so i was enjoying the thread about playing styles, but i don’t want to hijack it so i thought i’d start a new one.
let’s accept that players have styles irrespective of what flute they are playing, but that the sound they get certainly depends somewhat on the flute they are playing. so i have 2 questions:
how do i get that honking sound that a lot of trad players have, especially at the end of a tune? Mr. McGee has a great article on his website about “getting a dark tone” that i found really helpful, but hasn’t helped me get the honk
what magic flute would i want to try and get that might encourage this honking sound?
i suspect getting this honking sound is in particular why Olwell prattens seem to be popular? or did i imaging that?
right after i posted this, i made some progress somehow. thanks guys.
i have a forbes, and i’ve watched a video of Kevin Crawford making that exact same flute honk (even better than a goose , but it just won’t seem to do that for me.
so it’s definitely not the flute… but i can seem to do it better with the M&E than the Forbes, which is why the forbes is for sale…
I agree with aanvil on this. For the most part, you are going to sound like you sound regardless of the flute, at least once you get past the beginner goofies. You mentioned the youtube clip of Kevin playing that Forbes, and that’s a prime example. Kevin sounds pretty much like Kevin, whether he’s playing that Forbes or his Grinter or my Wm. Hall & Son or a garden hose. It’s just WAY more about the player than it is about the flute. Now don’t get me wrong, there are differences in the way different flutes sound, but that strong, hard reedy tone is achievable on most any flute. If you don’t already have them, pick up the wooden flute obsession cd’s from Kevin Krell here: http://www.worldtrad.org/. You’ll hear flute players there who run the gamut from dark round tones, to a couple that sound more like oboes than they do flutes, and everything in between.
Get to playing, and keep at it, and one day, it’ll click and you’ll go “WOW!”. For me, it happened about four summers ago. I was at Augusta Irish week, and was sitting in Kevin’s flute class, along with about 20 other folks. Anyway, we were learning some tune, and all of a sudden everything fell together for me for a few bars. It was so cool, and the really cool thing was that I was sitting next to Cathy Wilde, and she stopped playing and stared. Of course it went as fast as it came, and it was a good while before it happened again, but it did come back. Some days it’s easy, and some days it’s not so easy for me to get, but I’m way better than I was then. Regardless, I find that I can do it on pretty much any flute I pick up, after playing for a while to kind of get to know the flute.
That’s my opinion, and it’s worth exactly what you paid for it.
The main point has already been made: flutes do vary, but it has more to do with the player than the instrument. I was lucky enough to buy my pride-and-joy from a very well-known player with a top-flight powerful sound, who sent me an MD with a recording of himself on it at the stage when I was thinking of buying it. So I always knew that the flute was capable of good sound, and that the failure to get a good honk was due to me. This saved me from going down the road of looking for an even more expensive / famous / unusual / used-by-favourite-player / fashionable / obscure / whatever flute of the holy-grail honker. There were times when it was very frustrating, but eventually I began to find the power and drive that is in the old girl.
If you want to listen to a really rich honking sound, have a listen to Majella Bartley’s sample lesson at the Online Academy of Irish Music (http://oaim.ie/)! Now there is a sound to emulate!
Lucky, indeed! Having that happen would have saved many of us from naive searches for a “real” Irish flute.
I found the honk on my Copley, and quickly realized I could get there on my (former) Burns, and most any other flute I got my hands on. I recently had the chance to play two glorious Olwell flutes, which I’d love to own. But really, it was still me playing, and not sounding much different.
Any flute sound you’ve heard is likely available to be gotten on your Forbes.
Tucson, during the early stages (i.e. the first decade or so) of learning the flute, I think it’s strongly advisable to pick one good flute and stick with it. You’ll progress much faster.
The flute can be a frustrating instrument to learn, with a steep learning curve, so I fully understand the desire to find a flute that makes it all happen for you. Unfortunately, it’s an illusory quest. You already have two good flutes–the Forbes and the McGee. Either one will serve you well for many years to come.
You wonder if Olwell Prattens are flutes with good honking capabilities–when I had a chance to try a Forbes, it felt awfully similar to the Olwell Prattens I’ve played, so if you’re wondering about an Olwell, spend some time with your Forbes.
how do i get that honking sound that a lot of trad players have, especially at the end of a tune?
Although there are lots of factors involved in getting that ‘edgy’, ‘reedy’ sound, there are a couple of techniques that should make it easier to attain.
Try to focus your airstream as tight as you can.
Try a short phrase that ends on bottom D. When you get to the D, increase the flow of air so that the D starts to get to the point where it wants to jump the octave to the next D.
I have three different flutes that require a little bit of variance to get the edgy sound, but the technique is basically the same. I have to roll one flute in slightly when I play it, but only when I want to make it edgy. If I don’t roll it, it jumps the octave, not a very noticable turn, just a very subtle move to make it ‘bark’.
It is also important to have enough air left in your lungs to sustain that push on the note you want to sound ‘edgy’. BTW, when you hear someone talk about another persons playing as edgy, they are more than likely talking about the style of playing where the flute is continually on the edge of jumping octaves. This ‘playing on the edge’ gives lots of overtones.
It is not about blowing harder, it’s more about being able to push/concentrate the air flow when required to give that nice ‘honk’ that you refer to. You can push the flute so that you get a pulsing sound which can be really effective, lots of Northern Irish players have that ‘huff-puff’ driving, pulsing sound in their playing.
I hope this helps you.
You people think too much. There’s no standard rule, two flutes that look very similar may be completely different, and one may favour honking or reedy tone more than the other. And there’s no short cut, no magic flute that will honk by itself. Just practice and one day or another it will come.
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ack! yer bein’ reasonable 
