I just bought a perfectly lovely Murray Eb flute from Larsenes, who is a fine fellow to do business with.
I want to ask folks what people in Ireland do with these, in what context they are played,
with which other instruments. The flute is lovely on its own, absolutely no question.
Bryan Byrne once told me he thinks Eb is the key which best suits Irish flutes,
and I now know why. But what about ensembles?
P.S. Note the Watson Eb for sale on this page.
Do’nt know if this is true or not,but someone told me once that there is animal known as the Eb session…
This is when the very,very good players 
all play in Eb…using Eb Whistles and Flutes,fiddles,Guitars etc. tuned accordingly..
This aparently discourages those pesky lesser players who turn up with their D Whistles and Flutes 
…
Ah, is that the idea! Note that we are now flowing with Eb flutes.
Why do people wish to buy flutes in this key?
Sure, I’ll bite. Why’d you buy it, Jim?
Jim, to answer your question instead of posing another one, I think that most people buy Eb flutes because they are shorter than the standard D flutes. The only disadvantage that I can see in an Eb flute is that they are a little longer than an E flute. Oh well, you can’t have everything.
Seriously, this topic of Eb flutes has been addressed repeatedly at the flute forum. The search function should bring up a host of very informative posts.
I was so afraid someone would invite him… 
I figured there was a reason to have one, even though I didn’t know it.
I figured you folks would tell me what it is.
Eb is more sports car to the D’s pickup truck 
I play an Eb session a few times a year. It’s easier to play an Eb flute and playing in an Eb session is effortless. The sound cuts through the pub chat better and all the instruments require less focus and less concentration to be played well. Tunes tend to be played faster. On the downside, the sound can get rather shrill and on the whole the sound lacks the depth and sonority of a D session.
Does no one accompany singers/songs or work in bands that play in any other than the D flutes home keys? that’s when F, C, Bb & Eb flutes are an absolute necessity & really come into their own. Yes the Eb session still exists too.
Regards
H
Thanks to all. I will add that this Sam Murray Eb flute is spot on.
It has a lined headjoint that really sounds grand. No issues.
I hope to play a D Murray with a lined head one day.
That whole higher pitch = a bit easier to play plus “cuts through” or “sounds brighter” thing… sounds familiar! Anyone for A=455Hz? 
As an aside, I was chatting to Bohm flute (and wooden whistle) maker Willie Simmons at the sesh in Liverpool last week and discussing pitch standards with reference to an eBay flute at diapason normal (i.e. LP) - he commented that he almost never now gets orders for Bohm flutes at 440 - never below 442; and also that some orchestras, especially in Germany, are now tuning as high as 446! Because “it sounds brighter and fills large concert halls more easily”! Humph! Deja vu or what? Don’t they know their history? What price International standard Concert Pitch now? (How did we cope with it for 70-odd years before the latest upwards creep began?) What about the poor old singers? Are all the wind and brass players going to have to start carrying around 3 or 4 different pitch instruments again (or are they already)? Are pianos getting tuned sharp too? Will the fiddlers be getting their necks shortened because they are having to over-tension their strings and are getting sore fingers?
???
Hey, if it is to keep going, maybe we should buy up all those fine HP English Bohm flutes as an investment and save them for when the mainstream modern crew reach the heights of the late C19th English HP madness! Elgar or G&S at authentic pitch, anyone? (But spare a thought for the poor old tenors and sopranos whose 440 “high Cs” are suddenly in real terms a semitone or more higher!)
I know fiddlers who deserve to have their necks shortened. Their instruments are just fine, though. 
I knew someone would hit the cue! (I mean, I would have…) 
And some whose should be stretched.
Jim, I got one of Doug Tipple’s Eb flutes in a haste some years ago for non ITM reason.
A singer was coming to Australia and I was to accompany her. I knew she was going to
do songs in Bb Mixilydian mode as well as in G Phrygian and therefore I quicly obtained this flute.
It worked quite well for me.
C minor comes natuarlly on a Eb and as you know a lot of western singers go for this scale.
The other option is to do C minor on a Bb but that is a stretch unless the thing is tapered bore.
I read, somewhere in these forums, that Matt Molloy recorded some in Eb. I have one of his tapes
(yes, I have loads of cassettes and a I drive around in a van) and will check that out one day with my tuner.
If you get an Eb flute you will immediately be able to sound like this.
Hey Jim,
Here’s a quote from Brad Hurley’s interview with Matt Malloy:
Q: You played an Eb flute in the early days.
A: It became quite the fashion afterward for people to play in Eb, but I think I was one of the first people to do that. I was playing around with Tommy Peoples, the fiddle player. He looked to crank up, he looked to play sharp. But it was quite by accident. A friend of mine introduced me to a friend of his who had had an accident with his hand. He used to play flute in a brass and reed band; they played in Eb. I didn’t know anything about that, but he wanted to sell me the flute, which he did. There was great tone off it, great bang off it. So I was thrilled with this thing. But I had nowhere to go with it. All the sessions were in D. But Tommy heard me play this. He used to love to crank the strings up into Eb and play, so that’s how we got the whole thing started. And I made the first solo album with that flute.
The fact is: The D flute is just to large for a player with normal sized hands.
Obviously, Jim, you bought it so the next time you’re in western Mass. you can swing by eastern NY to have a few tunes with me. I’m quite fond of my Copley Eb.
OK. Thanks.