whatever ya do
don’t listen to any of that Cherish The Ladies stuff 
Classical flute players jigger with their intonation too. At least my teacher who plays in a symphony does. Actually, now that I think of it, pretty much all classical players of instruments, other than fixed pitch instruments like pianos and harps tend to alter their intonation. Granted, not as much as we do with just intonation, but…
Looking back, I realize growing up playing a bassoon in the local symphony that I was constantly adjusting intonation, but just didn’t know it, since one does not tune a bassoon, but instead plays it into tune. Sometimes I think it is better to be ignorant!
There is a great little article by Catherine Folkers called “Trave 101” that explains this stuff quite nicely. But the long and the short of it is that “in tune” depends very much on context, including the key you are playing in, and the instruments you are playing with. If we get too absolute in this, we fall into the trap of the Mother watching her son marching with the local cadets and stating that little Johnny is the only one marching in step…
Clinton
You mean we sound septic?
Since when did “dirtiness” necessarily lead on to corruption?
Is it corrupt to try to get a dirty sound on a Böhm?
Would a similar parallel be keeping things “in time”?
Fecund!
Jim’s imagination (or vocabulary) is too fertile!
(Can Americans pronounce “fertile”, or is it one of those like the RC church service manuals they used to want to chuck at the Russians?)
Sure. Rhymes with turtle and hurdle. TOY-dul, HOY-dul, FOY-dul. 
So Boehm players sound STOY-rul?
and we sound feck’d?
You have NO idea! Heh, heh, heh…
(Ferdle?)
No, that would be STURL.
OK, MTGuru, on this we agree.
I began with Boehm flutes decades ago, and I learned to play them in both Just Intonation and Equal Temperament, yes, all on one and the same flute, and so Boehm flutes are quite flexible in that regard.
A bit over two weeks ago, in fact on Saint Patrick’s Day, I took delivery of a brand new Copley & Boegli D flute, with eight keys. My first impression of the flute was that it has an astonishingly accurate scale. It not only plays in Just Intonation wonderfully well but equally well plays in Equal Temperament, all around the circle of fifths.
And, as far as tone goes, for those of you at C&F who could peg a Boehm flute into some sort of “classical” form, you have a lesson yet to learn. For instance, Boehm invented it, Lot improved it and Cooper made it even better, but it has a flexibility of tone which no simple system flute can match. You ITM players want a dark and reedy tone? Well, a Boehm flute can do that to perfection, and much more. After all, how did simple system flute makers for the most part get put out of business about a hundred years ago? Hmm?
I like them both, but for different reasons. One plays one way and one plays another, but both are both fun and satisfying.
Live well, and live long!
yes, and why did a few equate classical with Boehm flute exclusivesly anyway?
Isn’t Baroque music within the Classical ambit?
Okay, here is a sincere question.
Boehm flutes are lot more readily available, fewer waiting lists, and you can get a good one for much less money than a good keyed simple system costs, typically. If I understand what’s being said, one can do on Boehm flutes pretty much what we do on conical simple system flutes, and about as easily. Also it can do more. One can get the dark, reedy sound we are after, and one knows from people like Joannie Madden and Noel Rice one can ornament on them pretty well.
So why do we bother? Seems like we are throwing time and money away. Lots of it.
I’ve not much played Boehm flutes, so perhaps it’s just ignorance on my part.
…
Well, what I believe is that for maybe 1500 dollars one can get a pretty good Boehm flute, entirely chromatic,
etc. I could buy one in a store today. A simple system 8-keyed flute of equivalent quality would cost
over 3000 dollars and would involve a wait of usually one to several years.
Very good point about the wait thing. And yes, for that price you could probably get a decent Boehm. And as a bonus, if it is made of silver that appreciates where wood does not.
In my experience, it’s a lot easier to play Irish music on a simple flute than a Boehm flute, mainly due to the f# fingering. On a simple flute, D scale is the same as C scale on Boehm. On my Boehm, I like playing Irish tunes in C. Also, in order to play Irish well on a Boehm, I think you need a very good flute with great action and balance, perfect pads. A really good Boehm costs thousands $. I have an excellent Yamaha student model (the 200AD) that cost $500 new; it’s the flute I use in the classical duets link below. I love it, but it’s not quite good enough for me to think about playing Irish on it full time. Does great for the off keys (G minor, D minor, C), but D is hard–try playing Green Mountain on a Boehm with all the f# rolls and you’ll see what I mean. Also, I now have a hard time loving the tone of any metal flute; wood just sounds so much better, richer, more authentic.
OK, but this seems to be denying something Cork said earlier (mean the last sentence). Also pricewise,
it’s easy enough to have thousands of dollars in simple system flutes in different keys. And long
waits to get’ em. Why not go out today and get a good Boehm instead? It can do anything…
We’re serious musicians, many of us.
Joannie et al deal with the F#, apparently.