Bonehead question about keyed flutes.

Irish Flute
1

What do mechanical keys get you, really?
I know roughly that they get
you the ability to play in more
keys and also easier fingering
for some notes. Which additional
keys do mechanical keys get you? Which notes? Also there are various numbers
of mechanical keys you’all are
talking about–e.g. 8. What
do the different numbers of
keys do?

Stuart just explained to me
that both keyed and unkeyed
Irish flutes are ‘simple system.’
So now I don’t understand
‘simple system,’ either.

If this is all listed elsewhere,
tell me and i’ll look for it.
But people are lining up
years in advance to get
keyed flutes, and I don’t
know why quite yet. Thanks!

2

So far Jim you are following my list of bonehead questions to the letter. Thanks and keep it up. :smiley:

Tom

3

I’m in no way an expert, but a keyed simple system flute is still a simple system flute (your basic 6 hole flute). The keys simply make it a lot easier to play sharps and flats which makes it easier to play in other keys. Common keys include C nat., D#, F nat., G#, and I think if you have more than about 6 keys you might have more than a simple system flute. An alternative is to buy a bunch of flutes in different keys like you can do with whistles.

The silver/Boehm flute is not a simple system flute. I briefly played one years ago, and I honestly can’t recall much about it. What I do recall is that all the keys allow you to play just about any note easily which is handy for jazz, blues, etc…It’s also not a conical instrument like most simple system flutes (but neither are bamboo flutes which are simple system), but instead uses a cylindrical bore with a slight tapering in the head joint only.

As I said, and as you probably could tell by my answer, I’m no expert…but I hope the above helps.

4

The only keyed flute I play in the Boehm, so keep that in mind when you critique my description.

With 6 holes and no keys you get the 7 distinct notes in an octave in a major scale. On a standard keyless D flute, the notes are D E F# G A B C# and then you start over again. If you add 5 keys, D# F G# A# C and you can now play the 12 distinct notes of the chromatic scale, and you can now play in any key - but the finger transitions for some keys may be harder than for others.

C natural usually works pretty well fingered 0xx 000, so a four key flute usually doesn’t include that key.

A six key flute usually has the 5 mentioned and adds a second F natural key that makes some keys easier to play in by smoothing some of the finger transitions.

An 8 key flute extends the range two half steps lower. The new keys are for the lowest C# and C.

As I understand it, the 6 or 8 key flute can play in any key, but the way the player shifts from one fingering to another makes some keys easier to play - especially with any speed - than others.

Talking about the keys bolted to a flute and the key signature you play in together can sure get confusing!

The fingerings of the Boehm flute make any key nearly as easy to play as any other (I still hate the 3rd octave F# to G# transition!), and trills between adjacent notes in any key are usually pretty easy. That flexibility doesn’t come for free. Keeping a Boehm mechanism in correct adjustment can be a real challenge. I’ve called that flute “A brilliant design and a maintenance nightmare.”

5

I will add one thing to the above comments.

I think of simple system (unkeyed or keyed) as flutes where your fingers directly touch/cover the tone holes for playing different notes. The Boehm flute is not simple system, because the “keys” are between your fingers and the tone holes.

There may be additional factors that distinguish non-simple system flutes.

Bill

6

I don’t believe there’s any such thing as a bonehead question. Learning is the issue and any question is just a stage of the learning journey.

I have had huge help from reading these forums and therefore my learning is now at a different stage than it was. All you are doing Jim is catching up.

There are lots of sources of information about flute construction and keys. Start the journey with a look at http://www.mcgee-flutes.com/

Look at the introduction and the section on keys.

Then start looking for other sources. Maybe you could dig around http://www.firescribble.net/flute/index.html and just go on and on, and on, and on from there.

Enjoy the trip.

7

Oh yeah, the “simple system” usually refers to any of the pre-Boehm flutes in which pressing on one key touch opened the cover on a single hole. Look at the photos on, say Terry McGee’s web page http://www.mcgee-flutes.com/ and yo’ll see that all (?) the keys are kind of like a teeter-totter. Push down on the touch and the other side rises up to open the hole.

