The other night I had the privilege of playing one of those long sticks called a flute (I normally play the fife). It was made by a good flute maker. Things that I noticed were, the finger spacing was not bad and that the embouchure was huge (and very forgiving). I butchered “Aran boatman” and had a lot of fun. I have heard it played and know that I did not do the flute justice.
Anyway I think that I will be looking for a flute… …with an embouchure that is round or oval.
So two questions.
I found that I could not play in the third octave easily. I realize that for a strong low D that the third octave may be compromised by a strong third octave, but I was just wondering if some flutes were known for their upper range. So the question is there flute makers known for their third octave? I have one or two tunes that I like in A min. that work well right in the middle of the three octaves.
Second, I was wondering if a Baroque flute would be laughed out of a session (A=440). I know it depends on the people at the session, but I was just wondering if the sound would not sound right. I have nothing against the modern flute, I just want to keep my options open.
My guess is that Rudallesque flutes will tend to do best in
the third octave. Also that you won’t be laughed out
of a session playing a baroque flute; more likely
that you may not be heard.
Well, the second octave will be heard and the “hard D” if you set the cork around 22mm for the session…you can reset it for the third later…
I’ve showed up at sessions with my plastic baroque flute, and no one said anything, likely because they couldn’t hear it…
Seriously, I am taking Irish flute lessons, and for the first 3 months used the baroque flute. I was surprised by how reedy a tone I could get from it by covering more of the embouchure hole, turning the head in a bit, and blowing harder. Volumewise, I wasn’t overwhelmed by the teacher’s Prattenesque Gilles Lehart. Issue was playing in tune, because baroque flute F#'s are notoriously flat. On the other hand, playing C, F, G#, B flats in tune is easy, but tend to slow you down in fast passages because of the cross-fingerings, so it needs practice to use a baroque flute as a chromatic instrument in ITM.
Two Irish flutes (both medium hole Rudall copies) played effortlessly in the third octave, even with the cork in the regular position for Irish music (22-23 mm), rather than backed off a little (25-26 mm) to improve the tuning in the third octave.
Hugh
A smaller bore Rudall or a Firth Pond. Terry McGee can make either (not his standard Rudall which is a larger bore Rudall) and The Sweets make a Firth Pond copy their new Resonance is a Firth Pond type.