I was hoping to get some more input from the wealth of experience on this board.
Right… now here’s the deal…
I’d like to start playing flute with a flute that can do ‘double duty’. I like both Trad and folk music but also like classical music which needs chromatic capability. Also I really don’t often play with others so volume is no consideration at all. A nice sound tone however, is.
I wish to buy a NEW flute for less than 400 dollars and have narrowed the choices to these…
Aulos Grenser matte plastic baroque. I’ve been told (thanks chas) that this flute has comfortable hole spacings. It has a descent reputation for playability and can be bought immediatly. I would like to know if the basic notes of it’s natural scale (for keys of D and G) sound better than the more vieled cross fingered notes sound, I suspect that they might. So far, I’m most leaning towards this flute.
Next would be the Dixon polymer 3pc. No keys, but the price is right, as is the hole spacing and weight. I would love to know from anyone if this flute can cross finger accidentals reasonably well. Theoretically with the conical bore, small tone holes and thick walls, this should be possible. Is this right???
My third choice is the Sweetheart 1 key irish flute in cherry or maple etc… I like the Idea of a non-tropical wood flute, The sweets, IMHO make a very nice product. I have one of their Mello D whistles and just love it. The Eb key allows Eb/D# (obviously) but I don’t know much else about this flute because it’s not mentioned much on this board.
Does the 1 Key have a comfortable hole spacing? Is the Flute light and easy to hold for a beginner? Does the one Key configuration allow for any other cross finger accidentals other than Eb/D# ?
I have been teetering back and forth between these choices for days now and was hoping to get more info on these flutes to be able to make a decision.
I would greatly appreciate any info on these Flutes, Thanks, DreamOgreen
Hmmm…I’ve owned all three (well kind of - I had a 4 key sweet but it’s the same flute with just the extra keys).
The Aulos is a nice flute. It’s on the quiet side and doesn’t have the open, trad sound of either the Dixon or the Sweet. The non-crossfingered notes are good and clear. The key really helps. I liked it, but it just sounds…well, baroquish and I didn’t think it worked well for trad.
The Dixon is really a rather nice little flute. It does cross finger very well, but you’ll not be able to half hole a decent D#/Eb for the life of you. I talked with Tony once, he said he’d thought of trying to add a single key, but he had other priorities and he’s never gotten around to it. I’m sure one could be added by Michael Cronnolly of M&E for a good price if he’s willing to do it.
I had a rosewood 4 key Sweetheart Irish flute. Another nice flute, but I’m paranoid about wood and enjoy the no-maintenance quality of a polymer flute (I play a 6 key M&E these days). Personally, I’d opt for the Sweetheart one key. You can’t cross finger very well, but you do get a clean, easy to hit D#/Eb and you can half hole all the other incidentals with practice. The key aids in the third octave quite a bit, but it doesn’t help as much with accidentals in the lower octaves.
So, for me the 1 key Sweet would be the choice, but I like a more open, trad sounding flute. If you like baroque flute, the Aulos would be my choice, but I don’t think it does Irish trad as well (although Chas has more experience with baroque instruments and might be able to get the Irish sound out of one - we’ll see if he chimes in).
Thanks Jayhawk, I’ll take that as a vote for the Sweetheart. I actually happen to like the “baroque sound” . I also do like to play Recorder as well. But the more “colorful” tone of the Irish flute is nice as well (just in a different way) so it’s hard to decide based on tone alone. (hence my dilemma)
Is there anyone else out there with an opinion they would like to share?
I’m hoping others chime in as well. I also play classical music and ragtime on my flute. I find the irish style flute (derived either from a Rudall and Rose or Pratten model) to sound better for romantic and more modern music. The Aulos does very well with baroque music, but didn’t sound quite right to me for Beethoven, Mozart, etc.
I’ve also owned all four – Ralph and Walt make both an “Irish” 1-key and a “baroque” 1-key. The Irish 1-key plays just like their typical Irish flute. For chromatic music, you’d have to half-hole the Fnat and Bflat, which is not at all difficult since the A and E holes are pretty big. The G#/Aflat can be lipped to some extent, or if you can half-hole with the G hole, allthemore power to ya.
The Sweet “baroque” flute is an interesting beast. It has the same large, oval embouchure as their other flutes, but the narrow bore and small holes of a baroque/rococco flute. In a sense, if you want a flute to do “double duty”, this might be your best bet, as it is fully chromatic – the Fnat is dicey as it is on any cross-fingered flute, but it’s really not as bad as some high-end traversi I’ve played.
I’d say any of the others would be a better choice than the Dixon for your purposes. You’ll never get an Eflat out of the Dixon, and the holes are small enough that half-holing is difficult. I was pretty much a newb when I had one, so my opinion might very well be different now, but my experience is that the Aulos might, and the Sweets certainly have a bit edgier sound that you might want if playing ITM.
Just to chime in: I’ve not tried Sweet or Aulos (though I’m thinking about getting an Aulos as an introduction to baroque traversos). But I reasently tried blowing a Dixon 3pc polymer at a music shop in Ireland, and I was surprised by the buzzy and edgy sort of sound I got from it. It also had pretty good volume, and I thought it would do fine for ITM. They had 5 or 6 different flutes laying around there, assembled. 4 of them were unknown makes, prossibly Pakistani, and they were not as bad as I expected. Then there was a Dixon 3pc and a DeKeyser Pratten. The latter was louder, but the Dixon was very playable and not a bad flute at all, on the contrary.
I had a very interesting discussion about flutes with the shop manager, but then I got into a very heated argument as to why the irish wants to put the letter “e” into the word
whisky
In addition to qualifying my inexperience with the flute when I had the Dixon, I should also add that it was old when I had it several years ago, and Tony may very well have improved his processes since then.
I think the Aulos is probably the most chromatic of the three.
I would also say it is the most difficult to play. The embouchure on Baroque flutes is more challenging than on Irish flutes IMO. ALso, as Jayhawk says, The Barouques are quieter.
I’d personally get a good Irish flute and then get an inexpensive Boehm tooter for the chromatic stuff.
Thank you all very much. And the mental gymnastics go on…
It’s taken me so long to save for this purchase that I want to choose wisely. I think it might be wise to try and make the trip to a big city music store. (I live out in the middle of nowhere)
Doc and Doug Tipple in an earlier thread had mentioned Boehm flutes. Before I just dismiss that Idea, I should at least try the Boehm flute in a store. Not to play, just to see what they feel like in the hands, etc…
who knows, I might even get reeeeeally lucky and find a Dixon or some other simple system flute to try. (wishful thinking, I know)
Much appreciated advise
Robert, (DreamOgreen)
I think a Boehm is your best option. You can get a good beginner one for cheap (Gemeinhardt 2SP is what I recommend), and you can play anything on them.
They sound decent for trad (seriously!), decent for classical, etc. You can play just about anything with them. The fingering is almost exactly like a simple system flute in D and G (and related keys and modes), and the other keys have much easier fingering than any other system I know of. If you find yourself really wanting to focus on, say, trad, you can save up for a “real” irish flute later on (or get a Baroque flute if you want to do that stuff), but a Boehm is a great flute if you want to do all sorts of music right now.
Doc Jones has a Yamaha boehm for sale right now, with a Noy headjoint in boxwood. This might be a way to satisfy all the way around! Of course, it is a bit more than you mentioned you want to spend, but may be worth it for you.