On the non-simple flutes, there are several cases where pusing closed a single key makes as many as two other keys somewhere else on the barrel close also. That’s the brilliant part of the design, and adjusting the mechanism so all three close exactly together is the nightmare part.

8

Jim, I had a reply to you that I thought might be helpful, and when I clicked on submit, I had to reactivate my server! AAAARGH! Lost my lovely contribution to the ether this time; does anyone know how to retrieve lost postings?

Anyway, looks like you’re in good hands with all the helpful replies.

N, tormented by gremlins

9

From an Irish repertoire perspective, the touch keys would help you play in these common key signatures-

G Minor ( B flat and F natural keys, popular key in East Galway music).

D Minor (F natural keys also popular in East Galway)

C (Low C and F natural Keys)

A Major (G sharp Key - Common key in Donegal music)

The G sharp key is also used by many players as a ‘slide note’ up to the A from the g note (Frankie Kennedy RIP of Altan used this to great effect).

These would be the most common applictions of the cromatic keys, but there are many more imaginative applications outside of just these.

I must stress that many noted players don’t use the keys at all. Some tunes in the above key signatures don’t require a touch key and there is enough music available to the un-keyed player to warrant a lifetimes study!

Regards, Harry.

10

What defines a simple system flute is, simply, simplicity:

No single action on the flute covers more that one hole.

Down the main scale, you cover or uncover holes with your fingers. There’s no elaborate caps or covers that you move: you cover the holes directly with your finger, and you’re not pressing any rings or levers to cover other holes. For the keyed notes, each key covers or uncovers one hole.

Contrast that against, for example, a boehm system instrument. Every key is covered by a levered cap. Down the main scale, you close holes by pressing the caps over those holes, which pushes down the cap, and generally pushes levers which close other holes. Most of the tone holes and keys have elaborate mechanisms that open and close multiple holes in response to your touching a cap or key.

So - if you have a keyless instrument, it’s pretty much simple system. (Although some people would argue that, for example, a flute cut with recorder style holes to make it chromatic wouldn’t be simple system, because you finger note changes by shifting multiple fingers around to change the set of covered holes.) If you have a keyed instrument, but the keys each open one hole, and don’t push levers to manipulate other keys and holes, then it’s still a simple-system instrument even though it’s keyed.

-Mark

11

Hi Jim,

When I started playing the flute I started on an unkeyed. Because of the generousity of my teacher I could borrow his Boosey Prattens Perfected (8keyed). When I first got it I simply spent some time looking at the thing, trying to understand what the keys actually do. Sometimes I wish we could just sit down over a cuppa/pint and say to eachother: “well, let me show you something” or “this is what it may sound like”…

On a unkeyed flute there are the 6 holes making the tones D, E, F#, G, A, B, C#

When looking at a 6 keyed flute, one way to look at it, is that there are 6 extra holes, drilled in the side of the flute. Since you don’t have 12 fingers to cover all these holes, they are conveniently sealed with padded keys.

Very simply stated, when playing on the flute, the tone you play is determined by the length of the air column.
When playing the lowest D = all holes covered the lenth is to the bottom of the flute (if short foot) or the top of the C# hole on the foot. When playing E = 5 holes covered, the lenth is to the top of the uncovered 6th hole, etc.

When playing G = 3 holes covered, the lenth is to the top of the uncovered hole beneath. To make G# the lenth should be slightly less → and that is just where the G# key is: Over a hole in between the 3rd and 4th hole. So when pressing that key with 3 holes covered, a hole opens which slightly shortens the lenth of the tube, slightly sharpening the pitch.

So far I haven’t used the keys extensively, but it’s great fun to try.
For example, the reel ‘The Green Fields of Rosbeigh’ (sp) also known as ‘The Kerry Reel/Kerryman’ is mostly played as an Eminor reel. With as its lowest note E. On ‘In Good Company’ Kevin Crawford drops the tune to Dmin. All you need is to change the Fsharps to Fnat. It’s not that difficult to do, and it gived the tune a whole new colour.

I really recommend having a look at Terry McGee’s site. There’s great info and pictures there. Have a look at the keywork and see if the above makes any sense…

Hope this helps.
Cheers,
Jeroen

12

You folks are great! Much to digest
and check out. I’m really
grateful. Jim