It’s usually dangerous when I get an idea. For my own safety I therefore try to think as little as possible. At times, however, my brain chafes at the enforced idleness and thoughts do pop up. I was hoping you all could help pound this latest one into submission.
Suppose you had a hankering to occasionally supplement your diet of reels and hornpipes with a little Bach? Strict adherence to A=440 is not a requirement since you would either be playing by yourself or with a spouse/guitarist who could tune down to A=415 if necessary. For aesthetic and tonal reasons a metal Boehm system flute would not be your first choice. Which path would you choose?
-A four, five, six or eight key simple-system flute? (If you have a strong preference concerning the optimal number of keys I’d be interested in hearing it.)
-Traverso? (By this I mean a one-key baroque-style flute.)
-R#$(@$er?
-Other? (Please be advised that Rackett is not an acceptable answer.)
I really do appreciate your advice and will try to do as little thinking as possible until I hear from you.
I’d recommend the traverso… Baroque is what they were designed for and you might get a better appreciation of the nuances. There are quite a few baroque flute makers out there, but the best I’ve seen is John Gallagher (Elkins, WV). His are fairly reasonable as well - a friend bought one with case and two mid-joints (to play A=440 and A=466 I think) for about $1800. I have played the Aulos Stanesby Jr flute as well and it is outstanding. Some of the fingering can be a bit tricky and intonation can be challenging, but the rewards are great - you get to hear what it REALLY would have sounded like…
I’m with the other posters, traverso is a delightful instrument. I have corps de rechange for most of my baroque flutes to allow them to play at A440 or A415, but I stick with the low pitch exclusively.
OTOH, if you want to play at A440 and want to be truly in tune with yourself and others without having to contort your lips much, you might want to go with more keys. There are 4- 6- and I think 8-key flutes available that are based on models of the younger Grenser and the younger Rottenburgh, who were working in the mid-late 1700’s. They made regular old traversi, but also made flutes with the same bores but more keys, so you get the same basic sound, but have to make fewer adjustments to play some of the fork-fingered notes in tune. Personally I prefer the sound of the one-key; one of the great things about old simple-system flutes is that each note has its own character. The one-key flute is that way only moreso – the veiled notes, the closeness of the F and F#, the big, honking (understand this is a relative term) Eflat, the greater ability to differentiate between sharps and flats (G#/Aflat, etc.) – these all just add to the allure of the instrument for me.
Thanks to everyone for their advice. As I’ve been poking around I was intrigued to find flutes that even had separate Eflat and Dsharp keys, like this one:
I know this is a somewhat later model than what you mentioned, but I thought it was cool never the less. I also like the long and short Bflat keys on it.
Simon Polak makes some wonderful traversi, at a reasonable price. I know that his instruments are often played by contestants at the biannual National Flute Asssociation traverso competition. His web page gives descriptions of all the models. Most are available in either 415, 440, or even lower than 415 on some models. I think the webpage is:
I really like Simon Polak’s website. I like the anecdotes and biographical information about the flute makers, but I love that he gives real, useful information about the different flutes he makes. Things like how much you need to contort to get in tune F/F# and how well the third-octave F sounds. My first traverso, based on an A Grenser original, had the F# in tune, but with no change in the airstream, the Fnat was probably only 10c or so flatter. But the third-octave F sounded beautifully. My second, based on the one by I Rottenburgh, has the F and F# at least 50c apart, but the third-octave F is a real problem, requiring LH2 to be partially closed to sound at all, and requiring it to be precisely half-holed to get the right pitch.
Simon also has some models that you don’t see by other makers. Personally, my favorite maker is Rod Cameron. I’d add Patrick Olwell, but he hasn’t made one in over 20 years. Pat, I didn’t know John Gallagher made baroque flutes. I might have to give him a ring or pay a visit to see his wares. He’s a wonderful guy to work with.
Simon’s site has a lot of really interesting information; thanks for pointing it out. I particularly like where he describes using museum instruments as starting points rather than making exact copies. He notes that the have had many cycles of wetting and drying and are most likely not the same dimensions as when they left the maker’s shop. I’m paraphrasing, but he says they were highly regarded instruments in their day and had to hold their own against violins and oboes. If they had sounded that veiled and had intonation that squirrelly in their prime they would not have been held in such esteem.
