a fingering system quite similar to that of the ten-hole Healy. However, apparently T.Boehm eventually discovered that a linked mechanism was necessary.
I’m more than half tempted to give the ten-hole Healy a try, but I haven’t made the financial commitment, yet.
BTW, Yamaha has made a respectable, if not perfect, keyless chromatic flute, currently priced at less than 10 Euro.
