I still have the Healy and I thought I would check
in again with my more experienced impressions
(I first posted 20 January).
I wrote:
'Anyhow the Healy is easy to handle and to finger, I like
the simplicity of the design, the absence of corked/threaded tenons.
It sounds good, it’s a pratten alright with good volume, entirely
serviceable and quite likeable. It is not, so far and in my hands,
in the league of the
Olwell or the Cotter–the sound of these Prattens has a quality
that rather reaches out and
ravishes one (I’ve been playing to a discerning listener
whose impressions match mine).
Part of the thing is the rounded rectangle embouchure hole.
I’ve played one other Irish flute with this, a GLP,
so I have some sense of it. There is a brightness, an ease
and an ‘upfrontness’ about the sound. It’s easy to control.
I didn’t much like
it on the GLP, on the Healy the effect is a good deal less marked,
however I wonder what the Healy would sound like with
a traditional oval embouchure. This is a matter of taste,
of course, and it may be that there is a good deal
more in the Healy than I’ve yet produced. ’
This is more or less still true, however I like the Healy
increasingly. The good features strike me as more good.
Also I have gotten used to the rectangular embouchure
and appreciate its sound and immediacy. The Healy blends
well with other instruments and it handles and fingers VERY well,
at least in my hands. Soundwise it still does not seem to me to be
in the league of the Olwell and Cotter, but it is an
immensely likeable and serviceable flute. Pleasure
to play it.
It seemed to me, having played a number of Healy’s and having listened to Skip’s playing, both live and recorded, that his goals and intentions for his flutes’ design were/are quite different than from a Cotter or an Olwell (or a Hamilton, a Murray, etc). His – again, it seems to me – is a more modern approach overall, incorporating a more Boehm-like quality to his flutes - volume, ease of play and tone - just as he employs in his personal playing style. All the Healys I’ve ever played were consistently good flutes, loud and comfortable, and I enjoyed playing them. But they don’t really compare to an Olwell, a Cotter, or my Hamilton - not for bad or good reasons – but because they feel and play very differently.
Makes sense. I would like to have one of these.
Also these cost significantly less money than
Olwells, anyhow, and are available pretty quickly.
It’s a different approach to the instrument,
no question.
I thought I might chime in here, since it’s my Healy!
I aquired this Healy because it’s tone just blends so well (best of any Irish flute I’ve ever played. No I haven’t tried an Olwell Pratten nor Cotter yet!).
I find the Healy very comfortable, easy to play and very responsive.
I think it has an elegant simplicity (proud sleek silver and blackwood, without a tuning barrel).
The flute has more power than I need and I’ld like to try a Healy with a traditional oval embouchure. Hey Barry!
It is just conjecture on my part, but I believe Chris Abell designed the flute for Skip.
I don’t have much to add to what I said before about the oval cut Healy, except that it’s a fine flute too-it took me longer to get a handle on it than the rectangle cut Healy, which I think is easier to play, and has a more immediate tone and response. Whereas the more traditional oval cut needs a little more work to get the voice you want-but that’s no surprise about the two embouchures-typical to what others have said about them on other flutes too.
No, I haven’t compared the two at the same time-it was a few months since I played the rectangle cut when I got the oval cut Healy. So I don’t know which I prefer. My comments about the two in your last post about the Healy are below for reference:
I am concluding that Skip healy is underappreciated–
at least has been by me.
Here is a link to Purgatory Chasm, where you can
hear a lot of cuts. I thought it was mostly
blazing fast stuff, not so. Also there seems
to be some lovely piccolo playing on it,
for those (again like myself) who wonder what
the difference in sound is from a whistle.
