George Ormiston & Tony Millyard flute impressions?

Irish Flute
1

(also posted in the Irish Flute Players Facebook group)

Dear Irish flute players,

After many year playing whistle, I am now very interested in learning to play the Irish flute.

It will be my first Irish flute and I’m interested in an 8-keyed R&R style flute made by Tony Millyard or George Ormiston.

Does anyone have any experience with those flutes and makers?


My interest in playing the keyed Irish flute started because I really want to be able to play with dynamics, like playing forte in the bottom octave and pianissimo in the top registers.
The other extremely important aspect is, of course, being able to play chromatically.

My repertoire includes a bit of Irish, Scottish, Breton, French and Swedish.
I also like Medieval, Renaissance, Baroque and Modern tunes
These last styles, however, can be difficult to accomplish nicely in a whistle (my main and solo instrument) due to their wider dynamic range and chromatics.


I am after a flute that can help me delivering a timbre/tone with character that is rich, dark, full, deep, ‘woody’, colourful and complex.

I am not after a timbre/tone too much reedy or edgy. Neither, on the other spectrum, lacking harmonics content like being too clear, pure, bland, too bright or too ‘metallic’.


All comments, insights and suggestions will be very welcome!


Warm Regards from Warwickshire,
Ricardo

2

Hey Ricardo!

I can tell you a little bit about my experience with Millyard flutes.
Spoiler: Im very happy with it :wink:

When I talked to Tony about ordering a keyed flute I wasnt sure if I wanted a R&R or Pratten-based model, because I felt like everyone describes the differences… differently and because the characteristics seem to change quite a bit from maker to maker. So Tony was so kind as to sending me one of each (keyless at first oc) to try, which was great. I thought I wanted a R&R flute but realized pretty quickly that the tone of the pratten matched perfectly what I was looking for - which is basically the same as you said “rich, dark, full, deep, ‘woody’, colourful and complex”. And as an added bonus: the hole spacing of his Pratten is super comfortable for (my) small hands.
After making my decision I send them back and before I knew it, I had my flute back + 8 shiny new keys :slight_smile:

I really advice you to either visit his shop if you can, or also ask to get two flutes to try out - you might be surprised how much you like the Pratten model!
With the keys I get up to the third octave A without any problems (the same as on my boehm flute) - so thats great. In terms of dynamic range I remember the Pratten “tolerating” more air and getting louder (esp the low D is super strong and resonant on the Pratten) but Im not sure if playing pianissimo is any different on the two though.

In generel, Tony is loverly person to work with! I really picked his brain about accomodations for small hands, the differences of the R&R and Pratten and even some technicalities of flute making and he was always super helpfull and nice :smiley:
Let me know if you need any more info :thumbsup:
All the best, Thea

3

Hi Ricardo,

I can speak from experience, Tony Millyard is a pleasure to work with. I have two of his flutes, one is a keyless Blackwood Pratton and the other is an 8 keyed Mopane Rudall model. The workmanship is top notch (in my opinion) at a very reasonable price.

Here are some links that will give you more info on his flutes:
This lady shows an unboxing of her 8 keyed flute and sound test: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzU_XOGI7g0

Here she is playing something other than a “Traditional Irish” tune: https on that flute://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEmcChaaP44

Here is Matt Dean playing a Traditional Irish tune: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=msU2hx9P1VA

I hope this helps some.

4

Hi Ricardo,

I own a 6-key Ormiston flute. It plays well and is very well in tune. It does not have quite the volume of the 8-key Grinter that I used to own, but still does fine. I have never played a 8-key Ormiston, so can’t speak to differences in the sound or playing of the 6-key vs. 8-key.

The Ormiston I have was originally a 4-key version. I contacted him about adding the 2 additional keys. He did so and was very easy to work with.

Hope this helps,
Chris

5

I play a 5-key Ormiston flute, and i love it. It’s absolutely my “lifetime” flute. I had sampled some number of flutes at my local session (just for a few minutes at a time, mind) and Ormiston and one other maker were the ones i felt instantly comfortable playing Those two became my “holy grail” makers, and i did wind up ordering from Ormiston. For me, the post-mounted keywork was an important factor, for adding keys later on and keeping my cash flow under control at the time.

I also play a range of music from Irish/Scottish/Scandinavian and also early music, and i’m happy to play my Ormiston flute for any of it. I can play it to be reedy or sweet, loud or soft, and it just does everything i ever want it to do.

That’s my one data point anyway.

Take care,
Penny