but I never see a serious player without a keyed flute.
Does a keyed flute sound better than a non-keyed even if the keys never get used? Does the extra mass of the keys contribute to the the overall tone and make it the better pick?
Just curious and wondering if I decide to move up from my plastic Dixon to a wooden or Delrin whether a keyed flute would be worth the extra money.
Brian Finnegan
No.
No.
No. and Yes. Depends on whether you want to play in other keys, or avoid cross- or alternate-fingerings for full chromatic ability.
Hi Clover: I don’t know about extra mass that the keys may provide, I’m not an expert; however, I can give you my personal experience–for whatever that might be worth. I think that mostly it is the person playing the flute that makes things “sound better.” Having a well made instrument is, of course, very important, as having a duff flute is most discouraging and could, and most likely would, discourage a person to the point of giving up.
Are there serious players who don’t have keyed flutes? Yes, I know some folks who play very well (they are very serious about their music) who wouldn’t even consider a keyed flute- and I’ve heard a variety of reasons they are not interested in a keyed flute-to each his own I suppose. Most ITM can be played on a non keyed flute; however, I enjoy being able to touch a key and producing the note that I need. Frankly, my ability to cross finger isn’t that great and I don’t suppose it will improve, especially since I play a keyed flute as my principle instrument.
I have a six keyed and an eight keyed flute as well as some non-keyed flutes. I have found that I enjoy learning a variety of flute music, TRAD and otherwise, and find that having keys enhances that experience for me. Having keys has opened up a whole world of wonderful music to me that I wouldn’t have even considered w/o keys, but that’s just me.
but I never see a serious player without a keyed flute.
Here are a few:
Mick O Connor
Patsy Hanly
Tom O Gorman
Fintan Vallely, Eamonn De Bara…
The question should be : what do you want to play ? And then do you need keys ?
Surely you don’t mean serious players or Irish/ Scottish etc traditional music? There are hundreds of great keyless players. Not only that but I think it’s fair to say that many of the older players only had keyed flutes because it was all they could get a hold of with the abundance of wooden keyed flutes following the classical music shift to the metal flute. Many didn’t ever touch the keys.
Patsy Hany do play keyed flutes. Maybe the one in the picture is an Eb, it’s not the one he usually plays anyway.
Seamus Tansey doesn’t use keys (he actually removed them from his old flute…! Same with Fintan Vallely I think).
I wouldn’t consider Brian Finnegan a flute player, even though he does play the flute…
It all depends on what you need, many don’t use keys even if they have them, personally I couldn’t do without.
it’s not the one he usually plays anyway.
I have seen him play this flute on at least seven or eight occasions over the past six to eight years or so. Alone and with others (I probably have a recording of at least one occasion of him with three other fluteplayers). I don’t doubt he has other flutes but I have not seen him play a keyed flute during this time.
Here’s a clearer shot with a bit more depth of field from a different occasion:
And this is a picture I took in November 2011, and I saw him with the same flute last year in Miltown Malbay.
Looks like the flute he’s playing on this video from a few years ago: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCU07LkzSvE
And of course back in the days he used to play his old keyed flute: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjLcfnY8-gY
Regardless of who plays what/keyed or keyless it’s hardly a measure of ‘seriousness’..
I have heard amazing playing from Marcus Hernon, Tom Doorley and Frankie Gavin (among many others) on keyless flutes.
Mike Rafferty sometimes performed on a keyless Olwell.
I saw him with the same flute last year in Miltown Malbay.
FWIW, the photo in the first post was taken during the WCSS flute concert (and he used a keyless during all his appearances at the fluteconcert over the past years). He used the same flute during the Saturday night concert (with Pauline, see below). But again, I don’t doubt he owns and plays other flutes and I wouldn’t like to speculate which of them he normally uses. I can only say what I have seen him use over the years. The point of the exercise was to illustrate in a lighthearted way some fluteplayers I would consider ‘serious’ fluteplayers playing keyless flutes.
Orlaith McAuliffe 
The Gumby Archive of Photography (hopefully a for-profit organization) is also greatly appreciated for its artistic and educative aspects.
Best wishes.
Steve
The Gumby Archive of Photography (hopefully a for-profit organization) is also greatly appreciated for its artistic and educative aspects.
Not that it matters much, but it looks like you can see a long F key on that flute, though the picture is too small to be sure. Of course, memory may be doing tricks on me about last WCSS, but he was most certainly using a keyed flute in Ennis two years ago (as shown in the picture), as well as in the videos I linked.
Sure I agree, some very serious flute players find no use in keys, it all depends on what you are used to and on what you feel you need.
Good questions, Clover. People often make a big fuss about keyed flutes, making them seem like better instruments, but a flute isn’t going to be better because it has keys. (People oooh and ahhh over keyed Olwells, for instance. But that’s because they’re attractive, involve a long wait, and cost more. However, they’re just as good as his more common unkeyed flutes.)
Here’s what the man himself had to say in an interview:
The six open holes has been the design of the flute for at least 10,000 years. Maybe even 30,000 or 40,000 years. Being played by the human breath you can feel the air under your fingertips. Material comes from nature (wood, bone, bamboo). Relationship with nature has something to do with it. There a not a lot of fancy chromatics, and you don’t need keys.
So here’s what it comes down to: Do you routinely play (or want to play) in keys other than D, G, and the related minors? Are you interested in spending much time in the third octave? If so, keys have a role. If not, they don’t.
P.S. Lovely photos, as always, Mr. Gumby. Thanks for sharing!
She used to play a keyless, she’s now playing a six keyed flute. Both from Hammy.
Thanks for enlightening me on this and the other posts. I didn’t realize there were so many guys like these out there. I appreciate it.